144 The Third Metamorphosis

"Mr. Wu, long time no see."

"Oh, Director Huang? Good morning."

Just as he pushed open his bedroom door, Wu Qingchen saw the training supervisor who always used to wait at the elevator exit of the underground base, standing right there in the living room.

"Good morning, Mr. Wu."

Huang Xing's smile was as amiable as ever, but observant Wu Qingchen noticed that the middle-aged man's graying hair was slightly disheveled. The familiar subject matter experts from before were absent, replaced by a new group of attendants who also possessed a distinct scholarly aura while appearing robust and full of vitality.

Did something happen?

Thinking to himself, Wu Qingchen reached out and shook hands with Huang Xing.

"Today's itinerary has changed just a little bit..."

Noticing Wu Qingchen's gaze, Huang Xing briefly tidied his hair. "But don't worry, it's a good thing... It's just a bit tight on time."

Signaling for Wu Qingchen to sit down first, Huang Xing pushed a portable screen over to him. "Mr. Wu, please take a look at this first."

Huang Xing operated the console, and an image popped up on the display. On the left was a full-body image of Wu Qingchen in a standard standing posture, slowly rotating, while a long column of data and tables was listed on the right.

Height, weight, vital capacity, respiratory rate, strength...

"This is your current physical data," Huang Xing introduced.

"Mm... What's wrong?"

Wu Qingchen glanced at it a few times.

The Earth team monitoring his body was undoubtedly a top priority, and Wu Qingchen wasn't surprised by the detailed nature of the data.

"Well... It seems it really has been a long time since your last physical examination..."

Huang Xing pressed the console a few more times, splitting the screen in two, with an image and data displayed on each side.

Pointing to the newly appeared data on the left, Huang Xing said, "This was your data from 7 days ago, right when you first arrived in the capital."

Then pointing to the image and data on the right, Huang Xing continued, "And this is your physical data as of 2 hours ago."

Introducing it this way must mean there was a specific reason.

Wu Qingchen looked closely, comparing the data on both sides. Barely had he read a single line when he exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, I grew 0.2117 centimeters taller! How did this happen?"

"Not just that." Facing Wu Qingchen's astonished gaze, Huang Xing made a "please" gesture toward the display.

"Uhm... I gained 0.1856 kilograms! Did I get fat?"

"No." One of the attendants beside Huang Xing interjected, "You didn't gain 0.18 kilograms of fat; you gained 0.18 kilograms of strength. The relationship between body fat and muscle strength is quite complex."

"Is that so?" Wu Qingchen subconsciously touched his stomach and continued reading down. "Vital capacity increased by 30.3254... What is this? Respiratory rate decreased by 1.2274... Muscle strength increased by 2.6804... Body coordination increased by 1.6187 degrees... W-what do all these mean?"

He hadn't even examined the detailed data below yet; the category names alone were already complex. Among the items he had seen so far, aside from height and weight, Wu Qingchen had no idea what these rising and falling figures signified.

"Basically, they are all good things." The attendant who spoke earlier stepped forward.

"This is Coach Zhang," Huang Xing introduced. "From the General Administration of Sport, here to assist you in formulating a training plan."

"Hello, Mr. Wu... First of all, thank you for securing a third opportunity of physical development for all human beings across the world."

"A third development?"

Wu Qingchen touched his head, rummaging through his vague, meager middle school biology knowledge. "You mean the kind that happens at ages 1-6 and 14-18?"

"Roughly speaking, yes."

Coach Zhang nodded.

"But, I seem to recall there are only two stages of physical development?"

"Now there is a third." Huang Xing waved his hand, and another portable display was pushed in front of Wu Qingchen.

Half an hour later.

"So you're saying... because I worked so hard in the medieval world, toiling from dawn till dusk..."

Pointing to the conclusion at the very bottom of the screen, Wu Qingchen's mouth hung wide open. "People with severe myopia got better? Paralyzed people climbed back to their feet? Overweight people successfully lost weight!"

"It's not quite that exaggerated..." Huang Xing hurriedly shook his head. "These are just the objects with the most pronounced effects."

"As for normal effects, do people all over the world have them?" Wu Qingchen quickly followed up.

"Yes, based on the samples tested so far, indeed everyone has experienced some degree of change... However..."

Huang Xing continued to explain, "The cumulative degree of exercise effect isn't very high, generally ranging between 1% and 2%, a small portion reaching 3%, and the highest few cases are around 3.33%..."

"This data..." Wu Qingchen made a connection.

"That's right, it's the ratio of the time flow rate between the medieval world and Earth."

"And what about me?" Quickly looking back at the display first pushed before him, Wu Qingchen asked, "What's mine?"

"Your data is quite special."

"How special?"

"The most standard, most precise tier," Huang Xing said slowly. "All the data is uniformly 3.3333%."

"That's not right!" First looking at the analysis and conclusions on the left, then at the data on the right screen, Wu Qingchen frowned. "Didn't I grow 0.2 centimeters taller? Even if other people only get 1% or 2%, shouldn't they also grow 0.1 or 0.15 centimeters? Hasn't anyone measured changes like that? How can there still be so many people doubting it?"

"Well..." Coach Zhang stepped forward to explain. "Actually, there are some height increase changes in other samples as well... However, a normal person's height naturally fluctuates every day; the difference between morning and evening data can reach 0.5 to 1 centimeter."

"That's not the crux of the matter," Huang Xing shook his head. "The crucial point is that you have another unique characteristic."

Pointing to the data table, Huang Xing continued, "For everyone else, basically only five or six items—at most ten items—show changes, and the specific items that change vary from person to person... Only you... I mean, every single piece of data that modern Earth technology can detect has attained precisely 3.3333% of the medieval world's exercise effect."

"Ah? All of them are 3.3333%?"

Excited for a few seconds, Wu Qingchen suddenly calmed down upon deeper reflection. "3.3333% isn't really all that much, is it..."

"No, the significance is enormous!"

Coach Zhang said, "First, the huge benefit is that Earth can monitor real-time bodily changes of Loth in the medieval world through the changes in your physical data."

"Mm," Wu Qingchen nodded.

"Another huge benefit is that 3.3333% is by no means a small number in itself."

"Really?" Wu Qingchen frowned.

"You must remember that in the medieval world, Loth is currently only 13 years old, right at the beginning stage of his second physical development."

"I see..." Wu Qingchen looked thoughtful.

"Compare someone who basically doesn't exercise and pays no attention to nutritional intake..." Coach Zhang said, "with someone who, starting from age 13, exercises scientifically and maintains a balanced diet—the difference in physical fitness is immense."

"Yes," Wu Qingchen readily agreed.

"When Loth grows up to 18 years old, this gap, magnified once again by 3.3333%, will make increasing ordinary Earthlings' physical fitness by 10% practically effortless."

"Meaning that for the health of all mankind..." Wu Qingchen realized, "I need to adopt professional methods and engage in scientific exercise over in the medieval world?"

"Yes." Coach Zhang nodded.

"This..." Wu Qingchen found it hard to imagine. "Over in the medieval world, there aren't many people who can even eat their fill... Under such circumstances, if I start working out..."

"It doesn't matter..." Huang Xing interjected. "That is also part of today's training curriculum."

***

At the same time.

A classified city, a classified location, a classified room.

Several people sat around a round table. The teacups on the table had long since gone cold, and a glass ashtray was jammed with cigarette butts, leaving a haze of smoke floating in the middle of the room.

On the real-time screen, as the conversation reached this point, escorted by Huang Xing and his entourage, Wu Qingchen pulled open the living room door and headed toward the underground base's elevator.

Looking away from the screen, the man at the head of the table shook his head helplessly. "In the end, we still have to put on a show."

"It couldn't be helped..." Sitting in the fifth seat on the lower left, an elderly man in military uniform said, "The General Staff's simulations repeatedly showed that the Olympic Games plan alone wasn't enough to stabilize public sentiment."

"Under the current circumstances, there is very little we can do..."

The second man down on the left spoke next. "After all, with a 30:1 time dilation ratio, Earth sleeps for eight hours while ten days pass in the medieval world... Even if everything goes smoothly and Wu Qingchen lives to be a hundred, Earth only has about 9 years left. The psychological pressure on the public is immense, and the difficulty of maintaining stability is extremely high."

"Nine years is merely the most pessimistic estimate..." The third man on the lower left, whose forehead was lined with wrinkles but whose hair remained pitch black, spoke up. "According to calculations by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the second vortex will reach a color close to the one Wu Qingchen currently enters in about sixty days... The benefit of a 10% physical enhancement should buy us two months of stability."

"Time... Oh, time..."

The man at the head took a deep drag on his cigarette, falling silent for a long time.

After a period of dead silence:

"We cannot place all our hopes solely on the second vortex."

The man at the head spoke again. "Are there any good news from the civilian sector?"

"There is an abundance of good news..."

The participant seated at the very end wore a wry smile. "Far too much."

***

South of the Yangtze River, a certain small county town.

"Leaders... I really don't have it! I genuinely don't know any longevity-granting arts!"

Taoist Liu, Temple Keeper Liu, Master Liu, Practitioner Liu...

Inside the interrogation room, the middle-aged man with numerous titles pleaded bitterly, "Leaders, various leaders, truly, I'm just a wandering street performer! Besides, where in this world is there any ability to peer into yin and yang or decide life and death?"

"Mr. Liu, there's no need to be so secretive and keep things to yourself..."

Outside the glass window, the police officer sitting in the middle said amiably, "Think about it, as long as you are willing to contribute to the nation, how could the nation treat you unfairly? To take a step back, according to your Taoist philosophy, 70 billion living souls—think of how much karma and merit or sin that involves! Think carefully, ah..."

"But... I really don't have this ability!"

"You do, and we have grounds for approaching you." The police officer on the left opened a document. "On February 7, 1997, you told Mr. Zhou Kaifang that his wife's poor health was due to offending a deity, that acupuncture and medicine would be useless, that hospitals definitely couldn't cure her, and that a major Daoist ritual had to be performed to avert the disaster."

"I-I was just lying to her!"

"Yet, according to our investigation, Ms. Wang Cuihua began to recover just three days after you performed your ritual!"

"That... that was just a blind cat running into a dead mouse!"

"Is that so?" The police officer on the left slowly shook his head. "On April 17, 1999, you told Mr. Li Ji that his wife couldn't conceive because her yin meridians were blocked, and she needed to drink rootless water and come to your quiet room at the hour of the rat to communicate with deities in order to open them."

"I... I was just talking nonsense, engaging in feudal superstition."

"Yet, according to our investigation, Mr. Li Ji's wife, Ms. Zhang, was confirmed pregnant one month after you performed your ritual!"

"I... I..."

"Mr. Liu," the police officer in the middle continued his earnest persuasion, "Daoist culture is also a great crystallization of Chinese civilization. You shouldn't harbor any psychological pressure; the state doesn't want to snatch anything from you, but rather will help you research it together."

"I..." Taoist Liu stammered on.

"Liu!" The police officer on the right slammed the table. "You know the policies! Leniency for confession, severity for resistance! Letting you speak now is giving you a chance; you must cherish it! Think it carefully through!"

Thinking of the consequences for the previous few "resisting" peers, old Liu couldn't help trembling all over. "But... but I really don't know how!"

"Then explain!" The police officer on the right slammed the table again. "Wang Cuihua's illness, and Li Ji's wife—what was that all about?"

"I... I..."

"Quickly speak!" The police officer on the right slammed the table fiercely once more.

Taoist Liu shuddered, gritted his teeth, and said, "I... I got involved with them..."

"Well... What should we do now?" The police officer on the right turned his head, looking at the officer in the middle. "Is this guy just a swindler, or is he unwilling to contribute to the country?"

"Who knows... Let's use the old method..."

The officer in the middle put away the documents. "Invite Mr. Zhou Kaifang and Mr. Li Ji over. Ask them to come have a chat as well. Perhaps this Daoist master will be willing to show off a trick or two then..."