Chapter Four: It Begins with Running

Walking through the center of the classroom, Zhou Xuan could feel the eyes upon him from all sides. In those gazes were confusion, surprise, ridicule, and schadenfreude. Though the entrance exam for high school was not as momentous as the college entrance exam, the third year of middle school, compared to the final year of high school, was just as chaotic—a mixture of students: some buried themselves in study, determined to get into No. 1 High School; others, having given up hope, slept, chatted, or read novels.

His eyes swept the room, landing on a beautiful girl in the third row, sparking Zhou Xuan's interest. Her large eyes, delicate features, ample bosom, and slender waist could not help but stir one's imagination.

My goodness, isn’t that Liu Yixue, the school beauty? He hadn’t expected her to be even more stunning upon seeing her again.

Liu Yixue was not only beautiful but academically outstanding, universally acknowledged as the belle of No. 2 Middle School. Many pursued her, but none ever won her heart. Eventually, she was admitted to Peking University, went abroad for an MBA, and returned to become the CEO of a listed company—a true high-level employee, with an annual salary in the tens of millions.

Yet her love life was never smooth; she did not marry until she was thirty-five, and even then, married life was less than satisfactory.

Zhou Xuan thought to himself, She’s a real talent, someone I can surely make use of in the future.

Returning to his seat, he saw Zhou Lin’s concerned expression. “It’s all right now, you don’t have to worry,” Zhou Xuan reassured him.

Zhou Lin breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”

In the second period, everyone chose their seats according to their academic ranking, and finally moved their desks together. Because of today’s incident, the homeroom teacher had Xu Shaoyun sit right next to the podium.

Upon hearing he would be breathing chalk dust from now on, Xu Shaoyun’s face turned as sour as could be.

At this moment, Xu Shaoyun was deeply regretful. Why had he provoked Zhou Xuan? Not only did he slap him, but now he was relegated to this miserable spot. This wasn’t the end of it, he thought bitterly.

Zhou Xuan ranked 250th, which placed him around fiftieth in the class. With only sixty-four students, the only seats left were in the first and last rows.

He could only choose the last row, but the window seat there was already taken.

Unable to do otherwise, Zhou Xuan chose the seat beside the window, next to a girl.

Zhou Lin quickly followed, picking the seat to Zhou Xuan’s left, separated by an aisle.

After evening self-study, everyone began packing up and moving their desks. It was chaos—voices clamoring, desks and chairs clattering.

Sometimes you wanted to go here, someone else wanted to go there, desks pushed to the middle, and no one willing to give way.

Watching this, Zhou Xuan felt a sense of familiarity. After half a day back, he was finally getting used to his middle school life.

Once the desks were moved and books tidied, he noticed the quiet classmate next to him.

Zhou Xuan greeted her, “Zhuo Lian, I’m glad to share a desk with you. I hope we can get along well in the future.”

Zhuo Lian replied with a cold expression, “Zhou Xuan, right? Let’s mind our own business and not interfere with each other’s studies.”

Zhou Xuan sniffed, thinking that his actions today must have frightened her a little.

But Zhou Xuan believed her attitude would change. With decades of experience, teasing a little girl was hardly a challenge.

Early the next morning, Zhou Xuan woke from his sleep, checked the time—it was exactly six o’clock—and immediately got up to wash.

Dressed in shorts, a T-shirt, and sneakers, he headed for the playground. Only two or three people were exercising, all teachers.

Zhou Xuan came to run, deciding from now on to run every day. He would train his body to build a strong physique.

Having lived another life, Zhou Xuan understood the importance of health.

Without good health, no amount of money mattered. In his previous life, twelve years after the discovery of neural enhancement drugs, gene technology had achieved a major breakthrough. The gene serum developed by China dramatically improved physical fitness—ordinary people reached the strength of special forces soldiers, and those practicing cultivation methods became akin to martial artists from novels.

The use of gene serum and the rise of various cultivation methods improved national fitness, easing the shortage of talent for space exploration.

Although Zhou Xuan was already eighty or ninety at that time, practicing the Small Cycle Breathing Method had greatly enhanced his health, allowing him to travel to the moon. Later, he learned an ancient boxing technique; if not for that, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat those two punks so cleanly yesterday.

Although he wouldn’t have the chance to inject gene serum in this life, with the foundation from his previous life, Zhou Xuan believed he could still greatly improve his physical fitness.

After all, even if he hired bodyguards in the future, nothing was more reliable than his own strength.

After warming up, Zhou Xuan began jogging around the playground.

His steps were light, employing a special breathing technique—jaw gently clenched, abdomen raised, exhaling slowly, then inhaling just as steadily—a natural rhythm flowed through him.

After one lap, Zhou Xuan felt refreshed, full of energy, as if his body brimmed with inexhaustible strength.

Gradually, two laps, three, four...

Li Yunxi, the PE teacher at No. 2 Middle School, was naturally a fitness enthusiast. Before six in the morning, he and two other teachers had already run three or four laps.

Seeing Zhou Xuan running, he was surprised—no student had ever come out this early. Even those who played basketball or soccer didn’t arrive until at least twenty past six.

At first, Li Yunxi paid little attention, but a few laps later, he couldn’t help but marvel.

This student was impressive—he’d run five laps at a steady pace, averaging five minutes per kilometer. Five minutes per kilometer wasn’t remarkable, but maintaining that pace for two thousand meters without slowing was notable.

Just then, a few students entered the playground, carrying soccer balls and wearing sneakers, chatting as they headed toward the goalpost. Among them were two from Class Six.

“Hey, isn’t that Zhou Xuan?” one said to the other.

“Yeah, he’s running pretty fast! Wonder how many laps he’s done?”

“Definitely his first lap—how could anyone keep up that speed otherwise?”

“I bet Zhou Xuan won’t make it past two laps before stopping.”

“For sure!”

As they began to play, Zhou Xuan continued running steadily, seemingly tireless.

“Wow, two laps already. I never knew Zhou Xuan was this good at running. If the homeroom teacher knew, he’d have dragged him to the sports meet. Last semester, our class only won one first place.”

“Amazing, look at how he keeps the same pace.”

“A monster. Even the PE teacher can’t run like that!”

“Shh, don’t you see Mr. Li over there?”

After another two laps, the students playing soccer and running had lost interest in their activities, transfixed as Zhou Xuan kept running.

As more people exercised, they all unconsciously watched Zhou Xuan, speculating on how many laps he would run and why he was still going.

His body grew warmer, stamina gradually waned, and breathing became heavier.

But Zhou Xuan didn’t slow down. He was determined to surpass his physical limits, break through, and elevate his fitness to a new level.

“Incredible! He’s done fifteen laps, all at the same speed.”

“Twenty laps—eight kilometers!”

Seeing Zhou Xuan still running, Li Yunxi grew worried; such high-intensity running could harm the body.

Just as Li Yunxi was about to step in and stop Zhou Xuan, Zhou Xuan suddenly accelerated, sprinting forward.

The wind whipped past him, and Zhou Xuan felt his whole body tremble, every cell seemed to rejoice, and a wave of indescribable comfort washed over him.

He had succeeded—his first practice of the Small Cycle Breathing Method had greatly improved his physical fitness.

But as Zhou Xuan gradually slowed to a stop, his stomach began rumbling loudly.

“Damn! I’m starving!”

Zhou Xuan hurried toward the cafeteria. If he didn’t eat soon, he felt he might starve to death.

After Zhou Xuan left, the playground was filled with stunned onlookers and expressions of disbelief.