Chapter 58 Finalizing the Six Internet Celebrities

Starbucks, 4:00 PM.

Fifteen minutes after Wei Lin had left, Zheng Zehui was still sipping his hot Caffè Americano, unable to calm his churning emotions for a long time.

Bringing his agency's internet influencers to Linjiang City this time was primarily to create opportunities for them to shoot vlogs and gather creative material; collaborating with Zhou Rong was merely secondary.

After all, Zhou Rong's contract was only short-term, and the financial sum involved was negligible.

For him, Wei Lin's sudden appearance was a genuine and pleasant surprise—calling it a pie falling from the sky wouldn't even be an exaggeration.

"Unless those six experience an explosive surge in followers in the near future, Wei Lin is bound to lose money no matter how you look at it."

"I just can't wrap my head around it, truly baffling."

"Could it be that he's a hardcore fan of those six, genuinely believing they're destined for greatness? Even I don't have that kind of confidence, so why would he?"

Flipping through the recent follower growth and merchandise sales data of the six individuals, Zheng Zehui gradually fell into deep contemplation.

……

4:30 PM, Like Fitness.

"Weight 78 kilograms, skeletal muscle 36, body fat mass 13, body fat percentage 17."

Looking at the body composition test report in her hand and then at the beaming Wei Lin, He Jingxuan's eyes were filled with sheer disbelief. "Brother Wei, come and look at this comparison yourself!"

The two of them were very familiar with each other now. He Jingxuan no longer addressed him formally as President Wei, nor did she call him older brother; instead, she simply called him Brother Wei.

She took out the previous body composition test report, placed both reports side by side on the table, and said, "A gym's body composition test isn't one hundred percent accurate, but it certainly reflects a lot of things."

"Your weight last time was 69 kilograms, skeletal muscle 30, fat mass 17, and body fat percentage 25."

"In less than two months, you've gained 9 kilograms of body weight, lost 4 kilograms of fat, your skeletal muscle reached 36, and your body fat percentage dropped by a full 8 points!"

"In other words, you successfully achieved simultaneous muscle gain and fat loss during this period. Beginners usually experience a honeymoon phase when first encountering resistance training, allowing them to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time."

"But someone like you..."

The young personal trainer trailed off, her words hanging in the air.

"What? Is it that exaggerated?" Wei Lin asked with a smile.

He Jingxuan hesitated for a moment. Seeing that no one else was paying attention to them, she lowered her voice and asked, "Brother Wei, are you on the sauce?"

Having educated herself about the fitness industry and no longer being a naive novice, Wei Lin understood immediately.

Many fitness enthusiasts impatient for quick results, as well as those aspiring to step onto a bodybuilding stage, choose to enhance themselves with performance-enhancing drugs, allowing their muscle mass, strength, and endurance to break through far beyond ordinary people in a short period.

Such individuals are commonly referred to as "enhanced" athletes.

Those who never rely on drugs, instead building a pathetic amount of muscle year after year through cumulative, persistent natural training, are called natural athletes.

Drugs carry high side effects. While bringing about ultra-fast muscle-building efficiency, they simultaneously damage the user.

Many enhanced athletes suffer from internal organ issues, especially heart problems.

Even if they eventually stop taking the drugs, the organ damage caused by the substances remains with the user for life.

In less than two months, as a beginner, experiencing simultaneous muscle gain and fat loss did not amaze the young trainer.

What amazed her was that Wei Lin's muscle mass growth was simply too fast; no matter how she looked at it, it wasn't normal.

"I told you long ago, I am exceptionally gifted in this area. I've had the habit of exercising since childhood, and once I started resistance training, my gains naturally skyrocketed."

"Let's go, let's retest the big three lifts today!"

Wei Lin took the lead and stepped out of the private training room.

The young trainer could only follow obediently.

Soon, his limits for the big three lifts were measured out.

……

Bench press limit: 120 kilograms, capable of performing working sets of 10 reps with 90 kilograms.

Squat limit: 140 kilograms, capable of squatting 10 reps in a working set with 100 kilograms.

Deadlift limit: 150 kilograms, capable of pulling 8 reps with 100 kilograms.

These big three lifts best reflect a person's overall strength level. Without long-term resistance training in a gym, an ordinary person could never possess such capability.

Reaching this tier, Wei Lin could be considered to have a very respectable level even in a gym surrounded by muscular men.

Particularly in terms of bench press, the overwhelming majority of people who spend long hours immersed in the gym struggle throughout their entire lives to break past the 100-kilogram mark.

Wei Lin clearly possessed a natural advantage in the bench press, and his current limit had reached 120 kilograms, making him a top-tier expert even at Like Fitness.

"Brother Wei, tell me honestly, did you hop on the sauce?"

After testing the big three lifts, He Jingxuan was utterly shocked and grew increasingly suspicious that he was using performance-enhancing drugs.

Wei Lin smiled mysteriously, thinking to himself, *No wonder Tang Strong lost to me in arm wrestling!*

He glanced around at the surrounding bench press racks, noticing that the people currently training on the four bench press racks were mostly using sets of 60 to 80 kilograms.

A few of them were noticeably bulkier and heavier than him.

The remainder of this training session became led by him.

He pestered the young trainer to test his joint flexibility, and following her guidance, he even struck a few yoga poses.

After testing, He Jingxuan became even more astonished: "Brother Wei, I never expected your flexibility to be this good!"

Wei Lin smiled modestly: "Been good since I was a kid."

He was now certain that the fourth round of life evolution hadn't brought about many breakthroughs in other aspects; the growth had been entirely channeled into muscular strength.

The muscle and strength that ordinary fitness enthusiasts needed a year or two, or even longer, to acquire, he had successfully achieved in less than two months.

"With strength this formidable, of course, I have to make good use of it—not just on the basketball court, but in other fields as well..."

Glancing at the vacant boxing ring, Wei Lin suddenly asked, "Xiao He, what is the skill level of that boxing coach?"

"You mean Feng Qing? He's the oldest coach in our gym, has a rather bad temper, barely talks to the other coaches, and his sales performance is terrible." After laying down some background, Coach Xiao He lowered her voice and said, "But I've heard his skills are top-notch. He practiced Sanda for many years and even stepped into the ring to fight in competitions."

Wei Lin's eyes lit up.

A bad temper didn't matter; as long as his skills were high, that was all that counted. He wasn't looking to make friends with Feng Qing.

"Our session is over. I'm going to learn how to box."

No sooner said than done.

Wei Lin walked straight over to the boxing ring and said to Feng Qing, who was sitting beside the ring reading a book, "Do you have any classes coming up? I want to buy boxing lessons."

"Buy lessons? Right now?" Feng Qing put down the book in his hand and stared straight at him.

"Right now. How much is a boxing lesson?"

"Five hundred per session. It's five hundred regardless of how many you buy; it won't get cheaper just because you buy in bulk."

"I'll buy fifty sessions first!"

As soon as those words fell, Feng Qing sprang up abruptly and said concisely, "Let's go! Swipe the card!"

……

Five minutes later, Wei Lin was in the boxing ring.

Wrapping his hands and putting on a pair of borrowed boxing gloves, he began training against Feng Qing, who was holding focus mitts.

"Bang!"

"Bang, bang!"

Every straight punch, hook, and uppercut he landed on the mitts sounded resonant and powerful.

Yet Feng Qing shook his head continuously, saying, "The power of a punch doesn't solely rely on muscular strength; it relies on our own body weight. Twisting your body weight into a single cohesive force—driven by pushing off the floor with your feet and the rotation of your waist and abdomen, transmitted through your arms—is how you explode with the greatest striking force."

"Punching must be coordinated with breathing. Don't hold your breath; holding your breath will drain your energy instantly."

"Exhale when you throw a punch, control your distance, and your footwork must follow up swiftly."

"Come on, slowly try to find the feel of it."

Holding the focus mitts inside the ring, Feng Qing seemed to transform into a completely different person. His gaze was focused and fierce, brimming with a belligerent fighting spirit.

Standing at a mere one meter seventy, looking thin and lacking bulky muscles, he merely held the mitts to accommodate Wei Lin and never even launched a single attack of his own, yet he emanated a powerful sense of oppression.

"Found the right person."

"This money was well spent!"

After a single boxing session, Wei Lin felt more exhausted than after playing two hours of basketball, and both his hands were aching and sore.

As someone experiencing combat sports formally for the first time, he finally felt grateful for his sheer good luck during his street-fighting days in the past, never having run into a professional like Feng Qing.

If his past opponents had been someone like Feng Qing before him, he probably would have been knocked flat on his first encounter.

"Boxing requires practice. Your sense of distance, your sense of generating power, and your punching feel all need to be cultivated slowly; you won't see progress in a day or two."

"Of course, the most important point in learning to box is finding a professional coach. If you find some half-baked amateur to teach you and form incorrect movement patterns in the early stages, it will take me several times the time and effort to correct them later on."

"Fortunately, you don't know anything yet, which actually makes it easier to teach."

Feng Qing glanced at the wall clock. Seeing that a full hour had passed, he directly declared the end of the session.

——He was unwilling to waste even a single minute.

Wei Lin also felt he had gained immensely. A single lesson had completely refreshed his understanding of combat sports, so he said, "From now on, I'll carve out time every week to specifically take your boxing lessons."

Feng Qing said indifferently, "Then remember to book your sessions in advance. I'm very busy."

Wei Lin: "..."

……

At ten o'clock that same night, Lin Nanxi sent over the design drafts.

Looking through a batch of trademark designs, Wei Lin's eyes instantly locked onto a logo featuring a black-and-red reverse demon, and he said with a satisfied smile, "This is the one!"

A pitch-black reverse, a vivid crimson demon.

The character for demon looked unrestrained and flying, exuding an overbearing and uncanny aura.

"Uncle An, I've sent you our brand trademark. Starting tomorrow, scale back some of the production capacity for Maple Forest and manufacture five thousand hats of our own brand for me as quickly as possible!"

Wei Lin picked up his phone and called An Yuntian.

"We shut down for a day and a half due to fire safety issues, so the factory's production capacity is already insufficient. How can we cut back on the orders from Maple Forest?" An Yuntian asked anxiously.

"Don't worry about Maple Forest. To prevent any issues on Tianzhong's end, I've gone ahead and arranged with Brother Ji to handle some production elsewhere. Rest assured, with those orders from Brother Ji in place, nothing will go wrong!" Wei Lin stated, revealing the preparations he had made in advance.

"You think Fatty Zhong is going to play dirty at the last minute?" An Yuntian asked.

"I hope for his sake he doesn't stab us in the back. If he really pulls that, we can make up for it through the orders on Brother Ji's side, and I'll make him pay for it when the time comes!" Wei Lin snorted coldly.

"Good, then I can rest easy!" An Yuntian sneered and said, "Linzi, you've planned this out well. Even though we might lose a bit more money this way, it guarantees absolute foolproofness!"