Li Yan sighed as he closed the video app, feeling like he'd prematurely entered retirement.
Early to bed, early to rise, exercise every day...
Today he'd even turned down Zhang Qiqi's invitation to meet hot girls. What a waste!
That girl everyone called a goddess, Zhang Wen, was someone he'd met at one of Zhang Qiqi's parties.
She was basically a perfect ten by normal standards.
And Li Yan, being the audio guy with skills like guitar, piano, erhu, and singing, had some serious weapons for charming naive young women.
Those talents were way more effective on inexperienced girls than just throwing money around.
That was part of why Zhang Wen still couldn't forget Li Yan and wanted to rekindle things.
The other important reason was Li Yan's... physical attributes.
Pan, donkey, Deng, small, leisure—Li Yan had 2.5 out of 5 of those legendary qualities, making him a pretty decent catch.
Though none of that really helped with actual life stuff.
Li Yan wasn't about to become a male model, so he still had to face the pressures of buying a house, car, wedding expenses, and marriage.
Could his guitar, piano, erhu, and singing skills help him buy a house or car?
Obviously not.
Live streaming for money?
Not that easy...
When Li Yan's salary was even lower, he'd tried that route. Male streamers trying to make it big had it way harder than female streamers.
Thinking about all this random stuff, Li Yan set his alarm for 5:30 AM, not sure if he'd even be asleep by then.
But for that task reward, he'd force himself to sleep.
'This is just temporary...'
'The old man lifestyle is just temporary...'
'Once I save enough money...'
Li Yan wasn't some washed-up old guy. He wanted to hit the clubs, chase girls, live it up too.
He just didn't have the cash right now.
No worries. Just need to be patient a bit longer. Once these tasks were done, Li Yan figured he'd be back to his energetic self.
...
In the end, Li Yan spent the entire night tossing and turning, unable to sleep, getting up seven or eight times.
Either to pee, stretch his legs, or grab his phone for more scrolling.
Despite wanting to sleep early, Li Yan ultimately surrendered to his powerful internal clock.
Right around 5 AM, when Li Yan finally dozed off, his soul-crushing alarm went off just minutes later.
He turned off the alarm with a blank expression, feeling like he was floating through space as he went to wash up.
It wasn't until he changed into his old workout clothes and sneakers that Li Yan put on his headphones, grabbed his phone, and headed out.
Near the end of April, the sky was already getting bright by 5:30 AM, though the weather had been unpredictable lately—cold one day, hot the next.
The cool morning breeze hit his face as Li Yan started loosening up his stiff arms and legs while walking.
Listening to Imagine Dragons' pounding rhythm through his headphones, Li Yan officially began today's morning run—and what might be a ten-year or lifelong commitment.
One hundred meters: piece of cake.
Five hundred meters: breathing started getting heavy.
One kilometer: mouth dry, lungs starting to feel uncomfortable.
Two kilometers: Li Yan was basically speed-walking now, his arm movements and the phone in his hand feeling like they weighed a ton.
Three kilometers: Li Yan was drenched in sweat, his gray cotton t-shirt completely soaked through the chest and back. His lips were pale, his face an unhealthy shade of red, his eyes unfocused.
When the system notification finally chimed, Li Yan could barely keep his balance as he stumbled to the roadside and started violently throwing up.
He puked for five minutes straight, bringing up nothing but bile, the nauseating feeling making him miserable.
Li Yan had thought it might be tough but still doable. Now he truly understood the agony of cardio.
It wasn't that Li Yan was that out of shape. Actually, his muscles were pretty well-defined compared to people who didn't work out.
Except for lacking abs, his biceps, triceps, shoulders, and chest were all visible through his t-shirt.
But there was no getting around it—every time he went to the gym, Li Yan's philosophy was "avoid leg day at all costs."
As for cardio? He barely did it once a year.
Working biceps, chest, and shoulders was enough to look good in clothes and seem fit. That was plenty for Li Yan's purposes.
Running?
What was that?
Useless!
The old Li Yan could have listed ten different theories about why running was pointless.
But the guy currently squatting on the ground, wearing a mask of pain while dry-heaving, was that same cocky Li Yan from before.
His phone buzzing interrupted Li Yan's labored breathing. Moving away from his vomit and slowly walking forward, Li Yan gradually recovered.
His hands were shaking so much he could barely grip his phone, but his withdrawal technique was still smooth as silk.
Looking at the 168,000 yuan in his account and the new task appearing in his mind, Li Yan's pale lips curved into a smile.
[Task Complete. Reward: 80,000 RMB]
[Running is humanity's instinct. As your feet measure the city, sweat carves channels of freedom through mundane days.]
Li Yan skipped the poetic bullshit—he felt like garbage right now. Walking forward to buy some water, he studied the new task.
[Read any complete book from your room. Reward: 160,000 RMB]
[How long has it been since you've carefully read a fascinating book? Slow down, look at it, and quiet your mind.]
Perfect. Grabbing an ice-cold bottle of water from a vending machine, Li Yan gurgled and rinsed while looking at the new task in his head.
Reading was great—at least he could finish a book in a few hours. Not a time-consuming task.
Same as before, Li Yan wasn't at the point where he deeply understood the system's somewhat profound messages.
Right now, Li Yan only cared about money, money, money!
Li Yan figured once he was driving sports cars, living in villas, and holding beautiful women, then he'd think about life philosophy.
For now, feeling his flushed face and aching legs, he flagged down a taxi home.
In the cab, Li Yan had already planned out his day.
As for sleeping—Li Yan figured that wasn't happening today.
After intense exercise, he definitely wouldn't be able to sleep anyway.