Collective Fitness Activities in the Dormitory of the 510 Talented Individuals

When the rich spend money, it's all about the flex. And the ultimate flex is buying assets that are completely useless, generate no profit, and exist solely for amusement.

It’s exactly what some people like to call that "Western Old Money aesthetic"...

But what noble temperament? It’s just the result of being rich for so long that your mindset becomes completely carefree.

Truly the height of nobility.

"Case cracked," Su Bai said, putting down his phone and turning to the curious Xue Tao. "Master Shanghai's girlfriend went to check out my figure collection. I had a senior from the anime club pick up a few limited edition pieces for me."

"Heh, his girlfriend traveled all this way for a date, and she ends up looking at toys? That’s wild."

"It’s not that weird. Everyone has their hobbies. Doesn't Chu like designer toys too? I feel like those two could line up together to snag blind boxes or something..."

Su Bai had just made an offhand remark.

Yet, as fate would have it, he had hit the nail on the head.

Master Shanghai and Leilei actually had similar plans. You could say they were a perfect match: one liked to get melodramatic and post angsty nonsense on their Moments in the middle of the night, while the other was into chugging Vitamin C drinks and engaging in edgy, self-destructive behavior when she couldn't sleep.

A match made in heaven, truly.

Su Bai always believed that as long as a couple felt compatible, that was enough. Finding a spark in the other person that you admired was sufficient to maintain a healthy relationship. You didn't need to find some incredibly impressive trophy partner just to be considered a "winner in life"...

Only the people in the relationship know how it really feels. Love isn't about winning, after all.

Xue Tao, however, obviously didn't see it that way. He figured that Master Shanghai and his girlfriend actually seemed to have a good relationship. By the looks of it, they were harmonious, which seemed scientifically impossible. Compared to them, his own relationship with Liu Yuanyuan—which lacked any interaction that could be described as "sweet"—felt weirder and weirder the more he looked at other guys' relationships, despite having started dating earlier.

Yet, with his worrisome EQ, Xue Tao couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

People are like that. Generally, you can tell by intuition whether someone loves you or not, but your subconscious refuses to admit it.

Being stubborn is hardcoded into the underlying logic of human DNA. From this perspective, everyone is Togawa Sakiko, yet no one is Togawa Sakiko.

Xue Tao pondered for a while and decided he needed to make a change. His youth should be more dazzling, not this situation where his girlfriend barely gave him the time of day when he tried to chat.

After thinking it over, Xue Tao still felt that the shameful failure in that hotel room during their trip abroad was a massive shadow over his heart.

Perhaps Liu Yuanyuan's recent impatience with him stemmed largely from that incident.

It was time to keep working at it!

Xue Tao's method was simple. On one hand, there was dietary therapy. He had recently consulted a relative who supposedly knew a lot about Traditional Chinese Medicine conditioning and got a prescription. He had to drink the medicine every day lately. It tasted awful, but considering his future happiness depended on it, he endured it.

On the other hand, there was exercise.

"Huh? You're going to the gym... Alright then."

Hearing Xue Tao state with a face full of determination that he was going to the school gym tonight to launch his great iron-pumping career, Su Bai figured as long as he was happy.

"I'm planning to get an annual pass directly. I heard there's a discount..."

"There is a discount, but that's for people who go regularly. If you're not going often, just get a monthly pass. The gym has a discount for freshmen; the first monthly pass is only 88 yuan."

"Go? I'll definitely go often. The key to fitness is persistence!"

As he spoke, Xue Tao raised his arm, showing off his non-existent biceps and triceps.

Wang Haoran: ... (Super Genshin Impact startup in progress)

The Gacha Sage refused to comment.

Actually, as early as last week, Su Bai had already urged him to get a gym membership.

And Wang Haoran had already put in a solid week of training.

How should I put it? As a business partner in the gaming sector, maintaining physical health was a must. With Wang Haoran's lifestyle habits, Su Bai was afraid he might drop dead if he didn't exercise regularly.

Su Bai didn't just want to open an online game studio with him; in the future, once Su Bai's personal assets inflated a bit more, burning money to develop games would also be a good option.

Games... that was an industry with a ninety percent mortality rate.

It was unbeatable for indulging in spending money.

So, Su Bai gave his good brother's exercise plan a push.

Even ignoring all that, there was the physical fitness test in November. If Wang Haoran continued to rot in the dorm for another month, running the 1000 meters would probably cost him half his life.

Wang Haoran had stuck with it for a week, and honestly, it felt pretty good. He hurt all over for the first two days, but after reasonably balancing cardio and strength training, it didn't feel that strenuous anymore.

Besides, Wang Haoran's training volume wasn't that high to begin with.

He didn't care at all about size or sculpting; staying healthy was enough.

He was into 2D girls and didn't need a hot body to pick them up. He was a Galgame master; all he had to do was choose the right dialogue options!

Oh, and Su Bai had also bought him private coaching sessions. The school gym's private lessons weren't expensive... well, "not expensive" for students with money in their pockets. Three thousand yuan for twenty sessions was cheap compared to commercial gyms, but if he weren't following Brother Bai, given Wang Haoran's habit of surviving on a strict limit of eight hundred a month, buying lessons would have been absolutely out of the question.

"Tao is going to work out too? That works out perfectly. Let's go together tonight."

"You're going too??" Xue Tao looked at Wang Haoran in surprise. You really couldn't judge a book by its cover. Since when did this skinny nerd start hitting the gym?

Immediately, Xue Tao felt an inexplicable sense of crisis... In reality, whether The Gacha Sage worked out or not had nothing to do with him. It was purely because Xue Tao was petty, had low sanity points, and loved to be anxious.

Whenever his classmates did anything, he had to overanalyze it and compare himself to them.

Holy crap, even the hardcore otaku has started working out. It looks like it's not too late for yours truly to fix things.

As for Chu Mingzhe... heh, let him wallow in his weird relationship with that Jirai Kei girl. Xue Tao told himself, "I'm going to become a hunky bodybuilder!"

Plus, going to the gym had another benefit: checking out girls.

Long before enrolling, Xue Tao had seen upperclassmen recommending the campus gyms while browsing the Jiangcheng University forums.

There were three gyms on campus. One was near the faculty apartments and was mostly frequented by teachers.

The second one had somewhat outdated facilities and was mainly used by sports majors.

The third one, however, was the newest and massive in scale. It had even become one of the famous influencer check-in spots at Jiangcheng University...

All kinds of groups on campus loved to go there.

Especially the girls.

Whether they were there to take photos or actually build muscle, they were there.

Xue Tao had originally wanted to get into fitness during military training, but he was too tired and couldn't be bothered to move.

After military training, he spent a while stuffing his face and staying up late playing games, leaving him with no energy.

Then he got into a relationship and spent all his energy coaxing his girlfriend.

So, it got delayed.

However, Xue Tao had all the gear.

International big-brand compression training shirts, wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads...

"Bro, are you playing rugby or something?" Su Bai teased. "The gym is plenty spacious, you don't need to worry about elbowing anyone, man!"