0035 The Perverse Finger Pull-Ups

“Practicing in class, too?”
Chen Jue’s face was full of astonishment. He leaned in for a closer look. The hand grip in Yu Jie’s hand was as long as a pair of tweezers, about the same size as a cellphone. It could be easily slipped into a pocket—truly portable.

What made Chen Jue most ashamed was that, even with his panel, he lacked the self-discipline and willpower for exercise that athletes like Yu Jie possessed. Yu Jie made use of even the brief time in class for training.

Since obtaining his panel, Chen Jue had wasted most of his time on socializing, never once focusing so single-mindedly on exercise. Even his visits to the gym were half-hearted at best.

To achieve a physique as impressive as Yu Jie’s, Chen Jue realized he still had a long road ahead.

“No wonder this guy’s got such a great body!”
Chen Jue sighed inwardly, resolving to become a man of action from now on. He took out his phone, searched for the same hand grip, and placed an order.

Yu Jie, noticing this, flashed a sunny smile and began enthusiastically explaining the joys of rock climbing. As an instructor at the climbing club, his main job was to share his experiences and cultivate guests’ interest. If he managed to recruit new members, both he and the junior he’d brought along would receive a handsome commission.

So, seizing the opportunity, Yu Jie demonstrated the arm and finger strength of a rock climber. He extended his right hand, hooked a single index finger onto a rock hold, and then flexed his arm. The muscles in his arm tensed visibly as he pulled himself up, lifting his entire body into the air—using only one finger! At half a meter above the ground, he performed a pull-up with a single finger.

“Damn!”
“Incredible!”
Chen Jue stared, wide-eyed.

With his current build, even doing a regular pull-up with both hands was tough. To perform such a high-difficulty move with one finger was unimaginable.

What was even more astonishing was that Yu Jie could do five standard pull-ups in a row using just one finger! After finishing, he released his grip and landed lightly, speaking calmly, “What do you think, Jue? Impressive, right?”

“Unreal!”
“It’s like you’ve got a cheat code!” Chen Jue nodded, filled with envy.

Such terrifying arm and finger strength—applied to darts, for example—would probably allow him to pierce a wooden board from dozens of meters away.

“That move’s called the one-finger pull-up. It’s a basic skill for professional climbers. I can do up to ten with my right hand; my left’s not as strong, so seven or eight at most. But there are masters abroad who can do forty in one go as a warm-up—now that’s truly impressive!” Yu Jie explained patiently.

“Forty one-finger pull-ups?”
“What kind of superhuman is that?”
“Injected super serum?”
“That’s even more of a cheat than me!”

Hearing such an absurd number, Chen Jue was completely stunned. He felt like a normal person who’d accidentally wandered into a world of monsters.

No wonder people say online: never use your hobby to compete with someone’s livelihood. The gap here was beyond comprehension!

...

After being humbled by a young man at the climbing club, Chen Jue left the sports startup park feeling a bit dazed.

On his way back to his apartment, countless strange thoughts flashed through his mind. It was as if Yu Jie’s pull-up had kicked open the door to a new world for him.

If the human body could perform such incredible feats, he mused, then—

Being able to lift over a hundred pounds with just one finger—if every finger were trained to that level, what kind of strength would the whole hand have? And if this were extended to the entire body...

The possibilities were staggering!

For most people, such thoughts would be pure fantasy. But Chen Jue was different; he had a panel that corrected his posture and monitored his movements. With proper training, he actually had a chance to reach Yu Jie’s or Li Chaoqun’s level.

“My ambitions have been too small,” he thought. “Why bother aiming to be a darts champion? Why not become a superhuman?”

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, his mind racing so much that he almost ran a red light—thank goodness he didn’t hit anyone.

...

Shaking off his unrealistic daydreams, Chen Jue returned to his apartment still somewhat absent-minded. But the moment he stepped inside, he felt restless.

He resolved to change his habitual procrastination, starting today!

First, he set out a plan and some goals for himself.

First: he had to keep up with his job at Hengtong, however much of a time-waster it was—it was his only source of income for now.

Second: he needed to work on his video side hustle—currently his only idea for increasing his income.

Third: exercise and training should be made a top priority in his daily routine.

As for the ultimate goal—if he wanted to pursue someone as beautiful and discerning as Wu Fang, he would need to change himself from the inside out.

Lack of money aside—making a fortune was an age-old struggle. If luck and fate weren’t on your side, risking your life wouldn’t help. Besides, there’s no law saying the poor can’t date the rich.

But if he couldn’t improve his looks and physique, he wouldn’t even get past the first impression with a girl like her.

“Indeed, girls are the greatest motivation for a late-blooming man!” Chen Jue encouraged himself.

...

At the parcel locker downstairs, he picked up a large box and, after much effort, dragged it upstairs. Inside were five hundred petal-shaped clay skimming stones.

With the phone tripod, two large power banks, and the ancient mask he’d already prepared, he was finally ready to launch his side business and exercise plan.

He packed over a hundred skimming stones into a backpack and headed to the nearby park.

Because of the recent dog attack incident, the park was much emptier than usual during the day. After a walk around, he found a suitable spot by the central lake—spacious, well landscaped, with lawns and trees all around. In a distant pavilion, a group of elderly men played chess, while some elderly ladies danced nearby.

“Now that’s the life—retirement done right,” Chen Jue sighed, watching them.

He set down his bags, adjusted the phone tripod, and started the video recording.

“Let’s try a few test shots.”
Chen Jue donned his mask, picked up a few ordinary flat stones, and tried them out on camera. Even with his perfected stone-skipping skill, these ordinary stones could only bounce about thirty times at most.

Returning to the tripod, he checked the footage. It was passable, so he made a few adjustments to the camera angle and switched to the petal-shaped clay stones.

“No wonder the world record holder invented these!”
“These stones feel amazing.”
“Way better than anything I’ve bought before!”

Just holding one, Chen Jue could tell how powerful it was. His stone-skipping skill was already maxed out; there was nothing about this hobby he didn’t understand. Just a quick assessment told him all he needed to know.

Sure enough, when he turned and flicked it at a perfect 20-degree angle into the lake, the petal-shaped stone spun across the water at a bizarre speed, arcing out with a rapid series of skips.

The stone skimmed so low across the water that Chen Jue felt dizzy just watching it!

Good heavens! On his first try, the clay skimming stone flew nearly a hundred meters! The countless rings of ripples left in its wake were impossible to count—he’d need to check the video playback to figure it out.

“This is unreal!”
“Even crazier than when I first perfected the technique!”
Chen Jue’s jaw dropped as he drew a sharp breath of autumn air.

The sense of accomplishment, knowing he’d just performed such a feat himself, was overwhelming.

...

After half an hour of recording, Chen Jue was drenched in sweat. The movements for skimming stones weren’t large, but the repeated explosive bursts of force took real stamina.

But the effort had paid off: not only did he get video footage he was happy with, but his panel rewarded him with 0.01 free attribute points.

With his previous accumulation, he now had 0.03 free points. He planned to save up to 0.10, then merge his stone-skipping and dart-throwing skills.

As for boosting his physical attributes, he decided to rely on exercise for gradual improvement. Since he was just starting, there was plenty of room for growth. Saving up attribute points might be more useful later on.

It was like saving up money in a game: once you had enough, you could buy a big item and turn the tide—just imagining it got Chen Jue fired up.

...

After a ten-minute break, he quickly edited the footage on his phone, adding a bit of AI voiceover and some fun subtitles. In less than a minute, a quirky stone-skipping video was ready.

“Done!”
“Just need a title—let’s upload it.”
“It’s just a short video, no need to overthink it.”

He titled it “Skill: Stone Skipping” and posted the simple edit to both Douyin and Bilibili under his “Skill Guy” account.

Whether it would go viral, who could say? No one can predict the future.

“I’ve already done my best—what happens next is up to fate!”
Encouraging himself, Chen Jue packed up his gear. With time left in the morning, he went to the lakeside and began practicing the twelve forms of Tai Chi.