Ten o'clock at night.
"Here is the report needed for tomorrow."
Sitting at his computer desk, Lin Shen pressed Enter on his laptop keyboard, sending the work he'd done overtime tonight to the WeChat group chat.
Truthfully, a daily income of seventeen hundred yuan meant anyone could probably quit their job.
But Lin Shen had his own considerations.
First, it was almost the end of the month.
His performance this month was pretty good, so he should be able to receive a decent salary before resigning.
After all, no one turns down money, and besides, Lin Shen wasn't sure if everything tonight was just a dream.
What if the system disappeared tomorrow? Life would still have to go on!
Having experienced too much, Lin Shen had always maintained the habit of leaving himself a way out.
Second, the [FitnessTracker] level-up quest required spending an hour in the gym.
So, Lin Shen planned to use the company gym for free.
It was free, might as well use it.
Lin Shen grinned excitedly, then covered his mouth to yawn.
The night's excessive exercise had nearly depleted all his energy.
Now that he had downtime, sleepiness surged.
So, after getting into bed, Lin Shen took out his phone, opened the [FitnessTracker] app, and tapped on both the [Deep Sleep Pill] and [Fatigue Recovery Agent].
At that moment, a white light flashed mid-air.
Then, two items fell onto the bed.
One was a small black cube box, like those used for rings, and the other resembled a plastic bottle of cough syrup.
Lin Shen was stunned by the sight.
So the items weren't used in the game, but materialized into the real world out of thin air?
This kind of violates the laws of physics, doesn't it!
"Talking about that with a system is just too stupid."
Lin Shen mocked himself internally and first took the [Fatigue Recovery Agent], but only sipped a tiny amount.
He still felt somewhat apprehensive, afraid of drinking something poisonous.
Fortunately, everything seemed normal.
The [Fatigue Recovery Agent] tasted similar to plain water, just with a hint of sweetness.
After drinking it, Lin Shen felt a surge of heat throughout his body, a faint mist seeming to rise from his forehead.
The physical fatigue from exercising gradually faded, and his entire spirit became incredibly energized.
Feeling the abnormality within his body, Lin Shen went from initial panic and alarm to slow adaptation, and finally, disbelievingly examined the liquid in the bottle again and again.
It's that effective?!
Lin Shen felt his current state was even better than before exercising; even the lower back pain from prolonged sitting had completely vanished.
What a miracle cure!
Lin Shen carefully placed the [Fatigue Recovery Agent] into his bedside table drawer, got out of bed, walked a couple of steps, bounced around a bit, his expression growing even more excited.
However, the [Fatigue Recovery Agent] worked so well that his original drowsiness disappeared, turning directly into insomnia!
Luckily, there was still the [Deep Sleep Pill].
Lin Shen went to the kitchen, poured a glass of warm water, and opened the box.
Inside, indeed, lay a pure black pill.
It was about half the size of a fingernail and had a faint, clear scent of licorice.
With the [Fatigue Recovery Agent] as a successful precedent, Lin Shen didn't hesitate much this time.
He chipped off a small piece of the [Deep Sleep Pill] with his fingernail and swallowed it with water.
He put down the glass, left the kitchen, and was just heading towards the bedroom for a wonderful night's sleep when suddenly, an irresistible wave of drowsiness washed over his mind.
No, dude!
Wait a sec!?
Lin Shen was shocked.
He quickly sat down on the sofa, intending to rest for a moment, and then…
There was no 'and then'.
When Lin Shen regained consciousness, it was already the next morning.
July 21, 2025.
Monday, 6 AM, the dawn light was faint.
Lin Shen slowly woke up on the sofa, reaching for his phone while opening his drowsy eyes, feeling somewhat dazed.
Of course, this was limited to confusion about what happened last night; physically, his spirit felt exceptionally refreshed.
"This Deep Sleep Pill works a little too well, doesn't it."
Lin Shen picked up the small box from the table, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
He stretched, feeling his physical condition had returned to its peak during his university days!
"Not bad!"
Lin Shen stripped off all his clothes and stepped onto the scale. The number "81.6" kg brought a pleasant surprise.
He actually lost a full kilogram (approx. 2.2 lbs) overnight?
Even excluding the factor of an empty stomach in the morning, the effect was significant enough.
Seems the 30% boost in exercise effectiveness wasn't a lie!
"Alright, let's set a small goal first: 75kg!"
Lin Shen secretly encouraged himself, got dressed, went to the bathroom to wash up, and observed himself in the mirror.
His face was still a bit chubby, but the dark circles under his eyes had vanished, and his skin texture looked much better than before.
It proved that sleeping early and waking early is the best cosmetic treatment.
"Keep it up!"
Lin Shen packed his things and went to the community entrance to buy breakfast.
Opening his phone, he found a bank text message received late last night.
「China Construction Bank: Your account ending in 7946 received RMB 1,700 on 07/21 at 00:01. Current balance: 55,400」
"Nice!"
Lin Shen couldn't suppress his inner delight.
He was about to reward himself with a deluxe wrap with an extra sausage for breakfast when he suddenly remembered he was trying to lose weight.
So, he only bought two boiled eggs and a cup of soy milk.
Since he decided to change himself, he had to stick to it!
Besides exercise, healthy eating habits were also a crucial part of improving his image.
After quickly finishing breakfast, Lin Shen rode his beloved little electric scooter to the subway station, arriving at the office to clock in punctually at 8:30 AM.
"Morning, Lin Shen!"
When colleagues saw Lin Shen arrive at his workstation, they greeted him one after another, remarking with surprise.
"You look pretty good today!"
"Thanks."
Lin Shen responded with a polite smile and nod, but felt no ripples inwardly.
Three years of work experience had taught him that relationships between colleagues were the least necessary social connections to maintain.
It was best if they could become friends, but if not, there was no need to deliberately curry favor with anyone.
After all, if you showed even a hint of diligence and kindness, countless tasks would fall onto your shoulders.
Being too nice only leads to being taken advantage of.
Just doing his job well was enough.
So, Lin Shen continued as usual, processing work matters while petting a cat.
The company he worked for was called "Chong You Jia".
As the name suggested, it was a company specializing in the pet industry, including but not limited to pet companionship and breeding, pet supplies and food manufacturing, and other related businesses.
Therefore, besides the dedicated pet area on the first floor, the office area on the second floor often had company-raised cats roaming around.
Lin Shen was already used to this.
Petting cats had become one of the motivations for his daily work; after all, who could refuse an affectionate little kitty?
Isn't this much better than a girlfriend who constantly asks for money and picks fights?
Lin Shen laughed self-deprecatingly, feeling his resentment towards Gu Wanting ran quite deep.
At lunchtime, he ordered a light meal for delivery.
A weight-loss combo of broccoli + corn kernels + chicken breast + mashed purple sweet potato.
It tasted decent, not as hard to swallow as Lin Shen had imagined.
Five o'clock in the evening.
After finishing the day's work, Lin Shen waved goodbye to his colleagues but didn't leave.
Instead, he picked up his bag and headed to the fourth-floor gym.
Because it wasn't open to the public, there were fewer people, and the environment was quite peaceful.
This was perfect for a novice like Lin Shen, entering a gym for the first time.
But one thing made him extremely conflicted.
Only the two treadmills at the very end of the row were vacant, and they were separated!
Between them was a woman currently running, and people around seemed to be intentionally avoiding her.
Her high ponytail swayed, radiating vibrant energy, while her form-fitting sports tank top and yoga pants perfectly outlined her voluptuous and graceful figure.
Lin Shen recognized her.
Qin Yue Nan.
His direct supervisor, the Marketing Director