Evolving infinitely from ground zero

It took a few days of wandering around the mall.

In the end, Lin Zichen successfully found an old man to act as his personal shopper.

This old man was a local landlord, owning several properties for rent. On his days off, he'd stroll through the mall in his boxer shorts and flip-flops, helping to tidy tables or dig through trash bins for empty bottles to sell.

He wasn't short of money, but he just liked collecting trash to save up.

Every time he found an empty bottle, he felt an immense satisfaction, elated to the point of bliss.

All Lin Zichen had to do was tell the old man that all the empty bottles from his house would be his, and the old man happily agreed to help him with the purchases.

With the personal shopper settled,

the thirty thousand yuan he had was quickly spent.

All on devouring Phantom Squid Meat, consuming thirty jin in a row, directly boosting the progress of the Phantom Squid album to 33%.

...

In the half month of summer vacation that followed,

Lin Zichen trained every day, working out three times a day: morning, noon, and evening. Each session was intense.

During breaks, he'd call Shen Qinghan out from her home to help her train her body.

Days passed by one after another.

When the summer vacation ended and the moment to step into the second year of junior high arrived,

Lin Zichen's Biological Level broke through.

He successfully went from a regular Third Order to a regular Fourth Order.

At the same time, all his physical data improved tremendously.

He could easily lift a weight of 1090 kg with one hand.

His vertical jump from a standstill reached 5.65 meters.

And his 100-meter sprint took just 4.49 seconds.

However, upon closer examination, one could see that the improvement in these three data points wasn't as exaggerated as the previous two evolutions, which had doubled or quadrupled.

Lin Zichen could understand this. After all, it gets harder to strengthen the body as it improves, and the scale of improvement couldn't always be in multiples, as it also depended on the original figures.

Take strength, for instance.

Increasing from 100 kg to 400 kg, the value quadrupled.

But going from 400 kg to 800 kg, it merely doubled.

Yet, the latter's improvement was clearly larger, with an additional 100 kg gained.

"Before, I thought that reaching a regular Fourth Order before graduating junior high would be an achievement, but now, only in the second year, I've already made it. It seems I underestimated myself..."

Lin Zichen thought to himself with a smile.

...

Time flew by, and two years passed in the blink of an eye.

Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan had both completed their middle school exams and successfully graduated from the junior division of Shanhai High School.

On the day of graduation, both sets of parents found time to attend their children's ceremony.

"Come on, you two, get closer, and give me a brighter smile!"

Zhang Wanxin, as always, was in charge of taking a joint photo of this pair of childhood sweethearts, capturing their growth at each school age with photographs.

While they posed for the photo, many girls around them were watching.

Seeing Shen Qinghan clinging to Lin Zichen, the onlooking girls were all brimming with envy, wishing they could pull Shen Qinghan away and take her place next to Lin Zichen.

Feeling the envious gazes of her peers, Shen Qinghan felt incredibly elated, believing she was the happiest girl in the world.

Almost half an hour passed.

The photo session ended.

Lin Zichen looked down at Shen Qinghan beside him and realized that without noticing, he had almost grown a head taller than her.

Shen Qinghan noticed his gaze and immediately turned to him, lifting her incredibly beautiful face, her eyes shimmering, and she asked,

"Why are you staring at the top of my head, is there something stuck there?"

"No, I just suddenly realized I'm almost a head taller than you."

"Don't talk nonsense, how can it be a whole head, we just measured our heights a few days ago; you're 1.78 meters, I'm 1.62 meters, it's only a difference of 16 centimeters. A head's difference has to be at least 20 centimeters."

Shen Qinghan pursed her rosy lips slightly, showing her dissatisfaction with Lin Zichen's imprecise wording.

As the height difference between them grew larger, she became very conscious of her own height, not even a centimeter could be discounted.

Lin Zichen corrected, "Don't be in such a rush, I said I'm almost a head taller than you, don't ignore the word 'almost'."

Shen Qinghan pouted, "I don't care, even 'almost' is not okay, it must be precise to the centimeter!"

After saying this, she looked at the widening height gap between herself and Lin Zichen and couldn't help worrying, "You're nearly 1.8 meters now, if you continue to grow after entering high school, I'll have to stand on my tiptoes to wipe the sweat off your face."

"You're overthinking it, you're so short that standing on tiptoes won't be enough to reach me anyway, you'd at least have to stand on a chair."

Lin Zichen reached out to pat her head, teasing her.

"Ah, that's right!" Shen Qinghan glared at him annoyed, "In a few more years, I'll be so short I'll have to jump to hit your knee!"

Zhang Wanxin watched the two of them with an auntie's smile and said, "It's fine, Han Han, if standing on tiptoes is still not enough, you can just let Xiao Chen pick you up, then you'll be able to wipe the sweat from his face."

"Aunt Xin, you're teasing me again~" Suddenly being made fun of by Zhang Wanxin, Shen Qinghan's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

Lin Zichen, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind and just smiled without saying anything.

But now that he thought about it, it had been a long time since he had held Shen Qinghan.

In kindergarten, he used to hold her often; during nap times at school, Shen Qinghan liked to crawl into his blanket and hold him while they slept, and over three years, she had peed on him almost 100 times.

In elementary school, he had only carried her a few times, but he carried her on his back quite frequently.

During the three years of middle school, he only held her when they encountered trouble from the Heretical Sect, and hadn't held her since.

It could only be said that ultimately they had grown up.

Their physiological differences became increasingly pronounced, and their secondary sexual characteristics became more apparent, making physical contact with the opposite sex more sensitive.

Out of various considerations, they couldn't casually hug and hold each other like they did when they were younger.

...

Half a month later.

The results of the middle school exams were released.

As everyone expected, Lin Zichen secured the first place in the district.

Whether it was the cultural subjects or the physical fitness data needed for the Martial Arts Class application, he was the absolute first in the district.

Actually, he could have been the first in the entire city, but he thought it would be better to keep a low profile; being district number one was enough.

For Shen Qinghan, there was an unexpected turn.

She performed exceptionally well in cultural subjects, going above and beyond to rank within the top hundred in the district, more than enough to advance to Shanhai High School's high school division.

However, her physical fitness data fell short of the admission score for the Martial Arts top class at Shanhai High School, missing it by over ten points; that was a significant margin.

"Xiao Chen, I've been training so hard, but my physical fitness scores just won't improve, I feel as if I'm not suited for martial arts."

Shen Qinghan lay on her bed with her right arm covering her eyes, looking utterly disheartened.

Lin Zichen sat beside her bed, comforting her, "Don't lose confidence in yourself, you just didn't get into the top class, that's all. You're already better than many people, and you're still young, just 15 years old. Your body hasn't fully developed yet, you still have a lot of potential."

"What do you mean I'm still young, you're only a day older than me, why do you say it as if you could be my dad?" Shen Qinghan couldn't help but retort.

Lin Zichen teased with a smile, "I wouldn't mind being your dad."

"Ah, you're so annoying, I'm already so heartbroken, and you're still joking around with me!"

Shen Qinghan lightly hit Lin Zichen, but didn't put much force into it, like the playful banter between a couple.

After that, she quickly added with a defeated tone, "Even though our bodies haven't fully developed, your physical fitness scores are way better than mine. Compared to you, I feel like a useless homebody."

Lin Zichen was about to console her when his phone suddenly rang in his pocket.

It was a call from Zhang Wanxin.

Upon answering, he learned that the principal of the high school division of Shanhai High School was at his home, making a special visit to this district's number one prodigy and academic star.

The purpose of the visit was to ensure he would proceed to Shanhai High School's high school division, instead of being secretly poached by another high school.

After hanging up, Lin Zichen turned to Shen Qinghan on the bed and said, "Qinghan, the principal of the high school division is at our place, come with me to meet him."

"I don't feel like going..." Shen Qinghan was in a low mood and just wanted to stay quietly in her room.

Lin Zichen spoke gently, trying to persuade her, "Still, come with me. Greet the principal, let him get to know you, so when school starts we can continue being classmates and desk-mates."

Upon hearing this, Shen Qinghan pressed her lips together and reluctantly got up from the bed, following Lin Zichen to meet the principal of the high school division.

After all, with her ordinary physical fitness data, there was no way she could get into the Martial Arts top class of the high school division.

If she wanted to remain in the same class as Lin Zichen, she would have to use her relationship with Lin Zichen like during the transition from elementary to middle school, taking advantage as a beneficiary of favoritism.

...

PS: Bowls out, seeking monthly tickets, recommendation tickets!