May 18th, Friday.
Shortly after 10 AM, Qiao Liang finally managed to struggle out of bed with great difficulty.
“My poor back…”
Qiao Liang groaned as he shuffled toward the bathroom to wash up.
His entire body’s muscles, especially those in his upper body, were unbearably sore. He felt like he could barely control his own body.
He hadn’t noticed before, but walking actually required so many upper body muscles—something he was now acutely aware of.
Yesterday’s training volume had definitely been enough.
Actually, before the workout, the game had led him through warm-up exercises; after training, it guided him through stretching; and during the session, it repeatedly reminded him to pace himself for his first workout. In the end, it even forced him to log off and rest.
But Qiao Liang hadn’t taken any of these warnings seriously because he felt fine.
Even when the game forced him to log off, he still felt he had energy to spare. Although tired, he thought he could probably handle another fifteen minutes of training.
The result? Today’s wake-up call from his aching muscles taught him a lesson.
However, the satisfaction he gained from completing the workout continued into today.
Previously, his daily routine had been irregular. He often stayed up late playing games and lacked exercise. Although his diet was guaranteed by Slackin’ takeout food, just eating well was far from enough.
Physical condition directly affects one’s mental state. After getting up today, Qiao Liang felt refreshed, and his mind seemed much clearer.
Just after finishing his morning routine, there was a knock at the door.
When Qiao Liang opened it, he saw two Headwind Logistics delivery men pulling a large box on a cart. Evidently, the Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack he had ordered last night had been delivered.
“Thank you both for your hard work. Please come in,” Qiao Liang quickly stepped aside to let the two delivery men enter.
He knew the Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack weighed over 200 kilograms. Although the delivery men surely earned a good commission for delivering such a large item, it was certainly hard work.
Even though Qiao Liang’s muscles were sore and it was difficult to move, he still forced himself to try to help.
“Please leave it to us, sir,” the two delivery men declined his offer and began unpacking at the doorway, preparing to install the equipment.
“Where would you like us to install it?” one delivery man asked Qiao Liang.
Qiao Liang had already thought about this and led them to an empty space in the living room. “Let’s put it here.”
The Binhu residential complex where he lived had originally been a development that couldn’t sell well due to its odd apartment layouts. His unit had a semi-circular floor-to-ceiling window with a view of the artificial lake outside.
After Liang Qingfan’s renovations, the semi-circular floor-to-ceiling window had been perfectly utilized, and the entire living room layout became much more reasonable with clear functional zones.
But because Sloth Apartments used a minimalist decorating style, there was still plenty of space to spare.
The spot Qiao Liang had chosen for the Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack had enough space, good lighting, and views of both the lake outside and the television in the living room—perfect.
The two delivery men clearly agreed with his choice of location and efficiently began taking parts out of the box to start assembly.
They had obviously received professional training and knew exactly which parts to take out first and which ones to use later. The entire installation process was quick and efficient.
Qiao Liang watched from the side, realizing it would be difficult for him to help even if he wanted to, so he simply enjoyed the convenient service.
In less than twenty minutes, the two delivery men had completely assembled the Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack.
They repeatedly tested the installation of various components, checking for any loose parts, before finally gathering all the packaging materials like bubble wrap and taking away the trash.
“If you have any issues, feel free to call customer service anytime,” the delivery man said.
Qiao Liang thanked them again and saw the two delivery men off.
He didn’t even have to throw away the box and garbage—the delivery men took all the waste with them. Compared to twenty minutes ago, his home now simply had one fully assembled Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack positioned perfectly.
“First, let me activate it and claim the gift package!”
Although Qiao Liang’s entire body was sore and it was a bit difficult to work out, he still plugged in the Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack and sat on it.
Since each Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack could activate a professional gift package containing various rare items, Qiao Liang was still thinking about those pretty skirts.
After logging into the game, his in-game character thoughtfully asked about his current physical condition, indirectly verifying whether yesterday’s training volume had been appropriate.
After Qiao Liang selected “full-body muscle soreness” and chose “6” on a scale of “1-10” based on how he felt, the game system automatically adjusted his training plan for the day, reducing the weights and number of sets, while also providing some dietary recommendations.
“That’s quite thoughtful.”
“It seems the project team responsible for developing this product includes people who truly understand fitness. The arrangements in all aspects are impeccable.”
Next, Qiao Liang connected his tablet to the Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack via Bluetooth.
Unlike his previous experience at Tuoguan Fitness, this time a activation prompt appeared directly on the screen: After binding his current account to this Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack, he could claim the gift package, limited to one time only. After activation, he could also activate the AEEIS artificial intelligence on the Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack to assist with daily workouts.
The Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack at Tuoguan Fitness was for public use, a display sample, so the AEEIS function had not been activated.
Seeing the name AEEIS, Qiao Liang instinctively felt a sense of crisis.
He had already experienced AEEIS’s sarcasm on the Fully Automated Smart Contradiction Machine. What would it be like if this thing appeared on the Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack as well?
But Qiao Liang was also curious. Since this device was called a “Smart” Fitness Clothesline Rack and came equipped with AEEIS artificial intelligence, he should at least try it out, right?
After completing all the preliminary work, Qiao Liang began the lucky draw.
Compared to the previous free lucky draws, this one’s quality had clearly increased by more than one level. Everything he drew was not ordinary items but rather expensive ones from the mall.
Among them was a small skirt that Qiao Liang had seen and liked yesterday while browsing the mall, which delighted him.
After finishing the lucky draw, Qiao Liang prepared to log off.
Because yesterday’s exercise had already met his quota, and now his upper body muscles were very sore, making it difficult to continue training.
Exercises like chest flys and back pulls weren’t completely impossible, but they certainly wouldn’t be performed very precisely, and the training effect might not be guaranteed.
So Qiao Liang decided to rest thoroughly for the next couple of days. He could always resume training after recovering.
However, when he clicked the exit button, the usual confirmation box didn’t appear.
An emotionless electronic voice came from above his head: “Yesterday you were all excited and ignored repeated reminders to rest. Today you’ve lost your spirit and want to run off after just claiming a reward?”
The sudden voice nearly made Qiao Liang fall over.
AEEIS’s voice wasn’t coming from his phone, but from the small speaker built into the Smart Fitness Clothesline Rack. It was like someone suddenly speaking right beside him—quite startling the first time.
Of course, he would probably get used to it.
Qiao Liang never expected that this AEEIS, having changed hosts from the automatic contradiction machine, would still retain its argumentative nature.
Obviously, this was AEEIS’s response after binding to his game account and analyzing his game data.
In “Fitness Battle,” there was a fitness schedule where the game arranged fitness tasks for players, adjusting these tasks based on the player’s actual situation.
At the same time, detailed records were kept of how many days a week the player exercised, how many hours a day, which exercises were performed, and so on. All this provided data support for AEEIS.
Qiao Liang had exercised until forced to log off yesterday, but today he had just logged in to claim a reward before trying to log off. This abnormal behavior had obviously caught AEEIS’s attention.
Although he knew he was talking to artificial intelligence, Qiao Liang instinctively replied, “My muscles are sore all over. I can’t work out!”
He spoke very assertively because his muscles truly were very sore.
AEEIS: “According to the schedule, most of yesterday’s training volume was focused on the upper body, mainly the chest, back, and arms.”
“Today’s schedule mainly focuses on legs and core, and the training volume has been adjusted according to your physical condition. Please don’t waste a valuable training day.”
Qiao Liang was momentarily speechless: “This…”