Looking at the time on her phone, which already showed 9:06, Zoe Carter closed her eyes and fell into contemplation. She always felt like she had received too much information after waking up, causing her thoughts to become somewhat chaotic.
Anyway, she definitely couldn't go to the hospital now. The changes in her body had reached a somewhat disturbing level. Whether this was some new type of disease that had never appeared before, or someone made her take super-steroid drugs, or as she speculated, an extraordinary event, it was not suitable for anyone other than herself to know.
She didn't want to be detained and studied in the name of protection, even though the possibility was slim; she absolutely did not want to take that risk.
This was a normal reaction for a person who had become special after being normal. It wasn't like becoming special meant immediately looking down on others; that was something from brainless novels.
Preserving oneself was the most basic principle.
Moreover, Zoe's uniqueness currently only manifested in a slight change in appearance, without any power to support an attitude of looking down on others. However, looking at her significantly different physique, a hint of curiosity and excitement couldn't help but appear on Zoe's face.
Now her. The changes shouldn't just stop at appearance, right? Those extra lines and sleek muscles couldn't all just be for show, could they?
People always fantasized about strength. Zoe was no exception. She was curious about her current limits. Moreover, as an adult with mature mentality and logical thinking ability, Zoe urgently wanted to understand all the changes that had occurred on her body up to this point as clearly as possible.
It would be best to record them for easy reference at any time. This had significant implications for future planning.
Of course, the place of recording also needed to be considered carefully. There are foreign news speaking negatively of the government regarding the violation of intruding its people's data privacy, public monitoring cameras and so on.
Contemplating, Zoe took out an old phone from the drawer of the computer desk, charged it, and turned it on. Then she removed the unused SIM card and turned off all networking functions. Then remove electronic devices inside her Faraday cage that she made as a science project in high school (as some sort of bunker against nuclear fallout), cover each side with clothing and locked herself inside with a light turning on from a lighter.
Faraday cages are commonly used in various applications, including shielding sensitive electronic equipment from electromagnetic interference (EMI), protecting against lightning strikes, and even in buildings to provide protection from electromagnetic radiation.
She even used a Flipper Zero to check if she was receiving external signals or any electromagnetic interferences.
In doing so, this cage and her phone became a disconnected information island.
After completing these tasks, she opened the notepad on the phone, turned on restrict data usage, cleared data in the app's settings, and then reopened the app. She created a new memo and titled it "Web Novel Creative Ideas". Then, she began recording in "Web Novel Creative Ideas".
[Current Situation Summary]
[Height (CM): 173-175]
[Weight (KG): 66-80]
[Cavities, skin, hair, nails have all been renewed, no replacement substances found.]
[Specific body data: ······ (to be measured)]
[Strength: ······ (waiting for instrument to arrive for measurement)]
[Speed: ······ (waiting for instrument to arrive for measurement)]
[Endurance: ······ (to be measured)]
[Suspected direct cause of change: twenty hours of sleep]
[Suspected fundamental cause of change: yet to be discovered]
After writing this, Zoe took out a ruler. For data such as chest circumference, waist circumference, hip circumference, height, weight, etc., she quickly measured and recorded them in the specific body data section.
For tests like strength and speed, it's currently difficult to be precise. Compared to going to places like the gym, Zoe prefers to purchase a set of equipment online for testing. This can help her avoid social activities as much as possible.
After all, her own special changes mean that reducing socializing will keep her safe.
For her, a web novelist by profession, this is actually not difficult to achieve. She's also a patient woman by nature. So, precise testing of strength and speed is temporarily postponed. However, she simply tries to lift the solid verawood table at home.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
In the past, it was difficult for her to lift it with both hands. Now she only needs one hand, and it doesn't feel too difficult. Lifting the table made of verawood with one hand is similar to the feeling of previously lifting more than twenty bottles of mineral water with one hand.
This hasn't reached the human limit, but it's considered a qualitative leap for her. As for a rough test of speed, it's not feasible in the room, so she's skip it for now. But when she has time to go out later, she can try running a few steps.
After doing all this, Zoe puts down her old phone. Excitement glimmers in her eyes.
Next up is the main event: the physical fitness test. She's genuinely curious about the limits of her current physique.
Thinking like this, she immediately gets down on the ground and starts doing push-ups in a non-standard posture. Being a homebody who never exercises, she doesn't have a professional sports posture. However, what she knows is that in the past, doing ten non-standard push-ups would make her sore, and pushing to twenty-five would be her limit.
And indeed, as she expected. When she reached twenty-five, she felt nothing. Not to mention reaching her limit, she didn't even feel the soreness that should have appeared long ago.
Moonlight seeped through the window, spilling onto Zoe's naked body, which was steadily rising and falling.
Time seemed to slow down at this moment. Before long, after completing two hundred push-ups without feeling anything, Zoe silently stood up. With a body that seemed to have no energy expenditure, Zoe's eyes sparkled. There was no feeling of fatigue, let alone sweating.
It seemed like the recent exercise was as simple as breathing. This level of strength far exceeded her past self. Indeed, the changes in her body were not just superficial; the core was where the real change lay.
So, where was her limit? Contemplating this, Zoe opened her computer and began searching for the correct posture and tutorials for standard push-ups. In order to avoid injury during exploration of her limits and to consume energy more scientifically, Zoe chose to learn the standard push-up posture.
The starting position for a standard push-up is hands shoulder-width apart, fingers facing forward, and arms perpendicular to the ground.
Legs together, knees straight, and buttocks tight. The body forms a straight line, with the head, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles all in line.
Then, with controlled descent to the bottom, keeping the forearms as vertical as possible throughout, and maintaining a straight body line.
Inhale at the bottom, for about 2 seconds. Rise back to the starting position, exhaling for one second at the top.
The entire standard push-up isn't difficult. After deliberately studying instructional videos, Zoe immediately grasped the essentials. Then, she eagerly began doing standard push-ups right next to her computer.
Normally taking about five seconds each, Zoe slightly accelerated, doing them continuously for ten minutes before feeling exhausted. A total of 1200 standard push-ups, not one less. And all done without breaks, with consistent intervals. She was like a machine, tirelessly doing 1200 push-ups.
Though this quantity and frequency were still within the range of human capability, it was something many well-trained individuals couldn't achieve. For Zoe, it was a complete unbelievable transformation even for those that take super steroids. And this was just exhaustion, not her limit.
Zoe then managed another four hundred and eighty push-ups. Due to exhaustion, the form of these four hundred and eighty push-ups gradually deteriorated, and it became difficult to complete each one in a fixed time. It took almost six minutes to finish.
After completing all this, Zoe collapsed on the ground, not wanting to get up for a while. Muscles in her triceps, biceps, deltoids, obliques, and pectorals sent waves of soreness.
The frequency and intensity of her breathing increased significantly. Just when she thought she would lie on the ground for a while, she suddenly felt a refreshing sensation as if a gentle rain had fallen all over her body.
The soreness in her triceps, biceps, deltoids, obliques, and pectorals began to dissipate at an astonishing speed. The intensity of her breathing also calmed down.
In less than ten seconds, Zoe no longer felt any fatigue or soreness throughout her body. It was as if she hadn't just exercised intensely. This kind of extraordinary physical recovery ability was nearly supernatural. Even after she stood up as if nothing had happened, Zoe still couldn't calm her mind for a long time.
Such physical recovery... was simply monstrous!
If her performance in other aspects was still within the range of human capabilities, then this exaggerated physical endurance and recovery was completely beyond human limits. This ability would allow Zoe to sprint marathons, and after each sprint to complete exhaustion, she would only need ten seconds of rest to sprint again. It was akin to cheating to sprint the entire marathon without stopping, which was tantamount to cheating.
Such an exaggerated physical recovery ability was beyond human comprehension.
The consumption and recovery of physical energy is an extremely complex process, involving a series of physiological processes and mechanisms. But fundamentally, the essence of physical consumption is the depletion of energy reserves, while physical recovery is the replenishment of energy reserves.
Zoe deeply understood that her exaggerated physical recovery performance could not be separated from complex energy circulation. And with this realization, Zoe became aware of a serious problem.
After a full day of traveling from Hamilton Province to here yesterday, she hadn't eaten anything for convenience.
After sleeping for twenty hours until now, she still hadn't eaten anything. In other words, it had been nearly fifty hours since she last ate anything. Yet she didn't feel hungry at all. Without any external energy supplementation, she had gained so much muscle out of thin air, and had done so much exercise.
Where did the energy for such rapid physical recovery come from?
In silence, Zoe realized she had discovered a serious problem.
Did she still need to eat now? If not, where did she get energy from to replenish herself?
Did she need to try eating something in the future? The more she thought about it, the more doubts arose in Zoe's mind.
After waking up from a twenty-hour sleep, she was bombarded with too many questions, causing even the usually calm Zoe to feel overwhelmed.
All that was left in her mind was confusion. It was truly a problem she had never been taught how to deal with. This was a completely new field. Unlike school, where there were textbooks to guide gradual learning, and teachers to instruct. Now, facing her familiar yet unfamiliar body, all she could do was feel her way through it like crossing a river by feeling the stones.
Reason told her that she couldn't treat her bodily changes lightly. She had to observe, experiment, and summarize them with a rigorous attitude in utmost secrecy. Only after understanding what was happening to her body step by step, could she try to make use and sense of it.