Gene Unlocking: I Evolve Every Day

Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Nathan’s Hot Dog Challenge

Three or four days passed quickly.

During these days, Lu Li was so busy with the preliminary work for the live-streaming sales that he was overwhelmed.

Forget about finding a new lottery store to earn extra money.

Sometimes he was so busy that he couldn’t even have a proper meal.

Luckily, after finishing today’s work, tomorrow is Sunday and he can rest.

Yeah, today is Saturday, which should be a day off, but due to the adjustment for the May Day holiday, we only have Sunday off this week.

In the early morning, he was awakened by the alarm clock, as usual.

With a splitting headache, Lu Li reached for his phone to turn off the annoying alarm.

These past two nights, he continued to dream about the Little Golden Man manipulating light.

Unlike the previous two times, this time the light manipulated by the Little Golden Man not only concentrated at the eyes but most of it gathered around the abdomen.

Lu Li never thought about actively evolving any of his internal organs, so he always felt a bit strange whenever he had this dream, not understanding what was going on.

He generally wouldn’t overthink things he couldn’t figure out, as that would make life too exhausting.

Just as he grabbed the phone, Lu Li groggily tapped on the screen.

As a result, he didn’t know whether it was because this phone had been used for too long,

or if maybe every day his evolving strength had increased a lot.

With this press, the phone immediately emitted a soft ”crack” sound, and cracks appeared on the glass screen.

Although it was still barely usable, Lu Li was instantly wide awake.

”Damn it!”

He looked at the phone, speechless, ”I didn’t manage to earn extra money these past few days, and now I’ve broken my phone. No way, I only have a little over three thousand left in my pocket. If I buy another phone, I won’t have much money left. Tomorrow’s my day off, I must find a new lottery store to earn some extra cash.”

He couldn’t continue to just lie flat.

Yawning, Lu Li got out of bed, secretly pondering, ”I don’t know what’s going on recently, but every day after waking up, my back hurts so much.”

He really thought it was quite strange.

According to that pseudoscientific blogger, after unlocking his genetic lock, he was supposedly evolving imperceptibly every day, and his body should be getting stronger.

Why was he still exhausted every day?

Of course, he could confirm that his body was evolving daily.

Yesterday, his one-millimeter X-ray vision successfully evolved to two millimeters.

Moreover, he discovered a new function of the X-ray vision, which is that it can be turned on and off at will.

This was evidence of continuous evolution.

Additionally, Lu Li sensed that his vision, hearing, perception, and physical strength seemed to improve slightly every day.

For instance, his hearing now allowed him to overhear the woman named Zhang Xiaoxiao across the hall and her girlfriends having normal-volume phone conversations through two closed doors at night.

Yeah, very explicit and thrilling.

As for how much his strength had increased, that was unknown for now as there was no professional equipment to test it.

Evolution was happening every day, no doubt.

Then why was his body so tired?

Thinking about this, Lu Li went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.

Suddenly, he noticed in the makeup mirror that his face seemed a lot thinner.

”Huh?”

Lu Li stared at the mirror, slightly surprised, ”Why have I lost so much weight? Recently, my appetite has clearly increased. I used to have two buns for breakfast, now it’s gone up to five, and I still feel hungry, the same goes for lunch and dinner. Logically, I should have gained weight, or at least not gotten thinner. What’s going on?”

As he thought about food again, his stomach grumbled.

His stomach had been strange recently; its digestion seemed particularly strong.

Whatever he ate, it was almost completely digested the moment he swallowed it.

Because of this, sometimes not long after starting work in the morning, he would be unbearably hungry, needing to sneak out to buy food.

Once, he was almost caught by Manager Wang.

Luckily, he quickly thought on his feet and said he was checking the preparation of livestream equipment to get away with it.

The hunger was a bit overwhelming.

Lu Li hurriedly washed up.

Went downstairs.

Bought six buns.

Ate them all at once.

Only then did Lu Li feel a bit better.

Just like everyday, he stood at the bus stop waiting for the bus.

Suddenly, two young men and women wearing green armbands with a string of English written on them came over.

”Miss, we’re holding the Nathan’s Hot Dog Challenge at half-past five this afternoon. Registration is free, want to join us?”

The young man holding a flyer asked a very fat woman.

The fat woman waved her hand, not speaking.

The two continued to ask others.

”Hey handsome, won’t you join...?”

”The first prize is three thousand US dollars...”

Soon, the young man and woman came up to Lu Li.

The young man glanced at Lu Li, thinking he was too skinny, and didn’t intend to ask whether he wanted to join, just walking straight past him.

The girl with the braided hair was about to leave as well, but then her peripheral vision caught Lu Li’s face, and she brightened up instantly, stopping in her tracks.

Feigning interest, the girl picked up a flyer and a registration book and asked, ”Hey handsome, at 5:30 this afternoon, there’s a Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest here. Want to join?”

5:30?

Free registration?

If there’s no overtime, this should work perfectly.

If there is overtime and he can’t make it, it’s no big loss.

Lu Li blinked; aiming for the top places in a big eater contest seemed a bit out of reach.

But since registration is free, getting a free dinner isn’t a problem.

Because he hadn’t found a new lottery store to earn some extra cash recently, even though he still had over three thousand yuan, he instinctively started to tighten his budget, thinking he could save wherever possible.

”Alright, sign me up.”

Lu Li nodded and agreed.

The girl with the braided hair quickly picked up the registration book, ”Alright handsome, please give me your ID for registration. Once I’ve got you registered, you can enter with your ID at the event time.”

While speaking, she pointed to a red tent set up not far away, telling Lu Li it was the competition venue.

Lu Li registered his ID with her.

The girl with the braided hair originally wanted to explain the rules.

But then the bus arrived just in time.

Lu Li didn’t have time to listen carefully, took the flyer casually, and got on the bus, planning to read it later when he had time.

Well, it didn’t really matter if he read it or not; he was just thinking about getting a free dinner.

...

At the company.

These days Lu Li no longer did much copywriting work; he was busy setting up a live streaming room every day.

The manufacturer was temporarily settled and would be met on Monday next week.

Also, they had found candidates for signing contracts with streamers, planning to meet and discuss the contract on the same day.

Manager Wang hadn’t arrived yet.

The colleagues were chatting freely.

”Hey, did you guys hear?”

”What?”

”I’ve heard that Zhen Qiang from the neighboring department had an affair, got caught by his wife and brother-in-law at a hotel room, and was beaten up. Now they’re getting a divorce...”

A group was gossiping over there.

Lu Li opened his computer, intending to get the pre-work done first.

The pretty Xiaoqing approached his desk to chat, ”Xiaolu, do you have anything going on tomorrow?”

Perhaps because he got more handsome, this woman has been intentionally chatting with him recently.

Honestly, Lu Li hadn’t been with a woman for years and was a bit desperate.

Besides, Xiaoqing was quite pretty; he had some thoughts.

He just had been too busy recently to try his luck.

He looked up at Xiaoqing, whose makeup was delicately done, and half-jokingly said, ”Shouldn’t have anything going on, why, asking me out?”

Xiaoqing’s face turned red instantly and she retorted, ”Don’t talk nonsense, everyone’s listening. I remember you’re good with computers, and my home computer’s been having some issues. If you’re free tomorrow, could you help take a look?”

It was obviously just an excuse.

Clearly, she was asking him out.

Though Lu Li wanted a girlfriend as beautiful as President Liu’s, he knew there wasn’t much hope, so he might as well develop something more likely.

He was about to agree, ”Tomorrow I’ll get up and...”

Before he could finish, Xiaoqing noticed the flyer on his desk.

She exclaimed, ”Xiaolu, are you going to participate in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest?”

”Huh?”

”Xiaolu is joining a big eater contest?”

”Whoa, really, you’re so skinny, and you’re joining a big eater contest?”

Brother Cheng, Xiaomei, and other colleagues all looked at Lu Li.

Lu Li couldn’t possibly say he just wanted a free dinner, right?

That’d be too embarrassing.

He answered vaguely, ”Yeah, I heard Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest is pretty fun abroad, and since it’s opening an overseas division this time, I thought I’d go take a look. Winning or not doesn’t matter as much as participating.”

Brother Cheng immediately got interested, ”Alright, since I’m free after work today, I’ll go watch your competition.”

Xiaoqing already had some interest in Lu Li, and now hearing Brother Cheng was going, she immediately added, ”I’ll go too.”

”Haha, I happen to live nearby.”

”You guys go, I have to visit my mother-in-law later.”

”Old Zhu, you’re really no fun, Xiaolu’s joining such an interesting contest, we have to support him, don’t we?”

The colleagues started chattering noisily, with many expressing they’d go watch.

Lu Li was left speechless, he originally just wanted a free dinner, how come it now seemed like a serious competition?

He considered how so many colleagues were going to watch him compete tonight; if he failed, wouldn’t they laugh at him?

Did that mean he had no choice but to win tonight?

Lu Li couldn’t help but look down at his slender figure, thinking that winning was a bit of a pipe dream.