Chapter 184 - 135: Appendix and Argentaffin Cells

"A world record for grip strength?"

"This... this... That’s amazing!" Wu Fang stared at the notification that popped up on her phone screen, then curiously tapped into the official GM150 leaderboard.

Sure enough, a brand-new grip strength record had appeared in the No. 1 spot.

The name on the record was ChenJue, followed by a national flag and a value of 177.12 KG.

However, because the video evidence hadn’t been uploaded yet, the record was still in a review state, marked with an asterisk, and hadn’t been publicly announced.

"Looks like I’ll have to trouble you with editing the video later!" Chen Jue said with a grin, leaning over.

The GM150 Grip Strengthener leaderboard is currently the most authoritative in the world. Besides needing to buy the corresponding grip strengthener, you also have to go through real-name verification and a video review of the grip attempt.

This rule was put in place to identify fakes, as there are countless ways to cheat and get a high reading on the device.

The timer on the grip strengthener has to match the time recorded by the app and the time in the video footage to ensure the leaderboard’s authenticity.

"Brother Jue! This is a world record!"

"How come you’re not excited at all?" It took Wu Fang a long time to recover from her shock. She stared at Chen Jue, sizing him up curiously.

Chen Jue just waved his hand. He didn’t mention that he had used three layers of buffs and patiently explained, "It’s just a niche record in an obscure category, not much different from the Stone Skimming world record before."

"Not many people pay attention to it. It’s just something fun to put in the vlog for the fans."

Seeing Chen Jue’s calm expression, Wu Fang was completely won over.

’This man before me,’ she thought, ’in terms of both his magnanimity and his state of mind, is someone I admire to no end.’

Calm in his dealings, unruffled by major events—this composure alone put him far above any man she had ever met.

Of course, the reason Chen Jue wasn’t that excited was that he had achieved this world record through a clever trick.

If he could normally grip 177.12 KG, he would definitely be more excited than he was now.

...

Since it was a vlog video, it didn’t require any special effects editing—just trimming and adding some simple background music.

Wu Fang also handily uploaded the record video to the official GM150 app. The whole process took less than 10 minutes, and the No. 1 leaderboard record was approved.

Anyone who paid close attention to the grip strength leaderboard would discover that a bright red flag had inexplicably appeared in the top ten, which had previously been dominated by foreign athletes.

Like Sun Wukong bursting forth from the stone, it was earth-shattering! It left all the athletes in the grip strength community completely stunned!

The previous world record holder had only managed 164.9 kg. With this new record, Chen Jue had raised the upper limit of human grip strength by a full 12 KG.

This wasn’t just a narrow victory; it was a complete curb stomp.

Such a massive gap in Strength would take the 8 billion people on Earth years, or even decades, to surpass.

But the biggest reaction was to the vlog video Chen Jue had just posted to his Brother of Special Skills account.

Since the morning workout was quite long, the raw footage was a bit overlong. Chen Jue had specifically asked Wu Fang to help him edit the video down.

It only showed him drawing the bow to train his strength, doing inverted Russian Push-ups, and finally, the moment he broke the grip strength world record. The entire video was less than 8 minutes long.

After casually titling it [Daily Training Vlog] and publishing it online, Chen Jue went to eat with Wu Fang.

By the time he got back to his apartment, gathered his textbooks, and went to attend his lecture at Jiang University, the [Daily Training Vlog] had already surpassed one million views, with over a hundred thousand likes and comments.

The comment section and bullet comments below were exploding, as netizens from all over gathered to drop jokes and hot takes.

"First! (Sofa)"

"How come it’s updated on a Friday? (Curious)"

"HOLY SHIT! I recognize that black Qilin Bow! It’s the 120-pound treasure of the shop from @WubeiAhjie’s place! Brother of Special Skills uses this for his regular strength training? Barely anyone online can draw that bow (Insane)"

"A 120-pound Hard Bow! In ancient times, he’d absolutely be a top-tier archer (Amazing)"

"What kind of arm strength is this! He drew it over a hundred times without his muscles getting sore? Brother of Special Skills, did you swallow some kind of perpetual motion machine? (I bow down)"

"A master is a master! He can just casually use one of the five god-tier skills of Street Fitness for daily training (Crying with envy)"

"That Russian Push-up is so perfect, and he’s even doing it on grass! His balance and explosive power are definitely world-class (Thumbs up)"

These were the comments on the first half of the vlog. After seeing him casually break a world record for grip strength in the latter half, the style of the bullet comments suddenly shifted, and a dense flood of "High-energy warning ahead" started scrolling by.

The comment section below erupted as if water had been thrown on a grease fire!

"HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT!"

"177.12 KG grip strength (Eyes wide). Can any expert explain what level of grip this is?"

"To the guy above me, it’s the level where he could easily crush your hand bones with a handshake (Facepalm)"

"Just checked the grip strength leaderboard. No. 1 really did change, and the numbers match up (Badass)"

"A full 12 kg ahead of second place (Insane). All I can say is everyone else here is trash (Eldest Bro of the Hand-Breaking Style)"

"I thought this was ’daily training’? Brother of Special Skills just casually broke another world record for our entertainment (Husky.JPG)"

"The top ten on the grip strength leaderboard were all foreigners, and Brother of Special Skills just dropped in at number one (I’m losing my mind)"

"So Brother of Special Skills’s real name is ChenJue??? (Shiba.JPG)"

"The former grip strength master is probably shaking in his boots right now @LeiHengGripStrength"

"The craziest part is he tested both hands, and his left hand could also casually take first place in the world (Facepalm)"

"So the only one who can surpass Brother of Special Skills is himself (Laughing-crying)"

"Huaxia grip strength awaits your instruction (Embroidering with a Flying Needle)"

...

Since it was Friday morning, quite a few people were slacking off online, and the vlog’s popularity skyrocketed.

In less than half an hour, the phrase "Brother of Special Skills Breaks World Grip Strength Record" was trending.

In the sports world, breaking a world record was a major event that brought glory to the country, so it was widely known. Most netizens would click on it to take a look.

Furthermore, as Brother of Special Skills was a top-tier internet celebrity at the moment, his follower count and view count began to shoot up again as soon as he started trending.

Most importantly, Brother of Special Skills was not a registered athlete but an internet celebrity with a hidden identity.

The fact that someone from outside the sports world had accidentally broken the world record for grip strength was like a hidden master from the common folk accidentally taking first place and winning the gold medal at a competition. It hit all the right notes for the gossip-loving netizens.

What does it mean when they say masters are hidden among the people?

Brother of Special Skills was a perfect example!

He’d broken a world record, becoming number one in human grip strength today. This wasn’t just some ordinary master; this was some damn extraterrestrial-level being!

On top of that, a slew of video bloggers and major internet personalities chasing trends began to popularize the benefits of grip training, claiming it could prevent occupational diseases like tenosynovitis.

As a result, while his follower and view counts exploded, the search volume for the Qilin Bow and the GM150 Grip Strengthener that Chen Jue had featured also blew up.

You have to understand, grip strengtheners were originally a very niche piece of exercise equipment. Most people had never even heard of them, let alone seen one.

But now, driven by the popularity of Brother of Special Skills’s record-breaking feat, grip strengtheners on Taobao, Jingdong, and Pinduoduo were selling out.

Various manufacturers were sending private messages to Chen Jue, wanting him, the world’s No. 1, to endorse their products or at least post a sales link.

Chen Jue was currently in his human anatomy class and ignored the flood of private messages in his video’s backend. It was only when he saw a thank you message from Wubei Ahjie with a (fist-and-palm salute) emoji that he replied with a (grinning) emoji.

...

This human anatomy lecture was about the appendix. Coincidentally, Chen Jue had chronic appendicitis. Although it hadn’t flared up in a long time, he still decided to listen more carefully since it concerned his own condition.

"The appendix is a thin, long, curved, blind-ended tube. Because its shape resembles an earthworm and it is a projection near the junction of the small and large intestines, it is also called the vermiform process."

"It’s located in the lower right part of our abdomen. If you press down firmly on this area and feel unusual pain, it indicates that the appendix is inflamed."

"Any students who have had appendicitis can raise their hands, let me see!"

The lecturer was the female teacher, Teacher Liu. She was a patient speaker and actively interacted with the students in the classroom.

Seeing a large number of hands go up—at least a dozen students in the class had suffered from appendicitis—Teacher Liu smiled and continued her Introduction, "In early clinical medicine, the appendix was considered a useless, vestigial organ, much like the Tailbone or the auricular muscles in our bodies. It was seen as a degenerated tissue with no normal digestive function. Therefore, the treatment for appendicitis was often a simple and crude surgical removal."

"However, modern research has shown that the appendix plays a very important role in maintaining intestinal microbes and in the body’s immunity."

"It acts as a ’safe house’ for our body’s intestinal flora and microorganisms, providing support for bacterial growth. At the same time, structurally, the appendix is also a highly immunological organ, rich in immune cells like macrophages, T-lymphocytes, and B-lymphocytes."

"However, the immune properties of the appendix exhibit a very clear age-related decline. Its immune capacity is very strong from infancy to adolescence, but after reaching adulthood, its immune function rapidly declines to a negligible level."

"So, students, if you have appendicitis or have already had an appendectomy, you don’t need to worry too much. The impact on our bodies is almost negligible."

Hearing the professor say this, the students who had raised their hands earlier all breathed a sigh of relief.

This was the first time Chen Jue had heard that the appendix’s function was related to immunity. He began taking notes seriously, planning to use [Designated Points] on his appendix once he had accumulated enough Free Attribute points to get rid of his chronic inflammation.

As for Teacher Liu on the stage, after reassuring the students, her tone shifted as she said, "Moreover, removing the appendix does have certain benefits! This is because the deep mucosal layer of the appendix is rich in [argentaffin cells]. These are a special type of cell classified as APUD, widely distributed throughout our body’s nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and urogenital tract."

"Under normal circumstances, [argentaffin cells] are beneficial to the body. They secrete a hormone called somatostatin. But if they become pathological, argentaffin cells can develop into carcinoid tumors!"

Hearing Teacher Liu’s explanation, especially the mention of the word "cancer," Chen Jue immediately became alert.

His mother had battled cancer, and his grandfather had developed a tumor, so he was somewhat worried about whether these types of diseases could be hereditary.

He just hadn’t expected the main topic of this class to be appendicitis. Teacher Liu didn’t go into a detailed analysis of carcinoid tumors from argentaffin cells.

Chen Jue could only jot down these key points, planning to study them in more depth when he encountered a pathology analysis or cytology course.