31: The second level has a bonus! The bonus will increase exponentially over time!

Tian Gangwu’s eyes lit up. “Good! Then shall we try adding it to 150 catties?”

Chen Fang: “I’ve checked, after processing, each corpse weighs 60 to 80 catties. Transporting three to five corpses using the Corpse Lifting Method should be two to three hundred catties, right?”

“Hmm, that’s right, but…” Tian Gangwu was somewhat startled.

The next moment, Chen Fang was seen stroking his chin, looking thoughtful and saying calmly and seriously, “One jar is 30 catties, so let’s try 240 catties.”

Tian Gangwu’s eyes widened slightly. “Do we have to try such a high weight directly? Teacher Chen, why don’t we add it up slowly?”

“It’s fine. I’m here to experience the culture. I want to try the real weight that old drivers would carry.”

“Then…” Tian Gangwu looked hesitantly at the director, who had a faint excited smile on his face, as if saying: Is that a jar? No, that’s viewership!

Tian Gangwu nodded. “Alright then.” He turned and signaled the staff to add another earthenware jar to the bamboo pole.

[240 catties, 120 catties per person on average. Is this something humans can bear? Are there any experts who understand this who can explain?]

[Last year, I traveled to Mount Huangshan, and there were porters there who carried goods up the mountain with shoulder poles. They said that professionals in their line generally carry loads of around 100 to 150 catties.]

[So 120 catties isn’t that difficult, right? Porters and corpse drivings have to walk for a long time, but they only walk for a few seconds.]

[Young masters and ladies upstairs, those are professionals. These few guests are trying it for the first time, and they still have to maintain balance. How can it be that simple?]

[Qin Ba Ba: This is really difficult for amateurs. I went traveling with friends and we played a game of two people carrying heavy objects. That was only 160 catties. Picking it up wasn’t difficult, the difficult part was moving. We walked a few steps, and the thing fell, almost crushing our feet.]

[This is definitely harder than a shoulder pole. Carrying a shoulder pole allows the whole body to adjust balance, while carrying a bamboo pole on both shoulders relies more on the shoulders, and the bamboo is harder, requiring higher shoulder stability. The hardest part is that they need to cooperate with another person.]

[Is he crazy?]

On site, the bamboo pole and earthenware jars had been adjusted.

Chen Fang walked to the front of the bamboo pole, calmly rolled up his sleeves.

But the young man behind him had a flushed face and nervously swallowed his saliva. Although he usually did farm work, he might not be able to handle over 120 catties of weight pressing on the narrow area of his shoulders. More importantly, how would he maintain balance?

Chen Fang turned around, saw the young man looking like he was forcing himself, and looked at Tian Gangwu.

Tian Gangwu immediately understood his concern and walked over with a smile, “How about this, I’ll cooperate with you.”

Tian Gangwu patted the young man, “Xiao Liu, you have enough strength, but 240 catties isn’t that easy to balance. I’ll do it.”

He was over one meter eighty tall, slightly shorter than Chen Fang, but not by much, so it wouldn't affect the balance.

The young man nodded slightly and walked out of the camera’s view.

“Thank you, Teacher Tian.” Chen Fang turned back and squatted down, placing the bamboo pole on his shoulder. Hearing Tian Gangwu’s command “Alright, up,” he exerted force with his feet and legs, slowly rising.

This weight was not even half of his limit.

Chen Fang stood up very easily, but Tian Gangwu behind him was not so relaxed. After all, he was older, and his cheeks couldn’t help but flush slightly.

“Teacher Chen, step with your left foot first, go.”

“Alright, turn right.”

“Very good.”

The more Tian Gangwu walked, the more surprised he became.

Chen Fang was incredibly stable, so stable it was like two bamboo poles on a small cart. In terms of balance, he hardly put any pressure on himself.

What kind of heaven-defying balance talent was this? It was truly a waste not to learn acrobatics or rhythmic gymnastics.

Finally, the two walked to the end and slowly squatted down, the 6 earthenware jars landing steadily.

Tian Gangwu put down the bamboo pole and got up, panting.

But Chen Fang in front was still very calm, not even breathing heavily.

Pan Pengpeng asked with a smile, “Teacher Chen usually lifts weights, right?”

“Occasionally,” Chen Fang smiled, his breathing still steady.

Xie Yunxuan forced a smile, wanting to praise him with “You’re impressive,” but this was his own area of expertise, and his mouth stubbornly refused to open. After two little people fought in his head, they still couldn’t reach an agreement. He just nodded and stood quietly to the side.

“Truly amazing!” Zhao Jin, on the other hand, was direct.

Tian Gangwu stood with his hands on his hips, taking two breaths, “Indeed, very impressive. However, this challenge tests short-term strength and balance, which is more friendly to fitness enthusiasts who lift weights. The next challenge will test endurance. Teacher Chen, don’t take it lightly.”

“Endurance? That sounds very difficult.” Zhao Jin’s face paled as if she had thought of something, “It’s not like an 800-meter run, is it?”

“No, you’ll know in a bit.” Tian Gangwu smiled, and as he turned around, he saw the director winking and gesturing at him. The director then pointed to the back mountain and mouthed “Start directly.”

Tian Gangwu immediately understood the director’s meaning.

This segment was originally planned for him to introduce the Corpse Lifting Method and have everyone try it three times.

But now that he had finished his introduction, and Chen Fang had even pushed the data to 240 catties, achieving 100% completion, what else were they going to lift?

Just move on to the next segment.

Tian Gangwu was already quite used to the camera and said easily, “Dear audience friends, the strength training for the Corpse Lifting project ends here. Now, let’s begin the second project, weighted mountain climbing, derived from the Corpse Carrying Method. The four guests will choose their own weight at the foot of the mountain and carry it to the cave halfway up the mountain. This project mainly tests everyone’s endurance.”

Host He Xing walked over with a smile, “To make our activity more interesting, the production team has specially provided prize money for the guests.”

Pan Pengpeng played the straight man, “Prize money?”

He Xing nodded and explained:

“Yes, there are two factors that affect the prize money. One is the weight carried, and the other is the duration. The prize money earned is calculated by: kilograms carried × 10 × time coefficient.”

“First, let me explain the time coefficient. The production team considered that not everyone might be able to transport their chosen weight to the target location, so the prize money is calculated based on the duration of carrying the weight. As you move forward with the weight, the difficulty doubles with longer time.”

“So our rewards also double. The coefficient is 1 for 0 to 14 minutes, 2 for 15 to 29 minutes, 4 for 30 to 44 minutes, and then it continues to multiply by 2 every 15 minutes.”

Chen Fang asked, “So can I just stand in place for half an hour?”

He Xing shook his head.

“No, we have two additional conditions. First, the forward speed cannot be lower than 1.5 kilometers per hour, which is half the speed of villagers climbing the mountain.”

“Second, regarding the mountain path, the four guests will proceed separately. For fairness, we have not planned a route, and everyone cannot ask fellow villagers for directions. Please plan your own routes. If you encounter difficult paths… then you’ll have to work hard to overcome them.”

He Xing smiled. In reality, the unspoken latter half of his sentence was: That’s for the show’s effect.

He continued, “But the key is: you cannot go downhill. That means everyone cannot walk back and forth on two steps, grinding experience in place.”