Daily Evolution from Mastering Tai Chi-Chapter 171: The Graveyard Bandits

After leaving Zhengzhou, Wang Ye continued cycling at a speed of 60-70 km/h until four or five in the morning.

Due to the poor visibility at night, with sand and dust obstructing the view everywhere and many cargo vehicles on the road, traffic accidents that threaten life can easily occur.

To prevent accidents, Wang Ye had to ride a bit slower at night.

But fortunately, his stamina was quite good, and by the end of the night, he had still covered over 200 kilometers, leaving Henan and entering Shaanxi.

The feeling of crossing two large provinces in a day was something Wang Ye had never experienced while hiking.

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The next day.

Seven in the morning.

Wang Ye finally arrived in a village in Shaanxi.

At this time, the sky was just getting light, and many local farmers were already setting up stalls selling goods at the market on the west side of the village. Stepping into the market, one could smell the strong odors of fish, meat, vegetables, and some rotting food scraps.

After a night of rushing, Wang Ye was extremely exhausted,

but before heading up the mountain to pitch his tent and rest, he planned to eat a little at the market to replenish his energy loss.

Since leaving the Wei Sea, he roughly estimated he had been traveling for nearly twenty hours non-stop.

The only real meal he had was a lamb noodle stew in Henan Zhengzhou last night. While traveling, he could only munch on high-calorie-density and portable biscuits and Energy Gels, or occasionally catch fish from natural water bodies by the roadside to stave off hunger, barely maintaining a balance of income and expenditure.

Moreover, as Wang Ye’s sleep time gradually decreased, his basal metabolism had increased from 30,000 kcal to 40,000-50,000 kcal.

Basal metabolism is the minimum energy requirement needed by the body to maintain life for all its organs, measured when the body is awake and in an extremely quiet state. It means that the longer a person is awake and the stronger their body, the higher their basal metabolic rate.

The basal metabolic rate for most healthy adults is around 2,000 kcal.

Apart from maintaining the basic consumption for survival, Wang Ye also needed to undergo a daily evolution, which almost drained all the stored energy in his body. Therefore, his basal metabolic rate was about ten to twenty times that of ordinary people, around 40,000-50,000 kcal.

This terrifying basal metabolic rate, coupled with the high-intensity cycling consumption throughout the day, approached nearly 200,000 kcal, which such consumption could never be replenished by dozens of pounds of lamb noodle stew or the hundreds of compressed biscuits and two or three dozen freshwater fish in his backpack.

Therefore, Wang Ye was particularly, particularly hungry now.

He especially craved some refined carbohydrate delicacies unique to human society, even if it was just steamed buns or white rice.

Wang Ye parked his mountain bike by the roadside and used a chain lock to secure it to a lamppost.

Then he went to the corner of the market to the watermelon stall.

This watermelon stall was run by a bald old man.

It was not really a watermelon stall, just a tricycle loaded with watermelons, with a price sign written on cardboard.

0.9 yuan per jin.

Wang Ye walked up and picked out a dozen or so nice-looking watermelons,

then handed a one hundred yuan bill to the elderly stall owner.

The stall owner opened the rusty cash box with a clinking sound.

About ten seconds later, he handed some bills and coins to Wang Ye.

"Young man, can you carry so many melons?" the elderly stall owner asked suspiciously after giving the change.

"No problem, I’ll eat them right here." Wang Ye shook his head slightly and then broke open a watermelon with his hands.

The inside of the watermelon was bright red and juicy, looking very sweet. However, because it was locally grown by farmers, there were many black seeds.

"Eat them?" The stall owner’s eyes widened in surprise.

He watched as Wang Ye broke it into four or five pieces and started munching away.

Although there were many black seeds in the watermelon flesh, Wang Ye did not spit them out, but chewed and swallowed them down.

These black seeds might be somewhat tough and bitter, affecting the taste for ordinary people, and swallowing unsmashed seeds could scratch the throat.

But for Wang Ye, these black seeds were as soft as jelly. A light press with his teeth turned them into powder that flowed down his throat with the watermelon juice, not affecting the taste or sweetness of the watermelon flesh at all.

Although he ate fast, he did not eat in a sloppy way.

Most of the time, he chewed and swallowed in a single bite.

In the blink of an eye,

Wang Ye had already devoured two five-jin watermelons with a slurp.

The elderly stall owner and the neighboring stall owners cast curious glances at him.

"Wow, this young man can really eat."

"Looks like he’s a long-distance cyclist, probably got quite thirsty from the journey."

"Hey young man, slow down, no one is going to take it from you. Eating like that could give you diarrhea."

Wang Ye, hearing this, slightly slowed down his eating speed. He could indeed feel that these cold foods brought some discomfort to his stomach, though not enough to cause him any illness, but eating slower was surely no harm.

He continued to break open watermelons with his hands, taking about half an hour to finish all the dozen watermelons.

The elderly stall owner next to him clicked his tongue in wonder, "Young man, it’s good to eat well. Young people like you who can run, jump, and eat are the healthiest. Our generation used to finish three bowls of rice after work, then continue working in the fields."

"Thank you for the compliment, sir. I wish you health and longevity too." Wang Ye replied with a smile.

He cleaned up the watermelon rinds on the ground, throwing them all into the trash bin. He then returned to the watermelon stall and asked the elderly stall owner, "Sir, is there any wild land around here suitable for pitching a tent? I’ve been traveling all night and would like to rest around here."

"Wild land...? There are quite a few residential areas around, but to the west, there’s a back mountain that’s quite spacious, but I heard there’s an old cemetery with lots of old, lonely graves, might be a bit eerie," the elderly stall owner scratched his head and said.

"Mm, thank you." Wang Ye nodded, then unlocked his mountain bike and prepared to head to the back mountain to the west.

He didn’t care about the old cemetery, as he had walked across numerous wild mountains throughout his journey across the country, encountering countless cemeteries and lonely graves along the way. If he were afraid of these, he would have been scared to death already.

After leaving the village market, Wang Ye cycled towards the back mountain for about ten minutes.

Riding continuously along a 40-degree steep path at a speed of about 30 km/h.