As another month went by, Li Hua, her physical education class already past gym sessions, found herself staying after school to lift more weights at the gym. The CSGSA, already heavily invested in her, had instructed the school to accommodate her needs, and allow her to continue school as normal, without any questioning or interference.

Li Hua herself was getting more and more muscular by the day. As she curled a pair of twenty-pound dumbbells, she watched as her biceps bulged like never before. There was still a part of her that was yelling at her, telling her she was destroying her body with these hideous muscles, but again, she felt the urge to continue pumping. She couldn’t explain to herself why.

At home, Li Hua’s mother became more and more concerned at how her daughter was becoming so big. Li Hua would repeatedly assure her that this was what she wanted, and that a stronger body would win medals for China, and in turn a better future for the family. Because they were so poor, Li Hua’s mother could do no more than worry. She decided to take up sewing, because she was too poor to buy Li Hua new clothes as her old ones were getting too small for her muscular body. Her father, now working for eighteen hours a day at a factory, barely even saw his daughter.

Meanwhile, a new development surfaced in the CSGSA research wing: With the effectiveness of the serum proven in Li Hua, it was decided that, rather than be the flagship athlete for China’s entry into the next Olympics, she would instead become a guinea pig for more serum testing. Seeing how Li Hua went from a skinny little girl to a full blown fitness athlete in just six months, the CSGSA wanted to test the serum further, by scheduling to have Li Hua injected with another, more concentrated dosage.