58: Chapter 58 Unexpected Gain

The maximum total attribute increase from e-grade red jujubes is eight points, meaning that after eating eight of them in a row, continuing to consume them will yield no further attribute gains; they would purely be eaten as fruit to satisfy cravings.

Chen Ze and Fatty were well aware of this, so naturally, they wouldn't waste such precious resources.

"Hiccup!"

Having eaten eight large jujubes in one go, Chen Ze was indeed stuffed, letting out a thunderous burp!

His attributes also surged once again.

[Attribute Panel]

Survivor: Chen Ze

Level: 2

Strength: 28+10 (Slowly increasing...)

Agility: 28+10 (Slowly increasing...)

Constitution: 28+10 (Slowly increasing...)

Ability: Time Pause.

Evaluation: E-Grade! A budding survivor who finally has the strength to protect themselves to some extent.

Upgrade Requirements: Total attributes must reach 50, and one D-Grade beast core of any attribute is needed.

Chen Ze felt his body filled with explosive power; if they were on the ground, he would definitely have the strength to fight that Big Male Monkey from before!

"Awesome!"

He let out a low shout and slowly stood up. The joints all over his body popped with a series of crisp cracking sounds like frying beans. The soreness and fatigue left behind from the long escape and overexertion dissipated completely as he stretched his bones.

Fatty was standing to the side, and seeing this spectacle with his own eyes, he was stunned on the spot, his mouth slightly agape, unable to snap out of it for a long time.

"Holy crap, Brother Ze, you... don't tell me you've become one of those ancient martial artists from those Tomato novels? How come your bones sound like firecrackers just from standing up?"

"Ancient martial artist?"

Chen Ze chuckled.

Fatty's description was actually quite fitting for his current state.

With his three-dimensional attributes all far exceeding normal people, plus his mastery-level swordsmanship as an offensive means, he might truly possess the combat power of an ancient martial artist.

"How about you, kid?"

Fatty scratched the back of his head and spoke with a hint of regret.

"I only ate six jujubes, and my total attributes hit the cap. Now my three dimensions are all stuck at 20 points. I have to wait until my own level increases before I can continue to strengthen my attributes with fruit~"

Chen Ze then remembered that there was such a thing as a cap.

He had encountered too many fortuitous events along his journey, and his attributes hadn't been full when he obtained the E-Grade beast core, so he had never experienced the frustration of having attributes stuck at a bottleneck where eating fruit was useless. For a moment, he had forgotten the most basic survival rules.

Looking at Fatty's regretful and frustrated expression, Chen Ze suddenly thought of the Big Male Monkey that had been besieged by the monkey troop earlier.

"Fatty, what do you think will happen to that Big Male Monkey?"

"What else could happen? It's definitely going to be beaten to death, right?"

Fatty said nonchalantly, continuing.

"I used to watch a lot of Animal World. In the battle for the Monkey King, the losing side always ends up in a miserable state. That Old Monkey King is practically a demon; it definitely won't let it live!"

Speaking of which, Fatty seemed to suddenly realize something. He jerked his head up and stared intently into Chen Ze's eyes.

"Wait! Brother Ze, what do you mean?"

"Exactly!"

Chen Ze's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he nodded decisively.

"I want to head back and check. If the Big Male Monkey happens to have been killed, wouldn't you have the E-Grade beast core needed for your upgrade?"

"Holy crap! Why didn't I think of that? Brother Ze, your brain is seriously damn good!"

Upon hearing that his upgrade was within reach, Fatty trotted over and gave Chen Ze a big bear hug.

With this hug, Fatty was surprised to find that Chen Ze's weight was surprisingly heavy; he was not as light as he looked at all.

"Brother Ze, what's going on? Why are you so heavy?"

"Huh? What do you mean? I'm only about 130 jin, that's not heavy, right?"

Chen Ze was a bit confused.

"What the hell, 130!"

Fatty immediately raised his voice, looking certain, and patted his own chest to guarantee it.

"My hands are a ruler! I can tell the weight just by hugging someone. Your current weight is definitely over 200 jin!"

"200 jin?"

Chen Ze frowned slightly, still a bit unsure in his heart.

He remembered that when Wang Yalan moved over, she seemed to have brought a weight scale, so he immediately sent her a private message, asking her to trade the scale over.

Wang Yalan had been guarding the system panel, partly to sweep up goods on the Trading House and partly to wait for news from Chen Ze.

When she saw Chen Ze asking her to trade the weight scale, she was stunned for a moment, but after confirming it was indeed a weight scale, she immediately traded it over.

Wang Yalan's scale was the square household type, with an upper limit capable of supporting 300 jin of weight.

Chen Ze found a flat and clean open space, placed the scale steadily, and stepped directly onto it.

The screen lit up suddenly, the numbers flickered and refreshed rapidly, and after a few breaths, they stabilized.

[106KG]

Two hundred and twelve jin.

Fatty, who had leaned over to stare at the screen, sucked in a cold breath and slapped his thigh.

"I told you! My sense of touch is never wrong; it's solid proof that it's over two hundred jin! You look quite thin on the outside, I didn't expect your body to be this heavy!"

Chen Ze stood by the scale, his brows furrowed tightly, his heart full of doubts.

He knew exactly how much he originally weighed; it was consistently around 130 jin. Now that the scale steadily showed 210 jin, a difference of a full 80 jin, anyone would find it outrageous.

Just as he was filled with puzzlement, a thought suddenly drilled into his mind.

Could it be that because his three-dimensional attributes became stronger, the density of his bones and muscles increased, and his weight naturally increased along with it?

Thinking of this, Chen Ze immediately asked Fatty to weigh himself too.

The latter didn't understand why, but he did it anyway.

But to his absolute surprise, before he had even stood steady, the electronic scale's screen numbers had already soared to 145 and were still rising.

"Beep beep beep!~"

A harsh overload alarm suddenly sounded, and the screen immediately displayed a striking 'OL' symbol, flashing frantically.

"Holy crap, is this overloaded? I'm clearly only 200 jin!"

Fatty hurriedly stepped off the scale, but it was too late. The scale "beeped" a few more times, then emitted a puff of black smoke and burned out!

"What's going on?"

Fatty was between laughter and tears, scratching his head awkwardly.

"It should be that our three-dimensional attributes have increased, and our physical density has also improved, which is why our weight has become this heavy."

Chen Ze stated his speculation.

Fatty, upon hearing this, although he heard it vaguely, still nodded.

"That's what I was thinking too!"

After such a small episode, the two didn't continue to dwell on it. Anyway, they were both eating well and were extremely healthy, so if their weight was a bit higher, so be it.

"Eh? Brother Ze, we still have quite a few rotten and gnawed-on red jujubes in our backpacks. How should we handle these?"

Reminded by Fatty, Chen Ze finally remembered that they hadn't had time to sort through the jujubes when they collected them earlier, and many rotten and bad fruits had been packed up.

He took the backpack to check and found that the system had already categorized them.

[Rotten e-grade red jujube] * 142

Item Description: None!

[Defective e-grade red jujube] * 182

Item Description: e-grade red jujubes that have been gnawed on by exotic beasts. If you don't mind, consuming five of them can also increase total attributes by one point. The cap is 8, and it cannot be stacked with items of the same type.

"Holy crap? This works too?"

Chen Ze was truly enlightened this time; he never expected that even defective products had value.

"This is good too. When we return to the Fortress, we'll put all the defective ones on the Trading House to get rid of them, and we'll sell few or none of the perfectly ripe red jujubes."

Chen Ze quickly calculated his plans in his heart and said in a low voice.

"This way, not only can we ensure we have enough survival coins on hand, but we can also keep a large supply of high-quality red jujubes for emergencies."

Fatty, upon hearing this, immediately gave a thumbs up.

"Brother Ze is still the most thoughtful!"