105: Chapter 105 Ruthless Man Refines Bones, Bathing in Waste Liquid

Li Qingxuan's taillights disappeared around the corner of the intersection.

Lin Qi retracted his raised middle finger and turned toward the pile of stench-emitting iron drums.

"Don't just stand there in a daze."

Lin Qi patted Zhang Wei, who was still questioning his life choices.

"Load the remaining nine drums onto the truck."

Zhang Wei snapped out of it, looking at Lin Qi, whose face was covered in filthy blood, and then at the pile of toxic waste drums painted with skull and crossbones.

"Brother Qi, are you really going to haul these things back to school?"

"If even a single drop leaks onto the truck, my vehicle is as good as scrapped."

Lin Qi ignored his complaints, lifting two drums of waste liquid with one hand and easily tossing them into the back of the truck.

Thud.

The body of the truck swayed heavily twice.

"If it's scrapped, buy another one."

Lin Qi jumped into the truck bed and began securing the iron drums.

"This is life-saving stuff; it's worth much more than your truck."

Zhang Wei sighed and resignedly climbed into the driver's cab.

Staying by this madman's side, one could easily suffer a sudden cardiac arrest if their heart wasn't strong enough.

...

Longya Academy, abandoned warehouse on the back mountain.

This place was originally for storing old teaching equipment; usually, no one came here, making it convenient for Lin Qi to mess around.

Zhang Wei parked the truck at the door, watching Lin Qi move the ten drums of highly toxic waste into the warehouse like he was moving bricks.

"Keep watch outside."

Lin Qi stood at the door, holding the last drum of waste liquid.

"No matter what noises you hear inside, you are not allowed to enter."

"Unless I call you, or the building collapses."

Zhang Wei shrank his neck.

"Brother Qi, are you sure you don't need an ambulance waiting nearby?"

"No need."

Lin Qi slammed the warehouse door shut with a bang.

The sound of the iron door locking echoed through the empty mountain forest.

Inside the warehouse.

Lin Qi found a massive ceramic bathtub that had previously been used for soaking specimens.

Without any hesitation.

He unscrewed all the iron drum lids.

Gurgle, gurgle.

The dark green viscous liquid poured out, quickly filling the bathtub.

A pungent, sour stench instantly filled the entire space.

At this concentration, let alone a human, even if you threw an elephant in, it would dissolve into a pile of white bones within ten minutes.

Lin Qi stripped off his tattered combat uniform.

He stood stark naked by the bathtub.

Burn marks from the mouthful of waste liquid he had drunk earlier still remained on his skin.

Red, swollen, and festering, one could even see the bright red muscle fibers underneath.

"Come on."

Lin Qi took a deep breath and stepped into the bathtub.

Sizzle—!

The sound of flesh contacting the toxic liquid was like raw meat being thrown into a boiling oil pan.

Lin Qi's body stiffened violently for a moment.

But he did not back down.

He sat directly down, letting the toxic liquid submerge him up to his neck.

Pain.

Pain was no longer enough to describe it.

It was the terrifying sensation of every single cell in his body being dissolved by strong acid.

Lin Qi's features instantly contorted.

He gritted his teeth hard; blood oozing from his gums flowed down the corners of his mouth and dripped into the green toxic liquid.

The health bar on the System panel began to plummet wildly.

-500.

-500.

-500.

At this rate of health loss, he could only last a minute at most.

But Lin Qi did not panic.

In his mind, he visualized the Internal Skill Mind-Cultivation Technique from the martial arts era.

The True Qi seed within his Dantian spun frantically.

Streams of warm current surged through his Meridians toward his limbs and bones.

"Absorb for me!"

Lin Qi roared inwardly.

True Qi was no longer a defense; it had turned into a greedy predator.

It wrapped around the toxins trying to corrode his flesh, forcibly decomposing and transforming them.

The originally destructive poison, under the guidance of True Qi, turned into tiny rasps.

They drilled through the festering flesh and attached themselves to the bones.

Crack, crack, crack.

Dense popping sounds erupted from within Lin Qi's body.

That was his bones softening.

The brittleness caused by the previous absorption of black gold rapidly receded under the soaking of the strong acid toxic liquid.

Replacing it was an unprecedented toughness.

But this process was simply Hell.

It was as if countless ants had crawled into his bone marrow, gnawing while laying eggs.

Itching.

Pain.

Soreness.

Numbness.

All sorts of extreme sensations mixed together, assaulting Lin Qi's nerves.

His consciousness began to blur.

Double vision appeared before his eyes.

But he maintained a final sliver of clarity throughout.

He couldn't faint.

Once he fainted and the True Qi went out of control, he would truly turn into a vat of pus.

Time passed minute by minute.

Outside the warehouse, Zhang Wei crouched on the steps, listening to the suppressed low growls coming from inside, smoking one cigarette after another.

Those sounds didn't seem human.

They sounded more like some wounded beast struggling in a desperate situation.

"Brother Qi, you better not die..."

Zhang Wei stubbed out his cigarette on the ground and folded his hands in prayer.

The night deepened.

The commotion in the warehouse slowly subsided.

Finally, it returned to silence.

...

The next morning.

The first ray of sunlight shone through the high ventilation window of the warehouse onto the massive ceramic bathtub.

The liquid in the bathtub had changed color.

It was no longer that nauseating dark green.

Instead, it had become crystal-clear water.

All the toxins and all the energy had been absorbed completely.

Splash.

The sound of water rose.

A hand gripped the edge of the bathtub.

That hand was slender and powerful, the skin as white as jade, showing no trace of the festering misery of the night before.

Lin Qi stood up from the water.

The dead skin on his body fell off in large patches like a snake shedding.

The newborn skin shimmered with a faint cold light; the muscle lines weren't exaggerated, yet they exuded a fluid beauty.

Like refined steel tempered a thousand times.

Lin Qi stepped out of the bathtub, his bare feet treading on the concrete floor.

He looked down at his hands.

He clenched his fist.

Pop!

The air was squeezed to the point of exploding in his palm, letting out a crisp bang.

Is this the feeling of Bone Refining Early Stage Perfection?

Lin Qi walked to the corner and picked up a scrap of Meteoric Iron left over from repairing the Karma Cutter Heavy Sword.

This piece of Meteoric Iron was only the size of a palm, but its hardness was extremely high; even an ordinary cutting machine would take half a day to grind through it.

Lin Qi gripped both ends of the Meteoric Iron with his hands.

He exerted force.

Without any True Qi enhancement.

Pure physical strength.

Creeeeak—

A tooth-aching sound of metal twisting rang out.

That incredibly hard Meteoric Iron actually bent slowly in his hands, finally forming a U-shape.

Lin Qi let go.

The Meteoric Iron fell to the ground with a clang.

He looked at his fingers.

Completely unscathed.

Not even a red mark was left behind.

"Strength and flexibility combined."

Lin Qi nodded with satisfaction.

His current bones possessed both the hardness of black gold and the toughness bestowed by the toxic liquid.

If he encountered an attack of Ghost Hand's level again, he could completely take it head-on with one hand.

Knock, knock, knock.

The warehouse door was knocked.

"Brother Qi? Brother Qi, are you still alive?"

Zhang Wei's voice was trembling.

"Come in."

Lin Qi casually grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist.

The door was pushed open a crack.

Zhang Wei poked half his head in, still carrying two baskets of steamed buns.

Seeing Lin Qi standing by the bathtub, Zhang Wei's eyes widened like copper bells.

The buns in his hand almost fell to the ground.

"Holy crap..."

Zhang Wei swallowed hard, pushed the door open, and walked around Lin Qi twice.

"Brother Qi, did you go for plastic surgery?"

"How do you seem fairer and thinner?"

The old Lin Qi, though lean and strong, always carried some scars and calluses.

The current Lin Qi had skin so good it would make girls jealous.

But Zhang Wei keenly sensed that something even more terrifying was hidden beneath this 'good skin'.

As long as he was within three meters of Lin Qi, the hairs on his body would involuntarily stand on end.

That was the fear of biological instinct.

"Detoxification and beauty treatment, haven't you heard of it?"

Lin Qi took the buns from Zhang Wei's hand and stuffed one into his mouth.

Hungry.

Extreme hunger.

The body's restructuring had consumed too much energy.

"Go buy some more food; this isn't enough to fill the gaps between my teeth."

Lin Qi put on his clothes while chewing the bun.

Only then did Zhang Wei snap back to reality, pulling out his phone and handing it over.

"Food can wait. Brother Qi, look at this."

"The school forum has exploded."

Lin Qi took the phone.

On the screen was a pinned post in bold red font.

Shocking! Former Competition Champion Degenerates, Wildly Drinking Toxic Waste at a Scrap Yard, Suspected Qi Deviation!