110: Chapter 110 One-Handed Attack of Three Tons: The Sickly One is the Real Monster! (Part 2)

Lin Qi's left hand rested on the pitch-black force measurement machine.

The hand was very white.

One could even say it was a sickly pale.

The knuckles were slender, and blue veins were faintly visible beneath the skin.

Compared to that black metal behemoth, which was filled with the aesthetic of industrial violence, this hand appeared exceptionally fragile.

It seemed as if the slightest vibration from the machine would shatter it.

The hall was very quiet.

Hundreds of eyes were fixed on that corner.

Some had sneers hanging on their lips that they hadn't had time to pull back yet.

Others frowned, seemingly waiting to see how this farce would end.

Li Qingxuan stood at the very front, hands in his pockets, his gaze indifferent.

He couldn't even be bothered to take another look.

In his eyes, this was nothing more than the final struggle of a loser.

Just a desperate bid for attention.

"What is he doing?" someone in the crowd muttered.

"He thinks he can lift it just by touching it? Does he think he's a crane that's gained sentience?"

"Quiet, let's see how he ends this."

Instructor Zhou Tong stood to the side, his brows furrowed tightly.

He looked at Lin Qi's precarious appearance and felt a bit of regret.

Was he too impulsive just now?

Letting a student who had just finished drinking industrial waste do this kind of physical labor—if something went wrong, it would be hard to explain to the school.

"Lin Qi, if you can't do it, just..." Instructor Zhou Tong's words were not yet finished.

Lin Qi moved.

There was no roar.

No crouching to build power.

He didn't tense his muscles like stone as the Berserker had done before.

He simply, very casually, hooked his five fingers into a groove on the edge of the machine.

Breathe.

Inhale.

The vortex of True Qi within his body accelerated silently at this moment.

Deep in his Dantian, that strand of True Qi, which had just been tempered by the toxic waste, traveled upward along the spine, the great Dragon.

It passed through the Jianjing point, moved through the Quchi point, and reached the palm.

Spiral Force.

It did not explode outward; instead, it collapsed inward.

Lin Qi's palm seemed to have turned into a small black hole.

An extremely eerie suction force instantly locked onto the machine's casing.

Immediately after, that power began to rotate.

Although it was invisible to the naked eye, if someone listened closely to the machine, they could hear a low hum emanating from the internal metal structure.

That was power being transmitted.

That was force penetrating through.

Lin Qi didn't even lift his eyelids.

Lift.

"Crack."

A crisp sound of metal breaking rang out.

That was the sound of the electromagnetic suction cup at the bottom being forcibly separated from the base.

The black behemoth, which had been firmly suctioned to the ground, wobbled.

Then.

It left the ground.

One inch.

Two inches.

One foot.

The entire hall fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone's expressions froze at this moment.

The students who had been whispering just a moment ago had their mouths wide open, but they couldn't make a sound.

Li Qingxuan's hand, which had been in his pocket, was pulled out abruptly.

His eyes were fixed on Lin Qi's left hand.

No trembling.

No bulging veins.

Even the cuff of his oversized black coat wasn't stretched by muscle expansion.

That hand remained slender and fair.

It was as if he were carrying a plastic bucket full of water, or holding a bag of groceries he'd just bought.

That massive object, weighing three tons and possessing several tons of electromagnetic suction force, was held in mid-air by him with one hand.

Steady as a mountain.

Lin Qi even had the leisure to cover his mouth with his other hand and cough twice.

"Cough, cough..."

Under the gaze of everyone, he lifted the machine and began to walk.

One step.

Two steps.

His footsteps were still somewhat unsteady, and it looked like he might fall at any moment.

But the machine in his hand seemed to be rooted to his body, not moving a single bit.

This extreme contrast gave everyone present an absurd illusion.

Was this machine actually a hollow shell?

Were those strong men from before just acting?

Only Instructor Zhou Tong knew this wasn't acting.

He was a Strength-type instructor; he knew the weight of this machine all too well.

He knew even better how much explosive power was required to forcibly pull it up while in the electromagnetic suction state.

This didn't just require strength.

It required a control over power that was refined to the pinnacle of perfection.

If it were just brute force, the machine's casing would have been deformed long ago.

But there wasn't even a dent at the point where Lin Qi's fingers made contact.

What did this mean?

It meant that this weight of several tons was being evenly distributed across his entire skeletal structure.

This was... a human lever?

The term popped into Instructor Zhou Tong's mind, but he immediately felt it wasn't accurate enough.

This was a Dao Body.

Lin Qi walked over to the maintenance bench nearby.

The bench had been reinforced, specifically designed to carry heavy equipment.

He stopped.

He gave his wrist a light flick.

That massive object traced an elegant arc in the air.

Down.

There was no loud "boom."

No dust flew up.

There was only a slight "click."

It was as if he were placing a teacup on a coffee table.

The three-ton machine landed steadily on the maintenance bench, perfectly positioned, aligned exactly with the maintenance port.

Not even the dust on the maintenance bench was shaken up.

Lifting the heavy as if it were light.

These four words are easy to say, but doing it is as hard as ascending to the heavens.

Especially for Strength-type Awakeners, controlling power is a hundred times harder than releasing it.

Lin Qi let go.

He brushed off the non-existent dust from his palms.

Then he put his hands back into his pants pockets and hunched his neck, seeming to feel a bit cold.

"Instructor."

Lin Qi turned his head to look at Instructor Zhou Tong, who had been petrified where he stood.

His voice was hoarse, carrying a bit of sleepy laziness.

"I'm done moving it."

"Can I go back to sleep now?"

Instructor Zhou Tong snapped back to reality.

He glanced at Lin Qi, then at the machine.

His Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty.

"You..."

Instructor Zhou Tong wanted to ask how he did it.

But he didn't ask.

Because he saw the detection screen nearby.

Although the force measurement machine's bearings were broken, the sensor System was still working.

The moment Lin Qi lifted it, the machine had automatically recorded the force data.

A line of red text was displayed on the screen.

[Strength Output: ?]

[Energy Fluctuation: 0]

[Skill Judgment: None]

That big question mark appeared exceptionally glaring on the black screen.

Because Lin Qi had no class.

No skills.

No mana.

In the System's judgment logic, a Blank Slate only had 5 points of base strength.

5 points of strength couldn't even hold a chicken steady.

Yet, it was this 5 points of strength that had just lifted a three-ton iron lump with one hand.

This was practically rubbing the System's face into the ground.

Instructor Zhou Tong took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the raging waves in his heart.

He was a pragmatic person.

No matter what the data showed, the facts were right in front of him.

"You may."

Instructor Zhou Tong's voice was somewhat dry.

"You get full marks for this class."

Lin Qi nodded.

He turned around.

Zhang Wei had long been stunned on the side; he hadn't even realized that the half-smoked cigarette in his mouth had fallen to the ground.

It wasn't until Lin Qi walked over and kicked him that he reacted.

"Let's go."

"Ah? Oh! Oh!"

Zhang Wei scrambled to pick up the cigarette butt and followed along, trotting eagerly.

This time, he didn't go to support Lin Qi.

Just kidding.

A person who could play weightlifting with one hand needed his support?

The two walked through the crowd.

Wherever they passed, the once-crowded students automatically cleared a path.

Those who had mocked him the fiercest were now lowering their heads one by one, wishing they could crawl into a crack in the ground.

Who dared to say he was a useless person?

This was a monster!

A monster wearing human skin!

Li Qingxuan stood where he was, watching Lin Qi's departing figure.

His face was ugly.

Very ugly.

The understated display of strength just now made his pride and joy, "Hand of the Void," seem somewhat like a joke.

He relied on skills.

What did Lin Qi rely on?

His Physical Body?

How could someone's Physical Body be strong to this extent?

"This is impossible..." Li Qingxuan muttered in a low voice.

"No data support, no skill bonuses—this doesn't follow the rules."

But they forgot.

Lin Qi was never a person who followed the rules.

Walking out of the experimental building, the sunlight outside was a bit blinding.

Lin Qi squinted his eyes, and that sickly state seemed to have returned.

"Brother Qi, you were so cool just now!" Zhang Wei had been holding it in the whole way and finally couldn't help but shout.

"Did you see Li Qingxuan's face? It looked like he'd eaten a fly, hahaha!"

"And that Tiger Zhou, his chin nearly hit the floor."

Lin Qi ignored his excitement.

He was feeling the changes within his body.

That lift and release just now, while seemingly easy, had actually consumed a significant amount of his True Qi.

Especially to control the power so it didn't leak out and damage the maintenance bench, his mobilization of every muscle had reached its limit.

This kind of precise operation was much more exhausting than simple killing.

"The bones are still not hard enough," Lin Qi thought to himself.

When he exerted force just now, he could feel his left arm's bones emitting a groan of being unable to bear the load.

Although they had been tempered by the toxic liquid and had gained toughness, the hardness was still lacking.

If it were a true "Silver Bone," that grab just now could have crushed the machine's casing directly into powder.

His current body was still too fragile.

"Back to the dorm," Lin Qi interrupted Zhang Wei's chatter.

"Pack your things."

Zhang Wei was stunned for a moment.

"Pack things? Go where?"

"Didn't we just get back?"

Lin Qi stopped walking and turned his head to look at the western sky.

Dark clouds gathered there, and faint thunder could be heard.

That was the direction of the forbidden zone in Tianhai City.

"To get struck by lightning," Lin Qi said calmly.

"And by the way, to go get something that should have belonged to me in the first place."

Zhang Wei looked in the direction of his gaze, and his expression changed instantly.

"Qi... Brother Qi, you don't mean you want to go to the Thunder Ruins, do you?"

"That's a leveling zone above Lv.20!"

"And it's full of elemental monsters, the kind that have 50% physical damage reduction!"

Lin Qi didn't explain.

Physical damage reduction?

That was for ordinary people.

In his dictionary, as long as something had a physical form, there was nothing that couldn't be beaten by physical force.

If there was, then he would add some True Qi.

If that still didn't work, he would add some thunder.

"Stop with the nonsense," Lin Qi continued walking forward.

"Help me prepare some insulating tape and dry rations."

"We might have to stay for a few days this time."

Zhang Wei looked at Lin Qi's firm back and gritted his teeth.

"Fine! I'll go prepare!"

"But Brother Qi, we have to agree on something first."

"I'm going to open a big betting pool this time."

Zhang Wei took out his phone, his fingers tapping quickly on the screen.

"I've already thought of the title."

"[Shocking! Former Champion Enters Forbidden Zone Again, Can He Survive the Thunder Ruins?]"

"The odds are one to five, place your bets!"

The corners of Lin Qi's mouth curled into a very faint smile.

"Remember."

"Bet it all on me winning."

"This time, we're going to get rich."

That night.

Ancient Martial Arts Research Department, underground laboratory.

Old Mo watched the footage of Lin Qi lifting the machine with one hand on the surveillance recording, playing it back over a dozen times.

Finally, he took off his glasses and rubbed his brow.

His face showed a smile of relief, but also one mixed with a bit of worry.

"This kid..."

"Always able to give people surprises."

"However, for a Physical Body of this level, wanting to withstand the heavenly thunder is still too much of a stretch."

Old Mo sighed and pulled open a drawer.

He took out something wrapped in oil paper.

It was a yellowed map, and a black, amulet-like object polished from some kind of beast bone.

"Since you want to be crazy, then this old man will be crazy with you."

"Silver Bone..."

"That is a Realm so many Martial Artists dream of."

"If you can really succeed in training it, the sky of this Tianhai City will probably really change."

Old Mo turned off the screen.

The laboratory fell into darkness.

Only that amulet flickered with a faint thunderous light in the darkness.