62: Chapter 62 Mastery of Meat Refining, The Compressed File of a Humanoid Tyrannosaurus Rex

The gates of the abandoned training ground were pushed open, and a gust of air mixed with the smell of engine oil and rotting leather rushed toward him.

Rather than a training ground, this place was more like a mechanical graveyard.

Hundreds of mechanical Puppets with missing limbs were stacked together; some were still crackling with electrical sparks, while others' core power furnaces let out dull low growls, threatening to explode at any moment.

In the corner, several massive Source Beast specimens were piled up. Having undergone alchemical treatment, their fur remained intact, but their insides were stuffed with gears and connecting rods.

“Let's begin,” Old Mo's voice transmitted through a worn-out loudspeaker hanging by the door.

“Remember my requirements: you are not allowed to damage the component structures, you can only dismantle the joints. If I see any traces of metal fatigue at the break points, you'll be sleeping here tonight.”

Lin Qi walked up to the nearest humanoid Puppet. This thing was likely a model from ten years ago; its alloy shell was rusted, but the hydraulic rods at the joints were still functioning.

He reached out, grabbed the Puppet's left arm, and gave it an experimental twist.

Creeeeak—Snap!

Accompanied by a crisp crack, that metal arm was forcibly torn off by him, dragging several transmission shafts at the shoulder along with it until they snapped, leaving jagged edges at the break.

A cold snort from Old Mo came through the speaker:

“Idiot. That's tearing, not dismantling. Do you think this is hand-shredded chicken? This Puppet cost eight hundred thousand; put it on your tab.”

Lin Qi looked at the severed arm in his hand, tossed it aside, and frowned.

Accustomed to using Penetrating Force to destroy internal structures, suddenly being asked to do this kind of delicate needlework was indeed a bit difficult to adjust to.

His strength was too great, and it was that kind of explosive, destructive power; it was hard to control its release and retraction freely.

“Power isn't just about 'releasing,' you also have to 'retract,'” Old Mo's voice said lazily. “Your current strength is like water thrown out; it can't be pulled back.”

“True control is refining your power into a needle that pierces into the gaps, rather than blowing the gaps open.”

Lin Qi took a deep breath and closed his eyes to adjust his breathing.

When he opened his eyes again, that violent urge to destroy had been suppressed, replaced by an extreme calm.

He walked to the second Puppet. This was a bionic wolf-type machine, its spine composed of thirty-six interlocking sections of high-strength alloy.

Lin Qi was in no hurry to act.

He crouched down, his fingers lightly resting on the wolf Puppet's back, feeling the vibration frequency of the internal gears turning.

Click, click, click.

Every time the gears meshed, there would be a tiny pause. That pause was extremely short, likely only a few hundredths of a second.

Now.

Lin Qi's fingers moved. It wasn't a grab, but a tap.

His index and middle fingers pressed together like a scalpel, precisely slicing into the gap between two spinal vertebrae. His fingertips exerted force—not brute strength, but a clever knack, lightly flicking in the direction of the joint's engagement.

Click.

A section of the wolf Puppet's spine loosened.

“A bit interesting,” the sound of Old Mo sipping tea stopped for a moment over the broadcast.

For the next few hours, the sound of metal clashing continuously echoed in the abandoned training ground.

From the initial clumsiness, where he often used too much force and caused parts to deform, his movements gradually became faster and lighter.

Lin Qi's fingers were covered in black engine oil, and streaks of blood even seeped from under his nails—wear and tear brought about by the high-intensity operation. But he didn't care at all; his eyes were frighteningly bright.

He was enjoying this feeling of control.

This was different from the slaughter in the martial arts era. Slaughter was destruction, while dismantling was understanding. Understanding construction, understanding mechanics, understanding how to use the minimum force to cause the maximum damage.

Right then, a piercing alarm suddenly sounded from the depths of the training ground.

Buzz—!

A spider-type Puppet as large as a truck head suddenly lit up with a red light.

It had originally been in a dormant state, seemingly awakened by the vibrations of Lin Qi dismantling the other Puppets.

Eight sharp alloy legs snapped open, sweeping away the surrounding scrap metal. The power furnace at its core let out a shriek, clearly entering a berserk mode.

“Oh, you hit the jackpot,” Old Mo's voice carried a hint of schadenfreude. “That's a 'Black Widow' used in the past to test third-turn practitioners. Although the fire control System is broken, its melee capabilities remain.”

“Kid, don't break it while dismantling; this thing is quite expensive.”

Lin Qi looked at the pouncing steel behemoth and didn't retreat.

One of the spider Puppet's front legs stabbed down like a spear, its speed so fast it pulled an afterimage through the air.

If it were yesterday, Lin Qi would have chosen to shatter this leg with a single punch.

But now, the angle through which he saw the world had changed.

In his eyes, this lethal long leg was no longer a single whole, but a mechanical structure composed of three hydraulic joints, two transmission shafts, and a universal wheel.

Lin Qi sidestepped, and that alloy leg grazed the tip of his nose as it stabbed into the ground, sending sparks flying.

In that very instant.

Lin Qi's hand landed on the spider leg's knee joint.

Following the momentum, borrowing the force, he sliced in.

His fingers, as if they had no bones, slid into the gap in the joint armor and hooked onto the locating pin inside.

“Up.”

Lin Qi gave a light shout, and his wrist flicked.

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a crisp “click.”

That originally indestructible alloy leg suddenly seemed to have its Soul sucked out, collapsing limply. The locating pin was ejected, the hydraulic rod lost its pivot, and the entire structure disintegrated instantly.

The spider Puppet lost its balance, its massive body tilting to one side.

Lin Qi didn't stop.

Like a nimble ape, he flipped and jumped onto the spider Puppet's back. His hands turned into afterimages, weaving between those crazily dancing mechanical legs.

Dismantling joints, breaking connections, pulling out bearings.

Ten seconds.

In just ten seconds.

That still-roaring steel behemoth collapsed. It wasn't smashed to pieces, but had turned into a pile of neatly arranged parts scattered on the ground.

The core power furnace was still spinning, but it had lost the support of all transmission devices and could only idle.

Lin Qi stood on the pile of parts and shook the oil stains off his hands.

“Does this count as passing?” He looked up at the loudspeaker.

“Passable,” Old Mo's voice betrayed no emotion. “Your Hidden Power is practiced well enough, and there's a shadow of Transforming Power. Fine, get lost and go back to sleep; don't be an eyesore here.”

...

By the time he returned to the Heaven-grade villa, it was already late at night.

Lin Qi brought out that old-fashioned pressure cooker.

Half the water in the pot had already boiled away, and the remaining liquid appeared as a viscous dark red, emitting a suffocating heat.

dragon blood grass plus hundred-year tiger bone—this medicinal potency was so fierce it could burn an ordinary person directly into ash.

Lin Qi stripped off his clothes, jumped straight into the bathtub, and then poured that pot of scalding medicinal liquid inside.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

The moment his skin touched the medicinal liquid, it made a sound like roasting meat.

Intense pain.

It was like countless small knives were scraping his bones and paring his flesh.

Lin Qi gritted his teeth, not making a sound. He could feel the muscle fibers within his body undergoing earth-shaking changes amidst this intense pain.

The originally somewhat bulging muscle blocks began to contract and tighten.

Excess moisture and Impurities were expelled from his body, leaving behind only the most essential parts.

His weight was increasing, his density was growing, yet his physique actually shrank by a size.

It was no longer that kind of intimidating, blocky muscle, but had become slender and fluid; every bundle of muscle lines was like a work of art carved by a Great Master, containing explosive power.

Two hours later.

The water in the bathtub turned clear.

Lin Qi stood up and dried his body. He walked to the mirror and looked at himself inside.

Beneath his seemingly thin frame was hidden power comparable to a Tyrannosaurus.

Flesh Refining, Major Achievement.

If he encountered that alloy target again now, he wouldn't need to use Inch Power to shatter the interior; a single punch relying solely on physical strength could punch through it.

“Phew...”

Lin Qi exhaled a breath of turbid Qi and was just about to put on clothes and sleep.

Suddenly.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The defense alarm at the villa's entrance rang. It wasn't the slight sound of an accidental touch, but the urgent alarm of someone violently dismantling the access control System.

Lin Qi's movements stopped.

He casually grabbed a pair of pants and pulled them on, his gaze instantly turning cold.

This was the core area of Longya Academy, the Heaven-grade dormitory. Who had the audacity to force their way in?

Unless the person coming represented some kind of rule themselves.

Lin Qi walked barefoot to the living room, his gaze piercing through the darkness, staring fixedly at that slightly vibrating door.

It seemed that for some people, the slap to their face hadn't been painful enough.

Boom!

With a loud bang, the solid wood door was violently blasted open from the outside, wood chips flying everywhere.

Several beams from high-intensity flashlights pierced the darkness of the room, shining on Lin Qi's face.

“Who is it?” Lin Qi squinted, his voice as calm as a pool of stagnant water.