13: Chapter 13 Man is made of iron, food is made of steel

Jiangcheng No. 1 Courtyard.

The most expensive villa area under the Zhao Group, with a starting price of 10 million Federation Credits per unit.

Zhao Kuo was sitting on the leather sofa in the master bedroom on the second floor, clutching a communicator in his hand, his face deathly pale.

"What did you say? Slapped away?"

On the other end of the communicator, the yellow-haired man's voice carried a whimper:

"Brother Kuo, it's really not that we aren't good enough... That kid doesn't know what kind of medicine he took. When Old Hu punched him, it was like hitting an iron plate, and then he just casually slapped him..."

"A slap?"

"Old Hu flew straight away, lost three teeth, and is still lying in the hospital now."

Zhao Kuo hung up the communicator and threw it onto the coffee table.

An F-rank piece of trash, someone with Osteoporosis, slapped away one of his Black Iron Rank martial artists?

Su Ming hadn't returned to school for two consecutive days after awakening. He had intended to first cut off this trash's lodging.

Force him to kneel on the street and beg. He hadn't expected that the people he sent would be the ones incapacitated instead.

"Something's not right."

Zhao Kuo frowned and paced back and forth twice.

Su Ming's talent made walking difficult, let alone hitting people.

But the yellow-haired man said he was heavy.

Extremely heavy.

"Could this trash's weight-increasing speed be faster than what was in the file?" Zhao Kuo muttered to himself, then sneered.

So what?

Heavy is heavy.

A meatball that only knows how to get heavy—my S-rank Lava Earth Fire will reduce him to a handful of ash with one burn.

Just as he was thinking this, the bedroom door behind him opened.

Liu Ruyan walked out wrapped in a silk bathrobe, her long hair slightly damp; she had just finished showering.

The bathrobe hung loosely on her shoulders, the curves below her collarbone faintly visible.

She had moved into No. 1 Courtyard these past two days, under the pretext of "Dual Cultivation Resonance."

Zhao Kuo's gaze immediately glued onto her, and the annoyance regarding Su Ming in his mind instantly faded by thirty percent.

He reached out and unceremoniously swept his hand down Liu Ruyan's waist.

His palm landed on the fair, smooth curve that the bathrobe couldn't cover, and he squeezed hard.

The feel was astonishing—smooth and full of elasticity, like a piece of high-quality mutton-fat jade.

Liu Ruyan's body stiffened, and she shot him a coquettish glare, her eyes shimmering.

"What are you doing? I just washed up."

Her voice was so sweet and sticky it could pull threads.

Zhao Kuo's heart fluttered: "You little vixen, you almost killed me last night."

Liu Ruyan lowered her eyelids, her eyelashes trembling slightly, looking shy.

The A-rank talent [Luck Companion] was even more powerful than she had expected.

She had only moved into No. 1 Courtyard for two days, and she could already clearly feel her perception of energy rising rapidly.

Eating well, living well, having sufficient cultivation resources, plus the bonus of the passive Luck absorption.

She could almost see the Bronze-rank beckoning to her.

Half a year. Six months at most.

As for feeding back to Zhao Kuo?

She had figured out a little trick, but how could she actually give it to him?

This idiot was nothing more than a stepping stone for her to reach higher places.

There were plenty of ways to play him in the palm of her hand.

Zhao Kuo hadn't felt any substantial cultivation acceleration yet.

He was also clear that in the early stages, a talent just opened a door.

The follow-up required a large amount of comprehension potions and exotic beast crystals to feed.

He wasn't in a hurry, though.

Because Liu Ruyan told him that Luck Companion needed time to integrate.

The early stage was mainly for accumulation, and it would only explode in the later stage.

Zhao Kuo believed it.

What reason did he have not to?

This woman was truly top-tier; he felt he had hit the jackpot.

Although he hadn't tried the legendary charm-type, Liu Ruyan already had him unable to stop!

S-rank genius paired with an A-rank companion talent.

A match made in heaven.

The whole of Jiangcheng said so.

Liu Ruyan snuggled into Zhao Kuo's arms and asked casually:

"Whose call was that just now? Your face looks so bad."

"That piece of trash Su Ming." Zhao Kuo recounted the incident and ended with a cold snort,

"I don't know what he ate, but his weight increased ridiculously. He actually had the strength to slap Old Hu away."

A flash of surprise crossed Liu Ruyan's eyes.

That trash, still has this kind of strength?

She could be said to be the person who understood Su Ming best in this world.

Three years as desk mates, she knew everything about that man.

He could keep his cool, endure, and never did things he wasn't sure about.

"Doesn't he have the side effect of Osteoporosis?"

Liu Ruyan leaned in Zhao Kuo's arms, unnoticeably guiding the topic deeper.

"Who knows what kind of dog-shit luck he had."

Zhao Kuo snorted coldly,

"But it doesn't matter. On the arena, what use is having more strength? My [Lava Earth Fire]—he won't even be able to touch me!"

"But what if..."

"There are no 'what ifs'!" Zhao Kuo interrupted her, his eyes becoming fierce, "However, just to be safe...!"

He picked up the communicator and dialed another number.

"Dad, can you help me get two things? A set of C-rank fire-element armor, and a few fire-element exotic beast crystals..."

The other side of the phone was silent for two seconds, then Zhao's father's voice came through:

"You brat, you spend money like you're burning it. What do you need them for?"

"For the college entrance exam arena..."

"Also, Dad, listen to me, I have a girlfriend..."

"...Fine, worthy of being my good son! I'll have someone make a trip to the Nancheng black market right away. By the way, I'll transfer another 100,000 to you, buy some supplements. Our Zhao family in that regard... you know."

After hanging up, Zhao Kuo turned to look at Liu Ruyan, his eyes full of ruthlessness.

"Five days later, I want Su Ming to kneel before the whole school. No matter how hard his bones are, they can't be harder than magma."

Liu Ruyan leaned on his shoulder and gave a docile "Hmm."

She suddenly remembered the three years she spent with Su Ming.

That man never spoke harsh words, never lost his temper.

He was so gentle he didn't seem like a person from the martial arts world.

Forget it, it didn't matter.

She had already chosen Zhao Kuo.

The winner takes all, the loser is out.

The rules of this world had always been this simple.

...

On the other side.

Early in the morning, Su Ming arrived at the Xinghuo Scrap Processing Plant again.

As soon as he stepped into the Sorting Area, he keenly felt that the atmosphere today was a bit off.

The way all the fellow workers looked at him was filled with the compassion of "hospice care."

"Little Su is here?"

The Short-haired Lady saw him, her eyes immediately reddened, and she walked over quickly.

Without a word, she shoved two still-warm hard-boiled eggs into his hand.

"Take them and eat them while they're hot! Laid by the old hen at home, calcium supplements! You child... sigh."

Su Ming held the two eggs, a bit dazed.

The Bald Man nodded at him from afar, his eyes filled with the tragic heroism of "farewell, brother."

Fine.

Su Ming's mouth twitched.

The persona of "secondary mutation, life is running out" from yesterday had spread faster than he imagined.

It seemed he was quite talented at building personas.

The foreman, Scarface Li, walked over and patted his shoulder.

"Alright, don't just stand here. Just go back to your area and stay there today, get some rest."

That tone was exactly like allowing a terminally ill patient to slack off with pay.

The small bit of emotion in Su Ming's heart hadn't even had time to ferment before it was covered over by a sense of absurdity that made him want to laugh and cry.

What else could he say?

"Thanks, Uncle Li, thanks, Big Sister."

Su Ming was touched, but his hands were not polite.

Under the sympathetic gaze of everyone, he held the two eggs and dived into his "exclusive VIP box."

The three-meter-high scrap mountain in the corner was quietly waiting for his favor.

Su Ming peeled an egg and took a bite.

His gaze swept over the piles of armored vehicle chassis wreckage, twisted gun barrels, broken track plates before him...

All hard dishes!

He swallowed the egg white, and his left hand had already quietly touched a broken track connector.

Let the feast begin!

His palm heated up, and the countdown began.

One minute later.

[Ding! Devoured high-manganese steel track component. mass points + 6.7.]

Su Ming didn't change his expression. His right hand took the second egg from his pocket and slowly peeled it, while his left hand had already switched to the next piece of scrap.

[Ding! Devoured high-strength alloy wheel hub... Gained mass points: + 9.5!]

[Ding! Devoured military-grade drive shaft wreckage... Gained mass points: + 21.8!]

[Ding! Devoured...]

The crisp notification sound of the system played the most wonderful movement in his mind.

Su Ming no longer looked at the specific numbers; there was only one thought in his mind.

Eat, eat until you die.

His right hand symbolically turned over the sorting basket, while his left hand was outputting frantically behind his back, one piece after another, without a moment's pause.

A thought suddenly popped into his mind.

With a body weight of 300 kilograms, why didn't he feel hungry at all?

Man is iron, food is steel.

Could it be that he had really become a "man of iron" in the literal sense, able to survive by devouring metal?

He shook his head, too lazy to think deeply about it.

Anyway, his body had no discomfort, so he shouldn't make things difficult for his stomach.

His hands didn't stop, and another palm-thick piece of armored scrap plate was in his hand, with grooves from exotic beast claw marks remaining on the edge.

[Ding! Devoured special steel armor fragment... Gained mass points: 12.5!]

Su Ming finished peeling the second egg and glanced at the heavy object area in the distance.

That was the real feast.

Complete tank turrets, mech legs taller than a person, dozens of tons of scrapped ship steel plates...

He swallowed his saliva and withdrew his gaze.

That side had dedicated personnel guarding it, and there was surveillance.

It wasn't the time; keep a low profile and develop.

In the middle, he took the time to bring up the panel and glance at it.

[Host: Su Ming]

[Realm: Tier 1 Black Iron Rank]

[True Mass: 296.3 kg (+)]

[mass points: 437.25]

Half a day, four hundred points.

At this speed, the mass points could break five hundred before getting off work today.

Dump everything into True Mass, and his weight would soar directly to eight hundred kilograms.

He was only two hundred-something away from the Tier 2 Bronze promotion line of one thousand kilograms.

Another fierce round this afternoon, and by tomorrow at the latest!

He would be able to touch the threshold of the second life form.

Su Ming suppressed the curve of his mouth and continued to bury his head in "work."

Three o'clock in the afternoon.

Su Ming had just finished devouring a fist-thick drive shaft, and the system popped up the largest income of the day.

[Ding! Devoured tungsten-based heavy alloy counterweight block. mass points + 22.4!]

Satisfying.

Just then, a low hum of an engine came from the periphery of the Sorting Area.

Su Ming looked up.

A silver-gray military hovercar slowly landed on the factory apron.

The cabin door opened, and a tall, dashing figure stepped out first.

Black nano combat suit, a slender figure of 1.78 meters, a silver battle saber emblem on the shoulder strap.

Shen Qingci.

But Su Ming's gaze only stayed on her for a second before being attracted to someone else.

Getting off from the other side of the car door was a man he hadn't seen before.

Early twenties, height around 1.83 meters.

Wearing a custom-made high-end combat suit, his face was handsome.

A perfectly appropriate smile hung on the corner of his mouth, and his whole body exuded a meticulously maintained sense of superiority.

He stood side by side with Shen Qingci, his temperament outstanding; one could tell at a glance that he was either rich or noble.