6: Chapter 6: The Beauty Lets Her Go!

Su Ming left the house at six in the morning.

The floor he slept on last night was ice-cold, but fortunately, his vitality was high, and he woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed.

The foundation of his body after the True Mass reconstruction was more than a notch stronger than before.

Although the changes brought about by the increase in density were not yet obvious, the solid feeling emanating from his bones was real.

He took out his phone and checked the route.

Xinghuo Scrap Processing Plant.

It was the largest armed scrap recycling center in the entire Jiangcheng, specializing in processing obsolete equipment discarded by the Southern Military Region.

The job posting online was very clear: they were hiring long-term temporary porters.

It required an Enhancement Type Awakened individual of D-rank or higher, with a daily wage of 150.

It wasn't about the money.

What he valued was the "military-discarded equipment."

Tank armor, mecha wreckage, alloy weapon fragments... these were all high-purity metals.

Swallowing even a small piece was equivalent to gnawing through a hundred textbooks.

In the suburbs of Jiangcheng, the bus wobbled to its final stop.

Su Ming got off and walked for ten minutes, spotting a huge factory area surrounded by barbed wire from afar.

Behind the barbed wire were mountains of metal scrap piled higher than three-story buildings.

Broken alloy combat blades were stuck in the scrap heaps, and shattered mecha remains were strewn about.

Rusty tank tracks were coiled in circles, shimmering with a dark red metallic luster under the morning light.

Su Ming swallowed hard.

A mouse falling into a rice jar—that was probably the feeling.

No, this wasn't a rice jar. This was a granary.

A tin sign was nailed to the barbed wire.

"Southern Military Region Designated Recycling Unit — Unauthorized Personnel Prohibited."

Su Ming withdrew his gaze and walked toward the main entrance.

A long line was forming at the factory gate, with at least thirty or forty people.

They were all burly men, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, with arms thicker than Su Ming's thighs.

At a glance, they were Awakened individuals applying for temporary porter jobs, mostly E-rank or D-rank Enhancement Types.

Su Ming silently stood at the end of the line.

The Bald Man in front turned his head and glanced at him several times.

The meaning in his eyes was clear: What are you, a little brat, doing here joining the fun?

The line moved forward slowly.

An iron table was set up at the main entrance, with a middle-aged man with a fleshy face and a scar on his left cheek sitting behind it, several large sandbags piled next to him.

This man was Scarface Li, the hiring foreman of the factory and a D-rank Enhancement Type Awakened.

The rules were simple. Go up, lift a sandbag, walk two laps.

An E-rank burly man stepped forward, grabbed a two-hundred-catty sandbag with both hands, roared, and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

He walked two laps steadily, and the crowd cheered. Scarface Li waved his hand and tossed him a temporary pass.

Next, a D-rank. He lifted a five-hundred-catty sandbag without even blushing or catching his breath.

Scarface Li nodded with satisfaction and issued a pass as well.

Those who got their passes walked into the factory with their heads held high, enjoying the envious gazes of those still in line.

Su Ming watched from behind, calculating rapidly in his mind.

Throughout last night, his True Mass had increased from 76 kilograms to 76.76 kilograms.

The one percent daily increase had begun to take effect, but this slight increment felt no different from not having increased at all in terms of physical sensation.

In essence, he still had the strength of an ordinary person.

"Should... it not be too embarrassing?"

He wasn't confident.

The line moved forward one by one, and soon it was Su Ming's turn.

Scarface Li looked up at him, his gaze lingering on that young and thin face.

"Student?"

"Yes, Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, senior year."

"Awakened?"

Su Ming took out his student ID and handed it over.

Scarface Li picked up the scanner on the table and scanned it casually. The moment the light screen popped up, his expression changed.

"F-rank, Enhancement Type, Increasingly Heavy." He read it aloud, his voice neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for those around him to hear, "Side effect—Osteoporosis?"

The people waiting in line behind immediately began whispering.

Scarface Li slapped the student ID onto the table and snorted with a laugh.

"F-rank? Side effect? Where did this sickly weakling come from? Get lost, get lost, don't come to my factory to die and blackmail me."

Su Ming didn't move.

"Uncle Li..."

"Who are you calling Uncle Li? I'm not familiar with you." Scarface Li crossed his arms.

"The scrap metal moved in the factory is all hundreds or thousands of catties. With your small frame, if you go in and get hit once, you'll be crushed. Will that count as a work-related injury or suicide then?"

Someone behind laughed out loud.

"A top student from Jiangcheng No. 1 High School is here to steal our rice bowl?"

"With those thin arms and legs, he probably can't even move a piece of scrap metal, right?"

"F-rank talent, truly useless to the core. What's the use of studying?"

Su Ming stood in place, his expression very calm.

He had heard such words all day at school yesterday.

Zhao Kuo had said it, Liu Ruyan had said it, Homeroom Teacher Wang Jianguo had said it, and classmates had said it.

Now even the laborers at the Scrap Yard were saying it.

But what he found absurd was that these people, just like him, were all at the very bottom of society.

E-rank and D-rank Awakened individuals had no fundamental difference from F-rank in the eyes of true powerhouses.

They were all beasts of burden, it was just that some beasts of burden could carry two hundred catties more.

Those at the bottom stepping on those at the bottom—they stepped the hardest.

Su Ming's peripheral vision remained fixed on those mountains of metal scrap behind the barbed wire.

That wasn't scrap metal.

That was his bargaining chip to stand up in this man-eating world.

As long as he could get in, let alone endure some eye-rolling, he would even call them grandpa if he had to.

Su Ming suppressed the corners of his mouth and put on an earnest expression.

He took out a pack of affordable cigarettes from his pocket, which he had bought for eight yuan at the convenience store downstairs before coming here. He pulled one out and handed it over.

"Uncle Li, please make an exception."

"I know my strength isn't good, but my mental power is okay; I can do detailed scrap sorting."

"Just consider it an act of charity, just provide my three meals a day, and I won't ask for a single cent in wages."

Scarface Li glanced at the pack of cigarettes.

Eight yuan.

He pushed Su Ming's hand away, his fleshy face shaking.

"I won't raise a useless person even if it's for free. If you break your bones after working for two days, do I have to pay your medical expenses? Hurry up..."

"Hum—"

Before he finished speaking.

A low roar of an engine pressed down from overhead, and everyone looked up involuntarily.

A silver-gray hovercraft swept in from the direction of the city.

The lines were cold, hard, and smooth; one look and you could tell it had a military-industrial background.

The aircraft landed steadily on the designated landing pad at the factory gate.

The laborers in line fell silent instantly.

The cabin door opened.

A long, straight leg stepped out first.

Black combat boots stepped on the concrete, making a crisp sound.

The person who arrived was wearing a capable black nano-combat suit.

It tightly wrapped around her breathtaking body contours.

That extreme curve stripped away all base, lustful implications.

Instead, it was full of wild, explosive power.

A silver combat blade emblem was embroidered on her epaulets, and her long hair was tied behind her head.

Revealing a smooth forehead and a well-defined jawline.

Visually, she was one meter seventy-eight tall, with a nine-head-to-body ratio.

Her facial features were also impossibly exquisite.

Her eyebrows were like distant mountains, her eyes like cold stars, her nose bridge high and straight, and her lips slightly pursed.

Between her brows was an air of heroism born from experiencing real combat and slaughter.

Liu Ruyan's beauty was a delicate, deliberate fawning; it was a beauty meant to please others.

When she smiled, you knew what she was smiling at; she was smiling because you had taken the bait.

The woman in front of him was different.

When she stood there, she was like a newly quenched Tang dao, held to your throat.

You just wanted to stand at attention.

The surrounding laborers who had just been laughing wildly all fell silent instantly.

Su Ming was also stunned for a moment.

It wasn't that he hadn't seen beautiful women.

In his past life, he often watched internet celebrities late at night in the dark, but he would forget them as soon as he finished watching.

This woman was different!

"Eldest Miss!"

Scarface Li's fleshy face deformed instantly, smiling like a flower, and he trotted up to greet her.

Su Ming watched Scarface Li's face change, looking like a completely different person.

He mentally awarded him today's "Best Face-Changing Award."

The woman scanned the lineup at the factory gate, her lips twitching slightly.

"Where is my father?"

Two words, her voice cold and clear.

Pleasant to hear, he loved listening to it.

"The boss is waiting for you in the gravity training room on the third underground level."

Scarface Li bowed and scraped.

"Eldest Miss, you've come back from the Imperial Capital, you must be tired from the journey..."

"That's enough." The woman interrupted him and prepared to walk inside.

Her gaze swept over the crowd and suddenly stopped.

To be precise, it stopped on Su Ming's washed-out school uniform.

She paused.

"Jiangcheng No. 1 High School?"

Su Ming nodded.

"...Senior year."

"Uncle Li." She turned to look at Scarface Li, her tone casual, "Since we are both students from Jiangcheng, take care of him if you can."

"Yes! Definitely, definitely!"

Scarface Li nodded repeatedly, then turned his face to Su Ming.

"Hey! Why aren't you thanking the Eldest Miss yet!"

"Thank you... thank you Eldest Miss, thank you Uncle Li!"

Su Ming slapped himself in his mind.

Su Ming, oh Su Ming, you can barely afford to eat now, and you still have the heart to look at beautiful women?

Are you worthy of the tissues by your floor bed?

But he still couldn't help but take another look.

"Tsk tsk, this quality... top-notch."

Then he silently gave a score in his heart.

Appearance 9.5, temperament 9.8.

The woman didn't stay long and walked straight into the depths of the factory.

Scarface Li watched the Eldest Miss's back disappear around the corner of the factory, still wanting more.

He turned back to look Su Ming up and down, snorting through his nose.

"Consider yourself lucky, kid; come to work tomorrow."

"Only stay in the Sorting Area; don't run to the heavy goods area. If something happens, I won't take responsibility!"

"Next!"

Su Ming stepped aside, his gaze crossing over Scarface Li, over the barbed wire, and landing on the endless mountains of metal scrap.

The corners of his mouth curled up.

"Eldest Miss, oh Eldest Miss, you've just let Sun Wukong into the Flat Peach Garden..."