9: Chapter 9: First Day at Work, Time to Eat!

Su Ming pushed open the door to his low-rent apartment; the mattress was still spread out on the floor.

The iron bed frame was gone, leaving only a faint ring of marks on the cement floor.

He sat down cross-legged and skillfully summoned his interface.

A blue light screen unfolded before his eyes.

[Host: Su Ming]

[Realm: First Rank · Black Iron]

[Life Form: First Life Form (Carbon-based Mortal)]

[True Mass: 76.76 kg (+)]

[mass points: 17.02]

[Promotion Progress: 7.676%]

His gaze fell on the small "(+)" symbol behind the "True Mass" column.

Su Ming stared at it for two seconds, and with a "let's try it" mindset, he tapped it with his intent.

[Consume 1 mass point to increase True Mass by 1kg?]

As expected!

A flash of joy crossed Su Ming's eyes, and he immediately confirmed.

A subtle warmth spread from his abdomen; the sensation wasn't strong, but his body did feel a fraction heavier.

The interface refreshed.

True Mass: 77.76 kg.

mass points: 16.02.

A one-to-one exchange ratio.

If he added all the remaining 16.02 points, his total mass would reach 93.78 kg.

With a base of 93.78 kg, the daily passive growth of one percent would be 0.94 kg.

Yesterday's passive growth was only 0.76 kg.

The snowball of compound interest, once it starts rolling, becomes increasingly terrifying.

Su Ming didn't hesitate at all.

All in!

With a thought, he dumped all the remaining 16.02 points in.

The warm sensation flooded his entire body again, and this time, the duration was significantly longer.

A faint "creaking" sound came from deep within his bones.

It didn't hurt, though.

It felt more like his bones were stretching after a full meal.

The interface refreshed again.

mass points: 0.

True Mass: 93.78 kg.

Su Ming stood up and stretched his limbs.

There was no change in his physique; he was still the same lean 1.85-meter-tall guy.

But the feeling of his feet hitting the floor was completely different.

Each step was heavier and more stable.

He clenched his fist, and the feedback from his knuckles was incredibly clear; they were harder than before.

It wasn't the calluses from long-term training, but the actual density of his bones changing.

93.78 kg.

A normal guy of the same height and build would be just over 70 kg.

He was now nearly 40 jin heavier than others out of thin air.

And these 40 jin were all solid, effective mass.

It wasn't fat or flab; it was tougher skin, tighter muscles, and harder bones.

Although these changes weren't visible from the outside yet, the direction was correct.

Su Ming closed the interface with satisfaction and lay back down on the mattress on the floor.

It didn't matter that his mass points were at zero.

Tomorrow, when he entered the Scrap Yard, that would be where he truly started the feast.

He drifted into a deep sleep with that thought in mind.

Perhaps because of what he had been thinking about all day, he had an absurd dream at night.

In the dream, he was carrying the "Speedy" egg fried rice, chasing that young lady around the Scrap Yard, insisting on treating her to a meal to repay her kindness.

He chased her for three laps around the entire facility before finally cornering her.

He tried to mimic the suave "wall slam" he'd seen in CEO romance dramas from his past life.

As a result, when his body leaned forward, his tons of True Mass pressed firmly against her.

That dashing young lady was pressed to the point of foaming at the mouth.

Su Ming was startled awake by this scene.

It was dawn.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, sat up, and spent three seconds deeply reflecting on his morning wood.

"Pathetic, is this how you repay her? Is this how much you want to press up against her..."

After reflecting, he scrambled up, washed his face, and headed out.

At seven in the morning, at the Xinghuo Scrap Processing Plant, Scarface Li was already waiting at the gate.

Of course, he wasn't waiting specifically for him.

This foreman stood at the gate every day like a human railing.

"You're here?"

Scarface Li saw him and casually tossed over a thin temporary access card.

"Follow me, pass security first."

Su Ming followed behind, passing through the main gate of the Scrap Yard for the first time.

The security channel was much stricter than he had imagined.

A metal archway over two meters tall stood in the middle of the passage, with dense sensor probes embedded on both sides, and a small screen above the door frame displaying real-time data streams.

This setup was identical to the high-end, sophisticated electronic factory security checks from his past life, perhaps even more ruthless.

"Go in, stand inside, and don't move."

Su Ming followed instructions and walked into the archway.

"Hum—"

A low-frequency vibration traveled up from the soles of his feet, and a pale blue scanning beam swept back and forth from head to toe twice.

A line of green text popped up on the screen on the door: [No contraband/spatial equipment detected.]

Scarface Li signaled that he could move forward, while casually issuing a warning.

"Factory rules: you have to pass through this door when entering and leaving. Whether you're carrying anything on you, hiding parts in your pockets, or have spatial rings or spatial backpacks, it can all be scanned out."

He held up a thick finger.

"Military property—don't even think about taking out a single screw. Last month, some hotheaded rookie stuffed a piece of C-grade alloy scrap into his crotch and was immediately pinned down and sent to the military tribunal."

Su Ming nodded repeatedly, wearing an honest and simple expression on his face.

But a thought drifted through his mind.

It doesn't matter if I can't take it out.

I'm not planning to take it out anyway.

I'll just eat it right inside.

Passing through two heavy iron doors and turning a corner, the view suddenly opened up.

He had arrived at the Sorting Area.

In the center of the open-air site, there were several small mountain-like piles of parts.

Broken alloy blades, shattered armor fragments, bent mecha joints, scattered bolts and nuts... everything was metal.

Su Ming's heart skipped a beat uncontrollably.

"This is your workstation." Scarface Li pointed to a row of iron tables at the edge of the site.

There were already five people standing behind the tables, three men and two women, working with their heads down.

A short, sturdy bald man was using his bare hands to forcefully straighten a bent iron pipe, like snapping a sugar cane; he was clearly an D-grade Enhancement Type with considerable strength.

Next to him, a tall, thin man wearing thick gloves was throwing parts into different baskets with lightning speed; his technique was extremely deft, clearly an old hand.

The third man was a middle-aged man in his forties, working silently with his head down.

Of the two women, one was in her thirties with short hair, her voice loud enough for the entire Sorting Area to hear as she cursed and complained about the parts being too fragmented.

The other was a young girl in her early twenties with a ponytail, quietly and demurely sorting parts with her head down.

Scarface Li patted Su Ming on the shoulder.

"The work isn't hard. Sort by material: iron to iron, copper to copper, alloy to alloy. Once sorted, push them to the display area over there; the military transport truck comes every two days to haul them away for re-smelting and manufacturing."

He pointed to the pile of relatively fragmented parts in front of Su Ming and added, "Don't try to be a hero and move the big pieces; your frame can't handle it."

"Just sort this pile of scrap parts, work honestly, and you'll get paid."

Su Ming nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, his attitude impeccable.

Seeing how obedient he was, Scarface Li snorted and turned to leave.

Su Ming watched the foreman leave, then slowly turned around to face the small mountain of parts that was now his.

He took a deep breath.

This overwhelming wealth had finally fallen to him, Su Ming.

Time to feast!

He picked up the most inconspicuous common steel screw from the pile, thumb-sized and weighing only a few grams.

Pretending to inspect the quality of the screw, he imperceptibly pressed his left palm against it.

"Devour."

His palm warmed slightly, and that familiar suction started up again.

The countdown began.

He continued sorting other parts with his right hand without changing his expression, while his left hand held the screw, hanging naturally at his side.

One minute.

The screw in his palm silently turned into a pinch of fine iron powder, quietly scattering from between his fingers.

[Ding! Devoured trace amounts of low-carbon steel product. Skin toughness increased, mass points +0.01 (minimum guarantee).]

A minimum guarantee was not unexpected; for something weighing only a few grams, getting any points at all was good.

The point was—he could devour!

And he could do it without anyone noticing!

Su Ming felt reassured and began to speed up his sorting.

His eyes scanned the pile of parts like a scanner, while he weighed every fragment that passed through his hands.

A thumb-thick copper terminal, about 25 grams.

He pressed his left hand against it.

One minute later.

[Ding! Devoured copper-based conductor material, mass points +0.1]

A broken piece of alloy frame, palm-sized, felt heavy in his hand, estimated to weigh about 500 grams.

He flipped it over, pretending to identify the material engraving on it, while in reality, his left palm was pressed tightly against it.

One minute later.

[Ding! Devoured medium-carbon alloy steel component, mass points +0.5]

Su Ming didn't even blink, continuing to sort.

Next piece.

A fist-sized solid bearing housing, pure steel, with only a slight oxidation layer on the surface.

It must weigh about 750 grams.

His left hand gripped it firmly.

One minute later.

[Ding! Devoured high-carbon bearing steel.]

[Gained mass points: +0.7.]

The corners of his mouth were already starting to curl up.

He quickly lowered his head, using the action of organizing parts to hide his widening grin.

He was bubbling with joy inside.

0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 0.7... This was just the beginning!

He glanced at the mountain of parts in front of him.

Just this pile at his workstation weighed at least several hundred jin.

And this was only a small fraction of the Sorting Area's daily throughput.

The daily throughput of the entire Scrap Yard was measured in "tons"!

Su Ming forced down his inner ecstasy and buried his head to continue "working."

His left hand was never idle.

Sort a batch, casually "eat" a piece.

Sort another batch, "eat" another piece.

His movements were as natural and smooth as a veteran employee.

There was a little bit of sneakiness, but it didn't matter; he had already won big.

The Short-haired Lady next to him turned to look at him and shouted at the top of her lungs,

"Yo, young man, you're pretty quick at work!"

Su Ming looked up and smiled, revealing an innocent expression:

"Used to it, I often moved stuff around at school."

The lady went "Oh," thinking this student looked thin but was actually quite capable, and didn't ask any more questions.

Su Ming continued to bury his head in his work.

No, bury his head in his eating.

Half an hour passed.

He took advantage of a moment while bending over to secretly summon the interface and take a peek.

mass points: 3.82.

Half an hour, nearly four points!

And these were all just palm-sized, fist-sized scrap parts.

He hadn't dared to touch the real big pieces at all.

Calculating with this efficiency, in an eight-hour day—conservatively estimated, he could get fifty or sixty points.

If he was lucky and came across a few high-purity big pieces, breaking a hundred in a day was possible!

Su Ming looked up, his eyes burning as he gazed at the scrap armor plates and mecha wreckage in the distant heavy object area, piled into true "mountain ranges."

He swallowed his saliva.

That was the real main course.

But he couldn't now.

Scarface Li had said not to go to the heavy object area.

It was his first day, he couldn't stand out.

Keep his cool, develop stealthily.

Su Ming lowered his head, and his left hand gripped another piece of steel pipe about the length of his forearm.

His palm heated up, and the countdown began.

Just then, a series of heavy footsteps came from the perimeter of the Sorting Area.

Su Ming scanned with the corner of his eye.

He saw a middle-aged man wearing a standard military uniform walking over.

A silver inspection badge was pinned to his chest, and his eyes were as sharp as a hawk's.

Behind the man, two assistants were carrying precision scanning equipment.

The Short-haired Lady next to him paused her movements and muttered in a low voice,

"Bad luck, the inspectors are here."