Gaining a tiny bit of weight every day, my weight is a billion tons.

When Su Ming changed into his new school uniform and stepped into the factory gate again...

The entire sorting area fell silent for a moment.

Foreman Scarface Li was shouting and assigning tasks.

The words "Get the hell out of here!" stuck in his throat, his eyes wide open like saucers.

Where is that handsome boy from yesterday who was sickly and pale as a ghost?

Who is this person in front of me?

He's still 1.85 meters tall, and his figure is still the same slim and handsome type, but his overall demeanor is completely different.

Her skin had a healthy glow, like the finest jade, and her facial features seemed to have been meticulously sculpted.

Every detail was perfect, especially those eyes, deep and bright, carrying a calm and sharp understanding of everything.

What used to be an art piece displayed in a showcase is now a sharpened knife.

"Holy crap... Xiao Su?"

A burly man who had spoken to Su Ming yesterday dropped the wrench in his hand with a clatter to the ground.

"Is it really Xiao Su? Has he... taken some kind of beauty pill?"

"Weren't they saying that the second mutation meant certain death? How come they look more energetic than us?"

The short-haired woman was even more direct, looking Su Ming up and down and clicking her tongue in amazement:

"Little Su, if you looked like that, you'd drive all those rich women crazy if you walked around the red-light district."

Su Ming's face still held that aloof, academically gifted indifference, as if he were oblivious to the astonishment around him.

But he was secretly overjoyed.

That's a really stinky fart.

It was worth it; that vial of nutrient solution was definitely worth the money.

This upgrade represents a double leap forward in both appearance and performance.

He even pictured Liu Ruyan's cold face in his mind.

I wonder what her expression would be if she saw this now.

Regret? Probably.

But so what?

Even if she crawls back on her knees one day, I won't bother to give her a second glance.

My good days are just beginning.

"Ahem." Scarface Li snapped out of his daze, feeling a little embarrassed. He cleared his throat to cover up his earlier lapse in composure.

"What are you looking at! Is there no work to do? Xiao Su, you... come with me."

He led Su Ming toward the entrance to the heavy goods area.

It was a much heavier metal security gate, with armed guards standing beside it, their expressions solemn.

"The boss said you can freely enter the heavy goods area today."

Scarface Li pointed to the security gate.

"However, there is one thing: all spatial equipment must be unloaded and put into the storage cabinets over there."

This is a strict rule of the military region to prevent anyone from stealing from their post.

Su Ming nodded, readily took off the dark silver space bracelet on his hand, and put it into the special lead storage cabinet.

Anyway, he doesn't need to take it out.

His stomach is the best storage space.

After passing through security, the view suddenly opened up before me.

The heavy goods area was more than ten times larger than the sorting area, resembling a giant steel canyon.

Mountains of metal, made up of scrapped armor plates, tank tracks, and mecha wreckage, gleamed with a cold hue in the morning light.

A giant tower crane, tens of meters high, is slowly moving, lifting a piece of alloy armor weighing several tons from a mountain.

It moved to the other side, producing a deafening metallic scraping sound.

Many workers wearing the same overalls were busy at work.

Cutting, dismantling, and transporting—the entire area was filled with the hustle and bustle and power of heavy industry.

"Why are there so many more people today?" Su Ming asked casually.

Scarface Li lit a cigarette, lowered his voice, and said with a hint of resentment, "It's all because of what's happening at the front."

He gestured with his lip towards the south.

"I heard from the rumors that things aren't going well in Yuanyuan in the south lately."

The clashes with those sons of bitches of source beasts are becoming more and more frequent, and they're no longer just minor skirmishes like before.

Just yesterday, I heard that several high-ranking military officials of the fifth or sixth rank were seriously injured, and several truckloads of scrapped equipment were sent down.

Scarface Li took a deep drag on his cigarette, then smashed the butt on the ground and stomped it out.

"Damn it, those bastards! If I had that kind of strength, I'd go to the front lines and kill one of them as a sacrifice, that would be a bonus!"

Su Ming looked at Scarface Li's flushed face, somewhat surprised.

He never expected that this foreman, who usually bullied the weak and feared the strong and loved to take advantage of others, would have such a passionate side.

In his previous life, he was born in a peaceful era, where war and sacrifice only existed in history books and news.

He thought of Shen Qingci, that SS-level genius who was obsessed with the pinnacle of martial arts.

She'll probably end up going down this path anyway, even if she goes to a military academy.

He thought again of the rock robot that he had devoured.

In his berserk state, even the S-level genius Lu Beichen was as fragile as paper.

However, when faced with actual combat damage, the military's technological creations also proved vulnerable.

Su Ming snapped out of his thoughts and asked Scarface Li for some precautions.

"Alright, find somewhere to stay, just don't get in the way of the tower crane."

Scarface Lee waved his hand.

"The boss has spoken: even if you lie down and sleep today, you'll still get paid."

After yesterday's confrontation with the robot.

The people in the factory had already accepted that he was a "madman who was not long for this world but was worthy of respect," and they were much more tolerant of him.

Su Ming nodded, said nothing more, and turned to disappear behind a relatively secluded mountain of scrap iron.

Like a mouse sneaking into a granary, he began his furtive and gluttonous feast.

Place a piece of tank side skirt armor, about half the height of a person, on the palm of your left hand and silently recite.

"Devour".

[Ding! Absorbed C-grade high-manganese steel armor, purification and refining complete, mass points +32]

A surge of pure energy flowed into his body.

Su Ming's eyes lit up.

Cool!

This is much more exciting than those odds and ends in the sorting area.

He then reached for a broken transmission shaft on the leg of the mecha, which was covered with complex gears.

[Ding! A Grade B titanium-tungsten alloy drive shaft has been absorbed, and the purification and refining process is complete. Mass points +45]

make persistent efforts.

He found a piece of wreckage that looked like the wingtip of some kind of aircraft, with traces of being burned by an energy weapon.

[Ding! Absorbed B+ grade memory alloy component, purification and refining complete, mass points +110]

"Wuhu!"

Su Ming was overjoyed.

This is what you call "having a feast".

In just over ten minutes, the quality points increased by more than two hundred.

At this rate, by the end of today, we'll at least make significant progress, if not fill the Silver level progress bar.

While maintaining the act of seemingly "sorting" waste, he was frantically "eating" behind his back with his left hand.

The balance of quality points is rising rapidly.

453.2...688.2...974.2...

Just as he was swallowing a rusty piece of robotic breastplate, his finger suddenly touched a foreign object.

There was a huge claw mark in the center of the breastplate, and the edge armor was torn apart like paper.

In the deepest recess of the gear, there was something about the size of a thumb stuck.

Su Ming pried it out.

It was a dull, unremarkable crystal with a rough surface and a lack of luster, looking no different from an ordinary stone.

But the moment Su Ming held it in his palm, he sensed something different.

A faint but extremely pure energy fluctuation emanated from inside the crystal, resonating with the mass core within his body.

This is……

A word flashed through his mind.

Crystallized Beast?

The one that Lu Beichen presented to Shen Hongyuan yesterday, although it was dark purple, had a similar energy texture.

However, the energy in this piece was many times weaker and extremely mixed.

Who cares what it is, let's eat it first.

"Devour!"

[Ding! Consumed Tier 1 Inferior Beast Crystal, Mass Points +100]

The gray crystal in his palm instantly vaporized, leaving not even a trace of powder.

A surge of energy, a hundred times purer than all the scrap metal he had just devoured combined, rushed into his arm's meridians!

Su Ming's eyes widened suddenly.

"Holy crap, 100 points?!"

He looked down at his hands, then turned to look at the mountain of scrap metal at his feet, the kind he could only exchange for a few dozen points after working himself to the bone for half a day.

Those "delicacies" that exude a captivating metallic sheen suddenly lose their appeal.

"I spent ages gnawing on a rusty iron pipe, and all that effort didn't amount to as much as this one candy?"

Su Ming felt like he had discovered a new continent.

No wonder the Federation spends so much money to organize Awakened Ones to hunt down alien beasts; these things are basically mobile energy blocks!

This piece, which is clearly the lowest grade and has almost lost all its energy, is a "low-quality product" that can still be exchanged for 100 points.

If it's fresh and high-quality...

A light called "greed" and "desire" began to gleam in Su Ming's eyes.

Whether you can live a more enjoyable life in this one than in your last one depends on this!

Su Ming forced down his restlessness and continued searching through the scrap heap.

But their eyes were no longer fixed on the scrap metal; they were now fixed on the wrecked robots with claw marks and burn marks.

Unfortunately, after searching for half an hour, I couldn't find a second one.

That's right, these kinds of things are usually accidentally missed, so having even one is already considered a lucky find.

I'm wondering if I should try my luck in another area.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

It wasn't the heavy footsteps of workers, but a light, rhythmic gait.

Su Ming turned around.

In the backlight, a tall figure was walking towards him.

He wasn't wearing the black nanotech combat suit, nor was he wearing his training clothes.

A simple white T-shirt, tucked into high-waisted jeans, reveals a slender waistline.

Her long hair was not tied up, but lay loose on her shoulders, making her collarbone and neck lines particularly clear.

He was wearing a pair of white canvas shoes, stepping on the rusty iron plate.

Shen Qingci.

Her usually calm and collected eyes paused slightly when they fell on Su Ming's face.

"You...you're Su Ming?!"

"...Now faces can evolve too?"