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

"Devour!"

Su Ming's palm suddenly felt hot.

An extremely tiny, pitch-black vortex emerged from the center of his palm lines.

The pages began to yellow and look old.

one second...

Two seconds...

A full minute.

The half-pound book crumbled into a puddle of grayish-white powder, which slipped through my fingers.

A system notification sounded.

[Ding! Consuming paper books, purification and refinement complete, quality points +0.01 (minimum guarantee)]

"0.01?"

Su Ming's eyelids twitched violently.

"System, are you trying to cut corners like you're on Pinduoduo? Can't you at least give me 1 point as a minimum...?"

Criticisms aside, it's still an attempt.

Paper is made of plant fiber and has a low density, which is understandable.

He turned his head and stared at the broken wooden chair next to him, which was missing a leg and was tied together with wire.

"Let's try wood; it should be better than paper, right?"

Press down with your left hand.

"Devour".

Another long minute of waiting.

The chair withered and crumbled inch by inch under his hands, eventually turning into wood chips and ashes.

[Ding! Consumed wooden chair, purification and refining complete, quality points +0.01 (minimum guarantee)]

Another guaranteed minimum!

Su Ming's lips twitched.

He looked around.

There's no need to test the water in the basin; its density is similar to that of the human body.

Su Ming's gaze finally fell on the red brick in the corner that was being used as a table.

It weighs about five pounds. It's sintered clay, which contains some iron and silicates.

He placed his palm on it.

"Devour!"

One minute later.

The hard red bricks turned directly into a pile of dry yellow earth.

The table legs, which were supported by bricks, lost their support and collapsed with a loud crash.

The enamel mug rolled off the table and crashed to the ground with a sharp, piercing sound.

[Ding! Consumed building bricks, purification and refining complete, quality points +1]

"Five pounds of bricks were all dirt, and only one grain was extracted."

Su Ming shook off the yellow dust from between his fingers, his brows furrowing into a knot.

At this rate, when will we ever be able to rule the world?

He glanced at the concrete ground beneath his feet.

"...System, I have a question. Can I swallow a mountain? Or, can I swallow an entire lake?"

The system remained silent for a full three seconds, as if analyzing the stupidity of the question.

[The host is dreaming.]

Su Ming's face darkened.

"System, are you being polite?"

"I was politely asking you a question, and you actually insulted me!"

[Currently, the life form only has access to the basic devouring sequence. A small mountain weighs approximately several hundred million tons, far exceeding the devouring permission limit.]

"...And what about the river?"

Undeterred, Su Ming continued his search for bugs.

Liquid substances cannot maintain continuous contact, preventing the engulfment process from being completed. It is recommended to prioritize high-density, high-purity metals and minerals.

Su Ming was a little embarrassed.

If the story started with the ability to devour mountains and seas, it wouldn't be a modern martial arts novel, but a fantasy xianxia story...

It seems that if you want to effectively accumulate quality points, you really need to get some solid stuff!

He crouched down and pulled something out from under the bed.

A 20-kilogram cast iron dumbbell.

The surface has a layer of reddish-brown rust.

It feels rough.

The rubber grip was already cracked.

He bought this from a secondhand market, thinking he would use it to improve his health.

It's also the most valuable asset in the whole house.

Su Ming placed his left palm on it.

"Devour".

This time it felt different.

The tiny black hole in the palm of my hand seemed to attract a shark that had smelled blood, and its suction suddenly increased.

The 20-kilogram iron block looked dull and grayish in his hands.

The rust on the surface was the first to peel off.

Next comes the oxide layer, the metal crystals...

One minute later.

The heavy dumbbells have completely disappeared.

All that remained was a small clump of foul-smelling rust and a few pieces of rubber.

[Ding! Inferior dumbbells have been consumed, purification and refining complete, quality points +14]

Su Ming scratched his head as he looked at the pile of crumbs on the ground.

2 PM.

Is this what six kilograms of "tax" did?

"System, are you robbing me? You only give me fourteen points for twenty kilograms?"

Su Ming was furious and frantically questioned the system in his mind.

"Could you purify only the useful parts and leave the remaining impurities and structures for me?"

"They turn things to ashes all the time, how are we supposed to live like this?"

[This sequence represents the collapse and stripping away of a microscopic black hole; once its mass is absorbed, it returns to a singularity, and its normal form cannot be restored.]

Su Ming rolled his eyes.

The laws of physics are indeed cold and merciless.

He looked at his remaining quality points, which were 15.02, almost 5 points short.

His gaze slowly shifted behind him.

The rusty tin single bed stood quietly in the corner.

The bed frame, made of welded iron pipes, weighs at least ten kilograms.

Even if the corrosion is severe, squeezing out seven or eight points shouldn't be a problem.

Su Ming had already raised his hand.

But the movement froze in mid-air.

I swallowed the bed, where will I sleep tonight?

And the rent is due this month.

Last year, the landlady wanted to deduct fifty yuan from his salary because the paint on the walls was peeling off.

If you find the whole bed is gone...

The deposit of 300 yuan was deducted directly.

He currently has only a thousand dollars in his entire fortune.

Su Ming's hand remained suspended in mid-air, hesitant to fall.

"System, is there any way to absorb only a tiny bit? I just need the surface metallic element, enough to make a frame so I can sleep comfortably!"

silence.

A full five seconds of silence.

It's estimated that this is the first time the system has bound itself to such an impoverished host.

[Currently, only the basic devouring sequence is available in this life form. This sequence is a full collapse mode and cannot be partially stripped away. Upon advancing to the second life form, the system shop will be unlocked, allowing users to exchange for advanced features such as the "Rapid Devouring Sequence."]

Su Ming's eyes lit up.

What would the second life form be like?

You need to collect at least twenty quality points first.

It's done!

"Sleep on the floor today, be the boss tomorrow!"

Su Ming bent down, rolled up the thin mattress on the bed, and threw it into the corner.

Then they took out the wooden planks that were laid on the iron frame one by one and stacked them against the wall.

At least I can use it as a makeshift mattress on the floor to sleep for one night.

After doing all that, he placed his left palm on the rusty iron bed leg.

"Devour".

A warmth spread through my palm.

The black hole has restarted.

One second... two seconds...

The bed legs are thinning at a rate visible to the naked eye.

The welded joint was the first to break.

When the last section of the crossbeam silently crumbled into dust under his palm...

One minute exactly.

The iron-framed bed that originally occupied half of the room has completely disappeared.

The room suddenly felt much brighter.

[Ding! The inferior iron bed has been consumed, and the purification and refining process is complete. Quality points +22]

"It's done."

He brought up the control panel.

The quality point balance fluctuated and then settled at 37.02.

A system notification tone then sounded.

[The mass points meet the repair requirements. Repairing all damaged bone and tissue requires 20 mass points. Repair now?]

"repair!"

next second.

A slight burning sensation came from my palm.

A cracking sound came from the break.

The burned skin on both forearms began to peel off and regenerate.

The repair process took only a dozen seconds.

Both arms are completely intact.

Not a single scar was left.

Moreover, he felt that the reconstructed ulna seemed to be harder than before.

Su Ming stood up, stretched his arms a couple of times, and turned to look out the window.

He licked his lips.

"The arena match in seven days should be really interesting!"

……

After the initial excitement, Su Ming realized he was facing a very real problem.

He was too poor.

So poor that they couldn't even take the first step to defy fate.

The remaining quality points are 17.02.

The Federal Reserve account has less than a thousand dollars.

To stand out in the college entrance exam competition, you'd have to swallow at least several tons of metal.

Even the cheapest scrap metal has a market recycling price of two cents per kilogram.

If you take several tons, that'll cost several thousand yuan.

Even selling him wouldn't be enough!

Then we'll just have to think about "free purchase"!

Su Ming leaned against the wall.

He mentally went through all the places in Jiangcheng where he might be able to get cheap metal.

Waste recycling station?

That place collects scrap metal, but doesn't sell it.

Construction site?

Stealing construction materials will result in having your legs broken.

How about free municipal manhole covers?

He swallowed hard, imagining himself dressed in black, wearing a mask, and using a crowbar to lift a manhole cover...

The next scene shows him being taken to the police station by the federal city defense forces to have his picture taken for free.

"Stealing municipal facilities is punishable by one to three years imprisonment and a fine of 5000 yuan."

If he were to get arrested, let alone spend a year, even just a week in jail would mean missing the college entrance exam. What would be the point of the competition then?

Illegal business is off-limits, but free high-quality goods are an option...

Is there really nowhere else to look?

Suddenly, Su Ming remembered the words someone had mocked him when he awakened earlier that day.

Go to the garbage dump and be a solid weight for people.

Yup!

Garbage dump!

Gaowu Waste Plant!

That place was piled high with fragments of weapons damaged during Awakener training, scrapped alloy armor, and shattered mecha parts.

A mountain of uniform metal scrap!

Moreover, it is said that the place constantly hires temporary workers to do the hard labor of sorting waste.

Although the salary was pitifully low, but...

"Who said I went there to earn a salary?"

"So what if I've always loved hearty dishes since I was a kid!"

……