Feng Mu woke up from the bed and turned off the alarm.
The time was eight o'clock in the morning, and he had only slept for four hours.
His entire body was sore from excessive exercise, but the results had exceeded his expectations.
"Edibility is at 2.4%, slightly higher than the 2% I expected."
Feng Mu felt a mixture of pain and joy,
"An extra 0.4% each day might seem trivial, but if it accumulates consistently, reaching a hundred percent progress could reduce the time by 10 days, or 40 days in total."
Feng Mu still wasn't entirely satisfied; he hoped to cut this time down to within a month.
After getting dressed, Feng Mu pulled out a handful of Iron Balls from his pocket for breakfast.
With four hours of sleep, the little space his stomach had cleared out was instantly filled again, and his edibility increased by another 0.1, reaching 2.5%.
The downside was that his pocket was empty, with only a thin layer left at the bottom.
Feng Mu weighed it in his hand, roughly estimating about a 0.5% amount, and then he counted the cash in his pocket, his face darkening.
"Damn it, I got a bit carried away yesterday and nearly forgot that aside from my root bone talent, poverty also restricts my progress."
"Edibility can be digested over time, but the premise is having enough money to buy the iron to consume."
Feng Mu, with a dark face, rummaged through things and finally found a few straggler bills tucked between book pages and old clothes pockets.
He counted them twice, totaling 177.5, enough to buy 6 pounds of Iron Beads, which would barely last a week without running out of food.
As for his phone banking wallet, it was completely empty; Feng Mu hadn't even activated that feature.
Suddenly, Feng Mu pulled out another phone that was turned off. Unlike his own cheap phone, this was the latest model, priced at over 8000, reportedly worth a good kidney on the black market.
"Rich people, they must have activated mobile banking. Who knows, there might even be quite a bit of money in there."
Greed surfaced in Feng Mu's mind but was quickly suppressed.
"This phone can't be turned on lightly, and I absolutely can't touch the money inside, to avoid being tracked by location. Even though the Patrol Office's forensic technology is quite outdated, better safe than sorry."
The technology in Lower City as a whole was behind that of past lives, at least on the surface, but with the overcast skies covering everything, one couldn't be too cautious.
"Dad, did he not come back last night either?"
Feng Mu casually took a piece of steamed bun from the dining table and asked his mother as he was about to leave.
Wang Xiuli: "Yeah, said there was a big case at the Patrol Office, so he won't be coming home for a while."
Bang.
Feng Mu casually closed the door, heading downstairs, his gaze flickering.
He didn't eat the bun, stuffing it into another pocket instead.
First, he rode his bicycle to the hardware store, and along the way, he turned into a remote dead-end alley. When he emerged, the old bag hanging from the handlebars was gone.
He went into the hardware store and restocked three pounds of Iron Balls.
The shop owner couldn't resist his curiosity and asked, "What do you make with all these Iron Balls you buy every day?"
"Nothing, just need them for martial arts," Feng Mu casually deflected, though he thought to himself, "I can't come to this store anymore."
Nothing unusual happened at school.
Aside from the part about the warehouse, today was like a replica of yesterday.
Absent-minded academic classes, sweat-drenching martial arts classes, and a peaceful playground with no sign of the Patrol Office's Ghost Shadow.
Feng Mu thought, "The family hasn't reported it yet, or the missing case hasn't been prioritized, or maybe the Patrol Office is tied up with a big case and short on manpower."
Whatever the case, the golden 48 hours for solving the case were being wasted, which was fortunate for Feng Mu.
After school, he left and returned home.
He got home earlier than usual today, and there was no one there.
His mother had gone to deliver dinner and a change of clothes to Feng Ju, leaving some simple dishes on the table.
Feng Mu had no intention of having dinner, not when he still had breakfast buns, but to avoid arousing suspicion, he found a food container in the kitchen, tossed in some dishes carelessly, and placed the morning bun inside.
Back in his room, he packed the food container into a bag with handles, hung his school bag on a chair, and after a short rest, began his training.
Training was undoubtedly tedious and painful, especially with yesterday's lingering muscle soreness yet to dissipate, making today's practice feel even more taxing, as if inheriting some kind of debuff.
For a moment, Feng Mu contemplated resting.
Waiting for his muscles to be less sore before training again wasn't out of the question, but...
The cool sensation at his sternum's ensiform became more stimulating. If it was the size of a thumbnail yesterday, today it was as large as a little finger, shifting from minus 1 degree to minus 2 degrees.
[Edibility growth ↑↑]
[Edibility growth ↑↑]
And the cool feeling accompanying the swallowing along the esophagus, alongside the flashing pop-up on his retina, presented the most direct indication.
See the difference?
"↑↑" had one more "↑" than yesterday's.
"Fatigue doubled, digestion also doubled, as if telling me that pain is an essential catalyst for growth!"
With greed, Feng Mu's lips parted into a smile, gasping for breath in huge gulps, his chest heaving like bellows through the night.
[Iron Eater: First Tier]
[Edible Iron Types: 1]
[Metal Traits Usable: 1]
[Currently Detected Edible Iron Type—Ordinary Pig Iron, Edibility 6.3%.]
[Traits Extracted: ??]
At four in the morning, it was pitch black outside; no ceiling lights were on in Upper City.
Feng Mu lay collapsed on the bed like a lump of mud, his eyes glowing like faint fireflies.
"Today saw a growth of 3.9%, 1.5% more than I expected, haha, cutting the time down to a month is achievable, perhaps I might be even faster tomorrow!!"
Of course, the burden exceeded expectations too, with today's iron consumption 50% higher than predicted.
"Getting money is urgent."
Feng Mu murmured, turning to his side, swiping open his phone screen where a group chat window popped up.
You have been added to a group chat by Luo Ji—[Blank People · Classmates Association].
Chat messages 99+.
Feng Mu paused slightly, then clicked to enter.
Tao Fei: The big group is boring, I'm thinking of quitting and setting up a small group to pull everyone in since we haven't taken the citizen exams, we can stay in touch here.
Wang Jian: Sounds good, I left too, that big group is nothing special anyway, and they look down on us, no point mingling with them.
Dong Ni: I haven't left. I just want to see how many actually pass their exams in the end, and when the numbers fall short, they'll be like us, Blank People, won't their faces be funny then?
Tao Fei: Haha, smiley face.jpg.
Wang Jian: So what's everyone up to now? I'm in the incineration plant, we burnt two Calamity Corpses today.
Sun Yi: Are Calamity Corpses scary? I've only heard about them on the news, but it's said incinerating them is really dangerous, is it true?
Wang Jian: It's okay, they're pre-treated, just a bit disgusting to look at.
Luo Ji: I've passed the Advanced Team test. Might be going on my first mission next week, how about we get together for dinner this weekend?
…..
Feng Mu glanced rapidly over a string of messages.
The last message was at 01:23, with two mentions of him mixed in.
Tao Fei @ Feng Mu: I heard you haven't officially withdrawn from school and attended classes these past few days?
Luo Ji @ Feng Mu: Dinner this weekend, coming?
Feng Mu had no intention to explain or reply, and was about to turn off the phone to sleep.
Suddenly, he paused, swiping up the messages with his finger, and his gaze lingered on a particular one for a while, before shifting his eyes to his backpack, his pupils constricting.
With his fingertip on the screen, he typed a reply:
Feng Mu @ Tao Fei: Sorry, didn't see the phone earlier, yeah, I'll take care of the withdrawal these two days.
Feng Mu @ Luo Ji: I'll definitely be there this weekend.
After making replies in order, he tapped on a profile to enter a private chat, hesitated for a moment, then sent out a message...