Metabolism

"Engineer Li, how else can you modify my GTR? The previous modifications were no good. It couldn't pick up speed on corners, and I lost horribly. They all said you, Engineer Li, are a true expert at modifying cars. I came all the way from Jinling specifically for this. Don't worry, modification fees are modification fees—if you fix it properly, I'll give you an extra reward."

A GTR owner with money to burn looked at Du Ke as he spoke.

Inside the modification garage, Du Ke, going by the alias Li Changyang, wore a plain mechanic's uniform and a safety helmet. He replied calmly, "Let me take a look first."

He then instructed the young mechanic following him to open the GTR's hood and remove several exterior panels so he could inspect the previous modifications.

After a round of fussing about.

Du Ke, who had long since "seen" the entire structure clearly, told the GTR owner, "I don't know where you had it modified before, and I can't say the work was terrible, but the craftsmanship clearly failed to meet standards. Especially the power transmission system... here, here, and here... there are obvious workmanship defects."

"So if it's fixed, can it handle corners?" the owner pressed.

"No. This modification plan was never designed for cornering in the first place. If you want better acceleration through corners on the current foundation, it'll need major surgery."

The GTR owner angrily cursed someone for scamming him, then said eagerly, "Fine, major surgery it is. As long as you fix it for me, Engineer Li, money's no issue. Once I take it out for a run and get a feel for it, if the modifications are good, I'll transfer five hundred thousand straight to you as a reward."

"Sure. I'll make a list first. Some parts will need to be imported from overseas, and they're very expensive." Du Ke had systematically replicated nearly every automotive structure in existence.

Although he could not materialize an entire car, when it came to understanding auto parts, no one in the world could match him.

He quickly drew up a list. The total came to more than 1.7 million, enough to buy a brand-new GTR. The modification fee was separate and cost another 300,000, bringing the total to over 2 million.

Yet the GTR owner did not even furrow his brow before transferring the money directly to Boss Xu.

For the 500,000 reward, Du Ke could not help becoming even more serious. He personally joined in on the modifications. Normally, he rarely got his hands dirty, with the air of someone whose fingers never touched spring water, but the GTR owner was paying too much. After muttering, "This really is worth it," he got to work with all his strength.

A future tech tycoon was personally lying beneath a chassis, modifying someone else's car.

A few years later, this GTR owner would be able to brag about it for the rest of his life. Of course, that was only if he knew Li Changyang was Du Ke. Otherwise, it would remain a forgotten story.

By the time the GTR was modified and tested on the road, a month had passed.

Straight-line acceleration, high-speed cornering—the owner personally tested the car and praised it endlessly. "The power is so damn much stronger than before. Amazing, Engineer Li. I only have one word for your skills: convinced!" As soon as he finished speaking, he made a bank transfer through an app, and 500,000 changed hands in minutes.

The text message arrived on the Mi 6.

Du Ke glanced at it and smiled faintly. "Boss, a pleasure working with you. May you win every battle!"

"Haha, I'll take your good words, Engineer Li. I'm having the GTR transported over right away. I'll race that bastard again this week. He dared scam me? Screw his ancestors. I'll beat him to death!"

The GTR owner left in high spirits, and Du Ke returned to his previous work routine.

Infrared scopes, night-vision goggles, 360-degree panoramic cameras, military binoculars, astronomical telescopes, toilet seats, clothes racks, AA batteries, chewing gum.

Du Ke had already lost track of how many items he had replicated. As long as something could be replicated, even if it was just a stone, he would replicate it and store the data inside Mind Armor in case it was ever needed.

Sequences, limits, calculus, analytic geometry of space, linear algebra, series, ordinary differential equations... condensed matter physics, the quantum Hall effect, Maxwell's equations, the Dirac equation...

Besides replicating objects.

The material Du Ke taught himself online gradually progressed from university fundamentals toward more advanced subjects. Mathematics in particular—whenever he encountered difficult problems, he not only paid online professors for tutoring, but also privately consulted experts from research institutes whom he had gotten to know.

It could be said that over the past six months, his entire being had been improving in every respect, compared with the muddleheaded and aimless person he had once been.

He had been completely transformed.

"Whew!"

"Though it feels great... it really is a little exhausting."

Du Ke rubbed his head. Even with Mind Power training strengthening his mental faculties, the intensity of his studies still left him utterly drained.

"One person's strength is truly limited!"

"If I could cooperate with the country, that should be the best solution."

It was not that he had never considered revealing the secret of Mind Armor to the country, but he did not dare. It was not because everyone in the country was bad; rather, they viewed matters from different perspectives.

The country would certainly consider the solution most beneficial to itself, but that might not be what benefited Du Ke. To name just one possibility, stripping away Mind Armor would definitely be the best choice for the country. Only by placing Mind Armor under national control could they feel at ease.

But what would stripping away Mind Armor mean for Du Ke?

He did not want to think about it.

Even if it could not be stripped away, he would most likely become a lab rat, with no personal freedom from then on.

Perhaps the country would treat him well and arrange everything comfortably for him except freedom, but who could guarantee there would not be a few ambitious people within it who secretly seized Mind Armor and then used it to commit evil? He could guarantee that he himself would be a law-abiding citizen, but he could not guarantee the same of others.

Therefore.

He could only choose to go it alone, quietly developing by himself. Once he reached a certain height, perhaps then he could consider how to deal with Mind Armor.

"Rather than thinking about all this nonsense, I should focus on designing the Nano Armor. Protecting my own life is more important." As night fell, he continued refining the already highly perfected Nano Armor in an apartment he had only recently rented.

He tried adding all kinds of equipment to the Nano Armor.

Or he materialized sports-car structures based on Mind Armor and conducted experiments, testing whether they could be modified in certain ways to improve his work skills.

In the blink of an eye.

It was already late September. The energy stored in Mind Armor was gradually nearing the required level, and he could begin considering the matter of crossing over.

Dressing himself up in front of the mirror, Du Ke looked at his strange reflection in the Nano Armor. Beneath the armored helmet, his expression was extremely complicated. "Crossing over to the New World... will I rise to the top, or die violently on an alien planet?"

He had no choice but to reconsider.

Whether he should take this step.

Was the habitable planet identified by the Mind God Race truly habitable for Earthlings? What dangers were there, and could he escape back in time?

All of it frightened him and made him hesitate.

But Du Ke suddenly clenched his fist. "A man's life is but a fleeting autumn. Geese leave cries behind; people leave their names behind! I, Du Ke, will either die unknown or dominate the whole world. I will never live an ordinary life!"

Having steeled his resolve.

Du Ke then took leave and returned to his hometown, preparing to settle his affairs for after his death... uh, before his departure.