Unexpected Joy

Boom!

A dark shadow, carrying a suffocating, fishy stench, crashed out of the ruins like a runaway heavy tank.

Lin Fan recognized it at a glance: it was a Single-Horned Wild Boar.

Its entire body was covered in black bristles that stood upright like steel needles. A dark golden horn grew from the center of its forehead, and its four hooves thundered against the ground with every step.

Although it was only a mid-level beast soldier, the impact force of this thing was enough to flip a fully loaded dump truck in an instant.

"Just in time."

A sharp glint flashed in Lin Fan's eyes. He did not reach for the Calamity in his ring.

He wanted to test the limits of his current body—a physique reinforced by nutrient solution and refined by his True Self—to see just how far his raw physical strength had come.

Facing the charging boar, now only a few paces away, he did not retreat but instead stepped forward.

He stomped his foot, shattering the ground beneath him.

The muscles in his waist and abdomen tensed instantly. His spine snapped like a bowstring, channeling power layer by layer until it converged in his right fist.

He used no fancy techniques, nor did he rely on spiritual force.

This was pure, brute physical strength.

A straight punch.

Boom!

His fist collided violently with the Single-Horned Wild Boar's hardened skull.

Thud!

With a sickening, teeth-grinding sound, the boar's massive momentum came to an abrupt halt.

Immediately after, its hard skull visibly caved in. Its eyeballs were instantly ruptured by the terrifying pressure, spraying red and white matter everywhere.

Bang!

The massive body flew backward like a discarded sack, rolling over a dozen times before slamming into a rusted streetlight pole. Its hooves twitched twice, and then it went completely still.

Dead in one punch.

"Is this who I am now..."

Lin Fan pulled back his fist and glanced at his knuckles. They were unscathed, not even red or swollen.

The genetic energy had reinforced him in every possible way. His bones were now as hard as steel, and his muscle elasticity was astonishing.

Killing monsters of this level was like bullying children.

He walked over, his mind stirred, and he casually stored the several-hundred-pound boar carcass into his space ring.

"Deeper we go."

Over the next two hours, Lin Fan conducted a small-scale sweep along the edge of the city.

It was both to earn money and to get accustomed to his surging physical strength.

After clearing out a few monsters, Lin Fan encountered a pack of Lion Mastiff Dogs in an abandoned park plaza.

These monsters were the size of lions with the temperament of rabid dogs; once they latched onto a target, they would fight to the death. They were the nightmare of low-level martial artists.

This time, Lin Fan did not get cocky. With a flick of his hand, the Calamity appeared in his grip.

The heavy, oppressive weight made Lin Fan feel incredibly grounded.

This was the charm of heavy weaponry.

With his skyrocketing physical stats and the weapon's inherent 23.5% weight exemption, this terrifying instrument of death no longer felt cumbersome in his hands; instead, it was filled with a violent, aesthetic grace.

"Roar!"

The pack of Lion Mastiff Dogs lunged at him, snarling.

Lin Fan stood his ground and flicked his wrist.

A black blade-light carved a sharp, lethal semicircle through the air, bringing with it a storm of blood.

Not a single Lion Mastiff Dog could withstand a blow from this heavy weapon. Even a glancing strike from the back of the blade resulted in shattered bones and mangled flesh, turning them into a pile of gore instantly.

One strike, one sweep.

It was like harvesting leeks.

The battle ended quickly.

In just a few breaths, the entire pack of Lion Mastiff Dogs lay dead beneath the Calamity.

Lin Fan quickly cleared the battlefield, but he did not rush off.

He rested his blood-stained scythe against an overturned heavy dump truck nearby.

It was a long-abandoned construction vehicle, rusted and weighing at least fifteen tons.

Zzz—

The familiar sound rang out.

[Devouring Tier 1 metal (industrial heavy scrap).]

[Growth progress: +0.06%.]

Although the progress bar moved painfully slowly, Lin Fan remained committed to his "clean plate" policy.

Even a mosquito's leg is meat.

As long as he passed by metal trash that looked iron-rich, he would feed it to the Calamity.

It was free, after all—why waste it? It didn't take much time.

Only when the massive dump truck had completely vanished, reduced to a pile of slag, did Lin Fan flick his wrist and store the Calamity back in his ring.

"Warm-up over."

Lin Fan looked at the sky. The surrounding fog seemed to be thickening, and the roars in the distance were growing more frequent.

He planned to stay in this area for another five hours before heading back before dark.

He took out his compass and checked his bearings.

"Next, let's head north."

After traveling several kilometers north, the surrounding buildings grew denser, but the atmosphere of deathly silence grew heavier.

Lin Fan kept his figure pressed against the walls, his steps light, his breathing suppressed to the lowest possible frequency.

Just two minutes ago, he had been forced to press himself flat against the underside of an abandoned newsstand roof like a gecko, not daring to even breathe.

Because on the main road less than a hundred meters away, a giant beast the size of a small hill, covered in dark red scales, was slowly pacing by.

It was an Iron-Armored Dragon.

A terrifying existence at the high-level lord rank.

If it so much as sneezed, the current Lin Fan would be finished.

Only when the thunderous footsteps had completely faded did Lin Fan dare to crawl out of his hiding spot.

"Can't mess with that. Time to go."

He didn't dare linger on the main road, quickly turning into a side street and diving into the basement of a half-collapsed skyscraper.

Judging by its former grandeur, it must have been the headquarters of a large commercial bank before the war.

The glass curtain walls on the ground floor were shattered, the lobby was overgrown with waist-high weeds, and the crooked gold-lettered sign on the ground was covered in bird droppings and rust.

Lin Fan turned on his tactical flashlight, the beam piercing the darkness that had settled in the basement for years.

He followed the stairs, littered with rubble and broken rebar, all the way down.

The first and third basement levels were parking garages.

He reached the third basement level.

The path ahead was tightly blocked by several massive, collapsed concrete beams. Rebar was tangled like a bird's nest, leaving only a gap less than half a meter wide at the very bottom.

Lin Fan stopped and shone his flashlight into the depths of the gap.

Through the opening, he faintly saw a structure that looked like a vault door.

"Interesting."

Lin Fan took off his backpack, pushed it through first, then turned sideways and, like a fish, held his breath and squeezed through.

Passing through the gap, the space suddenly opened up.

It was a relatively intact area, having suffered little damage.

Judging by the decor, this must have been the entrance lobby to a high-security VIP vault.

Tattered oil paintings hung on the walls; although the canvases were moldy and blackened, the heavy frames still hinted at former luxury.

The floor had been covered in a thick carpet, now rotted into a layer of black sludge that felt soft and disgusting underfoot.

Lin Fan ignored the sensation under his boots and swept the flashlight beam through the darkness.

Finally, the beam settled at the end of the hall.

There was a door there.

A massive, thick, circular archway emitting a cold, silver-gray luster.

The diameter was over three meters, and the thickness was at least half a meter by visual estimation.

Even after being buried underground for so many years, the surface of the door showed not a single speck of rust; instead, under the glare of the flashlight, it reflected a deep, restrained sheen.

It was a texture only top-tier alloys possessed.

Lin Fan walked up and reached out, gently stroking the door.

It was ice-cold to the touch, as smooth as silk, not at all like a piece of metal.

"This color... this texture..."

Lin Fan curled his knuckles and rapped hard against the door surface.

Clang!

The sound was crisp and melodic, with a long echo, lacking the dull thud of raw iron.

"With such high hardness, this isn't just ordinary specialty steel."

Lin Fan pressed his face against the door, leaning in toward the nameplate above the lock.

It was covered in a thick layer of dust. He wiped it hard with his sleeve, and the laser-etched lettering finally became clear.

[National Defense Grade Specialty Security Alloy / ZG-003]

Lin Fan's eyes narrowed instantly.

He had seen this serial number in the book Deciphering Old Era Materials.

This was the top-tier aerospace and military defense alloy developed by humanity before the Great Nirvana, and the predecessor to what would later be known as "Kro Alloy"!

Although its toughness wasn't as perfect as the modern 3-series alloys, in terms of purity and hardness, it was certainly not far behind.

Lin Fan looked at the massive, heavy vault door before him.

He had spent 9.5 million in the mall just to buy one ton of A-grade scrap, which was equivalent to 3-series alloy.

And this door alone, judging by its volume and density, weighed at least fifteen tons.

"Holy crap... I'm rich."