Boom!
A black shadow burst out of the ruins, trailing a nauseating stench like a runaway heavy tank.
Lin Fan recognized it at a glance. It was a Single-Horned Wild Boar.
Its body was covered in black bristles that stood stiff as steel needles. A dark golden horn jutted from the center of its forehead, and its four hooves pounded the ground with heavy thuds.
Although it was only an Intermediate Beast Soldier, the force of its charge was enough to flip a fully loaded dump truck in an instant.
"Just what I wanted."
A glint flashed in Lin Fan's eyes. He didn't use Calamity, which was in his ring.
He wanted to test just how strong his body had become after being enhanced by Nutrient Solution and tempered by his True Self.
The boar charged straight at him, closing in fast. Instead of retreating, he advanced.
He stamped down hard, cracking the ground beneath his feet.
His core muscles tensed. His spine snapped like a drawn bowstring, and the force surged through his body, gathering in his right fist.
He didn't use any fancy Force Application Technique or rely on Spiritual Force.
It was nothing but pure, brute physical strength.
A straight punch.
Boom!
His fist slammed into the Single-Horned Wild Boar's hard skull.
Thud!
With a dull crunch that set his teeth on edge, the boar's massive charge came to an abrupt halt.
Then its skull visibly caved in. The immense pressure burst its eyes, spraying red and white gore everywhere.
Thud!
Its huge body flew backward like a torn sack, rolling over a dozen times before crashing into a rusty streetlight pole and snapping it in half. Its four hooves twitched twice, then went still.
One punch, one kill.
"So this is what I'm like now..."
Lin Fan drew back his fist and looked at his unharmed knuckles. They weren't even swollen.
Origin Energy had enhanced him from head to toe. His bones were now as hard as steel, and his muscles were astonishingly resilient.
Killing a monster of this level was like picking on the weak.
He walked over, willed it, and casually stored the several-hundred-pound boar carcass in his Space Ring.
"Let's keep going."
Over the next two hours, Lin Fan carried out a small-scale sweep along the edge of the city.
It was both a way to make money and a chance to get used to his body's newfound strength.
After clearing out several monsters, Lin Fan came across a pack of Lion Mastiff Dogs in an abandoned park plaza.
These monsters were built like lions and mean as rabid dogs. Once they latched on, they fought to the death, making them a nightmare for low-level martial artists.
This time, Lin Fan didn't get cocky. With a flick of his hand, Calamity appeared.
The weapon's heavy, oppressive weight made him feel immensely reassured.
That was the charm of a heavy weapon.
With his greatly enhanced physical strength and the weapon's built-in 23.5% weight exemption, this fearsome weapon no longer felt cumbersome in his hand. Instead, it radiated a violent beauty.
"Roar!"
The pack of Lion Mastiff Dogs charged with a roar.
Lin Fan stood his ground and flicked his wrist.
The black blade carved a vicious half-circle through the air, spraying blood and filling the air with a foul stench.
Not a single Lion Mastiff Dog could withstand a strike from the heavy weapon. Even a glancing blow from the back of the blade shattered bones and tendons, turning them into a pile of pulp.
One sweep, a whole row.
It was like harvesting chives.
The fight ended quickly.
In just a few breaths, the entire pack lay beneath Calamity.
Lin Fan quickly cleared the battlefield but didn't leave in a hurry.
He rested the bloodstained scythe against a heavy dump truck lying on its side nearby.
It was an abandoned work vehicle, already covered in rust and weighing at least fifteen tons.
Szz—
The familiar sound rang out.
[Devoured Grade 1 metal (industrial scrap steel).] [Growth progress: +0.06%.]
Although the progress bar barely moved, Lin Fan still stuck to his "clean-plate campaign."
Even the smallest scrap of metal was worth something.
Whenever he passed metal junk that looked like it had a high iron content, he fed it to Calamity.
It was free, after all. He might as well take it, and it wouldn't take long.
Only after the enormous dump truck had completely vanished, leaving nothing but scrap behind, did Lin Fan turn his wrist and return Calamity to his ring.
"Warm-up's over."
Lin Fan glanced at the sky. The fog seemed to be growing thicker, and the roars in the distance were getting more frequent.
He planned to stay here for another five hours and head back before nightfall.
He took out his compass and checked his bearings.
"Next, I'll head north."
After walking north for several kilometers, the buildings grew denser, but the air of desolation grew heavier.
Lin Fan moved close to the walls, taking each step as lightly as possible and deliberately slowing his breathing to a near minimum.
Just two minutes earlier, he'd had to cling to the roof of an abandoned newsstand like a gecko, barely daring to breathe.
A huge beast, as big as a small mountain and covered in dark red scales, had been slowly walking down the main road less than a hundred meters away.
It was an Iron-Armored Dragon.
An Advanced Lord—an utterly terrifying existence.
If it sneezed, Lin Fan would be on his knees.
Only after its thunderous footsteps had faded completely did Lin Fan dare to emerge from his hiding place.
"Can't mess with that. Time to get out of here."
He didn't dare linger on the main road. He quickly turned into a side street and slipped into the basement of a partially collapsed skyscraper.
Judging by the building's former grandeur, it had probably been the headquarters of a major commercial bank before the war.
Every pane of glass in the curtain wall had shattered. Weeds taller than a person filled the lobby, and the gilded sign lying on its side was covered in bird droppings and rust.
Lin Fan switched on his tactical flashlight, its beam piercing the long-stifled darkness belowground.
He followed the stairs down, past rubble and broken reinforcing bars.
The first and third basement levels were both parking garages.
He continued down to the third basement level.
The way ahead was completely blocked by several enormous, collapsed concrete beams. Reinforcing bars twisted together like a tangled mess, leaving only a gap less than half a meter wide at the bottom.
Lin Fan stopped and shone his flashlight into the gap.
Through it, he could just make out what looked like a vault door.
"Interesting."
Lin Fan took off his backpack and pushed it through first. Then he turned sideways, held his breath, and slipped through like a fish.
Beyond the gap, the space opened up.
It was relatively intact, with little damage.
Judging by the decor, this had once been the entrance hall to a highly private safe-deposit vault for VIPs.
Tattered oil paintings still hung on the walls. Their canvases were moldy and black, but the heavy frames still spoke of the place's former luxury.
A thick carpet covered the floor, now rotted into a layer of black grime. It felt soft underfoot and was somewhat disgusting.
Lin Fan paid no attention to the feeling beneath his feet and swept the flashlight beam around the darkness.
At last, the beam settled on the far end of the hall.
There was a door.
A huge, heavy, round-arched door with a cold, silver-gray sheen.
It was over three meters in diameter and, by his estimate, at least half a meter thick.
Despite having been buried underground for so many years, its surface showed no trace of rust. Instead, the powerful beam reflected a deep, subdued Flowing Light.
It had the unmistakable look of a top-grade alloy.
Lin Fan stepped closer and gently ran a hand over the door.
It was cool to the touch, smooth as silk, and nothing like ordinary metal.
"This color... this texture..."
Lin Fan curled his fingers and rapped the door firmly.
Clang!
The sound rang clear and sweet, its echo lingering. It lacked the dull heaviness of ordinary iron.
"Hard as this is, it must be something better than ordinary specialty steel."
Lin Fan pressed his face against the door and leaned toward the plaque above the lock.
A thick layer of dust covered it. He rubbed hard with his sleeve, and the line of laser-etched text finally emerged.
[National Defense Grade Special Security Alloy / ZG-003]
Lin Fan's eyes narrowed.
He'd seen this designation in the book Decoding Old Era Materials.
Before the Great Nirvana, it had been the most advanced aerospace and military-defense alloy humanity had developed—and the predecessor of Kro Alloy!
Its toughness wasn't as good as that of modern Grade 3 alloys, but its purity and hardness were hardly inferior.
Lin Fan studied the huge, heavy vault door before him.
He'd spent 9.5 million in the shop to buy one ton of Grade A scrap, the equivalent of Grade 3 alloy.
Judging by its size and density, this door alone must have weighed at least fifteen tons.
"Holy crap... I've struck it rich!"
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