Absorption

The damn vehicle had bounced along for two whole hours before finally coming to a slow stop. Huddled in the corner, Lin Fan felt he was at the very limit of his endurance. A little longer, and he really would have thrown up.

Outpost Base 023. Calling this place a base was generous. It was more like a gigantic garbage dump forcibly enclosed by tall walls and an electric fence.

As soon as Lin Fan stepped out of the vehicle, an indescribable stench washed over him.

It smelled like a pile of dead rats mixed with engine oil and left to ferment for three months, so...

"Ugh!"

After recovering for a moment, Lin Fan looked around.

As far as the eye could see, there were makeshift shacks built from corrugated steel sheets and heaps of discarded salvage piled as high as mountains.

With his bag on his back, Lin Fan avoided the crowds and headed alone toward the very edge of the base.

There lay the ruins of an elevated highway that had collapsed long ago.

This area wasn't actually part of the monsters' active territory. It still fell within what people called the "safe zone."

But precisely because it was safe, countless waves of scavengers had already picked the place clean time and time again. Anything valuable had long since been taken.

The only things left were steel bars embedded in concrete. Getting them out took time and effort, and they fetched barely anything at the recycling station, so they'd been spared.

But for Lin Fan, they were perfect.

Picking his way over broken stones and rubble, Lin Fan found a sheltered spot beneath the bridge.

Only after confirming there was no one nearby and no surveillance cameras did he turn his hand over. Calamity appeared in his grasp out of thin air.

Damn, it's heavy!

Even though he'd been prepared, the moment Calamity's weight settled into his hands, the muscles in Lin Fan's arm tensed violently, and his veins bulged like earthworms.

"Phew... phew..."

Lin Fan stared at the blade in his hands, its surface radiating a chill.

My physical abilities have improved so much, but even so, just carrying this thing would probably break my back.

In theory, actually swinging it in a fight is pure fantasy.

Lin Fan steadied his breathing and looked toward the enormous ruins.

He didn't dare touch any of the load-bearing pillars. If one collapsed, he'd really become a "meat sandwich." With his current strength, he couldn't dig himself out if he got buried.

As for calling for help? That was even less of an option.

Just look at where he was. He hadn't joined any scavenger team.

No one would come to his rescue, and at the spot he'd chosen, if he got buried, no one would even find him.

Lin Fan raised Calamity and rested its crescent-shaped inner edge against a piece of scrap rebar protruding from a broken guardrail.

Szz!

There were no sparks. Instead, it was like a pat of butter dropped into a scorching-hot pan. The thick, solid steel bar softened at a visible pace.

Its metal structure instantly broke down, turning into wisps of grayish-white vapor that streamed straight into the pitch-black blade.

Hum.

Suddenly, Lin Fan's hand tightened around the hilt.

He felt a faint but unmistakable warmth flow from Calamity as it absorbed the steel bar, traveling along the hilt and quickly seeping into his palm.

The sensation was incredibly comfortable. It felt like his body was being "charged."

Lin Fan stared at Calamity in surprise.

He really hadn't expected the thing to have this ability.

It could absorb metal to evolve while also returning energy to him.

As expected of something produced by the system. This ability is incredible.

The energy it returned was pitifully small and couldn't directly improve his physical abilities, but it was enough to replenish his stamina.

What a deal. As long as I eat iron, I'll have the strength to lift the blade.

And if I have the strength to lift the blade, I can eat even more iron.

This is practically a perfect perpetual-motion loop!

Lin Fan abruptly looked up at the collapsed elevated highway stretching for several kilometers.

How many steel bars were exposed in the broken concrete? More than he could count.

And there were scrapped buses lying by the roadside, fallen streetlights, broken guardrails...

In other people's eyes, it was trash not worth hauling away.

But to Lin Fan, it was a whole field of experience points!

"Tsk, I wonder how much Calamity can grow."

Soon, the small section of rebar had crumbled completely into dust. Lin Fan lowered his head and looked at Calamity.

[Devoured ordinary construction steel.]

[Material: low-grade.]

[Growth progress: +0.00001%.]

"...?"

"That's all?"

There was nothing to complain about. The progress increase was pitifully small, but it was free. That alone was enough to make Lin Fan happy.

Dragging the ridiculously huge black scythe behind him, Lin Fan began weaving through the ruins.

Everything metallic in his path silently dissolved.

The steel bars were gone, the guardrails were gone, and even half a scrapped car vanished at his "touch."

Only a faint sizzling sound echoed beneath the empty bridge.

Two hours later, Lin Fan looked at Calamity in his hands.

[Devoured scrap metal: 15 tons.]

[Calamity growth progress: +0.05%, current growth progress: 0.07%.]

[Current weight-bearing compatibility: +0.05%.]

[Weapon density increased. Current weight: 3,005 kilograms.]

Looking at the figures on the system panel, Lin Fan's mouth twitched.

Fifteen tons had increased the growth progress by 0.07%.

But although the progress increase wasn't much, he hadn't come away empty-handed.

Calamity had grown heavier, and a stat Lin Fan hadn't seen before had also increased.

That stat was weight-bearing compatibility.

After absorbing so much metal, Calamity had grown heavier, yet the blade felt more and more natural in his hands—as if it had grown right there.

The sensation was strange, like the bond between him and Calamity had become incredibly close.

Lin Fan guessed that this change was mainly related to weight-bearing compatibility.

The higher his weight-bearing compatibility, the greater his control over Calamity.

In other words, even if Calamity kept getting heavier, as long as his weight-bearing compatibility rose along with it, he'd still be able to wield it easily and comfortably—even if his strength didn't improve at all.

"Great. It really has thought of everything for me."

Lin Fan turned his hand over and put Calamity away. He took a biscuit from his bag, popped it into his mouth, and gazed toward the deeper part of the ruins.

At the edge of his vision, a cracked highway could be seen stretching into the distance.

At its far end, the outline of a city appeared and disappeared in the haze.

That was County 0201, the closest Wilderness Zone to Outpost Base 023.

It was a place where real monsters roamed, and its danger level far surpassed that of Outpost Base 023.

But the resources available there were just as far beyond anything this place could offer.

If he got lucky, he might find a weapon abandoned by a martial artist, or even a piece of equipment made from advanced metal alloy.

The alloys used to make weapons and equipment were far better than this scrap metal.

"Warm-up's over."

Lin Fan brushed the crumbs off his hands.

"Time to find something more valuable."