Autophagy

"Hunger is our talent?"

"Restrain the hunger inside you!"

Su Yuyan's voice echoed in Lu Zhan's mind. He wondered whether it had something to do with the "Blood-Red Antenna."

Even now, Lu Zhan remained exceptionally "receptive" to information from the outside world.

Yet this clarity was not enough to help Lu Zhan fight the hunger inside him.

Instead, it made him perceive that hunger even more distinctly, until it began to "take physical form."

For ordinary students, the "hunger" they felt was only a sensation, even when it raged like towering waves.

For Lu Zhan, however, hunger had actually taken on a "shape."

The outlines of mouths appeared on the surface of every cell in his body.

Those mouth-shaped marks struggled and howled incessantly, driving the cells to devour energy in a frenzy.

"Grrr, grrr!"

Thunderous rumbling suddenly rolled through the classroom.

It came from the growling stomachs of all 235 students present.

As this "hunger" signal activated, the cells in every student's body began frantically dividing up their stored energy.

Within mere minutes, everyone present looked as thin as a rake.

The energy reserves they had painstakingly built up by eating had been "eaten clean."

Incredible. Truly breathtaking!

Unlike the other students, who had already grown accustomed to this process, Lu Zhan experienced this "feast of division" from his own unique perspective.

From his perspective, this division was not chaotic at all. Instead, it followed a distinct set of rules.

Rather than a looting spree sparked by a cellular riot, it was a process of "distribution according to need."

This "distribution system," precise to an almost unbelievable degree, perfectly maintained the human body's stability.

It successfully prevented certain cells from "striking it rich" and making Lu Zhan's nose grow two meters long, or leaving his limbs uneven in length.

"Not enough, not enough."

"The quality is too poor!"

After the energy stored in Lu Zhan's body ran out, his cells' hunger did not disappear. Instead, it grew even stronger.

The hunger now surged like floodwater released through open gates, utterly impossible to suppress.

Terrifyingly, once their energy source was gone, some cells began attacking their neighboring "brothers."

The human cells' autophagy function was forcibly activated, spreading throughout his body at a horrifying speed.

"Every cell in the human body has life fluctuations."

"Normally, the fluctuation strength of an ordinary person's individual cells ranges from 0.3 to 2.0."

"The weakest cellular fluctuations occur in hair follicle cells, with a minimum value of approximately 0.3."

"The strongest cellular fluctuations occur in brain cells, peaking at 2.0."

"But these are all far too weak for anyone seeking to become an Armored Warrior."

"Ordinary training and ordinary energy replenishment cannot raise the upper limit of cellular fluctuations."

"Only the pressure to survive, the cruelest struggle in which the strong devour the weak, can break through this constraint!"

"What you are experiencing now is precisely that process of elimination."

Su Yuyan's calm voice echoed in every student's ears. Perhaps the information her words carried was simply too "cruel."

Even her normally gentle voice sounded cold.

The other students had already experienced this brutal process. Their emotions remained unmoved as they endured it with difficulty.

For Lu Zhan, however, who was experiencing all this for the first time, "autophagy" was far too intense.

"Kill! Eat, eat, eat!"

"Brothers, charge! Kill those fat bastards!"

"You bastard! We're brothers, and you dare stab me in the back?"

Unlike the ordinary students' vague perception of "autophagy," the "autophagy" unfolding in Lu Zhan's vision was so vast that it amounted to a world war.

The cells inside Lu Zhan used his entire body as their battlefield, fighting without end.

Their primal savagery and brutality laid bare the "mercilessness" of life before him.

Almost every instant, Lu Zhan witnessed "forbidden scenes" beyond an ordinary person's tolerance.

In a daze, Lu Zhan found himself infected by that primal spirit, seized by an urge to cast off every restraint and return to nature.

"Awooo!"

Graham, sitting in the first row, moved even faster than Lu Zhan.

With a howl, he lunged toward the Golden Corn on the lectern, his green eyes wide.

Clearly, the primal impulses inside his body had utterly overwhelmed his reason.

"Ah, Graham. You're always the first to lose control!"

"With such weak willpower, when will you ever complete your bodily transformation?"

"Unless you raise the fluctuation strength of every cell in your body above 1.5, you won't even qualify for an injection of [Life Essence]."

"You're definitely the worst student I've ever taught!"

Watching the "fiend" Graham lunge toward her, Su Yuyan shook her head helplessly.

The next instant, she pressed a finger against Graham's forehead, knocking him unconscious on the spot.

As Graham "crashed," the hunger inside him immediately dissipated.

Graham's loss of control was only the beginning.

Like a fuse, he set the entire classroom ablaze.

More and more students turned into wild beasts and lunged toward the Golden Corn.

But all that awaited them was Su Yuyan's cold finger.

No matter how ferocious the out-of-control students were, a single touch left them sprawled on the floor, fast asleep.

Endure. I have to keep enduring!

Autophagy is essentially a form of self-purification in human cells. There's no need to panic.

I saw it earlier: the human body follows rules. So autophagy can't possibly continue forever and upset the body's balance.

If others

can make it through, so can I!

For Lu Zhan, experiencing all this for the first time, panic was inevitable.

Especially after he had witnessed those even more disturbing, graphic scenes, his fear only grew.

That was also why his reason had begun to waver.

But after seeing how the other students were faring, a refusal to give in began rising in Lu Zhan's heart.

Lu Zhan could see clearly that only about one-third of the students had lost control.

The vast majority were still struggling to endure.

He was already far behind the other students. If he let himself slack off and give up now, wouldn't he remain at the bottom of the class forever?

"Hungry, hungry, hungry!"

Hunger assailed him in waves, and the graphic scenes inside Lu Zhan's body grew increasingly extreme.

Lu Zhan had never imagined that the "Blood-Red Antenna" would become a stumbling block on his path to becoming an Armored Warrior.

It amplified the hunger Lu Zhan felt at least fivefold.

In other words, the "intensity" of cellular autophagy inside Lu Zhan far exceeded that of the ordinary students around him.

Instinctively, Lu Zhan wanted to switch off the "Blood-Red Antenna," but he simply could not.

Now, Lu Zhan could only hold out through sheer willpower, hoping to turn this stumbling block into a stepping stone.