Chapter 6: Level 1 Reinforcement

In the restaurant, Li Dasong stared blankly at Lin Lei, who was wolfing down his food. He nearly drank his beverage up his nose instead of into his mouth.

“Lin Lei, how many meals have you missed? Watching you eat makes me panic. Please don’t hurt yourself by eating too much.”

Was he not supposed to be worried? Since Lin Lei entered the restaurant, he had eaten five large bowls of white rice, two stewed chickens, and a braised pork knuckle. Judging by his current momentum, he was still far from being full.

“About right. Waiter, add another bowl of rice. And bring me another plate of stewed chicken soup.” Lin Lei had to eat voraciously. As soon as the first bite went down, the mysterious System inside him sent a message.

“Beginning to store the substances and energy required for Level 1 Reinforcement. Please consume sufficient nutrients. It is recommended to eat a large amount of meat.”

“The digestive system is now fully activated. Saliva secretion has begun. Gastric juice secretion has begun.”

Seeing this, Lin Lei went into a frenzy. Reinforcement was his strongest need in the near future. How could he not take it seriously? This led to the scene that left Li Dasong dumbfounded.

Strange enough, despite eating so much, Lin Lei did not feel full at all. On the contrary, his appetite was abnormally high.

It seemed that under the control of the internal System, his digestive ability had reached its highest peak in history. Basically, whatever entered his stomach immediately became reserves for his reinforcement.

Because Lin Lei ate so much, he consumed food for nearly two hours. The amount of food he ate was almost half of his small body weight, but his stomach did not look bulging at all.

Li Dasong was completely convinced. He had heard before that martial artists could eat a lot, and now he had witnessed it with his own eyes. This was not a person; he was like a sponge, absorbing water, no matter how much, without changing his size.

It was not until Lin Lei ate his eighth stewed chicken that the information stream finally arrived in his mind.

“Reserves for Level 1 Reinforcement are complete. Please choose a quiet place to switch to Body Reinforcement Mode to perform the reinforcement.”

It was like hearing heavenly music. Although Lin Lei’s stomach did not hurt, he was sick of eating. The meat made his cheeks ache from chewing.

“Boss, check please! How much is it?” Lin Lei did not care about spending money anymore. The compensation money left by his parents was enough for him to study until university graduation. Besides, Earth did not have that much time left for him. So, this money should be used before it became invalid.

The boss of the restaurant had been watching him since an hour ago, afraid that Lin Lei would have an accident in his restaurant. Now that this customer had finally calmed down, the boss wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

“I am calculating it for you. The total is 864 yuan.” Well, the price seemed fair. Seeing a pile of bones on the table, Lin Lei nodded and reached for his wallet.

Unexpectedly, Li Dasong moved even faster. He walked up to the shop owner and threw down nine red banknotes, each worth a hundred yuan. Turning back to Lin Lei, he said, “Hey, I am the teacher. How could I let my student pay? This meal is on me.”

Li Dasong was a new teacher at Yangguan Middle School, earning about 3,000 yuan a month. Lin Lei was being eaten nearly 900 yuan at once. Lin Lei felt embarrassed letting Li Dasong pay, but he would not refuse him at this moment. He put his wallet back into his pocket, chuckled, and said thank you.

Outside the restaurant, Lin Lei wanted to return the money to Li Dasong. In the end, Li Dasong got impatient and shouted, “How about this? Don’t you know martial arts? Consider this meal a master-apprentice banquet. You must teach me from now on.”

Lin Lei: “…” The key was that he did not know how to teach. How could he teach?

Seeing the difficulty on Lin Lei’s face, Li Dasong thought there might be some sect rules. After thinking for a moment, he said, “If you don’t want to teach, that’s fine. I noticed your running speed is very fast. I am a physical education teacher. Just tell me how to improve running speed. That should be acceptable, right?”

Actually, if it were not for Lin Lei taking the college entrance examination in a month, Li Dasong really wanted to recruit him into the school team to bring glory to the school. Yangguan Middle School was famous as a weak school in sports. If such a dark horse appeared, Li Dasong’s bonus would be more than just 900 yuan, hehe.

Lin Lei did not know how to train for sprinting. However, rejecting him repeatedly would seem too pretentious. So, he steeled himself, patted his chest, and said, “Alright, leave it to me.”

Although he did not know how to train, after the Level 1 Reinforcement tonight, he could use absolute speed to stun the bunch of rookies in the school team. Once they were convinced, how he trained would be just up to him.

“Teacher Li, can you write me a sick leave note? I will give it to the Homeroom Teacher. It is almost 5 o’clock now. I feel very stuffed after eating so much, so I do not want to go to evening self-study tonight.”

“Sure, that’s simple. Looking at how much you ate, you definitely won’t be able to concentrate on studying tonight anyway. You can go directly to the dormitory. I will go talk to your Homeroom Teacher.”

Lin Lei was surprised. That was great. He was indeed afraid to see Old Fang. He felt awkward in his heart. Now, Li Dasong had saved him this step. Lin Lei was truly grateful to this big guy, Li Dasong.

The accommodation conditions at Yangguan Middle School were quite good. Each dormitory was about 40 square meters, housing six people, with an independent bathroom and shower room.

When Lin Lei returned to the dormitory, there was no one inside. Everyone had gone to evening self-study. With only one month left until the college entrance examination, whether students loved studying or not, they were all buried in books in the classroom. They had no idea that drastic changes would face Earth in a month.

Ignorance is indeed a form of happiness. If Lin Lei had previously harbored illusions, thinking that everything that would happen in the future was just a dream, the existence of Yan Siyu, an Aostarian, ruthlessly shattered that illusion.

Cold sobriety bit into Lin Lei’s mind like a venomous snake. Hehe, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He had always thought that being sober while the rest of the world was drunk was a supreme state of looking down on all living beings. Unexpectedly, when he truly reached this state, it only brought him endless pain.

Humans are ultimately not gods. They cannot see through the dusty world, nor can they let go of various mortal bonds. Lin Lei walked into the bathroom and let the cold water wash over him. The water stimulated his skin, seeking the feeling of true existence.

“Surface temperature is too low. Closing skin pores. Increasing internal energy supply. It is recommended to stay away from liquids with excessively low temperatures.”

The meticulous mysterious System provided this information. Despite its cold tone, Lin Lei felt warm in his heart. He turned off the shower head, hastily dried his body, and then collapsed onto his bed.

“Start Body Reinforcement Mode! Perform Level 1 Reinforcement!” Lin Lei did not know how to communicate with the System, so he could only repeat this thought in his mind.

However, the System did not disappoint him. The reply arrived quickly.

“Confirming start of Body Reinforcement Mode and Level 1 Reinforcement?”

“Confirmed!”

“Body Reinforcement Mode activated. Level 1 Reinforcement started. Duration: 7200 standard seconds!”

“During reinforcement, the Host will lose control of his body, retaining only the right to observe. The System will fully take over the body for reinforcement.”

After this stream of information, Lin Lei met with tragedy.

First, his body posture was forcibly posed by the System into a stretch that aligned all his muscles and bones. The degree of stretching was more extreme than the most difficult yoga poses.

Lin Lei gasped in pain and wanted to scream, but he found that his vocal cords were not under his control. In the end, he realized that even the action of gasping was merely a simulation of his consciousness. His body did not react at all.

Lin Lei felt his soul floating up, observing his body from a third-party perspective. Was the skinny boy lying on the bed, with an awkward posture, rapid breathing, and a grimacing face, really him?

“Starting reinforcement of gene structure, forming a double-helix polymorphic spatial structure. Strengthening the intensity of the gene Protective Force Field to 1.0 Energy Level. Duration: 2400 standard seconds.”

A powerful feeling surged from the deepest part of his body. It was like drinking sweet rain for Lin Lei, who was entangled in physical pain, sinking into infinite comfort. This feeling grew stronger and stronger, almost giving him an illusion of being indestructible.

This feeling was as if his hand broke and could grow back. It brought a sense of inexplicable confidence.

2400 standard seconds, which is 40 minutes, or just the time of one class, passed quickly.

“Gene reinforcement complete. 70% of stored energy remains!”

“Starting reinforcement of brain structure. Increasing the superposition complexity and stability of the cerebral cortex. Stimulating synapses of nerve cells throughout the body. Expected Intelligence Level will reach Fifth-grade. Duration: 1800 standard seconds!”

Lin Lei only felt his head swelling and heating up. A tingling current sensation passed through his whole body. Especially at the tips of his fingers, he could sensitively feel the slight movement of the air. His slightly nearsighted eyes saw things becoming clearer and clearer.

In the increasingly dim dormitory, there was suddenly a brightness like daylight. This feeling was somewhat like the blue shift of visible light wave spectrum during the day. It seemed that this time it was not a blue shift, but the widening of the wave spectrum.

“Nerve structure reinforcement complete. 40% of body stored energy remains.”

“Starting reinforcement of body structure. Raising Physical Energy Level to 2.0. It is recommended that the Host prepare to endure great pain. Duration: 3000 standard seconds!”

Lin Lei only had time to curse before he was drowned in boundless pain. How to describe it? It was like a drug addict experiencing withdrawal. Every sensation in his body was like ten thousand insects biting him. Numb, itchy, painful, waves coming one after another. He couldn’t scratch the itch, couldn’t faint away. It was truly a living hell where he could neither seek death nor survive!

Lin Lei experienced this “ultimate joy of the human world” with abnormal clarity for a full 50 minutes. Then, he welcomed the timely information prompt from the System.

“Body reinforcement complete. Level 1 Reinforcement complete. Set goal perfectly achieved.”

“Body Reinforcement Mode automatically ended. System transferring body control authority.”

“Semi-automatic assistance mode activated by default.”

The Lin Lei, who had acted like a vegetable for two hours, flipped over on the bed and ran into the bathroom. Oh my god, he was sweating like a waterfall, and there was a fishy stench. He had to ventilate the dormitory quickly, or his roommates would scold him to death when they returned.

While showering, Lin Lei touched his supple and smooth skin with perfect structure and slightly raised muscle lines. He fell into narcissism. With his body shape, he was cut out to be a model, hehe.

Lin Lei’s height had increased by 2 centimeters, reaching 1.75 meters. Other changes in his body shape were not particularly large, but his muscle density had increased significantly. Looking at the System data, the changes were obvious.

Host: Lin Lei (Elite Earthling Warrior)

Height: 1.75 meters

Weight: 66 kilograms

Physical Energy Level: 2.0 Energy Level

Brain Volume: 1420 milliliters

Intelligence Level: Fifth-grade

Damn, he weighed 15 kilograms more. Was this all the things he ate in the afternoon? It was terrifying!

The data also added a Combat Power Index, reaching a maximum of 25. This was nearly 10 points higher than the combat power Yan Siyu displayed by the river. It seemed he would not have to fear her in the future.

After showering, Lin Lei opened all the windows in the dormitory to ventilate. He also soaked all the bed sheets and covers in water. Then, he closed the dormitory door and ran out of Yangguan Middle School in a hurry.

You ask what he went to do? Of course, to eat. The energy stored in his body was completely used up, and he needed to replenish food.

It was still the restaurant he went to in the afternoon. It was exactly 8 o’clock in the evening. The restaurant’s business was average. Lin Lei entered the restaurant, ordered ten dishes at once, and sat there leisurely waiting for the food to be served.

The waiter had long recognized Lin Lei as the legendary eater from the afternoon. Seeing him come alone now, he couldn’t help but ask, “Sir, should we serve the dishes now? Or wait for your friend to arrive?”

“Huh? Oh, I am alone. Please serve the dishes as soon as possible. I am starving to death.”

“…” The waiter walked away dizzy. So this student-looking guy was a big glutton. He must have been a hungry ghost reincarnated in his past life, for sure!

The dishes came quickly. Lin Lei’s body coordination had greatly enhanced, and even his chopstick skills improved significantly. He wielded his chopsticks like flying. The food on the table decreased visibly. In less than half an hour, all the dishes on the table were gone.

Lin Lei happily patted his belly and burped. The food in this restaurant tasted really good. Compared to it, the food sold in the school cafeteria was like pig swill. Well, he would come here to eat every day from now on.