Chapter 16: Strength Surges! Wang Fang's Death

Martial artists say a thousand gold can't buy a single sound.

That sound is the Air Burst.

At least, that's how Wang Jian, a poor student, understood it.

"You just now?" Wang Jian choked on the smoke and coughed several times in a row.

Feng Mu hadn't expected to be able to make the air ring, but he knew this sound of his was not the same thing as the one the Martial Arts Coach spoke of.

Feng Mu rubbed his sore wrist and explained, "I didn't focus all my strength into one point; my strength is still scattered. I just punched with great force."

Wang Jian understood Feng Mu's meaning and was even more amazed.

What do you mean just great force?

Your explanation is even scarier, okay~

Wang Jian said, confused, "No, your strength is so great, your martial arts results shouldn't be at the bottom of the class. If I had your strength, I would never give up the College Entrance Exam no matter what, in case I passed."

Feng Mu frowned and smiled bitterly. "You think I don't want to, but I can't. I'm just strong, but my body is weak. I can only throw that punch once; if I do it again, my hand will be ruined."

Feng Mu pulled up his sleeve, and Wang Jian saw at a glance the dark bruises running from his arm to his wrist.

Feng Mu sighed with a mournful face. "The Martial Arts Exam isn't just one punch. If you can only throw one punch, you can only end up at the bottom, right?"

Wang Jian wanted to say something but stopped, not knowing how to comfort him, so he sighed too. "Sigh, your strength is completely wasted."

Feng Mu sighed in his heart: "I've managed to fool Wang Jian. I can't practice boxing in front of him anymore. As a bottom-of-the-class examinee, suddenly showing extraordinary talent in front of familiar classmates would really raise suspicion."

Feng Mu stopped practicing boxing, squatted on the steps, and idly fiddled with the folding butterfly knife in his hand to pass the time.

He was still savoring that punch in his heart: "Because I eat iron, my bones have undergone Iron Transformation, causing my strength to surge. But Iron Transformation currently only covers my ribcage and spine, not my whole body, so my arms can't withstand the force and get injured?"

"Once Iron Transformation covers my entire skeleton, can I use this strength without getting injured?"

"I remember that two months ago in the Martial Arts Mock Exam, my fist force was 0.7 level. So what is my fist force now?"

"It must have reached level 1, maybe even level 2. After all, I can make the air ring with sheer brute force. Surely it hasn't reached level 3, right?"

"Zhao Chong, second place in No. 47 Middle School's mock exam, has a fist force of about 2.9 level. Comparing pure strength, I could surpass him. Impossible, right~"

Feng Mu's thoughts drifted wildly in his mind, thinking that once Iron Transformation covered his entire skeleton, he'd find a machine to test his fist force.

7:00, off work on the dot.

Feng Mu parted with Wang Jian at the gate, got on his bicycle, pedaled with a whooshing sound, and rode as fast as if he wanted to fly into the air.

"Boss, weigh 10 jin of small iron beads."

Feng Mu went to another hardware store.

Feng Mu calculated in his heart: "According to previous progress, consuming all 10 jin of iron beads will increase my iron-eating degree by about 30%. By then, it should cover my entire skeleton."

Riding from the Incineration Plant to home took a bit more than 1 hour.

Feng Mu didn't even break a sweat. After several days of crazy Body Forging Exercise practice, his endurance had invisibly improved.

Back home, he ate three bowls of rice, filling half his stomach, and saved the other half to go into the bedroom to swallow iron.

Basic Body Forging Exercise, let's begin.

One two three four...

After practicing for a while, his proficiency improved somewhat. Feng Mu tried turning the playback speed down a bit, and his body could barely keep up.

He practiced until four in the morning.

Because half his stomach was filled with rice, the increase in iron-eating degree was inevitably slowed a little, but not much, because within an hour, the carbohydrate food would be dissolved and absorbed.

Daily settlement score:

【Iron Eater: First Rank】

【Edible Iron Type: 1】

【Extractable Metal Property: 1】

【Current Detected Edible Iron Type — Ordinary Pig Iron, Iron Eating Degree 28.1%.】

【Extracted Property:??】

—Iron Eating Degree Increase 2.6%.

Feng Mu closed his eyes and went to sleep.

The breathing on the bed was even but faint, and the Heart Rate Monitor beside it beeped.

The door was gently pushed open.

A masked figure slipped into the house, slowly walked to the bedside, took out a folding butterfly knife from his hand, flourished it, and viciously stabbed down.

Fresh blood spattered, the white bed sheet was dyed red, and the Heart Rate Monitor issued an urgent alarm.

In the corridor, a nurse yawned and pushed the door in slowly. Seeing the blood on the bed, her expression changed slightly.

"Nurse Li, should we call a doctor?" another intern nurse ran over and asked, slightly panicked.

Nurse Li glanced at the room, didn't see the shadow of the killer, judged that the killer must have escaped through the window, then walked to the hospital bed.

The heart rate on the monitor had become a flat straight line.

She indifferently withdrew her gaze and glanced at the information registered beside the bed number.

Wang Fang

Female

46 years old

Citizen Level: Blank Citizen

Nurse Li said lightly: "Someone died in the middle of the night; why bother waking the doctor? Just a Blank Citizen. Living is a waste of air."

The intern nurse hesitated a bit.

Nurse Li glanced at the latter's expression and frowned. "Medical resources are very precious. Rather than wasting them on a worthless Blank Citizen, it's better to make room to save someone more valuable. What do you say?"

The intern nurse nodded obediently.

Nurse Li was only then satisfied, and ordered: "Notify the patient's family members to come claim the body."

The intern nurse took out the registration book, checked it, and shook her head: "The patient only has one daughter, who just died a couple days ago."

Nurse Li was puzzled: "Then where was the patient sent from?"

The intern nurse answered: "Sent by the Patrol Bureau."

Nurse Li secretly spat 'bad luck', and added: "Then notify the Patrol Bureau, have them send someone to collect and handle the corpse. Tell them the patient may be dead, but still occupies the bed, and is still charged by the hour. Tell them to hurry over."

The intern nurse nodded, turned around, and went to make the phone call.

On the warm bed sheet, the bloodless face stared with open eyes; blood flowing from the neck still dripped and splattered onto the tile floor as time passed.

Drip.

Drip.

The person was dead, yet the bed was still clocking time — this was perhaps the most valuable moment of Wang Fang's entire life.

When Li Shang received the phone call, he was in bed.

Woken in the dead of night, his face was extremely gloomy; after hearing the call's content, his face turned even uglier.

"Transport the corpse to the Incineration Plant and burn it." Li Shang said into the phone; this method was the cheapest and most cost-saving.

On the other end, Chang Erbing indicated understanding, but still asked with an extra word: "No need to drag it back to the Police Station for an autopsy?"

"The Police Station is all watching City West; where would there be spare manpower? If the corpse is dragged back to the station it'll just rot; burn it. Anyway the victim is dead, so who would still be watching this case."

Li Shang spoke, paused a beat, coldly laughed, and said:

"Are there any traces left by the murderer at the scene? If not, just pin it on the Green Wolf Gang."

Chang Erbing understood perfectly, and replied: "Understood. Tomorrow morning I'll bring two men to the Green Wolf Gang to search for the culprit."

Li Shang hung up the phone; his drowsiness also faded. He lit a cigarette and puffed on it.

The woman beside him was also woken, and asked with some worry: "The Green Wolf Gang seems to have some influence; you just say they're the murderer offhand, will they accept it?"

Li Shang impatiently glared at the woman, who instantly fell silent as a winter cicada and stopped speaking.

Li Shang blew two more smoke rings, then explained: "Gang members have some deterrence against ordinary people, but precisely in front of this official skin of mine, they're the least effective."

His tone carried contempt: "I am a soldier, he is a thief; like a cat eating a mouse — if he knows his place, I bite off a piece of his flesh; if he doesn't, I bite him to death."

By the end, his tone carried a vicious, ferocious intent.

Over these years, Li Shang's case-solving always had a set method.

Because, for him, the truth of the case was never important; what the case could bring him was the only thing that mattered.

So,

What can the Green Wolf Gang bring him...

 Asking for tickets, asking for follows, follows, follows~

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(End of Chapter)