Chapter 331: Project Selection

In the restaurant, the sound of Zhang Yu eating rice echoed throughout the venue.

With a series of rumbles from his stomach, a thunderous roar continuously emanated from Zhang Yu's belly.

He grabbed his bowl, tilted his head back, opened his mouth, and sucked down a large bowl of rice in one go, with a visible shape surging through his bulging throat and chest into his abdomen.

Then, Zhang Yu opened his mouth and spat out, and streaks of martial qi swept out like a cloud of mist, wrapping around half a plate of dragon liver and phoenix gall and flying into his mouth.

With a series of bangs and the crunch of Zhang Yu's steel-like teeth, chunks of dragon liver and phoenix gall flesh exploded in his mouth, the intense meat aroma mixed with strange oils trembling on the tip of his tongue, making Zhang Yu's eyebrows involuntarily rise.

With each mouthful of rice and each mouthful of meat, Zhang Yu felt the food he ate turn into streams of vital energy, madly surging through his body, being frantically absorbed by his muscles, organs, and bones.

Gong Shu Jin, off to the side, thought to himself, "This guy... his digestion is this strong?"

"But ordering another three bowls of Heaven Essence Rice and three plates of Dragon Liver Phoenix Gall right away... isn't that too much? Isn't he afraid of exploding?"

At the same time, everyone else in the restaurant looked at Zhang Yu, who was now devouring meat and rice with gusto, with amused expressions.

In the Eye Socket network, everyone started chatting privately.

"Haha, he ordered another three bowls of rice and three plates of meat? Adding that to the previous orders, that's five bowls of Heaven Essence Rice and three plates of Dragon Liver Phoenix Gall... Isn't he overdoing it? Let's see how he finishes."

"Could he be temporarily storing it in his stomach and planning to throw it up when he gets back?"

"Heaven Essence Rice is made by compressing high-density food energy. If it's not digested in time after eating, it will clump together, and then you'll have to cut open his stomach to get it out."

Meanwhile, Ye Xingli looked at Mo Shang Jin and asked, "Your junior is quite interesting. How much do you think he can eat?"

Mo Shang Jin felt helpless. He didn't know Zhang Yu at all; he had only brought him along as a new member of their faction to meet people.

How was he supposed to know that after arriving, the guy would be so "high-profile," boasting on the spot and showing off his appetite?

Still, as someone from the same faction, Mo Shang Jin didn't want to undermine him and casually said, "My junior has a special constitution, but this is the first time I've seen such an appetite."

Next, everyone watched Zhang Yu wolf down his rice and meat like a whirlwind.

When Zhang Yu had eaten a total of three bowls of rice and one plate of meat, the people around him were already slightly surprised.

And when Zhang Yu had eaten a total of four bowls of rice and two plates of meat, even Mo Shang Jin, Ye Xingli, and Cang Lan Yu showed surprise in their eyes, and some students began recording with their Bone Cams.

When Zhang Yu had eaten a full five bowls of rice and three plates of meat, he felt his body had turned into a super-high-pressure cooker, with incredibly intense food energy flowing back and forth inside him.

His flesh and blood were like a field flooded by a torrent, unable to absorb any more of that surging vital energy.

Zhang Yu could sense that the meal he had today replenished his body more than the accumulation of the past month. Not only were his deficits directly filled, but there was also a large surplus flowing within him, to be slowly absorbed over the following days.

Patting his stomach, Zhang Yu said contentedly, "That hit the spot! I haven't eaten this full in a long time."

At the same time, he felt a little surprised: "This Dragon Liver Phoenix Gall tastes delicious, but why does it seem to have no special properties? Could they be using some other meat as a substitute?"

Fuji said, "The Dragon Liver Phoenix Gall at a buffet is definitely farmed. Probably fast-grown meat dragons and meat phoenixes, with no intelligence and no cultivation. Eating them just greatly supplements your qi and blood. What special properties could they have?"

Meanwhile, Gong Shu Jin, standing beside him, stared wide-eyed at the empty plates in front of Zhang Yu, feeling even more shocked than when he saw Zhang Yu perform in the gravity simulation room.

"For me, one bowl of Heaven Essence Rice and one plate of Dragon Liver Phoenix Gall would be my limit."

"Zhang Yu actually has this kind of appetite?!"

"Could it be that he eats huge amounts every day? Or has he practiced a technique to enhance digestion? Or is it related to his constitution?"

"As expected of my friend."

Gong Shu Jin knew that while digestion could be trained later, genetic factors also played a huge role—some people were simply born with a much greater appetite.

And at this moment, Gong Shu Jin realized that his understanding of Zhang Yu was still too shallow.

On the other side, Ye Xingli looked at Zhang Yu with admiration and said, "That appetite of yours is the appetite of a rich man."

"Having such an appetite as a freshman, your future ranking will definitely be high, and you'll become a rich man."

"Old Mo, your Civil Engineering Department really has produced a prodigy."

Mo Shang Jin smiled slightly and said, "If it weren't for the opportunity Xingli provided, I wouldn't have known that Junior Zhang had such a huge capacity."

Zhang Yu patted his belly and said, "Senior Mo is right. I usually don't get a chance to eat this much. I really have to thank Senior Ye this time. I just hope you succeed in refining treasures every month from now on."

Ye Xingli laughed and said, "It's just some food. Add me as a friend, and next time I hold a banquet, I'll invite you again."

Then she added with a sigh, "But refining treasures isn't that easy. The next time will probably be in a year or two."

Zhang Yu sighed inwardly—sure enough, the rich could let a few crumbs fall from their mouths and feed a poor man like him to the fullest.

Over the next few hours, the meal was a joyous affair for both host and guests, with everyone toasting each other. Zhang Yu became someone many students present actively approached; besides Mo Shuangjin, Ye Xingli, and Cang Lanyu, he added many new friends and was pulled into numerous group chats.

……

Inside a 100-square-meter suite on the 450th floor.

Ji Yuanchu's gaze shifted as he saw a notification about fate monitoring pop up in his eye display.

Just a moment ago, fate had shifted—Zhang Yu's win rate had actually increased by a tiny margin.

Ji Yuanchu traced the source of this slight change in fate and saw a video of a student eating uploaded by someone.

This video had neither plot nor captions—just Zhang Yu continuously eating food and meat, with extremely low viewership.

Ji Yuanchu understood that if not for the fate monitoring alert, he probably wouldn't have seen it either.

"Remarkable appetite?"

"But in the end, it's only a tiny bit more chance."

……

On the way back, Zhang Yu felt energy flooding his entire body, as if he could take medicine and work overtime for three months straight without needing rest.

"Time to go practice at the construction site."

Just as Zhang Yu flipped through the currently available projects, he hesitated for a moment.

"The amusement park at Hehuan University is indeed good, but the project start time is still far off."

"Hehuan Amusement Park is also nice, but it's a bit far—I'd miss out on the improvements of Yu Xinghan and Le Mulan."

"Hehuan University's amusement park is also a good choice, but I'm afraid the local cost of living is too high..."

Fuji couldn't help but say, "You little brat... all you can think about is going to an amusement park, right? Don't you realize why it's listed as a high-risk project? Is that a place you can go?"

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Sigh, too bad I don't have the Hehuan Sacred Body."

After hesitating over the project selection, Zhang Yu decided to ask his sister for advice.

A moment later, Zhang Pianpian replied: Go to the tenth underground floor and repair tombs.

Zhang Pianpian said: The tomb site is located at a spiritual vein node, containing a massive amount of spiritual energy—so dense it's almost tangible. It's perfect for you to absorb spiritual energy, improve mana quality, nourish your body, and solidify your foundation.

When Zhang Yu saw the tomb project, he found it quite strange.

"Every inch of land in Wanfa University City is worth a fortune—is there empty space to build tombs?"

In response to Zhang Yu's question, Zhang Pianpian explained: The tombs are for the poor. After all, only the poor lose ownership of their physical bodies when they die.

Zhang Pianpian: These bodies are sent into the tombs to be used as breathing corpse units.

Zhang Pianpian: In the university city, a massive amount of low-quality mana is consumed every moment. A large portion of that mana is produced by the clusters of breathing corpse units in the tombs.

Hearing this, a flash of understanding crossed Zhang Yu's mind—no wonder when he first visited the Mana Treasure Platform, low-quality mana was sold at dirt-cheap prices.

So all along, beneath the university city, countless corpse units were constantly absorbing spiritual energy under control to produce mana.

Zhang Yu asked again: When the poor die, their bodies go to the tombs to become corpse units—so when the rich die, aren't their bodies sent to the tombs either?

Zhang Pianpian: The rich experience two deaths.

Zhang Pianpian: The first death is the death of the physical body. But as long as they have money, the soul can be transferred to the spirit realm, and the physical body still belongs to them as their property—they don't lose ownership, so naturally it won't be sent to the tombs.

Zhang Pianpian: The second death is the death when their wealth runs out.

Zhang Pianpian: The longer a soul exists, the higher the cost of maintaining it in the spirit realm. Once the money runs out, that's when they truly die.

Zhang Yu: So there will still be... in the tombs...

But the next moment, Zhang Yu realized—when a rich person's body is sent to the tombs, that rich person has already become poor.

"So there are only poor people's bodies in the tombs..."

Zhang Yu shook his head with a sigh, then checked the tomb project's details. He also felt that this project was indeed very suitable for him.

Especially since he still needed to practice breathing techniques to assemble the Qi Pulse Continuous Flow Set.

"And this way, I can stay in the University City to continue incubating the Dao Seeds in Yu Xinghan and Le Mulan."

"Mm, there are still two weeks before this project officially starts, which is also quite fitting in terms of timing."

He looked over the cemetery project's requirements again and found that the top ten students in the Foundation Establishment class were all eligible to sign up.

Zhang Yu thought he might as well bring Yu Xinghan along too.

Feeling the profound foundation and the intense essence and spirit within his body, Zhang Yu began taking lifespan-reducing pills to cultivate again over the next two weeks.

Only this time, the pills were paid for with his own spirit coins.

As he swallowed the Split-Origin Explosive Blood Pill, Life-Erosion Heaven-Seizing Powder, Hundred-Calamity Heart-Eating Gu, Life-Draining Heaven's-Omen Powder... one by one, that familiar sensation surged back into his heart.

"So intense! This is what cultivation is all about!"

Adding in other daily expenses and various services... his spirit coins dwindled once more, quickly dropping below seven spirit coins.

That day, with the completion of the 666th floor, Zhang Yu arrived at the new construction site on the 667th floor of the University City.

He sat cross-legged, streaks of white protective qi appearing on his body, expanding and contracting with his breathing.

As he practiced his breathing technique, he also released strands of Formless Cloud Protective Qi, which crossed several meters, creating spiraling air currents as they installed the steel mesh before him.

Zhang Yu thought to himself: "It's a bit slow, but working like this with protective qi allows me to focus more on cultivating the breathing technique."

"After all, my cultivation from now on will primarily rely on the breathing technique."

Days passed, and as Zhang Yu pushed the 'Protective Qi Outer Circulation Breathing Technique' to level 20, the day for the cemetery to begin construction arrived.