Chapter 6: Dismembered Like a Math Problem...

"Being able to take the college entrance exam does not mean you will pass it."

"If you cannot pass, you are no different from the dropouts you mocked yesterday. You will be 'blanks'—breathing trash in this city."

"Tell me, who among you is going to become city trash?"

"Good, no one is speaking. For the next three months, I don't want to see a single second of slacking off. Unless it kills you, you train until you drop."

"Especially the Body-Forging Gymnastics. Everyone must perform two sets every day, and I demand that every single movement be executed with absolute perfection."

"I know many of you look down on these gymnastics, thinking they are common, low-tier trash. And you’re right—they are."

"But that is exactly why they are the 'free points' of the martial arts exam. If you want to pass, you cannot afford to lose points here. If you can't even master these basics, you might as well get out."

"Now, everyone, follow me and perform one set."

The martial arts coach, a burly man nearly two meters tall, stood in the center of the classroom. His voice was rugged and his tone aggressive; his roar, which bordered on unreasonable, echoed throughout the martial arts hall. As he demonstrated, he glared at every student, ready to unleash a torrent of verbal abuse at the slightest error in form.

In the past, this was the most terrifying moment of Feng Mu's martial arts class—as harrowing as being called up to sing solo in a music class in his previous life. Previously, he had a group of fellow failing students to share the burden, but today he was the only one left. Consequently, his twisted, awkward movements stood out starkly. He looked like someone doing a folk dance in the middle of a gymnastics performance.

*How is this stuff considered basic? Standing on one leg and doing a full split is supposed to be the simplest posture? Damn it, you try doing one and see.*

*Fine, they can all do it. I’m just the one who’s lacking.*

Feng Mu could feel the coach's predatory gaze, and his face burned with heat. Fortunately, the coach did not reprimand him and simply looked away. Feng Mu was stunned: "So, trash isn't even worth the spit to scold? That's fine by me."

Feng Mu didn't feel ashamed or annoyed. Instead of trying to keep up with the coach, he slowed his pace down completely. Like an elderly man climbing stairs, his movements were stiff and labored. In doing so, he managed to make his postures somewhat standard. Of course, in the eyes of others, this likely just looked like a loser completely giving up on himself.

Feng Mu, however, couldn't care less about the strange looks. His entire focus was on his stomach.

*The bloated feeling is subsiding. The Body-Forging Gymnastics are accelerating the digestion of the iron?!!*

Feng Mu had only intended to slack off through the two martial arts sessions, but he hadn't expected such an unexpected gain.

***

Thirty minutes later.

Feng Mu finished the set of gymnastics, panting, a smile curling the corners of his mouth. He thought to himself, "It really works. My stomach doesn't lie; it has shrunk significantly. The digestion rate has roughly doubled. At this rate, the time to reach 100% iron-absorption will be reduced to 50 days. Provided, of course, that I do twenty hours of gymnastics a day... Well, that's not entirely impossible."

"Hey, what are you smiling at? With form like that, how do you have the face to smile? Don't you have any shame?" a voice dripping with contempt came from beside him.

Feng Mu glanced over suspiciously. It seemed to be the student who had been scolded the most severely earlier, though he didn't know his name.

*Is he holding in anger and looking for someone to vent on? And I happen to be the only target here who is more useless than him?*

With the soul of an adult living inside his body, Feng Mu would never get into a conflict over such trivial nonsense. He had no interest in arguing with an idiot.

"I'm not as talented as you. I'm just happy I could finish the set. You did great; you'll definitely get a high score on the exam. Keep it up!" Feng Mu said with a sincere expression as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

[Unknown Name]: "..."

*He complimented me. He wished me luck. Even though he’s a total loser, he seems so sincere. Should I not have mocked him?*

[Unknown Name] felt that something was off, but he couldn't put his finger on it. It felt like punching a cotton ball—his frustration had nowhere to go, and he walked away feeling even more annoyed.

Having dismissed the fool, Feng Mu moved a few more steps into the corner and began the gymnastics again. This time, because his energy was depleted, he performed them even more slowly and laboriously. Sweat poured off him, soaking his clothes as if he were in a sauna. Consequently, his digestion rate increased slightly more.

In the distance, a girl with a high ponytail and heterochromatic eyes glanced at Feng Mu in the corner, looking slightly surprised. She muttered to herself, "This guy is obviously a total failure, but he's a bit..."

There were no black tea or green tea beverages in the Lower City, so she had no concise word to describe the feeling.

...

Two more sets of gymnastics later, over an hour had passed. When the martial arts hall gradually emptied, with students heading to the cafeteria in twos and threes, Feng Mu finally stopped. He pressed his index finger against his stomach; the feeling of fullness had clearly vanished.

He estimated that his stomach had cleared up about 30% of its space. 20% was from the digested iron beads, and 10% from his normal breakfast metabolism.

"Can I just stop eating and only consume iron in the future?" Feng Mu regretted eating breakfast. He immediately decided to skip lunch and dinner.

As he stretched his sore limbs, he couldn't tell if it was an illusion, but his bones felt cold. Specifically, at the xiphoid process of his sternum, there was a chill penetrating through his skin.

*Is iron-eating transforming my bones first?*

Because martial arts training typically starts from the skin, moving to the flesh, then the tendons, and finally the bones, Feng Mu was slightly taken aback, but he didn't dwell on it.

He left the classroom, went down the stairs, and walked into the first-floor restroom. After confirming it was empty, he climbed out the window. Outside the restroom window were overgrown, irregular shrubs and weeds—perfect for hiding his movements. It was a stealth route Feng Mu had planned for himself.

Three minutes later, he climbed over the wall into the warehouse using his previous path. He landed silently and waited for a full five minutes. Once he confirmed there was no sound, he emerged from the base of the wall and slowly walked toward the female corpse.

The body was still exactly where he had left it. After a night of fermentation, it had a faint smell of decay, though it wasn't severe, masked by the damp, musty odor of the warehouse.

Feng Mu walked over to the male corpse behind the wooden rack. It was also unmoved. It hadn't undergone any "corpse transformation" from the evil ritual, and because its blood and fluids had been drained, there wasn't even a smell of rot.

Feng Mu thought with bitter humor, "The sacrificial ritual didn't include comprehensive after-sales service, but at least it helped with the embalming!"

This significantly lightened the burden of his task. As for how to dispose of the two bodies, from last night until now, he had gradually sorted out his strategy, as if dissecting a math problem.

Problem: There are two corpses in the room. You killed one, but not the other. How do you dispose of them?

Difficulty 1: Dispose of only one, or both?
Difficulty 2: The police precinct may have already received reports of missing persons; time is tight.
Difficulty 3: First-time offender; no experience, and cannot ensure the scene is cleaned thoroughly.
Difficulty 4: Physically weak; the workload of dismemberment is too great.
Difficulty 5: The only means of transportation is a bicycle.
Difficulty 6: Cannot disappear from the sight of classmates, teachers, or parents for too long.

Given these difficulties, there was only one path left to solve the problem!