Chapter 2 The Room Upstairs

"It was a direct knowledge transfer..." Before long, Li Ming took a deep breath, massaging his temples to alleviate the pain.

But he had to admit, the feeling of gaining without working for it was indeed very thrilling,

Suddenly, a light blue screen appeared before his eyes again, but this time it was different. There were only two blanks, the first already occupied by a black chip icon, with a counter in the upper right corner--0.1

"It can only accommodate two, huh... For now, I need to elevate my life level to increase the slots." A realization dawned on him as his gaze became unfocused, "Consuming metal energy allows it to upgrade, and having multiples of the same item reduces the consumption."

Next to the black chip icon was a number--10, indicating that 10 points of metal energy were needed for the upgrade.

It can still upgrade... good, good, good... Li Ming grinned, finally feeling assured he'd survive.

Next, to try the control ability.

The screen vanished, and Li Ming returned to his workbench, pulled open a drawer, and fished out a coin which he flicked into the air with his thumb.

[Overload Run]activated!

For an instant, time and space around him seemed to slow down. He could clearly see the spinning coin in mid-air, with every detail of the embossed pattern distinctly visible.

He reached out and grasped it as it fell.

Just a 10% improvement, and it's this noticeable... Li Ming stared at the coin in his hand as a pale blue light played around its edges.

However, such special abilities were only downward compatible. Once his life level increased, these ungraded special abilities would no longer affect him.

His mind became lively with thoughts. Now that he had the means, all he needed was time to develop.

With a thought, the chip reappeared in his hand, and the knowledge about mechanical repair vanished but not entirely; he still remembered parts that were deeply etched in his memory.

Which meant, if the knowledge was retained long enough, it could become a permanent part of him.

Hmm... He pondered silently.

The chip could be removed, and the items it held had two uses: not only could they enhance himself, but they could also be used separately.

But after putting it back, unlike the first time, there was no throbbing headache, no direct access to the related memories. It seemed the first time was about system compatibility.

This was better... switching wouldn't delay things, and Li Ming was in high spirits,

He continued to activate [Overload Run] to see where the limit was. Before long, Li Ming suddenly paused, feeling weakness spread through him as if his body had been drained.

"Huff..." He exhaled, feeling carefully, and mused, "This ability isn't without cost... It seems to consume the 'qi and blood' or cellular energy in my body?"

"No wonder there's no cooldown. I could activate it again, but it might cost me my life."

"Elevating my life level should extend the duration..." Li Ming realized that to make better use of his advantages, he must increase his life level.

"But gene seeds are too expensive." He lamented, "Spending so much money on a so-called enrollment right is not as worthwhile as getting a gene seed with high potential."

Temporarily setting these thoughts aside, he looked around the room where the conspicuous metal materials had mostly been depleted by him.

If he wanted to upgrade it, he would need to gather more metal energy. He was quite curious about how it worked, eager to figure it out and know for sure.

All of a sudden, he seemed to remember something, "I almost forgot about that door..."

Li Ming remembered his original plan and re-inserted the chip into the mainframe of the security system.

Instantly, the lights in the room flickered erratically, and a cold mechanical voice emanated from nowhere:

"Rebooting..."

"Identity recognition..."

The hacked household security system skipped the lengthy startup ads.

Moments later, the surface of the black box flickered with the light of a projector, and a earthy yellow potato shape appeared, complete with anthropomorphic facial features.

A cheerful and gentle voice came through, "Master, Xiao Huang is awake."

Li Ming, unsurprised, directly asked, "Xiao Huang, can you open the room at the end of the second-floor corridor?"

"Sorry, that room has its own independent security system," Xiao Huang's voice replied.

"Outside of the independent security system?" Li Ming frowned. Li Changhai was supposed to be just an ordinary Mechanical Repair technician; why was the room under such heavy protection? Could it be some sort of hobby?

He shook his head in disbelief, returned to the second floor, stretched out his finger, and placed it in the crevice at the edge of the door, beginning to absorb the metal of the door.

From his earlier experiments, he knew that only his right index finger could absorb metal energy, and the range was limited to one cubic centimeter, with a rather slow absorption rate.

He also wondered if advancing his life level would change that.

"At least it's an alloy..." Li Ming was surprised as he looked at the metal under his finger that didn't change color at all. The metal materials downstairs would enter a state of rust as soon as his fingertip touched them, and it would take less than half a minute.

His heart grew more amazed. The cost of this door was probably very high. What exactly was Li Changhai hiding inside?

There must be a secret, Li Ming realized, and he banished the thought of finding a locksmith.

"But this is good too, with this door in front of me, there's no need to go out searching for metal materials or to absorb parts of the house's structure," Li Ming sighed with relief.

Once he had sliced open a small door, he naturally would be able to enter, though it would take some time.

His absorption rate was not fast. After two hours, he managed to create a vertical rusted area approximately the same height as him, and the metal energy had barely reached 2 points.

He didn't find it boring; in fact, he found it fascinating. This world was immensely vast, with rumors that higher life forms could easily shatter planets.

In such circumstances, even though interstellar laws provided protection, personal strength was even more important. Yet, raising his life level was not so simple.

As his thoughts wandered, Xiao Huang's voice rang out—"Master, someone is knocking on the door."

"Who?" he asked reflexively.

"Yang Boming."

"Old Yang..." A mental image of a gaunt but vigorous old man appeared in Li Ming's mind, the owner of the neighboring grocery store, an old acquaintance of his grandfather, and the two families had a good relationship.

"I better go down and have a look, to keep him from calling the cops," Li Ming pondered for a moment, then stood up and went downstairs.

Accompanied by the humming of the motor, the metal shutter door slowly rose, and Yang Boming leaned on a slender silver-white metal cane, worry written all over his wrinkled face, relaxing only when he saw Li Ming.

According to the Blue Star calendar, it was mid-June, an unusually hot day, and combined with mealtime, the streets were not very crowded.

Li Ming was dressed in a white shirt, reminiscent of hospital garb, his skin an unhealthy pallor, and his hair nearly covering his black eyes, giving him a rather gloomy appearance.

"Old Yang..." Li Ming greeted him. Just as Old Yang was about to open his mouth, he hesitated, a flicker of astonishment passing through his cloudy eyes.

Li Ming knew the cause of this astonishment. His predecessor was taciturn and never greeted Old Yang when they met in the past.