Chapter 321: Project Selection

In the restaurant, the sound of Zhang Yu devouring his food echoed throughout the hall.

Accompanied by a rumbling in his stomach, thunderous noises constantly emanated from Zhang Yu's belly. He grabbed his rice bowl, tilted his head back and, with a single slurp, consumed a large bowl of rice, which visibly traveled down his bulging throat and chest into his abdomen.

Next, Zhang Yu opened his mouth and exhaled, and streaks of martial qi surged out, like a cloud of mist, carrying half a plate of dragon liver and phoenix gall towards his mouth. With a series of thudding sounds, and a bite of Zhang Yu's steel-like teeth, chunks of dragon liver and phoenix gall burst open in his mouth. The rich meaty aroma, mingled with a peculiar oiliness, trembled on his tongue, causing Zhang Yu's eyebrows to involuntarily arch.

With each mouthful of rice and meat, Zhang Yu felt the food he consumed transforming into streams of vital energy, coursing wildly through his body, and being absorbed furiously by his muscles, organs, and bones.

Beside him, Gongshu Jin muttered internally, "This guy... his digestive capacity is that strong?" He continued, "But he immediately asked for three more bowls of Heavenly Essence Rice and three more plates of dragon liver and phoenix gall... That's way too much! Doesn't he worry about bursting?"

Meanwhile, everyone else in the restaurant looked at Zhang Yu, who was currently eating and devouring with amused expressions. Through their Eye-Skulls, everyone began to private message each other.

"Heh, he ordered three more bowls of rice and three more plates of meat? Including what he had before, that's five bowls of Heavenly Essence Rice and three plates of dragon liver and phoenix gall in total... Isn't he overdoing it? Let's see how he handles this."

"Is he temporarily storing it in his stomach, planning to throw it up later?"

"Heavenly Essence Rice is compressed food essence of high density. If not digested promptly, it will only coalesce, and then it would only be removable by cutting him open."

At the same time, Ye Xingli looked at Mo Shangjin beside her and asked, "Your junior is quite interesting, isn't he? How much do you think he can eat?"

Mo Shangjin felt helpless. He knew nothing about Zhang Yu; he had merely brought him along as a new member of the faction to meet people. He had no idea the other party would be so 'high-profile' upon arriving, boasting and showing off his appetite on the spot. However, as a fellow faction member, Mo Shangjin didn't intend to undermine him. He casually replied, "My junior has a unique physique, but this appetite is a first for me to witness."

Next, everyone watched Zhang Yu devouring his food and meat like a whirlwind.

When Zhang Yu had consumed a total of three bowls of rice and one plate of meat, the surrounding onlookers were already slightly surprised. And when Zhang Yu had consumed a total of four bowls of rice and two plates of meat, even Mo Shangjin, Ye Xingli, and Cang Lan Yu showed expressions of astonishment in their eyes. Students around them even began recording with their Dharma-Skulls.

When Zhang Yu had eaten a full five bowls of rice and three plates of meat, he felt as if his body had transformed into a super pressure cooker, with incredibly concentrated food essence flowing back and forth within him. His entire body of flesh and blood, like fields submerged by a flood, could no longer absorb the vast torrents of vital energy.

Zhang Yu could feel that the meal he had today replenished his body more than a month's accumulation from the past. Not only was his physical deficiency directly compensated, but there was also a large surplus flowing within him, to be slowly absorbed in the coming days.

Zhang Yu patted his stomach and said contentedly, "Satisfying! It's been a long time since I've eaten this much." At the same time, a slight surprise lingered in his heart: "Though delicious, why did this dragon liver and phoenix gall feel like it had no special properties? Could it be that other meat was used to impersonate it?"

Fuji said, "Dragon liver and phoenix gall at a buffet are definitely farmed. They're probably fast-grown flesh-dragons and flesh-phoenixes, without sentience or cultivation. Eating them is just for greatly supplementing qi and blood; what other special properties could there be?"

Meanwhile, Gongshu Jin's eyes were wide as he looked at the empty plates in front of Zhang Yu. The shock in his heart was even greater than the last time he saw Zhang Yu's performance in the gravity simulation room.

"I could probably only manage one bowl of Heavenly Essence Rice and one plate of dragon liver and phoenix gall as my limit. Zhang Yu actually has such an appetite?!"

"Is he perhaps eating massive amounts every day? Or has he cultivated a technique to enhance digestion? Or is it due to his physique? He truly lives up to being my friend."

Gongshu Jin knew that while post-natal training is important for food digestion, innate factors also have a huge influence; some people are simply born with a greater appetite. At this moment, Gongshu Jin realized his understanding of Zhang Yu was still too limited.

On the other side, Ye Xingli looked at Zhang Yu with an appreciative look in her eyes and said, "Your appetite is the appetite of a wealthy person. To have such an appetite in your first year, your future ranking certainly won't be low, and you'll definitely become wealthy in the future. Old Mo, your Civil Engineering Department has truly produced a prodigy."

Mo Shangjin smiled faintly beside her and said, "If it weren't for the opportunity you provided, Xingli, I wouldn't have known about Junior Zhang's enormous capacity."

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

Ye Xingli chuckled and said, "Just a bit of food. Add me as a friend; next time I host a banquet, I'll invite you again." Then she sighed emotionally, "However, artifact refining isn't that easy. The next time will probably be a year or two from now."

Zhang Yu sighed inwardly, realizing that even a few crumbs from the mouths of these rich people were enough to thoroughly feed a poor person like him.

Over the next few hours, everyone, hosts and guests alike, had a great time, toasting each other with food. Zhang Yu also became the target of many students' proactive approaches. Besides Mo Shangjin, Ye Xingli, and Cang Lan Yu, he also added many friends and was pulled into several groups.

***

In the 100-square-meter suite on the 450th floor.

Ji Yuanxu's gaze shifted, and he saw a notification pop up on his Eye-Skull from the Fortune Monitoring system. Just now, there was a change in fortune; Zhang Yu's win rate had actually increased slightly. He checked where this slight change in fortune originated. He then saw a video of someone eating, uploaded by a student. This video had no plot or script, only Zhang Yu continuously eating and devouring meat, and its viewership was extremely low. Ji Yuanxu understood that if it weren't for the notification from the Fortune Monitoring system, he probably wouldn't have seen it.

"An astonishing appetite?" he mused. "But in the end, it's only a tiny bit more opportunity."

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

"Then it's time to go to a construction site for cultivation."

Zhang Yu began to browse the available projects, and for a moment, he hesitated.

"The amusement park at Joyous Communion University is indeed good, but the project start time is still too early."

"Joyous Communion Amusement Park is also good, but it's a bit far, and I would miss Yu Xinghan and Le Mulan's improvement."

"Joyous Communion University Amusement Park is also a good choice, but I worry that local expenses would be too high..."

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

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Alas, it's a pity I don't have a Joyous Communion Sacred Body."

After some hesitation regarding project selection, Zhang Yu decided to ask his sister.

A moment later, Zhang Pianpian replied: "Go to the tenth underground level to work on the graves."

Zhang Pianpian explained: "The graveyard is located within a spiritual vein node, containing a massive amount of spiritual essence. The spiritual essence is so dense it's almost tangible, very suitable for you to absorb it, improve your magic power quality, nourish your body, and strengthen your foundation."

When he saw the graveyard project, Zhang Yu found it quite strange. "Every inch of land in Myriad Laws University City is precious; is there still empty space for graves?"

In response to Zhang Yu's question, Zhang Pianpian explained: "The graveyard is for the poor. After all, only the poor lose ownership of their physical bodies upon death. These bodies are sent into the graves to be used as 'breathing corpses.' In the University City, a massive amount of low-quality magic power is consumed every moment. A large portion of this magic power is produced by clusters of 'breathing corpses' in the graveyard."

A flicker of understanding passed through his mind upon hearing this. No wonder when he first visited the Magic Power Treasure platform, the selling price of low-quality magic power was ridiculously cheap. So, every moment, underground in the University City, a large number of corpse components are absorbing spiritual essence under control to produce magic power.

Zhang Yu asked again, "When the poor die, their bodies are sent to the graveyard to become corpse components. So, when the rich die, they aren't sent to the graveyard?"

Zhang Pianpian replied: "The wealthy die twice. The first death is the death of the physical body. But as long as they have money, their soul can be transferred to the spirit realm, and their physical body still belongs to them as property, not losing ownership, so naturally, it won't be sent to the graveyard. The second death is the death when their wealth is exhausted. The longer a soul exists in the spirit realm, the higher the cost of maintenance. When their money runs out, that's when they truly die."

Zhang Yu mused, "So the graveyard will still have..." But in the next moment, Zhang Yu realized that when a wealthy person's body is sent to the graveyard, that wealthy person has already become poor. "So there are only poor people's bodies in the graveyard..."

Zhang Yu shook his head with emotion, then finally checked the information on the graveyard project. He felt that this project was indeed very suitable for him, especially since he still needed to cultivate the qi absorption method to complete the Qi Meridian Flow Set.

"Moreover, this way I can continue to stay in the University City and continue to incubate the Dao seeds within Yu Xinghan and Le Mulan," he thought. "Hmm, there are still two weeks until this project officially begins, so the timing is quite suitable."

He then looked at the requirements for the graveyard project and found that students in the top ten of the Foundation Establishment Class were all eligible to sign up. Zhang Yu thought he might as well invite Yu Xinghan to go with him.

Feeling the profound foundation, concentrated vital energy, and spirit within him, Zhang Yu once again began taking life-shortening cultivation drugs over the next two weeks. However, this time, he was spending his own spirit coins on the medication. As the Essence-Splitting Blood-Exploding Pills, Life-Eroding Heaven-Snatching Powder, Hundred Calamity Heart-Devouring Gu, Life-Draining Heaven's Secret Powder were swallowed by Zhang Yu mouthful by mouthful, that familiar sensation once again surged into his heart.

"What power! This is what true cultivation feels like!"

Coupled with other daily expenses and various services, his spirit coins rapidly depleted again, soon falling below 7 spirit coins.

On this particular 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, with streaks of white qi floating around his body, expanding and contracting with his breaths. While he cultivated his qi absorption method, streams of Formless Cloud Qi were being released by him, crossing several meters, generating spiral qi currents, and installing the rebar mesh in front of him.

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "The efficiency is a bit slow, but by working with qi like this, I can focus more on cultivating the qi absorption method. And after all, the upcoming cultivation will primarily focus on the qi absorption method."

Days passed, and as Zhang Yu pushed his 'Qi External Circulation Breathing Method' to Level 20, the day for the graveyard project to begin also arrived.