“Xiao Chen, you’re incredible!”

“Son, champion again! You’re the champion!”

“Captain, you’re awesome!!!”

“Holy crap, this is insane! Those top students from No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 High all got crushed by Zichen—they’re probably questioning their entire existence right now.”

“After five years, Shanhai High School finally raises the championship trophy again!”

Several months later, during the summer vacation of their first year.

At the City Gymnasium.

The Shanhai City High School Martial Arts Exchange Tournament.

Representing Shanhai High School, Lin Zichen dominated every opponent on the martial stage, sweeping through the competition like an unstoppable force.

Every fight ended in an instant.

He easily secured the championship without breaking a sweat.

His overwhelming victories left his opponents stunned and his friends ecstatic.

After the competition, numerous martial arts gyms reached out to recruit him as their spokesperson, offering to negotiate any price.

He Yu’s family-owned martial arts gym was among them.

Lin Zichen didn’t want to waste time dealing with these trivial matters, so he told them to speak directly with Zhang Wanxin and Lin Yansheng.

As for him, all he needed to do was sit at home and wait for the money to arrive.

After thorough discussions, Zhang Wanxin and Lin Yansheng eventually chose He Yu’s family gym.

First, because He Yu was Lin Zichen’s deskmate, it felt more trustworthy; second, their contract terms were the most reasonable.

* * *

A few days later, the prize money and part of the sponsorship payment arrived.

Including the royalties he’d saved up over the past few months, Lin Zichen finally had 900,000 yuan—enough to purchase Stealth Dragon meat to unlock its Compendium entry.

Without hesitation, he went to the mall and asked the landlord uncle to help him buy 100 catties of Stealth Dragon meat for consumption.

[You have devoured a large amount of “Stealth Dragon” Life Origin]

[Stealth Dragon Compendium: 100%]

As the text appeared, a translucent lizard manifested in the void.

The creature lay motionless on the ground, suppressing its life energy to conceal its presence from a Violent Eagle hunting overhead.

Moments later, the vision faded, replaced by two new lines of text.

[You have successfully unlocked the Stealth Dragon Compendium and obtained the biological attribute—Natural Camouflage]

[Natural Camouflage: You can suppress your life energy to lower your presence and conceal your biological level]

Reading the description, Lin Zichen grew excited.

This biological attribute had two effects!

First: it reduced presence, useful for both evasion and ambushes.

Second: it hid his biological level, allowing him to feign weakness and catch enemies off guard.

After experimenting with the attribute’s effects, he browsed the Aberrant Beast meat section again, searching for his next Compendium target.

Eventually, he decided on one that cost 20,000 yuan per jin—the Void Eel.

The Void Eel was known for its keen danger perception and extreme sensitivity to hostility from other creatures, making it nearly impossible to capture.

Lin Zichen admired that ability and decided to unlock its Compendium next.

But since the meat cost 20,000 yuan per jin, he’d need 2 million yuan in total.

A long road ahead.

Shaking his head, he left the mall and headed home.

On his way, he passed by a bar.

There, several Cyborgs were dragging a woman out.

Her body was pierced with multiple metallic rods, leaving her weak and unsteady—two Cyborgs had to support her arms just to keep her upright.

Lin Zichen ignored the woman, his gaze drawn to the rods instead.

They were about as thick as steel bars, seemingly made of some kind of special alloy.

He guessed they were high-tech restraint tools, similar to handcuffs or leg irons, used to restrict movement.

“Zichen? What a coincidence!”

One of the Cyborgs, a young man with a buzz cut, called out to him.

Lin Zichen turned toward the voice, his face showing surprise.

The man was Zhang Kai—a senior from his middle school martial arts team.

After failing to enter high school, Zhang Kai had become a rebellious biker, only to lose his legs in an accident.

Now, his old flashy hairstyle was gone, replaced by a simple buzz cut and his legs had been replaced with alloy prosthetics.

They quickly caught up.

Zhang Kai explained that after his accident, he had fallen into despair before joining the Machine God Group’s cybernetic enhancement program.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise—the experiment was a complete success. The Machine God Group transformed him from a disabled man into a Cyborg.

Now, he worked as an intern in their Cybernetic Operations Division.

“You might not believe it,” Zhang Kai said proudly, pointing to his alloy prosthetics, “These cheap-looking metal legs let me run 100 meters in five seconds—faster than most exam champions!”

“Five seconds, huh? Impressive,” Lin Zichen nodded, though he wasn’t truly impressed.

After all, those top students were still unmodified humans. Once they underwent Gene Fusion in university, their real power would show.

After chatting briefly about prosthetics, Lin Zichen asked curiously, “By the way, Zhang Kai, who was that woman you guys dragged out of the bar just now?”

“Oh, her? She’s one of the Rat God Cult remnants—the only woman among the nine survivors,” Zhang Kai replied.

“We’ve been tracking her for ages. She had plastic surgery and went deep undercover. It took us forever to find her.”

He smirked, “And get this—before she joined the Rat God Cult, she was a well-known ‘fly-anywhere’ college girl.”

Before he could elaborate, another Cyborg called out, “Zhang Kai, stop chatting—let’s go!”

“Coming!”

Zhang Kai turned to Lin Zichen, “Let’s catch up another time.”

“Sure thing,” Lin Zichen replied.

After watching them leave, Lin Zichen pulled out his phone to check for news related to the Machine God Group.

The first article he saw was about a famous high-rise that had collapsed due to poor foundation work, causing a citywide protest.

Uninterested, he scrolled past it and found two recent reports on the Machine God Group.

The first said that the once-crippled mechanical genius girl, who had been injured due to premature modification, had been fully treated by the Machine God Group and now served as their ambassador.

The attached photo showed a pretty young woman—though over 40% of her body had been replaced by machinery, making her look half-robotic.

Lin Zichen sighed in pity.

At that age, a girl’s skin should still be full of life, not turned into cold steel.

He shook his head and opened the second report.

It announced that all nine surviving members of the Rat God Cult had been captured by the Machine God Group’s cybernetic unit and handed over to the authorities.

After reading, Lin Zichen had only one thought—the Machine God Group’s power far exceeded that of local law enforcement.

They were a true behemoth.