Ten thousand I am across the heavens

The nutrients from the food quickly filled its body, being transported throughout via the bloodstream to replenish its deficiencies. During this process, subtle changes began to occur in its size and weight. Areas where fat had previously accumulated started to transform into muscle. Its physique became more robust, while its weight subtly increased.

After all, he had spent a considerable sum to buy a piece of natural chicken breast. It contained a wealth of rare nutrients. For someone who had never been exposed to natural foods since childhood, it was a powerful tonic. In fact, for them, any natural food was a powerful tonic, capable of making up for the deficiencies they had accumulated over a long period of growth.

Mo Chengzi clearly felt that his physical condition had greatly improved after just one meal. From then on, he wouldn't need to eat only natural foods for every meal.

He only lacks small amounts of trace elements. These are difficult to obtain from synthetic foods. Most of the time, they need to be obtained gradually through natural foods over time. However, the human body requires very little of these elements. Synthetic foods still provide a sufficient amount of basic nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. These can generally be obtained from these sources.

The costs of the two are clearly not on the same order of magnitude. Synthetic food is something that even the poorest can barely afford. Although life is incredibly difficult in this era—those trying to climb the social ladder are exhausted, while those simply trying to survive can only maintain their lives at the bare minimum—the difficulty of survival itself isn't actually that high. Food itself isn't very expensive; it's just that the cheaper the food, the worse it tastes.

This type of food is deliberately designed by large companies. While synthetic foods aren't particularly delicious, they're not actually that bad either. To ensure safety, synthetic foods are made from relatively pure organic substances, such as starch or protein. Starch, in particular, has the lowest production volume and cost. And relatively pure starch doesn't taste bad. Even when simply pressed into blocks and chewed, it has a slightly sweet taste, similar to chewing noodles or rice, which is quite palatable for a hungry person. If these synthetic foods were simply sold, they would at most be bland. Adding a little salt or sugar would make them quite palatable. It's similar to how decades ago, people opposed pre-cooked meals, but many pre-cooked meals weren't necessarily much worse than freshly prepared meals.

Advances in culinary technology don't necessarily mean a decline in taste. Nor are technological advancements and ruthless techniques always negative terms. However, in this era, different foods need to be differentiated in quality. If synthetic foods completely dominate the market and replace the market share of natural foods, wouldn't all the companies selling natural foods go bankrupt?

These companies are involved in more than just this one field. Their operations span various industries, forming a complex and interconnected network within the overall economic system. Under the shadow of this network, a single move can have far-reaching consequences. Destroying one company could result in a devastating counterattack that could cripple the entire economic system.

Therefore, through collusion and compromise among these companies, the conclusion reached is that synthetic foods can enter the market, both low-end and high-end. However, a true monopoly cannot be formed. Moreover, to encourage more consumers to choose high-end ingredients, most of the cheapest synthetic foods are deliberately made to taste terrible. Various strange-tasting food additives can be added, making these foods unpalatable. In this way, consumers are forced to buy more expensive foods without any edible additives.

Mo Chengzi only learned of this information from some obscure websites after his hacking skills improved, and he immediately realized that he had underestimated the bottom line of this world. Adding these extra additives to make the food even more unpalatable requires additional costs. Even so, in order to maximize profits, they still deliberately made otherwise palatable food taste unpalatable.

Fortunately, Mo Chengzi now chooses to eat at places that offer free samples every day. These places use relatively high-quality ingredients for the food they offer to customers for tasting. As for what ingredients the restaurants actually use, that remains to be seen. From this perspective, although the food he eats may contain some food additives that affect the taste, overall it's not too bad.

"From now on, you only need to supplement your diet with a little extra vegetables and meat each day, and continue to eat processed foods for the rest. On the bright side, at least they don't add any toxic additives. These cheap foods just taste bad. They won't kill you."

In the past few days, Mo Chengzi has been replenishing his body's deficiencies while also diligently engaging in planned exercise. The Shanhe Republic's technical expertise in physical training is quite advanced.

After all, they initially regulated physical growth through exercise and coordination, ensuring a balanced growth pattern. This, in turn, caused the internal meridians to develop in a more symmetrical manner, creating a standardized structure capable of supporting more complex and precise killing techniques.

Natural research has led to the development of ingenious training methods that, through improving physical coordination, maximize the body's potential, bringing it to its optimal state and maintaining it over a long period.

Mo Chengzi tried to take rhythmic steps on the balance beam. Then he began to attempt precise rolls like a gymnast, performing various exaggerated athletic movements. Again and again, as he became more skilled, his movements became faster and faster. Gradually, he became a blur.

During this process, his body became more coordinated and easier to control with each stretching movement. However, in practicing these difficult moves, he repeatedly fell from the balance beam and various fitness equipment he had chosen, ending up with bruises and swelling. Fortunately, he was already quite proficient at the various movements. It was just that his control over his body wasn't quite as refined yet; otherwise, he would have been injured countless times just practicing these moves.

Then he started a new series of competitions. He went to the competition venue almost every day after school to participate. Fortunately, he didn't encounter any top players in his next match. For three consecutive days, he faced ordinary players. On the fourth day, he did encounter a professional player, but even among professionals, his opponent wasn't considered very strong. His physical attributes were inferior to those of someone who had undergone training, not to mention his coordination and combat skills.

Not only did it not pose the slightest threat to him, it also allowed him to show off his skills on the field, gaining him a new wave of fans.

After several matches, Mo Chengzi discovered that the best way for him to make money wasn't simply by collecting prize money from each victory. The fastest way was to create entertaining moments during the matches and attract his opponent's fans. The more fans his opponents had, the safer he would be on the ring, and the more money he could earn.

More attention means more than just higher advertising fees. These new viewers, after seeing his various experiences and incredible feats, might even tip him directly.

Leveraging the popularity of other contestants seems to be a very effective way to gain followers. In this world where money reigns supreme, traffic itself is a form of wealth, and exposure is inherently meaningful. From this perspective, the stronger the opponent, the better the sales efficiency. Unfortunately, the competition itself is a random draw, and who you draw depends entirely on luck. He has also considered challenging high-ranking contestants privately after the competition ends. He is actually somewhat confident that he can defeat contestants ranked around the top 20. That ranking is already very high. "It's just a pity that my current ranking on the overall leaderboard is probably only just squeezed into the top 200. The probability of encountering someone like that is low."

As for those ranked higher, their strength will also improve. Moreover, once you reach the top twenty, the gap between each rank begins to widen.

The skill gap between each player was enormous. Although Mo Chengzi didn't encounter any formidable opponents in the competition, she was fortunate enough to witness a battle between the third-ranked expert, Battleship, and the twelfth-ranked Tumbleweed.

Battleship remains a top contender in the military technology team. Tumbleweed, on the other hand, is a top contender from the Xu Group, which isn't considered a particularly strong team in the fighting tournament. Even Tumbleweed, the number one seed, only ranks 12th in the advertising slots. Their athletic skills aren't particularly advanced; they primarily select exceptionally talented individuals from a vast pool of ordinary people and train them with ample nutrition. Tumbleweed is renowned for its combat skills; in previous match footage, it has often triumphed over opponents stronger than itself. Like Tumbleweed, one can easily deflect attacks, remaining elusive and even using the opponent's force against them.

It is precisely because of these strengths and characteristics that Tumbleweed is able to thrive on the battlefield. He won his way to 12th place, but this time, facing the third-ranked battleship, he knows he has little hope.

Although they were all participating in the 70kg class, the battleship's weight was very close to 80kg. A professional nutrition team managed their weight to ensure it was just within the maximum allowed for the competition.

Meanwhile, his muscles, enhanced by Dawn 1, had reached their peak. While the previous Tyrannosaurus Rex also relied on Dawn 1 for enhancement, individual physical talents differ, and different people adapt to drugs differently. This guy has likely already adapted to the third stage of the Dawn serum, his body enhanced to the point of developing many abilities that ordinary people lack.

He stepped onto the ring and began inhaling continuously without exhaling; his lungs were structured differently from ordinary people. As he inhaled, his body surface opened up in numerous gill-like slits, expelling hot steam that generated immense propulsion. With each step, this steam coordinated with his body's movement, providing him with a significant boost.

During the host's explanation, the audience learned that these jet nozzles on the body surface can be attached to the powered armor as additional control modules, resulting in more coordinated control of the mech. Therefore, this technology is not only useful in melee combat but can also be truly applied on the battlefield, improving the efficiency of human-machine interaction for soldiers and increasing their survivability on the battlefield.

Mo Chengzi could sense it. The battleship wasn't taking the competition seriously at all. Even so, with each breath he took, his size seemed to swell, making him noticeably larger than his opponent.

Both sides started with probing attacks. But the huge difference in skill became apparent in this very first probing. Facing a straight punch, Feng Gunpao chose his usual tactic of rolling to dissipate the force. When facing an attack, by retreating and rolling, he could convert most of the force into simple propulsion.

The moment his palm touched his fist, he felt a numbing sensation in his palm, and his arm bones seemed on the verge of cracking. Even though he immediately retreated and rolled away, dissipating most of the force, he still felt his body swaying precariously, as if it might fall apart at any moment.

When he finally managed to get up from the ground, he saw his opponent already standing in front of him. It wasn't just an absolute crushing defeat in strength. The difference in speed was something that technique couldn't overcome. Another punch, the sheer difference in power leaving Tumbleweed completely defenseless. He barely managed to roll to the side, but was whipped around on the ground like a top.

The strength of the kite grass itself was not much weaker than that of the Tyrannosaurus Rex that participated in the competition before, and it was already comparable to some soldiers who had been injected with Dawn 1. However, at this moment, it was like an infant being beaten by an adult.

Even with exceptional skills, there wasn't enough time to unleash them. While spinning on the ground, dizzy and disoriented, he felt a terrifying punch land on him. This time, there was no time to release the force, and Tumbleweed was sent flying, flying off the stage.

This punch looked effortless. It seemed like just an ordinary punch, yet its power was comparable to the previous Wind and Fire Wheel attack that almost crippled his arm. This illustrates the huge gap between third place and the rankings below. And there is also a gap between the top three.

Mo Chengzi felt that winning was really too difficult, and he really needed to consider using drugs to strengthen his body.

[To be continued]

Please add this to your favorites and vote for it! (End of Chapter)