The commotion had already dispersed by the time Zhao Yuan walked out of the dissection building.
Back at the dorm, two of his three roommates were playing LOL, while the third was on his phone, chatting on WeChat with a girl he'd found nearby. Seeing him return, Wang Rongfeng looked up and said, "Your food's on your desk. Go on and eat."
"Thanks, Second Bro," Zhao Yuan said.
"Don't mention it. We were going to bring it to you at the dissection building, but Oldest said the smell and atmosphere in there was no place to eat, so we didn't," Wang Rongfeng said, his eyes still on his game of LOL.
Zhao Yuan said hi to his other two roommates, walked over to his desk, and opened the food container. He saw a chicken leg resting inside, next to his usual meal of steamed buns and pickled vegetables, and froze for a moment.
"The chicken leg's my treat," said Wu Yan, the fourth brother, without looking up from his phone. "You can't live on steamed buns and pickles every day. You've got to have some meat every once in a while."
Zhao Yuan gave a bitter smile. It wasn't that he wanted to eat pickles and steamed buns every day, but he had to. He had to save every penny he could to send money back home for his sister's education.
"Thanks, Fourth Bro." Zhao Yuan wasn't one for false modesty, so he picked up the chicken leg and dug in. He etched the kindness of his three roommates into his heart, vowing to repay them all one day.
He was starving, and he wolfed down the food like a man possessed. In no time, the chicken leg, two large steamed buns, and the pickles were gone.
Licking his lips, Zhao Yuan realized he was still hungry. He couldn't help but wonder, 'That's strange. Two steamed buns used to be enough, but today it barely made a dent. Could it be that after the Inheritance Seed enhanced my body, my appetite got bigger too?'
He quickly found the answer within the Inheritance Seed.
During the Bone Marrow Cleansing stage of Body Refining, one's appetite would increase as their physical constitution improved. During this time, it was crucial to ensure sufficient food intake. Failure to do so would not only cause the Bone Marrow Cleansing to fail, but would also lead to a decline in one's Qi and blood, causing their physical condition to plummet. In severe cases, it could even be fatal...
'You've got to be kidding me! It's that serious if I don't eat enough?' Zhao Yuan was terrified.
He had originally planned to just tough it out, but it was clear now that wasn't an option. With no other choice, he had to go downstairs and find something to eat.
By this hour, the school cafeteria was already closed. The campus convenience store was still open, but everything in there was far too expensive for him.
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Yuan slapped his forehead. 'That's right! There's a steamed bun shop next to the school gate that stays open late. If I go now, I should be able to get some.'
He left through the west gate, turned right, and walked for about a hundred meters. Sure enough, he saw a steamed bun shop that was still open.
Zhao Yuan hurried over and asked, "Sir, do you have any steamed buns left?"
"I do. How many do you want?" the owner asked, opening a steamer basket.
'How many...?' Zhao Yuan hesitated. He had no idea just how big his appetite had become. After a moment's thought, he said, "I'll start with five."
The steamed buns at this shop were dense and heavy; each one weighed at least a hundred grams. 'Five of them would be over half a kilogram. Plus what I ate earlier, that should be enough to fill me up, right?'
The owner quickly bagged five large, white steamed buns and handed them to Zhao Yuan.
After paying, Zhao Yuan didn't leave. He stood right there in front of the shop and began to eat, taking large bites.
In less than two minutes, all five large steamed buns were gone.
He rubbed his stomach. He was still hungry. "I'll take ten more," he said.
"Huh? More?" The owner was astonished. "You ate five of those big buns and you're still not full?"
"I'm starving." Seeing the owner frozen in place, Zhao Yuan took matters into his own hands. He opened the steamer, grabbed a bun, and started eating, one after another, at an incredible speed.
The owner was dumbfounded. These were hefty, hundred-gram steamed buns, yet this kid was eating them like they were tiny little crackers.
It wasn't just the owner; passersby had also stopped to stare, completely dumbfounded.
"How long has that guy been starving?"
"Counting the first batch, that's his tenth bun... Holy crap, there goes another one."
"I'm starting to feel full just watching him!"
Soon, another ten large steamed buns had gone down the hatch, and Zhao Yuan finally stopped.
The owner and the crowd were completely stupefied.
They'd seen people eat five steamed buns in a sitting before, but they had never, ever seen someone eat fifteen.
"Fifteen steamed buns... that's over three pounds of food, at least. The kid looks so small and skinny, but his appetite is terrifying," the owner marveled, clicking his tongue.
Zhao Yuan muttered to himself, "About eighty percent full. This should be good enough."
'I have to practice the Four Saints Technique later, so I can't be completely full. Eighty percent is just right.'
The owner overheard him and was stunned all over again. He thought, 'He ate fifteen large steamed buns and he's only eighty percent full? My heavens, if you really let loose, would you eat twenty or thirty of them? Are you even human? Or are you a bottomless pit?'
Zhao Yuan paid, turned to leave, but after a few steps, he came back. "Sir," he said, "could I get ten more steamed buns?"
"You're kidding me! You're still going to eat?" The owner's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Uh..." Zhao Yuan scratched his head in embarrassment and said with a wry smile, "Don't get me wrong. I'm not eating them now. I'm getting them to go."
"Oh, so that's it. You gave me a scare." The owner quickly bagged ten more buns and handed them to Zhao Yuan. "Take them, they're on the house. I've been selling steamed buns for many years, and I've never seen anyone eat as much as you."
"Thank you." Zhao Yuan didn't refuse; saving a little money was always a good thing.
Carrying the bag of steamed buns, Zhao Yuan began to mull over his financial problems on the walk back to the dorm.
'My appetite is insane now. A single meal is almost what I used to eat in two or three days. Even if I only eat steamed buns, it's going to cost a fortune. And according to the Inheritance Seed, my appetite will only get bigger as my body gets stronger! The money from my part-time job won't be nearly enough to feed myself, let alone send any home to my family.'
By the time he got back to the dorm, Zhao Yuan still hadn't come up with any good ideas for making money.
"Hey, Third Bro, what'd you buy so many steamed buns for?" the oldest brother, Liu Zhu, asked curiously when he saw Zhao Yuan return with the bag.
"For when I get hungry," Zhao Yuan answered vaguely.
"Who gets hungry enough to eat that many steamed buns? You think you're a hamster, hoarding food?" Wang Rongfeng teased.
Zhao Yuan just smiled and didn't reply.
'I can't very well tell my three roommates that this many buns would barely be a snack for me, can I?'
He placed the steamed buns on his desk and sat for a while, still unable to think of a good way to earn money. Shaking his head, he thought, 'Forget it. When the guys are done with their game, I'll borrow a computer and look for jobs nearby. For now, I'll try cultivating the Four Saints Technique.'
The moment he had the thought, the Inheritance Seed bloomed with wisps of green light, coalescing into a single green leaf that floated before his eyes. On the leaf, alongside the cultivation method for the Four Saints Technique, were several diagrams of the human form.