...

He had no idea how much time had passed.

[Ding—!]

The cold, synthetic mechanical tone exploded in the depths of Chen Yun's muddled consciousness, dragging him back from the boundless darkness and the lingering echoes of agony.

"Ugh..." Chen Yun groaned, forcing his eyes open. Every bone in his body felt like it had been disassembled. His muscles ached terribly, and his body felt weak and boneless, utterly drained of strength.

He lay sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath, his thin clothes soaked through with clammy, cold sweat.

[Daily Point Settlement initiated.]

[Calculating…]

[Base Points for Today: 24 points.]

*[Today's Survival Evaluation: Hoarding Supplies (Survival Preparation): +10 points.]*

*[Primary Physical Enhancement (Constitutional Breakthrough): +10 points.]*

[Settlement Complete. Current Survival Point Balance: 189 points.]

"189 points!" Chen Yun thought, a spark igniting within him despite the physical misery. "So besides missions, daily settlements are another way to earn points."

He struggled to sit up. His body was still weak, but the arrival of the points gave him a mental boost.

Gurgle—

A loud rumble erupted from his stomach.

Only then did Chen Yun realize his stomach was completely empty. A ravenous, burning hunger surged over him like a tidal wave.

Gritting his teeth, Chen Yun forced himself to stand up, staggering toward the refrigerator in the corner.

He yanked the door open. A wave of cold air, mixed with the distinctive smell of a fridge containing leftovers, hit his face.

Inside was yesterday's leftover rice and two cucumbers.

Not bothering to heat it in the microwave, Chen Yun directly grabbed the bowl of rice and began shoveling the cold food into his mouth with his fingers, swallowing large mouthfuls.

The icy food settled in his stomach, but instead of coldness, a wave of comforting warmth spread from his core, slightly alleviating the sharp pangs of hunger.

With some strength returning to his limbs, he turned to the snack cabinet. Biscuits, potato chips, chocolate—whatever was there, he tore open the packaging and poured it into his mouth. The sounds of chewing and swallowing were unusually loud in the quiet room.

He only stopped when every visible scrap of food had been devoured.

The burning hunger finally subsided, replaced by a satisfying warmth that flowed from his abdomen to every part of his body.

The weakness and pain that had plagued him moments ago vanished rapidly, replaced by a surging sense of power. He felt like he could punch a bull to death.

"Is this the change the enhancement serum brought?" Chen Yun murmured, staring at his... blurry hands?

He blinked. Wait, blurry?

He jerked his head up. Everything in his field of vision was out of focus.

Instinctively, he reached up and took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes hard.

He was about to put them back on when he froze again.

Without his glasses, everything was crystal clear. He could see the intricate patterns of peeling paint on the wall, the delicate strands of a spiderweb hanging in the corner with perfect clarity.

He put his glasses back on. Blurry.

He took them off. Clear.

He put them on again. Blurry.

This felt familiar. Hadn't something similar happened to a guy named Peter Parker?

He looked at the thick glasses in his hand. The dust on the lenses and the grime caked in the corners of the frames were now painfully obvious to his enhanced vision.

Chen Yun took a deep, steadying breath.

"To think it even cured myopia... something considered irreversible. My eyesight now must be far superior to normal."

"Time to test my strength."

His eyes scanned his sparsely furnished room, finally landing on the large water cooler bottle beside the tea table.

A 20-liter bottle. A full 40 jin (20 kilograms)!

He walked over, his left hand gripping the neck of the bottle. In one smooth motion, he inverted it and lifted it effortlessly into the air.

No strain at all.

Holding it by the neck, he gave the forty-jin bottle an experimental swing. It cut through the air with a satisfying whoosh.

After a moment, he set the bottle down and exhaled softly.

"My physical fitness now far surpasses an ordinary person's. It feels even greater than the 1.5 times the average healthy adult male the system mentioned."

"And this is just the primary serum. I can't even imagine the changes an intermediate, advanced, or even super serum would bring!"

He felt a thrill of anticipation.

He glanced up at the clock on the wall. The hands pointed to 3 AM.

A faint drowsiness finally crept in. Knowing he had a heavy day of purchasing ahead tomorrow, Chen Yun decided to get some rest.

After a quick wash, he collapsed onto his bed.

...

The morning sun streamed through the window, painting stripes of light on the floor. Chen Yun opened his eyes gently.

He had slept incredibly well. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a restful sleep.

He picked up his phone and lit the screen: July 2nd, 6:15 AM.

Just over three hours of sleep had felt more restorative than ten hours used to.

"Another benefit of the serum enhancement," he mused. "Not just physical strength, but digestion, recovery... everything seems vastly improved."

He dressed, got up, and washed up.

Chen Yun threw on his jacket and stepped out the door. There was much to do today.

...

Downstairs at the breakfast shop.

After devouring seven bowls of spicy hu la tang soup and ten steamers of xiaolongbao, Chen Yun finally sat back, satisfied, and let out a contented burp.

Under the stunned gaze of the other patrons, he paid his bill and left.

"My appetite has increased significantly too," he thought, walking back to his van. "I'll need to adjust my stockpile plans. Increase the proportion of food. My original estimates might not be enough anymore."

He drove straight to the wholesale market.

The market was already bustling and noisy early in the morning.

Rice, flour, oil, grains, daily chemicals, general merchandise—every type of good imaginable was laid out in dazzling arrays.

His market survey yesterday had given him a clear understanding of prices and availability.

All morning, Chen Yun visited four different wholesale markets across Luoyue City, making separate, smaller purchases of food supplies—rice, flour, compressed biscuits, cooking oil, canned goods, and the like—at each.

He arranged for deliveries to his suburban warehouse from shops in the eastern and western parts of the city tomorrow. For the shops in the southern and northern districts, he loaded the goods directly into his van himself.

In the afternoon, he visited various hardware stores for common tools: fire axes, crowbars, wrenches, and others.

He went to the mechanical and electrical market for several generators, a gasoline-powered chainsaw, an electric saw, and other machinery.

By 7 PM, "Master" Chen Yun, weary from a long day, stood before his warehouse door, looking at the piled-up supplies inside with a satisfied nod.

Leaning against his small van, his eyes fell on his beat-up second-hand sedan parked nearby. A thought suddenly struck him:

Strengthening the car required 1000 points. How much would it cost to strengthen the van? What did the points required for strengthening depend on? The item's value? Or something else?

With this in mind, he placed his hand on the side of the van.

He summoned the system light screen and selected [Upgrade].

[Initiate basic upgrade on current vehicle: 'Wuling Hongguang Mini-Van'?]

The emotionless mechanical voice sounded in his mind.

"Yes."

[Required points: 1200. Insufficient point balance.]

"A bit more expensive than the car, but not by much," Chen Yun noted.

[Detected empty diesel cans. Consume diesel cans to perform a targeted upgrade on this vehicle?]

[Upgrade direction: Fuel Tank Capacity Expansion.]

[Point cost: 50 points.]

"Empty fuel cans? Targeted upgrade?" The new prompt startled Chen Yun. "The upgrade function can enhance specific aspects separately?"

He turned to look into the van's cargo area. A few empty fuel cans he hadn't stored in the warehouse were sitting there.

"The system says 50 points, consuming the empty cans for a targeted upgrade. Could I perform a targeted upgrade without consuming materials?" he wondered.

Deciding to test his hypothesis, he opened the van's back doors and waved the empty fuel cans into his system storage with a thought.

He placed his hand back on the van's body and focused: "Targeted upgrade. Fuel Tank Capacity Expansion."

He focused his intent on clicking [Upgrade]. The system's cold electronic voice sounded again:

[Initiate targeted upgrade on current vehicle?]

[Upgrade direction: Fuel Tank Capacity Expansion.]

[Point cost: 80 points.]

Just as he thought!

Elation surged within him. "You can upgrade a specific aspect of an item without special conditions! And using the empty fuel cans makes it 30 points cheaper! This means certain related materials can be used to offset the point cost during upgrades!"

This discovery excited Chen Yun tremendously. The functions of targeted upgrades and material substitution would undoubtedly make his meager points stretch further.

A full comprehensive upgrade required a lot of points, which Chen Yun could scarcely afford now. But these two functions would allow him to spend a manageable amount of points to first enhance the most critical functions.

For example, he could acquire a large amount of insulation materials and use them in a targeted upgrade of the old house's thermal insulation.

Or he could consume steel or related materials for a targeted upgrade of the old house's door, reinforcing its sturdiness so it wouldn't be smashed apart in a few hits by those bastards like in his previous life...

After a long moment, Chen Yun calmed his excitement.

He pulled out his phone, opened his contacts, found a number listed as "Luoyue Building Materials - Manager Wang," and pressed dial.