Chapter 3

An hour ago, when Lu Xin slipped from the furnace rack, he saw the boiling metal solution below and thought his mortal body would surely be melted to nothing. However, he didn't expect that the metal solution, though appearing extremely hot, was actually at room temperature, much like a pot of oil with borax, which looks scary but doesn't hurt at all.

In the past month, Lu Xin had often visited the high-entropy alloy laboratory. The four researchers in the lab were his seniors at Jiangke University, and they sympathized with his situation, getting along well with him. From them, Lu Xin learned a lot about high-entropy alloys. He could roughly guess that the reason he didn't turn into ashes was because this particular ratio of high-entropy alloy had a characteristic of high thermal resistance, which strongly isolated the heat source.

When Lu Xin stood up from the furnace, some of the metal solution had stuck to his body. The solution quickly turned transparent, as if it had been completely absorbed, disappearing from his skin instantly.

Lu Xin climbed up the iron railing at the edge of the furnace, carefully crossing the lubricated area. When he jumped down from the furnace, he touched a copper plate and then an aluminum pipe. Upon contacting iron, copper, and aluminum, he suddenly felt a very special sensation, as if a mysterious energy was surging from these metal materials into his body. The energy made his whole body tingle pleasantly, much like how sunlight helps the body absorb vitamin D to slow aging.

After his hand left the metal materials, Lu Xin had another particularly strange feeling. He could sense the subtle activities of the iron in the railing, the copper in the plate, and the aluminum in the frame, as if those metal substances had formed a mysterious connection with him.

He could clearly discern that the purity of the metal materials was low, the impurity content was high, and the molecular arrangement was sparse. Clearly, these were low-quality materials, and the person responsible for purchasing them had likely taken a kickback from the supplier.

Lu Xin thought it was a hallucination and didn't take these strange sensations seriously.

After analyzing the accident, he knew that Li Li had set a trap to try to kill him. Lu Xin punched the furnace wall fiercely, "If it weren't for the high thermal resistance of this high-entropy alloy, I would have been reduced to ashes. I will definitely take revenge!"

If it were before, his punch on the stainless steel furnace wall would have left the wall unchanged, and his hand would have been in excruciating pain, possibly even bleeding. But this time, in his rage, his punch didn't hurt at all, and instead, a deep indentation appeared on the furnace wall, two millimeters deep.

Lu Xin was stunned. When had he become so strong? Even the boxer Tyson probably couldn't leave a two-millimeter deep indentation on a stainless steel furnace wall.

Looking at the deep indentation, Lu Xin was lost in thought. The strange sensations he felt when touching the metal materials must have been real. Could it be that he had gained a strange superpower from the high-entropy alloy solution, and this power was related to metal?

Lu Xin touched the deep indentation, and his heart skipped a beat. If someone else found this indentation, it would be hard to explain. If only the stainless steel furnace wall could return to its original state. As he thought this, he felt energy flowing between his hand and the furnace wall. Soon, the stainless steel furnace wall returned to its original state, and the obvious indentation disappeared.

His punch had been so powerful that the furnace shook. A ten-centimeter-long, ten-centimeter-wide, ten-kilogram alloy block on the side of the furnace top fell from a height of three meters and hit Lu Xin on the head.

If it were before, it would have left him with a bloody head. But this time, Lu Xin only felt something hit his head, like a blackboard eraser, with no pain.

The metal block fell from his head and hit his foot. Lu Xin was wearing safety shoes with thin soles. If it were before, a ten-kilogram metal block would have left his foot bruised and swollen, possibly even injuring his foot bones, making it difficult to walk for days. But today, it felt like a sponge had fallen on his foot, with no sensation.

Lu Xin picked up the metal block and saw that it was clearly labeled as ten kilograms. How could a ten-kilogram object hitting his head and foot leave no sensation? It must be that his body had undergone a strange change.

He then punched a few other metal parts and found that he could leave indentations on them and easily erase these marks.

Lu Xin then punched the concrete floor, leaving a two-centimeter deep hole, as if hit by a real iron fist. However, he couldn't restore the floor, so he covered it with something to hide it.

Lu Xin then tried other non-metallic materials and discovered that the high-entropy alloy solution had changed his body, making it as hard as steel. Both the strength and hardness of his body had undergone a dramatic transformation. His skin color remained the same, and it felt normal when touched, but when he attacked or was attacked, his body automatically generated metallic strength. This strength was stronger than ordinary metals like gold, silver, copper, and iron, approaching the strength of titanium alloy. To determine the exact destructive power and resistance, he would need to use specialized instruments, such as a punch force meter at a boxing club.

At least one thing was certain: Lu Xin's body was now as hard as iron, resistant to ordinary knife and gun attacks. Whether it could withstand bullets would need to be tested later.

Lu Xin now confirmed the first aspect of his metal-controlling ability: his body could metalize, automatically generating metallic strength when he attacked or was attacked.

Lu Xin didn't know that as he absorbed more and more metal energy, his body would eventually become invulnerable, impervious to bullets.

When Lu Xin gripped an iron rod, a clear handprint appeared, two millimeters deep, as if left by a martial arts master.

He then took a copper rod and gripped it, leaving a clear fingerprint.

He also took a stainless steel spoon and gripped it, leaving a clear fingerprint.

Lu Xin tried all the metal parts in the laboratory and found that he could easily leave marks on them and easily erase these marks.

He could also easily bend and even break thinner steel bars and stainless steel spoons.

However, when he tried to leave marks on a wooden chair leg or bend and break it, it required much more effort than with metal parts, clearly indicating that this ability was specifically effective against metals.

Lu Xin then confirmed the second characteristic of his metal-controlling ability: he could change the shape of metals.

As he absorbed more and more metal energy, one day he would be able to cut through metal like butter and slice through gold and jade.

Lu Xin didn't know that his metal-controlling ability was not limited to this. Body metalization to the point of being impervious to bullets and changing the shape of metals to the point of cutting through metal like butter were just the basic abilities. Later, he would gain the ability to move metals, control metal attacks, see through metals, and store electrical energy. When he absorbed enough metal energy to reach an intermediate level, he could decompose, weaken, and strengthen metals, and control the metal elements in the human body. At an advanced level, he could directly control metal molecules and change their molecular arrangement. At the peak level, he could control all substances related to metals, almost controlling everything.