Chapter 133 - 132: Flesh and Blood Modification

Since time immemorial, a single question has troubled humanity, generation after generation.

Namely, how did human beings come into existence?

In ancient times, the people of the Central Plains attributed the creation of humanity to the goddess Nuwa. But this only led to a new question.

Qu Yuan described this very doubt in his *Heavenly Questions*: Nuwa had a body, but who was her craftsman?

If Nuwa created humanity, then who created Nuwa?

Even in modern society, where countless scientists have provided evidence that humans evolved from apes step-by-step, a large number of people still refuse to believe it.

There are still fanatics who cling to the fantasy that humanity was made by a creator, their reasoning being that the human body is so unique, so different from any other living creature.

Fang Can had no interest in exploring whether gods had created humanity. What bothered him was why this body had so many inconveniences.

If it was made by a god, then humanity must have been nothing more than that god's undergraduate senior project.

Because this body was riddled with countless flaws and bugs—so many that it was unbearable.

First, the retina is installed backward, forcing light to pass through countless capillaries before reaching it. This creates innumerable shadows on the retina that the brain has to constantly Photoshop out using its own processing power.

Second, the recurrent laryngeal nerve takes a detour around the aorta, more than doubling its length and causing an excessively long reflex arc for swallowing.

Then there's the fact that the trachea and the esophagus share a single opening, leading to who knows how many deaths each year from people choking on their own vomit.

And there were countless other issues, like the convoluted path of the vas deferens, which increases its length severalfold; the lack of a penile bone, making it impossible to get rigid on command and engage in sustained combat; and the excessive pressure placed on the lumbar spine from walking upright.

It could be said that if a god truly did create the human body, it either shows that the god didn't care much about humanity, or that this god's knowledge of biological theory was simply substandard.

And now, facing Wang Peng's repeated life-threatening attacks and feeling the weakness of his own body, he decided to begin a project to reconstruct it.

First, strength!

An adult's muscles, if combined, could generate a pulling force of at least 25 tons.

But because it's impossible to focus all the body's strength into one point, and due to the limitations of human tissue, this kind of problem is only seen in high school physics hypotheticals.

Fang Can couldn't solve that problem yet, but he could use cellular manipulation to adjust the orientation of every one of his muscles.

Once he had reorganized the pathways within the 639 muscles of the human body, he could increase his strength by at least fivefold.

Next, [Hardness].

Due to differences in internal structure, the hardness of carbon and diamond are worlds apart.

As he reorganized each muscle, Fang Can could also use his knowledge of scientific principles to rearrange the structure of his bones and flesh.

While he couldn't manipulate things on a microscopic, atomic level, it wouldn't be a problem to increase his body's hardness three or four times over by changing its composition.

Then, for the modification of [Speed], he could alter the structure of his leg bones, forcibly shattering them to achieve maximum force generation.

At that moment, countless past memories were being dredged up in Fang Can's mind. All the knowledge his teachers had imparted to him in school was now becoming fuel for this battle.

To win this fight, he split his focus three ways.

One part of his mind constructed the optimal structural configurations, another altered his flesh with precision, and the last was dedicated to simply not letting Wang Peng kill him.

It was precisely this constant teetering on the edge of life and death that caused his talent to grow explosively.

Under normal circumstances, completing this set of modifications would have required at least a year or two of research and experimentation.

But now, his drastically enhanced talent allowed him to begin the modifications directly.

His extraordinary luck also allowed him to find the optimal arrangement immediately, without needing to exhaustively test every possibility.

And the increased healing ability that came with this life-or-death situation allowed him to survive levels of damage that would be lethal to an ordinary person.

It was as if the entire world was pushing Fang Can's body to transform and evolve.

'Something's wrong, something's wrong, this isn't right!'

The more Wang Peng fought, the more his composure began to crumble.

This guy in front of him was like a cockroach that just wouldn't die. He showed no signs of flagging; instead, he seemed to be getting more and more energized.

Have you ever seen someone use their own head as a club, their heart as a war drum, their eyes as hidden weapons, and their skin as a kasaya robe?

As for how he supported his body after pulling out his bones, Wang Peng watched in horror as Fang Can stuffed a section of his own small intestine into his now-boneless arm.

"Damn it! Mad Dragon Sea-Splitting Palm!" Wang Peng roared. His powerful Gang Qi solidified, forming an invisible palm print that flew toward Fang Can from a distance.

If an ordinary Martial Artist were to face this palm strike, their internal organs would be pulverized on the spot.

But unfortunately for him, he was facing Fang Can. Before the palm print even made contact, Fang Can's body preemptively flew apart, allowing the Qi Force to pass through him and pierce the massive boulder behind.

The next moment, his separated body parts fought independently. Connected by his small intestine, Fang Can's right arm, gripping a leg bone, stabbed toward Wang Peng's heart.

As before, he made no move to dodge, but this time an unprecedented wave of pain washed over him.

'Looks like the body modification is finally showing some results,' Fang Can thought with satisfaction. He had managed to transform about 3% of his body into its ideal form.

With a gentle tug, Fang Can's arm retracted. A spurt of blood erupted from Wang Peng's chest; this blow had truly and thoroughly damaged his heart meridians.

Clutching his chest where blood was gushing out, a clear panic flashed in Wang Peng's eyes. If he hadn't reacted in time, his heart would have been pierced.

In that instant, the image of Fang Can overlapped with the memory of a sword-wielding woman from several years ago.

In the distance, the sounds of a great battle could be heard. It was the reinforcements from Cangren City, summoned by the princess's guards who had fled earlier.

Gazing at the inhuman figure of Fang Can before him, Wang Peng's eyes filled with terror. He tried to flee without a second thought, but his ankle was already ensnared by a loop of small intestine.

"Come as you please, go as you please."

Fang Can's body, covered in a spiderweb of cracks, gave a hard pull. "It's not that easy."

SHLICK!

In an instant, Fang Can switched from defense to offense, tangling with Wang Peng.

Although he was still at a disadvantage, the situation was gradually turning in his favor.

"Protect the princess! Slay the assassin!"

In the distance, a large contingent of militia guards was converging on their position, with at least several thousand Martial Artists among them.

And just like that, Fang Can and Wang Peng were caught in the encirclement.

BOOM!

The two men collided. Fine, hairline fractures appeared once again on Fang Can's bones as he used the momentum to channel the vast majority of the force into the ground.

The terrifying impact gouged a deep pit three to four meters wide in the earth, sending a massive amount of soil flying.

The displaced earth and shattered rocks acted like deadly blades, piercing straight through the bodies of several First and Second Layer Martial Artists behind them, riddling them with holes.

And so, a massacre began...