Humans Shrunk 100 Times

Chapter 176: Eat Tomatoes

After Chen Mu finished washing up, he arrived late at the dining table. He and He Ying were usually busier in the morning, so they were often the last ones to arrive.

The breakfast at Qiming was casual. After the food was prepared in the kitchen, everyone came and ate one after another, somewhat like a buffet.

However, today was different because it was the new person's first day, so everyone came in a more organized manner.

Dinner, on the other hand, was not the same.

Unless there was a special reason, nobody could miss dinner, and everyone had to eat together.

This came from Dong Junwei's desire to make Qiming into a big family. Dinner was considered a formal meal, and in the past, it was the only meal where the whole family could gather and eat together.

Of course, this rule was not officially written into the regulations. It was just Dong Junwei's personal wish for everyone to do so, but it turned out to be the most strictly enforced rule.

Chen Mu finally took his seat.

But unlike before, the enthusiasm for today's breakfast seemed to be low. In the past, by the time he and He Ying arrived, Wei Dalei and the others would have already finished eating and left to do other things.

However, today, not a single person left their seat.

Moreover, everyone picked at their food with their chopsticks, showing no appetite. Even Wei Dalei, who was known as a foodie, only ate half of his meal, completely unlike his usual style of eating heartily.

Chen Mu picked up his chopsticks but realized he wasn't even hungry.

He suddenly understood why.

Yuyuan.

On his way back, Chen Mu had already confirmed that as long as he kept a certain distance from Yuyuan, he could absorb his "nutrients" without needing to eat or drink. His body wouldn't suffer from any nutritional deficiencies. The most typical example was when Li Bo's saliva was used to stick something together; it didn't cause dehydration.

Of course, at the moment, he didn't know exactly what the distance was, and whether this "parasitic" behavior would have any adverse effects on Yuyuan.

Obviously.

After Yuyuan joined Qiming, suddenly more than twenty people were parasitizing him. The yellow bean that was already almost exhausted by three people couldn't handle the pressure in an instant.

Chen Mu was a bit worried. On the one hand, he was concerned that Yuyuan might be sucked dry without timely replenishment of nutrients. On the other hand, parasitizing others might be not bad, but it made him feel like he lost a lot of fun, especially when encountering something he really wanted to eat, but he didn't have a stomach to hold it. It seemed a bit cruel.

"I'm not hungry at all, I can't eat anything. What should I do?"

Zhao Xiaoyan pushed her breakfast over to Wei Dalei.

Except for Yuyuan, Wei Dalei was the only one still eating, but his eating speed was not as fast as before, and he had only taken a few bites when Tang Jing called him away.

When he came back, Wei Dalei was carrying a box of tomatoes.

These tomatoes were stored in the original wooden box, and surprisingly, the tomatoes that were originally thought to last only a few days still looked fresh after more than ten days.

Yuyuan's eyes lit up.

He had already eaten several people's portions before, but it didn't alleviate his hunger.

"Do you want to finish all of these?" Yuyuan asked.

"Do you think you can?" Tang Jing asked.

"No problem."

"But you can't eat too quickly; I need to record several time points during this process."

"Oh." Yuyuan swallowed and asked, "What do you need me to do?"

"You don't need to do anything special. Just start eating now and listen to my instructions."

"Alright."

Yuyuan walked to the side of the wooden box, picked up a tomato, looked around, and then grinned. He stuffed the tomato into his mouth.

His eating speed wasn't particularly fast, certainly nowhere near Wei Dalei's peak level. But after a few minutes, everyone felt something surreal.

Dozens of tomatoes went into his belly, but Yuyuan didn't look the slightest bit full.

After twenty minutes, Du Jiajia and others finished cleaning up the kitchen and gathered around Yuyuan to watch.

"How many has he eaten?"

"Seventy or eighty, I think."

"He's so fast."

"Isn't his stomach going to burst?"

"This doesn't follow the law of conservation of energy."

"Where is all the food going?"

"It's a pity he's not doing a mukbang stream."

"At this point, people might not believe it. If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I'd think he's cheating."

"..."

Yuyuan kept eating without speeding up or slowing down. Tang Jing stood nearby and occasionally asked him some questions.

One hour later.

"Stop."

Tang Jing stopped Yuyuan, who was still eating rapidly.

"Do you feel anything?"

"No..." Yuyuan wiped his mouth.

"Do you know how many you've eaten?" Tang Jing asked again.

"I don't know." Yuyuan shook his head.

"223."

This shocked Yuyuan himself. Although the original yellow bean was large, there was only one of it, far less impactful than this number.

Tang Jing continued, "This whole box of tomatoes is probably 1500, and you've eaten one-seventh of it."

Yuyuan patted his chest and said, "I can finish the whole thing."

Tang Jing smiled and asked, "I believe you, but I want to ask, how long did you take to eat that yellow bean originally?"

"Well..."

Yuyuan was momentarily stunned and thought for a moment before saying, "I didn't keep track of time, but it took quite a while. I didn't finish eating in one day; I took a break overnight and finished it the next day."

"From what I see, your way of eating is not much different from normal people. The difference is that what you eat is converted into a certain form of energy storage, which is continuously consumed, and you simultaneously provide it to people around you."

"Yes."

"When you ate that yellow bean back then, did you feel full?"

"I only felt full when I was almost finished eating it."

"So, there's still a certain limit to your appetite. It's very likely that at that time, one yellow bean was the limit."

"Yeah, that's right."

As Yuyuan nodded and habitually picked up another tomato, he then realized that Tang Jing hadn't said anything and put it back down.

"Go on eating."

Tang Jing watched Yuyuan eat again with excitement and said, "Currently, Qiming confirms several key points for all abilities: growth potential, functionality, quantifiable performance, and control.

"Take Chang Junyan, for example. His growth potential lies in the number, size, and speed of the bumps that appear on his body.

"As for functionality, it's quite simple. Currently, it involves resisting physical damage and healing wounds.

"Now, the quantifiable performance is relatively more complicated. It means determining how much damage the bumps of a certain size and thickness can resist, and we need to provide specific reference values.

"As for control, it refers to how well the ability user can utilize their power."

Yuyuan listened, somewhat puzzled, with a tomato stuffed in his mouth, nodding continuously.

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