Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 104: A Near Death Breakthrough

Having learned about the game of rat-telephone Han Yu felt scammed.

’I’m the one that’s supposed to be scamming others...’ he thought before his stomach rumbled again.

"Come on now, eat. You should eat food at the right times. It’s necessary for growing children you know?" Li Mei nagged him on.

Han Yu stared at the bubbling pot with the solemn resignation of a man attending his own funeral.

He sniffed. The aroma was deceptively appetizing—rich, earthy, and with a subtle kick of herbs that whispered, "You might survive this."

His stomach had other opinions. It roared again, more forceful this time, like an angry spirit demanding sacrifice.

With trembling hands, Han Yu picked up the offered bowl.

"You... sure it’s safe?" he asked.

Li Mei gave a smile that was entirely too confident. "Han Yu, I’m at least 78% sure it won’t kill you."

"Those odds are lower than the pill you gave me that made me see a vision of my own funeral."

"That was just the clairvoyance. This is totally different."

"...Fine."

He took a spoonful. Then another. Then three more.

It was, against all expectations, delicious.

"Huh," Han Yu blinked. "This is actually really—"

GURGLE.

The sound came not from the soup, but from deep within his own body. A low, ominous bubbling that echoed like the drums of war.

"Uh oh," Li Mei said, scooting back a little. "Did you hear that too, or...?"

Han Yu’s eyes went wide. He clutched his stomach.

"Wh-why is my spleen vibrating—WHY IS MY SPLEEN VIBRATING?!" Han Yu didn’t even know how to locate his spleen but knew it was the spleen instinctively.

He doubled over, groaning in pain. His skin flushed purple. Then green. Then spotted, like an angry banana.

"OH NO. My eyeballs are sweating."

"Those are tears but okay. And yeah, might’ve added a little too much Fever Vine..." Li Mei mumbled, taking notes.

Han Yu gasped. "You put Fever Vine in this?! That stuff causes even cultivators to get sick and burn up like they were put on a furnace!"

"Only if mixed with volatile herbs like—oh." Her eyes landed on a nearby empty box labeled Explosive Lotus Root.

"YOU’RE KILLING ME!" Han Yu shouted, collapsing onto his side like a tragic hero in a low-budget opera.

"I didn’t mean to!" Li Mei insisted, poking him with a ladle. "You looked hungry!"

"OH GODS, I CAN TASTE COLORS AGAIN!" Han Yu wailed. "THE SKY IS LAUGHING AT ME!"

He began convulsing slightly, limbs flailing as a violent energy went wild in his meridians. A wave of sickly green qi pulsed from his abdomen, then blue, then a weird plaid pattern that even confused Li Mei.

"This is... new," she admitted, scribbling furiously.

Just as Han Yu was about to pass out—again—a warmth spread through his belly.

Wait... not just warmth.

Power.

A deep, rumbling force began to rise from his dantian. The pain vanished. The hallucinations faded. His limbs stopped flailing.

Han Yu blinked. The world stopped spinning. His skin regained its normal color. His spleen stopped doing the cha-cha.

"What the...?" he whispered.

Li Mei leaned forward. "Wait. Something’s happening."

Han Yu’s body suddenly trembled—no, hummed with energy. A rush of vital energy surged through his veins. His muscles tightened, his skin glowed faintly, and his muscles crackled with renewed force. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Then—

BOOM!

A small explosion of aura erupted from within him, knocking over a stack of rat foot samples. Han Yu floated briefly two inches off the ground, limbs outstretched like a poorly constructed martial arts statue.

"He’s—he’s ascending!" Li Mei shouted. "No wait, he can’t ascend. He’s not at the right stage for it." She corrected herself.

Han Yu’s eyes snapped open. They glowed faintly for a second.

He gasped.

"I—I just broke through...!"

He stood slowly, flexing his arms.

"I reached the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering!"

Li Mei blinked. "Wait, seriously?"

Han Yu nodded, dumbfounded. "I was stuck at the Seventh Stage for just two months and now I—"

The Eighth to Tenth Stage of the Body Tempering Realm involved tempering one’s blood vessels. This was in preparation for the Qi Refining realm as one needed strong blood vessels before they could handle Sprit qi.

After all, it was the blood vessels through which Spirit Qi first traveled before finally entering meridians.

Han Yu sensed the changes in his body and could feel the rich vital energy flowing through his blood vessels, showing the truth to him.

He paused. "Wait. It was the pill! That ’dud’ pill! It must’ve activated when the poison started trying to kill me!"

"Huh... I guess the ingredients had a delayed synergistic resonance once exposed to the near-death state caused by the stew," Li Mei theorized.

"Translation?"

"You almost died, but the pill kicked in and punched the poison in the face." Li Mei dumbed it down for the boy. ’Still to think he’d breakthrough two stages in one go... The effects were stronger than I thought.’ Li Mei noted down a few more lines.

Han Yu looked down at his hands, now radiating a faint golden sheen.

"This... is insane. I feel stronger. Clearer. Hungrier." He paused. "Wait no. That might be lingering food hallucinations. I still taste pineapple."

"There was no pineapple in the stew." Li Mei said before she clapped her hands. "Han Yu, this is perfect! I need to recreate this exact sequence of events!"

Han Yu paled. "I am NOT eating any more mystery stew."

"Just a small batch!"

"You almost killed me!"

"Yes, but then you had a miraculous breakthrough. Win-win!"

"That’s a win for you! I nearly pooped out my soul!"

"But you didn’t. That’s the important part."

Han Yu groaned and flopped back onto the floor, now a stronger, more energy dense version of himself, but still a man with trust issues and light trauma.

"I swear, if my kidneys start glowing tomorrow, I’m defecting to another sect."

Li Mei smiled sweetly and made a note that said:

"Possibly glowing kidneys. Record and harvest if necessary."

"WHAT ARE YOU WRITING?!"

"Nothing!"

Somewhere in the room, a rat squeaked approvingly.