Chapter 102: Everyone Is Fragile

Liu Zhangfei’s voice sounded like rolling thunder. He had a leopard-like head with round eyes, and a face as dark and lustrous as polished iron. A thick, bristly black beard cascaded down his jawline, looking like steel needles or iron wire... Ahem, he carried that exact same "Me too!" energy as the legendary Zhang Fei.

However, as Zhou Shu looked at this dark-faced giant and then recalled the delicate, ethereal features of the girl Liu Shuiling, he couldn't help but feel...

"What? You think Liu Shuiling isn't my biological daughter?!" Liu Zhangfei seemed to read Zhou Shu’s mind and shouted the question directly.

"Ahem, no, no, you two look quite alike," Zhou Shu replied, feeling a bit awkward at being "mind-read."

"Bullshit! My daughter is so delicate and pretty, could she possibly look like me?!" Liu Zhangfei snorted two puffs of hot air from his nostrils and bellowed.

Zhou Shu slapped his own forehead. He was speechless. What kind of person was this?

"Come on, kid, let’s go get some food!"

Before the words had even faded, Zhou Shu was being dragged along. Since Liu Zhangfei had revealed his connection to Liu Shuiling, and Zhou Shu had a good relationship with her—having chatted quite a bit about cat-related matters—he chose not to struggle.

Ten seconds later, he realized he had made the right choice, because even if he had wanted to struggle, he certainly wouldn't have been able to break free.

[Liu Zhangfei: Strength 3.28~3.31, Agility 2.94~2.96, Stamina 3.15~3.18, Physique 3.09~3.12]

"Holy crap!"

Zhou Shu was stunned. This was absolutely the most formidable person he had ever met!

An average attribute score over 3, especially a Physique score over 3—according to the Demon Suppression Bureau, this meant the body could already withstand small-caliber rifle bullets. This wasn't like a protagonist in a cheesy action drama who gets riddled with holes and still survives; a superhuman with a Physique over 3 was literally bulletproof. Conventional rifle bullets might draw blood, but they couldn't penetrate deep, let alone pass through. Furthermore, such powerful physical constitution could absorb the shock of bullet impacts, protecting internal organs and minimizing internal injuries.

For Demon Hunters of this caliber, physical stats were merely the foundation; the layering of various techniques was the true reason for their power. A Level 3 Demon Hunter like this could prefix their title with "Great," known as a "Great Demon Hunter," with an international rank of "A."

The more places he traveled, the more monsters he encountered. People with stats over 3 had appeared, while he had possessed his "cheat" for over a month and, aside from his Spirit attribute approaching 3, his other stats were only around 1.6. It was embarrassing!

He made up his mind: he would enter the virtual battlefield again tonight and push his stats even higher! He had saved up some source energy, so he wouldn't feel bad even if he wasted 0.1 of it by being startled awake halfway through.

***

Although he was now over 1.8 meters tall and his build had become sturdy, he felt completely helpless as he was half-dragged, half-embraced by the two-meter-tall Liu Zhangfei. When you have Strength and Physique scores over 3, you really can do whatever you want.

On the way to the cafeteria, Liu Zhangfei explained the situation—the source of his "I've got you covered" remark. It was Liu Shuiling who had asked her old man to look after him.

The girl’s exact words were: "Dad, let me tell you, his cat is super amazing. I suspect that flower-cat is about to grow into a great monster, so you must not let him die. If he dies, I won't be able to handle the breeding."

"Hey, daughter, you misspoke; it’s *your* Ling'er who won't be able to handle the breeding," Liu Zhangfei had hurriedly corrected his beloved daughter's grammar.

"It’s all the same, it’s all the same. Just protect him," the delicate girl had said nonchalantly.

And thus, the current situation arose.

Liu Zhangfei draped an arm over Zhou Shu’s shoulder, squeezed it, and remarked, "Huh, for an 18-year-old kid, your physical condition is quite good. This muscle strength and resilience, your rating is at least 150, so why does your file record you as such a weakling?"

File? Weakling?

Zhou Shu paused for a moment before he understood what Liu Zhangfei meant. So, the physical fitness of a national second-tier athlete was considered a "weakling"? Well, compared to this guy, he certainly was. Still, this man was truly impressive. As expected of someone with attributes over 3 who had a profound understanding of body structure and strength, he could tell Zhou Shu's strength attribute exceeded 1.5 just by squeezing his shoulder.

In truth, the Demon Suppression Bureau would soon know, too. He had been in the Bureau for nearly two months, and after two months, newcomers were eligible for enhancement drugs—safe agents that allowed for a rapid period of growth. Of course, the prerequisite was that one of your attributes had to exceed 100. He had been a Demon Hunter for a short time, but his Spirit attribute had been over 100 from the very beginning. People like Lin Tianjing had been in the Bureau for quite a while but had never used enhancement drugs because none of their stats had crossed the 100 threshold; they couldn't force growth prematurely.

Before using the drugs, he would need to be tested again to compare his stats against his entry-level data, which would then determine his dosage. It wasn't like in the movies where you just down a bottle; technicians had to calculate the appropriate dose based on various metrics and administer it under monitoring.

It didn't matter if Liu Zhangfei knew now; after tonight, his physical attributes would increase by a significant margin anyway. The information others had was always lagging.

So, he replied, "I don't know, I've just been eating a lot lately. Maybe I'm just going through a growth spurt."

"Haha, as long as you can eat! I’m a huge eater too; we’re truly fated!" Liu Zhangfei laughed loudly.

***

"You can call me Uncle Liu from now on!"

This guy seemed like he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

The two arrived at the cafeteria and ordered a mountain of food. Looking at the other tables, it was the same—piles of food everywhere. Liu Zhangfei even mentioned that since they arrived, the consumption rate of this military base's supplies had increased several times over.

Zhou Shu: "..."

Those who knew understood this was a gathering of superhumans; those who didn't would think a bunch of gluttons had arrived.

As they ate and chatted, Zhou Shu learned that this man was also... a Beast-Speaker. He had come to participate in the search mission and brought ten "Spirit Beasts"—a bear, seven wolves, and two falcons. They were all breeds native to or similar to those found on the Kunlun Mountains, so there was no risk of being exposed.

However, looking at Liu Zhangfei, Zhou Shu highly suspected those animals had simply been beaten into submission.

"Hey, what do you mean by that look? Can't it be because of a spiritual connection? Zhou Shu, I’m not just saying this to be mean, but you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

Zhou Shu wanted to say that it wasn't him judging by appearances, but rather that Uncle Liu’s appearance... was just too telling. And why did he know what he was thinking every single time?

So, Zhou Shu asked "in terror," "Uncle Liu, do you have telepathy?"

"Telepathy my foot! If I could actually read minds, I wouldn't have guessed Aunt Zhang's information wrong and gotten beaten for it." Liu Zhangfei said, first in anger, then with sadness. "It’s just a trait of being a Beast-Speaker. Our spiritual perception is very sensitive; otherwise, it wouldn't be so easy to communicate with animals."

Fine. Watching Liu Zhangfei shove one steamed bun after another into his mouth, Zhou Shu decided to believe he was just a "delicate" Beast-Speaker with sensitive intuition whose "combat power" relied entirely on his Spirit Beasts.

Actually, Zhou Shu thought to himself, compared to Uncle Liu, wasn't he just a physically fragile scientist?

So, after dinner, he returned to his dormitory, washed up, and the "fragile" scientist Mr. Zhou Shu lay on his bed and entered the virtual battlefield once again.

"I want to become stronger!"

"Die, Thing!!"