Chapter 136: The Chaos of District 11

On the flight to Sector 11, Zhou Shu had an excellent seat that offered a clear view of the outside scenery through the porthole.

This was not a seat just anyone could occupy, as this porthole was one of the very few available on this military transport aircraft.

The Kunpeng transport aircraft was a new generation of large military multi-purpose transport aircraft of the Daqin Empire, capable of executing long-distance aerial transport missions for various supplies and personnel under complex meteorological conditions.

Since their mission this time was a military support operation that would land directly inside the Daqin military base in Sector 11, traveling by military transport was naturally required.

The Kunpeng could carry over sixty tons of cargo and featured a spacious cabin with seating along both sides and cargo stacked in the center. All the support equipment and technicians could be airlifted in a single aircraft.

Just like now, rows of fixed "Super Vanguard" combat armor stood in the middle of the cabin, while technicians like Zhou Shu and several soldiers sat along the sides.

The number of soldiers did not match the number of armor suits because these soldiers were essentially going there to act as instructors. Aside from directly eliminating monsters, they had teaching duties.

They needed to teach the soldiers at the Daqin military base in Sector 11 how to operate the "Super Vanguard."

After all, they could not stay there forever; it was better to give a man a fish and teach him how to fish. The same applied to Zhou Shu and the others, who needed to pass on maintenance and upkeep techniques to the base's logistics technicians.

The transport plane flew smoothly. The weather today was fine, and the clouds did not completely obscure the scenery below, allowing Zhou Shu to clearly see the land and ocean beneath them.

Yet, after watching for a brief moment, he withdrew his gaze and closed his eyes to rest.

In truth, however, he had begun checking his attribute panel.

His objective for going to Sector 11 this time was very clear: his nominal mission was to maintain the "Super Vanguard" armor and impart techniques to the base's technicians, while his actual mission was to protect our technical personnel.

However, there were plenty of people to execute the nominal mission; having one more or one fewer truly made little difference.

And the actual mission was not difficult either. He did not need to keep watch while at the military base; his presence was required only when venturing out to hunt down monsters to protect the technicians.

Consequently, he had ample time to roam about on his own initiative and "collect express deliveries."

He had a premonition that the Monstrous Queen was not far from death. He needed energy to upgrade his attributes, enhance his psychokinesis, and unlock a new virtual battlefield.

He knew that finding energy sources within the country was exceedingly difficult, so he had to secure a sufficient amount in one go this time.

Naturally, he felt that given his current state, he could roam the world as he pleased. Coincidentally, he had zero homework for this summer vacation, allowing him to travel all over the world to "collect express deliveries."

[Hunter System]
[User: Zhou Shu (Recruit)]
[Spirit: 7.14 (+1.28)]
[Strength: 6.39 (+1.25)]
[Agility: 6.50 (+1.19)]
[Endurance: 6.46 (+1.22)]
[Physique: 7.19 (+1.50)]
[Special Abilities: Bullet Time, Anomaly Sensing, Psychokinesis (Available 79%+)]
[Weapon Application: Firearm Proficiency (Mastery 66%), Powered Exoskeleton Operation (Mastery 45%)]
[Auxiliary Equipment: One Elite Powered Exoskeleton Armor (Good Condition)]
[Essence: 0.63]

His overall attributes were heading toward the realms of 7 and 8, but due to insufficient energy, he could not allocate points.

The psychokinesis trained within the virtual battlefield had not increased, but a plus sign had appeared next to it, indicating that those abilities could be extracted through point allocation.

However, a mere 10% of the available level required 1 point of energy. Since his current energy was insufficient, and there was no point in adding just a tiny fraction, he decided to prioritize his spirit attribute first.

After all, the spirit attribute governed his search range and served as a guarantee for his "package collection."

Of course, he no longer dared to allocate points in front of others. As his attributes grew higher, the energy reaction triggered by allocating points became increasingly intense. Previously, it only caused his own body to heat up; now, casually allocating points caused friction with the Earth's magnetic field and generated heat, turning him instantly into a physical "glowing beacon."

Soon, the transport plane flew into the airspace of Sector 11.

Their destination was not Tokyo, the administrative center of Sector 11 which was under the sphere of influence of the Eagle Federation, but Nagoya, where Daqin's military garrison was located.

That place was quite good too, being one of the three major metropolitan areas of Sector 11.

Nearly a hundred years ago, a world-shallowing war broke out. Certain nations in the West could no longer restrain themselves and waged war against their neighboring countries, and the predecessor of Sector 11 went equally mad.

It frantically provoked every single country around the Pacific Rim. Aside from taking advantage of the initial lack of timely reactions from those nations, it was subsequently thoroughly beaten down by several major powers.

After the predecessor of Sector 11 surrendered, the victors deployed troops to station themselves there according to treaties to prevent it from ever walking the path of fascism again.

Among them, the Steel Alliance occupied the northern part due to its proximity.

The Eagle Federation occupied its former capital and a large surrounding area.

John Bull occupied the southern large island and the western coast connecting to Osaka.

Meanwhile, Daqin occupied the southeastern island and the eastern coast all the way to Nagoya.

Following this division, it could no longer be called a country; instead, it became the most unique Sector 11 in the world.

With the forces of four nations stationed here—effectively having four countries supporting its development—decades later, it had transformed into a rather cyberpunk place.

Because over the decades some of these four nations saw their national power decline while others experienced rapid growth, the development of the four regions differed drastically.

The southern occupied zone held by John Bull constantly clamored for an independence referendum. Seeing John Bull's colonies gain independence one by one to the point that the mainland itself was overwhelmed, they felt their own opportunity had arrived.

As for the territory occupied by the Eagle Federation, their garrisoned soldiers were notoriously unruly and constantly caused trouble. The biological research institutes established there frequently suffered leaks, and even a nuclear power plant accident occurred, leading to local citizens surrounding them in protest every day.

As for the northern region occupied by the Steel Alliance, it used to be the "countryside," and now it seemed... still like the countryside. They merely built a naval base there that could access the Pacific Ocean at any moment, and afterwards, they seemed to pay little attention to it.

Without boasting, among the four regions, Daqin's occupation zone was the most prosperous and peaceful.

While the other three places harbored thoughts of breaking away, Daqin's zone did not. Aside from major capitalists who had such thoughts in pursuit of greater rights while remaining conflicted because they were reluctant to leave the favorable investment environment, ordinary civilians hardly ever entertained the idea of secession.

The plane had departed in the morning and arrived just in time for lunch.

The Daqin military base in Sector 11 was located in the suburbs of Nagoya, far from the city center but very close to the naval base established by Daqin here.

This place served as the headquarters for the Daqin garrison. It was fully equipped with naval, land, and air forces and held a very high administrative level; for instance, it possessed a dock capable of repairing aircraft carriers.

The plane landed smoothly on the runway. Although the new transport aircraft was much more comfortable than older planes, it still fell far short compared to commercial passenger jets.

After all, comfort was not the primary consideration for a military transport plane.

After stepping off the plane, unloading was naturally overseen by designated personnel, so Zhou Shu, feeling not the slightest bit of discomfort, headed straight for the cafeteria.

Before the operation, the team leader and the base commander both knew Zhou Shu's "actual" mission, so they did not place heavy restrictions on him.

Even if anyone asked, the team leader and the commander would simply say, "I assigned him to a special mission."

As Zhou Shu left, a larger crowd gathered around.

The soldiers here had seen the "Super Vanguard" armor online and on television, especially in military news broadcasts. Their superiors had even instructed them to study videos and pictures carefully, never expecting to lay eyes on the real deal now.

Even better, they too had the chance to pilot it.

"Good grief! Is this the Super Vanguard? It looks even more imposing than in the photos!"

"It really feels like a humanoid armored vehicle. I can't wait to pilot it."

"Haha, you're dreaming. There are only a hundred units in total here, and your chances in the competition shouldn't be very high."

"Why wouldn't my chances be high? I've been on missions with the Special Operations Team, you know. I think I'm qualified."

"Speaking of which, apart from the newcomers, who among us hasn't been out on missions with the Special Operations Team? If they're selecting people, I bet they'll definitely pick those veteran soldiers who used to accompany the teams."

Since this was not a normal administrative district of the Daqin Empire but rather a military occupation zone, no Demon Suppression Bureau was established here; instead, it operated in the form of a Special Operations Team.

Naturally, only the name was different, but the duties remained identical—both existed to fight monsters.

Moreover, the culture of monsters was deeply entrenched in Sector 11. Due to its small land area and frequent natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, a multitude of "monsters" adapted to the local environment had bred here, giving rise to a correspondingly large number of grassroots monster-hunting organizations.

Not only were there long-standing shrines, but there were also many modern-day monster-hunting agencies.

While not as absurd as those in anime and television dramas, they still had recognizable prototypes.

Consequently, Daqin's Special Operations Team frequently interacted with local monster-hunting organizations in Sector 11, and through cooperation, they managed to maintain peace in the region.

Although the other three zones were somewhat inferior, they were fundamentally much the same.

The primary reason was that those "monsters" dared not proactively provoke these "official organizations."

However, that dynamic changed after Daqin forcefully wiped out the largest "monster" organization within its domestic borders.

Countless monsters fled over here. Because this place fell within the Daqin cultural sphere, the cultural gap compared to the mainland was not as vast as in other places, matching their basic living habits.

Yet, if foreign monsters wanted to survive, they had to encroach upon the living space of the local monsters, and thus a turf war erupted.

The local monsters believed they had the home-field advantage and would prevail.

Meanwhile, the monsters from Daqin fled with the mindset of, "If I can't beat the Demon Suppression Bureau, surely I can beat you," and likewise believed they would win.

The two sides immediately clashed into a chaotic brawl. The winners would directly infringe upon local civilians, essentially acquiring their own "breeding farms," while the losers would flee to remote areas to prey upon local civilians, acting like wolves "foraging in the wild."

Sometimes, civilian casualties occurred during these skirmishes.

With the proliferation of these creatures, the pressure on private monster-hunting groups skyrocketed, and deploying the military to the streets proved completely ineffective.

Compared to the mainland, the military here was always a minority, and the sector they could directly manage was quite small.

Hence, they reported the situation back to the mainland.

The afternoon was designated as a time for technicians and soldiers to acclimate to the environment. Starting tomorrow, their mission would officially commence.

Yet, despite calling it acclimation, no one was actually idle. The technicians were already inspecting the armor, while veteran pilots of the "Super Vanguard" had gathered the soldiers within the base to begin preliminary selections and explain how to operate the armor.

By tomorrow, the "Super Vanguard" would be deployed to secure the first batch of victories and stabilize social order.

While everyone else was busy, Zhou Shu shut himself in his dormitory.

He allocated all his remaining energy into his spirit attribute.

The 0.63 units of essence energy poured into his spirit attribute pushed it up to 7.77, a number that was immensely satisfying to anyone with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Furthermore, due to the increase in total spiritual volume, his psychokinesis experienced a slight boost as well, feeling quite pleasant.

Since he felt no abnormalities after the upgrade—after all, it was spiritual rather than physical enhancement—the impact was minimal, leaving only a slight warmth in his head.

Satisfied that everything was fine, he went out to lend a hand.

In truth, he still harbored another thought regarding certain questions concerning ancient cultivation systems.

According to the previous research conclusions from the Demon Suppression Bureau headquarters, ancient cultivation systems suffered from era limitations. Regardless of how profound or mystical they sounded on paper, practicality aside, they were undeniably deeply mystical.

Even the most elite monster-hunting masters could never achieve remarkable accomplishments through them; they were far less effective than the scientifically summarized techniques utilized by the Demon Suppression Bureau.

However, after witnessing Tong Tianhua's "Four-Armed Mahakala" avatar, the research department of the Demon Suppression Bureau formed a different perspective.

As Tier 4 powerhouses, according to Feng Hai's description, Tong Tianhua's combat capability had initially been inferior to his. Yet, after unleashing the combat avatar, Tong Tianhua's combat power and physical size skyrocketed.

They soared all the way to a state where an adult thrashed a child.

That sort of combat enhancement was incomparable to martial arts techniques; instead, it resembled certain miraculous cultivation methods found in ancient texts.

Zhou Shu felt that while those ancient texts might contain exaggerated elements, they likely held practical value. If others failed to master them, it was probably due to stringent requirements regarding innate talent.

After all, Tong Tianhua was a living, breathing example that could not simply be ignored.

Consequently, Zhou Shu began collecting various cultivation classics and had the Hunter system perform technical analysis on them.

The Hunter system's logical calculation capability was horrifyingly formidable—likely surpassing the combined computing power of the entire Earth—and it possessed the residual database of the Super Warriors for cross-reference. Perhaps it could glean some insights.

Naturally, Zhou Shu would still study them himself. As a genuine Earthling, perhaps those classics possessed unique restrictions, but letting the Hunter system take a look first was definitely foolproof.

After all, his primary objective remained acquiring energy supplies. Once he raised his base attributes further, handling everything else would become much more convenient.

Moreover, according to the Hunter system's feedback, the signal from headquarters detected after his attribute upgrades was indeed growing clearer.

Zhou Shu was deeply curious: what were other civilizations truly like?

And what was the Super Warrior headquarters like?