Chapter 153 I Do Not Care

Dr. Carrie was a bit crazy—so crazy that Zhou Shu, the person involved, was actually considering whether he should comfort this older woman.

The others also exchanged glances in dismay. They simply could not comprehend how someone who could kill a-type monster as effortlessly as eating a meal was judged by the Life Formula to be a "Duster," with his most suitable job turning out to be a "janitor."

Even if Zhou Shu's combat prowess was the result of a genetic defect—for instance, a special gene that granted him powerful blood-oxygen transport capabilities, a strength that made him formidable but also placed a heavy burden on his heart and blood vessels, keeping his probability of heart disease high with the constant possibility of sudden death—he would still be classified as a "Duster" with a genetic flaw.

Yet, even under those circumstances, his most suitable job should still be following the Marketeers down to the surface to scavenge for supplies.

With him around, the Marketeers could undoubtedly achieve the maximum amount of material collection with minimal losses, and even if Zhou Shu were to drop dead suddenly on the surface, the Lighthouse would still profit enormously.

So what was the point of assigning him a job as a janitor now?

Were they afraid that strenuous exercise would cause excessive strain on his heart and lead to sudden death, so they assigned him a task with relatively lighter physical exertion?

The Life Formula had always been cold and detached, functioning entirely for the continuation of the Lighthouse without a shred of human care.

Even if Zhou Shu were to die tomorrow, if an assignment happened to fall on him today, the mission he received would definitely be to gather one more portion of supplies for the Lighthouse.

Wiping tables and sweeping floors versus collecting supplies—which one was more beneficial to the survival of the Lighthouse was a no-brainer.

Yet, facing such a clear and straightforward choice that everyone present knew how to make, the Life Formula had actually thrown out this result?

A janitor?

Are you kidding me!

"Clack, clack, clack~"

Carrie hammered away at the keyboard continuously, her face as dark as the bottom of a pot, because each successive "Duster" result kept slapping her across the face.

After all, she had just said, "Based on my experience, your genetic strength is more than enough to be a Markless, and your cells have an exceptionally high resistance to abnormal environments, which is a must-have for Marketeers." With the result turning out like this, didn't that mean her experience was completely worthless?

How could this be? She was the head of the Ecological and Medical Center!

Seeing that she was on the verge of passing out from fury, Mark gave a subtle look to Ran Bing, who hurriedly stepped forward and pulled Carrie back. "Dr. Carrie, let it go, let it go. We'll think of another way."

"Let go of me! There's definitely something wrong here. Some data must have glitched—let me check it again!" Dr. Carrie struggled, trying to reach the keyboard.

Everyone: "..."

In the end, Zhou Shu couldn't bear to watch any longer and spoke up. "Alright, whether I'm a Markless or a Duster doesn't make any difference to me. I can live well down on the surface, let alone up here."

In fact, Zhou Shu already knew what was going on. Having watched so many episodes of the animation wasn't for nothing; the situation he was encountering now was similar to events depicted in the series.

For instance, during the council meeting earlier, the City Lord should have announced Mark as his successor seven days later, but now, with his own involvement, it seemed that matter had been delayed or undergone some changes.

None of that was important. What mattered was that, following the original plotline, once the City Lord announced Mark's succession, Charles would harbor deep resentment and subsequently initiate a series of retaliatory actions.

As the leader of the Light and Shadow Church, his influence aboard the Lighthouse was immense.

Therefore, on the very second day after the City Lord announced Mark's succession, old instructor Elon of the Marketeers was placed on the exile roster.

One of the old instructor's duties was managing the breeding tasks in the Dawn Hall. The moment he was "banished," Mark's adjutant, Ran Bing, was assigned the breeding task in the Dawn Hall.

In truth, as an elite Marketeer, Ran Bing was not supposed to participate in breeding tasks barring special circumstances.

Yet, as it happened, a member of the Marketeer team had died during that mission—specifically Penny, who died at the opening and happened to carry a breeding assignment. Thus, special circumstances arose, and Ran Bing was required to take Penny's place to fulfill the breeding task.

This subsequently provoked Mark into creating a massive uproar in the Dawn Hall, eventually triggering a cascade of events.

On the surface, everything appeared procedurally correct, but in reality, Charles was pulling all the strings behind the scenes.

This kid was a remarkably talented villain.

However, just as Zhou Shu felt that 4068 possessed a rebellious spirit but, due to insufficient strength, could only submit to threats and resort to crooked paths to defy his fate, Zhou Shu himself was fully capable of defying his fate as well.

Yet, because he possessed ample power and could annihilate Charles and the Light and Shadow Church at any moment, he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about things like "defying fate."

How should he put it? The hierarchical system they had established was something Zhou Shu... simply didn't care about.

He had come up here purely to look for technological shortcuts.

In reality, what Zhou Shu was most curious about was the situation on the Moon; that place should be a gathering point for the wealthy, powerful, and technologically advanced elites of the Ling Cage world.

If he truly wanted to squeeze every ounce of value out of the Ling Cage world, aside from using monsters spawned by the Nama ecosystem to level up, he also had to find a way to the Moon to acquire the most advanced and core technologies.

As for Mark and the others, upon hearing Zhou Shu's words, aside from feeling a sense of Zhou Shu's magnanimity, their other impression was that Zhou Shu had just arrived and hadn't yet grasped the true nature of the Lighthouse, which was why he could utter such words so casually.

There was no helping it; the results produced by the Life Formula were not something they could resist, but they still had their own ways of helping Zhou Shu.

Aside from using their own contribution points to provide for Zhou Shu, they could also utilize the operational privileges of the Marketeers.

When Marketeers returned to the Lighthouse, their movements were restricted. Aside from Mark, the commander of the Marketeers, who was allowed to carry a pistol, everyone else's weapons had to be deposited in the armory, only to be retrieved for daily practice and strictly forbidden from leaving the armory.

However, when the Marketeers prepared to head down to the surface to scavenge for supplies, their privileges expanded significantly. Not only would all aspects of security give them the green light, but various resources would also be coordinated to assist them.

If, at that time, the Marketeers recruited a "Duster janitor" into their ranks to handle cleaning duties, claiming that a clean environment would put the Marketeers in a better physical and mental state to scavenge more supplies, the Life Formula would undoubtedly transfer that "Duster janitor" into the Marketeer team without hesitation.

As time passed, the night deepened. Those without nighttime duties were required to return to their quarters to rest because certain areas implemented power rationing to conserve energy.

Today, Zhou Shu had only received his identity ID; the routine procedures for surface survivors boarding the Lighthouse had yet to be completed and would have to continue tomorrow.

For instance, the Lighthouse authorities would send people to interrogate him about various matters, which was one of the early sources of information and data for the Lighthouse.

Walking out of the medical center, Mark and the others accompanied Zhou Shu to the entrance of the Duster residential zone, telling him not to worry and that they would find a way to resolve the issue.

Zhou Shu was noncommittal. He would find a place to rest for the day and start running wild tomorrow.

Wherever he wanted to go on the Lighthouse, no one could stop him; if they truly pushed him to the limit, he could even fly.

Bidding farewell to Mark and the others, Zhou Shu glanced at the glowing green token in his hand, chuckled softly, and tucked it into his pocket.

Based on the assignment instructions he had seen earlier, he crossed the suspension bridge and entered the Duster residential zone.

In contrast to the Markless zone, where certain areas still had lights, the Duster zone was plunged into pitch darkness due to the power-rationing policy.

Fortunately, the nighttime weather was fine, and coupled with the full moon, everything appeared nearly as clear to Zhou Shu as it would in broad daylight.

Come to think of it, this was the first time Zhou Shu was witnessing the night sky in the Ling Cage world; the previous seven nights had all been plagued by dust storms, making the night sky completely invisible.

He looked left and right, noticing that no one was paying attention to the darkened Duster zone, so he executed a few light leaps, instantly vaulting across three or four "pigeonhole" dwellings from the main area and landing on a pigeonhole at the outermost ring.

However, just as he was "flying" halfway across, he noticed three people on a nearby pigeonhole staring blankly at him as he "traversed the air."

Good grief, Zhou Shu suffered a momentary lapse of concentration and almost fell.

Fortunately, he stabilized himself, leveraged his momentum with another leap, and landed cleanly on the roof where those three individuals were standing.

Seeing Zhou Shu "fly over," the three of them jerked awake in a start and hurriedly stood up.

"Hey, hey, sit back down. Routine operation."