Chapter 31: The Second Victory of the Powered Exoskeleton

The creature that had been hurled away rolled several times before finally coming to a halt, landing on all fours and sliding backward another two meters. It shook its head and looked once more at Zhou Shu, but the glare of the lights on the opposite side kept assaulting its eyes, relentlessly agitating its nerves.

Pain in its face and the unyielding light made its reason flicker and fade; its form grew even more monstrous, its clothes tearing apart as it let out a muffled roar and charged again.

“Heh... heh... cough, you lowly... I am... ha, a new human!” it shouted, and Zhou Shu shouted back.

“So you can talk after all, huh? But with that hideous mug, you dare call yourself a new human?” He needed to bolster his courage in the face of such sudden chaos, so his words spilled out as trash talk.

Then, without hesitation, he raised both hands—not in surrender, but to aim.

“Rat-tat-tat-tat—”

“Only an idiot would brawl with you up close!”

In an instant, Zhou Shu unleashed dozens of bullets toward the creature. His adrenaline and hyper-focused mind triggered a “slow-motion vision,” though his sight was still somewhat blurred—perhaps from lack of practice or today’s exhaustive use.

Luckily, with the support of powered exoskeleton armor, all he had to do was pull the trigger, and the bullets found their mark on the creature’s indistinct chest and head.

“Rat~tat~tat~tat~tat~”

He’d used this same tactic against the rabid alien monsters in “Edge of Tomorrow,” but compared to those, this creature’s speed, agility, and resilience lagged far behind.

So his attacks were notably effective.

The monster howled in pain but didn’t halt its charge—it leaped instead, shielding its head with both arms, aiming to smash straight into Zhou Shu.

“Arrgh—”

Zhou Shu knew exactly what it was up to; he’d been crushed, rammed, and stabbed to death in virtual battlefields before. But seeing the creature’s flesh and blood, he promptly launched his big weapon.

“Take this—high-explosive grenade! Idiot!”

“Whoosh—Boom!!”

A flash of fire erupted, and the creature, nearly within reach, was blasted back mid-air by the grenade. Zhou Shu himself was jostled by the heat and shockwave.

Fortunately, the single-soldier grenades used by the powered exoskeleton armor were designed specifically for alien monsters, packed with high explosives but producing no shrapnel.

Shrapnel was deadly for unprotected humans, but less effective against monsters with basalt-like bodies; only concentrated blasts inflicted real harm.

Moreover, while the exoskeleton armor had protective plating, it didn’t cover everything—there were weak spots. If grenades produced lots of shrapnel, friendly fire would be fatal.

“Cough, cough~”

Zhou Shu stepped back a couple of paces, coughing, and looked at the unmoving creature on the ground, muttering, “So much for being a monster—what was that?”

No trace remained of its earlier panic in retreat.

The tactical helmet’s headset muffled the explosion’s roar; the ballistic plate on his chest absorbed some of the shockwave, and since the grenade detonated on the monster three meters away, he was mostly unharmed.

Still, the burst of intense action left him tired, and repeated, awkward use of “slow-motion vision” made his head spin.

Though the monster lay still, he fired a few more rounds to be sure.

“Rat-tat-tat—”

Good. It twitched a bit, but made no sound.

It appeared truly dead.

This marked the exoskeleton armor’s second confirmed victory in the real world.

With the kill confirmed, curiosity overtook him. Clad in his powered exoskeleton, Zhou Shu clanked over to the corpse.

Close up, he could see more clearly: the creature’s head and chest riddled with bullet holes, its abdomen blasted open by the high-explosive grenade, leaving a massive cavity.

He couldn’t help it; this was his first time encountering such a thing. To ensure his safety and the creature’s total demise, he’d opted for “saturation attack.”

Under the armor’s lights, he noticed the creature’s blood was dark crimson, nearly black—almost like the “oil blood” in cartoons.

That had been a close call. If he hadn’t upgraded in time, if he hadn’t summoned the armor just then, he’d be dead.

“How did this thing come to be?”

Zhou Shu frowned, kicking the ogre’s corpse, and asked the Hunter, “Little Hunt, did you estimate its physical stats earlier? Or can you do it now?”

[I already made an estimate based on its movements, but if you place your hand on it, the system can get more accurate values.]

Prompted by this suggestion, Zhou Shu glanced at the monster’s mangled upper body and its mostly intact lower half. He unlocked the mechanical fixture on his right arm, preparing to press down on its leg.

Only then did he realize he hadn’t been dazed or exhausted—he was simply seeing things blurry.

He remembered that in the virtual battlefield, his nearsightedness improved with attribute growth; now, with maxed attributes, wearing glasses just made things fuzzy.

He took them off—ah, much clearer.

Well, it seemed he’d just been too nervous before.

He slipped the glasses into his pocket. The armor’s mechanics prevented him from squatting, so he knelt on one knee and pressed his hand to the creature’s leg.

His hand’s touch was sensitive; as soon as he pressed down, he found its skin was no longer human—rougher and tougher.

Looking closer, the skin’s texture and color were nothing like human flesh, more like that of a rhinoceros. The blood had stained its upper body black earlier, so he hadn’t noticed.

The muscle lines were sharply defined, hard to the touch, with little fat.

No wonder dozens of bullets hadn’t killed it outright.

Its feet had changed drastically too—thicker nails, more beast-like shape. Looking up, its hands showed similar mutations.

“Well, goodness, is this a monster or a werewolf…”

[Source energy detected. Absorb?]

“???”

He hadn’t finished speaking when the subtitle flashed before his eyes, stunning him.

Damn?!

This really was—

“A tireless search yields nothing, yet fortune comes effortlessly.”

“When the road seems impassable, a new path opens amidst the shadows.”

“Sought a thousand times in the crowd, only to find him in the dim light.”

“Absorb! Take it all!”

“What, save it for New Year’s?”

[Command confirmed. Source energy absorption in progress…]

[Source energy absorption complete. This absorption yielded… Warning: Unknown humanoid target rapidly approaching!]

Seeing the warning, Zhou Shu had no time to gloat or examine the rare specimen. He quickly retracted the exoskeleton armor and dashed away.

He wasn’t fleeing, but executing a tactical withdrawal to widen the gap.

The exoskeleton armor made too much noise when running, clanking and rattling—hardly suited for stealth, hence the quick retraction.

He’d just killed a swift, humanoid monster, and now another was coming, “rapidly approaching”—clearly not an ordinary person.

Even if it was Zhang Peng, who could say if he was friend or foe?

This cannibal monster had transformed from a “normal” human, so caution was vital.

After running to what he judged a safe distance, Zhou Shu hid, peering through a crack in the bricks toward the monster’s corpse.

And, as if summoned by fate, under the pale moonlight, Zhang Peng appeared—still wearing his previous clothes.

Zhang Peng had jumped from the rooftop of a three-story building.

He didn’t make a dramatic landing, nor did he roll to absorb the impact. He simply bent his knees lightly.

“Well, goodness!”

PS: Thank you to the esteemed Boundless Horizon for the reward~~(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)