Chapter Forty-Two As soon as I entered, I saw Zhou Shu…
The thought that Zhuang Yong’an and his team were planning to capture the creature alive left Zhou Shu puzzled. Were Zhuang Yong’an’s people simply too strong, or was the monster too weak? He’d examined the attributes of Zhuang Yong’an and his two companions—they were impressive, but compared to the monster, they paled in significance. After all, the difference between 0.9 and breaking past 1 was not just numerical; it was the boundary between human and “non-human.”
Modern firearms packed a punch. Zhou Shu had inflicted considerable damage on the monster with his rifle, finally finishing it off with a barrage of grenades. Yet, his real damage output relied entirely on the boost from the “Slow Motion Vision.” Without that ability, and without a stroke of luck, he would never have hit the monster. No matter how powerful the weapon, if you couldn’t land a shot, it was all for naught.
Honestly, Zhou Shu had no idea how formidable that armed squad from the other night truly was. He’d never really understood such things. He’d seen them in movies and novels, and listened to experts analyze them online, but how reliable any of that was, he couldn’t say. Just like the power of a hand grenade in films—it could be as weak as a firecracker or as devastating as a missile, depending on the plot.
Humanity had maintained its current social structure, not only surviving the monster onslaughts but even managing to conceal their existence from the public. That meant, as a whole, human combat power wasn’t weak. In the end, it seemed Zhou Shu himself was simply… lacking. All the more reason he needed Source Energy—it was his guarantee to grow stronger.
“I must obtain more Source Energy!”
With that determination, Zhou Shu hurried toward the site of the battle.
[Hostile target has entered perception range, signs of combat detected.]
As the system’s message appeared, a red dot was marked in his vision, right inside the dilapidated factory ahead.
The system’s perception range was different from the attribute scan. Perception range was essentially the mental attribute value multiplied by ten, in meters, and it detected the pheromones of targets of the same category. Currently, his perception range was about 11.6 meters.
Attribute scan range, on the other hand, was roughly equal to the mental attribute value in meters—so about 1.2 meters for him.
Seeing the target’s location, Zhou Shu didn’t rush in recklessly. With an endurance of 0.83, he couldn’t afford to be careless. The earlier journey had tired him out, and tending to the wounded and searching for weapons had been only a brief respite. Now, carrying two rifles all the way here, his breathing was heavy and labored.
He found a vantage point to observe the factory and catch his breath. Just as he was about to rest, he saw someone suddenly thrown out of the ruined building, crashing hard into a steel pillar outside.
Thud—crash!
No sooner had the person hit the ground than a shadow—roaring and bellowing—burst out of the factory.
“Roar—”
It was the target monster, or, as the official term went, the “Mutant.”
Zhou Shu couldn’t just watch someone die in front of him. Not only were people like these maintaining the stability of the Great Qin Nation—something he deeply admired—but, as a fellow human, he couldn’t stand by as one was murdered by a monster.
---
So, as the Mutant lunged toward the wounded man, Zhou Shu immediately activated his taunt skill.
“Hey, idiot! Over here!”
The taunt worked perfectly, instantly drawing the Mutant’s attention. Its attack halted, head whipping toward Zhou Shu.
No sooner had the monster turned than—smack!—a stone struck its body.
Taunt skill, second form—testing the waters with a thrown stone.
“……”
“Roar—”
Now the Mutant didn’t care about the nearly-dead man at all, charging straight at Zhou Shu. Truth be told, if someone had treated Zhou Shu this way, he would’ve lost his temper too.
He’d simply put himself in the Mutant’s shoes, which was why he used such sly tactics. Now, seeing the Mutant abandon the injured man and rush him, Zhou Shu no longer worried about collateral damage.
Click.
He chambered a round.
“Surprise, motherf—!”
He raised his gun.
Bang!
He fired a shot!
Now that it was airborne, let’s see how agile it could be! Once he activated Slow Motion, he’d finish off this fool in two shots.
---
Meanwhile, Zhuang Yong’an and the other two arrived.
The wounded man, leaning against a cement block, heard footsteps, opened his eyes, and immediately saw them—as if he’d spotted family.
He nodded in their direction, indicating where they needed to go. “Captain Zhuang, over there—someone’s already gone ahead.”
The three were surprised. Sun Congliang exclaimed, “Someone got here before us? But we were the closest!”
Zhuang Yong’an asked, “Who?”
The wounded man was stunned by the question, suddenly much more articulate.
“Ah, I don’t know him, maybe a newcomer. But he knows you, said you were on your way. You don’t know him?”
“I’m not sure how old he is, but his face is young—looked just like a high school student, and quite handsome…”
“A high school student?!”
The three were startled. They’d just parted ways with a high schooler not long ago. They were well-acquainted with this boy’s curiosity.
---
“Could it be him?”
“Handsome, and a high school student—it has to be him!” Sun Congliang said, glancing at Zhuang Yong’an and Qiu Ling, seeing doubt in their eyes as well. They knew exactly who he meant.
No time to waste—they rushed forward like the wind, leaving the wounded man behind, his face full of confusion.
“Hey, could you finish your sentences before running off?”
“Don’t just say half a word and leave!”
“Who is it, anyway???”
Leaving aside the wounded man’s sudden surge of curiosity, Zhuang Yong’an and Sun Congliang each ran ahead with an assault rifle, Qiu Ling followed in the middle with a UTS-15 shotgun. They sprinted past two tall walls, and immediately heard aggressive gunfire.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“That’s the sound of the Demon-Slaying Squad’s UTS-15 tungsten alloy shotgun!” Qiu Ling shouted.
“Just ahead!”
They rushed toward the noise, rounded two more corners, and entered to find Zhou Shu… being beaten.
“Zhou Shu, we’re here!”
Rat-tat-tat—
Bang!
No need for words—Zhuang Yong’an and Sun Congliang opened fire instantly, halting the Mutant’s attack, followed by Qiu Ling’s shotgun.
All crises had to be resolved first.
Zhou Shu’s crisis was temporarily averted, but he was furious.
Superpowers really were unreliable!
He shouldn’t have tried to take down the Mutant by himself; he should’ve used the exoskeleton armor from the start and blasted it with high-explosive grenades. If he’d fired one right away, he’d already be reaping new Source Energy.
The trio looked at him, noting his rather bedraggled state. Still, he wasn’t in immediate danger—he’d merely executed a few evasive rolls.
He was covered in dirt, but otherwise unharmed.
The reason Zhou Shu was dodging, not the monster, was because only the first shot had landed. The rest missed entirely.
When the Mutant was airborne during the first shot, it was indeed hard to dodge, and the shotgun was powerful—even if his aim was rushed, several pellets hit the Mutant.
With those pellets lodged in its body, the Mutant’s assault was interrupted, landing right in front of Zhou Shu.
It was a golden opportunity.
If things went smoothly, Zhou Shu could activate “Slow Motion Vision,” aim at the Mutant’s head and chest, and finish it off right here.
But the problem was, at the critical moment, his “Slow Motion Vision” failed!
“Useless ability, ruining my plans!”