Chapter Sixty-One: The Bustling Midnight Disco

Having officially joined the Demon Suppression Bureau, Zhou Shu had indeed acquired a trove of valuable items from within, not just the armed staff but also the Bureau’s standard issue smart watch.

This smart watch, with its black casing and common design—its larger dial hardly remarkable—was packed with technological features. Far sturdier than ordinary smart watches, its transparent face comprised several layers, one of which housed a solar panel, allowing it to recharge beneath the sun and ensuring extended battery life. Its specifications were even stricter than those for specialized military phones.

Most importantly, it granted access to the Demon Suppression Bureau’s online network, enabling calls for backup, team coordination, and task assignments—all managed through the device. Of course, it included a location tracking function; without that, there would be no way to accurately dispatch emergency missions or seek assistance.

Zhou Shu wore the watch now. Since he was part of the organization, hunting monsters would naturally rely on its strength. Otherwise, why join the Bureau at all? It was all for the intelligence network. Alone, wandering East Yuan City—even deliberately seeking out overlooked corners—the chances of encountering monsters were slim. The first time had been pure luck; the second, had he not been in the Bureau's vehicle, he wouldn’t have heard the call for support. It would have been just another uneventful passage.

Wearing the watch, anyone at the Bureau could see his location if they wished, but he wasn't a criminal under house arrest; it hardly mattered.

“Why are you out at night instead of sleeping?”

“Couldn’t sleep, so I’m out for a stroll.”

“Why were you at the operation site?”

“As a teammate, I came to observe.”

As for single-handedly taking down a mutant, that was even easier to explain. Zhou Shu was a combatant in the Demon Suppression Bureau—was it a problem for him to kill a mutant? Though he was still just a trainee, he already had a record of eliminating a mutant, with three combat teammates to testify on his behalf.

Regarding the first monster felled by the powered exoskeleton and strange NATO weapon, Zhou Shu had no intention of claiming credit—it was too difficult to explain. A mere hundred thousand yuan, nothing worth fussing over.

Today he’d signed the agreement, and the bounty for the monster he’d helped take down with Zhuang Yong’an and the others had been paid out. Although it wasn’t a solo kill, Zhou Shu had fired the two crucial bullets, earning him several tens of thousands. He also received payment for tests and medical examinations—rather than paying the Bureau, his registration of two super abilities meant the Bureau would pay him monthly.

Though their joint effort didn’t qualify him for immediate “public officer” status, his contribution had been recorded. In truth, becoming a “public officer” was difficult for ordinary people, since it required special achievements, but for frontline combatants in the Bureau, a dozen missions or so would accumulate enough points.

For monster hunters, it was even more straightforward—a solo kill meant instant promotion, and even cooperating with a squad would quickly yield advancement after a few missions.

Zhou Shu, now part of the Bureau, needn’t worry about opportunities. Compared to these external rewards, primordial energy was his true core need. Weapons were less important—he could use whatever the squad had. If he encountered a monster alone, he wouldn’t hesitate; he'd deploy the powered exoskeleton and blast it with grenades.

He had no desire to rush into close combat with monsters yet. Battlefield traces and watch tracking posed no problem. The only reason so many mistakes had been made the first time was because everything was too urgent, and Zhou Shu back then was a genuine novice—weak, and lacking combat instinct.

Now things were different: his strength had improved, he'd cleared a virtual battlefield, and his combat awareness had solidified. He wouldn’t repeat past errors. Moreover, the Hunter System was no mere eating machine; its abilities were formidable. With proper preparation, it could package a monster’s corpse, erasing the most crucial traces and yielding more primordial energy—a win-win.

The first time, unexpected arrivals and Zhou Shu’s rookie panic meant he could only grab the most accessible energy in the briefest window, unable to fully extract from the monster.

Watch tracking wasn’t an issue either; if needed, Zhou Shu could have the system alter the location signal. That way, even if traces lingered on-site, and his touch was detectable, the tracking device would instead become his strongest alibi.

He had made all the necessary preparations, even commandeered an electric bike to delve into every hidden corner, yet after two hours, he hadn’t encountered a single monster.

He caught snippets of support requests and personnel shifts, but those places were too far—he couldn’t reach them in time by bike. Sometimes, by the time he arrived, the battle was already over.

He was quick enough; other solo responders would have to park, unlock their smart watch, open the map, search for the target, then set off. Zhou Shu skipped all those steps, letting the system assist him by projecting smart watch data directly before his eyes, so he could check information while on the move.

Even with such powerful aids, he hadn’t met a single monster.

“This won’t do—if there’s no income tonight, I’ll be at a loss!”

“Two hours on a shared bike, I’ve already spent over ten yuan.”

Though he’d earned several tens of thousands in one day, earning and spending were different, and his needs varied, so “losses” differed as well.

By income, he meant primordial energy; without it, the time was wasted—a clear loss.

He was stopped at an intersection, reviewing the real-time combat map the Hunter had drawn from the smart watch, debating whether to go home and sleep, when a man and woman, entwined and carrying the scent of alcohol, walked past him.

The Hunter System gave no warning, but Zhou Shu felt something was off—the “alertness” ability flickered, then faded. That brief flash made him focus on the pair.

He furrowed his brow and asked the system, “Hunter, check their pheromone status?”

The scan range for monster pheromones was ten times his psychic attribute. The couple had just moved two or three meters away, walking slowly arm-in-arm, so before they exited the range the Hunter scanned them.

“No monster pheromone detected; energy signal is green.”

A green energy signal meant they were Earth species.

“Really not monsters?”

Watching them enter a nearby alley, Zhou Shu felt uneasy, trusting his instincts over the Hunter’s results, so he parked the bike and followed.

The Hunter had made mistakes before—it hadn’t detected his first monster target ahead of time. If it could err then, it could err now. Ultimately, the Hunter’s knowledge of human civilization and Earth was too limited.

Zhou Shu possessed no advanced tracking skills; after meeting Zhuang Yong’an and learning his lesson, he stopped flaunting random tricks picked up online, and simply used his system to cheat.

In his vision’s upper right corner was a minimap, centered on himself, with a sixteen-meter radius white circle. Inside, two closely moving yellow dots marked the couple’s location.

Though the Hunter hadn’t detected monster pheromones, Zhou Shu had it record their scent profile for non-visual tracking.

He followed them to their destination, and was surprised by what he saw.

In the middle of this narrow alley was a nightclub? And it wasn’t deserted—the signage was bright, security stood outside, and young men and women wandered in, some staggering as if drunk, leaning on friends for support.

Zhou Shu pondered—how had people found this nightclub, so deep in the alley? He hadn’t seen any signs at the entrance.

He glanced at another alley connected here, thinking, “Is the signposted entrance down that way?”