Chapter 65: Requirements for Constructing the New Virtual Battlefield

“Feeling confident, are you?”
“You noticed a problem and didn’t report it—thought you could handle it yourselves, did you?”
“Have you ever learned the proper steps for handling issues? Or do you think being able to fight is all that matters?”
“Look at the mess you’ve made today!”

Zhou Shu listened to the furious roars of Wang Kailun outside as he finished draining the first two monsters, leaving nothing behind—not even scraps. There was no way around it. The site of the final battle was under surveillance, so Zhou Shu couldn’t very well perform his “grand transformation of corpses” in front of them. He could only pretend to check if the monsters were dead and use that as an excuse to absorb the surface source energy.

But while he couldn’t do anything in the main battle zone, the small private room from earlier was fair game. He had taken care of those two monsters alone, with no witnesses. When he finally emerged, he overheard Wang Kailun asking, “Where’s Zhou Shu? Didn’t he say he was going home to sleep? Why’s he here as well?”

“Hey, Captain Wang, I’m over here.”

Zhou Shu raised his hand from the back. Wang Kailun turned and saw him, his face still angry as he approached. But by the time he reached Zhou Shu, the anger had faded, replaced by a thoughtful look as he stroked his chin and studied him.

“Zhou Shu, it seems we’ve underestimated you. Your performance today surprised me.”

“Ah, it wasn’t much. I just fired a few shots. I don’t think these monsters were as tough as the mutated ones we dealt with before.” Zhou Shu feigned nonchalance, rubbing his nose, though he regretted the wasted monster corpses in the large private room.

The Demon Suppression Bureau had arrived too quickly.

Wang Kailun, seeing Zhou Shu rub his nose, assumed the young recruit was embarrassed by the praise.

“Still so young, getting shy when complimented,” he thought.

Realizing Zhou Shu was uneasy, Wang Kailun didn’t press further. Zhou Shu was now part of the Bureau; however talented, he was one of them. So Wang Kailun began briefing him on the differences among mutants.

“These mutants here aren’t as powerful as the one you took down previously. Their luminosity didn’t exceed a hundred. But the one you helped Captain Zhou defeat before, its peak luminosity was already over one-sixty…”

While they discussed this, the three being scolded glanced at each other.

Lin Tianjing especially turned to Hu Wenli and Ren Guang. “Didn’t you say Zhou Shu had poor grades? What exactly did we just witness?”

Hu Wenli stayed silent, lost in thought, while Ren Guang scratched his head and offered an explanation.

“The results we saw at the time really weren’t impressive—just like the others we tested, maybe even weaker. We must have been misled. Heh, looks like he has some mental abilities after all.”

Lin Tianjing shot him a glare, then analyzed, “It’s not just about having abilities. I think he’s reached a certain level in using and developing them. Maybe you didn’t see it, but I personally watched him take down every mutant in the private room in an incredibly short time.”

She added, “One shot per monster.”

Hu Wenli and Ren Guang truly hadn’t seen it, as they’d been sprawled on the floor at the time.

If Zhou Shu hadn’t arrived in time, their fate would have been worse than mere injuries. In fact, they were so stunned then, they’d resigned themselves to death—only for all the monsters to collapse after a volley of gunfire.

Afterward, they found out that the person they’d dismissed as “weak” had saved them, and they’d previously sworn he could never be their teammate. Now, they didn’t know what to say.

Cleaning up the battlefield was the technicians’ job, so the three had nothing to do with it. Besides Zhou Shu, the others were all injured and needed to return to base for treatment.

With technicians everywhere, Zhou Shu couldn’t extract energy under their noses, so he left as well.

But instead of staying at the Bureau, he went home.
This time, he really did go home.

Wang Kailun didn’t try to persuade him further, only reminding him to come to the Bureau after school tomorrow—he had a lot of courses to catch up on.

If even these three experienced trainees could cause such trouble, who knew what Zhou Shu, the rookie, might do?

He needed to quickly learn what was allowed and what wasn’t. Wang Kailun believed Zhou Shu, shy as he was, would be more reliable than those three troublemakers.

No matter what others thought, Zhou Shu felt satisfied after reviewing today’s gains.

[Hunter System]
[User: Zhou Shu (Recruit)]
[Mental: 1.59 (Upper Limit)]
[Strength: 1.06 (Upper Limit)]
[Agility: 1.07 (Upper Limit)]
[Endurance: 1.05 (Upper Limit)]
[Constitution: 1.08 (Upper Limit)]
[Special Abilities: Slow Motion Vision (Proficient), Alertness (Novice)]
[Weapon Proficiency: Firearms (Proficient), Powered Exoskeleton Operation (Proficient)]
[Auxiliary Equipment: Edge of Tomorrow Standard Powered Exoskeleton Armor (Good Condition)]
[Source Energy: 6.62]

Real combat and training yielded results: Mental, Strength, and Agility each increased by 0.01, directly added to his attributes without consuming source energy.

He asked the Hunter System and learned the attribute gains weren’t just from this battle, but accumulated over the past few days of physical activity.

While this method conserved source energy, its efficiency left much to be desired, and a day in reality lasted the full twenty-four hours—no acceleration effects at all.

His “Slow Motion Vision” had advanced from novice to proficient, a significant change.

He’d reached novice level upon entering the Edge of Tomorrow battlefield with its twenty-five resurrection chances. Despite repeated training there, he remained a novice—until now, finally leveling up.

Most striking, however, was the surge in source energy: from 0.6 to over 6.6. A true harvest.

Yet the gains were less than Zhou Shu had hoped. He’d estimated at least eight or nine points, if not breaking ten, but ended up with just over six.

Previously, he’d absorbed 0.7 and 0.8 units in two separate events. Learning about “draining” afterward, he figured this time each would yield no less than 0.8 units, but the outcome was disappointing.

Each monster yielded only about 0.5 units of surface source energy. With eleven monsters, he absorbed roughly 5.5 units in the first round—far less than expected.

The Hunter System explained it was because these monsters were too weak, none with attributes above one.

Resigned, Zhou Shu pinned his hopes on a second round of “draining.”

He'd planned to haul monsters out of the main room, even with people around, but before he could act, Bureau teammates arrived to support him.

Forced to abandon the prominent main room, he drained the earlier two monsters in the small private room instead.

Each yielded a little over 0.2 units, bringing his total to six points.

Back home, Zhou Shu reflected and thought, it wasn’t bad—much better than before.

Now he could confidently acquire another powered exoskeleton armor.

Of course, he wouldn’t be so reckless this time.

With so much energy, he began planning his next virtual battlefield.

Recalling today’s events, he spoke to the system: “Can the next virtual battlefield include some sensory training?”

“You saw what happened today. We encountered a new type of monster not found in the system’s database. They can maintain a semblance of normal human appearance, masking their monster pheromones with human ones, making them undetectable. So I want to see if I can improve my sensory abilities, to distinguish between real monsters and humans.”

[Affirmative. Clear logic. Matches the Super Soldier Training Outline. Searching for relevant combat… film data…]
[However, the system recommends you review actual monster files from the Bureau. That should help with constructing and improving the virtual battlefield and training effectiveness.]

“Understood. Prepare the film data for now.”

[Understood.]