Chapter 73: Hello, Super Soldier!

After finishing their meal, everyone returned to the conference room, still struggling to believe Zhou Shu’s age and academic credentials. It simply didn’t fit their worldview. Even if someone possessed extraordinary abilities, surely those abilities couldn’t be wielded in such a manner? Yet, this was the Demon Suppression Bureau, not some ordinary place, so they kept their thoughts to themselves. Whether such feats were truly possible would be revealed in practice.

With the authority of the Bureau behind him, Zhou Shu knew these people wouldn’t walk out so easily, so he began his demonstration. He clasped his hands and declared, “Only talking without practicing is an empty gesture; only practicing without explaining is foolish. To both practice and explain is true mastery. You are all experienced professionals, so let’s get straight to it.”

“If you have any questions, ask directly. Our goal is to make the powered exoskeleton practical in the shortest possible time!”

Seeing Zhou Shu’s straightforwardness, the experts dropped all pretenses. “Good! We’re all here for the technology—let’s let the technology speak!”

The demonstration lasted from midday well into the evening, skipping lunch altogether. By the end of the day, not only were the experts convinced, but even their assistants were won over. These experts hadn’t come alone; they brought assistants of impressive academic backgrounds, though not nearly as refined as their mentors. When they learned they were to take orders from a high school student, they nearly lost their composure. If not for the professors, chief engineers, and leaders present, they would have walked out in protest.

Yet by noon, Zhou Shu had shown them what it meant to be a “super genius.” By afternoon, they were thoroughly convinced. Zhou Shu’s grasp of powered exoskeleton technology was not only solid, but comprehensive—from integration to manufacturing, each aspect was within his command. Their presence was not for research, but to do the actual work, as originally planned.

Zhou Shu was unaware of how far the nation’s top exoskeleton technology had advanced, so his upgrade plans were based on the “Vanguard” generation. However, manufacturers hadn’t been idle these past two years, upgrading related technology themselves. Powered exoskeletons were destined to become essential, with a vast civilian market even if the military didn’t adopt them, so developing advanced components was a wise move.

Some components barely improved upon his modifications, but others had seen significant upgrades, offering far better results than Zhou Shu’s proposals. With new parts, the upgrade plans had to be revised accordingly—again and again.

Of course, a single day wasn’t enough for real hardware modifications; these were all plans based on hardware data, virtual upgrades with a forward-looking perspective. After all, they’d only been at it for a dozen hours, with ready-made components still in storage and custom parts lacking even basic parameters.

Yet, within that single day, Zhou Shu earned recognition for his extraordinary mastery of powered exoskeletons, and piqued everyone’s curiosity about who he truly was. After a day of relentless work with no lunch break, the elderly experts could hardly endure any longer.

Though the bustling atmosphere in the conference room evoked memories of past technological campaigns, the experts were no longer the young men they had once been. After dinner, they retired to their rooms, directing their assistants to organize the day’s materials and taking the opportunity to review Zhou Shu’s profile.

“He really is just a high school student—so where did he learn all this about powered exoskeletons?”

“Could it be that there really are people in the world ‘born knowing’?”

They knew of the Demon Suppression Bureau and of those with supernatural abilities, but they themselves were just ordinary researchers.

Zhou Shu had been extremely busy lately. After school, he came directly to the Bureau; apart from studying and training, he worked on the exoskeleton modification plan and hadn’t gone hunting outside. His energy reserves were sufficient, and his attributes weren’t growing rapidly, so there was no urgent need; when required, he could hunt directly.

He shifted his focus to powered exoskeletons, knowing that with their help, the human camp could produce thousands, even tens of thousands, of “super-powered individuals,” far more efficient than his nightly hunts.

Strengthening himself was important, but liberating all of human civilization from the threat of alien monsters was more vital—a distinction between “tactical victory” and “strategic victory.”

For all humanity!

The next day, he went to school. Some experts, barely awake and still processing yesterday’s events, asked, “Where did Zhou Shu go?”

“He went to school; today his school announces the results of the second mock college entrance exam.”

Hearing this, the experts were intrigued. The college entrance exam was long behind them; even their assistants had finished it at least ten years ago.

When Zhou Shu returned in the afternoon, they immediately crowded around to ask about his score.

“Not bad, 710,” Zhou Shu replied casually, already pondering new upgrade plans.

“710? That’s almost the top science score, isn’t it?”

“Not quite. Some top science students hit 720 or 730.”

“Aren’t you forgetting Zhou Shu is in liberal arts?”

“Liberal arts? Oh, then that’s fine…”

After a day’s research on powered exoskeletons, they had unconsciously categorized Zhou Shu as a science student. His technological prowess was so impressive that his academic background was easily overlooked.

Old Li chuckled, “What does it matter? As long as he gets into Imperial University of Science and Technology, who knows, maybe he’ll be the top liberal arts scorer.”

“Once he’s admitted, whether liberal arts or sciences, I’ll claim Zhou Shu as my student. Let’s see who dares stop me! Ha ha ha!”

Everyone: “…”

This man had shown the most emotional change since arriving—he was the one who first shouted, “What does a sniper know about exoskeletons?” True to his nature, if anyone blocked him, he’d lie down and refuse to budge.

Imagine—a seventy-year-old academician lying on the ground to make a scene. Who could withstand that?

With a 710 on his second mock exam, Zhou Shu barely cared; his focus was entirely on powered exoskeletons. Ever since his English skills were perfected, his liberal arts scores—even with subjective questions—could surpass 700, higher than most provincial top scorers. All his other subjects were at super-genius level; only English had lagged, keeping his total score from the top ranks. Now that his English had improved, he was regarded as the “god of academics” among his peers. He never seemed to do homework or pay attention in class, yet always aced every test.

But all that was trivial. As time passed, the final version of the powered exoskeleton upgrade plan was completed. The result matched the “Elite Powered Exoskeleton Armor” Zhou Shu had already modified!

Most importantly, the hardware was flawless. What remained for Zhou Shu to solve were the combat support system and the mass production technology for graphene batteries.

It was clear that humanity’s hardware had caught up with that of the “Edge of Tomorrow” world.

Zhou Shu quickly wrote the combat support system. The graphene battery production was trickier; Dr. Carter’s gift included only laboratory methods, not industrial-scale manufacturing. Still, lab production sufficed—initial tests didn’t require many batteries, and a few dozen were enough for a powered exoskeleton squad.

So, more than a month later, on the eve of Zhou Shu’s birthday, the first completed, upgraded powered exoskeleton was finished.

Titanium alloy skeleton!

New servo system!

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene armor!

Tactical helmet with transparent display!

Core processor equipped with the combat support system!

Four graphene batteries!

Modular weapon systems—folding support platform could mount six-barrel micro missile launchers, grenade launchers, and heavy sniper rifles; two mechanical arms could be fitted with machine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, and retractable melee blades.

With everything assembled, all eyes turned to Zhou Shu, waiting for him to press the start and self-check button.

After more than a month of hard work, Zhou Shu didn’t hesitate. He took a deep breath and pressed the button.

“Program initiated. Self-check in progress…”

Streams of code and data flashed across the display, each subsystem checked off with a green tick.

“Self-check complete. Status: 100%. Vanguard Support System online!”

“Hello, Super Soldier!”