Chapter 48: An Emperor Does Not Mistreat His Starving Soldiers

After six minutes, the first round ended. The bell rang, and both sides took a one-minute break. Staff helped them remove their mouthguards, rinse their mouths, and drink water. Sima observed No. 1 "Gu Master" carefully. His physical exertion was minimal; an average adult male without training would show signs of fatigue and distorted movements after three minutes of continuous fighting. However, professional boxers have far superior cardiopulmonary functions, muscle endurance, and technical efficiency compared to ordinary people. Their heart rates remain stable at around 160 beats per minute during intense combat, sustaining for over fifteen minutes. With the aid of his Gu insects, Sima estimated that his opponent’s limits would only be revealed in the later stages.

The second round was essentially a repeat of the first, uneventful and lacking in noteworthy moments. From the third round onward, Sima began to counterattack, continuously applying pressure and draining his opponent’s stamina. By the fifth round, No. 1 "Gu Master" showed obvious signs of fatigue, his movements becoming distorted. Facing Sima’s relentless offensive, he was utterly powerless to retaliate. Sima wisely called off the test then and there; there was no need to complete the remaining three rounds. The opponent was drenched in sweat, as if pulled from water, staggering off the boxing ring and collapsing heavily into a chair, gasping for breath.

Five rounds of high-intensity combat demanded immense mental focus. Even Sima was far from invincible and felt deeply fatigued. Returning to the locker room, he removed his protective gear and gloves but barely had time to catch his breath before "White Dove" summoned him to the monitoring room. The large screen was divided into a nine-grid layout: five small windows replayed the first five rounds of Sima’s duel with No. 1 "Gu Master," while the remaining four displayed slow-motion replays of strikes landed on the opponent—his face contorted, sweat flying, creating a striking visual impact.

"White Dove" toyed with a pen between her slender, nimble fingers, twirling it so rapidly it created a dizzying blur of shadows. After a moment’s thought, she wrote the number “15” on a sheet of paper and then shared her idea with Sima. If his combat power was assigned that value, she asked him to evaluate No. 1 "Gu Master’s" combat power based on a comprehensive assessment of strength, speed, endurance, explosiveness, and resilience. She emphasized there was no need to score each category individually; it should be based solely on his subjective impression, accurate to one decimal place—more precision was unnecessary. After brief consideration, Sima offered his opinion without hesitation: judging from the overall performance across five rounds, No. 1 "Gu Master’s" combat power was 8.5. "White Dove" pondered this quietly and, without objection, recorded the figure as the final result for this test.

From that day forward, Sima officially joined White Dove’s project team. Every week, for three fixed afternoons, he went to the Gu Insect Research Institute to spar with a "Gu Master," afterward providing his evaluation. All his opponents had been implanted with the "Mountain-Breaking Gu," with combat power generally hovering around 10—ranging from a low of 6 to a high of 12. None came close to the level of "Jiang Menshen." According to White Dove, Jiang Menshen’s combat power was nearly at the human limit, around 20. His Gu insect was of poor quality and underdeveloped, or else it could have been even higher. Artificially bred Gu insects were generally inferior to their wild counterparts—a puzzling phenomenon that the institute had yet to explain. However, White Dove added meaningfully, wasn’t this actually a blessing for those wild "Gu Masters"?

Sima often pondered this remark, reflecting deeply afterward. The evaluation of a "Gu Master’s" combat power was highly subjective and arbitrary, reliant solely on his personal sense. This raised doubts about the project’s scientific rigor and precision. Did White Dove truly intend to objectively and accurately assess "Gu Masters’" combat power and further refine Gu insect rankings? Sima felt it didn’t add up. Such tests overlooked individual innate differences and were limited to the Mountain-Breaking Gu. More formidable Gu insects—like the Fantasia Gu, Zhu Rong Gu, or Bloodthirsty Gu—couldn’t be evaluated through one-on-one combat. White Dove was obviously aware of this, yet she pushed the project forward with great enthusiasm. What was her true purpose?

In Sima’s memory, in his previous life, officially bred "Gu Masters" never became mainstream. The Gu Insect Research Institute eventually faded into obscurity, seldom mentioned. At least until his tortured death, the dark world remained dominated by the "Grass Ghosts," with Yang Zirong and his band of "Gu Masters" standing against them on the side of light. Was it that artificially bred Gu insects were insufficient for the task, or had something unexpected befallen the institute? Was someone manipulating events behind the scenes? The more Sima contemplated, the more he sensed a tangled web of deception and mystery.

Eager to improve his own combat power, Sima found that “15” seemed to be the limit of his current body. The combat power rating was only a reference and didn’t necessarily determine practical outcomes. He could, with skill and intent, maximize the knuckle duster’s lethality to defeat Jiang Menshen with a combat power of 20. Yet against opponents rated above 25, he would likely suffer a crushing defeat—unless… he swapped the knuckle duster for a gun!

The emperor was not short of hungry soldiers. White Dove was generous, not exploiting Sima’s efforts for free. She provided him with a modest financial allowance from the project’s research funds. Apart from rent, Sima had few other expenses. He converted the money into shares of Qin Shipping, tossing them into the stock market and patiently waiting for the day he could reap high returns.

Zhou Lingri had clearly been warned by White Dove. After a period of despondency, she gradually returned to normal. She never again mentioned the "inducer" and never asked where Sima went during those three weekly afternoons, though her eyes betrayed a mixture of sorrow and curiosity. White Dove was right—her cold, aloof demeanor was merely a facade. At heart, Zhou Lingri remained an immature young girl. Over time, their conversations deepened. Sima learned of the troubles caused by the Innocence Gu and the real reason she wished to "replace her Gu," though Zhou Lingri never revealed the identity or name of the person involved.

More than two months later, Beizhi City welcomed the crisp, clear air of autumn. The first phase of testing concluded. Sima had scored thirty "Gu Masters," initially cautious but growing more confident. Although the combat power ratings were subjective and arbitrary and proved little, the disparities among these "Gu Masters" were undeniably real. White Dove drew three conclusions: first, compared to wild Mountain-Breaking Gu, artificially bred offspring suffered from general degradation; second, the abilities of Mountain-Breaking Gu bred in the same batch fluctuated widely, with adjusted combat power roughly following a normal distribution; third, excluding outliers, preliminary estimates suggested that artificially bred Mountain-Breaking Gu enhanced their hosts’ combat power by about 50% less than wild Gu insects.

Director Fang Tianqiu attached great importance to these "phase results." He convened a meeting of project leaders, during which White Dove gave a brief presentation. Sima was fortunate to attend and met Shang Lu and Gao Shuren for the first time. Shang Lu was the institute’s deputy director, responsible for artificial Gu insect cultivation, while Gao Shuren was a senior researcher in charge of the development and testing of the "inducer." Neither was a "Gu Master."