Chapter 71: What Does a Sniper Know About Exoskeletons Anyway?

Karen Wang felt that the renovation plan was sound, but doubted its efficacy. He wasn't an expert in this field, so after obtaining Zhou Shu's consent, he sent the scanned proposal to a professional institute—the very department responsible for developing the first-generation "Vanguard" powered exoskeleton.

Once the materials were sent, all that remained was to await their response. In the meantime, Karen could devote himself to studying Zhou Shu. After a flurry of activity, Karen regained his composure, his keen intellect once again asserting itself.

"I must admit, Zhou Shu, you always manage to surprise me," Karen said, gazing at Zhou Shu, who sat obediently across from him.

In just a single week, his perception of Zhou Shu had changed several times, and his plans for Zhou Shu's future no longer felt so definite. "So you're saying you wrote these plans and data yourself, and the relevant knowledge came to you through some sort of 'revelation' or simply appeared naturally in your mind?" Karen asked again, his curiosity piqued.

After all, mental mutation was a mysterious phenomenon, utterly different from pure physical enhancement. "That's one way to put it," Zhou Shu replied, equally cryptic.

Karen endured another bout of mental gymnastics, but still came up empty. As a researcher, his desire to uncover the truth was strong, but this time he had encountered something truly enigmatic.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he muttered, "Alright, alright, whatever it is, as long as you haven't exchanged thoughts with the Great Race of Yith."

Zhou Shu: "..."

This man certainly had an imagination.

Seeing Zhou Shu's silence, Karen quickly filled in the blanks himself, his expression growing more and more astonished, his body even beginning to tremble.

Damn it... so many elements fit together.

According to the lore of the Cthulhu mythos, among all known mythological creatures in that universe, the technology of the Great Race of Yith was the most advanced—they had even conquered time itself.

Members of the Great Race could transcend time and space, sending their consciousness to the distant past or future, where they would select a suitable organism and exchange minds with it. In turn, the "victim's" consciousness would be transferred to the Yithian's original body in another world.

Moreover, other Yithians would treat them kindly, allowing them to act freely, meet with other "victims" from distant eras and planets, and even learn various skills and knowledge.

When a Yithian's "tour" ended and the victim's consciousness returned to its original body, the Yithians would erase all memories of their time in the Yithian body, though not completely. Some fragments would remain, so the victim might occasionally recall those memories in dreams, suddenly realizing they possessed the power to change the world.

Certain cults would then actively assist the Great Race in coming to their era and possessing their bodies, and in exchange, cult members would learn the Great Race's technology and magic.

If that were the case, Zhou Shu's source of technological knowledge would fit perfectly.

Compared to other chaotic races, the Great Race observed human culture and society with neutrality. Sometimes, they would attempt to influence events in ways beneficial to themselves. Generally, though, when the Yithians arrived in a new era, they would hide and observe quietly, causing little disruption. It was the people who returned from Yith who, inspired by flashes of insight, might change the world.

Karen had reviewed Zhou Shu's profile. Zhou Shu was quite a steady child, who, as a boy, would often choose the wrong answers on basic questions during exams. Now, he possessed such astounding technical knowledge...

Good heavens, Karen dared not speculate further. If Zhou Shu really had connections to the Great Race, it would be deeply unfavorable for humanity—not because the Great Race was malign toward humans, but because, according to the mythos, their dimension was riddled with countless unnameable entities.

Presently, humanity still had some hope against the alien species they had dubbed "Disruptors," able to seal their existence away in the "Inner World," unknown to the masses. But if faced with those unnameable beings and their followers, there would be no contest.

Best to simply surrender.

Fortunately, that was merely a fictional scenario. As for Zhou Shu's true source of knowledge... Karen decided not to dwell on it. It was enough to enjoy the convenience brought by technology.

Because of this, Karen no longer mentioned the reduction in mutagen essence, instead throwing himself fully into the exoskeleton renovation project.

No one could have expected that on the very night the research institutes received his message, they collectively fell silent—there was no feedback at all.

Ordinarily, the Demon Suppression Bureau's requests had very high priority, especially since Karen was deputy leader of the technical team. If he sent information personally, the recipients would surely see it immediately.

So why was there no response?

He waited and waited, until past four in the morning. After handling a few matters, he went to bed with a sense of shock and confusion, only to be awakened by a cacophony of voices.

A middle-aged voice: "Where's Deputy Wang? What time is it—how is he still asleep? Are young people these days always this lazy?"

An elderly voice: "Exactly, where's young Wang? Wake him up! He sent us that material last night and kept us up, now he's sleeping himself!"

An assistant: "Elder Li, please wait. I'll go wake Deputy Wang. He's been extremely busy lately—didn't sleep until after four."

Another elderly voice: "Let your team leader sleep if he's not up. We're not here for him; take us to Engineer Zhou from your technical department. We're here to see him."

Assistant: "Engineer Zhou? Oh, you should have said so earlier. We took the long way around. Engineer Zhou should be here now; I'll take you to him."

"Alright, hurry up and take us."

The voices faded, and quiet returned.

Karen drifted back to sleep, only to be awakened again some time later by renewed commotion outside.

An elderly voice: "Young man, we're looking for Zhou Shu, Engineer Zhou—the one who proposed the exoskeleton renovation plan, not the one working on cell slices."

Assistant: "But... but our technical department doesn't have an engineer named Zhou Shu."

Middle-aged voice: "Impossible. Deputy Wang sent us materials yesterday clearly marked with his name. How can he not exist?"

Another elderly voice: "Exactly. How could he not exist? Are you saying Deputy Wang made a mistake?"

Assistant: "Uh..."

Assistant: "Zhou Shu, Engineer Zhou, Zhou Shu... Ah, I remember now. We do have a Zhou Shu, but he's not in the technical department. He's a new trainee demon hunter—a psychic sniper! Is that who you're looking for?"

Elderly voice: "A sniper? What are we supposed to do with a sniper? What would a sniper know about exoskeletons? Wake up young Wang and have him take us to the right person!"

Assistant: "Yes, yes, Elder Li, please don't be angry. I'll go right away..."

"Bang bang bang—Team Leader Wang, wake up, something big has happened!"

By the time the assistant knocked, Karen was already up, having become fully alert at the mention of Zhou Shu's name. He had barely slept in his clothes, so he threw on a jacket as he went to open the door.

"I'm coming!"

He opened the door and was startled by the scene outside.

Good heavens—all the technical leads from the research institutes that had received the materials yesterday were present. There were balding middle-aged men, gray-haired elders, and snow-white-haired seniors, but not a single young person with thick, dark hair.

All of them were seasoned technical experts!

No wonder there had been no reply online—they must have decided to resolve the matter in person today.