Chapter 98: The Battlefield of the Ascension Club Headquarters

Bang! One punch.
Bang! Two punches.
Bang! Three punches.

After the third punch, Zhou Shu looked at the humanoid mutant whose head had slightly deformed and who was twitching faintly on the ground. He then glanced at his undamaged Invincible Fist with a trace of helplessness.

He recalled that he had once aspired to become a scientist. Because he had personally led the modification of the Super Special Forces power exoskeleton, those veteran experts treated him as one of their own.

These past few days had left him utterly exhausted. Fires raged everywhere in the city, and the Demon Extermination Bureau teams were dispatched to extinguish them. Sometimes they would collapse into bed for a brief rest only to be awakened by alarms. Even if they had just returned from duty, they had to rush out again. As a result, there had been no opportunity to re-enter the virtual battlefield for several nights.

Tonight, however, he had been granted a true night of rest. He returned to his hometown to escape the chaos of the city, intending to practice diligently and raise his strength further.

From what he knew, the Ascension Society would inevitably launch an assault. Before that day arrived, he planned to bolster his power even more.

Then, fueled by fury, he would obliterate them completely!

The accumulated source energy was currently insufficient to fully upgrade his abilities, but that was fine. He could at least train them first, then hunt monsters on demand and level up whenever he wished.

He had just lain down, about to enter the virtual battlefield, when his smartwatch suddenly rang.

The Demon Extermination Bureau had received a report of a suspicious mutant sighting near his hometown and requested his presence to investigate.

If the report had come from anywhere else, he would have ignored it. Yet this was close to his own village. Although the village fell under Huafua territory and enjoyed their protection, some of his relatives still lived in the nearby settlements. He could not allow a mutant to roam freely in the area.

So he dressed quickly, mounted his Bureau-modified electric motorcycle, and roared toward the marked coordinate with burning rage.

Because manpower was critically low, the Bureau no longer provided transport. After they had identified and removed the mole inside the agency, Zhou Shu was instructed to operate independently.

Mainly because he was now terrifyingly capable. Not only was he a master sniper, but his skills with pistols and automatic rifles were equally exceptional. They even suspected he had self-taught gunfighting techniques.

In terms of overall combat effectiveness, he was no longer merely a sniper.

During active sniper missions he had to focus completely, leaving him vulnerable to his surroundings, which is why he always required backup. In daily life, as long as he carried a weapon, most mutants were killed before they could close the distance.

This held true even against low-intelligence mutants, let alone other Demon Extermination Bureau members or second-tier mutants known as monsters outside the agency. Zhou Shu never felt threatened.

He was no longer the fledgling who fled at the sight of red eyes. He was now Captain Zhou of the Demon Extermination Bureau, a man with a string of impressive battle achievements.

With that rage still boiling, Zhou Shu pushed the motorcycle to its absolute limit and reached the scene in record time.

The moment he arrived, his expression shifted. The unmistakable stench of blood hit him. The hunter had also detected residual traces of monster pheromones and marked them on the mini-map.

Following the bloody trail, he located the source inside a dilapidated shack.

It was no longer merely suspected. It was the mutant.

The blood belonged to an elderly man—whether informant or not, it mattered little now.

“Task complete. Convert to elimination protocol.”

Zhou Shu raised a hand toward his watch, did not even draw his weapon, and charged straight at the creature. The combined fury from the report and the scene ignited his advance.

The mutant had been feasting on the old man’s corpse. Hearing the noise and seeing him, it lunged in response, perhaps assuming he was fresh food.

What met it was Zhou Shu’s fist.

Three punches later the mutant lay dead. After confirming the kill, Zhou Shu reported the situation to the Demon Extermination Bureau, requesting retrieval of the body and proper handling of the elder’s remains.

Such tasks were always managed by the technical department. They handled contact with local police or family members. As a frontline combatant, Zhou Shu was expected to focus solely on fighting.

Only then did he check his energy reserves—0.5. No wonder three punches had ended it.

With his present real-world capabilities, he ranked among the elite inside the Dongyuan City Demon Extermination Bureau, even without invoking gunfighting techniques.

The Zhang Peng he had met at the beginning had been regarded as the strongest. Who could have guessed he was actually the weakest, his maximum glow brightness merely 112?

By comparison, when Zhou Shu first joined the Bureau his glow brightness had already reached 115.

The other three first-level demon slayers hovered around 160 in maximum glow brightness, yet they were heavily specialized, with enormous gaps between their highest and lowest attributes.

Zhou Shu’s attributes, once converted to glow brightness, showed mental energy pulled far ahead. The remaining four categories ranged from 150 to over 170, compared to the others’ peaks near 160 and lows dipping to 100. He had developed a truly well-rounded profile.

The strongest fighter in Dongyuan City, second-level demon slayer Zhang Fei’ao, possessed a maximum glow brightness of 218, with physique and strength nearly matching that figure. While Zhou Shu’s physical stats still lagged, his mental attribute had already exceeded 270.

Even without firearms, relying on slow-motion and abnormal sensing, he could trade dozens of exchanges with the opponent. At worst he could not shatter Zhang Fei’ao’s defenses, and Zhang Fei’ao had a 90 percent chance of missing him entirely.

The reason was simple: Zhou Shu could not remain in slow-motion indefinitely. The moment he exited, Zhang Fei’ao’s superior agility would make him an easy target.

According to the conversion tables, Zhang Fei’ao’s strength exceeded 2.1 while Zhou Shu’s physique stood at only 1.7. A single fist would have been roughly comparable to the strike that killed the mutant.

He waited, but no one from technical services arrived. Instead, another task notification pinged nearby.

“Damn it, no sleep tonight!”

And so he did not sleep at all.

Fortunately, the mission had returned a substantial amount of source energy.

The following day he reported back to the Demon Extermination Bureau. Everyone noticed his aggrieved expression. He had worked overtime the previous night and was theoretically owed rest. Yet duty calls.

Zhou Shu remained silent.

The Bureau’s leadership knew demon slayers were formidable but not invincible—especially someone like him, the “physically delicate” gun master. They carved out a short rest period so he could sleep.

Compared to other teams, Zhou Shu’s power exoskeleton battle armor was exceptionally reliable.

He therefore slept.

He feared that as soon as he entered the virtual battlefield another mission would arrive and he would be roused, wasting precious energy.

So he dozed with that constant worry in mind.

Under those circumstances, a welcome message greeted him upon waking.

“Leadership has decided to eliminate the Ascension Society and has specifically ordered your transfer to the headquarters battlefield.” The director addressed Zhou Shu directly in the office.

“Me?” Zhou Shu pointed at himself. “Why me? Shouldn’t it be Zhang’s team? He’s a powerful second-level demon slayer.”

“I don’t know the details. The order is clear: you are to be transferred.” The director shook his head. “Perhaps they require your sniper expertise.”

“After all, the capital lacks for close-combat specialists, but super-powered snipers are scarce.”

Zhou Shu accepted the explanation.

The mission was urgent. The director told him to pack immediately and set out. His destination was Kunlun Mountain.