Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!

"Yawn~"

Hamilton stretched widely, yawning and sitting up from his bed. He was surprised to see that it was Bai E who had woken everyone up. "Bai?"

Bai E's mouth held a smile. "Hmm?"

"..." Hamilton scratched the back of his head, feeling uneasy all over from the smile on Bai E's lips.

Strange...

It was like he was a different person.

Had Bai E ever been this expressive before?

Yue Ying awoke calmly and started to change his clothes as he spoke.

"I was just about to greet you. The time has been set. We're going on a mission tomorrow morning. Prepare anything you need in advance."

Because of the progress of training and individual development, Bai E didn't train with the rest of the team, but since the higher-ups had said the special squad's composition would remain unchanged, they would still go on missions together.

"Got it, no problem," Bai E agreed readily.

He remembered the mission to track Sandworms that Tiger had mentioned before; it had stayed on his mind.

Tomorrow? That seemed just right.

Bai E had always been concerned about those Sandworms of the Bug Race that could burrow underground, the ones they encountered on the way to the Internet server ruins.

Actually, it wasn't just the Sandworms. The behavior of the "Overlord" on the battlefield had also been strange.

No matter how reasonable the explanations were, Bai E, who had directly experienced it all, did not think the bugs' actions were due to a lack of ability, but rather... it seemed as if they were deliberately letting humanity off easy.

If those Sandworms truly appeared on the front lines, their ability to suddenly burst from the ground would be a devastating strike against the human military forces, which were still primarily composed of army units.

Even if it were a suicidal attack, the chaos it would bring to the human formations would be enough to swallow them whole, a clear advantage for the Bug Race.

What made them choose not to fully devour humanity?

Were they afraid of pushing humans into desperation and triggering some powerful countermeasure?

Or were they concerned about Blackwater City itself or the empire that existed more in name than in reality?

It wasn't clear.

Once he set his sights on higher ambitions, concerns that had been deliberately ignored before, or considered irrelevant for the time being, all came flooding back.

The answers wouldn't just jump out at him; he had to actively seek them out.

Despite the dangers, Bai E was actually looking forward to the mission to track the Sandworms.

"Then, we're off," Tiger tilted his head and walked briskly out of the tent.

The solid gains from rigorous training were real. Even if they couldn't see incremental data increases, the boost in "confidence" in their own bodies after training was the tangible change they could feel.

They had a mission tomorrow, and this time, they definitely couldn't hold back the newest member of their team again!

...

The morning's training session was as usual in the Mecha simulation capsule.

The moment he saw Rose, Bai E asked with a light laugh, "Where did you go yesterday afternoon?"

People who underwent Psychic Pressure Resistance Training normally passed out for the entire afternoon until the evening, especially since it was Rose's first time. Her performance should not have been great.

But when Bai E woke up, he didn't find her among those who had fainted.

"Me?" Rose's voice was lively and cheerful. "The instructor took me to do some research and said I'm what... a Nullifier?"

"A Nullifier?"

"Ah~" Rose nodded. "It's someone who's completely unaffected by Spiritual Energy. That stuff... doesn't work on me."

She spread her hands, affirming, "So, it wasn't your problem yesterday. I just can't sense that stuff."

[You have obtained the extraordinary information: Nullifier.]

"Oh~" Bai E nodded and suddenly realized something. "Wait a minute! Then, that time we went to the Bug Race battlefield..."

Rose looked at Bai E helplessly, "Before that evening, I got stabbed through by a mantis bug. When you guys were on the battlefield, I was laid up in the hospital."

Human medical technology was indeed impressive, but her injuries that day were also very serious. It wasn't possible for her to fully recover overnight.

"Oh, I see..."

Bai E understood.

That explained it. No bug then.

The instructor Rose mentioned must have been Franca from the Arbitration Place.

"The Arbitration Place sent someone? Did they say what use a Nullifier has?"

"Well... they said it's about being able to hunt demons while being unaffected by Spiritual Energy but only in the real world, unable to enter higher-dimensional spaces. So the training methods of the Arbitration Place don't suit me. They just let me continue studying in the military camp~" Rose shrugged nonchalantly, "Nothing special really, just that with the support of the Arbitration Place the military agreed to invest more resources in me. If nothing goes wrong... in a couple of days, I'll also be injected with the Gene Optimization Solution."

"..."

"..."

Looking at the smug look in Rose's eyes, Bai E felt somewhat astonished.

All the life-and-death struggles he'd gone through for the credit to get one Gene Optimization Solution, and Rose just skipped straight to the end?

There wasn't really any jealousy, just... the world is too damn wonderful!

Rose sidled up to him, affectionately wrapped her arms around Bai E's neck, and made faces, "So, anything I need to pay attention to with the Optimization fluid injection?"

"Those staff members from the Scientific Research Institute who handle the injections are more professional than I am."

"But I just want to hear it from you, is that not okay?"

"..."

Never noticed that a burly one like you had learned to play this game too?

Bai E disdainfully pushed her arms away, "Today I'm on Mech Pilot duty, so you'd better run fast."

Gun, so hot!

Just want to operate!

Rose gave him an exasperated glance, "Okay! Got it!"

Whenever Bai E was the Mech Pilot, she felt like her hands and feet, her entire body, seemed to have minds of their own...

Prompting her to follow the advance, completely inverting the natural order, as if to shatter the basic mecha operating principle which dictates that Mech Pilots must follow the lead Mech Pilot's decisions.

It made one doubt whether he could manage this large mecha that theoretically required two people all by himself.

...

"How's the training ground?" At some point, a burly figure arrived beside the Mech Pilot training instructor who was monitoring everyone's training status.

The familiar voice made Brandon tense up, "Sir!"

"Hmm~" Hamilton stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze wandering, trying to find the two artificial human warriors he had struggled to obtain from others, "How are they doing in training?"

Speaking of the two newly-added artificial human warriors, Brandon couldn't help grinning, "They're very impressive."

Pursing his lips and noticing that Hamilton had a pleased expression as well, Brandon cautiously voiced his own opinion, "Sir... how about we try bringing in some more artificial humans?"

With both of their performances being so good, recruiting more would make them soar, right?

What's the difference between natural and artificial? Now that Sir has already started breaking the chains, what's there for him to be wary of?

Hamilton squinted his eyes and thought the suggestion... wasn't without merit.

But he couldn't rush things. He had just pried a couple of rare treasures from the jaws of others, a War God with no equal and a Demon Killer. Now all those guys with artificial human resources were guarding against him, so for the time being, he probably couldn't steal any good seedlings.

"We'll see~" Having gotten the answer he wanted, Hamilton left contentedly, his departure brisk.

...

"Tsst~" With the sound of the air valve, the device that held the Mech Pilot in place released him onto solid ground.

Rose rubbed her sweat-drenched golden curls with a hint of dissatisfaction and looked at Bai E, "Next time just train by yourself. I feel superfluous."

Bai E just waved his hand, "How could I manage alone? I've tried, it simply doesn't work."

[Current "Expertise—Mechanical Rhythm" experience 17/1000, reach 1000 points to master "Expertise—Mechanical Rhythm (4/7 level)".]

[Expertise—Mechanical Rhythm (3/7 level):... (Current conversion rate: 40%)]

As the level of expertise improved, the experience needed to train his mecha manipulation skills became increasingly vast, and only after spending 4000 points of combat experience did Mechanical Rhythm grudgingly rise by one level.

If it hadn't been for the fresh 11,000 points of experience from last night, he really couldn't have afforded this level of expenditure.

"Let's go." Rose gestured and turned to leave. Unlike Bai E, she hadn't maxed out her other abilities yet, especially her physical fitness.

Apart from the mecha operating training, she also needed to do some conventional training, since in terms of time, she still fell under the category of "newbie."

So she probably also needed the methods of Advanced Physical Training 3.0.

For some reason, Helen hadn't yet announced it, possibly because it wasn't perfected to the degree that everyone could use it.

But as the original improver of this 3.0 training, Bai E thought he might try to use these skills to benefit those who had a closer relationship with him first.

Watching her departing figure, Bai E called out from behind: "Later..."
Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire

Late won't work... later it'll be noon, and he needed to meet Franca to plan out their next tasks.

"Tonight..."

Tonight won't work either... he had to go learn from Yue Ying.

"Tomorrow..." Tomorrow morning he was out on a mission.

"Next time I'm free, I'll look for you, got something for you."

"..." Rose paused, turned her head slightly, "People normally invite others for a drink."

"...Let's have that drink the time after next."

"..."