Shen Jie’s fingers held the card.
The system explained: [Host, do you know how to perform consciousness linking? Just concentrate, and place the perception of your fingers on the three green spirit receptors on the card… Yes! That’s it.]
After the consciousness linked into the card, Shen Jie felt that a part of his consciousness entered into a virtual generated disc space.
He stood in the center of the disc, facing a mirror. At this moment, his appearance was that of a silver humanoid liquid metal.
This should be the so-called “Independent Exoskeleton.”
Unlike conventional exoskeletons, this type of exoskeleton existed independently, extending and expanding not his physical body, but his own consciousness.
Currently, the highest research laboratory in District 1 of the research institute was also studying exoskeleton technology. However, as far as he knew, this technology was still limited to external body modifications, creating combat exoskeletons using special weapons and new alloy technologies for use by the Cleaning teams’ members against aliens.
[Given the special nature of the Independent Exoskeleton, if you don’t want to be caught and studied by the research institute, I suggest you create a virtual humanoid form for yourself.] the system reminded.
[If you’re not good at designing faces, there are specific templates for you to choose from,] the system said, and a row of options popped up in front of him—each one a humanoid template, varying in height and appearance.
There were cute-looking boys, burly men with full beards, handsome young men with peach blossom eyes… There was even a voluptuous woman with a glamorous mane of hair.
Each one looked surprisingly real, not like AI-generated avatars, but like real people.
Unable to blink his left eye, Shen Jie felt a slight discomfort, but it was bearable for him.
The point was, his interest had been piqued by the novelty of the “toys” before him.
He observed the templates with keen interest for a moment and asked, “I can only choose the appearance once?”
The system said, [For now, yes, because constructing the appearance consumes energy. However, once you acquire sufficient energy in the future, you can decide whether to expend it to recreate its appearance.]
Shen Jie asked, “Energy?”
[The Independent Exoskeleton relies on energy for operation, both in daily use and during combat. Once the energy is depleted, the exoskeleton will enter a dormant state, rendering it inoperable, and your separated consciousness will return to your body.]
[There are three ways to obtain energy: First, solar charging, but this method is extremely slow, taking about three days to charge about 1% of the energy, barely enough to sustain minimum daily needs; Second, absorption of energy from mist hosts, with the amount of energy obtained increasing with the strength of the host; Third, energy crystal cards, which are currently awarded as additional rewards based on task completion.]
[Currently, the energy reserve of the Independent Exoskeleton is at 70%. Please use it carefully.]
After introducing the functions, the system anxiously whispered, [Host, I think you should quickly choose a humanoid template and release the exoskeleton, as there are still contaminants on your lenses.]
Shen Jie nodded. “Okay.”
Under his consciousness control, the card melted into a puddle of silver liquid metal, and then, like fireworks, these silver metals burst open, extending into thousands of threads, slowly constructing a humanoid figure in midair.
A “person” quickly appeared in front of Shen Jie.
Shen Jie didn’t choose any of the system templates.
It was a slender and tall teenager, about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a black coat with long silver-white hair. His appearance bore some resemblance to Shen Jie, but his features were colder, making him seem less approachable.
What was especially unique about him was his pair of red eyes.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The system: […]
It paused for a moment, then spoke, [Forgive me for being blunt, but he looks like the son of you and Zong Lin.]
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In theory, this was a very delicate task. A slight tremor of the young man’s fingertips could potentially cause the contaminants on the eye’s surface to spread within the eye socket.
But Shen Jie’s hand was always steady.
First, he precisely grasped the edge of the contact lens that hadn’t been contaminated yet. Then, with a gentle push inward, he removed it at the moment when the lens lifted from the eye’s surface.
Success.
The system breathed a sigh of relief. But it felt like Shen Jie’s vision blurred for a moment, as if the space in front of him had split in two.
The world seen through his right eye remained colorful, but through his left eye, there was only a sea of blood-red. Shades of deep and light red formed the entirety of this world, appearing eerie and desolate, like scenes from a horror movie’s alternate reality.
The system hesitated: [Host? Why are your eyes…]
Shen Jie calmly explained, “As I mentioned before, I’m color blind. I’ve always used AR devices to help correct it. Now that the lens is gone, I’m still getting used to it.”
With that, he closed his left eye.
The world returned to normal.
The system did hear about how colorblindness could be corrected with colorblind correction lenses, but when it came to someone who could only see one color in the world… Although it was not unheard of, it was extremely rare.
It always feel like there’s something wrong with the host…
Shen Jie didn’t offer any further explanation; he was still immersed in the excitement of getting a new toy.
Controlling an Independent Exoskeleton felt very peculiar; there was a split between his consciousness and what he saw in his mind’s eye. However, when he moved, the sensation of limbs extending was almost like having another body of his own.
This body even simulated a human’s heartbeat, body temperature, pulse—it looked no different from a living person.
Only when deliberately controlled, did the display in the field of vision arrange various current data of the exoskeleton, including energy reserves, damage status, weapon configuration, and so on.
At this moment, a prompt suddenly appeared in his field of vision.
[Detected operator is currently in the mist, should the weapon system be activated?]
Shen Jie: “Open.”
An array of weapon templates instantly appeared before him, densely packed with dozens of pages, encompassing all kinds of cold weapons.
Similar to the character creation template, constructing weapons also required energy consumption.
Yet, Shen Jie still did not choose a template.
His gaze lingered for a moment on the “Free Casting” option in the lower right corner before clicking to confirm his selection.
A sense of detachment brought him to a disc-like space similar to before, where a mass of silver metal gathered in the middle, presenting a liquid-smooth form that could be molded at his consciousness’s touch, changing shape as he desired.
Following the image in his memory, Shen Jie molded the weapon into shape.
[Casting successful. Please name the weapon.]
Shen Jie fell silent for a moment, digging out a name from distant memory, saying, “Snow Burial.”
[Weapon “Snow Burial” has been generated.]
Soon, a silver-white long knife appeared in the young man’s hand.
Shen Jie raised his hand, running his fingers over the blade inch by inch.
The bright blade reflected his youthful face.
The silver-white handle was gripped by his slender fingers.
He attempted to swing it through the air before him, the chilling sound of the wind brushing past his eardrums.
Suddenly, he remembered many years ago when he woke up from a long slumber, only to find there were no lights on the desolate land.
He arrived at Snow Valley amidst the rustling wind, where he saw a broken long knife thrust into a grave, with tattered clothing tied to it fluttering in the wind.
Shen Jie casually tested the sharpness of the knife on his handcuffs.
—Just like cutting tofu, the metal handcuffs were sliced open directly.
The system sounded somewhat pleased: [This is a weapon made of special metal. It can effectively break through the defenses of aliens below Rank Two.]
As the handcuffs fell off, Shen Jie got up from his seat, immediately removing the jacket contaminated with Lin Ze’s blood.
Underneath, he wore a black shirt and matching trousers, cinched at the waist with a brown belt, highlighting his strong and slender figure.
Facing him was a white-haired youth of similar height, holding a long knife, standing face to face with him.
Seeing themselves from two different perspectives did indeed feel somewhat peculiar.
[The Independent Exoskeleton not only can be manipulated through consciousness separation but can also merge with you, the host, enhancing strength and resilience against injuries. It possesses all the functions that a general exoskeleton can have. Host, you can give it a try.]
“As soon as the idea of ‘fusion’ emerged, the youth turned around and embraced him. Silver metal lines scattered, enveloping his entire body.
Soon, Shen Jie’s appearance changed to that of the youth.
He tested swinging the knife.
If previously the strength of his arm was only 800 pounds, now producing a value over a hundred times that was no problem.
According to the standards of superpower users, the strength should be around B-grade.
It was just that, without superpowers, the offensive capability might be a bit lacking—for ordinary people.
However, enabling ordinary people to possess body strength comparable to B-grade superpower user, the Independent Exoskeleton was already worthy of being called a revolutionary invention.
Moreover, this thing seemed to be capable of evolving.
[Absolutely perfect! You truly deserve to be the chosen one, with an exceptionally high fusion rate with the Independent Exoskeleton. I’ve never seen anyone who could manipulate it with such ease right from the start.] The system was genuinely delighted for him, but its tone quickly turned somber.
[Now, the mist has been spreading for ten minutes. Based on rough estimates from city data, the number of trapped individuals in the entire Psychological Treatment Center has reached at least six thousand three hundred. ‘Despair Hospital’ is enveloped in mist ranging from A+ to S-, and the survival probability within advanced mist cannot be estimated. All we know is that the longer it drags on, the fewer survivors there will be.]
[Of course, you can also choose to find a place to hide and wait for rescue. With the protection of the exoskeleton, your chances of safely surviving are still very high. However, in that case, the completion rate of the mission will be extremely low, and a portion of your reward will be deducted.]
The system was well aware of its host’s procrastinating nature, and added softly:
[Host, perhaps the rewards from the mission may contain what you currently need.]
“What do I currently need?”
The system’s tone this time was unusually certain, which piqued Shen Jie’s curiosity a bit: “What is it?”
[Something that can help reduce the infection rate, effective for high-level superpower users] the system said, [Although I still maintain my previous viewpoint that your partner is very dangerous, with a high probability of corruption that could cause a disaster for the city, if you insist, perhaps we can try to change the outcome.]
[However, to change fate, one always needs to pay a price.]
“A price?”
Shen Jie smiled faintly, lowering his eyes.
He leisurely wiped the contaminants off his contact lenses, rubbing them with disinfectant gel before reinserting them into his eye sockets.
The eyes, cleansed with disinfectant gel, felt very dry and somewhat stinging when he put them back on, but they were still usable.
Then, holding the knife, he walked to the door of the operating room and without hesitation, raised his hand and opened the door.
“Let’s go.”
The corridor outside was completely different from when he arrived. It was a smooth, cold gray marble floor, surrounded by even colder metal walls, devoid of windows. Red light tubes spread and flickered on the walls, resembling the veins of some creature.
The system issued an intelligence briefing:
[“Despair Hospital” is the domain space of the Undead Soul Corpse. Rather than a space, it’s more like a vast maze, where complex passages often lead survivors astray.]
[The hospital is filled with a large number of B-grade aliens called “Mutated Corpse”, most of which resemble nurses wearing pink clothes. These nurses possess some of the characteristics of the Undead Soul Corpse; they carry syringes and are devoted to treating patients, injecting the infectious fluid from the syringe into any living creature they encounter.]
[Nurses capture patients based on sound cues and then inject them with medicine before throwing them into the “Underground Experimental Chamber.” They move extremely quickly and often ambush in groups, waiting in ambush both ahead and behind.]
[Therefore, when moving in the hospital, please do not make any sound.]
He made his and zong lin son 😆
idk why but in this chapter the system reminded me of jarvis 🤣
But the fastest way is to make a HUGE sound and gather everyone in the same place!
This is the tried and tested approach from “Global Examination”😁
lol waiting for this “family of three” to reunite 😆
I feel like this novel would make for an amazing video game…
Son, take good care of your dad..
Son get!
System explaining the ‘rules’ from the get go take away the fun of it. I’m sure MC can deduct it himself no problem.