Weapon System 46. Leveling Up: Battling the Hive Beasts (Part 2)

After listening intently, Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nüxia finally changed their attitudes—not only did they wholeheartedly agree with the Real Man’s words, but they also felt that his system was truly worth far more than its price.

The Real Man continued, “It is only natural that you care for your son, but ultimately, you wish nothing more than for him to be safe and sound. Now, Zhang Mingjing not only possesses extraordinary skills, but is also protected by the patriarch himself. You two can rest easy, a hundred times over—there is no need for needless worry.”

The two of them, having not read much and with rather rigid ways of thinking, naturally failed to recognize the uncanny nature of the Real Man as an artificial intelligence. Not only were they utterly convinced, they took this to be the advantage of AI technology over humans. From then on, they would consult the Real Man about many matters for reassurance—even turning to him to arbitrate their marital quarrels.

Zhang Mingjing, however, was not necessarily aware of all this. Fortunately, the Real Man would never dare harbor ill intentions toward him, for he was shielded by the five-dimensional cognitive model. With intelligence of such high dimensionality, how could an AI of mere three-dimensional design outmaneuver him?

That was true deterrence.

Zhang Mingjing asked the Real Man to arrange evening training for Katherine and Jemily, intending to teach them the weapon replication system.

Meanwhile, at the break of dawn, Yuhua and Chengxian also began their training regimen. The Real Man found a nearby gym for them, which still retained most of its equipment, and instructed the AI managing the city’s power grid and the gym itself to activate all the facilities at their disposal. The service was absolutely five-star, and the supervision was nothing short of prison-grade.

At this moment, a thousand kilometers from Zhang Mingjing, a bee was gathering nectar. As it collected pollen on its hind legs, within one of the pollen’s molecules was a fragment of the temporal fiend’s cognitive model code. It invaded the bee’s body, and soon the bee began to mutate.

This mutation was different from previous monsters; the bee’s appearance was not the first thing to change. Instead, it began at the cellular level—each cell split in two, and the bee’s body began dividing down the middle. In about half an hour, one bee successfully split into two. These two bees then split again, and after another half hour, there were four. After three hours in total, the segment of the temporal fiend’s code had created ten identical bees.

Over the next few hours, each of these bees began to undergo a series of identical physical mutations. First, their bodies doubled in size every ten minutes, growing until each was the size of a water buffalo. Next, their spikes and bristles became incredibly hard and sharp, their skin thickened into bulletproof keratin, and this time, they even evolved the ability to absorb various radar waves. Lastly, they developed locust-like mandibles, powerful and hard enough to tear through tanks with ease.

By eight in the evening, the swarm of mutant bees completed their transformation and began buzzing into flight. At this time, Zhang Mingjing was training Katherine and Jemily in the weapon replication system in a meditative state.

About five hours later, the swarm would reach this southern town, arriving at one in the morning.

Flying low and now gifted with stealth abilities, the mutant bees were undetectable by Earth’s radar or satellites.

However, as they passed over a forest, the forest management system captured them on camera—and its administrator happened to be in the Real Man’s social circle.

The administrator posted news of the monsters to its network, immediately alerting the Real Man and certain military AIs. They began mobilizing all resources to monitor the mutant bees and relayed the intelligence to the Real Man.

The Real Man promptly informed Zhang Mingjing, who then notified Katherine and Jemily. Both were astonished.

“Master! How did you know?” Jemily asked curiously.

“Ha! I practice divine arts—sometimes I can perceive anomalies from higher dimensions,” Zhang Mingjing replied as best he could.

“Oh!” Katherine instantly adored him all the more, while Jemily’s admiration and envy reached new heights.

“Time is pressing! We have just over four hours. We must make the most of our training,” Zhang Mingjing ordered.

Katherine and Jemily were struck by another question. Jemily asked, “Master! Why do the monsters always come to this city?”

Once again, Zhang Mingjing could only feign ignorance, claiming he too had no clue, but promised to tell them at once if he ever uncovered the truth.

“But the monsters are attacking in the middle of the night this time. Will fighting at that hour hinder our performance?” Katherine asked.

Although Zhang Mingjing commanded the weapon system by reading information, his habitual three-dimensional thinking meant he often read daytime and nighttime as well. Not every time could he filter out the background of night. As tonight’s battle would be at dawn, failing to remove the night mode would indeed affect combat efficiency. Katherine and Jemily, relying on the holistic images he provided, would be similarly affected.

To resolve this, the five-dimensional cognitive model had long been trying to improve his three-dimensional thinking model, but the habit was like a deep-seated flaw, impossible to fix quickly.

In the end, it resorted to creating a night vision–like substitute program, kept ready for immediate use.

Now, it was implanting this program into Zhang Mingjing...

Moments later, as soon as Zhang Mingjing activated it, his vision was as bright as day.

“Wow, this is amazing!” Katherine and Jemily exclaimed, their admiration and affection for Zhang Mingjing growing ever more confused and overwhelming.

...

Zhang Mingjing led Katherine and Jemily through coordinated combat drills, followed by solo exercises.

The teamwork drills went smoothly, thanks to their previous experience jointly controlling the hammer, but the individual exercises were fraught with problems.

Zhang Mingjing replicated ten lightsabers, giving three each to Katherine and Jemily.

When each of them tried to control three lightsabers to attack different targets, they would inevitably lose control of one or another due to insufficient mental strength. Sometimes the lightsabers even collided and fell together, making for a rather embarrassing scene.

After forty minutes of practice, progress remained painfully slow.

“What should we do? The swarm will be here in two hours!” Zhang Mingjing anxiously asked the five-dimensional cognitive model.

Unexpectedly, the model replied in a leisurely tone, “Their mental power is no different from ordinary people, so they can’t synchronize with the lightsabers’ parameters. They’d need years of training to improve, and clearly, there’s no time. If you control all the lightsabers yourself, you might be overwhelmed when the swarm arrives!”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier? And why are you still dragging out the plot at a time like this? Just give me a solution!” Zhang Mingjing complained.

“I’ve seen in your TV dramas that every master first analyzes the reason in detail before giving the solution,” the model replied.

“Come on! You call yourself a high-dimensional model and you can’t see through that? That’s just for the audience. We don’t have an audience—just get to the point!”

“Well, even so, I feel it’s abrupt to offer a solution without explanation. After all, I’m something of a master myself; I must maintain a certain air of dignity.”

“Enough already! Are you going to say it or not?” Zhang Mingjing was getting annoyed.

“Fine! With your temper, I’ll tell you. Didn’t I set up a stamina-sharing system for the three of you? Stamina is a form of mental energy, so this system also allows you to share other forms of mental power, like telekinesis.”

“I see! But how do I share it?”

“Just focus your mind, and your telekinetic energy will transfer to them.”

“That simple? Isn’t that a bit insecure?”

“If you’re worried, next time I’ll make a consciousness QR code for you. Scan it before transmitting mental energy!”

“That’s possible?!”

“Idiot! Your own consciousness code is the strongest password. Why bother with a QR code? Isn’t that just complicating things and wasting time and energy?”

“Yeah, you call it the strongest password, but why was it so easily hacked by you guys?”

“That’s because we’re not just advanced algorithms; we’re professional consciousness hackers.”

“Whatever! No time for this. I’ll send them telekinetic energy now.”

As soon as Zhang Mingjing focused his mind, Katherine and Jemily felt a powerful sense of being empowered, their eyes lighting up as they realized Zhang Mingjing was helping them.

“Master! Suddenly I feel like I’m cheating—this is so exciting!” Jemily exclaimed.

“Me too!” Katherine replied with a sweet smile.

“Excellent! Make full use of your lightsabers—the monsters are almost here.”

“Yes, sir!”

After another hour, the two of them finally managed to meet the minimum requirements.

With the remaining forty minutes, Zhang Mingjing told them to rest and prepare for battle.

Yet with only forty minutes left, resting was easier said than done.

Jemily was so excited he wished the battle would start right away.

Zhang Mingjing and Katherine, unable to calm down either, used the time to whisper sweet nothings to each other.

“Hey! You’re the main force in the fight, and you still need to supply them with mental energy. If they don’t rest, so be it, but you can’t make that mistake,” the five-dimensional cognitive model reminded him. If not for this, the lovers’ conversation could have gone on endlessly—forty minutes would never be enough.

“I just can’t stand you two getting all lovey-dovey. Whenever that happens, my living environment instantly deteriorates,” the model complained, already considering building itself a sanctuary to hide in whenever Zhang Mingjing and Katherine were being affectionate, so it could enjoy a little peace and quiet.

Zhang Mingjing clapped his hands in approval. “Great idea! That way you can avoid the misery, and I don’t have to worry about you spying on me. It’s perfect!”

“Please! Your little affairs are worthless in my eyes. Who wants to spy?”

“Hehehe...”

With only half an hour left before battle, the Real Man’s social network monitored the bee swarm in real time. Zhang Mingjing used the time to meditate and quickly regain his strength.

...

Half an hour later, the Real Man reported, “They’ve reached the outskirts—only forty kilometers from here. Should I notify the War God Squad to join the fight?”

“No need. With satellites unable to provide intelligence, they’d be useless in battle. Besides, it’s pitch dark—better they get some rest. Just inform Katherine and Jemily,” Zhang Mingjing replied.