Chapter 10: New Year

The birth of Jarvis marked a significant milestone for Jiang Chen. He decided to give himself a day off, choosing not to think about work, study, or improving his abilities—a day devoted entirely to rest.

On his way back to Mingyue Community, snow began to fall unexpectedly. In the warm south, this was a rare occurrence. Jiang Chen had been in this world for more than ten years, yet this was the first time he had seen snow with his own eyes. The New Year had only just passed, but apart from a few shops still displaying spring couplets and lanterns, there was little festive atmosphere left.

In this new era that followed the Great Nirvana, humanity faced immense pressure just to survive. Everyone functioned like a cog in a great machine, moving in order, so that the vast human apparatus could keep running, resisting the monsters that prowled the wilderness and vying for living space.

Watching the hurried faces of people commuting through the streets, a complicated feeling welled up in Jiang Chen’s heart. “If there were no monsters, people’s lives would probably be much better,” he murmured.

Lu Gang, who was driving, heard Jiang Chen’s words and answered loudly, “Mr. Jiang, the technology you provided has already given us a huge advantage against the monsters. I heard Commander Li mention that the first batch of Reapers equipped in the army performed excellently in combat. They're already considering the possibility of retaking 140 counties nearby to expand the range of our base city.”

Over the past months, Jiang Chen had been busy, but so had the military. With a vast supply of materials prioritized for production, several thousand Reapers had already been distributed to frontline troops. Field tests had shown that the Reaper’s performance exceeded even the most optimistic predictions. Its powerful armor-piercing ability meant that almost all monsters below the lord level could not even get close to organized martial squads; they were killed at a distance, never posing any threat to the troops.

Even lord-level monsters could be hunted down by a few enhanced Reapers in the hands of a skilled martial artist. As for the low-level monsters not worth wasting bullets on, other martial artists would sweep them aside together. A martial unit of about a hundred, armed with twenty or thirty Reaper rifles, could easily clear a vast area.

As long as they didn’t encounter planet-class monsters, they were virtually unstoppable.

Given such results, the military was naturally determined to ramp up production, regardless of cost, to equip the entire army with Reaper rifles as quickly as possible. There was no shortage of martial artists in the military; as long as they had enough weapons capable of threatening beast commanders and lord-level monsters, retaking county after county, or even cities, would not be an issue.

Once the monsters in an abandoned county or city were cleared and defensive walls established, large populations could live and work within those reclaimed areas.

If these regions could be connected and merged with the base city, their value would be even higher.

Listening to Lu Gang recount the Reaper’s exploits on the battlefield, Jiang Chen couldn’t help but smile. Handing this weapon over to the military had always been the right choice—only the military could fully realize its value and reclaim more living space for humanity from the monsters.

And this was only the Reaper.

If the Pugilist power armor were added, it might not be enough to completely annihilate or drive out the monsters, but it could certainly increase the size of several base cities by a significant margin.

However, Jiang Chen was in no hurry to mention the Pugilist project. On one hand, the project was highly complex—even with Jarvis’s help, it would take a long time to produce a working prototype, let alone mass production. On the other hand, without sufficient strength and status, revealing too much would not be in his best interests.

Even the immense profits brought by the Reaper had already attracted plenty of envious eyes. Fortunately, with Lu Gang’s protection, many troubles had been quietly resolved before reaching Jiang Chen’s ears. It was only after Jarvis came online and gathered a vast amount of information from the web that Jiang Chen realized his wealth had long been targeted by those with ill intentions, some even plotting in the shadows to take it from him.

This made Jiang Chen all the more cautious and determined to be even more discreet in the future.

For now, the military could shield him from trouble. But if the stakes grew larger, drawing the attention of even more powerful forces and experts, would that protection hold? And could he place absolute trust in the military if the benefits became great enough?

Jiang Chen was not so naïve.

In the end, only by being strong enough himself could he truly secure the resources he desired. Anything beyond that had to be hidden away, never easily revealed.

“When the Pugilist project is complete, I’ll need to start focusing on my own combat abilities…” The thought flashed through Jiang Chen’s mind.

But it was only a fleeting thought.

A rare day off, Jiang Chen simply wanted to relax. Upon returning to Mingyue Community, he learned that Luo Feng had just come back from the wilderness, so he headed over to Luo Feng’s home to scrounge a meal.

Unfortunately, Wei Wen’s vacation had ended and he had returned to school, so the trio of close friends didn’t have a chance to gather together.

Among the three, Wei Wen was the only one who chose to attend university. Luo Feng decided to walk the path of the martial artist, while Jiang Chen, though he leaned towards scientific research, saw no purpose in attending university—especially with the system in his hands, which rendered any university education pointless.

Luo Feng’s family welcomed Jiang Chen warmly, especially Luo Feng’s father, who enthusiastically pulled Jiang Chen into drinking several rounds, his face flushing red as he started rambling incoherently. Eventually, Luo Feng had to forcibly snatch the wine glass away to stop him.

After dinner, the two friends went over to Jiang Chen’s home.

“How about another drink?” Jiang Chen suggested, taking a bottle from the cabinet and gesturing to Luo Feng.

Though Luo Feng wouldn’t let his father drink, he himself was quite fond of alcohol. Back in middle school, Jiang Chen, Luo Feng, and Wei Wen often sneaked drinks together behind their parents’ and teachers’ backs.

Now, with his enhanced physique as a martial artist, Luo Feng’s tolerance had soared. The wine at dinner had barely whetted his appetite, so he was far from satisfied.

“Sure, I’ll help myself to your good wine!” Luo Feng laughed, fetching the glasses and glancing around curiously. “Where’s Uncle Lu?”

Luo Feng knew that Lu Gang had long been Jiang Chen’s protector, but he wasn’t aware of Lu Gang’s true strength, assuming he was just a military-assigned warrior.

“Uncle Lu doesn’t drink, don’t worry about him,” Jiang Chen replied with a shake of his head. As he opened the bottle and poured the wine, he continued, “My wine isn’t cheap, but that shouldn’t be an issue for you, right? You, of all people, are wearing a Series-9 combat suit—what’s a few tens of thousands a bottle to you?”