Chapter 162 Discovery

February 15. The weather was clear. After completing his morning practice of the Advanced Armored Soldier’s Body Technique, David had recovered in the gene-repair pod. Before he had time to work on anything else, Furness arrived at his villa.

Furness hadn’t come to see David once in the past few days. The reason was simple: he’d been dealt a blow.

He had practiced like a madman, convinced that since Extraordinary Garen had taken on his youngest disciple, he would no longer be the weakest of the master’s students. But David was so strong—far stronger than Furness had ever imagined.

Today, however, Furness had no choice but to come and fetch him. He needed to take David to buy a formal outfit, get his hair done, and attend the evening’s ceremony welcoming the new disciple.

“David, is it my imagination, or have you gotten stronger again?” Furness asked, eyeing him in surprise.

Though he wasn’t particularly strong himself, Furness had a good eye. As Extraordinary Garen’s disciple, he had seen plenty of armored soldiers and had developed his own ways of judging them.

From the way David walked and the small, unconscious movements of his body, Furness could tell that he had gained a great deal of strength since their last meeting a few days ago.

“I’ve been getting a steady supply of Grade One fortified meat lately, and I spent a few days training in seclusion. Naturally, I’ve gained a little strength,” David replied with a smile.

He had no intention of telling Furness that his mastery of the advanced body technique had reached the proficient level. The technique was a form of self-inflicted torment; even explaining how he had come by it would be difficult, let alone admitting how far he had progressed.

“Can taking Grade One fortified meat every day really make you improve that quickly?” Furness murmured to himself.

Grade One fortified meat was one of the benefits of being a disciple of Extraordinary Garen. For ordinary armored soldiers, it was a luxury. To Extraordinary Garen, it was simply a common resource.

Furness himself had been taking Grade One fortified meat without interruption for years, yet his strength still improved slowly. Of course, his rate of progress was far faster than that of an ordinary armored soldier.

Once a person became an armored soldier, every increase in strength meant breaking through their own limits. Each gain was tiny—sometimes barely a hundred grams, sometimes even less. At times, their strength might plateau for a long while; if their supply of resources fell short, it might even decline.

An armored soldier might be said to progress from a thousand kilograms toward the limit of two thousand, but the vast majority never reached it in their lifetime. Those few who did and became peak armored soldiers usually spent more than a decade in constant training.

With the lavish training resources available to someone like Furness, he could generally reach the peak by his thirties.

In the past, Furness had been proud of his progress. But after seeing David again, that little pride vanished without a trace.

“David, don’t bring any weapons or armor today. We’ll be staying in Naan, and the master asked me to take you to get your hair done and buy a few formal outfits. The formalwear in Perrin is terribly out of date!” Furness said, hastily changing the subject.

David gave him a skeptical look. He didn’t trust Furness’s taste at all.

Just look at what Furness was wearing. He had changed into a different outfit today, but he still looked like a rock singer from David’s old world.

Still, David realized he would have the final say over his own clothes, so he went out with Furness.

“David, Naan really is safe!” Furness said helplessly, glancing at the Grade Two military dagger strapped to David’s leg.

David ignored him. The dagger was his last line of defense, and he had no intention of entrusting his safety to the Skynet.

As an electronic warfare specialist with peak-level mastery, he had many ways to evade Skynet’s surveillance and avoid the threat posed by the Eye of War.

Besides, once they were inside a building, Skynet’s surveillance became extremely limited.

After seeing the vast underground network beneath Naan and learning how dangerous it was, David had little faith in the city’s safety.

Furness drove the hovercar. Though he was a person of considerable standing, the vehicle still kept within a meter of the ground.

The four major powers in Naan kept one another in check, effectively curbing the abuse of authority.

David’s hometown, Perrin, was the opposite. The military was the most powerful force there, so after earning its approval, David had been allowed to fly through the air in an armored military hovercar.

It was morning, but Naan’s streets were already crowded with pedestrians and hovercars.

The hovercar flew at seventy kilometers per hour for nearly half an hour before they reached their destination: a pedestrian shopping street.

They got out at the entrance. The hovercar could park itself, so Furness didn’t need to bother with it.

As David walked along the street, he gazed at the dazzling array of goods in the shops lining either side. It made him feel as if he had stepped into another world.

This place bore no resemblance to Rock Star, a city in the war zone. The people here were relaxed, laughing and chatting freely. They didn’t have to stay constantly alert to their own safety or worry that Zerg might suddenly appear.

If David hadn’t seen the underground network, he might truly have believed that this city was the peaceful paradise of legend.

“Welcome, Mr. Furness!” When the two men entered the Faradi Fashion Salon, a beautiful attendant stepped forward, smiling and bowing to Furness.

“Is Tony here? I made an appointment,” Furness said with a nod and a smile.

“Master Tony is waiting for you. Please follow me, gentlemen.” The attendant led them into a private room.

David saw the Master Tony Furness had booked: a man of about thirty, wearing apple-green trousers, a tight white shirt, and a pink vest. His fingers habitually curled into delicate, flower-like shapes.

“Furness, you’re really planning to have me get my hair done here?” David asked uncertainly.

The moment he saw Master Tony, he had wanted to leave.

“David, Tony is the best stylist in all of Naan. He designed my look!” Furness said with a laugh.

“Furness, all I need is to have my hair tidied up and buy a formal outfit. I’m not going to a party!” David said through gritted teeth.

“Mr. David, with your build, your features, and your bearing, all you need is the right styling and you’ll be absolutely flawless!” As he spoke, Master Tony came up to David and reached out to touch him.

Startled, David thrust out a hand. The force sent Master Tony stumbling several steps backward.

“David, Tony means no harm!” Furness hurriedly said.

But David’s gaze had turned cold. His heightened perception now let him notice subtleties that other people missed.

In that brief moment when he had pushed Tony, he had sensed a familiar force within him.

The force was extremely weak, but David was absolutely certain: it was the energy cultivated by members of that mysterious organization.

Its weakness meant that Tony’s fighting ability was extremely poor, but that was more than enough to put David on his guard.

“Furness, I don’t like this place. I’d rather go somewhere else,” David said, turning to him. His voice was firm.

Furness didn’t know what had happened, but he immediately nodded. He gave Master Tony an apologetic look, then led David out of the private room.

As he watched David leave, Master Tony’s face twisted into a peculiar smile. He activated his identity wristband.

“I’ve met David. He’s extremely wary, and I couldn’t get close enough to him. Install a tracking signal,” Master Tony said into the wristband in his distinctly feminine voice.

But Master Tony failed to notice the Shadow Servant standing invisibly beside him. It had witnessed everything he did and heard every word.

David had said they were leaving, but he walked slowly, as if deliberately dragging things out, strolling along and looking around the salon.

Through the awareness he had left inside the Shadow Servant, David heard Master Tony’s words. A trace of murderous intent flashed in his eyes, but he kept it under control.

Furness then chose a more conventional styling shop. David had his hair tidied up, then ordered three formal outfits from an old-established clothing store. Only then were his preparations for the ceremony complete.