Chapter 12

As time passed day by day, before he knew it, half a month had gone by. After being systematically trained by Old Xu, Zhuochuan found that his control over the body, the one left by B49775, had greatly increased. Although his absolute strength had not improved much, his speed and skills were far superior to what they were half a month ago.

However, the effects of the training had significantly diminished. Zhuochuan could hardly feel any noticeable improvement, but he continued to persist in his training.

Old Xu explained that this was because the body's instincts were still intact. Previously, Zhuochuan had only been adapting his soul to this body, which was why his improvement was so rapid. Now that he had basically adapted to the body's original skills, to make any significant progress, he would need more time.

Old Xu could no longer spar with Zhuochuan, as he was no longer a match for him. If he continued to be a sparring partner, it would only benefit Old Xu, not Zhuochuan.

Zhuochuan entered an advanced training room for his training. There were three combat robots in the room. Their speed and strength, thanks to the use of various high-tech materials and the absence of any biological limitations, could easily surpass Zhuochuan. Without even mentioning their other features, their specially designed fists were much harder than diamonds, which are the hardest natural minerals.

Zhuochuan used these robots to hone his instinctive reactions, speed, and skills.

By the end of the day, he was drenched in sweat. He had progressed from having the upper hand against one robot to now facing three robots simultaneously.

"How are these guys? Are they okay?" Old Xu asked, throwing a towel at him.

"Not bad, they're not clumsy at all," Zhuochuan replied. These robots had high intelligence and were not affected by any mental factors. Every punch was precise, and he could only rely on his raw strength to either dodge or take the hit.

"That's because you haven't seen the advanced robots. These are just ordinary robots that use conventional energy sources. No matter how intelligent they are, they can only reach this level. Only the advanced robots, which are powered by soul crystals, can match or even surpass humans," Old Xu sighed, not continuing further.

Zhuochuan then asked, "Do the citizens use advanced robots for their training?"

"Of course, most people can't afford them. They still use ordinary robots to train their reactions and skills. He Qiang mentioned that at his level, if he doesn't use soul power, he can only handle one ordinary robot at a time, which is far from your level. You've only been training for fifteen days," Old Xu said. "If you had more time, and your soul grew a bit more to better match this body, you would only get stronger."

Zhuochuan understood that, like He Qiang, Old Xu believed his soul could continue to grow. However, he knew his own situation. Without some kind of breakthrough, his soul was unlikely to grow as much as the students here.

Over the past half a month, his soul had not grown, and he had not even begun to understand soul skills. As the effects of physical training diminished, he became increasingly anxious.

After completing his training, he went home, ate dinner, and quickly dealt with his modern-world affairs. He then returned to the study and went online to search for information on how to understand soul skills. He also posted questions on various forums, though the chances were slim, it was still a glimmer of hope.

However, after spending the entire night, he found no effective results. The only gain was that through the past ten days of research, he had a more comprehensive and profound understanding of soul power and soul skills.

Just as he was about to shut down his computer and rest, a message window flashed on the screen. Someone was calling him.

"I noticed that you've been asking about the soul successors of citizens. What level of citizen soul successor are you?"

Zhuochuan saw the message and felt a glimmer of hope. He thought for a moment and decided there was no need to keep it a secret, so he replied.

"Hello, I am a B-level citizen's soul successor."

"Oh, then it must be B47995."

"Do you know him?" Zhuochuan asked, feeling hopeful. The tone of the other person indicated that they were at least a citizen, and possibly even knew B47995 in life.

"Yes, he was very low-key. So low-key that if you didn't check his citizen number, no one would think he was one of the top citizens," the person seemed to have many thoughts.

Zhuochuan, feeling pressed for time, quickly asked, "Can you tell me how to understand the soul skills he once possessed, especially the offensive ones?"

"I know your situation, but I can't directly help you. I can only tell you a bit about B47995's habits in life, hoping it will help you," the person replied.

Zhuochuan was overjoyed, as he had finally found a clue. He didn't notice the other meaning in the person's words and hurriedly asked, "Thank you, what habits?"

"B47995, in life, his favorite place was not the villa above ground but the underground hospital. In the underground hospital, his favorite people to accompany were not the young and beautiful nurses but the elderly reserve citizens who were about to die. He would often watch them until they took their last breath."

As the words appeared one by one, Zhuochuan felt a bit uneasy. He looked around at the bright lights and the sounds of people outside, which calmed him down.

Why did his predecessor have such strange habits? Zhuochuan tried to think positively, perhaps the person was a kind-hearted individual, like those who do "end-of-life care" in the modern world.

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"No, you'll have to explore the rest on your own. Goodbye, B47995."

Zhuochuan wanted to ask more but couldn't get through. He had to give up.

With the hint from the other person, Zhuochuan now had a lead. He stood up from the computer and paced around the study.

The other person's words clearly suggested that he should follow B47995's habits and go to the underground hospital to find some elderly reserve citizens who were about to die and stay with them until they passed away.

"Should I go to an underground hospital tomorrow?" Zhuochuan muttered to himself. As soon as this thought arose, he felt a sudden unease, as if it came from deep within his soul, preventing him from having this thought.

Can't go? Zhuochuan thought. Is there some danger in going there?

But if he can't go to the underground hospital in the new world, where should he go? Zhuochuan suddenly thought of the hospitals in the modern world, where there would be no unexpected incidents. Indeed, as soon as this thought arose, the unease disappeared.

Zhuochuan thought for a moment and sent a message to Old Xu, saying he had some leads on understanding soul skills and would not go to the school training hall for a while. After doing this, he went to the bedroom, lay down, and soon returned to his modern-world body.

It was also night in the modern world. Although it was past midnight, the lights outside were still bright, and the night sky was devoid of stars.

Zhuochuan thought he couldn't go out now and would have to wait until tomorrow, so he went to bed.

However, just as he was about to sleep, his phone, which he had left on the bedside table, rang. Zhuochuan, seeing how late it was, was reluctant to answer, but he thought it might be a friend. He calmed down and picked up the phone.

Looking at the contact list, he saw that it was a call from Zhou Dean, the vice president of the city's tumor hospital. There were already nearly twenty missed calls from him, all from the past night.

"What could Zhou Dean want at this hour? What could be so urgent?" Zhuochuan muttered to himself but still answered the call.

Zhou Dean was the vice president of the city's tumor hospital, a top-tier hospital with a good reputation in the medical community. It was also a key client of his former company, Green Mountain Medical.

Zhou Dean, in addition to being the head of the cardiothoracic department, also oversaw the hospital's information department, which managed the entire hospital's business systems.

When Zhuochuan was still working as the development department manager, he had frequent interactions with Zhou Dean, and they had some rapport.

Last year, while working overtime at the hospital, Zhuochuan had felt neck pain. Zhou Dean, who was also working overtime, had examined his neck and advised him to rest properly, warning that if he didn't, his condition could worsen, leading to cervical deformity, which would be difficult to cure and could only be managed with physical therapy and acupuncture.

After answering the call, Zhuochuan remembered that the hospital, being a specialized tumor hospital, had a palliative care ward, which matched the mysterious person's hint.

Palliative care involved accompanying terminally ill patients until they passed away. This ward was relatively new in China, and the patients there often had only a few months to live, with many having less than 24 hours. This matched the mysterious person's hint.

"Ah, Xiao Zhu, you finally answered," Zhou Dean said, breathing heavily. "I won't beat around the bush. Please come to the hospital as soon as possible."

"What's wrong?" Zhuochuan asked. "I've been out of Green Mountain for half a month. If there's a problem with the system, you should contact the current manager."

"I know you've resigned, and they've already informed me," Zhou Dean said. "But these new managers are all talk. They said the new system would improve efficiency and benefit the hospital, but the old system was working fine. Yesterday, they switched to the new system, and today the entire hospital is in chaos. The registration hall is packed, and it's even on the local noon news. Director Li called me this afternoon and scolded me in front of all the department heads, demanding that I fix it before work tomorrow."

Zhou Dean briefly explained the situation. "We need to restore normal operations immediately. We have to switch back to the old system, but they can't figure out how to do it. The entire hospital has been operating manually all day. I need to fix this before work tomorrow."

Zhuochuan, hearing this, had a guess. He already knew who had made Zhou Dean call him.

He then asked, "Why are you calling me personally instead of having the company contact me?"