Survival in the apocalypse, teammate Xia Shiyu at the start

"Come in and rest."

Shen Zhao pushed open the door and walked into the room.

The interior decorations made by Eri Kisaki and Ran Mouri remained unchanged.

Shen Zhao checked all the rooms.

When I came out, I saw Asuna standing in the living room, staring blankly at the laser pointer in her hand, looking preoccupied.

He asked casually, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this laser pointer?"

The chestnut-haired girl woke up with a start, looked up at him, and hesitated to speak.

Shen Zhao's expression turned serious: "Asuna, what happened?"

Asuna bit her lip lightly, as if she had made a decision in her mind.

Looking at him with a serious expression, he said, "Mr. Shen Zhao, when I was directing that group of planes to bomb just now, I received a notification."

Shen Zhao roughly guessed what was going on: "You triggered a hidden quest?"

“That’s right,” Asuna readily admitted. “The mission requires me to find a communication device first.”

"Then I'll use the identification code on this laser pointer in my hand to contact the human coalition command and get instructions for the next mission."

Shen Zhao didn't care about the hidden mission; what he cared about was the girl's change in attitude.

"You're telling me this information because you're planning to team up with me for this hidden quest?"

“Yes,” Asuna said solemnly, “Mr. Shen Zhao, I am willing to team up with you in this survival game.”

"I hope we can complete this hidden quest first, and then I will do my best to assist you with the side quests."

"If you suffer a loss due to the limited time remaining, I can give you all the survival points I've earned in this game as compensation."

Shen Zhao readily agreed: "No problem, we'll go with your plan!"

"Ms. Asuna, it's a pleasure doing business with you."

Seeing the man with a smile extending his right hand, the chestnut-haired girl reached out and shook his hand.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Shen Zhao said with a smile. "Let's go find some communication equipment first. I know where we might find some."

He was referring to the initial landing location when Eri Kisaki and her daughter were teleported into this game scene.

If nothing unexpected happens, there should be the same corpses of soldiers from this world nearby as his initial landing site.

These soldiers were all carrying communicators and laser designators.

The communicator on the corpse next to Shen Zhao was broken and unusable; it's unclear whether the communicators on the corpses of Eri and her daughter were in the same condition.

If it's also broken, then the only option is to collect the broken pieces from both sides, piece them together, and try to repair it.

With the top-tier tool of a miniature, all-purpose production black box, plus the knowledge backed up by Iron Man's brain.

Repairing a small individual soldier's communication device shouldn't be a problem.

Hidden missions are definitely not easy to complete without a smooth journey.

In the end, Shen Zhao had no choice but to do it himself.

After a flurry of activity until noon, a military-grade encrypted communicator from this world was successfully repaired.

He handed the communicator to Asuna: "Try it and see if it works."

Without further ado, the chestnut-haired girl took the communicator and began calling the Human Alliance Command.

The communication ended half an hour later.

As expected, this hidden quest is related to the skull beast's lair in that colossal sinkhole.

According to the Human Alliance Command, these massive skeletal beast lairs typically contain queen-level mothers.

It can breed advanced Skullbeast units and command and control an entire horde, posing a great threat to the human alliance.

Command ordered them to infiltrate the nest to confirm the existence of the mother and pinpoint her exact coordinates in real time.

Then, the human alliance's fighter jets launch specially designed bunker-buster bombs to carry out precision strikes.

Without a doubt, this was an exceptionally dangerous mission.

He ventured alone into the monster's lair.

They also needed to find the heavily guarded monster leader, monitor him for a long time, and finally guide the fighter jets to attack.

There seems to be no way it can be completed.

Asuna remained silent after hanging up the call.

Shen Zhao said in a relaxed tone, "Don't think too much about it. We'll do our best. With me here, even if we fail to complete the mission, your safety will still be guaranteed."

The chestnut-haired girl looked at him with resolute eyes: "Mr. Shen Zhao, I would like to hire you to give me special training!"

Shen Zhao agreed to Asuna's training request.

This is a good opportunity to build closer ties.

Besides, this girl will eventually become his, so spending time and energy training her now is tantamount to cultivating an ally for him...

It's a good opportunity to have Ran Mouri join the training as well.

He then led Asuna back to the temporary camp by the frozen river.

After landing, Eri Kisaki came up to her and asked with concern, "Shen-kun, how is the situation?"

Shen Zhao briefly explained: "The human alliance in this world sent more than a dozen planes to bomb the skeleton beast's lair next to the village where we used to live."

"However, that nest is very large, and this bombing probably didn't kill all the monsters inside."

"For safety reasons, we have to stay here and continue living in tents; we can't move back to the village."

Ran Mouri said softly, "It's okay, staying in a tent is fine too."

She said this not only because of her gentle and considerate nature, but also because of her true feelings.

The tent that Shen Zhao exchanged was a high-end product, with a spacious interior and protection against wind, rain, and blizzards.

With air conditioning and other equipment maintaining constant temperature and humidity, the living environment is no worse than that of a five-star hotel.

Eri said, "Shen-kun, Asuna-san, you haven't had lunch yet, have you? Ran just finished cooking. Come inside the tent and eat."

Ran Mouri then lifted the curtain: "Yes, everyone, please come in quickly."

"Let's eat first, and then we can talk about other things."

Shen Zhao took off his battle armor and stepped into the tent.

Asuna bowed politely first, saying, "Excuse me."

After a simple lunch, Shen Zhao announced the upcoming arrangements.

"Ran, starting this afternoon, Asuna will be training with you."

"This time I will increase the intensity and add real combat exercises. You will most likely suffer frequent injuries or even permanent disabilities during training."

Eri Kisaki's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and she could no longer remain calm: "Shen-kun!"

Shen Zhao gave the nervous, mature woman a look that said, "Don't worry, I have a plan."

The Medpod3000 fully automated medical platform was then retrieved from the system space.

He patted the smooth, metallic casing and said calmly, "Don't worry that my training plan is too dangerous. I've already prepared insurance measures for you."

"This medical pod can cure all diseases and physical injuries except for brain damage."

"No matter how serious the injury, even if you lose an arm or a leg, you can quickly recover by lying on it."

"Of course, physical pain is unavoidable when you are injured."

He turned to look at Ran Mouri and said, "Ran, it's up to you whether you want to participate in this special training."

The girl with the high ponytail gave an affirmative answer without hesitation: "I'll participate!"

Eri looked at her daughter with worry in her eyes: "Ran..."

Ran Mouri, 2.6 years old, said with a determined look, "Mom, we've talked about this. I want to participate in the special training and fight alongside Shen Jun!"

Eri bit her red lips and remained silent.

Shen Zhao put his arm around the beautiful mature woman's slender waist: "Don't worry, I'm here for you. I'll protect Xiao Lan."

Asuna was staring at the Medpod3000 with utter astonishment.

Seeing the man's intimate embrace of Eri's mother, she suddenly realized, "So Mr. Shen Zhao is Miss Ran Mouri's stepfather?"

But she always felt that things weren't that simple.

When Ran Mouri mentioned Shen Zhao in front of her, it didn't sound like she was talking about her stepfather, but rather like she was talking about her beloved lover.

However, the girl had never been in a relationship or liked any boy, so she couldn't be sure if her feelings were correct.

Asuna didn't think much of it.

Now is not the time for gossip; she needs to focus on training and her mission.

At this moment, Shen Zhao turned his attention to her: "Asuna."

"Yes." The chestnut-haired girl's expression turned serious. "Please give your orders, Mr. Shen Zhao."

Shen Zhao said, "Go outside and spar with me. Show me your full strength; I need to test your abilities first."

The chestnut-haired girl lowered her head and said, "Understood, Mr. Shen Zhao!"

"Ran is here to watch too. Remember to watch carefully and get familiar with Asuna's fighting style."

After Shen Zhao finished speaking, he put his arm around Fei Yingli's slender waist and walked out of the tent.

Ran Mouri said to Asuna, "Let's go, Miss Asuna."

Asuna nodded.

The two girls followed the man out of the tent.

Chapter 134 A Favor for Asuna, Training Two Women!

After a sparring match, Shen Zhao gained a fairly detailed understanding of Asuna's strength level.

This chestnut-haired girl is definitely among the top players in her batch, with skills comparable to Saeko Busujima in the first survival game.

In addition, there is a proficient use of the enhanced suit.

Even without the system assistance provided to game characters in combat and skill casting in the original game SAO, the game remains unchanged.

The combat power displayed by the physical body is in no way inferior to that of the game character.

Ran Mouri, who was watching the game, was amazed.

"Asuna-san is amazing!"

The chestnut-haired girl wields a rapier, her movements in battle both swift and elegant, resembling a beautiful and valiant female knight from a Western fantasy story.

Shen Zhao tossed aside the branch he had casually whittled down to use as a weapon and nodded approvingly, saying, "It seems Miss Asuna has worked hard to hone her combat skills."

Asuna lowered her head and said somewhat dejectedly, "Compared to Mr. Shen Zhao, my strength is nothing at all."

Unlike their previous encounter where he defeated her in a single move, this time Shen Zhao controlled his own level, keeping it at a level comparable to the girl's.

To more comprehensively and deeply probe her strength.

But the more this happens, the more Asuna can appreciate the gap between the two of them.

Just like seeing Mount Everest from afar, you can only marvel at how tall and huge it is.

Only when you actually climb it can you truly appreciate just how majestic and precipitous this world's highest peak really is.

Shen Zhao gave a meaningful smile and said, "Miss Asuna, you don't need to compare yourself to me. My situation is rather special."

He's using the system cheat code.

Even anime goddesses blessed with good fortune wouldn't find it easy to surpass him.

Unless it's an anime like Esdeath, where the character comes from a high level of power within the world's setting and is also a top-tier powerhouse.

Asuna nodded and said, "I understand."