Chapter 2603: Cleaning Maniac
Chapter 2603: Cleaning Maniac
Two days have passed since Yuan left the city and started cleaning up the Void Specters alone. The soldiers on the same mission and following behind had expected him to exhaust himself by the end of the first day. Yet, he showed no sign of slowing down even after two whole days.
"This doesn’t make any sense! How is he still going after two days without rest?!"
"I haven’t seen him take even a sip of stamina potion, either."
"Who’d be stupid enough to use potions for this sort of mission, anyway? Those things are incredibly expensive."
"If he continues cleaning at this rate, we’ll be done by tomorrow, and these missions usually take at least a week."
Unbeknownst to these soldiers, Yuan had no intention of stopping the mission until they verbally asked him to stop. This meant that he continued cleaning past the Green Zone and into the Orange Zone, something most, if not all, soldiers refrain from doing.
After all, the mission only asked them to clean the Green Zone, and going above and beyond yielded no bonus merit. Unless there was something to gain, most would not even consider it.
"Hey... Aren’t we past the Green Zone already?"
Eventually, one of the soldiers realized this and asked aloud.
"You’re right! Then why isn’t he stopping?"
"Maybe he doesn’t know?"
"Damn it!"
"Hey, Corporal! Stop! We’ve already gone past the Green Zone! There’s no need to keep on going because the mission is already complete!" The squad leader shouted at Yuan, who was just preparing to speed off again.
Yuan stopped and turned to face them.
"I am aware, but I want to keep on cleaning," he said calmly.
"What? Why?"
"Just because," he shrugged.
"Are you insane? There’s literally no point. We’re heading back," said one of the soldiers.
"Alright." Yuan didn’t even try to argue.
Since completing missions faster meant earning merit more quickly, Yuan had no objections to returning to the city, as it still moved him closer to his goals. Of course, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to extend the mission again during future assignments.
"Hey, how are you not tired after shooting that thing for days without rest? Even I can’t last longer than a few hours, and there’s no way you have more Limitless than me."
"You won’t be able to replicate it even if I told you," Yuan replied.
"And what makes you so sure?"
"I just am," he said, refusing to elaborate further.
After returning to the military base, Yuan immediately went back to the mission hall to grab another cleanup mission, repeating the process again and again.
In the blink of an eye, an entire month passed. During that time, Yuan participated in every cleanup mission he could, completing seven in total. He even managed to convince one of his squads to let him spend several days clearing Void Specters in the Orange Zone.
His highly unusual behavior quickly drew attention, and it wasn’t long before his name spread throughout the military, earning him the nickname "Cleaning Maniac."
"Have you heard? Some Corporal with a minigun has been going around volunteering for every cleanup mission he could."
"Someone is actually willingly doing those missions? Why?"
"Who knows? But from what I’ve heard, he does all of the cleaning alone while the rest of his squad just quietly follows behind."
"What? That sounds amazing! Where was he during my cleanup mission two months ago?"
"Apparently, he joined the military only a month ago."
"Huh? And he’s already a Corporal?"
"Because he’s also the prodigy who broke every record during the last recruitment."
"That’s the same person? What the hell is someone like him doing wasting his time on such pointless missions? If he wants to earn merit, there are plenty of other missions that offer far more!"
"You can never tell what a genius is thinking—especially one of his caliber."
It wasn’t just the ordinary soldiers who were baffled by Yuan’s actions, as even General Gu and the officers on his side were greatly puzzled by it.
"What the hell is going on? Why is he doing this?"
"What if it’s actually General Mei’s orders?"
"That makes even less sense! Why would General Mei recruit someone like that just to keep sending him on cleanup missions? What a waste of his potential!"
"Regardless of his reason for doing it, isn’t this a good opportunity to get rid of him before he becomes too troublesome?" Someone suddenly said.
"You want to get rid of him while he is outside the city, where there is no surveillance?"
"That’s right."
"It’s not like there is zero surveillance. Have you forgotten about Gaia’s System? It can tell if a soldier has purposefully killed another soldier."
"We can just use a scapegoat."
As the officers openly discussed killing Yuan, General Gu remained silent, listening without interruption.
Eventually, he spoke. "There’s no need for a scapegoat. According to those who’ve gone on missions with him, he always asks to venture farther than necessary—even into the Orange Zone. We can simply take advantage of that and let him go as far as he wants. The further he goes, the higher the chance an accident will occur. There is virtually no risk for our soldiers either since he also willingly does the cleanup alone."
"The only problem is that we have to wait for him to be assigned to one of our squads," one of the officers said. "That could take months—or even years if we’re unlucky—and there’s no telling how long he’ll keep up this charade."
"I can handle that," another replied. "I’ll be responsible for assigning cleanup missions next month. Still, to avoid making it too obvious, we’ll need to wait at least two months."
"Then we’ll leave it in your hands, Captain Huang."
Meanwhile, Yuan continued taking on cleanup missions, completely unaware that he had already become the target of a conspiracy. Of course, even if he knew, he wouldn’t care. If anything, he’d probably welcome it.