Chapter 100: “Little Princess”
[Now that her path to becoming an Archbishop has just begun, to successfully ascend, she’ll likely need your help—to absorb more “envy.”]
Xu Zhi smiled at that: “That’s perfect.”
This way, she could feel more at ease keeping Yu Shenwei close. Otherwise, having to constantly stay on guard around someone right by her side was quite a hassle. It also gave her a better chance to observe Yu Shenwei’s transformation into an Archbishop—and potentially control whether she could become one.
A perfect research subject, really.
Yu Shenwei was placed in a guest room, with clan members secretly watching over her. Meanwhile, Xu Zhi returned to her own room, preparing to use her spirit body to leave Cloud City—a rare occurrence.
She planned to stay longer this time. In addition to selling information, she had other goals for this trip.
After paying extra cores to bring both of her abilities with her, Xu Zhi tapped Confirm.
[Deploying…]
[Deployment Successful]
Even before opening her eyes, Xu Zhi could already feel the rare buzz of activity—something Cloud City rarely experienced.
It had been about two months since her last visit. She wondered if the Federation missed her.
Apparently, even though she’d been gone for two months, someone had been closely watching this place, waiting for her to return. Just four or five minutes after she arrived, a car pulled up in front of her.
Inside was the same uniformed Lin Zizhen. But he looked far less composed than the last time.
He looked tired, and as she got closer, Xu Zhi caught a faint whiff of blood.
“You’re injured?” she asked directly.
Lin Zizhen didn’t seem surprised by her sharpness. He gave a bitter smile and nodded. “Yes. It’s been hectic lately.”
“Hectic?” Xu Zhi raised an eyebrow. “You said that last time too. You still haven’t finished being ‘busy’?”
Maybe trying to get closer to her, or maybe because there was no harm in telling her, Lin Zizhen nodded and said frankly, “Compared to now, when you visited last time, I was practically on vacation.”
So things had only gotten worse over the past two months. Clearly, something was wrong.
“And that sister from before? Is she busy too today?”
“She was killed during a mission last month.” Lin Zizhen’s tone turned heavy. He looked at Xu Zhi, expecting at least a flicker of emotion—but she only gave a calm, “Oh,” as if she’d just been asking out of politeness.
That made it awkward for Lin Zizhen to continue the topic, so he switched gears: “When would you like to conduct the trade, Miss Xu?”
Xu Zhi thought for a moment. “No rush. I’m curious about how things are going in the Federation lately—mind if I look around?”
“Of course. Where would you like to start?”
“That depends… maybe let’s see what you’ve all been so ‘busy’ with?” She asked with a playful tone.
Lin Zizhen nodded. “Actually, that works. Before I came to pick you up, I was working on a mission that’s just about wrapping up. Shall we head there directly?”
“I’ll fill you in on the way.”
Quite generous of him. Then again, he probably figured she couldn’t leave Cloud City anyway, so there was no harm in letting her see.
On the way, Lin Zizhen explained: this mission was to raid a cultist hideout.
From his description, Xu Zhi learned that the Federation was currently overwhelmed by attacks from aberrants and cultists. The number of cultists far exceeded the available supernatural operatives, and it took an entire team just to eliminate a single aberrant.
Now, manpower shortages had become one of the Special Task Division’s biggest headaches. They practically wished they could split every operative in two.
Some ordinary people had also been corrupted into followers of the [Cup], becoming cultists themselves. The evil spawned from [Cup] was now a major problem.
At this point, Lin Zizhen added with a meaningful tone: “The Federation is already researching how to turn more people into supernatural operatives.”
There was, of course, one painfully obvious but officially unacknowledged method—Cloud City’s black fog.
Everyone knew by now: the black fog brought danger, but also power. Unfortunately, they couldn’t touch that power.
“Well… good luck with that,” Xu Zhi said dryly.
That was all she could say.
Soon, the car arrived at the cultist stronghold Lin Zizhen had mentioned.
“Miss Xu, this is the place. We’ve received intel that the cultists here are holding a ritual today. The front and back exits are sealed. We’re ready to storm the building. Would you prefer to wait outside, or…?”
Xu Zhi answered casually, “I’ll go with you. Don’t worry—I’m not that easy to kill. Even if I die, I can come right back.”
She knew he was worried about the possibility of accidentally injuring her and jeopardizing the trade. But she had made up her mind—she wanted to see firsthand whether the cultists outside Cloud City were different from those within.
Seeing her insistence, Lin Zizhen could only nod. “Very well, then let’s go.”
After getting out of the car, Xu Zhi saw the building surrounded by heavily armed federal officers, along with a few more elite-looking members of the Special Task Division wearing the same uniform as Lin Zizhen.
Coincidentally, Xu Zhi recognized them. One of them was Captain Wan Luo—the same one she’d seen during her previous visit to the task force. Didn’t he have some beef with Lin Zizhen back then?
Why were they working together now?
Apparently, she wasn’t the only one to notice. Captain Wan frowned slightly upon seeing her. He still didn’t know her identity. Lin Zizhen hadn’t explained anything to him after the last incident, so Wan Luo assumed Xu Zhi was some “bigwig’s daughter” out on a sightseeing tour.
After all, the impression she left last time wasn’t great—recklessly using her powers, acting like she’d never faced real consequences. Clearly just some spoiled “little princess” out for fun.
Seeing her here again now, Wan Luo was irritated with Lin Zizhen. But there was no time to ask questions—the team was already breaching the door to prevent any cultist escapes. He had to follow.
Just before charging in, Wan Luo shot Lin Zizhen a low warning: “Don’t get in the way.”
It sounded like it was directed at Lin Zizhen—but the real target was clearly someone else.
Xu Zhi didn’t get the subtext and didn’t care. She thought Wan Luo was scolding Lin Zizhen directly. Lin Zizhen understood, but could only pretend he didn’t.
“Come on, let’s go,” he said with a calm smile.
Gunshots echoed from inside the building. Xu Zhi nodded and rushed in eagerly.
As she entered, she activated her Eye of Secrets. Through the Special Task Unit members, she glimpsed the cultists being cornered inside—and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly:
“Not just the aberrants—even these cultists are so much weaker than the ones inside Cloud City.”
Strangely enough, many of the people here were ordinary civilians who had been corrupted.
With such an abundance of flesh and blood for nourishment, the cultists outside the city should have been better off, right?
And yet… not a single one of them looked like they were living well.
Something’s definitely off.
