Chapter 12: [Winter]
Xu Zhi didn’t restrain herself from focusing on the core. Light blue, a new attribute—she really wanted it.
Shen Jinwen wasn’t some out-of-touch, old-fashioned person. She had read and heard about some classic post-apocalyptic novels. The moment she saw this object inside a mutated animal she had killed, she connected it to a lot of things, such as the classic “zombie crystal cores” and similar concepts.
Therefore, the moment Xu Zhi mentioned attributes, she thought of this crystal.
Now, Shen Jinwen felt confident showing Xu Zhi the core because Xu Zhi had straightforwardly told her about the attributes, and because Xu Zhi, despite being able to coerce her, was willing to let her go first and was now sitting down to peacefully exchange information. More importantly, Shen Jinwen herself wanted to know more, which is why she was being so open at this moment.
Although Xu Zhi had not interacted much with others since childhood, and especially after falling ill, she had essentially been “isolated from the world.” The only family she could communicate with didn’t seem willing to talk to her much, even though her IQ and EQ were both intact. She occasionally learned about the outside world through TV, but when it came to hiding her feelings in front of something she really wanted and quickly coming up with a perfect set of words, Xu Zhi couldn’t do that.
So, she bluntly asked, “I want this. What can I exchange for it?”
She didn’t believe Shen Jinwen hadn’t considered that she might want it.
As expected, Shen Jinwen didn’t show any significant surprise. She cautiously responded, “Tell me everything you know about the attributes.”
In Shen Jinwen’s eyes, information was actually more important than this crystal. Collecting information herself was not easy, but she never expected Xu Zhi’s method of gathering information to be so “special.”
At first, Shen Jinwen had merely been testing the waters, prepared for Xu Zhi to negotiate, but sure enough, she heard Xu Zhi say, “I can tell you a part of what I know, and it’s quite important to you.”
To Xu Zhi, the information about the attribute core wasn’t something she needed to conceal because, as time passed, everyone would eventually discover it. However, even so, she didn’t intend to pour out all the information just for a single core—she had to leave some information for future trades.
For example, this time, she didn’t plan to tell Shen Jinwen all the specifics of each attribute.
In Xu Zhi’s view, the city had already come to a halt. The people still alive couldn’t all be like her, with “cheats” that reduced their need for food and water. They would definitely be out there, risking their lives to find survival resources, and after defeating monsters, they would find cores.
This world was never short of clever people, and someone would eventually figure out the connection between the different colors of cores and “attributes” because it was so obvious.
Moreover, someone would surely experiment with the cores to determine their true purpose.
Xu Zhi didn’t plan to interact with many more people in the short term. Her main focus was on increasing her power. She boldly speculated that not long from now, a new order would emerge in this dead city—perhaps, the strong would dominate.
At that time, money would inevitably become useless, and bartering would replace money transactions. What would be more suitable than bartering with supplies and cores?
She kept the most crucial information for herself, intending to use it for more gains. At this moment, she was willing to give Shen Jinwen a bit of a “discount” and share some information about the attributes, partly because she wanted to “make a friend.”
For the next while, she didn’t plan to go out, but Shen Jinwen seemed to be outside frequently, so Xu Zhi needed her as an information source.
She looked at Shen Jinwen and continued, “You should know, one crystal for my information is not an equal trade. Even if the information I give you is incomplete, its value far exceeds just one core.”
“So, I need you to continue paying me.”
“In the future, we can cooperate. You’ll share any valuable information you acquire.”
“If I confirm you’re not deceiving me, once the cooperation is stable, I’ll share another very important piece of information with you—something that’s hard for others to know.”
This information was naturally the detailed data about the light blue core. Xu Zhi also needed to obtain the core to check the game’s narration before she could fully understand it.
Upon hearing this, Shen Jinwen remained silent for a long time. Xu Zhi didn’t know what she was thinking but knew that her final decision was to nod. “Alright.”
After saying this, she voluntarily handed the core to Xu Zhi, a gesture of goodwill.
Xu Zhi smiled upon receiving it. She felt that Shen Jinwen was an interesting person. She didn’t say much, was straightforward in action, had a sharp edge, but after interacting, she felt that her personality was calmer than it appeared. It seemed like, if they became collaborators, she would be a quiet and reliable ally.
Thinking this, Xu Zhi took the core and looked at it. “I mentioned attributes before. This,” she gestured to the core, “is an attribute core.”
“There are eight types of attributes, and the color of the core differs depending on the type. As for the specifics—what each of the eight types is called, their abilities, and effects—I can’t tell you right now because the payment you’ve made isn’t enough.”
“As proof,” Xu Zhi took out the light yellow blade attribute core she had previously pocketed. “Here, this is one of my attribute cores.”
When Shen Jinwen saw the Blade core, she became even more convinced of Xu Zhi’s words. After Xu Zhi showed her, she put both cores in her pocket and continued, “I can tell you one important piece of information: living beings are drawn to the attribute that suits them best. So, you’re most likely aligned with the light blue attribute.”
“Don’t try using the attribute core on yourself easily—there’s a counterbalance between attributes. If you want to know how to use them specifically, you’ll need to show sincerity in our future cooperation.”
“That’s all I can tell you for now.”
Xu Zhi’s conversation had left Shen Jinwen with quite a bit of hope. She hadn’t known much about the attributes but now felt that Xu Zhi’s information was extremely valuable. In Shen Jinwen’s eyes, Xu Zhi had gone from being the “strange and dangerous girl” they had first met to a “mysterious figure who knows a lot.”
When Shen Jinwen had first opened the door, her trust in Xu Zhi was only about one or two out of ten. It wasn’t really trust at that point, more of a gamble.
Now, her trust had exceeded fifty percent. This was likely because the apocalypse in Cloud City had only just begun, and trust between people hadn’t been completely eroded yet.
Given Xu Zhi’s “generosity,” Shen Jinwen directly shared most of what she had discovered in the past few days. It wasn’t much, mostly about the area nearby. While valuable, it didn’t compare to Xu Zhi’s information.
So, she didn’t press Xu Zhi for more but instead agreed to meet whenever she found new valuable information, and when Xu Zhi felt it was enough, she would share more.
After the exchange of information, Xu Zhi didn’t stay long. She still had a lot to do.
Back at her new home, Xu Zhi first picked up her gaming device and thought about how she had previously placed the black fruit back in her warehouse. At that time, it was done with a thought, so now she did the same with the light blue core—holding it and “thinking” for a moment, and the next second, the core disappeared from her hand.
She opened her game warehouse, and sure enough, a light blue crystal had appeared.
She selected the core, and the word appeared beside it: [Winter]
[Congratulations, you have obtained another attribute core. Would you like to learn some of the knowledge about this core?]
Xu Zhi clicked “Yes” as usual.
[Winter: The principles of silence, endings, and things not entirely gone.]
[It encompasses loss, remembrance, deathly silence, decay, snow, endings, and weakness. Its characteristic is silence, sometimes even knowing its own demise.]
Xu Zhi furrowed her brow at the text. To be honest, she hadn’t sensed much of the “loss” or “deathly silence” from Shen Jinwen, nor did it seem to have anything to do with “weakness” or “decay.” Of course, this was a somewhat superficial judgment. She didn’t understand attributes deeply yet, so perhaps she could determine how the attribute fits by observing Shen Jinwen more closely.
For some reason, Xu Zhi had a feeling that the attributes of [Winter] were “neutral.” It wasn’t like [Moth], which was obviously chaotic from the description, nor like [Blade], where power and conflict were plainly evident—[Winter] seemed too quiet.
This made Xu Zhi increasingly curious about the characteristics of the other attributes.
However, before that, she needed to conduct a small experiment to see if one of the core’s uses was what she suspected.
Xu Zhi took out the [Blade] attribute core from her pocket and said to Yi, “Open your mouth.”
Yi, who was lying by her feet, obediently opened its large blood-filled mouth. Xu Zhi threw the core inside, “Swallow it.”
Yes, her experiment was very simple: to see what would happen if the familiars ate the corresponding attribute core, and whether they could digest the energy within the core.
A very straightforward idea, and Yi was the perfect test subject nearby.
Understanding how the core works was very important to Xu Zhi, especially since she had a core that corresponded to her own attribute.
Perhaps, this would become the key to enhancing her power.
She watched as Yi, after swallowing the core, curled up, closed its eyes, and its head drooped onto its body. It seemed to have entered a state resembling hibernation.
Seeing this, Xu Zhi picked up her gaming device and looked at the screen.
