Chapter 137: Sorting
For Xu Zhi, the only weapon that truly felt right in her hands was still the Tang sword. As expected, the materials provided by the game console once again required parts of the Little Aberrant—its limbs and a claw. That was only natural. After all, what material could be sharper and tougher than its own flesh and claws?
The Tang blade forged from these parts was jet black, etched with shallow golden runes. But when it tasted blood, those runes would shift to a deep crimson, as if drinking the blood, and even the originally silvery, cold blade would change color.
In fact, this blade did drink blood.
It inherited some of the Little Aberrant’s traits, such as Bloodthirst and Pain. Its edge was incredibly sharp, inflicting wounds deeper and harder to heal than ordinary ones. Blood loss was accelerated, and the pain it caused came from the soul rather than just the body—impossible to ignore. What’s more, it would feed on blood to strengthen itself.
However, simply soaking it in a pool of blood wouldn’t work. It only absorbed the blood of its combat opponents. Also, if the wielder lacked strong willpower, the blade’s bloodlust and pain would begin to affect them. The more powerful the blade became, the deeper the psychological toll.
Of course, this downside didn’t apply to Xu Zhi at all.
After all, the blade was crafted from her own aberrant’s body parts—it wouldn’t harm her. If someone else tried to use the blade against her, its special traits wouldn’t even activate.
It was a truly “possessive” weapon, but imbued with the loyalty of the Little Aberrant.
Xu Zhi was very satisfied.
After crafting her weapon, she prepared to temporarily leave the city center. She was considering whether to relocate the residential district into the city center.
By this point, she no longer needed to deliberately hide things from Zhong Lingfan. The more Zhong Lingfan knew, the more capable she’d be of acting properly.
Besides, Xu Zhi had a better way to ensure she wouldn’t be betrayed—or more precisely, couldn’t be betrayed.
The current version of the Moth could subtly alter a person’s deepest beliefs and logic without affecting their surface personality at all. After Xu Zhi implanted a moth into Zhong Lingfan, her personality would remain unchanged—which was exactly what Xu Zhi wanted, as her organizational skills were excellent.
The only difference would be that Zhong Lingfan would never even think of betraying her. Even if someone tried to use a higher-level supernatural ability to interfere, it would need to surpass Xu Zhi’s.
Before leaving the city center, Xu Zhi did something rare—she comforted the Little Aberrant for quite a while. The creature acted like a clingy child who couldn’t survive without her. When it learned she planned to leave it behind in the city center, it nearly threw a tantrum.
Why didn’t it actually do that?
Simple—it just wasn’t capable of it right now.
In the end, the Little Aberrant extended a thin tendril, no thicker than a hair tie, and wrapped it around a small lock of Xu Zhi’s black hair on the side of her face. It didn’t wrap too tightly, and at a glance, it just looked like a decorative black-and-gold hairpiece.
Xu Zhi shook her head experimentally and found that the tendril was so light it barely brushed her neck—no weight, no real presence—so she let it be.
Back in the residential district, instead of immediately discussing relocation with Zhong Lingfan, Xu Zhi first “generously” used up a large amount of her supernatural energy to produce over a hundred Moths and let them fly around the area. She ensured they were visible to all residents. Only after that did she seek out Zhong Lingfan.
When she casually explained that the massive tree in the city center was actually her pet, Zhong Lingfan stared at her like she was a monster. But after a short pause, she decisively said:
“Move.”
“The layout of the city center is more suitable as a base. Plus, your pet being there makes it a lot safer.”
That was true. With the Little Aberrant around, the city center would be free of any mutated creatures that posed a threat to human life.
“Alright then, you handle the preparations,” Xu Zhi instructed.
She didn’t plan to go confront the Archbishop just yet. Her plan required a bit more time.
Her goal was to wait until the Federation was plunged into chaos by the Archbishop, then emerge as a “savior,” demanding massive rewards and formal recognition of Cloud City’s sovereignty.
Although that recognition meant little to her personally, it would help justify future “harvesting” plans.
Her plan was to leverage her current control over Cloud City and turn the entire Federation into a renewable crop field.
After all, the game console wanted her to gather resources. It was obviously more efficient for everyone to gather them for her than for her to do it alone.
As for the fact that the Archbishop’s appearance was clearly a strike against her, and she still intended to charge the Federation to help fix the problem…
Well, tough luck for the Federation!
“See? That’s why luck is so important.”
Xu Zhi sighed to herself before strolling home to see Yu Shenwei.
When she reached her door, she suddenly remembered—she’d been gone from the city center for quite some time. Yu Shenwei’s temporary organs might have already expired.
“I completely forgot about that…”
Xu Zhi slapped her forehead, slightly annoyed for a moment. “Whatever, I’ll deal with it later.”
Then she walked into the house and found Yu Shenwei.
To her surprise, Yu Shenwei didn’t seem to be in any serious condition.
Aside from looking a bit tired, when she lifted her eyes to Xu Zhi’s returning figure, there was clear conflict and struggle in them—along with a hint of both affection and resistance.
Xu Zhi immediately realized: as expected, she’d been affected.
She couldn’t afford to lose this critical bait. Without hesitation, Xu Zhi used the maximum output efficiency of her supernatural energy to create a Moth. As it flitted across Yu Shenwei’s conflicted gaze, Xu Zhi kindly walked up and asked:
“You okay? You don’t look too well.”
Yu Shenwei’s eyes grew dazed again. She shook her head, completely forgetting what she had just been agonizing over.
Xu Zhi gently placed her hand on Yu Shenwei’s shoulder. When the girl didn’t recoil at all, Xu Zhi smiled and snapped her fingers in front of her face.
Snap—Yu Shenwei slightly came to.
“You’re back?” she asked, looking pleased.
“Mm.” Xu Zhi nodded. “Your eyes look fine to me?”
Yu Shenwei nodded, clearly understanding what Xu Zhi was asking. “Yeah, I think I got stronger again. Now these eyes feel like my own, and my internal organs have mostly regenerated too.”
I see, Xu Zhi thought.
“You probably shouldn’t level up too quickly. Try to take it slow,” she advised.
“Why?” Yu Shenwei looked confused.
Xu Zhi couldn’t exactly say she planned to use her to kill her own kind, and that if she evolved into a full Archbishop, she might become too hard to control and Xu Zhi would have to kill her.
So instead, she brushed it off: “Just trust me, okay? Would I ever hurt you?”
Would she?
Yu Shenwei didn’t really understand, but the instinctive sense of closeness made her reluctant to oppose Xu Zhi. So she just nodded.
