Chapter 42: Card Draw!
Shen Jinwen didn’t need to make any excuses—there was a clear power gap between them. If the people inside refused to open the door, they could simply break it down.
Fortunately, although the people inside were wary, they weren’t so paranoid as to refuse to open the door at all. After hearing Shen Jinwen’s polite tone and recalling the oddly safe environment around the area, they seemed to understand the reason behind it.
So this place already had an owner.
Someone stepped forward to open the door. Behind him stood three others, weapons in hand and visibly tense. Upon seeing that it was just Shen Jinwen and Xu Zhi—two girls—they instinctively relaxed a bit, though they still hesitated about whether to invite them in.
Xu Zhi smiled and asked pleasantly, “Aren’t you going to invite us in for a chat?”
As she said it, she realized—this wasn’t the first time she’d said something like that.
Seeing that Xu Zhi and Shen Jinwen hadn’t made any hostile moves, the man at the door stepped back and let them in.
Once inside, Xu Zhi remained silent, while the four people inside kept their eyes on the beautiful saker falcon perched on her shoulder.
When Shen Jinwen explained that staying here required each person to pay one core per week, the group didn’t argue unreasonably. Instead, they calmly asked, “If we choose to leave now, do we still have to pay the core?”
Shen Jinwen shook her head. “No, but think carefully about what you’ve seen on your way here. This area has been cleared of all but the weakest mutated creatures, making it perfect for newly awakened Ability-users to train. And living here, you don’t have to worry about mutated creatures bursting in at night to devour you.”
“One core per week is the base rate.”
After she finished, Xu Zhi added casually, “That’s also because you have only three Ability-users in your group—and one ordinary person.”
The four of them instantly paled. “How did you know?!”
Xu Zhi replied unhurriedly, “The weak have no secrets in front of the strong.”
“Hurry up and decide. Today’s Tuesday. If you want to stay, pay me three cores now and you can stay until Sunday. After that, every Monday, go to the residential office and hand in your fee—four cores.”
“Also, if you bring someone else to live here, one head equals one core.”
This was something Xu Zhi had already discussed with Shen Jinwen. As her assistant, Shen Jinwen would receive [Winter]-type cores as a salary.
As for bringing in outsiders—that was a strategic move. Xu Zhi wanted more potential long-term “resources.” Four people weren’t nearly enough.
After hearing Xu Zhi’s proposal, the group was clearly tempted. Even in peacetime, people had to pay to rent or buy housing. Now, in the apocalypse, this woman was offering a safe shelter with appropriately leveled mutated creatures nearby. One core a week really wasn’t a bad deal.
Even though they’d survived in the city for over a month, they hadn’t managed to save up many cores.
Xu Zhi had many more ideas brewing, but for now, the numbers were too small. Once the settlement grew, she had plenty of ways to reap the benefits.
Safety was now the most enticing commodity in Cloud City. The four quickly decided to stay.
“What if we want to leave later?” one of them asked.
Shen Jinwen replied, “Then you can just leave. Simple as that.”
Voluntary participation was the theme here.
Hearing this, the four finally felt at ease.
A middle-aged man who seemed to be their leader asked, “How many others live here? And what’s the approximate safe zone around us?”
Xu Zhi thought for a moment and replied, “There are three more, but you won’t see them.”
She then outlined the general area that the familiars had cleared of threats. After the man asked a few harmless details, answered by Shen Jinwen, the two girls left.
“Don’t forget to go to the residential office every Monday and stay there for the day,” Xu Zhi reminded them before leaving. Then she pulled out two [Winter] attribute cores from her storage.
“This is an advance on your monthly pay. Come see me on the first of every month for your salary.”
Even though they were technically allies now, Xu Zhi had no intention of relying purely on favors or pressure to get Shen Jinwen to work for her.
Her pay wasn’t fixed—it would depend on results and circumstances. For now, with only four residents and little work needed, two cores were more than enough.
Hiring an ability-useral in Cloud City for a whole month of errands in exchange for two cores? Incredibly cheap labor.
But that would only be true for now.
Once the settlement grew—
“Step by step.” Once Shen Jinwen grew stronger and Xu Zhi herself could dominate the other ability-users, that would be the time to expand quickly.
For now, she still needed to rely on her familiars. It wasn’t yet the right moment, but she could begin establishing rules.
That night, Xu Zhi sorted the day’s harvests from her three familiars, fed them cores of matching attributes, then consumed four [Moth] attribute cores herself.
This time, the moths swirling in her hallucinations increased in number.
The next morning, Zhen brought good news.
It had finally found two black fruits after days of searching.
Without hesitation, Xu Zhi fed both to Zhen.
Her reasoning was simple—Zhen had the fewest traits, just four: Sharp Lv5, Agility Lv8, Endurance Lv5, Strength Lv4.
Other than Sharp, any of the other three would be valuable if enhanced. Of course, there was always the risk of drawing Sharp again—but all three of her familiars had it, so that risk existed for any of them.
Also, as her only flying unit, Zhen truly needed to be stronger.
Xu Zhi’s own traits included Sharp, Evolution, Vigilance, and Bloodthirst. No matter which trait Zhen developed further—Agility, Endurance, or Strength—it would benefit her overall power.
After weighing the pros and cons, Xu Zhi decisively gave both black fruits to Zhen.
When it awoke, it had reached Level 19.
[Familiar: Saker Falcon Lv19]
Mental: 730
Physical: 2400
Traits: Sharp Lv5, Agility Lv8, Endurance Lv5, Strength Lv5
Special Ability: Instant Death Lv2]
Aside from the Endurance increase, the most important change was:
[Instant Death] had upgraded to Level 2.
A familiar message popped up:
[Due to a special condition, you may draw a trait from your familiar.]
And another line followed:
[Congratulations. Your familiar’s special ability has leveled up.]
[Instant Death Lv2: When the familiar activates this ability-useral ability, its attacks may cause the target to die instantly. Instant Death is irresistible, irreversible, and unalterable. Current trigger rate: 0.1%.]
[With increased probability, the familiar now consumes more energy when using this ability.]
[At present, your familiar can only use this ability once at full power.]
