Chapter 44: Striking It Rich—One Thousand Cores!
“The exchange, huh? Then let’s trade your information for my cores.”
“Any attribute of core is fine. I’ll decide how much I answer based on how many you give me.”
The woman immediately countered, “That doesn’t seem very fair, does it?”
“Fair?”
The girl sitting beside her let out a mocking laugh. “I can only guarantee that if you give me enough cores, I will answer each of your questions honestly. That’s the integrity of my trade.”
“But how much I reveal depends on my mood. So forget fair or unfair—what matters is whether I feel like it. Are you still interested?”
If it were completely fair, how was she supposed to exploit the system? She wasn’t an idiot—she was aiming to become a core tycoon!
“Alright,” the woman nodded. “The cores are on the way. We’re rerouting to meet the delivery. Should be there in six minutes.”
Very decisive.
In less than six minutes, the vehicle stopped in an underground parking lot. At the same time, another vehicle arrived nearby, and a person handed the woman a black briefcase. Returning to the car, she looked at Xu Zhi and asked, “One hundred cores—how many questions will that get us?”
Xu Zhi pulled a disgusted face and raised one finger. “One.”
Seriously? This big, official organization of the Federation and they offer just 100 cores?
Even though Xu Zhi had never held 100 cores at once, she still couldn’t help but scorn their stinginess.
And knowing they were probing her, Xu Zhi added, “Let’s call this a newbie bonus for our first trade. I’ll accept 100 cores just this once. If you offer this little next time, there’s no point in continuing.”
“So—what’s your first question?”
The car fell silent for a few seconds. Then, following some instruction via her earpiece, the woman asked, “Aside from you, is there anyone else who can leave the city?”
Sneaky!
Xu Zhi internally cursed—what a loaded question!
Answering this one would indirectly answer multiple hidden ones. Whether she said yes or no, the goal was achieved. Even if she refused to answer outright, that too was a kind of answer.
But it didn’t matter.
It seemed the Special Affairs Department had already deduced her identity as Xu Zhi from Cloud City based on her soul form’s appearance.
She hadn’t planned to hide that anyway.
“Cores first,” she said, holding out her hand.
The woman handed her a small black pouch without fuss. Once it was in her hands, Xu Zhi slipped it into her coat pocket—and simultaneously, the cores were transferred to her warehouse.
Sure enough, the warehouse now showed 100 additional cores.
Seeing their straightforwardness, Xu Zhi was equally blunt: “No.”
The woman remained composed on the surface, but she was a little surprised. She had expected Xu Zhi to refuse such a trap outright—but she actually answered it.
What was she thinking?
“Next question—how many cores are you offering?” Xu Zhi pressed on.
After all, her answer had been honest. As far as she knew, there was no one else like her. That answer was worth exactly 100 cores—no more.
Besides, no one else had her “game console cheat” ability. Escaping Cloud City using supernatural powers was still impossible for the average person, and likely would be for quite some time.
“How about this,” the woman proposed suddenly. “We ask the question first, and you quote the price after. Deal?”
So crafty.
“Sure,” Xu Zhi agreed casually. As long as they weren’t afraid of her naming outrageous prices, she was fine with that.
“What’s the question?”
“Are there still many sane, non-crazed people left alive in Cloud City?” the woman asked slowly.
At first glance, it sounded like concern for the public—but Xu Zhi wasn’t fooled.
She felt that the Special Affairs Department had already sensed something. It probably related to their insistence on entering Cloud City. Now, this question was being used to probe and confirm a specific matter.
“One thousand cores,” Xu Zhi said bluntly, quoting an outrageous price.
The woman’s eye twitched. She hadn’t expected Xu Zhi to tenfold the price without flinching.
“That question isn’t worth that much!” she protested, following orders from her earpiece.
Xu Zhi simply stared coldly at her. “Is that so? But I know this answer is worth even more than a thousand to you.”
“But we already have a firm hypothesis—we just want confirmation. A thousand is definitely overvalued. If you insist, we’ll abandon the question.”
Seriously, can’t even spend a thousand?
Xu Zhi rolled her eyes internally. But thinking it over, she realized the supernatural users outside also needed cores, and with their greater numbers, demand was even higher. A thousand wasn’t a small amount in the early stages—especially for a question they already had a strong hunch about.
“Fine. Half then. Five hundred.”
Xu Zhi felt like she was almost giving it away, but whatever.
The woman stayed silent for a while, probably debating fiercely with the people on the other end of her earpiece. After all, they still had many questions left—was it really worth spending now?
In the end, she nodded. “Alright.”
She handed over five black pouches. “Five hundred cores.”
Xu Zhi took them, confirmed the total in her warehouse, and then said, “I think quite a few are still alive.”
Based on what Zhen had seen while flying overhead daily, there were far more surviving, sane people in Cloud City than she’d initially estimated. At first, she thought the city would become a total ghost town within a month, but surprisingly many had held on—and even become supernaturals.
No doubt, what they truly wanted to confirm was whether new supernaturals were emerging in Cloud City.
Ordinary people wouldn’t survive in that place.
Hearing Xu Zhi’s response, the woman nodded calmly. Xu Zhi couldn’t tell whether she understood the true weight of this answer to the higher-ups—but time was almost up. She’d soon have to “die” again in front of this woman.
“Third question,” the woman finally said after a thirty-second silence. “We want to know if a woman named Zhong Lingfan, who lives in the Nanshan villa district, has completed her latest report on supernatural research.”
Still probing. Always probing.
Since they’d already deduced Xu Zhi’s location from her soul form, asking about someone in her neighborhood was just a way to test if she could move freely in Cloud City.
And Xu Zhi wouldn’t be able to fabricate an answer unless she had actually gone and checked for herself.
Basically, they were trying to gauge her capabilities.
But what Xu Zhi feared least—was tests like these.
She smiled and answered casually, “Sure. But for that question, I’m charging one thousand cores. Non-negotiable.”
The woman nodded without hesitation—likely pre-authorized by the people in her ear.
“But that’s it for today,” Xu Zhi said lazily. “You’re probing too much. I’m ending this early. We’ll discuss this question in the next trade.”
The woman quickly asked, “When will that be? Can we schedule a time?”
“…..Who knows? Maybe when I’m in a better mood?”
As the girl’s light words faded, her body slumped and dissolved into ash—gone once more.
