Chapter 50: A New Door
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
What’s wrong?
Looking at Xu Zhi’s seemingly innocent expression, Zhong Lingfan was momentarily at a loss for words. She paused for two seconds to collect her thoughts, which had been thrown into disarray by Xu Zhi, and then finally spoke:
“Isn’t this all a bit too hasty?”
“Even if we really are going to move, there are a lot of details that still need to be discussed, right?”
Besides, everything had happened so suddenly. Even now, she still felt like she couldn’t quite wrap her head around it. She had merely received a somewhat strange ability-user, and somehow that turned into moving her entire group to another place?
“Mm, do you have any other questions?” Xu Zhi looked at her with a very accommodating expression.
“Resource distribution, safety infrastructure, future planning—aren’t those all issues?” Zhong Lingfan was beginning to get a headache. It felt like she was trying to talk to a child who didn’t want to hear any of it.
What’s more, the very person who had proposed this idea didn’t seem to have considered any of these practical matters at all.
“You can figure that stuff out slowly,” Xu Zhi said casually. “I don’t understand that stuff. Just do whatever you think is best.”
Her tone was irresponsible, but it was honest. That really was what she thought.
Why should she worry about all that?
All she needed was a constant stream of core income. To get that, she just had to secure a safe territory and fill it with people. People meant productivity.
As for management and such, she wasn’t good at it, nor did she want to be. Just leave that to someone who was capable.
As long as she stayed unmatched in strength, she didn’t have to worry about people rebelling or refusing to follow orders.
So she didn’t need Zhong Lingfan’s loyalty—just her ability to recognize the times.
“You’re being too irresponsible. This isn’t some trivial matter,” Zhong Lingfan said with a frown, clearly disapproving.
She had been right—Xu Zhi’s attitude toward the matter really was frivolous. She didn’t seem to care about anything. The only thing she insisted on was making Zhong Lingfan and her group move.
“So… why?”
Zhong Lingfan asked, “Why do you want us to move?”
Xu Zhi didn’t hide it: “Because I need cores.”
“I need cores, but I don’t want to be a bandit. So, I offer you protection, and you give me cores.”
“It’s like rent. You’re renting safe territory from me, and I’ll also provide a suitable environment nearby for low-level ability-users to train. And I only ask for a tiny little fee in return.”
“Training?” Zhong Lingfan caught onto the keyword.
“Yeah.” Xu Zhi nodded. “I’ll clear out the mutated creatures nearby that are too strong for you to handle.”
Thinking about all the casualties they’d suffered since founding the garden due to mutated creatures, and the potential benefits if Xu Zhi was telling the truth, Zhong Lingfan felt a little tempted.
But she still said, “With your strong-arm tactics, it’s hard for me to trust you.”
Normally, at this point, someone would try to show sincerity and earn her trust. But Xu Zhi’s next words completely overturned Zhong Lingfan’s expectations.
The girl in front of her smiled and said:
“But Professor, I don’t need your trust. You have no choice but to cooperate with me.”
“I haven’t harmed a single one of you—that’s already my sincerity. Can’t you tell?”
“So, to make sure we can all survive well in this city, work with me, okay?”
She was domineering and unreasonable—but there was nothing one could do about it.
In the end, Zhong Lingfan could only sigh and say, “Tomorrow, I’ll arrange for people to guard this room. If you really can enter it unharmed, then I’ll agree.”
“But—no killing or causing irreparable injury.”
In other words, Xu Zhi had to hold back, a way to restrict her.
“Of course,” Xu Zhi nodded. Those are my future ‘crops’ after all. I’d feel bad if I lost any.
After making this decision, Zhong Lingfan felt a rare sense of confusion. Even when she had chosen to stay in Cloud City, she hadn’t felt this uncertain about the future. Yet now, she was feeling it because of a teenage girl.
Truly—
“Has the era changed?”
Even now, she still doubted whether Xu Zhi actually had the power she claimed. Everything would be revealed tomorrow.
But for now…
“Professor, do you have any [Lamp]-type cores? Can you give me one? I’ll trade other attribute cores for it.”
She herself didn’t attract [Lamp] cores. Since Zhong Lingfan’s attribute was [Lamp], she must have a few, right?
“I do,” Zhong Lingfan replied, “but I don’t need other types of cores.”
“You don’t need them now, but that doesn’t mean you never will,” Xu Zhi coaxed.
Of course, normal ability-users weren’t like her—they really didn’t need cores of other attributes.
In the end, Xu Zhi traded one core of each of the other seven attributes for a single [Lamp] core.
As Zhong Lingfan put it: Let’s just call it collecting.
Having exceeded her goals for this soul-form outing, Xu Zhi returned to her body in high spirits. Zhen also flew off into the sky once her spirit time ended.
Back in her body, Xu Zhi decided to wait until Zhong Lingfan and her people had moved in and settled down a bit before going to make a deal with the Special Task Division.
Besides that, she found Shen Jinwen and told her that she would be bringing back a group of survivors tomorrow. One of them, a woman named Zhong Lingfan, would be managing that group, and Xu Zhi had no intention of taking away her authority.
“If you’re interested, you can help her manage things. If not, you can keep collecting cores on the streets.”
Shen Jinwen shook her head. “Not interested.”
If Xu Zhi hadn’t asked her to do it, she wouldn’t even bother collecting cores. Her only real interest was hunting every day, sharpening her skills, and improving her ability.
“Alright, then let her handle it.”
After returning from speaking with Shen Jinwen, Xu Zhi finally opened her warehouse and saw the [Lamp]-attribute core she had traded for.
It lay quietly in her inventory, radiating a bright golden glow.
When Xu Zhi clicked on it, she received information about [Lamp]:
[Lamp: The Principle of Radiance.]
It embodies heartlessness, knowledge, reason, and brilliance. It is more closely linked to the sun and to dreams. Its bearer is characterized by mysterious and powerful dreams and a spirit devoted to brilliance.
“Sounds kind of grand,” Xu Zhi commented.
It seemed like the attribute of some kind of believer—but different from [Cup].
They felt like two extremes.
Just then, a system message popped up:
[Congratulations. You have now learned about all attributes. Once your attribute successfully advances, a new door will open to you.]
