Chapter 56: Voluntarily Stayed Behind
Xu Zhi didn’t make any further demands about how many of each attribute core she wanted out of the 800—they’d probably try to cut the total number again if she pushed.
“Then, Miss Xu, you still remember the question we asked earlier, right?”
Zhong Lingfan’s report on the ability-users.
Of course Xu Zhi remembered.
“Zhong Lingfan, right? That gentle-looking woman.”
“She said the old version was never finished, and now she’s working on a new report about the newly emerged ability-users. It’ll probably be a while before it’s completed.”
Then, as if casually, Xu Zhi asked, “She’s a professor—how come she’s still in the city?”
That question confirmed two things: Xu Zhi could move freely within Cloud City, and Zhong Lingfan was still alive.
“She chose to stay,” Lin Zizhen replied simply, before steering the topic elsewhere. “Would it be possible for you to bring that report out once it’s completed, Miss Xu? We’re willing to pay a generous fee.”
“You want to know the current situation of the ability-users inside Cloud City, huh?” Xu Zhi cut straight to the point.
Lin Zizhen’s smile froze for a second. Internally, he sighed at how blunt this girl was. Did she really not understand the art of adult diplomacy?
“That won’t come cheap,” Xu Zhi said with a sly smile.
On the other end of the monitoring feed, someone sounded irritated: “She’s not even writing the report—she’s just relaying it! And she wants a huge fee, acting like she wrote it herself!”
Another voice responded helplessly, “What else can we do? She’s the only channel we have. Of course a monopoly comes at a price.”
“We should look into other ways of establishing contact inside the city!”
“If there were other ways, we’d have used them already. Right now, we’re out of options.”
“So we’re just supposed to let this little girl extort us? That many cores could nurture countless ability-users—now we’re handing them all to her, and who knows if she’ll even survive long in that city!”
“She must have a team behind her if she needs that many cores. Maybe that’s why she might last longer.”
“If she survives until we find a way into Cloud City, won’t we just take back everything she’s gotten from us?”
That suggestion prompted a cold laugh. “Wishful thinking. Aren’t we totally helpless against that city right now?”
“And besides, for someone young and inexperienced, she’s bold enough to seize this opportunity and make such deals—I think she has potential. We should consider recruiting her.”
“Fair point.”
“Anyway, that’s beside the point. The girl’s clearly out for a big score. Do we agree to her terms?”
“I say we wait. She might not live long enough for Zhong Lingfan to finish the report. And even if Zhong Lingfan doesn’t finish it, we might not need the report anyway. Let’s revisit this later.”
“If the report does get completed and she’s still alive, that’s when it will actually matter.”
“You’re right.”
Following those orders, Lin Zizhen turned back to Xu Zhi. “When Professor Zhong finishes the report, Miss Xu, we do hope you’ll show us some mercy. Cores like that are in short supply for us too.”
Xu Zhi casually replied, “Sure.” But whether she meant it was another matter.
Having wrapped up one “legacy” issue, it was time to move on to today’s new business.
“We want to know—why can’t people leave the city?”
Xu Zhi thought about it. It wasn’t exactly a high-value question. “That one’s two hundred cores.”
“Deal,” Lin Zizhen answered without hesitation.
“The reason’s pretty simple. Some people have tried heading to the city’s edge, but they end up trapped in the black fog, like in a looping maze. They can never find a way out unless they turn around and go back into the city.”
It was similar to how the outside world couldn’t get in. But outside, there wasn’t even any black fog—just a strange maze-like phenomenon. Even the sky and underground tunnels yielded no access.
Lin Zizhen nodded, then asked, “Could you tell us about some of the changes happening in Cloud City?”
“As for the price, how about we base it on how much you tell us, Miss Xu?”
In other words, the more she revealed about the city, the more cores she’d receive.
That arrangement suited Xu Zhi just fine—she could share what she wanted and ignore any trap-laden questions.
After organizing her thoughts about which information could be shared at this stage, the girl finally spoke:
“There’s been a lot of change, but I’m afraid you can’t afford to pay for everything. So I’ll just share a bit.”
That wasn’t arrogance—Xu Zhi had genuinely classified some intel as too sensitive to reveal right now. Even when the time came, she’d demand a sky-high price. For example, the information about the central area of the city being overrun with aberrants.
But there was one piece of info she could sell now—something valuable enough to catch their attention, and possibly make them take the city’s situation more seriously.
“You can’t go out at night. The nights are extremely dangerous—not just because of aberrants or mutated beasts, but because there’s something even more terrifying.”
That clearly got their attention. Lin Zizhen followed up immediately: “Can you explain in more detail?”
Xu Zhi looked him in the eye. “Details don’t come at this price. I doubt you could afford them anyway. You can’t enter the city right now, so just knowing this much should be enough.”
She only intended to make a small profit with this tidbit. If they wanted full details, that would come much later—once they’d stockpiled more cores.
“This info’s probably news to you, right? How much are you planning to offer?”
Lin Zizhen fell silent—probably because the people on the other end of the monitor were now deep in debate.
First, they couldn’t verify whether the info was true.
But based on past transactions, Xu Zhi had never lied. She didn’t even mind their little tricks—her goal had always been simple: cores. Even if she was trying to price-gouge, she’d never been caught in a lie.
“We need evidence.”
Someone made the final decision.
So Lin Zizhen replied hesitantly, “Miss Xu, that information is certainly valuable, but you understand—without anyone else who can confirm it, we’ll need some proof. Would that be possible?”
Xu Zhi nodded. “Of course. But you’ll need to pay now. I’ll bring the evidence next time—and that will cost extra too. After all, getting things out of the city isn’t exactly easy.”
That, of course, was a lie. She had a game inventory. While she couldn’t currently retrieve items using her spirit form, she could still store them. Write a quick suggestion to fix that? Easy.
Even if she had to pay some cores to make it happen, so be it.
As for the “evidence,” Xu Zhi planned to have Zhong Lingfan write a research report on “Midnight.” They would definitely be able to verify if it was Zhong Lingfan’s authentic work.
If anything needed censoring, Xu Zhi could just edit it out and charge them again later.
And as for whether the report was real—well, with all these ability-user abilities, someone should be able to detect authenticity, right?
If not, that was their problem. She’d deliver the proof—no refunds.
