Chapter 66: A New Plan
Apparently, even a mindless parasitic creature couldn’t resist Xu Zhi’s blood—almost the moment it started flowing, it rushed over.
Xu Zhi knew that just using her blood wouldn’t be enough to suppress a level 5 [Restlessness]—not even with her current physical resilience. So, while the creature looked a little more docile as it fed, she seized the moment to shove a high-grade [Lamp] attribute core into its mouth.
The mindless creature swallowed the core mixed with blood. It took a good ten seconds before it seemed to realize it had just consumed something terribly unpleasant, and then belatedly began retching. But before it could vomit the core out, the [Lamp] attribute had already taken effect—within the next second, it was writhing on the floor in agony, screaming in pain.
Xu Zhi wrapped her wounded palm in a cloth and looked coldly at the creature squirming in misery. There wasn’t a trace of pity in her eyes—in fact, her expression was somewhat indifferent.
This thing had acted on its own without a word today, charging forward impulsively. Though the result had turned out in their favor, Xu Zhi did not like such behavior.
She knew it was because of the creature’s low intelligence—it couldn’t resist [Restlessness] or temptation. But knowing that only made her more irritated.
It was the first time Xu Zhi realized just how much she disliked creatures that lacked self-control. Physical weakness was at least understandable, but a weak will? That was intolerable.
Thankfully, this parasite still listened to her orders even when out of control. If it had done even slightly worse just now, Xu Zhi would have reclassified it—not as a trainable companion, but as an expendable test subject.
Now she was thinking about how to make it suffer a bit—enough to remember this lesson.
As she coldly watched the creature convulse and spasm on the ground, she ordered Zhen to go scout for any other survivors nearby.
While Zhen searched, Xu Zhi found the parasite’s behavior increasingly odd. She opened her game console—and sure enough, its [Restlessness] level had dropped to 1.
“Heh.”
Xu Zhi let out a cold chuckle. “Now you know how to play pitiful?”
“Looks like those new stat points in ‘Mind’ gave you a few extra brain cells.”
At her words, the previously tormented creature froze in place. Then, suddenly, it retracted all its branch-like appendages and returned to its initial form—a single withered black twig. It crawled to Xu Zhi’s feet and affectionately rubbed against her calf.
Seeing this, Xu Zhi confirmed it really was fine now—and promptly kicked it away.
The parasite expressed confusion, crawling toward her again—only to be kicked a second time.
Its confusion deepened. Xu Zhi merely stared coldly at it and said, “You should understand that you made a mistake. No matter how badly you want something, you’re not allowed to act without my permission.”
The parasite wiggled its claws as if to say “got it,” but Xu Zhi figured it had only vaguely processed her words. It probably didn’t fully understand the meaning—it was just instinctively obeying her now that the [Restlessness] no longer had control.
“Maybe I should go find a book on dog training… but do books like that even exist here?”
Zhen flew back, and through its vision on the game screen, Xu Zhi saw that there were still a few survivors barely clinging to life on other rooftops.
She recalled the severed bloodlines she’d seen with [Eye of Secrets]—perhaps that was what spared these people. The ritual’s interruption had likely broken the connection before they could be completely drained.
“Let’s go save them,” Xu Zhi said, striding toward the survivors. The little parasite waved its claws at her, but she ignored it. She didn’t put it back in her pocket either, instead forcing it to trail obediently at her feet. Every time it tried to climb her, she kicked it off.
Everyone in the center of the ritual had died, but scattered across the fringes of the rooftops, about fifteen people had survived. The cultists who had been guarding them had all turned into pools of blood before them.
Xu Zhi thought of the cultists’ Triangle symbol—perhaps that had something to do with why they died before the other transcendents.
For a brief moment, Xu Zhi wondered: if the ritual hadn’t failed due to a lack of participants, if it had been completed… would the parasite that devoured the man’s flesh have become even stronger?
“What the hell am I thinking?”
That idea was far too dangerous.
Initially, Xu Zhi had thought that if everyone here had died, she’d just go find survivors elsewhere and bring them back. But now that people had survived—it was even better.
Still, she couldn’t escort so many people back on her own, nor could she stash them in her inventory. So, she had Zhen send word to Zhong Lingfan to bring the convoy.
By the time Zhong Lingfan arrived with the others, Xu Zhi had already ordered the parasite to carry everyone downstairs. Its now fully extendable branches were surprisingly effective at tying up and moving living people.
Before they left, Xu Zhi made sure to instruct Zhong Lingfan to tell everyone she was the one who saved them from those mad cultists.
Zhong Lingfan understood that Xu Zhi was trying to build prestige, and since it wasn’t a bad idea, she agreed.
Xu Zhi didn’t plan on returning with the main group. In fact, she summoned her other companions, preparing to leave the settlement for a while. She intended to search for survivors and cultists in other parts of the city.
Previously, she hadn’t been too invested in the development of the old residential district. But now her mindset had changed—if she didn’t take the initiative, the cultists might kill off everyone in Cloud City except for the district’s residents. That would be a disaster.
She told Zhong Lingfan she might be gone for one or two months. She planned to tour the entire city outside the central area. Along the way, survivors might trickle into the district—Zhong Lingfan would be responsible for settling them in.
Xu Zhi’s new goal was to gather all the surviving people in Cloud City. She had clearly felt the danger when that ritual began. Perhaps because the sacrifices weren’t enough, or because the ritual was incomplete or low-grade, she hadn’t been seriously affected.
But it was still a threat—and one she needed to eliminate.
Moreover, she was genuinely curious to communicate with more rational cultists. She wanted to understand: what exactly was this ritual trying to summon?
She remembered the narration once mentioned that the cultists didn’t fully grasp the correct method. Perhaps the failure of this ritual wasn’t just because of insufficient offerings—maybe the ritual itself was flawed.
But then, how did these cultists, with no clear line of communication, all manage to start constructing the same ritual?
At least this time, she didn’t need to destroy the ritual array—the blood had already rotted after the failure, and the cultists hadn’t even left corpses behind.
She had anticipated all of this—when she called for Zhong Lingfan, she also had her bring some essentials, including a manual and spare gasoline.
But before she set off, she still had one last thing to do—select her new companion.
It was time for Little Xu the Miracle-Maker to embark on a tour of Cloud City.
There is also the fruit for cores payment she has to do