Chapter 77: Change
The boy wanted to refuse Xu Zhi’s proposal, but in truth, he had no grounds to say no.
He even started wondering—was gouging out his eyes just a pretext to justify taking the Saintess hostage?
Did she think that by taking the Saintess, he would be too wary to act recklessly?
His mind spun with chaotic thoughts. Groping around, he picked up a clothesline pole to use as a blind stick. “So, what are we doing now…?”
His condition wasn’t great. Days of fleeing had left him exhausted, and now Xu Zhi had taken his eyes. Though he was a high-level believer and had stronger regenerative abilities than ordinary transcendents or followers, it only allowed wounds to heal—eyeballs didn’t grow back!
Now he felt like every step let wind blow into the hollowness of his eye sockets—unbearably uncomfortable. He even considered covering his eyes with a cloth strip, but didn’t dare ask Xu Zhi for anything.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to. Xu Zhi casually found a piece of clothing in the room, tore off a strip, and tossed it to him. “Cover your eyes. You look creepy walking around like that.”
“Oh, right—how should I address you?” the boy suddenly remembered. They’d already agreed to cooperate, but he hadn’t even exchanged names with her.
Xu Zhi answered offhandedly with her name. The boy nodded. “Alright, Miss Xu. I’m Huo Ze. She’s Yu Shenwei.”
Shenwei—as in “cautious and prudent”?
Who gives their kid a name like that?
“Got it,” Xu Zhi replied indifferently. She didn’t care about their names, but since they introduced themselves, she returned the courtesy—even though she had just gouged out his eyes.
“Can you sense any followers nearby?” Xu Zhi asked.
Huo Ze shook his head. “This place isn’t too far from their territory. I killed a few tracking me earlier, then deliberately circled back here.”
A psychological feint, then.
“If high-level believers suppress the lower-level ones, why did they come to kill you?” Xu Zhi asked as they walked outside.
“Because I’m a traitor,” Huo Ze replied.
“Even though we’re all followers of the same one… without the Archbishop, no one’s a true leader.”
Xu Zhi understood.
Without the weight of absolute power, factional conflict was inevitable.
Their ultimate goal might be the same, but that didn’t mean internal peace and unity followed. After all, these were [Cup]-affinity fanatics—more extreme and cruel than normal people in both actions and thoughts.
Xu Zhi brought them to her car and started it up. Since the moth’s influence over the Saintess might take time, she decided to finish scouring the rest of the Third Ring with them. If by the time she was ready to leave and the moth still hadn’t shaken the Saintess’ faith, she would kill both of them—along with the so-called sub-priests.
As for public safety in the old residential area after her departure, she wasn’t too worried. Zhong Lingfan and Shen Jinwen could handle most troublemakers. And if it came to it, the vampiric retainers who occasionally escorted transcendents back could lend a hand—Xu Zhi had already authorized them to assist.
Every time a retainer returned, Zhong Lingfan would send a letter with it—updates on the residential area’s planning and recent developments.
With the number of people Xu Zhi had brought back steadily increasing, the area could now produce several hundred [core] units per week. These were also delivered by retainers. Xu Zhi trusted Shen Jinwen enough to believe she wouldn’t embezzle them, and allowed her to keep some as “wages” for herself and Zhong Lingfan.
Moreover, Zhong Lingfan had recently formed a management system for the district. She wrote to Xu Zhi asking whether they could pay small wages to these administrators in cores.
Considering long-term development, Xu Zhi saw no harm in that. Plus, Zhong Lingfan made it clear: the wages were minimal. What truly drew people in was the privilege of being part of the governing body.
Privileges were inevitable. This wasn’t a peaceful age.
Xu Zhi gave her approval with a wave of her hand.
Those with power take charge and enjoy privileges—perfectly reasonable in today’s Cloud City. Xu Zhi had no interest in creating some utopia in a post-apocalyptic world. That kind of idealism wasn’t her style.
Another sunset arrived. Xu Zhi and her two burdens found an empty house to spend the night.
For almost a week, she’d led them through the Third Ring. They had encountered several groups of fanatics, but all were killed by Xu Zhi before they could even get close—cores taken. Huo Ze could sense nearby believers, but couldn’t tell whether their intent was good or bad. So when Xu Zhi claimed they were enemies, he had no way to argue.
He harbored doubts—Xu Zhi’s actions didn’t quite seem like someone helping him. Why kill all those followers?
But if she wasn’t helping, why bother running with them for days, dodging danger?
She was just an ordinary transcendent, traveling with two followers—what could she possibly gain?
Confused, Huo Ze silently tapped his stick around and laid out a bedding spot for himself.
He’d checked the corpses—none had cores. He guessed Xu Zhi fed them to the Saintess.
While the Saintess got cores, all he got were scraps Xu Zhi tossed over. That left him a bit resentful. Sure, he was a believer, but he wasn’t brainless. He still had some pride.
But under someone else’s roof, he couldn’t complain.
After locking Huo Ze outside, Xu Zhi had Yi place the Saintess on the bed. She then removed the cloth strip from her eyes.
A week had passed. Even if the moth’s influence was weak compared to the [Cup] faith, there should be some signs by now.
Xu Zhi threw five [Cup] cores to the strange creature at her feet. She also cut her palm and fed the Saintess some of her blood, then frowned as she patted the girl’s face, trying to wake her.
She had to admit—these [Cup]-affinity fanatics were truly different from normal humans. Xu Zhi had only intermittently fed the girl her blood over the past few days, and yet her face had regained a hint of color—no longer deathly pale as before.
If she weren’t still so thin and gaunt, Xu Zhi might’ve thought her blood was some kind of miracle elixir.
