WEF - Chapter 18
Chapter 18: "Yuan, Please Come Back to Life."...
"What do you mean, go get beaten up together?" Ning Dali asked without changing her expression.
Could Iron Face have noticed how she had copied that attack? That seemed impossible.
"I mean going after an airdrop together," Iron Face rubbed the short hair on her head and grinned innocently. "The really powerful Ability Users are people we normally never get to meet. Our only chance is running into them beside an airdrop."
As long as they were willing to risk their lives and leave early, powerful Ability Users would start appearing around an airdrop in waves, each one stronger than the last.
"This is a perfect place for chance encounters. The only drawback is that it isn't very safe. They always fight when they grab an airdrop, but I don't mind taking a few hits. My skin just gets thicker anyway... The only question is whether you can accept it, Boss." Iron Face finished, watching Ning Dali with eager eyes.
She no longer wanted to be miserable and alone while taking beatings. She wanted someone to take them beside her and improve together.
Ning Dali fell silent as she looked into Iron Face's eager gaze.
After a long moment, she said, "But I don't need beatings to become stronger. I only need to use my eyes."
Use her eyes?
Those words sent a tidal wave through the ambulance.
Iron Face's face beamed with admiration and envy, while Zhao Jin's face darkened and her lips pressed tightly together.
The doctor pulled a handkerchief from her white coat and wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead. Ke Jian, who was lying on a stretcher and pretending to be unconscious to escape reality, opened her right eye just enough to peek.
Ning Dali took in every detail, then promptly changed her tune. "Just kidding."
Deceived me?
Iron Face froze for two seconds, then Ning Dali's humor made her burst out laughing. Still persistent, she asked, "So are you going after tomorrow's airdrop?"
Ning Dali did not ask when the airdrop would arrive. She already knew that the times and locations of airdrops were not fixed. They could appear at any hour, anywhere.
So she said, "If a suitable airdrop appears tomorrow evening, you can come find me."
"Great, let's exchange contact information." Iron Face pulled a business card stained with blue blood from her pocket.
Ning Dali took it and slipped it into her own pocket.
She now had three business cards. Why did everyone here like carrying them? One day, she would get herself some fancy ones too.
"By the way, Boss, where do you stay?" Iron Face asked eagerly after saving Ning Dali's number.
If no one answered when she called, she could still go to her home and find her.
Ning Dali regarded Iron Face with approval. This woman was quite thoughtful. It was obvious she had nowhere to sleep tonight.
"I haven't settled anything yet," Ning Dali said, implying more than her words.
"Then hurry up and make arrangements," Iron Face urged anxiously. "We have to be in the best possible condition for the challenge tomorrow. You need to get a good night's rest tonight."
Ning Dali said nothing.
She took out her smart device and checked Accountant Li's reply.
She had asked whether Accountant Li could open a bank account for her remotely. In a manner both cold and impeccably polished, Accountant Li had replied with one word: "no".
Ning Dali sent the two characters "haha" to end the conversation, then turned and fixed Zhao Jin with her gaze.
"Can I get a bank card without entering a Base?"
No. By the rules, she could not.
Opening a bank account required identity verification. They had to confirm that Ning Dali belonged to the Restraint Faction before they could open an account for her inside a Base and let her deposit money.
But.
"Of course. What's wrong with that?" Zhao Jin's heart skipped a beat, but she answered immediately with a flawless professional expression.
If she had previously still been considering bringing Ning Dali into the Base, she had later set the recruitment plan aside because she could not afford the meat.
Now, not the slightest trace of that desire remained. Zhao Jin almost hoped Ning Dali would never enter the Base.
She could look at another person's attack once and learn it outright! She could even learn [Shadow]'s attack methods!
Whether or not Ning Dali was telling the truth, and whether or not she truly possessed such ability, Zhao Jin decided to take her seriously.
Better to believe it than doubt it.
Whether she could do it or not, for now, they would assume she could!
Excessive caution was still better than letting someone enter the Base and learning [Shield] from a single glance.
The mere possibility made Zhao Jin feel cold all over.
[Shield] was the foundation upon which Fertile Base kept its people alive.
If Ning Dali wanted [Shield], Zhao Jin could apply for it remotely and place one over her house... wait. Zhao Jin suddenly hesitated. Giving Ning Dali's house a [Shield] was not entirely safe either.
But refusing would mean completely offending Ning Dali.
Then again, [Shield] blocked everything. Did it block [Copycat] as well?
Ning Dali could see the undercurrents churning beneath Zhao Jin's calm expression, but she decided to pretend she had noticed nothing.
"If I can get a card remotely, that would be wonderful. I can finally buy a house."
"You do not even have a bank card, but you already have savings?" Iron Face asked in surprise.
Ning Dali looked at her with approval once more, thinking that people who enjoyed taking beatings had no filter and asked questions others would never ask.
How considerate.
"Yes. A friend of mine owes me some money," Ning Dali said lightly.
She had an agreement with Accountant Li. After accepting the hush money, she would not reveal a single word. In principle, she would not lightly violate a promise, chiefly because she could not afford to offend the Shadow King.
Although she could not reveal the existence of the hush money, she needed a reasonable explanation for the 15 million that was about to enter her account.
The reason she had given was excellent. It was almost as if she had said nothing at all, leaving plenty to imagine.
With Zhao Jin's personality, she would certainly keep an eye on the transfers in Ning Dali's account after opening it for her. What she would think after seeing the 15 million, and whether she would trace the sender, were beyond Ning Dali's concerns.
Even if Accountant Li were foolish enough to send the money directly from an account belonging to the Shadow King's Base, it would provide further evidence that Ning Dali and the Shadow King had shared drinks and laughter together.
The latter was unlikely, but Ning Dali still daydreamed about it with immense satisfaction.
By the time she had finished imagining everything, Zhao Jin had already opened the bank card for her, downloaded the online banking app onto her smart device, and completed its activation.
"This display shows your funds account balance. Tap here to see your points balance." Zhao Jin slipped into bank manager mode and eagerly explained.
As she spoke, she reflexively studied Ning Dali's expression, trying to read information from her face.
For example, why did Ning Dali not have a bank account? Zhao Jin was pondering the question when Ning Dali's exasperated voice reached her.
"I already know all this."
Ning Dali may have spent ten years in prison, but she was still capable of using an app. As she spoke, she turned sideways, copied her bank account number, switched to the social app, and sent it to Accountant Li.
The angle of Ning Dali's body did not conceal much.
Anyone with a shred of decency could only have caught a vague glimpse of her smart device screen.
Zhao Jin possessed no such decency. She saw Accountant Li's profile picture.
She did not recognize it, but she secretly memorized it and decided to ask her coworkers when she returned.
After Ning Dali sent her bank account number, Accountant Li replied, "Half an hour."
Ning Dali stuffed the smart device into her pocket and left to wander through the market, taking a look at houses along the way.
At first, no one was in the market. Ning Dali and Iron Face, who was limping and covered in blood, walked side by side for a while to display their friendship. Only then did people begin emerging and peering out at them.
This time, no one dared to stare at the hiking backpack on Ning Dali's back. Their eyes were as innocent and unknowing as those of newborn children.
The market sold all kinds of goods. Gasoline, refrigerators, spare tires, firearms, and powerful antidiarrheal medicine were the most common supplies. They were laid directly on the ground or on tables, and customers could take anything they wanted home by paying for it.
Food and ability-related goods, however, were written on paper signs and exchanged for points.
Ning Dali walked around and discovered that quite a few people were selling Abilities. She even saw a masked Four-Character Ability User running a stall. Beside the seller's feet was a battered paper sign that read: "Ability: [One More Look]. Scope: locating a particular person or object, or gathering specific information. Price: negotiable, we can talk."
An Ability she had no use for at the moment but might need in the future.
After silently reciting the Ability's effect and confirming that the seller had not lied, Ning Dali stepped forward and added the seller as a contact.
Halfway through her time at the market, she received a message from Accountant Li. Ning Dali opened her online banking app and saw that the screen was packed with transfer records.
More than a hundred accounts had sent money to her one after another over the past half hour. The final total was exactly 15 million, along with 1,000 points.
Ning Dali hugged the smart device to herself and secretly laughed.
Excellent. They had not even deducted any tax!
As soon as the money arrived, Ning Dali turned around and spent 200,000 to buy herself a twenty-square-meter one-bedroom apartment.
It was a tiny place, with tiled floors, painted walls, and a basic kitchen and bathroom. Apart from that, there was not even a bed inside, yet Ning Dali was more than satisfied.
A place where she could see everything at a glance and there were no blind spots gave her an immense sense of security and control.
She told Iron Face to buy a folding bed while she went off to purchase four surveillance cameras, a refrigerator, and several sets of clothes.
Once the cameras were installed, the bed unfolded, and the refrigerator was plugged in, Ning Dali had her first base of operations.
Iron Face stood in the crude little apartment and, for once, hesitated before speaking. "Is this a little..."
A little out of keeping with the status of a local boss.
The folding bed would creak loudly enough whenever someone turned over on it. Ning Dali seemed to live roughly, but this was taking roughness too far.
Perhaps she did not have enough money?
"It is not quite secure," Ning Dali seamlessly picked up the topic. "Now it is only missing a [Shield]. How many days can you sell me? I will pay double."
She had already discovered that she had to speak directly to Iron Face. Otherwise, the woman would fail to understand and easily go off in the wrong direction.
Iron Face was a Three-Character Ability User with close ties to Fertile Base. She had completed no shortage of mercenary missions, so she should have plenty of days of [Shield] available.
Buying [Shield] required purchasing rights, which Ning Dali did not have. But she could add more points. Money could make the impossible possible.
As expected, Iron Face's eyes lit up at the mention of double the points.
She opened her mouth with a hearty laugh. "Hahahaha, Boss Ning, so you do have money! I thought you bought this shabby little place because you were broke."
Ning Dali had no response.
She had plenty of money. She simply had no need to show it off!
"I will buy ten days of [Shield] to begin with," Ning Dali said modestly.
Iron Face scratched the back of her head. "For ten days, double the price means 20 points."
Without changing her expression, Ning Dali transferred the points to Iron Face on the spot.
So decisive? Zhao Jin widened her eyes in shock, but she did not hesitate to send Iron Face a message.
In her office, Zhao Jin fell silent at the unreasonable request. The tinnitus she had just cured seemed to have flared up again.
[Shield] was the Ability of a Base Lord.
Every time it was used, the Base Lord herself had to act personally.
Although their Fertile Base's Base Lord was perfectly amiable, that did not mean she could be treated casually!
Was [Shield] something that could be bought and sold privately?!
Zhao Jin raged helplessly for a while, then trudged off humbly to ask the Base Lord's permission. Along the way, she also reported the possibility that Ning Dali might have [Copycat].
She received instructions to turn a blind eye and not to offend Ning Dali.
Before long, Ning Dali saw a [Shield] appear outside her twenty-square-meter apartment.
"A [Shield] is circular," Iron Face explained. "Half of it is above the ground and half is below it. You should be able to feel it."
Ning Dali closed her eyes and gave a quiet "Mm."
She really had established some subtle connection with the [Shield] outside the house, though the connection was not especially strong. She possessed only the authority to activate or deactivate it.
Anyone entering or leaving the small [Shield] required her permission.
For Ning Dali's present needs, that was more than enough.
Moreover, without a markup, one point bought an entire day of [Shield]. For a Two-Character Ability, that was practically selling it at a loss.
Ning Dali was well satisfied.
After chatting casually with Iron Face for a little while, she opened the [Shield] and saw her out.
"You must get a good rest. We have a hard fight tomorrow," Iron Face said seriously before leaving, her body still covered in blood that had not been wiped away.
"I know." Ning Dali closed the door.
Iron Face's blood was on her too. After taking a shower in the bathroom, Ning Dali lay down on the bed.
The folding bed creaked, sounding as though it had carried her straight back to prison.
Ning Dali lay there taking stock of how far she had come while organizing her plans.
She ticked off everything she had completed in her mind and added everything unfinished to her upcoming schedule.
Owning a stable property was complete.
But one home was nowhere near enough for her. The more houses she owned, the safer she would be. Now that she had money, she could acquire several fallback bases of operations.
She had assigned that task to Zhuang Yuezhen and Wang You an hour earlier and paid them for their errand. She had told them to look for remote, secluded standalone houses far from any Base and buy one if it was suitable.
She expected to have results soon.
Besides bases of operations, she needed reliable teammates and subordinates.
Ning Dali considered her options.
This was a world where the strong preyed on the weak and strength was paramount. As long as she was strong enough, people would naturally come to her, follow her, and be useful to her.
They could help share the burden of survival and do things she could not accomplish alone.
Ning Dali now had money, strength, and even a small measure of newly established prestige.
She could begin trying to form her own team.
There was even a ready-made list of candidates.
Iron Face, Wang You, and Zhuang Yuezhen.
Ning Dali rubbed her temples.
Iron Face was strong, Wang You's Ability was practical, and Zhuang Yuezhen was even more mysterious, since she still had not revealed her Ability.
Iron Face admired the strong, so she could be won over through force.
Wang You and Zhuang Yuezhen were poor, so Ning Dali could use money to persuade them to work for her.
But all of that was only temporary. If Ning Dali wanted teammates who were truly reliable and capable of trusting one another with their lives, what she had was nowhere near enough.
They needed time to assess one another and find the right chemistry, deeper interests to bind them together, and an opportunity to build mutual trust.
"These things cannot be rushed. Whether I can win over teammates depends on fate." Ning Dali gazed at the shabby ceiling. "It has only been half a day. Having a few usable plastic teammates is already a miracle."
She even felt that she had a strong bond of fate with all three of them.
Wang You and Zhuang Yuezhen aside.
Iron Face's appearance had been a bit of timely relief, too... Ning Dali thought.
Iron Face had extensive experience taking beatings and knew the skills of formidable Ability Users as though cataloging them. By talking with her, Ning Dali could learn much that was unavailable online.
Thinking of this, Ning Dali could not help but call Iron Face. She spent the call chatting about everything and reminiscing about Iron Face's experiences of being beaten, asking about the effects of various Single-Character and Two-Character Abilities. Only when Iron Face's steady breathing came through the call in the middle of the night did Ning Dali reluctantly hang up and fall asleep.
She slept until noon, remotely viewed several houses, and then went online to explore the world. Before long, the sun in the sky began to set.
As the sky darkened, Ning Dali's little squad of plastic teammates set out.
Wang You summoned an inconspicuous black SUV and nervously headed toward an airdrop that had not yet landed.
When an airdrop appeared, a corresponding marker would show up on the map. People in the area could choose when to set out according to their own strength.
The strong would leave early, while the weak would wait until no one else was around before going in for Gleaning.
Wang You had always Gleaned together with Zhuang Yuezhen.
"Honestly, this is the first time in my life that I have gone near an airdrop before it has landed," Wang You said as she swallowed.
She was so nervous that she did not dare press the accelerator any farther, afraid that if she drove too quickly, she would die right at the airdrop site. Just as they had set out, she had even made eye contact with the captain of Fertile Base's airdrop raiding team.
They had left earlier than the people from Fertile Base!
Wang You was terrified.
"Do not be afraid." Iron Face calmly patted Wang You's shoulder. "This is my first time going near an airdrop before it has landed, too! See, I am not afraid."
The moment she said that, the other three people in the car all looked at Iron Face, even Wang You, who was driving.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Iron Face asked without realizing anything was wrong. "In the past, I went alone to take beatings, so naturally I would set out later. Now I am going with Boss Ning to take a beating, so I thought I could try challenging hell mode."
"Do you call that a challenge, or looking for death?" Zhuang Yuezhen asked in disbelief.
"Can you beat the Shadow King, or take an airdrop from Liekong?"
Liekong was the hand Ning Dali had once seen beside an airdrop.
Her [Rift] Ability could tear open space. Although it was a Two-Character Ability, she possessed a natural talent for claiming airdrops and could match the ubiquitous [Shadow] on equal terms.
"I am thinking of what's best for Boss Ning." Iron Face frankly gave Ning Dali a wink.
Ning Dali failed to catch the signal, and a question mark appeared on her face.
"Wait, let me ask first. Are everyone in the car our own people?" Iron Face asked.
"We should... we should count as that, right?" Wang You said without confidence, shooting Ning Dali a furtive glance.
Ning Dali slowly nodded in confirmation.
"Good. Then I will speak directly." Iron Face said. "Boss, if we head there early enough, we will only run into two people."
"One is the Shadow King, who is everywhere. The other is Liekong, who can tear open space."
The scene from the first airdrop Ning Dali had witnessed rose in her mind. The airdrop had only just landed when a hand tore open space and appeared. Before long, her shadow had begun to change as well.
"You are right," she said.
"Then there are three possible situations." Iron Face spoke as though she had everything figured out. "We either meet the Shadow King alone, meet Liekong alone, or meet both of them."
"If we meet the Shadow King alone, all we have to do is take a vicious beating. This small setback should be manageable."
"But if we run into Liekong, we'll make a killing!"
"How is that making a killing?" Zhuang Yuezhen could not follow her reasoning and asked blankly.
"Doesn't Boss learn other people's skills with just one look?!" Iron Face said excitedly. "When Liekong tears open space, Boss happens to look and learns it directly. Then we can save ourselves all sorts of trouble in the future. We can go around taking beatings, then run away. No one will be able to catch us."
Ning Dali glanced sideways at Iron Face and thought, speechless, that Iron Face had actually believed it yesterday? She had truly believed that someone could [Copycat] just by looking at an Ability?
If she were that powerful, why not buy a telescope?
"Then would I be out of a job?" Wang You asked anxiously.
Ning Dali turned her face aside again and thought that there was another expert in the car.
"It will be fine. You have heard Sis Dali's secret, so you are already one of her close confidants. If you get laid off, then so be it. You can find work again after your skills upgrade." Zhuang Yuezhen patted Wang You's shoulder in comfort.
Ning Dali was at a loss.
Fine. The whole car was full of experts.
Ning Dali opened her mouth, intending to explain, because this misunderstanding would lead to major errors in judgment. There was also no reason to maintain a lie that could be exposed so easily. Even if she meant to pass the lie off as truth, there were not enough people in the car to make it convincing.
But then she remembered Liekong's Ability.
Tearing open space... She had traveled from the Federation to this place. Did that count as tearing open space? Could there be some connection to Liekong?
At the thought, the inexplicable desire to explain vanished from Ning Dali's mind.
She did indeed need to approach Liekong and try to learn about the other's Ability.
Ning Dali immediately forgot about explaining anything and fell into deep thought. She was considering how she should explore the secrets of a Two-Character Ability User, which was clearly no simple task.
To everyone else, her silence was no different from tacit agreement.
An intense and passionate undercurrent surged through the car.
They were tense because Ning Dali was about to steal and learn Liekong's signature Ability.
They were passionate because every person in the car had independently begun imagining how well their lives would be once Ning Dali succeeded.
For a moment, twisted smiles appeared on the face of everyone in the car except Ning Dali's.
At the same moment, a figure in a black cloak outside the car also fell into thought.
She turned her head slightly and watched the vehicle drive past beside her.
"Someone wants to learn my Ability?" Liekong tilted her head and murmured in disbelief. "One look at my skill, and they learn it outright. What kind of genius is this...?"
"This genius's plan just happened to be something I overheard while passing by? What a fateful coincidence!"
Liekong lowered her head in disbelief and looked at her shoes.
Dust had already gathered on them, proof that she had walked there.
"Wait. Why am I walking here? How could I possibly be walking?" Liekong was startled by her own behavior.
Walking here for no reason and meeting them by chance... This familiar feeling of inexplicable events made Liekong think of a possibility, and she immediately drew in a sharp breath.
"Yuan, is it you again? Are you still not going to leave me alone? Have I not yet paid for the sins I created?" she asked the void.
There was no response.
Liekong seemed to reach some kind of decision. Her figure flickered where she stood and slipped into a silver-white rift. The rifts then flashed one after another.
"Here we go!"
"Swoosh!"
A huge, glittering rift opened in front of the SUV, and the vehicle plunged straight into it.
"What?" Wang You was startled and had only time to get through the first syllable before the scene before her changed abruptly.
The originally dark, open wilderness had suddenly become... a magnificent tomb.
The ground was paved with white jade, and countless candles burned all around, lighting the world as brightly as day.
At the exact center of their vision was a small mound of earth, apparently a grave.
Someone knelt before it, continuously kowtowing.
Wang You drove the SUV straight toward the grave. Her pupils dilated wildly, and before she could even make out the surroundings, she reflexively slammed the brakes.
She was still too late.
The tires screeched as they scraped across the jade ground.
The SUV knocked the person kowtowing before the grave flying, then plowed helplessly into the mound.
"Bang!"
The SUV leveled the small mound, struck an invisible wall, and came to a complete stop.
Everything had happened in only a few seconds.
The four faces in the car were each more expressive than the last.
Iron Face had briefly shut her eyes against the dazzling light. Now that she had opened them again, she stared in a daze. "What is happening? How did we teleport? Wasn't I on my way to grab an airdrop?"
Ning Dali, whose eyes had remained open and who had witnessed everything, twitched at one corner of her mouth. She extended one finger and pointed at the figure that had been knocked away, speaking with an air of absurdity. "I do not know exactly what happened either. Why are we here? In any case, we knocked someone flying."
And a grave along with them.
Such an absurd event had occurred so absurdly that Ning Dali discovered she was not even very surprised.
After all, this was a world of Abilities. Nothing was too strange to happen... Ning Dali tried to convince herself not to overreact.
The cabin fell briefly silent as everyone thought. After several seconds, the person who had been knocked away stirred and slowly sat up.
She leisurely stretched her body, then raised her head, exposing her features to the candlelight.
Three sharp intakes of breath rang through the cabin.
"It is her?!" all three said at once.
Who?
Ning Dali remained silent, thoroughly confused.
"No, no, no. Do you think what we just knocked over was..." Wang You spoke rapidly.
"Yuan's grave!" Iron Face shouted earth-shatteringly.
Ning Dali was dumbfounded. Who? Yuan?
Zhuang Yuezhen leaned back against her seat with a deathly pale face.
"It is over," she said softly.
Ning Dali observed everyone's reactions while numerous guesses flashed through her mind.
They had suddenly appeared here and accidentally flattened Yuan's grave. Would something bad happen because of it? Yuan was dead. Surely she could not climb out of the ground and curse them, right? Ha ha ha... Actually, maybe she could.
Ning Dali's mind buzzed, and every expression vanished from her face.
Nearby, the woman who had been knocked away crawled toward them on all fours. She reached the SUV's front windshield, and the four people inside watched in numb silence. Not one of them reacted.
"Wonderful. You knocked her grave away." The corners of the woman's mouth split into a grin, growing wider and wider until it looked grotesque.
"My suffering is finally going to end."
Ning Dali's mind roared, and she wondered what sort of karmic entanglement this was.
"But you do not need to worry too much." The woman shook her head. "Those who come are bound by fate."
"Four people bound by fate... One of you has a Resurrection Ability."
"Yuan, please come back to life."
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