Chapter 184: Those Willing Take the Bait
“Then how did you level up so fast?” Yao Mei’s face was written all over with disbelief — how is this fair?
“I awakened my power early,” Antonio replied. “It happened not long after the earthquake.”
The two exchanged questions and answers. Antonio always managed to bring up something new just as Yao Mei’s attention began to wander, keeping her fully engaged the entire way. She didn’t even realize that the people trailing behind them had quietly disappeared.
Meanwhile, Xu Sa and Ning Yuan took the opportunity to gather intel about the base.
The entire Peace Base was controlled by four main teams. Tao An, captain of the Peace Team, was currently the de facto leader of the base and a fire-type ability user. Then there was the Ice Team, led by Meng Jingtian, a water-type user whose evolved ability was ice — said to be very powerful, even freezing another ability user to death once. The War God Team was led by Sun Yucheng, a metal-type user. Finally, the Hope Team was led by Du Kang, an earth-type ability user.
Interestingly, all four captains had awakened their powers early. At first, the base relied on firearms to maintain control, but as abilities became more dominant, weapons fell out of favor. Now, three of the captains had advanced to B-rank, while Tao An remained at C-rank. The Peace Team’s grip on power was starting to weaken.
“Then why doesn’t Tao An just hurry up and level up?” Xu Sa asked, confused. “From what we’ve heard, he’s about ready anyway. If his power is unstable, shouldn’t he be doing everything he can to boost it?”
Ning Yuan shook his head. “It’s not that simple. We leveled up easily because we’ve always used purified crystal cores, which contain very few impurities. Others don’t have that. The upgrade process reportedly kills five out of every ten people who try. And the surviving five? They go through hell. Not everyone can just sit down and meditate for a bit and boom — leveled up.”
Xu Sa laughed at his description.
“From what that girl said earlier, the three other captains awakened before the big snowstorm. Tao An awakened after it.”
“You mean he had to stack crystal cores to catch up?” Xu Sa asked. “That would make leveling really dangerous.”
“Exactly. He awakened late, and if he’s managed to keep up, it means he’s probably been absorbing cores at his limit daily. That means a ton of impurities his body hasn’t had time to purge. Leveling now would be suicide. He knows it too. That’s why he’s been holding back — still intimidating enough to hold on to power, but if he dies trying, his team will be swallowed up by the others.”
As Ning Yuan spoke, he remembered the crystal core Lu Weiyi was planning to sell. Perfect bait to make a quick fortune.
“I’ve really got good instincts,” Xu Sa bragged. “My only friend just happens to be a walking golden thigh.” he grinned, then asked, “So what’s next? Ordinary people only have so many jade pieces. The big factions have plenty of resources, and without their support, it’s hard to collect in bulk. Bits and pieces won’t cut it.”
Though they still didn’t know exactly what Lu Weiyi needed all the jade for, the fact that he needed it continuously made it clear it was important — and the team had taken that seriously.
Ning Yuan thought for a moment. “Those folks picking up odd jobs at the base gates should have ties to all the major factions. We’ll just hire them to spread the word. Pay them a bit of commission and get them to help collect the loose bits. Later tonight, we can regroup with Lu Weiyi and figure out our next move.”
*
Ning Yuan immediately hired people to make signs and had someone with a loudspeaker run around the entire base spreading the news. They even set the exchange location right at the Peace Team’s trading shop, catching Yao Mei completely off guard. She couldn’t openly object or refuse to trade, so she just had to swallow the loss.
After the campaign, they did get some private trades — mostly small items like jewelry, pendants, and bracelets of varying quality. Altogether, it amounted to just a small pouch.
That evening, around six, Ning Yuan slung the pouch over his back and left the base with the others to report in. Yao Mei also brought two people with her to collect supplies.
“That’s it?” Lu Weiyi looked inside the pouch and was honestly surprised at how poor the base seemed. A single top-tier store in the city would have more than this.
Ning Yuan quickly explained the Peace Team’s tactics and the base’s current dynamics.
“Tao An probably just wants to avoid anything that could escalate into a conflict with the other factions, especially given how precarious his position is,” Zhuang Mingxu analyzed.
“Then what do you think about selling him that crystal core? Scam him for all he’s worth?” Ning Yuan said, grinning deviously.
Lu Weiyi’s eyes lit up and even glanced at Zhuang Mingxu for input.
“…We can,” Zhuang Mingxu replied. “Given how shameless they’ve been, we can make it hurt. Hard.” He picked up a particularly high-quality jade piece from the pouch. “1500 kgs of this quality. Short a single kilo, and we use one crystal core to make up for it.”
Ning Yuan whistled. This guy’s savage. It usually took no more than seven or eight hundred cores to level up — Zhuang Mingxu was trying to squeeze them for nearly three thousand.
But then again… compared to dying, that price wasn’t too high.
“Go tell that girl. Tell her to bring her boss to us. You guys don’t need to go back — Brother Xi made something good to eat.” Zhuang Mingxu waved toward the kitchen, and sure enough, Xu Sa made a beeline that way. Antonio, pulling Dean along, also headed over. Even Ning Yuan, still mid-conversation, kept glancing at the kitchen.
“Hey, my dear brother,” Ning Yuan said, breaking into a jog toward the kitchen. When he saw Antonio carrying a small plate with ribs, he sped up. “Save me a few pieces, will you?”
Yao Mei had originally planned to take the supplies and leave — just about 50kg of rice, a straightforward transaction. But just as she turned to go, Yao Mei, smelling deliciously of meat, waved her over.
“What now?” Yao Mei sniffed the air hard. Yep — definite smell of meat. It was coming from the tent behind them.
“Go ask your boss if he’s interested in something that can keep him alive during an upgrade,” Ning Yuan said in a low voice.
“…What did you just say—” Yao Mei shouted in shock, immediately drawing curious looks from the people she’d brought with her.
She calmed her breathing, shook her head at him to indicate she was fine, and lowered her voice to ask again, “You guys really have something that ensures survival during an upgrade?”
“Yep,” Ning Yuan smiled innocently. “Go ask him if he wants it. If not, we’ll just sell it to someone else.”
“No, wait—don’t sell it yet! I’ll go ask right now.” The girl, panicking, grabbed Ning Yuan’s sleeve and paused before giving it an awkward shake, mimicking a cutesy tone, “Pretty please, big bro~ Don’t sell it~”
Dressed like a little delinquent but putting on a deliberately sweet act, she looked utterly ridiculous. Even Lu Weiyi couldn’t help but crack a smile, and Ning Yuan outright burst out laughing. With several handsome guys laughing at her, her face turned beet red. She wanted to curse but didn’t dare offend them. She puffed up like a little angry pufferfish.
“Go ask quickly. I won’t sell it for now—I’ll wait for you guys to come back,” Ning Yuan finally gave her a way out.
“You said it! I’m going right now! Don’t go back on your word, or… or…” She waved her tiny fist threateningly, realized it lacked intimidation, then turned and ran off.
As soon as she left, the others began eating.
“Did any of you check out the trading market? See anything we need?” Lu Weiyi asked, thinking about the mutant rats they had. He wasn’t keen on eating them.
“Yeah, but there’s nothing new. Just stuff we already have,” Xu Sa sipped his hot soup. His bowl was already full of his favorite dishes thanks to Liu Rui.
“Some things we can never have too much of,” Zhuang Mingxu reminded them. “Like seeds, medicine, that kind of stuff.”
“Hm…” Xu Sa glanced at Ning Yuan. “I didn’t really notice. Did you see anything?”
“Nope. We’ll go check again another day—after all, we paid for three days anyway,” Ning Yuan said, mouth full and voice muffled from trying to grab more food. Once he finally swallowed, he looked at Lu Weiyi. “But isn’t your storage space full? Even if we trade, where would we put the stuff?”
“…” Lu Weiyi was speechless for a moment. Then he said, “It keeps upgrading…”
He was the only one in the team with a spatial ability, and since none of the others had interacted with another space user before, they just assumed that the space grew with his power, like other abilities. No one found it strange.
“I’ll keep an eye out then,” Ning Yuan replied.
Tao An arrived quickly.
Ning Yuan took the group to a temporary tent they had set up. Behind the tent, Zhuang Mingxu was teaching Zhuang Ai Yi to recite poems, while Lu Weiyi leaned back on the couch with his eyes closed—though in truth, he was using his spiritual energy to reorganize the space in his storage, expanded again by absorbing jade.
At the entrance of the tent, a table had been placed.
Ning Yuan led them in. Xu Sa grabbed some folding stools from beside the sofa and handed three to He Ping, then laid out two on their side. She and Ning Yuan sat down opposite them. Negotiations began to the tune of Zhuang Ai Yi’s sweet little voice reciting: “Goose, goose, goose, neck curved to sing to the sky…”
“Hello, I’m Tao An.” Although it was getting chilly, it wasn’t that cold—yet Tao An was wrapped in a cloak.
“Ning Yuan. Xu Sa,” Ning Yuan introduced themselves.
He Ping was just about to make small talk about their earlier meeting when Ning Yuan placed a deep green crystal core on the table between them.
“This is the thing that can help you survive the upgrade,” Ning Yuan got straight to the point, and handed over a piece of high-quality jade Zhuang Mingxu had brought out earlier. “1500kg of jade of this quality. At least one thousand as a base. For any shortfall, one crystal core per 500gram.”
Tao An’s pale fingers rubbed the item as he said, “Mr. Ning, this is quite the outrageous asking price.”
“You know full well you won’t survive the upgrade as is,” Ning Yuan smiled, blunt as ever. “So, what’s more important—your life or your money? I think Mr. Tao knows the answer.”
“Of course, I’m not saying I have to sell this to you. We don’t need it ourselves. I’m sure the other teams will be fighting over it. But the price may not be this friendly,” Ning Yuan said, and casually pulled the crystal core back. He Ping looked visibly anxious.
