Chapter 455: Extorting Compensation
Beside him, Li Zhuang forcefully pulled Xu Yi into an embrace, letting him bury his head in his shoulder. With a wave of his hand, he took over for the hesitant Xu Sen—chopping off one of Xu Miao’s arms and breaking a leg.
“Twenty thousand crystal cores. Pay up and get lost,” Li Zhuang said coldly, his voice laced with restrained fury.
Xu Sen had no energy left to bargain. He retrieved what crystal cores he had from his space but came up short. Su Yan sighed and filled in the rest without a word.
“Thank you,” Xu Sen’s voice was hoarse, like he was speaking through a mouthful of sand.
Su Yan waved it off and said goodbye to the others in the villa. As he reached the door, he heard Xu Yi’s voice, still trembling with anger and grief: “Any ability user who treats him is an enemy of the Half Moon Bay Base.”
Su Yan paused and looked back toward Lu Weiyi. Seeing no rebuttal, he glanced at Xu Sen, who was gritting his teeth so hard they creaked, then reluctantly walked away.
The remaining three had no reason to stay either. After a few reminders, they each went their own way. Li Zhuang instructed a few earth ability users to clean up the courtyard, then carried the still-sobbing Xu Yi to the bedroom.
Lu Weiyi had been fully awake ever since Xu Yi recounted what happened to him. Now, watching the two figures disappear down the hall, he fell silent.
“What’s wrong?” Zhuang Mingxu asked in a low voice.
“Back then…” Lu Weiyi started, then stopped halfway. After a while, he continued, “I think I owe him an apology.”
He turned to Zhuang Mingxu, his gaze clear and sincere. “But I don’t think I was wrong.”
Back then, Li Zhuang had been seriously injured. His relationship with Xu Yi had been ice-cold. Without taking strong action early on, Li Zhuang would never have recovered.
No one could’ve predicted that they would end up as teammates someday.
Looking back now, it was all awkward and difficult to reconcile.
“Do you regret it?” Zhuang Mingxu asked.
“No,” Lu Weiyi replied without hesitation. If given another chance, he would still choose the same path.
For someone like Xu Yi, Lu Weiyi would rather take control from the start than rely on the slim chance of Xu Yi’s cooperation.
“Then prove that your conscience is clear. No need to dwell on it,” Zhuang Mingxu said as he signaled the others to return to their rooms. Then he dragged Lu Weiyi toward the bedroom with a mischievous grin. “At worst, just blame it on Li Zhuang. He benefited the most back then anyway.”
“Let Xu Yi vent it all on him.”
Lu Weiyi thought about it and gradually began to smile.
*
The final day of the Ability User Conference was open to all attendees for practice and sparring.
After venting yesterday, Xu Yi seemed completely unburdened. He came downstairs early, looking refreshed, and the first thing out of his mouth was, “What’s for breakfast?”
His cheerful demeanor left Xu Sa, who had been feeling guilty, and Lu Weiyi, who had debated all night whether to apologize, staring at each other in disbelief.
As for the 20,000 crystal core compensation from Xu Sen, Zhuang Mingxu didn’t keep a single one—instead, he handed them all over to Xu Yi.
Despite having various sources of income, such a large amount made Xu Yi’s eyes light up. He curled up in the pile of crystal cores giggling like a fool, completely lacking any of the poise of a former rich kid.
He counted out 5,000 and placed them on the dining table. “This is my way of thanking everyone for the trouble of finding me yesterday.”
“No need, we’re all from the same base. If anyone else had gone missing, we’d have looked too,” someone said. In the end, it was Du Ping—the eldest among the accompanying members—who spoke.
“I insist. Just take it as a thank-you from me,” Xu Yi said, pushing it toward Lu Weiyi for distribution.
Zhuang Mingxu did a quick headcount. “Since Xu Yi is being sincere, there’s no need to refuse. Here’s what we’ll do—Lu Weiyi and I are the base leaders, so we’re responsible for everyone’s safety. We won’t take a share.”
“There are 16 other ability users, so that’s 200 cores each. The remaining 1,800 will be used to treat the Capital base leaders to a meal and give them thank-you gifts. Sound good?”
“Is 1,800 enough? Maybe we should chip in a little extra ourselves. A well-placed gift makes things smoother down the line.”
“Yeah, let’s stay united when dealing with outsiders.”
“Right. Whether we take any or not doesn’t matter—we didn’t really contribute much. The base leader found him, and Captain Li rescued him.”
Everyone chimed in, trying to politely decline, but Zhuang Mingxu waved it off. “It was a team effort. If no one objects to the amount, we’ll distribute it as planned.”
He had someone count the cores and then started giving instructions for the day.
“Today, there’s no limit—any ability user who bought a ticket can participate in the sparring and learning exchanges. The Capital base has provided platforms for that. Given that our base…” Zhuang Mingxu glanced around at the living room full of S-rank ability users, “…is pretty eye-catching, I hope everyone will be cautious. When sparring, hold back a bit.”
After some nods, someone brought up the ability user legion that had been mentioned earlier, asking what their base’s stance was.
“Our base will definitely participate. Captain Zheng and Chief Zhao previously gave us some classified intel—not publicly disclosed—confirming that the zombies are heading north. The Capital base suspects their destination may be here. However…”
Zhuang Mingxu hesitated, then decided to lay it out.
“High-level zombies are drawn to high-grade crystal cores. Compared to others, our base’s powerful users are more of a lure. We don’t yet know how far the range of attraction is, but we can’t rule out the possibility that they’re coming for us.”
This was one reason Zheng Yi and Zhao Qiang brought it up—Zhuang Mingxu had only refused twice before agreeing. With Lu Xiao present, they felt compelled to act, so it made sense to bring their rivals into a united front.
No one knew this beforehand, so when they heard it, people were incredulous. Ye Jia immediately asked Lu Weiyi, “Will they really target high-level ability users?”
“Not sure about S?rank, but every SS?rank I’ve encountered will,” Lu Weiyi said firmly. He warned, “When you’re outside again, be extra careful to protect your crystal cores. They’ll specifically target them.”
Ye Jia rubbed his forehead, looking visibly shaken.
“As of yesterday afternoon, eight bases have agreed to join the Ability User Legion,” Zhuang Mingxu added with a knowing smile, “Today when you head out, you can support—whether or not it’s directly involved, the more allies we have, the greater our chance of survival.”
Those in the living room who understood laughed quietly.
“And one more thing—this afternoon our base will unveil some newly developed instruments. We need everyone back to assist, so let’s finish everything this morning,” Zhuang Mingxu said. He pointed toward the first-floor rooms. “We’d planned to demo them yesterday but didn’t have time. Let Qingyue introduce them now so no one’s left in the dark.”
“This is important for our base’s finances over the long term. As you all know, funding determines our level of development. I hope everyone will do their part.” He then asked Gu Qingyue and a team of about a dozen to head to the rooms.
Once they left, Zhuang Mingxu reviewed the upcoming schedule in his mind, confirmed everything was set, and let out a relieved sigh.
Xu Yi, having gotten his fill of crystal cores, handed Lu Weiyi two thousand cores. “Heard you stood guard for me all afternoon—here, thanks.”
Lu Weiyi eyed him dismissively. “I’m an SS?rank ability user. That’s all I’m worth?”
“Then give them back,” Xu Yi moved to grab them, but Lu Weiyi swiftly pocketed the cores. He shrugged—his handsome appearance barely concealed a smug attitude.
Xu Yi pouted and leaned in to whisper, “Can I swap them all for Purification Cores?”
“Sure, at a 1-to?4 rate.”
Xu Yi pointed at the cores in Lu Weiyi’s hand, then at himself. “No discount at all?”
“As part of the ruling body, you must help maintain market stability… no disrupting things.”
Lu Weiyi’s righteous speech was cut short by Xu Yi waving him off, pressing his lips for a long time before saying, “1-to?3.”
“Deal!”
Lu Weiyi’s reaction was so swift that Xu Yi wondered if he’d been tricked. He surveyed Lu Weiyi up and down.
Lu Weiyi solemnly extended his hand. “Once the offer’s gone, it’s gone.”
Before Xu Yi could respond, other members began offering their freshly acquired 200?core bundles.
“Base Leader, swap ours too.”
“Just this once—come on, Base Leader.”
A few small packs of crystals were placed on the table. Any suspicion Xu Yi had dissolved instantly—he even added ten thousand cores to the pile.
Lu Weiyi counted out the reduced number of Purification Cores and distributed them. Xu Yi’s smug grin only grew bigger, making Lu Weiyi feel slightly uncomfortable.
“I feel short?changed. Will your exchange rate drop later? If it does, can you make up the difference?”
“With RMB worth practically nothing these days, why don’t you ask the banks for compensation?” Lu Weiyi snapped, quickly pocketing up all the cores.
*
By the time they reached the outdoor plaza, it was packed like a bird’s nest. The upper levels held delegations from various bases, the ground level featured a sparring arena, and a ring in the middle was divided by ability types.
The bustling scene felt like a martial-arts tournament. Li Zhuang stood with Zhuang Mingxu, socializing with other bases. But it was Lu Weiyi’s responsibility to watch over his “precious toy,” Xu Yi.
Since yesterday, Xu Sa had remained subdued, sitting silently beside Xu Yi, while Liu Rui—ever inseparable from Xu Sa—sat obediently beside him.
Despite also being a healer, Xu Yi’s cold aura set him apart from the laughter and chit-chat of healers like Luo Feifei gathering nearby.
Xu Yi propped his legs on the table, leaned back in his chair, and cracked sunflower seeds—his black sunglasses practically saying “Don’t bother me.”
