Qian Ling and Li Yuan Come Calling

Jiang Xiao frowned, suddenly recalling the plasma bomb shot at the Outer 8 Building. When it exploded, arcs of electricity had scattered everywhere. Since the arcs could not harm him, he had not used Source Energy Defense. He had not expected them to burn out the circuit components.

This was a little troublesome. Qian Ling had specifically warned him not to use any other terminal to make contact, or the Sin City Council and Black Mech Gang would be able to monitor him.

"I'll have to find a time to personally deliver Xiguang there."

He casually tossed the Sin Capital terminal aside and stopped thinking about it. After covering Xiguang with a blanket, Jiang Xiao took out the Black Dragon and began inspecting it.

He had not datafied the Black Dragon Sniper Rifle—datafying a mechanical creation required a continuous consumption of Spirit Energy, and a Tier 1 Origin Data's Spirit Energy capacity was limited.

Besides, unless it was overloaded to the limit, firing several hundred or even a thousand shots would not affect the Black Dragon's performance at all. For now, Datafication's increase to its Durability Value was not very high.

After maintaining the Black Dragon, Jiang Xiao optimized the pistol as well. He then disassembled the rifle into parts and put them back on the materials rack.

With nothing else to do, Jiang Xiao opened his Personal Panel and began considering the direction of his next move.

Source Energy Intensity: 61 (519/1000)

Spirit Energy Intensity: 49 (189/2500)

This time, he had obtained only a little over a thousand Experience Points in Kasar Street Block, all of which he had poured into Source Energy Intensity to restore his Source Energy reserves.

As for the two points added to Spirit Energy Intensity, the Experience Points had all come from the remaining mechanical documents. There had been fewer than he expected, and he was still over three thousand Experience Points away from Tier 2.

The main issue was that several of them dealt with specific applications and were technology-oriented, so they did not provide any Experience Points.

Only knowledge concerning principles and the foundations of a discipline could increase Professional Experience Points and Spirit Energy Experience Points. Moreover, some of the documents were incomplete, so they had not triggered any Professional Specialty Skills.

For example, information technology, energy technology, and remote-control technology had all been severely crippled.

In short, Jiang Xiao had finished reading the basic knowledge that the Black Mech Gang had made public.

He wondered whether they had more extensive basic knowledge.

He was not concerned about the technical documents. So far, the Black Mech Gang did not seem to have anything good. Rather than pondering the equipment technology in their hands, he might as well dig deeper into the technical data X-21 had brought into his mind.

He did not understand the principles?

He could draw inferences from related things and slowly reverse-engineer them.

Research Slot (1/1): Crude Mechanical Battle Body, Research Progress: 78.32% (Estimated time remaining: two days)

After taking one last look at the Research Slot, Jiang Xiao closed the panel.

He wondered whether the Black Mech Gang's Mechanical Battle Body could be analyzed to reveal technology related to Mechanical Soldiers.

The Mechanical Soldier wreckage Jiang Xiao could access at present was far too fragmented. He could not analyze complete Mechanical Soldier Technology from those scraps and could only settle for the next best thing.

To obtain a complete Mechanical Soldier wreck, he would probably have to personally make a trip into the wilderness.

The Mechanical Soldiers deployed on Prison Star by military-industrial corporations were at least at the standard of Tier 2 Martial artists. Most of them possessed ranged weapons. When criminals encountered them, they could only use every means at their disposal to destroy them. Defeating them while leaving their bodies intact was as difficult as reaching the heavens.

Suddenly.

Jiang Xiao abruptly sensed a piercing gaze coming from behind him and instinctively turned around.

Xiguang had woken up at some point. Her petite body had barely managed to sit up. Her delicate face, slightly childish yet exquisite as a work of art, showed little change in expression.

Her bright crimson eyes stared straight at Jiang Xiao, while her elven ears twitched faintly from time to time.

The air fell silent.

"Thank you."

After several seconds passed without the wariness and questioning he had expected, Xiguang, who had been gazing at him, suddenly thanked him softly.

Jiang Xiao froze. All the words he had prepared to deal with Xiguang's hostility were rendered useless, leaving him momentarily at a loss. He silently gazed into Xiguang's pure eyes.

When the air fell silent again, Jiang Xiao, not knowing what had possessed him, said instinctively, "When you say thank you, you're supposed to raise your middle finger to show respect."

Xiguang, whose thoughts had been elsewhere, came back to herself. A trace of confusion appeared on her impassive face.

After thinking for two seconds, she slowly raised her middle finger at Jiang Xiao, looking slightly hesitant. "Like...this?"

"..."

This was even more iconic. A white-haired, red-eyed, expressionless beauty—the creators of Endless Starry Sky definitely had Kyushu blood!

Oh no, my XP is trembling, damn it!

I'll have to butcher two members of the Viper Clan later to calm down.

"I was only joking. Ahem, forget it. I'm the helper hired by the Spark Gang to rescue you. How are you feeling now?"

Jiang Xiao decided to give up explaining and asked her instead.

At his words, Xiguang closed her eyes and circulated the faint Source Energy and Spirit Energy within her body. After making one complete circulation, she nodded.

"Much better. Thank you again for your help."

Seeing that the air was about to fall silent for the third time, Jiang Xiao hurriedly spoke up. "Since that's the case, how about I take you back to the Spark Gang after dark?"

Finding an NPC to submit a quest to—an indispensable part of Endless Starry Sky!

Jiang Xiao's heart leaped with joy.

The Spark Gang's resource vault contained quite a few good things, several of which would be very useful to him.

Unexpectedly, a trace of conflict appeared on Xiguang's face. Then, with a hint of pleading mixed into her calm expression, she asked, "Can I stay here for the time being?"

"Why?"

"There's a traitor in the Spark Gang. I don't want to go back yet. Besides, if I return, I'll put Uncle Li and the others in danger..." Xiguang explained while observing Jiang Xiao's expression.

If he showed impatience or rejection, she would leave on her own.

But Sin Capital was so large. Where was she supposed to hide?

To recover to her peak condition, she would need at least two or three months without sufficient resources.

"Sure."

Jiang Xiao agreed without much hesitation. This instead left Xiguang somewhat at a loss.

What a joke. An Esper at the level of a Tier 2 Elite was worth more than the entire Spark Gang's resource vault combined. There was no need to hesitate over the choice.

More importantly, he did not want the Spark Gang to be destroyed. The people of Starfire Camp needed them. Besides, Li Yuan and Qian Ling had given him a good impression.

Xiguang felt slightly relieved. Sensing the disordered warm light and goodwill surrounding Jiang Xiao, she said seriously:

"Then, then thank you, Uncle Guang. I'll definitely pay you a reward."

Jiang Xiao's expression froze.

Who was Uncle Guang?

Why was it "uncle"?!

Chapter 34: Qian Ling and Li Yuan Come Calling

Jiang Xiao stared incredulously at Xiguang, who looked like an oversized, exquisitely crafted figurine with a serious little expression, and wanted to say something.

In the end, under her bewildered gaze, he said seriously, "Please call me Jiang Xiao, or Mr. Jiang. Jiang-ge is fine too."

No matter what, he could not abandon his bottom line. Strictly speaking, he was only twenty-three!

"Mm, okay, Mr. Jiang." Xiguang obediently agreed.

Only then did Jiang Xiao nod in satisfaction. Then, somewhat curiously, he asked, "Why do you trust me so much, Miss Xiguang? You have almost no ability to resist right now."

After everything she had gone through, she had opened her eyes to an unfamiliar environment without asking any questions or showing even the slightest bit of wariness. That did not make sense.

At his words, Xiguang tilted her head and gazed at the disordered mosaic-like radiance beside Jiang Xiao, as well as the pure aura of his emotions.

Confusion filled her expression. "Um...I really can't resist right now, so? Why are you asking?"

His fists tightened.

Calm down. Judging from Xiguang's behavior so far, this definitely isn't provocation.

Jiang Xiao took a deep breath and smiled broadly. "I mean, Miss Xiguang, aren't you worried that I'm a bad person? This is Prison Star, after all."

"But you saved me, and the Will of Light would never lie to me," Xiguang continued seriously.

"The Will of Light?"

"Mm. It displays a creature's inclinations of will and emotional fluctuations. Mr. Jiang's Will of Light is very warm...toward Pan-Humans. At the same time, I can sense your instinctive, profound disgust toward other races."

"Mind reading? Isn't your Esper ability Particle Destruction?" Jiang Xiao was shocked.

"It isn't mind reading. I can only sense will and emotions. This is an innate racial talent of our species, not an Esper ability."

Jiang Xiao understood. In that case, he could see why Xiguang trusted him so easily. She had not questioned or shown any wariness toward him from beginning to end.

With this kind of talent, she could determine whether someone was trustworthy the moment they met.

Either she would place her trust in them instantly, or they would never interact again—or even become enemies.

It seemed somewhat more useful than mind reading. A creature's inclinations and emotions reflected its character and nature far more accurately than its words.

What an absurd racial talent. Was this what a higher Pan-Human Species was like?

Jiang Xiao nodded slightly. "I have no more questions. Since that's the case, Xiao Guang, stay here for a while. I'm going to borrow some medical resources from the Viper Gang."

After saying that, he left the pistol equipped with a Plasma Bomb for Xiguang and decisively left the workshop.

Since Xiguang did not want to return for the time being, treating her naturally fell to him. Setting aside the strength of an Esper, it would be somewhat morally questionable to leave a young girl to heal herself.

Conscience—Pan-Human-exclusive edition.

"Xiao Guang..." Xiguang looked dazed, her thoughts seeming to drift away once more.

Time passed second by second.

Xiguang closed her eyes and activated a small amount of Source Energy, continuously repairing some of her external injuries. In just over ten minutes, she had used up all her Source Energy.

She then activated her Spirit Energy to dispel the filth and blood covering her entire body.

Only after she felt less uncomfortable did Xiguang open her eyes and carefully examine her surroundings.

Her expressionless little face seemed to carry a trace of confusion. Mr. Jiang was so strong, yet he was actually a Mechanist?

Come to think of it, Teacher Han from mechanical class did indeed possess very strong physical strength.

Noticing the ordinary Sin Capital terminal beside her hand, Xiguang hesitated for a moment before picking it up and opening the online forum.

She had been trapped in Kasar Street Block for more than half a month and did not know how the Pan-Humans and the Spark Gang were doing. Although she did not plan to return for the time being, she could not afford to remain uninformed.