Strict

After Yosef, an Inner City native, joined the group with two Outer City hangers-on he had picked up along the way, things became much livelier.

After some simple probing conversation, Tao Yu's initial impression of Yosef was not bad.

He seemed somewhat arrogant, but as long as you said a few flattering things and praised him, it was easy to coax quite a bit of information out of him.

He was someone with a strong desire to show off and a fondness for flattery.

But the flattery could not be too direct. It had to scratch the right itch without leaving any trace.

Zhang Wei wanted to flatter him too, but compared with Tao Yu, who had once been a corporate slave, he was far inferior.

For example, Tao Yu had indirectly praised his mechanical prosthetic and mentioned the situation with his Third Brother, his words filled with longing.

That immediately prompted Yosef to launch into an endless stream of talk.

"Inner City people are different too. Take me, for example. I'm not at the bottom, but my family is only middle-class. Fortunately, my talent didn't let me down. My Mechanical Affinity reached C+."

Yosef showed off his talent. Although C+ seemed lower than B, Mechanical Affinity itself was much stronger than Dynamic Vision.

This was especially true for someone like Yosef, who had the money for equipment and modifications!

"Huh? Brother Yosef, even your family is only middle-class? How is that possible?"

Tao Yu's shocked expression pleased Yosef greatly. He continued chewing Serpent Meat while patting Tao Yu's shoulder with his intact hand, speaking unclearly.

"Brother Tao, you've lived in the Outer City your whole life. Your horizons are still too limited. Since your talent is so good and you have a chance to enter the Inner City, I'll enlighten you in advance."

He paused here, waiting for Tao Yu's sparkling-eyed look.

"In the Outer City, the limits of an ordinary human body are practically your ceiling. Any mechanical prosthetic or foreign-body implant can easily break through the limits of your Outer City."

"Yes, Uncle Hu used to possess strength at the limit of the human body, and he even had the Precognitive Eye talent. Later, his arm was severed, but after a benefactor took notice of him and granted him a mechanical prosthetic, his strength not only did not decline but actually increased."

Tao Yu timely brought up another comparison.

"Haha, so it was him. I specifically took a look when I arrived. For the Outer City, that prosthetic is pretty decent. It was probably something discarded by someone from the Inner City, and it suited his build fairly well."

Yosef paused again, then continued with a hint of pride.

"But compared with this custom-made model of mine, it can't compare in either functionality or upgrade potential."

Fortunately, he had not become so smug that he forgot what he had been talking about. After another pause, he spoke seriously.

"Mechanical and foreign-body implants can also run into growth bottlenecks. They're too limited by materials and the implant itself.

"Although I advocate mechanical supremacy, in the later stages, neither foreign-body implants nor developing the body's own potential are any worse than machinery."

As he spoke, he glanced at Tao Yu again.

"It's just that you Outer City people don't have such talents or channels."

Hearing this, Tao Yu digested the information and began to grasp the general outline.

"Earlier, Brother Yosef mentioned the possible skill carried by Python's Fang. I absorbed several of them too. How should I complete it?"

Although Tao Yu had already obtained the skill, he cared about some of the information hidden in Yosef's earlier words.

There was only so much he could learn from his parents. Uncle Hu surely knew more, but Tao Yu had never had the time to keep pestering him with questions. It was not bad to have someone more knowledgeable fill in the gaps now.

"Forget it. I absorbed one of those before. The information is pretty chaotic. You need at least twenty or thirty of them."

As he spoke, Yosef pulled several snake fangs from his pocket, startling Tao Yu. This guy did not immediately absorb Wish Power items after obtaining them? He really was well-off.

It also seemed that other people were not as capable as he was at sorting out the information from Wish Power items. It was probably because he had been spared the mental damage that he had managed to piece together a skill with less than half the required items.

"If you have enough, there's some value in combining them into a set. After all, it's a new skill from the New Frontier. Otherwise, it's better to completely block out the information and absorb them purely as Wish Power."

"Why? I always absorb them directly. Are there any hidden dangers?"

Tao Yu asked smoothly.

Yosef glanced at him but was not stingy with the answer.

"There are indeed some risks. You should know that whether in the Outer City, Inner City, or even the Floating City, madmen occasionally appear."

Hearing that, Tao Yu fell silent. His Sixth Sister, who was close to his age and had taken good care of him when he was young, had gone mad a year ago and been executed by the Security Team.

"Looks like you've encountered that before."

Yosef swept his gaze over Tao Yu's expression without much concern.

"Contact with gray mist residue or staying out of the Abyss for too long can cause madness to accumulate. Besides that, absorbing this Wish Power information can do it too."

At this point, Yosef seemed somewhat emotional as well.

"But generally speaking, as long as someone's mental state has not gone seriously wrong, they have Self-Repair ability. You only absorbed a few, so it's no big deal. You'll be fine in a few days."

"Thank you."

Compared to all his earlier nonsense, Tao Yu's thanks were much more sincere.

Yosef did not care much about Tao Yu's gratitude. After finishing his Serpent Meat, he took out a cloth and wiped his mechanical arm, then clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.

"All right, since we're a team, we need team rules. I'll assign the sequence now.

"Chen Guan goes first, then Walter, then Zhang Wei. Brother Tao comes after me. If newcomers join later, we'll decide then. Chen Guan, give your shotgun to Zhang Wei."

Yosef spoke calmly. Hearing the sequence he assigned, Tao Yu vaguely understood what it meant.

Though he had not said it outright, and though they had not officially entered yet, this was essentially a Cannon Fodder Sequence!

Chen Guan was a skinny man around five foot seven with a double-barreled shotgun. Hearing Yosef's words, his face turned pale.

"Lord Yosef, I don't have a physique talent. He clearly has Stamina and is better suited for it..."

"What the hell does that have to do with me? I'm informing you, not negotiating."

Yosef's expression was cold, completely different from the attitude he had shown while speaking with Tao Yu!

Walter was a relatively burly white man. He also had an Assault Rifle and quite a bit of equipment.

At that moment, he first handed his Assault Rifle to Zhang Wei, then snatched Chen Guan's shotgun away and kicked him to the ground. He glared fiercely at him.

"You actually dared to argue with Lord Yosef?"

Zhang Wei looked at the Assault Rifle in his hands and opened his mouth, but in the end he said nothing. He merely gripped it tighter.

He had no firearms skill and no practice, but even so, this gun gave him far more security than that steel pipe!

More importantly, with this gun, at least he would not have to walk at the very front every time.

He had always led the way efficiently, but if he had a choice, who would really want to be a human scout...

Tao Yu watched the scene before him without saying anything. Nor did he mention that he had an extra pistol he could give Chen Guan.

What if someone holding a grudge took the pistol and shot him in the back?

Frankly, even the strongest person present, Yosef, would probably die from a bullet to the head.

After glancing at Yosef again and confirming that there were still no mechanical components implanted in his head, Tao Yu reaffirmed the thought in his heart.

Talent could not decide everything. If a child of the Inner City or even the Floating City awakened some useless talent, they could still rely on Wish Power to stack skills and modify their body, achieving far more than an Outer City Combat Talent holder.

But!

In the bitterly impoverished Outer City, talent could be regarded as the only path upward. Talent decided everything!

Yosef's relatively friendly attitude toward him was also because of that Dynamic Vision (B)!

Otherwise, he would not even qualify to flatter him...

Just as the team's integration problem had been "smoothly" resolved, and Yosef had gained the goodwill of both Tao Yu and Zhang Wei, he tossed out two sealed test tubes filled with white powder.

"Catch."

After the two caught them, Yosef casually said,

"Use it when you're mentally tense, in a bad mood, unable to sleep, or suffering from pain or injuries. The effect is excellent. These two are gifts for you. They should last you for the next half month."

Tao Yu instinctively caught the test tube and froze for a moment. Then his eyes deepened, though he merely smiled and said,

"Thank you, Brother Yosef. I think I've heard of this miracle drug. It's called 'Joy,' right? Too bad my family is too poor..."

Beside him, Zhang Wei's face was full of delight.

"My uncle-in-law really likes 'Joy.' One tube must be worth at least two hundred units of Wish Power, right? And it's very hard to buy!"

As Zhang Wei spoke, a trace of nostalgia appeared on his face, and his lips smacked unconsciously.

Once when he had nearly burned himself senseless with fever as a child, his aunt had used half a fingernail's worth of the miracle drug to control his condition.

Though it was a blurry memory from when he had nearly been delirious with fever, and it had happened long ago, he did not know why he remembered this thing so vividly.

"Haha, it's good that you know. But don't use too much the first time. I'm afraid you won't be used to it."

Seeing their expressions, Yosef laughed heartily with a generous look.

"Consider these tubes a gift. If you need more later, you'll have to earn it yourselves."

"Thank you."

Tao Yu wore a smile and reached out as if preparing to open it. But he immediately paused and asked hesitantly,

"Brother Yosef, I've seen people look drunk after using this. Will it make my aim worse?"

As he spoke, he touched the Assault Rifle hanging from his body.

The world around him gradually slowed, and he could clearly feel the blood pumped by his heart.

It seemed as though everything had slowed down.

But as he entered Bullet Time, Tao Yu's heart sank when he noticed things he had failed to see before.

There was not a single trace of blood vessels beneath the skin on Yosef's forehead and face. Other than his eyebrows and eyelashes, there was not even the slightest bit of facial hair!

Following the mechanical area where Yosef's shoulder connected to his neck, Tao Yu moved his fingers, then voluntarily withdrew from Bullet Time. His face still wore that curious expression.

Yosef, who had been smiling broadly, suddenly felt a chill on his scalp. Looking at Tao Yu's Assault Rifle and the one Zhang Wei had just acquired, the corner of his mouth twitched. He fell silent for a moment, apparently thinking of something unpleasant.

Then he once again put on a hearty expression and casually waved his hand.

"There will indeed be a little effect, especially for newcomers who aren't used to it. Use it only when you start having problems. There's no need to take risks while we're inside an Abyss fragment..."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Yosef. I'll definitely repay you."

Tao Yu thanked him with a smile, but as he watched Yosef's hearty grin, his heart grew darker and darker.

He had thought Yosef was merely an Inner City youth who liked flattery and was not a bad person.

But it had all been an act. A former corporate slave from a previous life had nearly been deceived by an eighteen-year-old kid. Tao Yu once again felt the darkness of this world.

He had done nothing to provoke him. Merely because he had a little talent, he had received this kind of "free" kindness.

You deserve to die...

Tao Yu could not help murmuring inwardly...