Volume Six: What She Lost, What I Gained (2)

Boom!!!!

An explosive pain suddenly engulfed me, as if a small bomb had detonated inside my body! Bones shattered, flesh melted, organs turned to ash, and then my entire body exploded into a cloud of Blood Mist! The Blood Mist tumbled and rose in the air, then burst into brilliant Blood Flame, and my body was reborn in the fire—

Then, it exploded into Blood Mist once more.

"--!?" Rebirth.

Explosion. Rebirth.

Explode.

Rebirth, rebirth, rebirth--

--Explosion! Explosion! Explosion!

The explosions continued for nearly ten times before finally stopping. I gently stroked my newly formed body, panting heavily.

Yu He, meanwhile, remained calmly adrift on the sea of banknotes, the injury on his arm completely gone.

"Gah... gah... this is what you mean by... Life Insurance?"

"You absolutely cannot imagine how much money I've invested in my body; the insurance payouts are even precise down to the smallest detail of each organ."

"..." Insurance.

A commercial insurance activity in which the policyholder pays premiums to the insurer according to the contract, and the insurer assumes liability for compensation for property losses caused by accidents that may occur as stipulated in the contract, or assumes liability for payment of insurance benefits when the insured dies, becomes disabled, falls ill, or reaches the age or term stipulated in the contract.

Yu He insured his body, so that he would receive corresponding compensation if he suffered personal injury.

But in what "form" will this so-called "compensation" be implemented?

"In short... it means that if I cause you harm, the amount of compensation you receive for your injury will be the same as the amount of damage I suffer in return..."

"That's roughly how it can be understood... Of course, when I'm injured, I can choose between 'receiving compensation,' 'healing,' and 'making the person who hurt me hurt.'"

In other words, he could only choose between "healing his own wounds" and "injuring me in return," and he has already chosen the latter. So, he'll have to spend more money to heal his own wounds now?

"What an expensive superpower, Yu He..."

"You, who's risking your life in battle, have no right to criticize me."

"..." This is really troublesome.

Yu He's special ability is probably the most intriguing among the higher-ups.

"By paying money, skip the process and get the result you deserve directly."

In other words, could it be understood as...?

"With your immeasurable wealth, you can achieve anything that money can buy, without any delay... Is that a fair interpretation?"

"You know so much about this!"

Yu He looked at me with a half-smile, and I couldn't help but frown.

It can't be that simple. If it were, wouldn't he be invincible with enough money? Plus, with things like "pawn shops" and "Life Insurance," he could directly unleash a "death blow worth xx," or convert injuries into monetary losses... wait?

If he could truly achieve everything that money can buy instantly, why go through all that trouble? If he were to use "all the money of the Spirit Star" at the same time, even I, with hundreds of millions of lives, would immediately kneel before him. Even if it weren't all the Spirit Star, paying only half would be enough to defeat me.

But he didn't do that.

"There are limitations..."

I murmured to myself, and he raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Your special ability isn't so convenient. The phenomena have their own rules, and you need to go through various steps or procedures to get the desired result by paying money..."

In fantasy novels, can a magician with an immense amount of Magic Power destroy a city directly? Of course not. He needs to harmonize his Magic Power, chant incantations, and go through various preparations to unleash a powerful forbidden spell or something similar to destroy a city. Otherwise, there would be no need for so-called magical "powers."

For Yu He, money is "Magic Power," and all sorts of methods—pawning, insurance, risk transfer, lending, installment payments, and so on—are "magic."

"If you want to wield power, you must abide by the rules of economics; that is your greatest limitation!"

"Yeah, isn't that obvious?"

"Uh..." Nonsense...

Now that he says it... it really does sound like nonsense.

"Furthermore, Miss Ye, although I must engage in various economic activities to exercise my abilities, how much do you actually know about economics?"

"Uh..." Right.

Economy and stuff like that.

I have absolutely no idea!

When I was on Earth, I was a 100% pure science student.

Economics, financial analysis, socioeconomics—these are all things from another world to me. I'd rather stay up all night coding microcontrollers than read economics books.

"So... for someone like you who doesn't understand economics, various economic behaviors, or business tactics, what does it matter to you whether I'm subject to restrictions or not?"

"... This kind of thing doesn't matter at all, right? I just want to beat you to death!"

"That's terrifying."

That being said, it might not be a good idea for me to just go and beat him up right now.

I almost died ten times just from injuring his arm. If someone else had unknowingly injured him, they would be dead by now. Luckily, I have hundreds of millions of lives.

--Um?

Hundreds of millions of lives?

Injuring his arm is equivalent to dying ten times over.

What if you ripped his entire arm off? Would he die hundreds of times? Thousands of times?

This is just a fraction of my hundreds of millions.

If I were to calculate it... no, that won't work. The insurance premiums he took out on different organs must be different. After all, although the combined volume of the heart and brain isn't even as big as a thigh, their importance is incomparable to that of the limbs, and their value must be incomparable as well. Perhaps if I could rip out his heart right now, I might have to undergo countless rebirths on the spot, exhausting my life force.

Could I use a large amount of blood to immobilize him without causing harm? Would that be feasible?

"Don't hesitate any longer, Miss Ye."

A massive wave of banknotes crashed down, forming a giant hand that slammed towards me! I immediately dodged backward—because I knew that the strength of Yu He's attack could not be judged by what one saw!

"Venture Capital."

"... Huh?"

He seemed to mutter something under his breath, but I couldn't hear him—then countless giant hands clenched into fists and slammed towards me! I immediately released a large number of crystal shields and Blood Beast to block them, while Yu He raised his arms, directing the giant hands of money like a conductor, chanting incantations—

"... Investment targets... countermeasures against Blood Beast, destruction of crystal shields, Blood Beast, Blood Beast, crystal shields, crystal walls, Blood Beast, crystal shields..."

Rumble rumble rumble rumble!

The seemingly flimsy Banknote Fist unleashed terrifying combat power, killing Blood Beast instantly upon contact. The subsequent self-destruction didn't even produce a spark, and the countless crystal shields were torn to shreds like thin paper, offering absolutely no resistance!

"What kind of Venture Capital is this?! Blood Shadow Corrosion!"

A large amount of blood spread out into a thin plane, a murky dark red, like a shadow stained with blood, covering a distance of several kilometers, and then, at my command, it descended upon countless giant hands of banknotes!

Glug glug glug glug glug!!

The blood-red shadow tightened the moment it approached the giant hand, completely enveloping the banknotes and solidifying its surface to firmly imprison them! One giant hand after another was covered by the blood-red shadow, leaving fewer and fewer until only one escaped—

"-- Balance Transfer!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow is...

Exams are over... Hooray...