Crownslayer's Attempted Comeback

A few days after Crownslayer was driven away, inside Zhuang Xiaolin's pharmacy.

"Having money really is great. I'd love to be a capitalist for once. Just look at all this money—more than ordinary people could earn in thousands of lifetimes." Zhuang Xiaolin lightly tapped the stacks upon stacks of Lungmen Dollars in the box and could not help but sigh.

Wei Yenwu was someone he could work with. Mutual benefit and all that was fine, but he could not afford to rely on him. After all, the other man was a governor, and every interest had to be centered on the city under his control. If Zhuang Xiaolin spent too much time dealing with him and actually came to depend on him, he might suffer a major loss someday.

The two sides deepened their cooperation. Zhuang Xiaolin had originally priced the basic healing potions at 1,000 each, but after Wei Yenwu's subsequent "bargaining," they became 5,000 each.

On top of that, Wei Yenwu "graciously" granted Zhuang Xiaolin a form of "medical institution development funding" stipulated under Lungmen law.

Where did that medical institution development funding come from? There was no need to think about it. Neither side exposed the truth behind it, treating it as Wei Yenwu's gesture of goodwill and attempt at recruitment. His goal was for Zhuang Xiaolin to put more goods into Lungmen.

Zhuang Xiaolin had originally wanted to refuse, but after seeing the total amount of that medical institution development funding, he decided he really did need the subsidy.

With a subsidy of a full 250 million Lungmen Dollars, plus the 156 million Lungmen Dollars generated this month through cooperation with Lungmen's authorities, he was still around 700 million Lungmen Dollars short of completing the mission target. The little profit from the slums was not even worth mentioning; he might as well treat it as charity.

At this rate, medical institution development funding and cooperative funding would flow in every month from now on. With such an accumulation trend, he likely would not even need ten months. In just two or three months, he should be able to gather nearly all the money required for the mission.

"Talulah seems like a completely different person. I saw her with my own eyes, burning surrendered Ursus soldiers alive. Black mist swirled in her eyes, and her whole presence didn't feel like her at all." Lyudmila weakly confided everything to her subordinate.

Her subordinate had no good solution either and could only remain silent. After all, Talulah was ultimately the one who had led them out of that snowy wilderness.

People always changed. Compared to the Reunion Movement of before, the current Reunion Movement had been joined by quite a few people with selfish motives. Yet their ranks were steadily expanding, and their circumstances were gradually improving. What they needed now was a home in which to live.

"Her order to me was: if we can't have it, destroy it. How much does that plan resemble the way she used to be?" Lyudmila stared at the figure before her with his head lowered and could not help letting out a sigh.

Even if Talulah became someone else entirely, Crownslayer would not have had much of a reaction. But Talulah's current plan concerned a medicine that could treat Oripathy, forcing Lyudmila to entertain other thoughts.

That medicine was simply too precious—far too precious. Killing its creator would be the ultimate waste, and Lyudmila did not want to do that.

Though she was a killer, an assassin... she was also an Oripathy-infected person. Originium had invaded her throat, forcing her to endure pain every day. Even if Lyudmila could defeat those people, she would not kill Zhuang Xiaolin, much less when she could not even beat them.

That man looks like someone I could cooperate with, Lyudmila thought. For some reason, she recalled Zhuang Xiaolin's weathered yet distinctly handsome face, the fleeting spark of lively cunning visible in his black eyes.

But nothing was certain yet. Whether he was an enemy or a friend, she would have to test him a few more times.

Wolves feared the strong, but they would never retreat—especially lone wolves.

Lyudmila would not do as Talulah said, but neither would she sit around waiting. She would search for some means of balance within this situation.

From the bloody slaughter of Siracusa to the frigid Ursus, then sent to Lungmen, Lyudmila had witnessed far too many infected people torn apart by life and death. That was precisely why a medicine that sounded like a fantasy was so precious.

In her eyes, Talulah, who had been a relatively inexperienced leader not long ago, had suddenly become like another person. Every method she employed was ruthless and merciless, and she sought to wipe everything out completely. Whenever she spoke, she constantly invoked the infected as the greater good.

For that reason, it was best not to carry out all of Talulah's orders. Leaving herself a way out was also a necessary quality for an assassin.

With those thoughts in mind, Lyudmila gazed from afar across the desolate wilderness at the colossal entity standing upon this land.