Do You Want to Join Us?

"Do You Want to Join Us?"

At five in the morning, after arranging her two Familiars, Xu Zhi opened the warehouse again and tapped the stacked [Cup] Attribute Cores. A selection window popped up.

[Would you like a brief introduction to this attribute?]

Xu Zhi tapped yes. Knowledge regarding [Cup] then appeared on the screen.

[Cup: The principle of fertility and feasting]

[It encompasses sensual desire, fertility, Temptation, Agony, blood, and Craving. Its focus lies in satisfying desire, thus giving rise to thirst and hunger. It often possesses inhumane wishes and irresistible charm, occasionally tending toward Greed, intoxication, dizzying fragrances, and spiritual pleasure.]

"...Doesn't sound like anything good."

Compared to the chaos and selfhood of [Moth], [Cup] seemed far more insane and evil.

After reading the brief introduction to the [Cup] attribute, Xu Zhi somewhat understood why those Fanatics had been like that. They were merely prisoners of desire, unable to suppress [Cup]'s influence, reduced to mindless walking corpses.

As for the bespectacled man who retained his sanity, he was still a believer of [Cup], but he could control himself better and would not become completely lost in desire. Still, his code of conduct was clearly centered on fulfilling the Craving and desires in his heart.

"However, the possessors of this attribute seem somewhat different from those of other attributes."

Xu Zhi had not encountered many supernatural beings with attributes yet. Based on what she had seen so far, at least other attributes did not manifest so obviously outwardly, nor did their possessors naturally gather together.

As for whether they had a hierarchy like those people and a "collective consciousness," Xu Zhi felt she would need to meet other supernatural beings before she could determine that.

But she was certain of one thing: she had no intention of submitting to a supernatural being stronger than herself.

The more Xu Zhi learned, the more she realized how little she actually knew. There were also more and more things she was curious about. It seemed she still had a long way to go when it came to supernatural abilities.

"Hopefully, I'll run into some supernatural beings who are still alive this time."

With that thought, Xu Zhi opened the Spirit Vessel interface, placed four [Cup] Attribute Cores into the coin slot, and tapped confirm.

[Number of cores inserted: 4]

[Spirit Vessel duration: 20 minutes]

[Randomly generating attributes.]

[Random generation complete.]

[Spirit Vessel

Spirit: 200

Body: 100

Traits: Bloodlust Lv2, Craving Lv3]

Xu Zhi frowned at the unexpected attributes. Four cores had actually randomly produced 200 Spirit?

And it even came with two traits. She knew [Bloodlust], but [Craving] did not give her a good feeling.

But things had already come to this. She could not back down now, and the game would not give her a chance to regret it.

[Searching for a random deployment location.]

[Deployment successful.]

The next second, Xu Zhi's vision went dark. She knew that when she opened her eyes again, she would be inside the Spirit Vessel.

Xu Zhi was in no hurry. She first tried to sense her surroundings—sounds, temperature, anything—but she felt nothing. Apparently, she could not "cheat" through that.

Left with no other choice, she opened her eyes and solidified the Spirit Vessel.

During the two seconds of invincibility, Xu Zhi quickly scanned her surroundings. Fortunately, she had finally not been so unlucky this time and had not been randomly deployed somewhere extremely dangerous.

She stood in a small alley, surrounded by thick fog. Yet her vision was exceptionally clear—at least far clearer than it was in her actual body.

Besides that, Xu Zhi could feel a faint but persistent Restlessness in her thoughts. She wanted to do something, yet she did not know what. She simply felt that she should not be standing here blankly.

That inexplicable Restlessness made Xu Zhi somewhat agitated. Fortunately, her years of illness had long since accustomed her to suppressing her emotions. Even now, she could forcibly press that Restlessness down into the depths of her heart and keep it from affecting her.

"Is it because of Cup?"

After thinking it over, that was the only possibility.

She now somewhat understood those Fanatics. Perhaps their minds contained an even stronger, utterly uncontrollable Restlessness, making them irritable, short-tempered, and incapable of thought. They could only act on impulse.

Xu Zhi did not linger in place. Once she had suppressed the Restlessness in her heart, she stepped out of the alley.

She did not know where this was. After all, Cloud City was huge, and there were plenty of places she had never seen.

Xu Zhi casually chose a direction and began searching the ground for Black Fruit. She did not bother concealing her tracks. After all, this was only a Spirit Vessel that would exist for twenty minutes. Being overly cautious would only slow her down. Besides, she also wanted to see whether anyone would notice her.

A Body of 100 seemed to be merely a baseline. Xu Zhi could feel that this body was much easier to use than her actual one, as if all the shackles that had bound her for so long had vanished. But that was all. This body possessed no real strength, no defensive ability, and its stamina was even less worth mentioning. At most, it was probably comparable to an ordinary person who did not exercise much and was somewhat frail.

The kind of body that would struggle to climb five flights of stairs.

Ever since the Black Fog descended, Xu Zhi's luck had always been pretty good—aside from being abandoned by her family, of course. Though she no longer believed that had anything to do with bad luck.

And now, that was proven once again. In less than ten minutes, she discovered a living person.

No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the other party had discovered her. They might even have observed her for quite some time and only chosen to reveal themselves after confirming she was not one of those Fanatics.

The other party was cautious as well. Rather than walking straight up to her, they shouted from some distance away first. "Hey, person up ahead, can you hear me?"

One of Xu Zhi's goals was to see how the other supernatural beings in this city were doing, so naturally she responded. Besides, the fact that they had not charged directly at her but instead greeted her from afar while keeping their distance was enough to show that they were not low-level Fanatics.

Xu Zhi said she could hear them and remained where she was. Since it was only a Spirit Vessel and she had not gained anything yet, she had no pressure. She could stay put to show goodwill.

But to her surprise, after she showed goodwill, the other party paused for only a moment. Xu Zhi did not know what they did, but then they asked her a very familiar question: "Are you alone? Do you want to join us?"

"...Huh?"

Amid Xu Zhi's bewildered response, what sounded like a scolding came from the other side. Perhaps the person who had asked that question was being reprimanded by a companion nearby.

Then came the slightly steady voice of a middle-aged man. "Sorry about that. She was a little too rash."

Xu Zhi paused. "Uh, that's fine."

"But do we have to keep shouting at each other like this?"

Shouting back and forth like this was honestly a little weird!