Trading with the Outside World

Trading with the Outside World

"So once Instant Death reaches max level, will it become a supernatural ability that can only be used once, but is guaranteed to trigger Instant Death that one time?"

[Please level up diligently to experience the effect.]

Narrator merely left behind this sentence coldly.

"Even if I level up diligently, I still can't experience the effect," Xu Zhi muttered in complaint.

[Please explore diligently.]

Narrator suddenly popped up with another sentence.

Xu Zhi raised an eyebrow and gave a meaningful "Oh." Narrator had not ignored her and had instead displayed that sentence. Didn't that implicitly mean there should be a way for her to obtain Instant Death later on?

But Narrator's subtle way of hinting also showed that she would get no answer by asking directly. Still, the words "explore diligently" were already a kind of clue.

"Fine. I'll work hard."

"But now, it's card-drawing time!"

With two chances, she was bound to draw a crucial trait, right?

The girl tapped the draw button, and the words Drawing appeared on the screen.

[Congratulations, you have drawn: Strength Lv5]

[Due to the differences between you and your Familiar, the trait will also undergo slight changes.]

[Strength: Your strength must be balanced with your physical body. When you gain Strength, your physical condition will also improve accordingly, but your appearance will not change in any way. Your strength may not be as great as a Familiar's, but it will be perfectly coordinated and far beyond that of ordinary people.]

It seemed strength would not appear out of thin air, but she truly had not expected that gaining the Strength trait would improve her physical condition as well.

"Looks like I won't need exercise to improve my physical abilities anymore."

All-powerful supernatural abilities! Praise be to you!

A blessing for lazy people!

For her second draw, Xu Zhi obtained [Endurance].

Neither of the two draws had repeated. Who dared say she was not incredibly lucky?

[Congratulations, you have drawn: Endurance Lv5]

[Due to the differences between you and your Familiar, the trait will also undergo slight changes.]

[Endurance: Your tolerance for all things has increased, whether it is tolerance for pain or tolerance for the loss of life. When you are injured, you will be harder to knock down than ordinary people. However, your temper has not changed in any way—it remains just as terrible as ever.]

"That last sentence was unnecessary. My temper isn't terrible!"

Xu Zhi thought her temper was fairly good. She did not fly into a rage and kill people at the slightest disagreement. Did that not count as a good temper?

"Perfect draws!"

With Endurance and Strength, she now had the ability to protect herself even when her Familiar was not by her side.

Moreover, Xu Zhi could feel supernatural power coursing through her body, repairing this battered body that had once been riddled with damage, transforming her frail organs and limbs. Perhaps after one night's sleep, she would wake up to find that she had suddenly become "Superman."

"Too bad I can't draw the ability to fly. That would make it even more fitting."

After all, flight was not Xiao Zhen's trait, but an instinct she had been born with. It could not be placed into the trait card pool for Xu Zhi to draw.

After finishing all this, Xu Zhi had Xiao Zhen catch up to the two Familiars that had already headed into the mountains. Xu Zhi herself looked at the remaining twenty-four cores in the warehouse and decided to head outside once more.

She needed to increase her strength quickly, and at present, there was an excellent way to do so.

Milk the Federation dry.

So this time, Xu Zhi did not alter the appearance of her Spirit Vessel. When she saw the prompt stating that landing at the location she had recorded would cost ten cores, the corner of Xu Zhi's eye twitched.

"Are you a capitalist?"

"Isn't ten cores per trip just robbery?"

[Please invest cores to activate this location.]

Narrator remained utterly unmoved.

"I'm going to file a complaint about this unreasonable price."

Xu Zhi was indignant, though she also knew that with Narrator's attitude, the price probably would not change in the slightest.

She invested ten cores to activate the location, then another four to create a Spirit Vessel that would last twenty minutes. After some thought, Xu Zhi still threw in three cores with the same attributes as last time, plus one extra core with the [Moth] attribute.

She felt that [Chaos] might prove extremely useful when dealing with the outside world.

[Number of cores invested: 4]

[Spirit Vessel duration: 20 minutes]

[Randomly generating attributes.]

[Random generation complete]

[Spirit Vessel

Mental: 200

Physical: 200

Traits: Chaos Lv2, Self-Healing Lv1]

[Deploying]

[Deployment successful.]

Xu Zhi opened her eyes and arrived once again at the entrance of that office building.

The reason she had chosen only twenty minutes was because she believed the Federation would definitely monitor this location after her Spirit Vessel disappeared. After all, she had suddenly appeared here last time.

Perhaps the Special Investigations Office would appear before her in less than five minutes.

This time, she only intended to negotiate with them and preferably make a simple little deal. Twenty minutes would be enough.

Sure enough, just as Xu Zhi expected, in the third minute after she stood there waiting, a low-profile black van stopped in front of her.

The woman she found somewhat familiar got out of the vehicle, along with several men wearing the same uniform as her.

"Big sister, we meet again." Xu Zhi took the initiative to greet her with an innocent smile.

The bandages on the woman's body were gone. Injuries that had clearly looked severe had healed in just a few days. Had a supernatural being with the [Heart] attribute helped her?

Though Xu Zhi had greeted her first, the woman remained unmoved. "Miss, please come with us."

She extended a hand in invitation, while the subordinates behind her quietly surrounded Xu Zhi.

She called it an invitation, but the situation clearly meant that Xu Zhi would have to go even if she refused.

Xu Zhi showed a helpless expression, yet obediently got into the vehicle with them first.

Xu Zhi was seated beside the woman. Once the van started moving, Xu Zhi went straight to the point. "You have half an hour. After half an hour, I have something to do and will need to leave."

She deliberately blurred the time, calling twenty minutes half an hour.

The woman frowned at that. "You may not be able to leave for the time being."

Xu Zhi smiled. "But you should know that you can't keep me here. Not even supernatural beings can."

"So, rather than waste time, let's get to the point. I mean no harm. I showed myself voluntarily only because I want to make a deal with you."

"If this time does not end satisfactorily, I think I will find another trading partner and never let you find me again."

The woman fell silent for a while. Xu Zhi saw the earpiece she wore and knew there should be higher-ups communicating with her. After a long moment, she said, "Fine. What deal do you want to make?"

Agreeing did not mean they had lowered their guard around Xu Zhi. Perhaps it meant exactly the opposite.

Xu Zhi could easily guess that many people were likely listening to this conversation and watching everything happening inside this vehicle.

Trading with her was the perfect opportunity to test her.

Xu Zhi did not mind. Of course, she knew her intelligence and social skills had not reached the point where she could overwhelm all humanity and remain invincible even against the Special Investigations Office's upper ranks. But the Dead City that trapped her had, at this moment, become her greatest source of confidence. These people could not enter it. No matter what they thought, what they knew, or what they wanted to do, they could not touch her actual body in the slightest.

She could reveal a few flaws, but so what?

Rather than be overly cautious, she might as well seize the time to secure the greatest possible benefit for herself.

I enabled a one-fan-value requirement for comments because I noticed that people who do not even read the book keep commenting solely to vent hostility with a few insults or deliberately pick fights, stirring up conflict or simply spreading malice. It feels completely unnecessary. I just want to write in peace.

Thank you all for your rewards, continued reading, votes, and normal discussions about this book. Its bookmarks and performance are actually pretty poor, but those things are what keep me going!