In the City Lord chat group, everyone was still acting fairly normal.
[Blue Leaf Safe City]: Blue Sea is actually this capable? You can really afford to sell food?
[Blue Leaf Safe City]: @Blue Sea Safe City, can we still buy some now?
[Withered Star Safe City]: Same question.
[Cosmic Lord Safe City]: Hoh, enough food to support an entire Safe City… you must’ve sold at least 10 tons, right? Quite the move there, @Blue Sea Safe City. Mind telling us how much stock you still have?
[Meow Meow Safe City]: Hey now, Cosmic, why don’t you tell us how much stock you have first, meow~
[Cosmic Lord Safe City]: Heh, I’ve got 5 million tons.
[Meow Meow Safe City]: Sounds totally fake to this cat, meow. Blue Sea, don’t say anything. No cat asks another cat how many dried fish they have unless they’re planning to rob them afterward, meow.
Cheng Qisheng looked over the chat and wondered whether she should consider cooperating with Meow Meow Safe City as part of her territorial expansion plans.
After all, it was obvious at a glance that Meow Meow and Cosmic were enemies.
Then again, enemies or not, if a real fight broke out, what ultimately mattered was whether there was anything to gain from it.
There was only one City Lord Core, after all.
Better not stir up unnecessary trouble.
She gathered her thoughts and began typing.
[@Blue Leaf Safe City @Withered Star Safe City]: I only accept trades in resources or equipment. If you want to exchange, feel free to DM me =v=
For a moment, private messages flooded in nonstop.
Cheng Qisheng ignored them for the time being.
Instead, she completely skipped over Cosmic’s message in the group chat and replied directly to Meow Meow.
[@Meow Meow Safe City]: Thanks for the warning. I’ll be careful~
—Blue Sea Safe City has sent one jin (about 500 grams) of dried fish to Meow Meow Safe City—
[Meow Meow Safe City]: Wow! You’re such a good person, meow! Meow Meow thanks you!
Aether, standing nearby, observed and learned from this.
“City Lord, are you showing off your financial strength to Cosmic Lord?”
While replying privately to Blue Leaf and Withered Star, Cheng Qisheng answered,
“Yeah. I have to let him see what he stands to gain by attacking me.”
Aether asked, “Then should we make contact with him and lure him into voluntarily coming to our coordinates?”
“No. That’s one option, but there would still be some risk involved.”
Cheng Qisheng treasured her current physical condition far too much.
She wasn’t willing to take even the slightest risk.
“The ideal outcome is for Cosmic to give me his coordinates himself. That way, the initiative stays entirely in our hands.”
Aether calculated for a moment.
“City Lord, Aether believes that will be difficult. No Safe City would willingly reveal its own coordinates.”
“Exactly. It’ll be difficult. That’s why he needs to believe he’s the hunter.”
Cheng Qisheng was deliberately ignoring Cosmic.
When does a person feel completely certain of victory?
When they believe they’ve gone through countless schemes and put in tremendous effort to successfully gain their prey’s trust.
If the prey delivered itself too easily, even someone as arrogant and self-important as Cosmic would probably grow suspicious.
Sure enough, before long, Cheng Qisheng received a private message from Cosmic.
[Cosmic Lord]: You don’t actually believe that cat, do you?
[Cosmic Lord]: I’ll tell you the truth. That cat and I do have a grudge, but it’s not like what it said. Back in another world, I accepted a commission to “teach its residents a lesson.” Turns out its residents were way too strong, and I lost. Ever since then, it’s held a grudge against me.
[Cosmic Lord]: Can you even blame me? When it placed the order, it never mentioned its civilization was made up of cat-people. When fighting them, they go straight for biting people. I was scared of getting rabies.
[Cosmic Lord]: That cat goes around ruining my reputation everywhere. It’s just that I’m not good with words. Once you get to know me better, you’ll understand.
[Cosmic Lord]: Since we’re both from human civilizations, I’ll send you a case of alcohol as a greeting gift.
—Cosmic Lord Safe City has transmitted one crate of beer to Blue Sea Safe City—
Cheng Qisheng watched Cosmic’s messages appear one after another.
Only after he started sending beer did she leisurely reply.
[Blue Sea Safe City]: I don’t know anything about the grudge between you two. In any case, it has nothing to do with me, so there’s no need to explain all this to me.
[Blue Sea Safe City]: There’s no need for a greeting gift either. This world is so huge that we’ll probably never run into each other anyway. You don’t need to worry about what I think of you.
[Cosmic Lord Safe City]: Do you think I asked about your food supplies because I had bad intentions? I swear I really didn’t! I just speak without thinking—whatever comes to mind comes out!
[Cosmic Lord Safe City]: Think about it. If I really were that kind of person, would I ask you so directly in the group chat? I’d definitely try to trick you into telling me indirectly instead.
[Blue Sea Safe City]: Alright then. What you said was pretty offensive, honestly. I wasn’t angry, just confused. Since you explained it, let’s leave it at that. I won’t accept the gift, and we’ll consider the matter settled =v=
[Cosmic Lord Safe City]: Alright, alright! I just have a fast mouth. As long as you don’t misunderstand me, that’s enough. But you should still accept the gift. Don’t worry, it was sent through Safe City transfer, so the alcohol is definitely safe. Just treat it as my apology. Otherwise I’ll really feel bad about it. If you ever need help in the future, just say the word. If it’s within my ability, I’ll definitely help.
[Blue Sea Safe City]: Fine then =v=
Blue Sea Safe City accepted the beer from Cosmic Lord Safe City.
Cheng Qisheng stared at the messages.
“What a completely different person… Looks like Cosmic also knows he’s bad at talking, so he found someone else to speak for him.”
Still, judging from the personality Cosmic had displayed in the group chat, she didn’t think he was the type to cultivate or win over capable subordinates.
Cheng Qisheng began to think…
Could she somehow make use of this smooth-talking spokesperson?
***
Inside Cosmic Lord Safe City—
Looking at the notification that the beer had been accepted, Cosmic smiled.
“Your Majesty, how did it go? Does the other side believe us now?”
Opposite him, a refined-looking middle-aged woman wore an eager expression.
Cosmic nodded in satisfaction.
“Her attitude has already softened, and she accepted the beer. If we chat with her a few more times, she’ll fall for it sooner or later, right?”
The refined woman smiled.
“That depends on how smart she is. But rest assured, Your Majesty—no matter how clever someone may be, after talking with me using these techniques for a while, they’ll definitely lower their guard around you.”
“Even if she doesn’t need help suppressing her residents, there’s bound to be something she wants. Otherwise, why would she trade food with other City Lords for resources? Once we figure out what she wants most, I can immediately tailor the perfect bait for her…”
Seeing how confidently the woman spoke, Cosmic’s satisfaction deepened.
“Good. You’ve done well. Tonight, I’ll reward you with meat.”
The refined woman immediately bowed gratefully.
“Thank you for Your Majesty’s generosity! I’ll work even harder!!”
Cosmic enjoyed seeing others act submissively before him.
He gave a satisfied grunt.
“If we can devour Blue Sea’s core this time, I’ll reward you by making you a citizen of the Empire.”
The woman’s face lit up with joy, as though she wanted to kneel on the spot.
“Your Majesty, rest assured! I’ll definitely make sure that core ends up in your hands!”
Cosmic nodded with restrained pride.
“Mm. Hurry it up. Don’t always make me wait so long.”
“Yes, yes! I’ll speed things up!”
The refined woman was escorted out by the guards and returned to her own room.
Since she was currently acting as the City Lord’s “mouthpiece,” she had been granted permission to enter the City Lord’s manor so she could reply to messages on his behalf without delay.
She opened the window and looked outside.
The City Lord’s manor had been built very tall, though her floor was not especially high, so she could still clearly see the scene below.
Clusters of low, shabby houses were packed tightly together.
Thin, frail people labored in the streets.
Whenever patrol guards passed by, if they felt someone was in the way, they immediately lashed them with whips, splitting skin and drawing blood.
This was the reality of Cosmic Lord Safe City.
The residents of the Safe City were divided into three classes: Sl*ves, guards, and nobles.
Sl*ves made up the overwhelming majority and suffered the harshest exploitation.
The guards existed to control the Sl*ves, while the nobles existed only to enjoy themselves.
The zombies outside the city walls were mostly killed by Sl*ves.
If the Sl*ves refused to fight the zombies, the guards would kill them first instead.
Some Sl*ves did resist, but almost none could ever threaten the nobles directly.
The City Lord possessed the authority to expel residents.
Even if rebellious Sl*ves hid themselves, they would simply be expelled from the city and then killed by guards waiting outside.
Every day, countless Sl*ves risked their lives gathering crystal cores and delivering them in huge quantities to the City Lord, yet the Sl*ves themselves continued to live in constant fear and misery.
Meanwhile, the nobles ate steak at every meal, lived inside the luxurious City Lord’s manor, and enjoyed lives fit for emperors.
The refined woman shut the window, resentment filling her heart.
She was a survivor from another world who had later been absorbed into this Safe City.
Back in her own world, her intelligence had earned her a high status.
But here, she had been treated as nothing more than a Sl*ve.
She had clearly explained that she was a researcher, someone capable of developing things of real value.
Yet the upper ranks of this Safe City refused to listen.
In their minds, as long as they had crystal cores, they could buy anything they wanted.
Why would they need researchers?
Fortunately, she was smart enough.
She quickly learned the language of Cosmic’s world and gradually climbed her way upward step by step.
In the previous world, she had helped Cosmic obtain a Safe City Core.
And in return, that bastard had merely promoted her from a low-class Sl*ve to a first-class Sl*ve.
Thankfully, she wasn’t attractive and was already older.
Otherwise, that disgusting creature had actually wanted to make her one of his consorts.
Yes—
This guy had literally crowned himself emperor inside the Safe City!
Ridiculous!
How could someone so arrogant, mean-spirited, greedy, vicious, crude, and utterly lacking in management ability have been chosen as a City Lord?
And now he was even telling her to hurry up and stop making him wait so long!
If it weren’t for this guy constantly dragging things down in the City Lord chat group—casually saying things that exposed his desire to seize other City Lords’ possessions—would it really have taken this long for him to fail to gain their trust?
And yet she couldn’t say any of that.
Cosmic was the kind of person who simply could not tolerate criticism.
The moment someone told him his words were unpleasant, that person might be dragged away and executed by the guards the very next moment.
So she had no choice but to swallow her frustration and flatter him instead, saying things like,
“Your Majesty, your words are truly majestic.”
Or,
“The moment you speak, everyone falls silent—clearly you’ve already intimidated the other City Lords.”
And so on.
Just thinking about it made her grit her teeth.
No—
This wouldn’t work.
With Cosmic’s petty and ruthless personality, even if she helped him obtain the Safe City Core this time, she still wouldn’t have any real security.
It wasn’t that she had never considered killing him and becoming the City Lord herself.
But this Safe City was Tier 3, and as its City Lord, Cosmic was also a Tier 3 superhuman.
A Tier 3 superhuman could crush an ordinary person as easily as stepping on an ant.
Unless the other superhumans in the Safe City were willing to act, she wouldn’t stand a chance.
But that was a gamble she couldn’t afford to take.
Those superhumans had only been allowed to live because they chose to submit.
Those who resisted had already been reduced to ashes.
If she tried to recruit help and someone reported her beforehand, she would be finished.
Her world had already been destroyed.
She had survived with great difficulty.
She hadn’t fought so hard to stay alive just to languish in this city of Sl*ves.
Could this City Lord’s plan to attack Blue Sea Safe City…
Perhaps be an opportunity?
The refined woman thought carefully.
She had originally intended to remind Cosmic that Blue Sea Safe City had reached Tier 2 within just twenty-four hours of entering this world—which meant it possessed either strength, intelligence, or both.
Either way, it would not be easy to deal with.
But when the words reached her lips, she swallowed them again.
First, Cosmic absolutely hated hearing his subordinates say that someone else was stronger than him.
If she said the wrong thing, he might very well have the guards drag her away and kill her on the spot.
Second…
Could this upcoming Safe City war actually be an opportunity?
If chaos broke out, perhaps she could escape.
During her time as the “mouthpiece,” she had learned that there were thirteen Safe Cities in this world.
Perhaps she could defect to another one.
Even if she ultimately failed to find one and ended up stranded in this world, she would still take the risk.
Following that damn Cosmic would only lead to suffering.
Sooner or later, her head would end up on the chopping block anyway.
If death was inevitable—sooner or later—then she might as well choose her own way to die.
***
The Blue Sea army continued advancing through the city, while Nuclear Crystal Hunters had already scattered across various areas.
The City Lord chat group remained much the same as before.
Someone would occasionally speak up, but most of the time it was quiet.
Cosmic (version: mouthpiece) and Cheng Qisheng chatted from time to time.
From Cosmic’s perspective, Blue Sea Safe City was gradually softening its attitude toward him.
From Cheng Qisheng’s perspective, she was casually slipping one or two subtle provocations into otherwise normal conversation.
[Blue Sea Safe City]: Of course residents should have entertainment too. I just bought a cinema from Blue Leaf—my citizens are very happy, and every screening is packed.
[Blue Sea Safe City]: Right? I think of my residents as my own people, so of course I should make their lives as good as possible~
[Blue Sea Safe City]: No unrest here either. My citizens are very obedient. As long as you treat them well, why would they rebel? =v=
Cosmic’s only thought was that this Blue Sea City Lord was far too indecisive—
Naïve and laughably idealistic.
What truly made him envious, however, was the sheer amount of resources she obviously possessed.
Otherwise, she would never be so generous toward her citizens, even going so far as to spend food to buy a cinema.
If she had that much food, she should just save it for when he invaded.
Meanwhile, the refined woman acting as his mouthpiece gradually sensed that something was wrong.
The word “residents” appeared too often.
Even though it was mixed into all kinds of unrelated topics, its frequency was still unusual.
It didn’t feel as though those comments were being directed at Cosmic at all.
It felt as though they were meant for her.
That thought kept circling in her mind.
During the day, she acted as Cosmic’s mouthpiece.
At night, she lay in her room replaying every single thing Blue Sea Safe City had said.
The more she thought about it, the more certain she became.
The other side had already realized that someone else was speaking for the City Lord—
And was trying to sway her.
But if that was true, how could Blue Sea Safe City be certain she would understand the message?
In the middle of the night, the refined woman tossed and turned.
Just before dawn, realization suddenly struck her.
Blue Sea didn’t need to be certain she would understand.
Only a resident who wanted better treatment but wasn’t receiving it would single out those particular comments about citizens’ lives from all the surrounding noise.
If the residents of Cosmic Lord Safe City already lived well, they would regard those “ordinary good lives” as nothing remarkable—
Like a person walking down a road without noticing the stones by the roadside.
But if their lives were miserable, those words would shine like fireworks in the night sky—
Impossible to ignore.
And only residents living in poor conditions would ever consider turning against their own City Lord and siding with another Safe City.
She realized something else as well.
A City Lord capable of calculating this far ahead could never be the “prey” Cosmic imagined.
On the contrary—
Blue Sea Safe City was the hunter holding the gun.