Xue Xiaobai swallowed hard.
He watched as Chu Yi raised his hand — the pure white orb of light in his palm flickered, then drifted toward his chest and sank into his skin.
In an instant, his entire body trembled, as if struck by electricity.
The sensation faded quickly.
Xue Xiaobai could feel a point of light sitting right at his chest — and inside that point of light was the ability Chu Yi had granted him. All he had to do was sense it, direct it, and it would work.
He simply closed his eyes and drew the energy out from within, and instantly his legs felt light as air.
Whoosh—
The next moment, Xue Xiaobai opened his eyes to find he’d already shot forward more than ten meters from the front desk, straight out of the inn.
This — this was what having an ability felt like!
So powerful!
He raised his arm, and could feel that with a single thought, his arm would be wrapped in overwhelming force, capable of striking with tremendous power!
With strength and speed like this, a tier-two mutant was nothing to worry about at all!
He only needed to kill two of them to make his money back!
“Thank you — thank you so much, Innkeeper!” Xue Xiaobai rushed back inside, his eyes turning slightly red. “This is truly priceless. If the other ability users found out about this, they’d surely pay far more points to get it too…”
Was this really just an ability? This was practically someone’s entire fate!
Among the great ability users at the base, some already had children. And while it was true that when two ability users married, their offspring had somewhat better odds of being ability users too compared to ordinary people, there were still unlucky ones who simply weren’t blessed by heaven.
If they ever found out the inn could rent out abilities, they’d likely spare no expense to rent one and keep it for their own children.
“Really, thank you so much!”
“No need to thank me — after all, I did charge you for it,” Chu Yi said, tapping the desk. “That said, this service is still in a trial phase, so please don’t go spreading word about it too widely.”
Xue Xiaobai nodded eagerly, over and over. “Don’t worry, Innkeeper! Your word is law to us!”
Zhu Bei watched the light shining in his neighbor-like younger friend’s eyes, thinking of his own mere tier-two speed ability, and felt a pang of envy.
As if sensing his thoughts, Chu Yi added, “If the trial goes well enough, I’ll roll out higher-tier abilities later on. Naturally, the price will go up accordingly.”
There was a chance, then!
Zhu Bei suppressed the excitement rising in his chest.
“Innkeeper, thank you! I’ve never met anyone as kind as you!”
Seeing the two of them about to launch into endless thanks, Chu Yi grew a bit weary of it and waved a hand. “Well, I won’t keep you two any longer. The sun’s up already — go on and hunt.”
The two of them nodded and left the inn with their heads held high.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Wang Yan and the other two ability users had made it back to the base the previous night.
The moment they arrived at their quarters, they were stopped by a visibly displeased Lu Tianxin.
“Where exactly did you all go? I went looking for you and not one of you was at the base — were you out hunting mutants in the middle of the night or something?”
Mutants were most active at night; unless one had absolute confidence, no one chose to leave the base after dark.
Seeing Lu Tianxin barely holding back his temper, Wang Yan already knew that once this got out, he’d be in for an earful of abuse.
But an ability user’s legs belonged to himself — there was no stopping them once they’d decided to go.
He sighed and said, “Young Master Lu, everyone went to the inn.”
“…What?!”
A shriek erupted through the darkness.
Lu Tianxin’s eyes went wide, and like an angry, puffed-up frog, he planted his hands on his hips, lips trembling. “You— you all… who told you to go?! I hadn’t even given the order yet!”
“Young Master, after you told us all about it, everyone wanted to go see for themselves what kind of place could produce water resources like that. Turns out, once we got there, everyone just decided to stay and not come back,” one of the ability users behind him said, unable to hold his tongue, clearly fed up with Lu Tianxin.
Sure enough, Lu Tianxin’s terrible temper flared instantly. “What’s that supposed to mean?! My father’s given you all such generous treatment, and you ungrateful wretches don’t even want to stay at the base anymore? This is outrageous!”
The ability user scoffed. He’d only come back to catch his breath before heading right back out anyway, so there was nothing left to hold in at this point.
“Young Master, it’s precisely because your father has a son like you that people talk behind his back. Do you have any idea how many people in the inner city despise someone like you? Fifteen years old and still stuck at tier one — even a dog would level up faster than you!” With that, he turned and walked off, not bothering to wait for Lu Tianxin’s reaction.
Wang Yan gave a bitter smile.
Watching Lu Tianxin stomp around on the spot, cursing nonstop, he finally spoke up. “Young Master Lu, your father should still be awake at this hour. Perhaps we should go see him and explain the situation.”
“You don’t need to tell me that!” Lu Tianxin shot him a glare. “Do you think I don’t know that already?! You two, come with me to see my father!”
Ten minutes later.
The deputy commander’s office.
After hearing the full account of what had happened, Lu Chenggong paced back and forth behind his desk.
Sighing one moment, groaning the next.
His hair looked like it had gone gray from the sheer stress.
“Ugh! What a mess! You!” Looking at his son’s blank, clueless expression, he genuinely didn’t know what to say, and could only fling his sleeve back in anger.
Lu Tianxin protested, unconvinced. “This isn’t my fault! I was just trying to get these resources for you, Dad! Those good-for-nothings couldn’t resist the temptation themselves and went to the inn on their own!”
“And then?” For the first time, Lu Chenggong ignored his son entirely, turning instead to Wang Yan. “None of them are coming back?”
“…Deputy Commander, we personally witnessed a tier-five ability user, who wanted to provoke the inn, drop dead on the spot with no warning whatsoever. That’s absolutely not something an ordinary ability user could do. This place… we can’t afford to move against it.”
He’d already made himself about as clear as he dared, hoping the deputy commander would understand the message hidden within it — don’t provoke the inn any further.
If the place got angry and blacklisted them, all that wonderful food, all that clean water… it would all be gone!
Lu Chenggong wasn’t a fool — he understood the implication perfectly well.
Looking at his son, who showed not the slightest hint of regret, his heart simply couldn’t settle.
“You… forget it. For the next couple of days, just stay in your room and don’t come out.” This was directed at Lu Tianxin.
Sure enough, the boy protested. “Why?! If we just take that place down, won’t we become the undisputed rulers of humanity in no time?!”
“You idiot!” Lu Chenggong snapped. “Didn’t you hear? A tier-five ability user was instantly killed! How could we possibly win against a place like that?! Are you trying to get your own father killed?!”
“I… I…”
Lu Chenggong felt utterly exasperated — after all these years of being so shrewd himself, how had he ended up raising a son so reckless and clueless about when to push and when to hold back?
“Captain Wang, was it? For choosing to return to the base despite temptations like that, we won’t treat you unfairly. I’ll also need to trouble you — tomorrow, please accompany me over there to scout things out. If we’re able to… meet the innkeeper and negotiate properly, that would be ideal.”
Wang Yan nodded, not particularly surprised by this outcome.
Early the next morning, after a sleepless night, the deputy commander changed into plain clothes and set out with Wang Yan, leaving the base. They’d barely reached the main gate when they spotted Guo Fanxiang hurrying back in a great rush.
Lu Chenggong immediately stopped him, wearing a faint, ambiguous smile. “Ah, Little Guo. Sleep well last night?”
Seeing the deputy commander, along with Wang Yan standing beside him, Guo Fanxiang instantly pieced together most of the situation, a flicker of unease crossing his face before he could suppress it.
“Deputy Commander, where are you headed?”
“Why, to the same place you visited yesterday, of course. Little Guo, why don’t you do us the favor of showing the way?” Lu Chenggong said, smiling pleasantly.
Guo Fanxiang inwardly cursed him for a sly old fox.
This man heading to the inn right now was definitely not going to end well.
If he got dragged into it, would the inn still be willing to accept him as a customer afterward?
Whatever happened with the base, he personally intended to stay at the inn long-term.
Once a person had tasted something this wonderful, there was no going back to the darkness.
Who wouldn’t want to eat delicious, affordable vegetables and meat every single day?
And clean water to bathe in, on top of that…
Not to mention, the inn was changing by the day — today alone, an underground parking lot had appeared, never mind what the future might bring.
Thinking of the gasoline down in that parking lot, all Guo Fanxiang wanted right now was to rush off and convert every point he had stored at the base into crystal cores.
“Ha, ha, I actually need to head out hunting shortly, so I’m afraid I don’t have the time. Deputy Commander, just let Wang Yan show you the way — it’s not that hard to find, anyway…”
Lu Chenggong smiled in a way that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Oh? Is that so? Then I won’t keep you. Safe travels.”
Once he watched Guo Fanxiang walk back into the base, a glint flickered in his eyes, and he quietly followed after him.
Sure enough.
He watched the man walk straight into the inner city bank, withdrawing three hundred tier-three crystal cores and two hundred tier-two crystal cores.
That confirmed it — this man was clearly about to take all of it straight to the inn to top up his balance.
Truly… after the base had raised him for all these years, it had ended up raising an ungrateful wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Noticing his expression darken, Wang Yan spoke up immediately. “Commander… perhaps we should follow him and see.”
“…Let’s go. Follow him.”
The two of them quietly trailed behind Guo Fanxiang.
By the time they watched him drive back into the inn, it was already around noon.
All the ability users who’d gone out hunting that morning had returned as well.
Wang Yan parked the car in the tree line, using some cover, and then, together with a disguised Lu Chenggong, made his way into the inn.
Once they got within fifty meters of the inn, Lu Chenggong suddenly felt the air around them change entirely.
That coarse, gritty quality the wasteland air always carried vanished the instant they crossed into a certain boundary, replaced by something clean and crisp.
His breathing evened out completely, and even his lungs, which had ached faintly for years on end, felt noticeably more at ease.
This air…
Suppressing the astonishment welling up inside him, Lu Chenggong stepped into the inn.
A wave of food aroma hit him immediately.
Without meaning to, he found himself walking toward the right — and the instant the automatic door slid open, the wide array of dishes behind the five serving windows seized his full attention.
Those were genuine, real meat and vegetables!
And — the most precious of all — leafy greens!
His eyes went wide.
Food this good, and it only cost 15 points at minimum?! Just who exactly was this innkeeper? This was practically squandering heaven’s own bounty!
Lu Chenggong felt a genuine pang in his chest.
Instinctively, he nudged Wang Yan’s arm beside him.
Wang Yan, equally stunned by food utterly different from what he’d seen the night before, was swallowing hard nonstop.
Feeling the deputy commander’s nudge beside him, he turned back with some difficulty and lowered his voice. “Are you… looking for the innkeeper?”
“No.” Lu Chenggong took a deep breath.
“Get me three dishes and a soup first.”