Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The bedroom was much larger than the study room, but it didn’t have a window.
The window it had was a fake one. The starry night and the blue sky and the white clouds during daytime were all fake.
Like in the cell of the Sword Jail, the snowland and the icy peak were fake, which were projected onto the wall to reduce the Snow Girl’s boredom.
Everyone was trapped in something for various reasons. The Snow Girl had been trapped in Chaotian, and this girl with silvery hair was trapped by illness.
The temperature control in the bedroom didn’t work properly. Zong Lizi let out a low groan, sounding quite painful. She had sweat quite a bit, drenching both the cover of the quilt and her silvery hair.
Looking at her silently, Jing Jiu waved his hand to make her sleep more deeply.
The coughing in the room was gone, so were the noise of trembling on the bed and the groaning.
He came before the bed and looked at the face of the girl with silvery hair.
Two bright sword lights came out from the deep end of his eyes; his line of sight swept over her body like a sword. He had detected the condition of her body through the quilt and her clothes.
The first night when he came to this room, Jing Jiu had found this girl with silvery hair had a bodily problem. After examining it more thoroughly, he found her problem was more severe than he had thought.
Her body was much feebler than how she looked on the outside. There were some glass-like marks on her lungs; but the major problem was in her blood.
The bad energy could be found in the flowing blood.
His line of sight grew sharper, and he saw more detailed scenes and the flowing blood cells.
According to the knowledge he had learned over the last few days, these blood cells had a proportional issue, with there being too much of white blood cells.
It meant that she was suffering the leukemia. She might have died a long time ago if she hadn’t been treated with the medicine. He could cure the illness; but it was a bit troublesome to do so, and it would take some time. As such, he sent a sword will into her body to stabilize her condition; the treatment could wait for a while.
…
…
The next day was also a holiday. After getting out of the bed, Zong Lizi felt much more vigorous than before. She cooked a pot of porridge, which was rare for her, after which she led Jing Jiu into the street to conduct some business.
It was a rarer occurrence for the latter than the former.
The two of them wore the tracksuits with a hoodie covering their heads while walking on the street.
The street was as desolate as ever during the mid-noon. The sunlight that was hard to experience in the underground world streamed down through a corner of the high sky.
The people in this neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods usually opted to stay at home; they rarely left their houses.
It was because they wouldn’t be able to bathe under the sunlight anyway.
The deeper they walked into the street, the quieter it became. They couldn’t even hear the noises of kids being beaten in the buildings at this part of the street, where many of the street lamps were smashed, making it even dimmer.
The faces under the hoodies were dim as well.
Jing Jiu felt the tracksuits with his hand, feeling satisfied, and he was even pleased with them. The clothing was very convenient, and the device known as a “zipper” was an excellent device, while the hoodie behind the tracksuits was even more convenient than other features, as he could conceal his face completely, so he had no need to wear a conical hat.
There was an ordinary storefront by the street, the width of which was about one and a half man. The rusty sliding door should be more solid than what it looked, on which there were some marks left by the iron rods. Zong Lizi led Jing Jiu coming before the rusty sliding door and tapped on it. “Mr. Dan, it’s me,” she said in a low voice.
Along with the buzzing sound of TV, the sliding door rolled up. The two of them walked in. The steady light appeared to be rather noticeable in the dim environment. A middle-aged man, wearing magnifying glasses and an overall, sat behind the desk while staring at and operating on an item under the light. “What do you want?” he asked without lifting up his head.
Zong Lizi took off her hoodie and came before the desk, saying, “I’d like to have a bracelet made.”
The middle-aged man, Mr. Dan, raised his head to look at Jing Jiu behind her after taking off the magnifying glasses. It seemed that he was displeased with the fact that Jing Jiu was unwilling to reveal his face. “Thirty thousand credits, or two golden coins,” he said offhandedly.
It was quite expensive, but it was also fairly cheap for those humans who couldn’t go anywhere without an ID in the Federation of the Milky Way.
Zong Lizi was unaware of the going price in the black market, but she didn’t care so much about the price because it was not her money in the first place. She turned to Jing Jiu.
“Just a minute,” said Jing Jiu.
Having said that, he walked back into the street after opening the sliding door.
Unexpected by Mr. Dan and Zong Lizi, Jing Jiu came back quickly. He set two brand new and well-preserved golden coins on the desk.
Looking at the two golden coins, Mr. Dan couldn’t help but twitch the corners of his eyes uncontrollably twice before he turned around and grabbed a stool, then put it before Jing Jiu, saying, “Please sit down.”
Mr. Dan requested two golden coins without further consideration because he didn’t expect the other party to be able to pay that much.
Two golden coins had the same value as thirty thousand credits, but they had totally different meanings.
The golden coins were used by the truly important figures in the black market as currency, save for the people above.
Jing Jiu had been used to the awe shown to him by others. He sat down on the stool calmly.
Zong Lizi glanced at him once.
Mr. Dan took out a case from the drawer after he made the preparations. He took out a pair of contact lens for pupils gingerly and added, “It’s brand new.”
Jing Jiu doubted what he claimed and put the contact lens for pupils in his eyes after taking them from Mr. Dan. In fact, he had crushed it into powders in his hand.
Mr. Dan was shocked by the face under the light as he collected the information for the pupils. His hands were on the verge of trembling.
…
…
It took half an hour to make the ID.
Jing Jiu felt it took too long.
It had never taken so much trouble to make the sword boards at the Green Mountain Sect; all they needed to do was to ask the disciples to inject a sword will into it, and it was guaranteed to be problem free.
And it was truly troublesome to match the bracelet with the pupils.
He was not used to the bracelet.
It should be something made from the combined materials, resistant against high temperature and erosion and light.
Even though it had many desirable features, Jing Jiu still didn’t like it. He didn’t like to have anything or décor on him.
He had tied the Clean-Heart Bell that was given to him by Sese on Ada’s neck.
“What if someone has no hands?” asked Jing Jiu suddenly.
Zong Lizi replied, “Some people choose to have it made into a necklace; but most people think it’s too troublesome and opt to have it implanted. I heard that this method was used in the era of the distant ancient civilization.”
“What if someone is blind?” pressed Jing Jiu.
Zong Lizi thought to herself that Jing Jiu had been negatively affected by the way the netizens debated on the network of the institute in the last few days.
She said indignantly, “There are other methods of course.”
…
…
It grew dimmer at the deeper part of the street, where the businesses were mostly illegal, like the shop owned by Mr. Dan and the sex trades and many private internet bars forbidden by the Federation. Yet, these internet bars could penetrate the protective layers, enabling the viewers to see all the contents of the network of the institute and even the networks above, so they were popular with the youngsters.
The internet bars often used another name, the gaming parlor.
Those who could operate the gaming parlors in the underground neighborhoods must be those important figures in the black market.
The owner of this gaming parlor was no exception. As far as the owner was concerned, this place was merely a money laundry and transitional station for the illegal money.
“Who can explain what has happened here?”
The owner of the gaming parlor pointed to the safe behind him while staring at a dozen foot soldiers of the organization; those eyes of his seemed to be able to shoot out flames at any moment.
The foot soldiers swallowed spittle while looking at the golden coins and the crystal cards in the safe. “Is all the money gone?” someone asked after summoning enough courage.
“Two golden coins are missing.”
The owner of the gaming parlor was fat and tall. He stood there expressionlessly, exuding a great deal of pressure on his subordinates. “No, three coins if the one that I lost a few days ago is counted,” he said.
Three golden coins were really worth a great value, enough to rent the most beautiful girl in the brothel next door for three months. However, why did the boss feel so enraged since there were plenty of golden coins left in the safe?
“The money is not the issue here. No, the money is an issue. It’s because they are the golden coins that I can’t even use myself, yet they are gone, undetected.”
The owner of the gaming parlor suddenly bristled with his spittle spraying, “Somebody has always been here. How did the thief steal it? Is he a freaking ghost?”
A subordinate who was good at stealing began to examine the safe. He said after checking it, “Boss, your safe is an old-style mechanic one; no one can open it by any other means. There is only one explanation for it…which is that someone knows your secret code.”
The owner of the gaming parlor turned around and slapped him onto the ground, yelling, “My wife doesn’t even know the code; who else can?!”
…
…
Jing Jiu could open the safe without knowing the secret code because he had the sharpest sword, which was his hand; and meanwhile his hand, like his face, was also a key that could unlock all the locks.
Zong Lizi believed that he was an illegitimate son of a clan above and fled to the underground with enough money in his pocket, so she had no reason to suspect where his golden coins came from.
Jing Jiu and Zong Lizi came to the end of the street, where there was a high cliff with stairs leading to the top of it, which was so tall that it was out of sight. A silvery line could be seen further away, which might be an automatic escalator.
“Follow me.”
Zong Lizi took a deep breath, her silvery hair billowing slightly. It was as if she had grown lighter as her feet drifted off the ground gradually.
Apart from the contests on TV, it was the first time Jing Jiu saw a person in this world employed the method of Cultivation with his own eyes. He was rather intrigued.
Zong Lizi tapped the ground softly with the tips of her toes, and drifted like a flowing cloud to the stairway on the mountain path. She had arrived at a spot one hundred feet away in a few moments.
She suddenly remembered that Jing Jiu was still behind her, feeling concerned. She found that she had worried too much as she spun her head around and saw what he was doing.
He had come down from above; there was no way he hadn’t learned methods of Cultivation.
Jing Jiu walked up the mountain path with his hands behind him. Without much effort, he came up by her.
“You look like an elderly man by folding your hands behind you…”
Zong Lizi mocked him, as they continued climbing the cliff.
It didn’t take long before the two of them arrived atop the cliff.
The sunlight here was much brighter than that in the underground; and they could see a small part of the blue sky and white clouds.
The blue sky and white clouds seemed to be semi-transparent. If the humans of Chaotian came here, they would feel dizzy due to the maladjustment.
Thinking of all this, Jing Jiu looked up at the deep part of the blue sky and white clouds and vaguely saw the shadow of a battleship.
There was a large patch of grass on top of the cliff; further away were many buildings, which were believed to be the site of the New Era Institute.
