Chapter 176
But he still accepted it. These skills were something he wouldn’t use unless absolutely necessary, but when faced with life-threatening danger, they could save his life. In those moments where life and death hung in the balance, surviving was all that mattered; how could he care about the side effects?
After finishing the scales of Hei Fei, Yu Xunhuan hadn’t even wiped the sweat off his face before Hei Fei used the tip of her tail to poke him into a nearby pile of dung he had just pulled out, landing headfirst.
When he finally managed to crawl out, he was promptly shoved back in by Hei Fei’s tail, again and again, until he started bleeding from asphyxiation. Only then did Hei Fei show a shred of mercy and let him go.
Yu Xunhuan knelt on the ground, his face smeared with the dung of the dragon. He glanced at the date—it was only 8 PM on the 17th.
It was still just the 17th!
It had been less than forty hours since he made the contract with Hei Fei, yet it felt like he had lived for over forty years…
He knelt for half an hour, until his knees went numb and the dung on his body and face dried up. Finally, he shifted to face the dragon under the moonlight and asked, “Have you heard of the SS-level talent, Food God?”
At that moment, Yu Xunhuan looked truly miserable and disheveled, but unfortunately, Hei Fei had no heart.
Hei Fei didn’t even bother to open her eyes. “Never heard of it.”
Yu Xunhuan replied, “That’s my talent.” With that, he calmly began to recite his talent skills.
Throughout this, Hei Fei showed no reaction; she had already seen this information and knew it well.
Finally, Yu Xunhuan asked, “Is there any way to help me regain these lost talent skills?”
Hei Fei replied, “Why should I help you?”
Yu Xunhuan said, “I can work for you. I’m your servant now. Once my talents are restored, I can assist you, and we can sign a more stringent game contract.”
Hei Fei ignored him, too lazy to waste time explaining that what the Thief God took could never be returned.
Just as Yu Xunhuan was about to say something else, Hei Fei suddenly spoke again, “I know of a demonic knowledge that can help you strip others of their talents for your own use.”
Yu Xunhuan immediately straightened up! He even excitedly crawled a few steps forward. “What do I need to pay?”
In that moment, his mind raced with all the S-level divine talents he knew, and he began adding them to his mental shopping cart!
He even included the B-level Fate Gear of Yu Xunge, as if he were trying to complete a set.
This time, Hei Fei opened her eyes. After admiring the look of hope ignited in Yu Xunhuan for a moment, she mercilessly extinguished that flame of hope. “Let me transform into a dragon, and I’ll tell you.”
That was clearly impossible. Although he didn’t understand how Tu Lan managed it, it was evident that Hei Fei couldn’t win.
She was merely collaborating with the Blue Star people, using their hands to shoot away 7% of his health in one go. If Tu Lan teamed up with them, Hei Fei wouldn’t dare to gamble.
Not to mention, he now knew that the human named Yu Xunge held a significant position on Blue Star. The other party had already set up a plan there before him, and Tu Lan had also made her stance clear ahead of him. The chips he could currently offer were clearly insufficient.
Yu Xunhuan understood it was impossible, so he proposed something else: “Do you want another servant?” Without waiting for Hei Fei to respond, he continued, “If you can reverse the contracts you’ve signed with others, can you reverse the contracts others have signed as well?”
This piqued Hei Fei’s interest. Without needing Yu Xunhuan to explain, she recalled his earlier words, “That’s not my backing; I’m just her servant,” and instantly grasped the key: “You have a contract with that woman named Su?”
Yu Xunhuan replied, “Yes.”
Hei Fei laughed heartily. “You’re truly a born viper! What a pity, but no, even if you’re my possession, it won’t work.”
Yu Xunhuan finally lost hope… But he didn’t give up on the demonic knowledge Hei Fei mentioned!
As long as he continued to serve Hei Fei, he would surely find something she desired that he could also obtain!
…
In the same private room, Zhao Shuying, Wu Qingbai, and Zhao Xianyin were present, but this time, only Su Yitong sat across from them.
Zhao Shuying got straight to the point. “I can show you the exotic beast resources currently held by the Special Affairs Bureau.”
However, Su Yitong pressed down on the album, not even glancing at it. She feared that if she looked, she wouldn’t be able to leave. “You tell me your bottom line first. I think exotic beasts aren’t in high demand right now.”
That was indeed the case. After the incident with Hei Fei, the exotic beast market had cooled down as if the A-share market had crashed.
Zhao Shuying maintained her smile and was about to speak when she caught a glimpse of Zhao Xianyin, who was eager to jump in. Remembering that her sister had recently secured several collaborations and received praise from a few junior leaders, she gestured for her sister to take the lead.
Zhao Xianyin straightened up, her energy focused, and said, “The Hei Fei incident has allowed us to better consolidate our understanding. After reviewing, we’ve enhanced our knowledge of exotic beasts and developed a brand-new strategy. We will connect more divine talents to empower players and strengthen the bond between exotic beasts and players…”
She didn’t finish her sentence because Zhao Shuying manually muted her.
Zhao Shuying smiled at Su Yitong, her facial muscles rigid, clearly a forced smile from her brain.
Zhao Xianyin: ?
Su Yitong: Almost got up to leave.
Wu Qingbai: What was that? What did this girl just say? It felt like a lot of words passed through her mind, but not a single piece of information stuck.
【Chapter 225: Divine Talent? (A-Level)】
Zhao Shuying smiled and said, “We’ve grown stronger and patched up the loopholes that could allow contracts to be reversed. The Hei Fei incident will not happen again.”
Su Yitong nodded, silently lowering her head to start flipping through the album.
The room fell silent once more.
Zhao Shuying slightly lowered her head and sent a message to Zhao Xianyin.
【Zhao Shuying】: Is this how you negotiate every time?
【Zhao Xianyin】: Yep.
【Zhao Shuying】: What’s your secret to successfully negotiating without getting kicked out? — Your sincere sister who wants to learn various negotiation techniques.
【Zhao Xianyin】: Start with a buildup, then a drop. I got the inspiration from you. Remember how you annoyed Yu Xunge at the beginning of your negotiation? But then when you lowered your stance, didn’t that feel great?! When the client feels relaxed, everything becomes easier to discuss.
【Zhao Shuying】: ?
【Zhao Xianyin】: I start with a long-winded introduction to confuse them, and when they get annoyed enough to want to leave, I immediately lower my stance and explain concisely, just like you did earlier. You see, doesn’t the sincerity of “I want to be friends with you” come through?
【Zhao Shuying】: ……
【Zhao Shuying】: Level 5 still isn’t very secure. I suggest you spend some more contribution points and find someone in the bureau to help you level up again.
【Zhao Xianyin】: ?
Zhao Shuying would never admit that her sister had been led astray by her.
Some people are just born to be annoying; what does that have to do with her?!
The exotic beast album was thick, categorized by the level of divine talents from C to A, with detailed descriptions of the divine talent skills, but there were no S-level talents like Hei Fei. It was unclear whether they hadn’t found any or if the Special Affairs Bureau simply hadn’t released them.
In addition, three exotic beasts had their divine talents listed as unknown. Even the Special Affairs Bureau’s probing skills couldn’t uncover these talents, akin to opening a blind box.
If lucky, perhaps one of them was S-level, or even SS-level, which would explain why the Special Affairs Bureau couldn’t detect them—but that probability was low, as even Tu Lan’s divine talent level was known to everyone.
If unlucky, the divine talent level might not be high, and the talent skills could be quite useless, but they just happened to possess a powerful skill that could hide information.
However, the pricing for these three exotic beasts was not low, as the ability to conceal information from the Special Affairs Bureau was already quite formidable.
When they made the contract, she and the Special Affairs Bureau agreed that if Hei Fei’s contract failed, the bureau would have to find Su Yitong an exotic beast with a level not lower than Hei Fei’s. Su Yitong had wanted to make this clause stricter, such as requiring the bureau to find an exotic beast with a divine talent not lower than Hei Fei’s, but Zhao Shuying had refused.
The reason was that so far, aside from Tu Lan being SS-level, the highest divine talent level among the exotic beasts on the pet leaderboard was only A-level. If they stipulated that the divine talent must be no lower than Hei Fei’s, it would be difficult for the Special Affairs Bureau to fulfill the contract, and dragging it out would be detrimental to both Su Yitong and the bureau.
If Su Yitong demanded an exotic beast with a divine talent level not lower than Hei Fei’s, a clause would have to be added that there would be no time limit.
It was a gamble on the future versus seizing the present to strengthen oneself, and at that time, Su Yitong had unhesitatingly chosen the latter.
Even if the worst-case scenario truly happened now, Su Yitong had no regrets about her choice back then; she just felt a bit of regret.
Su Yitong asked, “Are there really no S-levels?”
Zhao Shuying replied, “No, this is all we can offer from the Special Affairs Bureau. As you can see, even A-levels are scarce, just like our players’ divine talents—A-levels are rare, and S-levels are even more so.”
Afterward, she added, “We also can’t access information on private domain dungeons. If there’s something you want in the Su family’s dungeon, the Special Affairs Bureau can help.”
Table of Contents
