Chapter 59: Shadow Ability
Ni Mengxue stared at him and suddenly let out a low laugh.
"Are you two finished with your performance?"
Both the shopkeeper and Alan froze, color draining from their face a bit.
Ni Mengxue crossed her arms. "You aren’t very good at acting. The time when you got slapped, you look like you’re in pain. But your eyes are completely different."
Alan’s pupils contracted.
"You look delighted."
She continued calmly. "And you’re deliberately exposing your body the moment I entered here. It was clear that you wanted to seduce me and make me fall for your charm."
Her gaze swept over him.
"I suspect you possess some kind of shapeshifting ability. There are stretch marks on your face... which seemed to have healed but I can still see it."
The shopkeeper’s expression gradually changed. Ni Mengxue smiled faintly.
"I guess whenever a wealthy woman takes pity on you and rescues you, you probably enter her residence. And then, you steal from her."
Alan’s face became completely expressionless.
"Afterward, you bring the stolen goods back here."
Ni Mengxue looked around the room.
"Your scam works because you change your appearance every time. Even if someone realizes they’ve been robbed, they can’t find the same person again."
She pointed toward one of the shelves. "There’s another problem."
The shopkeeper’s eyes narrowed.
"There are far too many women’s clothes here."
Ni Mengxue’s gaze swept across the room. "And some of the items I’ve seen other people carrying are also here."
Her smile disappeared. "So this isn’t just a clothing shop. It is a trap."
The shopkeeper’s expression became dangerously calm. Alan’s pitiful expression disappeared as well. His eyes became cold.
Ni Mengxue sighed. "I knew it. You’re planning to kill me. I would advise you not to. Otherwise you will regret it soon."
The shopkeeper smiled. "You’re smarter than I expected, but a little dumb because you ended up revealing our plan even though no one is protecting you."
She pressed a button beneath the counter. Clang! Metal shutters suddenly dropped over the doors and windows. The room was completely sealed.
Ni Mengxue looked around. "You’ll regret this."
The shopkeeper laughed. "Young lady, now is not the time to bluff. Sigh... if only you were a man, I would have recruited you."
Suddenly, the light around Ni Mengxue dimmed. A figure emerged from the shadow behind her.
He was a tall man with short black hair and an unnaturally pale complexion. His eyes were completely black, without even the slightest trace of white.
His body seemed almost incorporeal. The shadows beneath his feet twisted unnaturally. Ni Mengxue’s eyes flickered.
’A shadow ability user.’
That was extremely rare. The man silently raised his hand. A blade formed from darkness shot toward her.
Ni Mengxue didn’t even move; she simply raised her hand. "Freeze."
Crack! A layer of frost instantly spread through the room.
In an instant, a layer of ice covered all three people in the room. Ni Mengxue calmly walked through the frozen room.
She first collected every piece of clothing, shoes, and accessories she wanted. Then she walked toward the three frozen people.
Her gaze lingered briefly on the shadow ability user. "What a waste."
She had originally thought she might recruit him. Unfortunately, he had chosen the wrong side. Ni Mengxue raised her leg.
She kicked the shopkeeper and Alan; their frozen bodies shattered. Finally, she looked at the shadow ability user.
She sighed. "You could have lived."
Ni Mengxue was about to kill the shadow ability user as well when she suddenly stopped.
She looked at him thoughtfully. "Actually, there’s no need to waste him."
This ability was far too rare. If she could find a hypnotist in the future, perhaps she could make him switch sides.
With that thought, Ni Mengxue stored the frozen man inside her spatial storage. She then walked out of the shop as if nothing had happened.
Her next destination was an iron ore shop.
The amount of iron available was pitifully small. After all, ordinary people could hardly afford to waste food on something that couldn’t be eaten.
In the end, Ni Mengxue bought the shop’s entire remaining stock. Forty kilograms of iron.
Of course, she wasn’t worried about the quantity.
Long ago, she had already asked Ruo Chiwu to purchase two thousand kilograms of iron whenever she encountered it.
Once her industrial workshop was available, she would need a large amount of metal to manufacture machines and equipment.
With that thought, she returned to her apartment. When she entered, she found Lu Yucai talking with several of his men.
She didn’t disturb them. After exchanging a glance with him, she went directly into her room and locked the door.
Then she entered her spatial space. The moment she arrived, Ni Mengxue checked her merit points as she usually did.
[Merit Points: 51,000]
Her eyes immediately brightened. "Fifty-one thousand?"
She remembered having slightly more than forty thousand previously. After thinking about it, she suddenly understood. The hidden mission!
The system had quietly rewarded her with an additional ten thousand merit points after she completed the RV mission.
"Not bad."
Ni Mengxue smiled. "System, unlock the Industrial Workshop."
[Ding! Unlocking Industrial Workshop requires 50,000 Merit Points. Requirement fulfilled. Industrial Workshop is now unlocked.]
The empty space before her suddenly changed. A massive metallic structure appeared.
It was nothing like the simple workshop she had imagined.
The Industrial Workshop looked more like a miniature advanced manufacturing facility.
Its outer walls were constructed from smooth metallic panels, with reinforced beams running through the structure.
Large mechanical arms rested along the ceiling, while several production lines were arranged neatly across the enormous floor.
There were metal-cutting machines, precision drills, welding stations, forging equipment, automated assembly platforms, material processors, and several familiar machines whose purposes only Ni Mengxue identified.
The entire place was spotless. Even the floor appeared to be made from some kind of highly durable alloy.
Ni Mengxue’s eyes shone. "This is an industrial workshop?"
This was practically a small factory. She walked toward the main control console.