Chapter 181.2: Down Payment Part 2
Chapter 181.2: Down Payment Part 2
To deal with an Entropy Chosen One whose specialty was tremendous destructive power, one couldn’t rely on brute force. One should prepare carefully in advance, set traps properly, and go for a single lethal strike. Poison, curses, or other means would be ideal.
At Ji Jue’s level, it still wasn’t time to make a move. At the very least, he’d have to wait until he advanced to the Metamorphosis Realm.
With that thought, Ji Jue settled back into his vehicle. He wasn’t worried that Yu Hanguang would dare pull anything. After all, his teacher was sitting in the motorhome just ahead. If Ji Jue lost so much as a single hair, Yu Hanguang would probably be processed into research material before the day was over.
The one thing Ji Jue hadn’t expected was that, while the convoy paused for the lengthy cleanup operation, someone knocked on his door.
He looked up. Standing outside was the very same face he had just seen in the sky, Yu Hanguang. He had actually come looking for Ji Jue.
The nerve of this guy! Damn it, I haven’t even fucking gotten around to dealing with you yet...
Ji Jue slammed his hand onto the steering wheel, and the machine gun in the cargo compartment instantly chambered a round. Guided by the camera system, it locked onto the target.
Coincidentally, Yu Hanguang looked just as stiff as Ji Jue did, even more strangely so. He seemed to be forcing a smile with great effort, but the attempt fell flat. There was something almost mournfully comical about it.
He clearly noticed he was being aimed at. The corner of his eye twitched slightly, but he still didn’t move. Instead, he seemed to try even harder to smile, therefore the smile only grew more forced.
Finally, the window rolled down.
Ji Jue looked at his almost convulsing expression, wary and confused, and said cautiously, “Mr. Yu, long time no see, huh?”
“Yes, yes.” Yu Hanguang nodded stiffly, his voice sounding hoarse and dry.
Another long, awkward silence followed.
Ji Jue frowned. “You’ve been busy?”
“Yes, yes,” Yu Hanguang said, nodding once more, this time frantically. His face kept twitching, as if he were malfunctioning. He made strained, choking sounds, like his brain was glitching.
“Got something to say?”
“Yes, yes...” As the atmosphere grew increasingly awkward, Yu Hanguang decided to stop repeating himself. His facial muscles kept spasming like he was being electrocuted as he stammered, “Last time... we met... I was rather impolite... This... small token of apology... Please forgive me, Mr. Ji. I... won’t disturb you any further. If I get the chance in the future, I will definitely come personally to apologize. Definitely!”
With that said, he left behind a box, afraid Ji Jue might refuse it, then quickly lowered his head and hurried away.
Ji Jue didn’t even have time to react. When he leaned out to look, the rear taillights were already gone from sight. He didn’t even get a chance to fire a couple of shots. Yu Hanguang left way too fast.
The box left behind was stained with the beast of doom’s blood. When Ji Jue opened it, he saw a section of bone that shimmered with a metallic silver glow. It had clearly been pre-processed by some craftsman, but it still retained its raw, original essence.
The moment he opened the box, a dreamy mist of spirit matter rose and dispersed into the air. What unsettled Ji Jue even more was the aura contained within that fragment of bone from that beast of doom. It was a Ruins blessing known as Iron Essence.
It actually still contained the beast’s original blessing?! Ji Jue was completely baffled. What the hell? A weasel paying a New Year visit to a hen[1]? But it isn’t even New Year yet...
***
Three minutes later, from behind the motorhome, Horsey was blaring its horn furiously, getting progressively more foul-mouthed with each blast.
Inside the motorhome, Ji Jue sat across from Professor Ye. He handed over the box and explained everything from start to finish, then shrank back and sat properly like an obedient student.
Professor Ye didn’t even bother looking up during the exchange. She just kept writing and sketching in her notebook. After Ji Jue was done talking, she finally lifted her head, glanced at the box, and asked casually, “A gift for you? I don’t think so.”
Ji Jue shook his head firmly. Anyone with half a brain could see that there was no way that the once arrogant and overbearing Chief of the Gracefield District Security Bureau would come crawling back to him to apologize. After thinking it through, the only possible explanation was his teacher’s influence.
Or perhaps Ms. Wen was about to achieve enlightenment and sweep through all opponents with unstoppable force. Those old demons and petty clowns would all fall to their knees, and Yu Hanguang, terrified of being too late to even kowtow, had been the first to come to Ji Jue to curry favor.
In any case, none of it had anything to do with Ji Jue. He had better not assume something this convenient came for free. Taking it without consequence would be asking for trouble.
Professor Ye only glanced at the box briefly before looking away again, clearly uninterested. “It’s nothing special. Keep it.”
Iron Essence was a fairly common blessing within the Ruins Path. Like the standard three-piece set of the Swarm Path, it was practically everywhere. There was nothing rare about it. Whether one could use it well or make it work properly depended entirely on the user.
Its effect was simple: by infusing spirit matter, it increased the hardness and structural strength of the host. In literal terms, it could turn flesh into something like metal, making it much harder for blades and weapons to leave behind injuries.
For a Ruins Path Chosen One, obtaining this was basically stacking toughness on top of toughness, greatly boosting durability. For craftsmen, it was a decent blessing material. The main advantage was its commonness, as there were countless design templates for it, so there was no need to waste effort on invention. It was usually used to craft armor or defensive equipment, and it also had a wide market, so finding buyers was never a problem.
Even if someone already had more than a dozen layers of defensive protection, adding one or two more wouldn’t hurt.
“If you want it, just take it. If it’s too much trouble, throw it away,” Professor Ye said calmly. “If you don’t plan to take it for nothing, then next time you fight him, go a bit easier on him. Spare his life at least, that’ll count as giving him face[2].”
After a moment of thought, Ji Jue shook his head. “It still feels like I lost out.”
Even though Mr. Yu had once looked extremely impressive when he shouted “you bastard” and struck down with lightning only to fail to kill Ji Jue, that didn’t mean a simple gift of a blessing would wipe the slate clean as if nothing had happened. That was a bit too naïve.
Once Ji Jue leveled up and killed him, wouldn’t everything on that man’s body, including all his blessings, be his anyway? Wasn’t that far more worthwhile than something like this?
“Then just make him give more,” Ye Xian said casually, flipping a page and continuing to write without much interest. “He’s the chief of a district, after all. If he’s apologizing, he should show some sincerity. Bringing a few scraps to fool you? Who is he trying to kid?”
Ji Jue’s eyes lit up. “Exactly.”
As the saying goes, grudges are better settled than left hanging, and the more friends you have, the more opportunities you gain! I’ll accept this “friendship fee” for now. Gracefield District is so large and prosperous, with such booming commercial activity. After so many years, Mr. Yu must have embezzled quite a bit, right?
Ji Jue thought so as he pulled back the Corruption Bullet that had already been chambered. If the down payment was a bit low, so be it. The gap in funding for building his future workshop was still quite large anyway. He could afford to make a little compromise.
Thinking of this, Ji Jue couldn’t help but let out a regretful sigh.
For a brief moment, it felt as if his youthful days of spirited violence and wiping out entire families were drifting further away. He had already, in the more mature and despicable adult world, learned the virtues of accepting payment in exchange for sparing lives, of steady and long-term patience, and of the magnanimity of killing someone’s entire family a bit later.
Perhaps this was the price of growing up.
Ji Jue picked up the box, itching with impatience. “By the way, Professor, can I borrow Mr. Ball for a bit?”
Ye Xian waved her hand, and the devil’s work ball dropped into his arms. She remained focused on the page, writing and drawing without looking up.
“Don’t bother me again until we arrive. How annoying.”
“Got it!” Ji Jue nodded enthusiastically, grabbed the ball and the box, and slipped away in a flash.
In the quiet journey that followed, they didn’t share another word. The cook served the dishes without a word as the food slowly cooled before being replaced by new hot dishes, one round after another.
By Ye Xian’s side, the strong tea remained at room temperature. Once she finally finished what she was writing, she closed her notebook and looked up.
Outside the window, within the deep darkness of the night, faint clusters of light gradually appeared at the end of the winding mountain road. Farther beyond, there were even more lights—neon glows that felt like an illusion.
Just ahead of the underground cavern frontline observation post, within what should have been absolute pitch-black darkness, dazzling and noisy lights flickered and swayed. Traffic flowed like a river, and the bustle of a thriving city remained unchanged.
A magnificent curtain of brilliance covered the dust and bones, hiding the ruins and fractures from view.
After decades, the mirage of the old Spring City had emerged once more. It was the lingering echo of a mournful cry. From the darkness, it resounded eternally.
1. In Chinese, there is a proverb: “黄鼠狼给鸡拜年, 没安好心.” Literally, it means “when a weasel pays a New Year visit to a hen, it has no good intentions.”
In folk stories, the weasel, lacking food during the New Year period, pretends to offer greetings to the chicken in order to sneak into its home and steal food. As a result, this saying is used to describe someone who appears kind on the surface but harbors ill intentions underneath. In English, it means “not acting with good intentions” or “harboring ulterior motives.” ☜
2. In Chinese culture, "giving face" (给面子) means preserving or enhancing someone’s social dignity, reputation, and public standing. It is a cornerstone of Chinese social and business etiquette aimed at maintaining harmony and showing respect. ☜