Chapter 267: Silver Fox’s Price

Ronan suddenly got closer and whispered, "you don’t have to Jade, we are still able to hold the line."

Jade considered her offer while watching the battlefield that was now in pause. Ronan was still observing the area, waiting for the worst to happen and ready to attack anytime soon, but exhaustion was already visible among the Pathfinders.

Some were wounded, some were running low on ammunition, and the infected hiding among the surrounding buildings continued waiting for another opportunity to strike.

More importantly, every second they spent here was another second Aaron and the others remained underground.

Jade trusted Gideon. She knew he wouldn’t lose easily, but that wasn’t the same as knowing how long he would need.

The enemy had already proven itself more cunning than she had expected, and she could no longer assume that Gideon’s team was simply fighting an ordinary parasite.

Jade placed a hand on Ronan’s shoulder and gave it a firm tap. "I’ll go. You stay here with the others and make sure none of the infected get past the square."

Ronan looks displeased, he dislikes the Silver Fox way of working.

She finally sighed and looked at Lin Yue. "Fine. I’ll talk. But your men stay outside and hold the line. Don’t turn this place into rubble. Climber Rift isn’t some empty battlefield you can rebuild whenever you feel like it."

Lin Yue gave a soft laugh, her fingers briefly touching the edge of her black veil. "Still worrying about my manners while your settlement is being torn apart. How touching."

"That’s a yes?"

"Of course."

She gave her men a small gesture, and they immediately spread out to reinforce the defensive line while the two women entered one of the sturdier buildings nearby.

They walked together for a short distance until they reached one of the Merchant Guild’s modest establishments.

It was still close enough for the sound of gunfire to reach them, but the thick wall kept them separated from the worst of the fight that just started the moment they left.

It was a pawnshop. The room was filled with various items, while the table normally occupied by the owner or staff sat empty. They had clearly evacuated already.

Lin Yue led Jade to the second floor and opened a small room with nothing but a large window, a round table, and several chairs arranged around it.

Once the door closed, Lin Yue removed her gloves and placed them neatly on the table before taking a seat. Her posture remained relaxed despite the gunfire outside.

"First, you should know that several factions have already left. Others remain, although some are furious and demanding that Freebound explain what is happening."

’The Builder League is still here, the Artificer Guild hasn’t abandoned their people, and White Veil is preparing to assist with the wounded. The others are becoming less patient."

Jade nodded. "I know."

"I suspected you did."

Lin Yue rested one elbow against the table, her cheek settling lightly against her knuckles. The playful curve in her eyes faded.

"But you haven’t told them everything."

Jade was silent for a moment before finally sitting opposite her.

"No. We couldn’t."

Lin Yue smiled, a cunning one and said, "Now you don’t have a lot of choices don’t you? Nothing to hide, the chaos that happened today already explained it."

Her voice then turned serious, "however, I think it is a wise thing for you to tell your savior everything that the battleground can’t explain."

Jade closed her eyes for a moment. She hated this. She hated that the fox was right, and she hated even more that she might fail to protect her people and her territory.

But when she opened her eyes again, she told Lin Yue the truth. Not every detail, but enough.

She told her about the hive mind beneath the Old Pit and the team that had been sent underground to destroy the thing controlling everything.

She explained how the infected had begun behaving differently, with some moving almost mindlessly while others acted with deliberate coordination.

She also revealed that the parasite could manipulate perception, and that the situation underground might already be worse than they had expected. The hive mind was still standing, even with Gideon fighting it.

Lin Yue listened without interrupting. For once, her eyes didn’t curve into a smile.

When Jade finally finished, the Merchant Guild master remained silent for several seconds. She slowly straightened in her chair and folded her hands together.

"My dear Jade," she said at last, her voice still gentle, "your disaster management really is as graceful as watching someone attempt to put out a fire with cooking oil."

Jade’s eyebrow twitched. "You could have chosen a nicer way to say that."

"I could have." Lin Yue’s fingers lightly tapped the table. "But then you might not remember it."

Lin Yue rose and walked toward the window, looking down at the fighting below. "Still, I will help you evacuate the civilians and hold the line. My people can reinforce the routes and keep the infected from reaching the evacuation paths."

Jade looked at her carefully. "And the price?"

Lin Yue glanced back over her shoulder, the faintest smile returning.

"I won’t promise that Climber Rift will look pretty afterward. Frankly, I wouldn’t even promise that every building will remain standing, or that your settlement will still look like one settlement when we’re finished."

Jade grimaced and counted the odds for her settlement to stay the way it was after this kind of fight and even she knew it was impossible.

She nodded. "Do it if necessary, don’t if you just want to defeat the infected faster." She took a deep breath, "and as long as the people survive."

"Then we understand each other."

Lin Yue turned away from the window and approached the table again. "There are three groups I want you to prioritize."

"The Builder League workers near the eastern route, the remaining Artificer Guild members, and the White Veil personnel who are still inside the settlement. Some of my colleagues are still trapped in a higher settlement."

"Move your men accordingly. Don’t waste your strongest people protecting empty buildings when those groups are still exposed."

Jade hesitated. That meant pulling some of her people away from other sections. It meant leaving parts of the area with civilians with fewer defenders than she would normally consider acceptable.

But Lin Yue was right, she didn’t have a lot of choice.

"Fine. I will send men to pick those people and make sure they leave the settlement safely. However, if they don’t you will understand why."

Lin Yue nodded, but that smile, the one that looked like she was still scheming, didn’t quite disappear.

Jade narrowed her eyes. "That’s not all you want."

"Of course not."

Lin Yue casually picked up one of her gloves from the table, turning it between her fingers as she considered her answer.

"I find Gideon charming."

Jade stared at her.

"He is decisive, remarkably capable, and, despite appearing from nowhere, has already accomplished things that most established leaders would struggle to achieve in years."

"A mysterious man with an expanding territory, considerable resources, and an irritating habit of making impossible situations look manageable."

Jade clicked her tounge and cut her off, "Lin Yue, tell me what you actually want. Stop wasting our time. My men still fighting out there."

Lin Yue sighed and slipped her glove back onto one hand.

"You really have no patience for compliments. This is one thing I found less charming about you."

"I have hundreds of infected people outside ready to tear my men and civilians apart."

"Fair enough."

She grinned behind her veil and leaned slightly closer across the table.

"I want you to tell him how kind and useful I am."

Jade frowned. "What?"

"For the survival of the Climber Rift. How I become yours and the rest of people’s savior. I want you to tell him how beneficial it is to have me by his side to have a Merchant Guild. Tell him that I will help him and I won’t ask anything suspicious in return."

The meaning finally clicked. Jade stared at her for several seconds before leaning back in her chair.

"You want a branch inside his territory."

Lin Yue’s eyes curved into unmistakable crescents.

"The first Merchant Guild branch in Cinders of Dusk."

Jade let out a slow breath.

Of course.

It had never been about a simple favor.

Lin Yue wasn’t merely trying to secure Gideon’s attention. She wanted access to Cinders of Dusk itself, a permanent place for the Merchant Guild within a territory that was rapidly becoming far more important than anyone at the negotiation table had yet realized.

And somehow, Jade had a feeling that Gideon was only one part of the reason.

"You don’t have to do all of this. You could simply flirt your way to him, and you’d get everything you wanted."

Lin Yue chuckled softly. "Oh, you really don’t understand him, do you? A man who built a territory in an area that doesn’t even have a clear map clearly didn’t want to be found. A man who came to my branch under a different name and somehow managed to provide every rare item my clients needed clearly wanted to remain anonymous."

She leaned back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other. "And a hero who wanted to remain unknown after killing a Verdant Devourer clearly just wanted to be no one."

She tilted her head slightly. "He won’t give me a branch just because I warmed his bed."

Jade rolled her eyes and stood. "If we’re done here, let’s—"

The siren blaring throughout the settlement suddenly stopped her.

A moment later, the door was thrown open. A bloodied man stumbled inside, breathing heavily as though he had rushed there with something important to report.

"Are you Jade?"

Jade nodded cautiously. "Who are you?"

"We need to talk."