Chapter 50: Academic Privilege

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Academic Privilege

Ning Ye’s proposal actually had some merit to it.

Xiang Yi thought it over and replied, "Feels like a bit of a blank check, but I can genuinely help you right now, so sure."

This was also his way of returning the favor — Ning Ye had, after all, given him some information about Black Stone.

Once he felt he’d given back enough for what she’d provided, where things went from there would depend entirely on whether what Ning Ye brought to the table going forward was actually worth his while.

"That said, I have a few questions."

Ning Ye looked at him with eager eyes. "Go ahead."

"What exactly are you studying when you research Abnormalities?"

"There are way too many directions to cover, but at the end of the day, researching Abnormalities is about making money — at a national scale."

"There are countless types of Abnormalities, too many to count, and new ones keep appearing all the time."

"Some Abnormalities have properties we can actually use, so we study how to contain them. Successfully contain one, and you’ve got a bottomless well of benefits you can keep pulling from."

"Others are too dangerous and too difficult to contain, so instead we study their weaknesses, log the data, and make it easier to deal with the same or similar Abnormalities if they show up again."

"All of that can be written up and published — every finding becomes an academic patent under my name."

"Anyone who applies my research findings — whether it’s developing Abnormality Weapons or building facilities to contain Abnormalities — has to pay me a licensing fee."

"Even the government, if they’re using my patents."

Xiang Yi thought back to the situation in the prison. He Dong had apparently been researching Blood Crystal-related things the whole time — and it seemed like that was exactly the kind of mindset he’d been operating with.

"And this kind of research isn’t restricted at all?"

"Abnormalities are everywhere. If you’re capable of catching one, you’re capable of studying one — as long as you don’t mind dying."

"The government can’t possibly clamp down on Abnormality research. Restricting it would just be shooting themselves in the foot — like they need even more people getting killed by Abnormalities."

"And don’t forget how much this country champions academic privilege. Research on Abnormalities falls under that umbrella too."

"..."

Xiang Yi fell quiet for a moment.

Since breaking out of prison, he still had no real grasp of what kind of world he was in, or what shape human civilization had taken.

Ning Ye didn’t pick up on what was going through his head. She pressed him with a hint of anxious impatience. "So? What do you think?"

Xiang Yi turned it over in his mind.

He did need someone local to handle things he couldn’t do himself right now — and ideally someone already operating in the gray.

Otherwise, he had no way of knowing whether this person would just turn him in without a second thought.

Ning Ye happened to fit the bill.

The timing and location of her appearance was a little suspicious, but Xiang Yi didn’t exactly have other options.

"How do we stay in contact going forward?"

That was as good as saying yes to the partnership.

A smile spread across Ning Ye’s face. "Can we meet inside the city?"

"No. Too risky. You already explained why yourself."

Xiang Yi shot down the idea of meeting inside the city immediately. The only place he could move around in there right now was the lakeshore near the outskirts.

Meeting anywhere near there would be brainless. If they were going to meet, it had to be outside the city.

"Outside the city then. Scavenger crews go out every day — I’ll find another team to join when I get back."

"So..." Ning Ye glanced at the time on her terminal. "Three days from now."

"The first day the crew heads out — noon or evening — I’ll come here and wait half an hour. If you don’t show, I leave. If you can’t make it, leave a marker ahead of time."

"Noon’s better for me, easier to get here."

Xiang Yi shook his head again. "Daytime doesn’t work either. Evening is better — safer."

"Are you actually paranoid, or does it just come naturally?"

"Scavenger crews have been through this district so many times there’s basically nothing left worth taking. It’s too close to the city — most crews wouldn’t bother heading this way on purpose."

"Last night was a special case. The storm rolled in, we had several wounded — we only stopped here because we had no choice. You don’t need to worry about people wandering through here during the day."

"Plus, there was just a major Abnormality incident here. Every scavenger crew that isn’t the military is going to give this place a wide berth."

"So how are you planning to get here when the time comes?"

"I’ll figure something out."

"Fair enough, I guess..."

"Alright then. Pleasure doing business?"

Ning Ye extended her hand toward Xiang Yi.

Then she noticed it was still smudged with something dirty from earlier. She wiped it carelessly on her raincoat and held it out again.

Xiang Yi glanced at her hand, then at the smear on her raincoat, and said nothing. He reached out and gave it a brief, perfunctory shake.

"Pleasure doing business."

"Do you have a personal terminal?"

Xiang Yi pulled a terminal out of his backpack — the one he’d scavenged from the hospital camp. "Just this one I picked up."

"..."

Ning Ye was quiet for a moment, then asked, "You don’t even have a halfway usable identity to your name, do you?"

"..."

Seeing that her words had left him just as speechless, she shook her head. "That’s not something I can help you with. You’ll have to find your own way around it."

Without much ceremony, Ning Ye picked up her former companion’s terminal, pulled a small device from her person, and plugged it in. The password lock cracked open in no time.

She tapped around on the terminal for a bit, then handed it back to Xiang Yi.

"I put a down payment in there for you."

Xiang Yi glanced at the screen. It was showing a file manager. In the root directory, Ning Ye had created a folder labeled "Down Payment."

Inside were three files, named Dead Spirit Dust, Shuffling Monster, and Corpse Ghost — information on three types of Abnormalities.

Wang Wu had already covered the Shuffling Monster and Dead Spirit Dust before.

Xiang Yi opened the file on the Corpse Ghost.

The contents were far more detailed than anything spoken aloud.

Like the Shuffling Monster, it was a derivative Abnormality of the Dead Spirit Dust, and could only emerge under the direct influence of a Black Stone Fragment.

It possessed greater regenerative ability and raw strength than an ordinary Shuffling Monster, but was less resilient overall.

A Shuffling Monster could keep moving as long as there was a corpse to animate — even a bare skeleton could haul itself upright and shuffle a few steps. The Corpse Ghost, by contrast, had one fatal weakness: its heart.

There was another key difference. A Shuffling Monster’s lifespan depended entirely on how long the Dead Spirit Dust could sustain itself before dissipating.

A Corpse Ghost, on the other hand, could keep going indefinitely — it just needed to feed on fresh meat at regular intervals to stay active.

Not human flesh specifically. Regular animal meat worked fine. Even rat meat would do.

Xiang Yi pocketed the terminal with quiet satisfaction and looked at Ning Ye. "Where do I find Abnormalities? You said yourself there aren’t normally any in this abandoned district — so where do I look?"

"My original idea was to have you come along with me in a scavenger crew. That’s literally what we go out there to do — find Abnormalities."

"But since you don’t have a legal identity... you’ll just have to wait until we get back and I give you the intel."

"Crews like ours are tasked with going out and surveying the areas around the city for Abnormality activity. When we find one, the military sends people in to deal with it."

"There’s a window between when we report back and when the military actually moves out. Plenty of time to get to wherever we spotted the Abnormality."

"Hold on."

Xiang Yi cut in. "You said... crews like yours?"

"Right. Not all scavenger crews are out there risking their necks for basic pay. Some are specifically hired to locate Abnormalities."

So there were people out there who thought the same way Ning Ye did — wanting to study Abnormalities on their own terms.

They’d send scavenger crews out to do the legwork first, then arrange their own people to go in and capture the Abnormalities afterward.

"Got it. One more question."

"Why not just transmit the intel directly? Communication outside the city isn’t cut off, is it?"

"It’s not cut off, no." Ning Ye explained, "But Abnormalities give off a unique, aggressive Spiritual Fluctuation that interferes with electronic equipment. Once you’re close to one, regular devices are basically useless for communication."

"And some Abnormalities can’t be detected by equipment at all — only visible to the naked eye, or recorded by certain specialized devices."

"What those devices capture can’t be processed after the fact, and it definitely can’t be sent via satellite signal. It has to be physically handed over."

"There was an incident before where false information got transmitted back. An Abnormality had deliberately fed us fake intel to set a trap — not here, somewhere else."

"After that, the rule became that the military only mobilizes once the people outside come back alive and personally confirm that the intel is genuine."