Chapter 411 - 410: Pitiful Wretch?

Chapter 411: Chapter 410: Pitiful Wretch?

Still, a cunning rabbit has three burrows. If she didn’t play along with Artemis, Seraphina Sinclair would have no way of knowing who actually held the Expansion Crystals.

[Blacktiger Ford]: What about Mountainwind and Nathan Kane?

She didn’t agree directly, asking this question instead.

’Artemis is a ruthless one...’

Though the word had negative connotations, Seraphina Sinclair thought it with a hint of admiration.

This wasn’t an era of peace. This was an apocalypse where death could come at any moment, and only the ruthless survived for long. But praise aside, now that Seraphina Sinclair was up against someone like that, she had to be careful with every word and action.

[Artemis]: They’re not taking a cut of the profits. They got something else from me instead.

’Not taking a cut of the profits.’

’Who would believe that? After working on this for so long, they just give it up for something else?’

Seraphina Sinclair’s interest was piqued. She was curious to see what kind of story Artemis would spin.

[Blacktiger Ford]: What did they get?

She sent the message, paused for two seconds, then sent another.

[Blacktiger Ford]: This isn’t just me being nosy. I need to know what they got before I can even consider working with you.

The indicator on the other side showed "typing..." for a long time.

Seraphina Sinclair rested her head on her arm, watching the sunshine creep inch by inch across her blanket.

[Artemis]: Skill Books.

[Artemis]: One for each of them.

Seraphina Sinclair’s breath caught for half a second, then she let out a soft scoff.

’Skill Books! Of all things!’

Seraphina herself was reluctant to part with such things. Artemis was clearly trying to play her for a fool.

Still... Seraphina believed Artemis must have some kind of leverage on Mountainwind and Nathan Kane, or had genuinely given them something valuable. That was the only way she could have gotten them under her thumb.

After all, those two were still running errands for her.

It explained why the Zone channel was in an uproar, while those two remained completely silent the entire time.

Seraphina Sinclair slowly exhaled and sent a message back with genuine sincerity: "Impressive."

[Artemis]: So, have you made your decision?

[Artemis]: A fifty-percent cut is a genuine offer. For anyone else, I’d offer thirty at most.

[Blacktiger Ford]: I know.

She thought for a moment, then asked another question:

[Blacktiger Ford]: Who has the crystals?

[Artemis]: I have them.

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t believe her.

[Blacktiger Ford]: How many Expansion Crystals do you all have in total?

[Artemis]: You want to see them?

[Blacktiger Ford]: No. I want to know the pricing.

[Blacktiger Ford]: If you set the price too high, the Zone channel will erupt in outrage, and I’m not wading into that mess. If you set it too low, my cut won’t be worth much. Why would I get involved at all?

[Artemis]: ...

No matter how you looked at it, Blacktiger’s words screamed unwillingness to cooperate.

Artemis thought for a moment. Instead of answering about the price, she revealed the quantity.

[Artemis]: 475 in total. We traded all sorts of supplies for them. The few of us staked everything we had.

Seraphina Sinclair lowered her eyes.

’475... is that the total weekly output of Expansion Crystals for a single Zone?’

’No, this is the number of crystals circulating on the market.’

After discovering that items were snapped up the moment they were listed, almost everyone, except for survivors in desperate need of supplies, chose to hold onto their things.

After all, Expansion Crystals were materials for upgrading the mobile cabin. Raising the cabin’s Level was never a bad idea. What if this bullshit system went crazy one day and announced that any player with a mobile cabin below a certain Level would die?

Besides, a higher-Level cabin meant a higher standard of living.

’Who doesn’t want to live a good life?’

Seraphina Sinclair reined in her thoughts. A single number was impossible to verify, but since the other party had revealed it so readily, Seraphina felt it would be inappropriate to press further.

Plus, considering Seraphina Sinclair’s true purpose for joining them...

Before she could reply, an impatient message arrived from Artemis.

[Artemis]: We’re selling at 8 PM. Are you in or out?

Seraphina Sinclair’s lips curled into a smile.

[Blacktiger Ford]: I’m in.

[Artemis]: Good.

[Artemis]: Mountainwind will add you to the group chat in a bit.

Seraphina Sinclair closed the chat window and looked up at the sky.

The sun had already climbed to its zenith, shrinking the shadows in the canyon to a narrow sliver. The Sunflower tilted its face a full one hundred and eighty degrees, a contented rumble emanating from its throat.

"You’re so lucky," Seraphina Sinclair said. "All you need is a little sunshine."

The Sunflower ignored her.

Not that she expected a response; after all, they didn’t speak the same language.

Seraphina Sinclair just needed a pretense to speak, a way to organize her thoughts.

’Over four hundred of them... She couldn’t even imagine how happy she would be if she got her hands on that many Expansion Crystals.’

Artemis said the sale was at eight in the evening. It was currently one in the afternoon.

She had seven hours.

’Seven hours to figure out where Artemis’s stash is, and then initiate a challenge!’

With Heart-piercing Grace, she could use the challenge feature silently and without a trace. She wouldn’t have to worry about procedure or her reputation. The real problem was something else.

’Where was the stash?’

Mountainwind and the other two had said the stash was with Artemis, but Seraphina Sinclair didn’t believe a single word of it.

’A person like Artemis would never keep over four hundred crystals all in one place, especially not on herself.’

’Especially when someone like Blacktiger Ford was in the same Zone.’

’So they had to be stored separately.’

’With Mountainwind? Or Nathan Kane? Or maybe with one of the people working for Artemis?’

As soon as that last thought surfaced, Seraphina Sinclair shook her head.

Those underlings were at constant risk of death, and if they died, the goods would be lost. Artemis would never put something the five of them had staked everything on into the hands of such people.

Seraphina Sinclair thought for a moment, but felt she had no leads. So she simply opened the Zone channel again.

A message suddenly caught her eye:

"When the hell is Cloudmute going to stop crying? It feels like she’s in every single large group chat! I really don’t want to know who was right or wrong between her and Artemis, just give my ears a break, dammit!"

Seraphina Sinclair stared at the message and suddenly realized something.

Everyone was saying Cloudmute was crying.

Crying in various group chats, crying in the channel, crying in private messages.

Crying about how she was forced, crying about how she got nothing, crying about how Mountainwind and the others went to Master Blacktiger first and she was just a little too quick to speak.

She cried so much that the entire channel thought she was the victim.

But the more Seraphina Sinclair read, the more she felt something was wrong.

’Why would someone who got nothing be crying?’

’Someone who truly has nothing wouldn’t cry. They would only feel hatred, clenching their teeth and looking for a chance at revenge.’

But Cloudmute’s reaction was to spam the chats, to say "I want everyone to know what kind of person Artemis is," and "It doesn’t matter if I die, I’m not afraid of retaliation."

’That doesn’t sound like someone who has nothing.’

’It sounds like someone who’s holding onto something, but their grip is unsteady, and they’re desperately trying to secure it.’

Seraphina Sinclair lowered her eyes.

’Because everyone thought Cloudmute was just a poor wretch who’d been kicked out of the group.’

’But what if the stash was with Cloudmute all along?’

Seraphina Sinclair felt she had discovered the truth.