A Promising Future

Even if it came to that, she could just slip into the Threshold. No matter how powerful the Federal Government was, there was no way they'd catch her in there.

Tu Ran patted her belly.

A promising future, indeed. A promising future.

At 5:30 in the afternoon, Tu Ran changed into an androgynous outfit and packed a baseball cap, a mask, and sunglasses into her backpack. She made sure to grab the "Perfect Figure" inner core before heading out.

She took the hovering maglev tram and got off at a town near the Black Market, then ducked into a hidden alley to put on the cap, mask, and sunglasses. After pulling a differently colored jacket over her clothes, she made her way toward the shabby little clinic Xie Xu had designated.

Stepping inside, the pungent smell of cheap disinfectant hit her nostrils as always.

The young man called Xiao Jiu was still sitting at the computer desk, fiddling with something.

Hearing footsteps from outside, he didn't even look up, repeating his standard spiel: "All ailments, big or small, cost ten thousand Federal credits. No guarantees on whether you'll be cured. If you want treatment, fork over a nine-thousand deposit first. If not, leave now."

"It's me," Tu Ran said flatly.

Xiao Jiu immediately raised his head, recognizing her outfit at a glance, and hurried over. "Oh, it's you. Long time no see."

Tu Ran smiled. "Long time no see."

"Brother Xie is already downstairs. Go on down."

"Mm." Tu Ran walked alone to the cramped little compartment in the back, pressed the mechanism on the beautiful woman's lips, and a hidden passage slowly appeared before her.

She clapped once, and the sluggish voice-activated lights flickered on.

Tu Ran descended the stairs slowly.

Today, the training ground below was lit up. Unlike the usual scene of Xie Xu's underlings crowding the space, today the entire underground area held only Xie Xu himself.

He was sitting at a table in the transparent glass room at the top of the space, flipping through a thick sheaf of bound documents.

Hearing Tu Ran's footsteps, he raised his head and beckoned to her.

Motioning for her to come up.

Tu Ran headed for the stairs leading to the glass room.

The stairs were transparent too.

Stepping on them felt like treading on empty air.

By the time she reached the glass room, Xie Xu was still reading his materials.

Tu Ran glanced at them but couldn't make out the text.

She looked around. The glass room was more spacious than she'd imagined—the two of them standing there didn't feel cramped at all, and the view was open, overlooking the entire underground space.

Seeing that she'd come up, Xie Xu set the documents aside.

He tilted his head up slightly, his sapphire-blue pupils fixed on her. "What do you have?"

Tu Ran didn't rush to hand over the inner core. Instead, she asked, "Why did the Federal Government suddenly start using Memory Readers?"

Xie Xu folded his long hands together, his voice calm. "Exactly what you're thinking."

Inner cores?

"How did they find out?" Tu Ran stared at Xie Xu intently.

"On the third day after the large-scale exotic catcher in Regaken State was completed, the troops stationed there captured a frog-type exotic creature that had evolved high-level intelligence. After being sent to the Research Institute, analysis and decryption of its calls revealed that it was begging for mercy from humans. It said it was willing to reveal a secret about the Threshold in exchange for its safety."

Xie Xu paused, raising an eyebrow at Tu Ran. "You should know what that secret is, right?"

Tu Ran neither confirmed nor denied it.

Xie Xu didn't expect her to speak up either, and continued: "That frog-type exotic creature said that some highly gifted species inside the Threshold can evolve a certain ability—one that transcends nature and the entire species. In other words, what we call superpowers."

"And those exotic creatures with superpowers condense that ability into something called an 'inner core,' stored inside their bodies."

Xie Xu let out a low chuckle. "Inner core? Something out of ancient martial arts stories, and it shows up in the real world."

For a Second World with highly advanced technology, such a fantastical thing was indeed hard to wrap one's head around.

Tu Ran herself had been surprised when she first learned that eating inner cores could grant superpowers, but then she'd thought—she'd transmigrated to another world, so what was so novel about superpowers? She'd accepted the fact quickly enough.

If the universe contained countless worlds, then every world could be different.

Tu Ran always believed her homeland was the First World—compared to the Federal Government, its technology wasn't particularly advanced, but ordinary people enjoyed a high standard of living, nature hadn't suffered irreversible damage, and species other than humans had places to thrive.

The Federal Government, meanwhile, occupied the Second World—high tech, low living.

The Threshold was the Third World, like a prehistoric era, with monstrous beasts roaming and possessing supernatural abilities that science couldn't explain.

She'd witnessed three different worlds, so how could she be certain the universe held only these three?

The more she knew, the more Tu Ran believed the universe teemed with countless lifeforms and countless worlds.

Each world had its own peculiarities, things that other worlds couldn't comprehend.

Inner cores were the Threshold's peculiarity.

"When did you first learn about inner cores?" Xie Xu suddenly steered the topic back to Tu Ran.

"Hmm..." Tu Ran pursed her lips lightly. "A long time ago."

"At the farm in Regaken State? Did that hook snake tell you?"

Tu Ran thought to herself that this guy had guessed pretty accurately.

"...Yeah."

"So your sudden memory recovery back then was because of that inner core?"

Tu Ran clamped her mouth shut, eyeing Xie Xu warily. If she kept talking, he'd pry her entire background out of her.

But Xie Xu had already figured it all out. "So you've got a superpower related to memory now—restoring memories? Or reading them?"

Xie Xu fixed his gaze on Tu Ran's eyes, not missing a single subtle expression.

He'd been baiting her from the very start!

Tu Ran looked away, dodging his probing stare, and bit out, "Researcher Xie is quite clever."

Xie Xu ignored her sarcasm, staring at her profile. "Tu Ran, you must have a lot of inner cores inside you by now, right?"

"What, you want to take them?" Tu Ran turned her head.

Should she just kill him right now?

But if she killed him, she'd have a hard time finding someone else to help her pass the Memory Reader, and in the end she'd still end up as a Federal fugitive.

What if she used "Illusory Realm" to brainwash him?

That was a good idea—he was just an ordinary person now, no matter how sharp or vigilant he was, she was sure she could do it without him noticing a thing.

Tu Ran gave herself a mental thumbs-up. Clever! That's the plan! After they finished today's conversation, when she left with her back to him, that would be the moment to plant a hallucinogenic mushroom, making him trust and help her unconditionally from then on, never doing anything to harm her.

Fortunately, this room was made of glass, so nothing would block the hallucinogenic mushroom from taking effect.