Reporting Zhao Yan

Perfect!

Tu Ran had everything figured out in her head.

Looking at Xie Xu now, she felt no anger at all—only the thrill of knowing her revenge was about to pay off.

But she kept it off her face.

The guy was too sharp at reading micro-expressions. One slip, and he'd be suspicious. She had to stay on guard.

Xie Xu leaned back in his chair and let out a faint, derisive chuckle. "Seems you're feeling pretty confident now."

Tu Ran paused and touched her face. Her expression was perfectly blank—how did he know?

If it weren't for the absence of a green light screen above his head, she'd have sworn he had a superpower too, something like telepathy.

She changed the subject. "Since you're so good at guessing, why don't you guess why I came to see you?"

The pivot was a bit clumsy, but Xie Xu knew he wouldn't get more out of her anyway, so he played along. "You did a lot of shady things inside the Threshold. To avoid leaving evidence, you destroyed your holographic recording ring. But you didn't expect the Federation to switch to Memory Readers, so now you're here to ask me to help you pass the memory read three days from now."

He delivered all this with a blank face. It was only the next question that made his expression shift. "What I'm curious about is how you managed to destroy that brand-new recording ring. I did the factory inspection on that ring myself—at the time, I tried every method and couldn't damage it."

"You reported to the Federation that the ring was gone when you woke up after losing consciousness. I don't buy that story. Am I right to assume that one of the abilities you gained has the power to destroy it?"

How did the conversation keep circling back to abilities?

Tu Ran didn't want to answer any questions about that. The more she said, the more accurately Xie Xu could guess.

"So, are you going to help or not?" Tu Ran asked bluntly.

"That depends on your sincerity."

"Does that deal from before still count?"

He owed her a wish.

Xie Xu raised an eyebrow. So that was her sincerity. He'd overestimated her.

His tone cooled. "It counts. But I think this opportunity could be used for something far more valuable. Are you sure you want to waste it here?"

"Of course not," Tu Ran said, taking the backpack off her shoulder. "I just wanted to see if you'd forgotten."

Xie Xu: "…"

Tu Ran unzipped the backpack, reached in, and pulled out a small box.

She didn't hand it to Xie Xu directly.

"How many inner cores has the Federal Government found so far?"

Xie Xu glanced at the box in her hand.

"One. Following the instructions from that frog-type mutant, the Federal Government found a glowing bead inside a reptilian lizard-type mutant, matching the frog's description."

"And the effect? Did you test it? What kind of ability is it?" Tu Ran pressed.

"We tested it," Xie Xu said flatly. "The Deputy Director of the Executive Department tried it personally. After consuming the inner core, he gained hearing far beyond human limits—he can clearly hear ants crawling from a hundred meters away."

Tu Ran nodded. So Xie Xu probably hadn't studied the inner core in depth yet.

She handed him the box. "This is an inner core I found. For your research. Sincere enough?"

Xie Xu showed no surprise at all, as if he'd expected it.

He opened the box. A gleaming inner core lay quietly in the corner.

"What ability?" Xie Xu asked.

"Perfect Body."

"?" Xie Xu looked up at Tu Ran, uncertain.

"Consume this inner core and you'll gain the ability to eat whatever you want without gaining weight, and you'll have the most perfect figure," Tu Ran explained with a beaming smile.

Xie Xu: Though he'd known she wouldn't give him a meaningful inner core, he hadn't expected it to be this useless.

Whatever. He was only studying the principles behind inner cores anyway, not planning to consume one.

He pinched the inner core and brought it closer for a look.

"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. I found this inner core inside a maggot."

Xie Xu: "…"

His face darkened instantly.

He quickly tossed the inner core back into the box and pulled a wet wipe from his pocket to clean his fingers.

Tu Ran bit her lower lip to suppress the twitching of her cheeks.

Xie Xu stared at her hard.

"Don't worry, I cleaned it several times. It's absolutely clean."

Xie Xu said coldly, "I hope you won't do anything so childish in the future."

Childish?

She didn't think so.

Seeing Xie Xu suffer brought her immense joy.

But since Xie Xu's expression wasn't great, Tu Ran figured she should salvage the situation.

"I have something even more sincere. Want to hear it?"

Xie Xu pressed his lips together and said nothing.

Tu Ran shrugged and continued on her own. "Zhao Yan of the Pioneer Team—do you know him?"

"No," Xie Xu said coldly.

"That's fine. I'd advise you to stay away from him—at least ten meters."

"Why?"

"He already knows about the inner cores. He has one inside him called [Telepathy]. With that ability, he can capture the thoughts of any creature within ten meters."

Xie Xu frowned slightly. "So, if I'm within ten meters of him, my thoughts are completely transparent, and he can read them freely."

"Exactly," Tu Ran nodded. "Anything you're thinking at that moment wouldn't escape his notice."

Xie Xu's expression turned grave.

"Telepathy" had completely revised his understanding of abilities.

This ability was bad for everyone.

No one wanted their thoughts seen by someone else, especially someone like Xie Xu, whose mind was full of schemes and conspiracies.

That was also why Tu Ran had told him about it.

She couldn't deal with Zhao Yan right now, but that didn't mean Xie Xu couldn't.

"Besides Telepathy, what other abilities does he have?"

"Time Freeze—he can pause the flow of time in the entire universe for one second."

"Telekinesis—he can control any object within ten meters, but the object's weight can't exceed his own physical strength."

"Just those three?" Xie Xu asked.

"Yes," Tu Ran nodded.

Xie Xu's fingers on the table began tapping in a steady rhythm. He was thinking—thinking about how to deal with this man.

"Take your time thinking. I'll be going now," Tu Ran said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "Remember what you promised me."

She made as if to leave.

Xie Xu called her back.

Tu Ran turned around, puzzled. "What else do you need?"

"After dealing with the Memory Reader problem and Zhao Yan's threat to you, isn't your next move to deal with me too?"

Tu Ran was startled. Did he have to be so direct?

No pretense, no beating around the bush? How was she supposed to answer that?

Say no?

Even if Xie Xu believed her, she was afraid she'd laugh at herself just saying it.

Say yes?