Seeking Cooperation?

Too direct. What if Xie Xu still had a trump card? That would be bad for her.

She needed to stay cautious.

"Mm... you guess."

Xie Xu: "..."

"I'll assume for now that you're ready to get rid of me."

Tu Ran: He's very self-aware!

If he weren't still useful, she could wipe him out with a snap of her fingers.

"I think we could be excellent partners."

Tu Ran: Oho—just half a month ago he was coercing her into being his subordinate, and now that he realizes he can't control her, they've suddenly become "partners."

Talk about a quick change of face.

Tu Ran was full of silent sarcasm, her lips practically curling up to the sky, but her face betrayed nothing.

Xie Xu glanced at the smug expression she couldn't quite hide and pretended not to notice.

"The question you set in the Threshold last time was about your wish, and one of the answers was to become rich. Is that your real wish?" Xie Xu suddenly asked.

"Yeah, why?" Tu Ran crossed her arms and leaned against the glass doorframe, waiting for him to continue.

"I can help you fulfill your wish. If we become partners, I'll give you a price you'll be satisfied with."

"Are you a member of the Xie Family, one of the three major financial clans?" Tu Ran asked abruptly.

Xie Xu paused for a moment, then nodded in acknowledgment.

Whoa—then the price he was offering might be enough to make her filthy rich.

She was now just one nod away from being wealthy.

Too bad there were plenty of ways to make money. Why risk it by following Xie Xu?

She didn't need great riches; she just wanted a peaceful life.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't need that much money right now."

"What about Xi Chunzhi, then? She costs four thousand Federation credits a day at the Medical Department. The money in your account probably won't last a week."

Tu Ran wasn't surprised that Xie Xu knew all this.

Maybe from the moment the first inner core appeared, Xie Xu had guessed she already knew it existed, and suspected she'd collect as many cores as possible in the Threshold.

He'd immediately assessed her value, decided to recruit her, dig up everything about her, and find an entry point.

Wealth was one entry point.

Xi Chunzhi was the second.

Too bad that entry point had also hit a wall.

"I have other ways to handle money."

Money wasn't the problem.

With all her abilities, if she still managed to die poor in this world, she'd be the biggest fool of all.

She could even control some rich person and extort a fortune out of them.

The more confident she acted now, the stronger her hand appeared, and the more Xie Xu would want to recruit her.

Xie Xu frowned slightly. He hadn't expected Tu Ran to be so impenetrable now.

She faced no real challenges surviving in the Federation, and probably no threats in the Threshold either—she'd reached a point where everything came easily to her.

"Don't you have any other ambitions?" His voice carried a rare note of frustration.

"Nope." Tu Ran spread her hands.

As an old saying went: with no love, you carry no burdens.

She had no love now, and no messy worldly desires either. Sure enough, she lived free and easy—even Xie Xu couldn't find a way to threaten her.

"Researcher Xie, you're after my value, so you'll have to offer something of equal value in return. What you mentioned earlier isn't nearly enough."

Xie Xu pressed his lips together. "Anything you want, I can give you—not just money."

He was really going all in.

"Then can you get me and Xi Chunzhi out of the Pioneer Team?"

She wanted to retire. She didn't want to work. She wanted to find a nice place and spend every day eating, drinking, and having fun with Xi Chunzhi, and when she ran out of money, she'd go extort a rich person.

"I can get Xi Chunzhi out safely, but you have to stay on the Pioneer Team."

"Fine."

She knew it would come to that. "I'll go back and think it over."

Xie Xu nodded.

Tu Ran headed down the glass staircase. Halfway down, she turned back, voicing the question that troubled her most.

"Why should I trust you? And why do you trust me so much? Even if we establish a partnership, it's only verbal—there's no external force to bind our actions. Either of us could stab the other in the back at any moment. Our cooperation won't be solid."

Xie Xu rose from his chair, walked to the glass doorframe, and looked down at her.

"From our time together, I've come to understand you a bit. You came from a peaceful world into one where a single misstep could cost you your life. You stay vigilant at all times, keeping your toughest shell outward. You don't trust anyone but yourself."

"So no matter what I say now, it's useless. My actions will prove I'm worthy of your trust, and they'll prove you'll be my best partner. We need a joint mission to prove ourselves to each other—and Zhao Yan is that opportunity."

"I don't recall agreeing to partner with you yet?" Tu Ran raised an eyebrow. The guy had rambled on so long he almost talked her into a corner.

"If I take down Zhao Yan alone, then all three of his inner cores belong to me. Are you comfortable letting me take Telepathy?"

Of course not.

"So you're going to hand Telepathy over to me?"

"Of course not," Xie Xu refused without hesitation.

Tu Ran's face fell.

Xie Xu continued, "That ability shouldn't go to anyone. The best solution is to destroy it. Of course, if you're unwilling to cooperate with me, I'll simply keep that inner core for myself."

Tu Ran let out a cold laugh. "Heh. So you're threatening me again now?"

"No. I'm inviting you. You can go back and think it over, and it's fine if you reply later. You have plenty of time to consider. In the meantime, I won't do anything to threaten you."

Xie Xu fixed his gaze on her and said seriously, "I'm inviting you to be my partner on absolutely equal terms, so what I hope for is an honest partner, not someone false who might stab me in the back at any moment. If you'd rather be the latter, you might as well just turn me down now."

He was clear, and Tu Ran understood his meaning.

She had to admit, Xie Xu's attitude this time wasn't bad.

"I'll think it over and give you my answer once I've decided."

"Mm."

Watching her leave, Xie Xu sat back down at his desk. The documents on it were arranged neatly.

He casually flipped a page—the phrase "cosmic fusion" appeared no fewer than ten times.

He closed the file and gazed out at the world beyond the glass room, his mood heavy.

Tu Ran boarded the magnetic tram home.

Night had fallen, and the neon world appeared again.

Colors flashed past the window—small private flyers with trailing taillights ran side by side with the train, then a puff of white smoke and the flyer vanished from sight.

Tu Ran stared blankly at the dazzling, colorful world outside the glass.

She hadn't used "Realm of Illusion" on Xie Xu.

During the time he'd promised not to threaten her, she would decide whether to stick with her original plan and rewrite his memory.