Shadow Storage

Zero handed her a mechanical skull—hollow, with openings at the front and back like a mask, but fully enclosed. She slipped the iron skull over her head, and it automatically contracted to fit her features, giving her a mechanical head.

To passersby, she looked just like Zero.

A metal head, indistinguishable from a human or a robot.

Following Zero into Xiao Jiu's shabby little clinic, Xiao Jiu immediately stood up from his computer desk. "You're here. The stuff's ready."

With that, he led Tu Ran and Zero into a side room, pressed a hidden switch, and they stepped into an underground space.

Descending the narrow staircase, the lights in the underground space all came on. Beside the fighting ring, a pile of cardboard boxes of various sizes had been stacked up.

"All bought according to your list," Xiao Jiu said, pointing at the boxes.

Tu Ran walked over to the stacked boxes and opened one at random—a box of recovery agents. Another held nutrient solutions in various flavors. There was also a box of emergency medicines, a large box of bullets in various calibers, a box of daggers, bombs...

Everything in bulk.

Extra: two sniper rifles, seven submachine guns, five machine guns, and two laser guns.

"Thanks," Tu Ran said. Because of the mask, her voice now came out as an emotionless mechanical female tone.

"You're welcome. You start loading up; I'll head upstairs to mind the shop. Call me if you need anything." Xiao Jiu finished, then trotted back up the stairs.

Tu Ran circled the pile of boxes twice before pulling a small mirror from her coat pocket.

The mirror was only the size of her palm.

Tu Ran positioned herself with her back to the underground lights, casting a shadow in front of her. She placed the mirror within that shadow, aimed it at the two laser guns, and murmured, "Shadow Storage."

The laser guns emitted a faint blue glow, then vanished.

Tu Ran continued aiming the mirror at other objects.

One by one, they disappeared.

The "Shadow Storage" ability was a pleasant surprise she'd gained from killing Zeng Jing.

After consuming Zeng Jing's inner core, she'd spotted this ability immediately from the list of abilities shown on the panel.

Back at Wanle Temple, she'd seen this ability on a wealthy man and had thought about getting her hands on it, but things escalated too quickly—she'd flipped the table and time was short, so she never found the chance.

She'd thought this ability would slip through her fingers, but unexpectedly, she'd gotten it from Zeng Jing's inner core.

She wasn't sure if this "Shadow Storage" was the same as the wealthy man's at Wanle Temple. Perhaps Zeng Jing had killed that man, or perhaps she'd obtained it from elsewhere.

Zeng Jing had the same "Ability Identification" as her, which already showed that not every ability was unique. The levels might differ—Zeng Jing's "Ability Identification" was beginner level, while hers was advanced.

Having "Shadow Storage" was like gaining an external storage space. She could casually put things in it, which was very convenient.

But the ability had a condition: she could only store or retrieve items in shadows.

That wasn't difficult. When she needed to use it, she just turned her back to the light, forming her own shadow, and the ability could be used.

This ability originally didn't come with a mirror. Since she could never find the doorway to the space, she simply bound the "door" to this mirror. That way, she could see it with her own eyes and avoid mistakes at critical moments.

The space wasn't infinite; currently it was mid-level, about a hundred cubic meters, capable of storing quite a bit, but since there was no oxygen inside, it couldn't hold living things.

Through a night of exploring, Tu Ran had learned this much for now.

She'd prepared all these supplies to survive better inside the Threshold.

With the entire Federation hunting her, she planned to return to the Threshold to lie low and, in the meantime, hunt for more inner cores there.

On the third day at the Black Market.

Tu Ran lounged with her legs crossed, occupying the bed in Xiao Jiu's little clinic, browsing the Federation's news from the past few days on her communicator. When she saw something about herself, she'd eagerly tap into it to take a look.

A post titled "A Roster of the Rebel Tu Ran's Abilities" had topped the hot list for nearly three days, and she even went in and liked it.

The author had guessed two of her abilities from several videos released by the Federation.

One was "Unrivaled Strength," and the other was "Instant Teleportation."

The author also speculated about other abilities, like being able to control aberrants, since the aberrant, once out of its cage, hadn't attacked her—the closest person—but instead went for the wealthy man. The author guessed she had ordered the aberrant to do that.

Many in the comments agreed, calling her a traitor to the Federation, a disgrace to humanity, and colluding with aberrants.

Tu Ran liked each one of them.

Let them curse. She wasn't from this world anyway. She'd never thought she owed any loyalty to the Federation. She felt no sense of honor or shame toward it—fearless and free, she did whatever she pleased.

She exited and switched to another article, but it was more of the same.

Wei Renji's death had been exposed, along with her exchange with Wei Renji in the comments under Xi Chunzhi's obituary. Her line "Wait and see" was highlighted in bold red, becoming direct evidence of her killing Wei Renji.

So the comment section flooded with two groups: one cursing her for being petty, cruel, vindictive, and wishing her a horrible death...

The other latched onto the incident, speculating whether she could control data.

[You're all focusing on the wrong thing! Look at the surveillance clip from the Executive Department—Tu Ran's hand barely touched the smart lock, and it opened. Isn't that suspicious?]

Someone chimed in below.

[Agree with the above. A stranger opens the door, and the smart lock doesn't even warn—it's as calm as if Tu Ran were the room's owner.]

The original poster replied: [I suspect she might have the ability to manipulate data. That's why she vanished without a trace after leaving Wanle Temple—even Zero couldn't find her.]

Tu Ran read these comments and wanted to laugh.

These people would rather believe she had data-manipulation abilities than question Zero in the slightest.

If they knew Zero had a will of his own and had been helping her—a rebel—all along, she wondered what kind of faces they'd make.

"The Threshold is open."

Just as Tu Ran was about to read the next article, a voice suddenly sounded in her head—it was Zero. With the mechanical skull, she didn't need the communicator; Zero's voice could be transmitted directly into her mind.

Tu Ran sat up, said goodbye to Xiao Jiu, and pushed out the door. "I'm off. See you next time."

"Safe travels." Xiao Jiu watched her retreating back without a hint of reluctance.

Tu Ran climbed into the pre-prepared aircraft, expertly piloted it, and headed toward the Threshold.

Yesterday she'd spent the afternoon practicing how to fly various aircraft, and she'd picked it up reasonably well.