Chapter 18 - 16: Erin’s Affection (?)

Chapter 18: Chapter 16: Erin’s Affection (?)

"Ah! I finally found you!" Angie’s voice suddenly rang out from behind the ruins. He approached with panting footsteps, followed by Alei, whose face was deathly pale as he clutched his arm. "I’ve been looking for you guys for ages. I ran into Alei on the way, so I brought him along. Are... are you all right?"

Yin Zhen glanced at Erin.

A half-smile played on Erin’s lips. "We’re fine. You arrived just in time—the bodies haven’t even gone cold yet!"

Angie let out a dry laugh. "Well, I already located the Fallen Species Nest and called nearby squads for backup. How about we head back and report in? This place is too dangerous. We shouldn’t stay long!"

Yin Zhen somewhat reluctantly returned the gun to Erin, who lazily put it away.

Alei jogged over to Yin Zhen and lowered his voice. "Thanks for kicking me earlier. Even though I broke my arm, I kept my life!"

Yin Zhen cast a glance at him but remained silent.

"Once I get back, I’ll definitely—"

"Shut up!" Yin Zhen snapped coldly, glaring at him. She didn’t want to hear another death flag come out of his mouth.

In the hovercar on their way back, Yin Zhen leaned against her seat and checked the system notifications.

[Gray Card Event "The First to Fall Behind" completed. Reward: One-time Item "Mysterious Cat", 300 words.]

[Effect: Presence is drastically reduced when transformed into a cat. Duration: 10 minutes.]

[Special Explanation: This is not invisibility, so don’t try to show off.]

[Silver Card Event "God-Tier Teammate or Pig-Tier Teammate" completed. Reward: "Erin’s Favor (?)".]

[Effect: Erin took an extra glance at you.]

[Note: This glance could mean a lot, or it could mean nothing at all. Take a guess?]

Yin Zhen stared at that question mark for three seconds. She thought, "This system really needs a beating!" So far, her word count had reached 2,633 words. She would have to keep working hard over the next few days. Once she saved up 5,000, she would be able to pay off this round’s fine.

Upon arriving back at the entrance of the Guard Corps Headquarters, Erin suddenly clicked her tongue. She stepped in front of the three of them and took off her sunglasses. In that instant, Angie’s hand froze, and Alei’s jaw dropped as if he had just seen a ghost. Yin Zhen saw a pair of blood-red pupils, their color even deeper than Victor’s!

"I had a lot of fun today, so let me reintroduce myself." Erin—no, Adeline—still spoke in her lazy drawl, but there was now a trace of condescension mixed into her casual tone. "I am Adeline Cavendish, the new Inspector General of the Guard Team."

Angie’s knees gave out for a second, and he forced himself to hold back from kneeling. His superiors had hinted that Erin had a formidable background and had asked him to temporarily lead her for this mission, but they never mentioned her Identity was this massive! Cavendish was one of the three great pureblood families. They ruled Moon City, one of the three major cities, making them the nobles among nobles.

Alei stood frozen in place, not daring to move a muscle.

Adeline’s gaze swept past the two men and landed on Yin Zhen. Discovering only the slightest ripple of emotion in Yin Zhen’s eyes, she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Truthfully, Adeline hadn’t wanted to act pretentious so suddenly, but she had triggered the Event Card [If You Don’t Show Off Today, You’ll Be Shown Up Tomorrow], forcing her to play the part. With her current Identity and Character persona, she couldn’t keep a low profile even if she tried. Going out with this squad today was just a way for her to secretly test her Character’s true combat prowess. She had been staying in the Cavendish family manor before this, where there were spies everywhere, leaving her no opportunity.

"S717, your Gun Technique is quite good," Adeline said. "We also worked together pretty smoothly."

Yin Zhen frowned, offering no response.

"Would you be interested in becoming my personal guard?"

Yin Zhen’s eyes widened slightly. She thought, "Getting recognized by a superior on the first day of work, getting promoted, receiving a raise, and reaching the pinnacle of life? Is my Luck really only at one?" But then she reconsidered. Expendable pawns were often used to clear the way for supporting Characters, especially important ones with high status like Adeline. Whenever danger struck, the surrounding guards would always die first. Then, Adeline would effortlessly step in to resolve the crisis, perhaps even calling them "useless trash" just to flaunt her superiority. That was a classic novel writing trope.

Yin Zhen’s original plan had been to drift along in the Guard Team for a while and lower her presence. Then, she would find an opportunity to visit the black market, remove her tracking chip, figure out a way to escape from the Saint Group, and completely hide herself in the shadows of Night City to slowly survive. But now, she didn’t know if she even had the right to refuse a noble’s invitation.

"S717 only accepts dispatches from the company," Yin Zhen replied, providing the standard answer of an experimental subject.

Adeline chuckled. "Although you are an experimental subject, you are fundamentally a creature of Wisdom. You’re no different from me. You can have your own independent personality and make your own decisions. As for the company, I can handle them with a single word. I’ll give you time to think it over. Following me does come with a certain amount of danger, so give me your answer once you’ve thought it through."

Yin Zhen was somewhat surprised. If one were to call Adeline kind... well, she had been the first to flee when the hovercar crashed, with absolutely no intention of saving anyone else. This proved that Adeline didn’t care whether they lived or died. Yin Zhen knew she couldn’t let her guard down around Adeline just because of a little bit of goodwill right in front of her.

Adeline left first, leaving Yin Zhen and Alei to follow Angie to collect their daily wages.

In Night City, wages were settled daily, and the Guard Team was no exception. The important part wasn’t the digital currency, but the artificial blood plasma needed for survival. The distribution point for the plasma was on the first basement level of the Guard Corps Headquarters. Yin Zhen followed Angie down the corridor, passing through three security checkpoints before finally stopping in front of a heavy metal door. The security measures here were several times stricter than those at the armory, which only required a facial scan to enter. There was a window by the door, and inside sat a scrawny member of the Old Blood Clan. He wore reading glasses and wasn’t using a high-tech tablet, but rather a yellowed ledger to keep records.

"Squad 379, executed a reconnaissance mission in the Seventh District. All members survived," Angie said as he slid a datapad through the window. "Settle our wages."

The Old Blood Clan member peered over his glasses to size up Angie, as well as Yin Zhen and Alei behind him. "The daily base ration for ordinary soldiers of the Guard Team is 500 milliliters per person, and 1,000 milliliters for squad leaders. As for the special mission allowance, per protocol, reconnaissance missions grant an extra 500 per person." He turned around, retrieved the artificial blood plasma from the freezer behind him, and packed it into separate bags before handing them over. The Old Blood Clan member passed Erin’s portion to Yin Zhen as well. "Miss Adeline requested this."

Angie and Alei looked at Yin Zhen with envy as she reached out to accept the heavy bags.

Yin Zhen had learned that every member of the Blood Clan required 200 milliliters of artificial blood plasma a day just to survive. That amount only guaranteed they wouldn’t die. Their bodily functions would slowly decline, and over time, they would gradually experience auditory hallucinations, become irritable and prone to anger, until they finally turned into a Fallen Species. The survival line was 350 milliliters. At that amount, bodily functions neither improved nor declined, allowing them to maintain the status quo and keep their sanity. The base daily wage for most of the Dusk People hovered right around this line. The health line was 500 milliliters, allowing bodily functions to operate normally and sustaining light physical activity. Only by consuming over 800 milliliters would there be surplus energy for physical enhancement, allowing one’s personal attributes to slowly grow and become stronger over time. During her few days in the laboratory, Yin Zhen’s daily intake had been 1,000 milliliters.

Angie took his share and immediately opened a bag to drink. After finishing it, he clicked his tongue, a look of dissatisfaction on his face. "Old Ivan, the purity of this plasma is getting worse and worse. Does it even meet 80% of the standard?"

Old Ivan shot Angie a sideways glance and kept his head down, continuing to write and draw in his ledger.

Alei held his two bags of plasma in both hands as if holding some precious treasure, his eyes gleaming. But upon seeing Yin Zhen, his fingers tightened and then loosened. Suddenly, he held out his two bags of plasma to her. "717, this... this is for you. If it weren’t for that kick you gave me, I definitely would have died in the car. There’s an old saying from the East of the old days: the grace of saving a life must be..."

Before Alei could finish speaking, the two bags of plasma vanished from his hands. Maintaining his offering posture, he looked up only to see Yin Zhen’s retreating back as she walked away. His fingertips twitched as he stood frozen on the spot.

Angie burst into laughter beside him. He patted Alei on the shoulder. "You silly kid. Did you think she was going to say, ’There’s no need, keep it for yourself’? And then you’d insist a bit more, and finally she’d reluctantly accept one bag and leave the other for you?"

Alei scratched the back of his head and awkwardly tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"S717 is an experimental subject. The only things in her brain are obedience and survival," Angie explained. "If you give it to her, she’ll just take it. She doesn’t understand it when you talk to her about social niceties."

Alei thought, "I was too careless!"