When the doorbell rang, Chu Ran was searching through various pieces of information.
The robot butler moved over and projected the appearance of the visitor.
It was a young man of average height, with dyed yellow hair, a butterfly tattoo on his neck, and a black jacket. His eyes were small but particularly bright, sparkling, and he had a smile on his lips, revealing a docile temperament that contrasted with his appearance.
Chu Ran was a bit surprised. Who was this?
The young man pressed the doorbell again. “Hello, I’m Aunt Wang’s grandson, Wang Ping’an.”
Chu Ran raised an eyebrow and carefully examined the projection, noticing that his right hand was indeed a prosthetic.
She set up a countdown alarm program, stood up, and opened the door for Wang Ping’an.
Wang Ping’an handed over a bag of sweet melons. “I heard from my grandmother that you like natural food, so I brought you some.”
Quite generous, Chu Ran thought, her gaze falling on the bag.
The price of sweet melons was much lower than other fruits, but still much more expensive than nutrient packs. A bag this size cost at least a few thousand carats.
She shifted her gaze upward, landing on Wang Ping’an’s innocent face. His ambitions were no small matter.
For Aunt Wang’s sake, she stepped aside to let Wang Ping’an in.
The robot butler brought over two glasses of water.
Chu Ran picked up both glasses and handed one to Wang Ping’an. “You don’t usually live on Old Street?”
She had been living here for nearly a month and had never seen Wang Ping’an, though Aunt Wang had told her a lot about him.
“Oh, I come back sometimes, but most of the time I’m at the Garbage Dump,” Wang Ping’an said sincerely. “My client base is the people at the dump.”
“So what brings you to me this time?”
Wang Ping’an smiled and rubbed his head. “I came back to visit my grandmother, and she keeps talking about you, so I got curious.”
“Then you’re paying a pretty big price for that curiosity.” Chu Ran glanced at the sweet melons on the cabinet, her tone meaningful.
“Of course, there’s also a small matter,” Wang Ping’an chuckled. “Me, I mainly make fake IDs for the people at the dump, and occasionally broker some connections.”
“This time I came because I heard you can make Basic Creations.” Wang Ping’an rubbed his hands together.
Before Chu Ran could ask, he spilled everything. “You know that a bunch of people recently released from the Third Prison have come to the dump.”
Chu Ran looked up.
“They were experimental subjects of the God Summoning Society back then,” Wang Ping’an sighed. “Actually, their lot is pretty tragic. They were born on a garbage planet, and before they even grew up, they were forcibly sold off. We haven’t been to the labs, but human experimentation is never good.”
“When the Third Army broke into the God Summoning Society’s strongholds back then, these people, under chip control, killed quite a few soldiers. So even after the chips were removed, they were still sentenced. The ones released this time had the lightest sentences—they didn’t cause any soldier deaths, and some only obstructed the army’s advance.”
“God Summoning Society?” Chu Ran repeated softly.
“Yeah, those lunatics,” Wang Ping’an said indignantly. “They keep shouting about bringing the gods back to the world.”
“Of course, I don’t have anything against the gods themselves,” Wang Ping’an quickly added. “But the gods haven’t done anything themselves, so we humans shouldn’t meddle.”
“They say the gods can’t descend because there’s no suitable vessel. What, did the gods send them a dream?”
“Those madmen have no bottom line. The labs that were raided were a living nightmare.” Thinking of the photos from the news reports back then, Wang Ping’an shuddered.
“What do these people want from you? Or rather, what do they want from me?” Chu Ran interrupted.
Wang Ping’an rubbed his head. “Even though they were experimental subjects, you know that people chosen for experiments can’t be too untalented. Most of those who came to the dump now have Spiritual Power at B-grade, and a few are A-grade.”
“Originally, they could survive at the dump just fine, but when they were released from prison, they had nothing, and they were injected with physical decline agents.”
“In plain terms, they can’t even beat the kids at the dump now.”
“So they want to buy Basic Creations as self-defense weapons,” Wang Ping’an rubbed his nose. “But it’s not easy to find an Artificer at the dump, especially after the Zerg invasion—the few I knew are all dead.”
“And what a coincidence, I just learned from my grandmother that you can make Basic Creations,” Wang Ping’an said fawningly. “So, would you be willing to help them make one?”
“One?” Chu Ran repeated.
“I know, I know, the quantity is way too small,” Wang Ping’an explained hastily. “But among those people who came to the dump, only one has saved up enough money for a Basic Creation.”
“All of them pooled together for one?” Chu Ran asked.
“Ah, no, that’s not it,” Wang Ping’an denied. “It’s a brother and sister. The two of them saved up enough for one.”
“Then they’re pretty smart.”
They managed what others couldn’t.
“What can you do? They’re good-looking,” Wang Ping’an said with a bit of jealousy. “As soon as they arrived at the dump, they used their handsome looks and high EQ to get in touch with a lot of people. That guy’s pretty amazing—he didn’t join any faction, but he still made a decent amount of money.”
Chu Ran was thoughtful. “What kind of Basic Creation does he want?”
“Not a high demand—just enough to meet the passing line for the preliminaries of the Spiritist Tournament.” Wang Ping’an grinned.
Chu Ran gave a cold laugh. “Indeed pretty impressive.”
Wang Ping’an wasn’t sure if Chu Ran meant the demand was impressive or the person’s idea was impressive. Of course, when he heard about it, he was shocked too.
As far as he knew, this brother and sister had the lightest sentences among that group, meaning they were even weaker than ordinary soldiers back then. And now, after being injected with physical decline agents, they were only weaker.
And yet they wanted to participate in the Spiritist Tournament, and they were already prepared to pass the qualifiers and enter the preliminaries.
Ah, even when he Wang Ping’an was bragging, he never thought of that.
But that was none of his business. It would be stupid not to take the money. Since the brother and sister could pay, he was willing to ask for them, and he also needed to establish a connection with an Artificer.
“They could only scrape together enough for one Basic Creation, so they probably don’t have the money to buy a Light Brain,” Chu Ran suddenly said.
“That’s right, so he plans to borrow one from me,” Wang Ping’an nodded. “You know, doing fake IDs, I have plenty of anonymous Light Brains.”
“What I do is not aboveboard, so I won’t cause trouble for others.” Wang Ping’an patted his chest.
Chu Ran glanced at him and said nothing.
“I can give it a try, but I also want to meet them.”
“Ah, this…” Wang Ping’an looked at her in surprise, hesitating for a moment. “If you’re willing to go to the Garbage Dump, that’s no problem.”
Meanwhile, the Spiritist Association transported the Basic Creations with recorded data to the Third Training Institute.
“They’re dumping their junk on us again. Look at this short sword—it’s so dull it can’t even cut meat!”
Author’s Note: None