Chapter 156 – Deceiving Xie Xu
Tu Ran glanced at the pile of white worms and felt a storm churning in her stomach.
“I’ll say it again: I don’t eat worms! I don’t eat worms! Don’t invite me to eat worms again in the future!”
Pangpang was startled by her sudden increase in volume and shrank its neck, timidly saying, “Pangpang… understood.”
Tu Ran took a deep breath, looked at the pitiful Pangpang, and realized that she had been a bit too emotional.
She wiped her face and softened her tone, “I know Pangpang was sharing its favorite food with me out of kindness. It’s just that seeing these worms makes me… lose my appetite.”
She respected the dietary cultures of alien species, so she couldn’t use the word “disgusting” to describe the food Pangpang liked.
“Pangpang understands, but why can’t Pangpang keep eating?”
“There’s an inner core among them that would give you a body that doesn’t gain weight no matter how much you eat.”
Pangpang’s eyes lit up immediately. “Really? A body that doesn’t gain weight? Pangpang wants to eat that inner core.”
“No!” Tu Ran firmly refused.
“Why? Does the boss want to eat it? But the boss isn’t fat either.”
“I’m not eating it, and neither can you.”
Tu Ran patiently explained, “If you eat it, and if you happen to run into other two-legged beasts, they might see the inner core on you and, without hesitation, cut your neck open to get it out. Think about it—wouldn’t that hurt a lot?”
Tu Ran was trying to guide Pangpang.
Sure enough, Pangpang shrank its neck. “Then Pangpang won’t eat it. Pangpang doesn’t want its neck cut open. That would hurt a lot.”
“Good,” Tu Ran said, patting its head comfortingly. “Exercise and dieting are more effective than other random methods. I believe Pangpang can do it.”
Pangpang nodded, “Pangpang also believes Pangpang can do it.”
“Then let’s start by picking out the worm with the inner core,” Tu Ran said, glancing at the wriggling worms still among Pangpang’s wings. She took a few steps back, creating a two-meter distance between herself and Pangpang.
“The important task of finding the inner core is up to Pangpang now. Pangpang will definitely do a good job, right?”
“Right!” Pangpang replied with determination.
It was a rare opportunity for the boss to entrust it with a task, so it had to perform well and not let the boss down.
Seeing Pangpang focus on its search, Tu Ran smiled with satisfaction.
Fifteen minutes later, Pangpang found the gleaming inner core amidst the pile of worm pulp.
Tu Ran used two twigs as chopsticks, carefully picking up the gem and placing it on the discarded change of clothes she had prepared earlier. She cleaned off the sticky, unknown substance from the core.
The gem was now spotless, and Tu Ran packed it into her backpack.
She intended to bring the gem back to the Federation.
She hadn’t forgotten that she was still working under Xie Xu.
She entered the Threshold not only to serve the Federation but also to work for Xie Xu.
Since she had promised him, she needed to bring back something.
Bringing back an alien species was definitely out of the question.
After all, the first encounter upon leaving the Threshold would be with the Federation’s stationed military. If she took an alien species out, she would be sent straight to the research institute.
Xie Xu’s private research facility was not attainable.
In the past, the vast resources from the Threshold that she had brought to Xie Xu were accessed through a memory reader.
Xie Xu’s private research facility had a memory reader. By connecting it to the brain, one could access memories from a specified time period and record it for repeated viewing.
This method was even more impressive than the holographic recording bracelets.
However, memory readers were expensive and rare. There were only a few in the entire Federation, so the government couldn’t provide one for every pioneer and had to settle for using holographic recording bracelets instead.
Xie Xu had been involved in the development of the memory reader, obtaining all the primary data. Later, he spent a year building one at his private research facility.
It had to be acknowledged that he was quite clever. Almost every time the original owner came out of the Threshold, she would find time to visit Xie Xu’s private research facility, connect her brain to the memory reader, and upload all the scenes from her time in the Threshold for Xie Xu to review without reservation.
This included some parts that the original owner had deliberately concealed with the holographic recording bracelets.
Upon her return, Xie Xu would undoubtedly require her to connect to the memory reader, making it impossible to hide anything that had happened in the Threshold.
While she could destroy the holographic recording bracelet, she couldn’t erase her own memories.
If she didn’t comply with his demands, Xie Xu would surely become suspicious.
She couldn’t predict what Xie Xu might do if he became suspicious.
So, to avoid raising his suspicions, she needed to prepare something of greater value to divert his attention and keep him focused on that item, leaving him no time to doubt her.
The best gift? Probably the inner core.
Such a novel item would definitely keep him busy and distracted from other matters.
However, Tu Ran was reluctant to part with a more powerful inner core.
The [Perfect Figure] inner core was just right.
It wasn’t useful to her, and she didn’t need it at all.
So, she decided to give it to him as a gift.
Tu Ran felt pleased and wasn’t upset at all about giving it away.
After the [Perfect Figure] inner core, Tu Ran encountered other unusual superpowers, such as [Insensitive to Oil and Salt] and [Dreamless Sleep].
[Insensitive to Oil and Salt]
[Description: Can temporarily block out external noises, allowing the user to focus on their own tasks.
Level: Primary]
[Dreamless Sleep]
[Description: As the name suggests, after consuming this, the user will not dream while sleeping.
Level: Primary]
Overall, these superpowers were mostly inconsequential, but since they had no side effects, Tu Ran decided to consume them all.
With six primary superpowers now, Tu Ran tried to access the panel to check if she had accumulated enough to synthesize an intermediate-level superpower.
As soon as she opened the primary superpowers panel, a line of fluorescent green text appeared.
[You now have six primary superpowers, reaching the minimum number required to upgrade to an intermediate-level superpower.
You can consume any five primary superpowers to upgrade the sixth superpower to an intermediate level.
Would you like to proceed with the upgrade?]
Tu Ran looked at her six primary superpowers:
[Teleportation], [Illusion Realm], [Dreamless Sleep], [Insensitive to Oil and Salt], [Perfect Figure], and [Mountain Collapse and Earth Crack].
To upgrade one of them to an intermediate level, she would need to discard the other five.
Looking at her superpowers, she found it hard to part with any except [Dreamless Sleep] and [Insensitive to Oil and Salt].
[Illusion Realm] was invaluable for confusing enemies; although it was a support type, it was the most versatile and useful superpower she had. She wasn’t willing to sacrifice it, she only wanted upgrade it, not lose it.
[Teleportation] was her escape card in dire situations. It was essential for her survival, and she had never considered discarding it.
The remaining four superpowers, each had its own unique advantages and were indispensable in their own way.
**TN
油盐不进 / Insensitive to Oil and Salt – A very stubborn person
