"Who fired that shot?"
Cunling turned and asked. Sun Ci stepped forward in ecstatic triumph, but Cunling merely gave a slight nod before pulling back his gaze, leaving Sun Ci frozen in place, completely at a loss.
Dumb luck.
Cunling tossed the bullet lightly in his palm, understanding what had occurred. After piercing the outer carapace, the round had struck dead center against the aberrant's parasitic core. As luck would have it, the material of the core was sub-par, shattering under a single blow.
To think a fully formed aberrant would meet such a pathetic end.
Still, this bullet...
He pondered for a moment, then asked, "Who made this?"
Sun Ci almost instinctively raised his hand, only to realize he could not even remember who had handed him the weapon. Looking back in bewilderment, his eyes fell upon Ji Jue, who was leaning on his crutches.
Keeping his head down, Ji Jue reported, "I—it was me."
Cunling turned the bullet between his fingers, feeling the craft marks on it, and asked casually, "Where did you learn this Red Anvil spiritus activation?"
"I... I..."
Ji Jue lowered his head, eyes shifting, suppressing his unease.
Understanding dawned on Cunling at once. He chuckled, unbothered.
Just looking at the craft marks told the whole story: too unrefined. While applied with a fair bit of agility, its fundamental framework lacked coherence. His foundational skills were solid enough, yet his grasp of the underlying theory fell short.
There was only one explanation: he had stolen the technique.
Yet between artisans and apprentices, stealing a trade was all too common. Aside from rigidly memorizing every movement their master made and slaving over it day and night back in their bunks, what other choice did an unfavored disciple have?
The aide at Cunling's side flipped through a ledger and whispered something into his ear.
Cunling's brow cleared.
"The apprentice Juan brought in?"
Juan was likely the name of that Profound artisan back at the bank.
"Lucky fellow, and not bad intuition, either. Seems even a trash heap can turn up talent." Cunling patted Ji Jue on the shoulder. "Keep at it, boy. You have a future ahead of you."
"Yes, yes..."
Ji Jue nodded profusely, feeling the envious and hateful glares boring into him from all sides. After this incident, a cripple like him had actually registered on Lord Cunling's radar. Who was to say he wouldn't soar straight up the ranks from here on out?
Finally, Cunling flipped through the subterranean workshop's logs, his gaze lingering over the output figures for each team. When his eyes caught the number one hundred and fifty-nine, he paused briefly.
"Sun Ci?" He looked toward the lucky devil who had slain the aberrant through sheer, dumb luck.
Conveniently enough, this saved handing out a reward...
Sun Ci hurriedly stepped forward, nodding eagerly.
"Do you know how the operations work?" Cunling asked abruptly.
Sun Ci froze for a second, caught off guard, before nodding in wild elation.
"Very well. Every department is up to its neck in work right now, so for the next couple of days, this place is in your hands, 'Supervisor' Sun."
Cunling stressed the title, adding, "Do not disappoint me."
With that, he turned and left.
The throng of subordinates swarmed out after him like a dark cloud. In an instant, the subterranean workshop sank back into dead silence.
Everyone stood frozen where they were.
After a long while...
As if awakening from a dream, Sun Ci looked at the man beside him. "Supervisor?"
"That's right." Another team leader nearby quickly plastered on an obsequious smile. "Congratulations, Supervisor Sun."
"Supervisor?" Sun Ci looked around like a sleepwalker, asking again.
The remaining apprentices nodded frantically.
At once, his breath turned ragged and heavy, and he could barely resist bursting into a victory dance!
Supervisor! Supervisor! He was actually a supervisor now?!
Even if he didn't count for a damn thing on the upper floors, being the supervisor of a garbage heap was still a supervisor! What was more, a garbage heap was the easiest place to scrape up coin!
With this opportunity, once he scraped together some money and precious materials to send upstairs, after biding his time for a spell, why couldn't he use it as a stepping stone to transfer into a cushy, lucrative post?
His eyes brightened with sharp calculation, thoughts spinning rapidly, the corners of his mouth curling higher and higher.
Even the pain in his arm had vanished without a trace.
His body felt light as air.
He had made it! He had turned his life around! He had finally broken through!!!
Smiling broadly, he basked in their awestruck, fawning expressions and admiring smiles. He laughed out loud, mingling amid his wild ecstasy, making grand promises, displaying generous magnanimity—and quietly taking mental notes on every slight.
Once he had finally sent the crowd away...
He at last looked toward the man beside him—his lucky star, his indispensable right hand, Ji Jue!
Did he want to share the joy? Put on an imposing front? Paint a grand vision of the future to keep this little brother working loyally under him?
Perhaps all of the above, and maybe something more.
Yet for some reason, when his gaze fell upon that scarred face lingering in the shadows, it felt as though two broken threads had suddenly knotted together amid a tangled mess of yarn...
The scattered clues in the chaos connected into a clear line. A sudden wave of enlightenment struck him, and everything clicked.
As if he had inexplicably realized the truth.
How could disaster strike the exact day this newcomer arrived?
How could anything be so coincidental?
Someone handed him a gun, and he had somehow miraculously felled a monstrous aberrant just like that? And since when... did good fortune ever fall upon an overworked pack mule who had wasted half his life away?
Unless...
The moment understanding set in, he began to tremble uncontrollably, a biting chill sweeping through him as though he had plunged into a frozen abyss.
His eyes widened millimeter by millimeter.
He stared at Ji Jue.
And Ji Jue was looking back at him.
Smiling, radiating genuine happiness on his behalf.
"Congratulations, Supervisor Sun."
Sun Ci's body stiffened, unable to conceal his dread and horror.
"You... I..."
He stammered, struggling to speak. Before long, a fierce look surfaced in his eyes. "Don't..."
Before he could finish, Ji Jue cut in, sighing in apparent innocence, "That shot that killed the aberrant just now seemed to have been fired by you, wasn't it? What aim! A single blow to the vitals—truly incredible!"
Sun Ci stood transfixed, turned to stone.
"Ah, and I haven't even thanked you properly!" Ji Jue sighed wistfully. "You helped me gather so many materials, after all. And you were the one who submitted the batch near the crucible earlier, weren't you?"
Sun Ci could no longer find his voice, the blood completely draining from his face.
"How wonderful, truly. Congratulations on seizing the chance to turn your life around." Ji Jue paused, letting out a deeply sympathetic sigh. "Otherwise, who knows how many years you would have had to wait."
Dead silence.
Sun Ci's lips quivered, unable to produce a sound.
Suddenly, he realized that every single detail pointed straight at him.
When the furnace exploded, the goods he had submitted were right beside it. Ji Jue's materials had all been gathered by his own hands, and his signature was stamped on the manifest.
When the aberrant awoke, the first person it killed was the old supervisor.
And in the end, as if by sheer coincidence, it died by his hand.
While he had leapt into the supervisor seat, escaping the muck...
Everything fit too perfectly. If an investigation took place and worked backward from the perspective of who stood to gain, every ounce of suspicion would fall squarely onto his head!
Dizziness overwhelmed him, his vision blacking out in waves. Yet somehow, that scarred, smiling face only grew clearer and clearer.
"I had no idea the power struggles in the Reclamation Department were so vicious. Truly eye-opening. Please rest assured, I will keep your secret safe."
Standing beside him, taking in the sight of the subterranean workshop being cleaned up, Ji Jue suddenly said, "Still, seeing as I've done you such a massive favor, you'll help me out in return, won't you?"
Sun Ci remained silent. After a long while, he swallowed with a dry, raspy throat.
He nodded.
"Of course."
He forced out a smile uglier than weeping. "We... we share the good times, and we brave the bad times together, don't we?"
"Then does that mean, starting today, we're friends?"
Ji Jue smiled and extended a hand. "Come, good friend, shake on it?"
Sun Ci hesitated, looking at him, then down at the outstretched hand. His face twitched once, then twice. At last, urged by Ji Jue's gentle coaxing, he made a move.
"That's it, reach out. Very good..."
"Good boy."
With a gentle smile, Ji Jue took the raised palm, gave it a firm shake, and told him, "From this day forward, we're the best friends in the entire world."
Man's best friend wasn't limited to dogs.
A dog could also make a great best friend.
To everyone else, the newly arrived cripple was a lucky man of legendary proportions.
On his very first day in the Reclamation Department, right before Sun Ci's sudden rise to power, he had seized the moment to latch onto a rising star, becoming his confidant. Spared from the grinding exploitation of ordinary pack mules, he was promoted to supervisor's assistant, granted permission to enter and leave the subterranean workshop freely, and allowed to show his face on the upper floors.
What brought collective relief to the apprentices was that he was infinitely better than the previous ass-kissing idiot. Not only was he lenient with quotas, never piling on extra demands, but he would also amiably lend a helping hand whenever an apprentice fell behind.
In the span of a single day, he became friends with everyone.
Even the gloomiest souls among them would squeeze out a smile and show unvarnished gratitude in his presence.
Swearing to the heavens, making vows upon the earth, they genuinely adored Supervisor Sun.
Supervisor Sun is wonderful! Supervisor Sun is damned fantastic! With Supervisor Sun here, justice has arrived; with Supervisor Sun here, our workload can finally drop!
Even the perks had improved...
Watching Ji Jue push a cart and deliver protective gear into each apprentice's hands, nearly every one of them was moved to tears, practically ready to kowtow to Supervisor Sun on the spot.
Yet for some reason, Supervisor Sun's smile always seemed a bit strained.
Presumably, securing so much protective gear had cost him an enormous amount of personal favor. At that thought, everyone loved him all the more.
Once he assumed the role of supervisor's assistant, Ji Jue naturally took over a great deal of the operational work.
That included the daily deliveries of cleaned parts and dismantled materials.
Leaning on his crutches, he followed close behind an upper-level supervisor, familiarizing himself with the layout.
The internal affairs supervisor glanced at his lame leg, bothering neither to comment nor to slow her pace to accommodate him. It was just routine business.
"The workshop is divided into four floors, not counting the basement below,"
the bald woman walking in front said coldly. "Floors one and two are where the other artisans work. Just deliver the goods according to the serial numbers.
"The third floor houses the workshops of Master Kanemoto's disciples, while the rest is for material and product storage and transport. Unless you have authorization and signatures, don't wander off. If you get killed, you'll just be forcing someone else to write an incident report."
"What about the fourth floor?" Ji Jue asked curiously.
The bald woman glanced back at him with an indifferent look and offered no reply.
Or rather, there could be no other answer.
The fourth floor was Kanemoto's private domain. Forget setting foot inside—merely asking about it was taboo.
Seeming to 'catch on,' Ji Jue wore a look of sudden realization. He hastily gave himself a slap on the cheek, offering an ingratiating smile as he pleaded for leniency. "Forgive me, forgive me! I left my brains at home today, I'm truly sorry."
As he spoke, he reached out as if to grasp her hand in earnest supplication.
The bald woman expressionlessly moved to shake off his hand, but through her sleeve, an unexpected weight settled into her palm—a small pouch filled with fine, sand-like grains.
Formed gold.
At least four hundred grams!
Her gloomy expression froze for a moment before softening into something far brighter and warmer. "Those who do not know are not to be blamed. Newcomers don't know the rules, which is why they need us to guide them."
"Quite right, quite right."
Ji Jue nodded vigorously, letting go at just the right moment. "I'll have to trouble you to point me in the right direction often."
"Old Sun's got good luck, landing a sensible subordinate like you." The bald woman pushed open the heavy doors of the Material Depository, pointing toward the empty shelves with no intention of lending a hand. "Just put them away yourself."
"Right away."
Ji Jue wiped the sweat and traces of blood from his face, busying himself with categorizing and shelving each material. Yet his gaze quietly brushed past a heavy door located deeper inside the vault, then pulled back.
Precious Material Storage.
In his pocket, the spiritus crystal left behind by Lou Feng gave a faint vibration.
A reaction.
Ji Jue let out a slow, quiet breath of relief...
At last, he had found it.
Chapter 225