"What else can I use contribution points for?" Su Jin asked.
"Besides opening a World Bridge, you can spend fifty thousand points to return to this office if a mission fails. Otherwise, you can use them to obtain the treasures left by your predecessors," the Steward said.
"Wait. I have to earn wages to buy my own inheritance?" Su Jin found that absurd.
"When the first two Xinhuo died, their property passed to the Company."
"You said I inherited it!"
"You did. No one else is allowed to obtain anything here. And there are parts you inherited outright."
"Are you joking? What did I inherit, a mop and a broom?"
"Don’t be discouraged. A World Bridge alone is powerful. Every world you save can support you, making future missions easier. Besides, I haven’t finished."
"All right." The mention of the bridges perked Su Jin up. "What else is there?"
The Steward looked up with a knowing smile. "Everything. Whatever you need, you can find it among the treasures of Xinhuo."
"Cultivation, magic, supernatural abilities, technology—every path to power you can think of is hidden in this building, with resources to match."
"Wow. Have you got a system for me too?" Su Jin joked.
"A system?" The Steward raised an eyebrow and pushed a hand toward the star map.
The whole wall rushed backward, and the space changed.
A long corridor appeared, doors forming one after another along its walls.
Su Jin stared, then followed the Steward, who had already stood up.
At the first door, the Steward opened it and looked back with a smile. "Steady yourself. Don’t get excited too soon."
Inside lay a pure white space, with thousands of bubbles of different colors floating in it.
Su Jin stepped in and stared. "What is this?"
"The systems you asked for." The Steward caught a bubble. "Each bubble is a system, connected to a vast store of resources. It can make an ordinary person powerful in a short time."
He passed the bubbles to Su Jin one by one. "This one makes you stronger when you check in at a new place. This one works while you dream. And with this one, sleeping with women makes you stronger..."
As soon as Su Jin held one, he sensed the incredible power and possibilities within it.
His nostrils flared, and the corners of his mouth trembled.
"You should have told me about these! What was there to hesitate over?"
"Unfortunately, you can’t use them. The Company forbids all employees from using them," the Steward said with a small cough.
Su Jin stared. "So I have to pay for my inheritance, and then I can’t even use it?"
"These aren’t treasures collected by Xinhuo. Early on, the Company made them to develop potential employees across the worlds. But the people they raised proved weak and caused a great deal of trouble."
"The Company spent resources raising a cultivator, and he went to a university pretending to be a foolish male student so he could trick women into sleeping with him."
"One could hear thoughts but spent all his time listening to women. In the end, he became impotent and disturbed."
"Some did train in earnest, but without exception, they eventually wanted to lord it over others. Many went on killing sprees."
"There were too many disasters. They say the person at the top who proposed these systems was furious and ordered them all sealed here. You can’t use them yourself, but you can give them to clients. You have extensive control over them and can even play the role of a system to guide a client."
"You can also get clients to draw out the resources inside for you. It takes a detour, but the Company left you that opening. Otherwise, they would not have put them here."
"Ah, I see. So they aren’t useless to me after all!" Su Jin brightened.
"Follow me." The Steward left, and Su Jin followed.
They entered the room opposite. Points of light floated in a deep darkness.
The Steward plucked one and handed it to Su Jin. "Each light was once a powerful enemy corrupted by chaos. The Company could not save them. It separated their souls from their bodies, erased their memories, preserved what they knew, then rewrote their memories to make them living cultivation manuals."
"Like the old masters who pass on their powers in novels?"
"Exactly. But you can’t use them either. The Company sealed them because they gave people too much certainty on the path to power. True strength grows amid uncertainty."
"The Company favors those who struggle and grow naturally. But as with the systems, you have considerable control. Once you obtain one, you can even pose as an old master to guide a client."
"You needn’t learn the techniques inside. Let me show you—"
A long, resonant bell rang through the office.
"An assignment?" The Steward turned to Su Jin.
[In two hours, you will be transported to a dying world. Contact the client at once and keep them safe through the early stages of the apocalypse.]
Su Jin frowned at the brief message and the three-digit number in the corner of his vision. "I’ve joined the Company, yet the assignment says even less than it did when I was an intern. What does that 180 mean?"
"The Company’s messages are always like this. Ask the client for details. That number is the countdown until the apocalypse. You have a full 180 days to prepare this time, so the coming disaster may be serious," the Steward said, hurrying away.
"Where are you going?" Su Jin shouted.
"We have only two hours. The scrap store is the only part of the Xinhuo legacy open to you for free. I’ll use it to modify your RV and improve your chances of survival. The next world may have neither fuel nor roads. Without changes, the RV will be useless!"
"The other rooms are dangerous. Don’t wander around before you understand them. The Company’s reward should arrive soon. Look it over yourself."
The Steward’s voice faded as he disappeared.
With a dull mechanical sound, the Guiheng Platform in the center of the office slowly descended.
Su Jin felt a sudden heat on his face and covered it with his hands.
When the sensation faded, he looked up. Three display stands were rising where the platform had been.
On the first lay a long, narrow blade made entirely of gleaming silver.
A ring rested on the second.
A cloak was folded on the third.
Delighted, Su Jin hurried forward and gripped the sword’s hilt.
The instant he touched it, a strange sense of connection arose.
The blade trembled in his hand. Like a living metal creature, it folded and reshaped itself, its edge receding as the shape of a gun emerged.
Su Jin spun around. In an instant, a silver pistol had formed and was aimed down the corridor.
"Now that’s a fine weapon."
(Chapter 100! A milestone for this new book. Banmian is moved to tears. Thank you all for coming this far with me!)
Looking for more free chapters? Visit www.skynovelvault.com to read over 5,000 free chapters and continue exploring more stories from SkyNovelVault.