Welcome to Ability Store-Chapter 43 - 42: A Method to Verify the Truth

Guests are unquestionably valuable assets, but that refers to those who can continuously provide abilities for trading, like Liu Shuyue.

Some guests currently have limited abilities but show considerable potential for growth and may acquire new abilities, so maintaining a good relationship with them is essential, such as with Joan.

The new guest before us fits neither category.

She comes from a rather advanced future, yet only possesses three abilities, one of which has already been traded away temporarily, which is somewhat disappointing. Chen Xuan has already confirmed with the scanner gun that she now only has the abilities "Mental Fortress" and "Free Will."

Liu Shuyue determined that her physical damage was too severe, leaving no possibility for cultivation, and Lin Qing herself admitted that prosthetic technology would replace abilities, indicating a certain conflict between the two. When she was attacked by Armed Mecha earlier, she physically endured a 30mm bullet, which would have resulted in a high level of invulnerability if gained by ability, yet the scanner gun detected no relevant information, suggesting the store doesn’t count the advantages brought by prosthetics as abilities.

Of course, Chen Xuan doesn’t consider himself the kind of cold-blooded businessman who only talks profit. Even if a deal can’t be made, friendship remains; if Lin Qing has nowhere to go, living in the shop for free for a month or two isn’t an issue. But she happens to be burdened with the duty of saving the world, wanting to enlist him in opposing a mysterious organization he’s never heard of, which is rather difficult to handle.

If... and he’s just saying if, Mad Judy really belongs to the Dimensional Limit Mechanism, and this mechanism can tightly seal all information about ability users, then the energy hidden underwater must be formidable.

Facing such a power, Chen Xuan would retreat as fast as possible; he wouldn’t think of inviting trouble upon himself.

Even if the end of the world really were to happen, it’s a century away, and he might not even be around by then.

After being rejected, Lin Qing did not throw a tantrum, nor did she turn cold-faced, showing great disappointment. Her eyes glimmered as if thinking rapidly, and her hand, which had been pushed away, turned back to grip Chen Xuan’s wrist as if fearing he might escape.

Seconds later, her eyes flashed, "Found it."

"Found what?" Chen Xuan asked.

"Since your shop deals in abilities, you must need a lot of them, like a supermarket regularly needing stock, right?"

"Uh-huh." He didn’t deny this point.

"I can help you solve part of the inventory problem." Lin Qing said confidently.

Chen Xuan looked at her with suspicion, but the feedback from the Voice of Trust remained good, "Oh? How so?"

She pointed to her head, "My memory stores plenty of decrypted data from the Dimensional Limit Mechanism, including recorded intrusion events and related ability users, from whom you can procure stock."

"...Procure from whom?" For a moment, he thought he’d heard wrongly.

"From those linked to intrusion events." Lin Qing repeated, "Whether by threat or force, you can extract abilities from them by any means necessary. Most of these people are off-the-grid and have serious crimes on their backs, so even if they’re all eliminated, nobody would care. I don’t know how you usually acquire abilities, but I’m sure you have ways to ’persuade’ them."

This girl’s tactics are quite ruthless.

Chen Xuan suddenly became curious, "Have you killed anyone?"

"Of course." Lin Qing answered with complete candor, "In my era, the city was filled with lunatics, criminals, and neurotics, law enforcement had long been an empty shell, and survival required self-defense by force. I could only strive not to harm innocent bystanders during combat."

It seems my guests aren’t ordinary people.

He pondered for a moment, "So, you were just looking for intrusion records?"

"Correct, the most recent intrusion happened two days ago right here in this city. It involved only one person, and the location was quite concealed, ideal for a test run." The girl pointed into the air twice, "I’ve already sent the data to your phone."

Immediately, the phone in his pocket rang.

Unexpectedly, Chen Xuan took out his phone to find the message sender listed as "10089," "You didn’t hack the telecom provider, did you?"

"Not at all. I merely used broadcast overlay technology, simulating this frequency to send a message to you." Lin Qing explained proudly, "In this era, personal electronic data protection is rather weak, no need to trouble with hacking providers. By the way, if you want to call me, just dial this number with a hash symbol at the end."

"Was that bullet blocked by a prosthetic too?"

"Yes, military-grade subdermal armor, considered quite expensive equipment. Normally, people can only embed a flexible carbon layer armor, which barely stops handgun rounds."

Prosthetics are really convenient... just spend money to implant them.

Chen Xuan stared at Lin Qing for a long time.

The latter uncomfortably shrank a bit, "Implanting these things requires a specialized operating room, and there’s also the issue of immune compatibility, so even if you dismantled mine, others couldn’t use it."

"If I really wanted them, I’d have already disassembled them while you were unconscious." Chen Xuan waved his hand, opened the material provided by Lin Qing, and saw a photo of a charming woman, underneath was her name: Fei Wuniang, SC-104-C1, deceased.

Chen Xuan indeed had an impression of the location where this person appeared.

It was an abandoned building located outside the third ring, once a popular clubhouse.

"If you can catch her, it will prove I’m telling the truth." Seeing that he hadn’t refused outright like before, Lin Qing pressed on, "Shopkeeper sir, everything you’ve experienced is the past of a destroyed world. Nanobot technology has only been around for thirty years or so. When it loses control, it will be too late to change anything, and billions will perish as a result! To prevent humanity from repeating the same mistakes, I beseech you to lend me another hand; the reward will be the abilities of those intruders!"

...

...

Two days later, Chen Xuan followed Lin Qing’s photograph and took a taxi to the abandoned building.

"Are you here for an adventure?" the taxi driver asked, turning his head, "The fare is 85 yuan." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Expensive, it costs quite a bit to travel from the inner ring to the outer ring. Chen Xuan scanned the fare and said, "Yeah, lots of people come here to explore?"

"More a couple of years ago, folks typically choose to exit the highway here for this, hearing it’s haunted, even spending the night in groups." The driver laughed, "It’s rare to see someone like you coming alone."

This is normal, given that there are videos online exploring this place.

Once the taxi was gone, Chen Xuan turned his gaze towards the abandoned house not far away.

It had four floors and was situated by a field; its square structure looked quite majestic, fitting for a place that once called itself Lushui Clubhouse.

Anyone can see that a clubhouse built in such a secluded location had specific purposes. When it was popular, Chen Xuan was still in university; unfortunately, by the time he graduated and started working with money, the clubhouse had closed down.

Lin Qing did not come along.

It’s not that she didn’t want to, she couldn’t.

The physical damage was worse than she anticipated, after so many days of recuperation, she could walk around the neighborhood, but fighting as before was out of the question. Therefore, she heeded reason and didn’t insist on coming, but provided information support through the earpiece.

"It’s exactly the same..."

Comparing the photos, Chen Xuan found the level of deterioration almost identical; even the Lushui Clubhouse sign, which was about to fall off at the entrance, leaned at nearly the same angle.

This indicates the photos were taken recently.

Could Lin Qing’s words be entirely true? That the world where the Crystal Palace fell... is the future of this world?

Walking through the parking lot to the door, the door handle was chained and had a "Closed Area, Do Not Enter" sign. But this could not deter adventurers determined to explore; Chen Xuan saw that the glass windowpane by the door had been shattered, with an opening wide enough for a person to pass through.

"I’m going in."

"Okay." Lin Qing said in the earpiece, "The intrusion point is on the second floor. But be wary, the capture record only notes Fei Wuniang’s location and time of death within the clubhouse, not that she entered only at that time."

"Her cause of death... was due to capture by the Dimensional Limit Mechanism?"

"Yes." There was a pause, "But I have to clarify, Fei Wuniang indeed has dozens of lives on her hands, deserving unpardonable death, but the main purpose of the mechanism is control rather than elimination, so even if the opponent is a vicious killer, the execution squad will prioritize capture, as the Dimensional Limit Mechanism isn’t a legal organization, nor does it aim to uphold justice... Of course, the idea of maintaining world stability will inevitably attract those with or self-proclaimed righteous intentions."

Chen Xuan stepped over the window frame, treading over shards of glass into the main hall, "Ultimately, she’s still dead."

"That’s how combat is, if the opponent has a strong determination to resist or uses extremely dangerous methods, casualties are unavoidable, and the same goes for both sides."

Honestly, this is something Chen Xuan is willing to believe.

When he encountered Mad Judy in the castle dungeon, the first shot she fired was a syringe, not a metal bullet.

Chen Xuan wasn’t particularly worried about Fei Wuniang lurking on the second floor ready to ambush him. Before entering the clubhouse, he had scanned the building using Celestial Mist Skill, confirming that this abandoned structure was empty.