Chapter 93 A brilliant plan, a demonstration, and the reason for the deal: "As long as I can accomplish it..."

When Zhao Hongde spoke up again, Fu Ze said:

Realizing that the man in front of him was the dangerous person Yuan Jianxing had mentioned, and after sending that text message, Zhao Hongde became tense, ready to deal with the other party at any time.

Whether due to the cooperation agreement with Yuan Jianxing or to ensure her own safety, she had to keep the man in front of her calm and composed during the time before Yuan Jianxing arrived.

So Zhao Hongde began to recall the "secret plan" that Yuan Jianxing had left for him.

However, unlike the original meaning of the phrase "brilliant plan," Yuan Jianxing prepared several highly systematic coping methods for Zhao Hongde.

In other words, the person currently interacting with Fu Ze is more likely Yuan Jianxing than Zhao Hongde.

Zhao Hongde himself mainly served as a mediator.

Based on his first impression of the visitor, Zhao Hongde quickly selected one of the action strategies.

But to his utter surprise, after he pretended to have finished inspecting the powered exoskeleton and was about to proceed according to the guide, the other party unexpectedly blurted out this:

"Are you the holder of the [Transfer] key ability?" Fu Ze tilted his head slightly, as if they were still having a casual chat.

Zhao Hongde did not answer immediately, but instead asked, "Why do you need to know this?"

Fu Ze didn't let Zhao Hongde easily change the subject: "You answer first, 'yes' or 'no'."

After carefully examining the man in front of him, Zhao Hongde, confirming that the other party was not entirely hostile and at least still capable of verbal confrontation, slowly replied, "Yes, that's me. What's wrong?"

Resting his chin on his hand, Fu Ze changed the subject: "Since you are a user of the [Transposition] ability, why didn't you use your key ability when you were moving things just now? Wouldn't that have been much more convenient than using a powered exoskeleton?"

Zhao Hongde: ...

Is this person playing a trick on themselves?!

Do you want me to "be" or do you want me to "not"?

"The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind," Zhao Hongde said calmly. "I haven't 'stood out' at all, yet I still managed to provoke you, didn't I?"

“Great wisdom indeed,” Fu Ze nodded. “Then may I ask when your [Key] ability originated?”

This time, Zhao Hongde did not give Fu Ze the same answer.

He sat down in the shade with an air of nonchalance, took a big gulp of mung bean water from his thermos, and smacked his lips: "Brother, you can't always be the one asking me questions and not letting me ask you, can you?"

“That’s true. It’s only fair if there’s a give and take.” Shaking the lemonade, whose ice cubes had almost melted, Fu Ze followed and sat down opposite Zhao Hongde. “You just asked me why I wanted to know if you were the holder of the [Transposition] ability, right?”

Zhao Hongde nodded.

“Because I feel that the key that gave you the ability to teleport might have some connection with me.” Fu Ze took a sip of the lemonade that had turned slightly bitter from being soaked for so long. “And this connection is probably much deeper than you can imagine.”

"So you're here to get the [key] back?"

“You could interpret it that way, but it’s not entirely like that.” Fu Ze smiled slightly. “After all, I came to ‘trade’ with you in a very friendly manner.”

Zhao Hongde, who was using the tiger's power as a shield, secretly clenched his sweaty hands. "But why should I agree to your 'deal'?"

Fu Ze pressed the fingertips of his right hand against the palm of his left hand, signaling to interrupt: "Hey, hey, we agreed on a back-and-forth. Now it's my turn."

"Anyway, there's no one else here now. Can you demonstrate [Translate]? Just [Translate] anywhere."

Fu Ze placed the cup between the two of them and gestured with his eyes, "This one will do."

Recalling the information and action strategy that Yuan Jianxing had provided him, Zhao Hongde weighed Fu Ze's intentions and chose to take the risk.

"I...can't do it."

Fu Ze's eyes suddenly turned deep and unfathomable. "Why?"

Although this was Fu Ze's second question, Zhao Hongde couldn't bring himself to use the same tactic of throwing the question back at him, since the other party hadn't minded his repeated questioning.

He placed his hands on his knees and rubbed them repeatedly, his expression seemingly somewhat fearful.

"Because I'm afraid I won't be able to control myself again."

The man, who was as big as a black bear, looked very small at that moment.

"I finally managed to get out and live a peaceful life, and I don't want to drag everyone in Shifengtun down with me again."

Fu Ze thought for a moment, then filled in what Zhao Hongde couldn't say: "Are you worried about a repeat of the 'Charon Crossing' incident?"

Zhao Hongde looked up, somewhat bewildered.

"It's the incident where the bridge in L City swept back and forth, causing vehicles of all sizes to overturn and fall into the water." Fu Ze thoughtfully translated the pedantic name "Charon Crossing" assigned by the adjudication bureau into plain language.

This matched the information that Yuan Jianxing had given him. Zhao Hongde immediately nodded in agreement, trying to get Fu Ze to figure it out and fill in the gaps on his own.

“Then I have to ask something unrelated to this topic.” Fu Ze suddenly leaned over and stared intently at Zhao Hongde. “As compensation, you can ask me three questions in a row later.”

Staring into those bright green and lively eyes, Zhao Hongde felt as if he couldn't breathe properly.

He swore to God that he had absolutely no interest in the same sex.

It's all because the man in front of me is just too good-looking!

Anyway...

Why!

In short...

ah! !

Damn it, Yuan Jianxing, you better come over here and take care of this guy!

Forcing down the tremor in his voice, Zhao Hongde said gruffly, "What do you want to know now?"

As if counting the pieces removed from the chessboard, Fu Ze tapped his fingers on the table. "Since you haven't used the [Key] power since you caused 'Charon's Crossing,' how did Yuan Jianxing obtain your information?"

Zhao Hongde secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Yuan Jianxing had also prepared for this question for him.

"I was indeed frightened at first, so I immediately returned to Shifengtun and pretended that nothing had happened."

Fortunately, nothing like that has happened again.

“Until a few days ago, I learned from the news that there are many, many people like me, and now the Adjudication Board is conducting a special investigation into these cases.”

"I...turned myself in."

Because of his personal experience, Zhao Hongde actually disliked the word "surrender," but he was worried that if he didn't say what Yuan Jianxing had prepared for him, the man opposite him would see through his lies.

“The person I contacted first was not Yuan Jianxing, as you mentioned, but Xu Xiezhi.”

Fearing the man opposite him might not know who Xu Xiezhi was, Zhao Hongde added, "She's the executor who arrested me and brought me to the adjudication bureau back then. I'm quite familiar with her."

"With her coordination, they registered my information, but I was still allowed to live here as before."

At this point, Zhao Hongde suddenly noticed that the man opposite him seemed to understand and feel sorrowful.

"Yuan Jianxing actually didn't disobey Deputy Director Xu's orders. Instead, he arrested and locked you up first. That's really not his style." The man rested his chin on his hand, gazing into the distance in the direction of V City.

Although he didn't know why the other party had such feelings, it didn't stop Zhao Hongde from daring to breathe loudly.

After a long pause, the man turned his gaze back and said with a faint self-deprecating smile, "It seems that I'm just not important enough."

Zhao Hongde blinked.

So, you've managed to... get away with it?

Okay, that's it. Let's keep going and stall until Hara Kenshin arrives at the scene!

With that encouragement, Zhao Hongde continued his performance.

"It's still the same question," he said, crossing his arms. "Why should I agree to your 'deal'?"

“I probably wouldn’t have been able to answer you just now,” Fu Ze said slowly, stretching his back. “But I can now.”

Zhao Hongde's heart tightened.

Did I just say something wrong?!

Fu Ze stood up, picked up the empty cup he had just placed on the table, and threw it into a nearby metal gasoline drum used for garbage. Then he found a piece of metal with a rather sharp edge in a nearby pile of scrap and held it between his fingers.

Seeing the cold light flashing on the metal plate, Zhao Hongde jumped up and grabbed a long-handled steel fork from the side, aiming it at Fu Ze.

Seeing this, Fu Ze smiled brightly, "What's there to be nervous about? Do I look that much like a bad guy?"

Zhao Hongde: ...

A person should have self-awareness.

Without revealing his inner thoughts, Zhao Hongde simply moved slowly to a position where Fu Ze could not launch a surprise attack on him.

Fu Ze, ignoring Zhao Hongde's defensive behavior, said to himself, "Since you can no longer use [Transposition], why not exchange it with me for a skill that is more useful to you?"

As he spoke, he rolled up one sleeve and then used the metal piece in his hand to slash his forearm.

As he moved, a thin line of blood appeared on the back of his forearm near his elbow, passing through the slightly protruding veins on the back of his hand, and extending to the tip of his middle finger.

Just looking at it made Zhao Hongde feel a piercing pain in his nerves.

But the person involved seemed completely unconcerned, and even went so far as to straighten their arm.

The blood that was originally overflowing to both sides instantly changed direction and began to flow downwards under the influence of gravity, drawing patterns resembling totems on the fair and translucent skin.

The barely closed flesh and blood also expanded to both sides as he exerted force, revealing the tender pink muscle with blood streaks inside.

"Watch carefully," Fu Ze advised.

Zhao Hongde was no pushover to begin with. After the initial shock, he calmed down and stared intently at the man not far away.

Then he saw the wounds on the man's skin close up and heal as if they had been turned upside down.

If it weren't for the semi-congealed bloodstains still lingering on the other person's skin, emitting a foul odor, probably no one would believe that a long and extremely gruesome wound had just appeared there.

Despite having been somewhat mentally prepared, Zhao Hongde was still stunned when he saw it with his own eyes.

Is this... the key?!

Walking to the tap to wash the bloodstains off his skin, Fu Ze said calmly, "Instead of keeping this [Transposition] that you can no longer use, why not make use of it and exchange it for this relatively more useful skill?"

Wiping the remaining water droplets from his hands, he looked at Zhao Hongde beside him again.

"This is my first answer to why you want to do business with me."

Zhao Hongde asked instinctively, "What about the second one?"

However, the moment he asked the question, he began to regret it.

I finally managed to get the other party to promise that I could ask three questions in a row, so why did I waste the second one?

To everyone's surprise, Fu Ze seemed to have seen through Zhao Hongde's thoughts and said with a smile, "It's alright, I'm quite generous, consider this a gift from me."

“As for the second answer,” Fu Ze said slowly, walking up to Zhao Hongde and using the back of his hand to push away the steel fork the other was holding. “Now I need your help, so you can take this opportunity to make your demands.”

"I'm willing to accept any conditions as long as I can accomplish it."

The words themselves were ambiguous, and coupled with the other person's enigmatic and charming face, it's no wonder that Zhao Hongde had a moment of wild speculation.

But he was, after all, a former leader, and had seen and heard of countless things. Although his glory days were over, he still served as the backbone of Shifeng Village and quickly brought the focus back to the village.

Stay calm, stay calm, this is a great opportunity to buy time!

As if prompted by Fu Ze, Zhao Hongde said thoughtfully, "If that's the case, then there is indeed something here that needs your help with."

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Author's Note: Comment "1" in the comments to give Xingxing-ge a speed-up item [winking emoji]