You’re not going to help her? Sun Wukong asked, surprised as Cha Ming walked away.
Cha Ming shook his head. She doesn’t need my help, he said. She has everything she needs, and doing more would simply sow more karma between us. That’s the last thing she needs.
So you’re just going to leave her there? Sun Wukong said. All alone in this cruel city?
If she can’t survive this, what will she do after I’m gone? Cha Ming asked. Still, he hesitated. Was he growing harder, or was the cruel environment just rubbing off on him? I’ll check up on her, he decided. Once a week, at least. If she’s fine, I won’t do anything.
And if not? Sun Wukong asked.
Cha Ming sighed. Then I’ll help her. Karma connecting us might not be the best thing for her, but it’s better than dying. Though I somehow doubt it’ll come to that. He looked back to the stand, where a customer was fiercely haggling with Mo Ling, who was fighting for every spirit stone. He watched for a time, then left along with her satisfied customer.
Having toured the outer city, Cha Ming returned to the Blackthorn Conglomerate. He’d succeeded in the first two parts of his plan, but the third and the fourth were still waiting for him. First, he had to figure out a way to sabotage the Wang family. Then, he had to destroy Zhou Li’s pet project. More likely than not, he’d need to complete one goal to finish the other.
Chapter 17: Goals
“The past three months were all about evaluating your potential,” Tian Zhi said as they walked through the Blackthorn Conglomerate headquarters. “As you may have guessed, your future assignments and research direction will be dictated by the results.”
“Aren’t we free to research anything we like?” Cha Ming asked, following him as he led the way, not toward the research and development building as he’d expected, but toward a small corner of the outer building.
“Yes, technically speaking,” Tian Zhi said. “On your free time. But tell me—do you think your funding is truly unlimited? You need to request it, and if we think it’s not worth the expenditure, we would refuse you.” He pushed through a small door and entered a mess area where, to Cha Ming’s surprise, there were restaurants inside the conglomerate.
“I suppose not,” Cha Ming said. “The research group must have some focus areas with allocated funding.” They stopped at the back end of a line. The line itself was unsurprising, as the South prided itself on lines. Here, even mighty marrow-refining cultivators like him and Tian Zhi had to line up. Though that didn’t stop those in front of them from shuffling uncomfortably and letting them pass, if only to breathe easier when they did.
“That’s right,” Tian Zhi said. “What you showed me yesterday proves you have the skills for one of our most lucrative secret projects.” Many ears moved in from the side. Tian Zhi glared at them before shifting to mental communication. Lately, we’ve been focusing on demolition weapons.
Demolition weapons? Cha Ming asked. What a coincidence.
Exactly, Tian Zhi said. You’ve shown you have a knack for destruction even without knowing about our secret project. So, after discussing with the rest of the team, we’ve decided to have you spend half your time working on it. You’ll use the other half improving your skills however you like. We have deadlines to meet, so the faster you move up the ranks, the more useful you’ll be.
During their short conversation, they’d moved to the end of the line and arrived at a counter that, to Cha Ming’s surprise, served coffee in disposable cups. He took a sip of what they called “God’s Blessing” that Tian Zhi ordered, and to his surprise, it gave him a slight jolt. He immediately realized why it affected him. Somehow, Jin Huang’s runic coffee had made its way to the South as well.
“You don’t seem surprised by the taste,” Tian Zhi said, taking a sip of his own beverage.
“I’ve had something similar before,” Cha Ming admitted.
“Interesting,” Tian Zhi said. “We’re one of the few places in the Ji Kingdom that has a chain.” He shrugged, ignoring the seemingly inconsequential matter, and led Cha Ming back the way they’d come and into production building. They took the lift down to the research and development area and into the workshop with walls where Cha Ming had tested his spear the day prior. Three other people were present. One, a tall man with sleek brown hair, wore the green robes of an alchemist. He was walking around the debris-laden room, sensing every small residual particle with his peak resplendent force. Another, a woman wearing simple brown robes, was taking measurements and surveying the damage to the wall itself.
The third person was the most conspicuous of the lot. Instead of performing a specific task, he sat cross-legged with his hands in front of him. Tiny threads were connected to the air above his hands from many areas within the room. They poured into a variety of runic symbols that hovered there, glowing with varying intensity. To Cha Ming’s surprise, many of the runes were identical to those he’d inscribed into the weapon. Others represented common measures like total energy and energy output over time.
“Attention!” Tian Zhi shouted like a military sergeant. The others immediately stopped what they were doing and formed a line. Cha Ming shuffled uncomfortably but didn’t move to join them, as he hadn’t been instructed to. “He Yin, report!”
“Yes, sir,” He Yin, the alchemist, said. “I’ve compiled a report on the residual materials detected. I’ve concluded that though the main impact was caused by a pure single-use treasure, a few metallic combustion reactions further increased the damage to the wall. Approximately seventy percent of the metal actually vaporized in an exothermic reaction, though how this
