"And he will give me more preferential treatment based on your performance and purification ability."
Nan Yue raised an eyebrow. It sounded as if Wen Xiang Yuan had sold her out, using friendship to trick an unsuspecting scavenger into working for the Federation in exchange for her own benefits.
But in reality, Wen Xiang Yuan and her brother had signed a dual contract.
The real contract was: I will show you the greater potential of the Scavenger Purification Project, showing you the possibility of the Wen family rising further and gaining more power.
You give me more freedom, a certain amount of power, and respect.
Until... I kill you.
Nan Yue thought of Wen Xiang Yuan's sudden logout during the Entertainment to Death mission. She likely had been discovered by her brother for secretly entering the scavenger world.
Under such unexpected circumstances and in such a short amount of time, Wen Xiang Yuan had been able to maneuver and achieve such results. She was indeed a woman with the blood of the Wen family.
This was not something the scavenger training system could teach. They truly belonged to different worlds.
Even if she had never met Nan Yue, Wen Xiang Yuan would have always been an eagle, not a canary.
"So my brother will monitor your situation to a certain extent, but the scavenger world is completely isolated. Aside from the purification monitoring system, there are no other control methods."
"His monitoring is incomplete. The number of scavengers is too vast, so he can only use me to lock onto you."
"You can think of me as the bug or monitoring device. He can only hear our conversations when I am in contact with you. When I'm not around, he cannot single out any of you."
"But there is an exception to this: when the Scavenger Purification Project is active."
"When a scavenger is in the Scavenger Purification Project, the negative energy—or what you call pollution—infects the monitoring system. During those times, the system's duty is to monitor whether you have cleared the pollution; it cannot monitor individuals."
"That's why I can only explain all this to you inside a mission."
"And from now on, I will not appear outside the mission world."
Wen Xiang Yuan was a walking monitoring device. Contacting Nan Yue and the others outside of missions would bring only harm and no benefit.
"In the future, I will enter the mission world to meet you, perhaps as a native or in some other form."
Wen Xiang Yuan knew very well that her use was not within the purification missions, but in the Federation.
The Federation's Wen family—that was her battlefield.
There were no teammates there; she would be fighting alone.
Nan Yue watched her for a long time before finally asking softly.
"If the others cannot accept this truth..."
This truth was too heavy. It wasn't something Nan Yue's group could bear alone, nor was it something they could easily hide.
But no one knew how the other scavengers would react to the Federation and their own identities.
It was possible the scavenger world would fall into chaos before Wen Xiang Yuan could even succeed.
At the very least, Nan Yue needed to tell Fu Xi Ming the truth.
She was also her teammate, her support.
But Shen Nian was Fu Xi Ming's bottom line. If she knew Shen Nian had died for such a meaningless, absurd reason...
Nan Yue didn't follow that thought to its end.
Wen Xiang Yuan looked at Nan Yue quietly and smiled.
"To the victor go the spoils. This was always a high-risk endeavor."
Wen Xiang Yuan wanted to win, but she wasn't so foolish as to think victory was guaranteed.
This was an inherently unfair gamble.
Nan Yue nodded. "So, I can't agree to the partnership just yet."
"Personally, I have no problem with it. Absorbing pollution is what I was going to do anyway."
"But the Federation is a world built on the flesh and blood of scavengers. We can't stay in the shadows forever."
"It's impossible."
Wen Xiang Yuan tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Wen Gan Ting is no fool. He won't just let you grow powerful."
"He needs you, and he needs me, but he is also wary of you."
"He will most likely use the scavenger world to restrain you. Even if you don't want to tell the other scavengers, Wen Gan Ting will reveal the truth of the world at some point."
"When that happens, you, who cooperated with me, will be seen as a traitor and will have no choice but to depend on the Federation."
"So I suggest that you take the initiative."
This meant Nan Yue and the others had to tell the world the truth before the Federation did.
It was an extremely risky move.
"We can discuss the details during our next meeting."
Wen Xiang Yuan's expression softened, shifting from the matriarch of the Wen family back to Nan Yue's little follower.
"I know you have other allies, Boss. You can tell me your decision after you've evaluated everything."
"I'm not your only option."
Nan Yue didn't answer but asked a different question. "Can your brother destroy the scavenger world right now?"
Wen Xiang Yuan shook her head. "I haven't seen the specific project documents, but from what I've gathered over the years, he shouldn't be able to."
"The scavenger world was indeed created by the Federation, but once it took shape, it became an independent space. Because the Federation feared pollution, they cast the scavenger world into an alternate space."
"The biggest benefit of this action is that they cannot locate it. They can only maintain control through the monitoring system implanted during its creation."
"So I believe the Federation has no way to directly destroy your world, but they can destroy the control system."
"In other words, the entire operating system of the scavenger world."
The scavenger world was controlled by a system. Initially, Nan Yue and the others thought part-time scavengers were working in the Purification Center.
But that wasn't the case. The one truly arranging for scavengers to enter the pollution worlds was the Federation's operating system.
"Once the operating system stops, the functioning of the scavenger world will fall into chaos. Simply put, the established rest periods will be disrupted, and everyone will enter pollution worlds randomly at any time or place."
"But this is a double-edged sword. Once the operating system is stopped, the Federation will completely lose control over the scavenger world, and they will also be unable to continue sending the Federation's pollution into the alternate space where the scavengers are."
"If our cooperation is established," Nan Yue said, voicing her understanding, "the day we achieve our goals should be the day we disconnect the Federation's system."
Wen Xiang Yuan nodded. "So you cannot fight alone. You need the strength of everyone."
"Because the moment you gain freedom, all of you will need to commit to purifying the remaining pollution worlds."
"Only after the previously deployed pollution worlds are purified will peace finally arrive."
Zhu Xi Ning smiled faintly. "It really won't come easily."
Wen Xiang Yuan lowered her head. She was a person of the Federation; this was a sin she was born with.
To Nan Yue and the others, regardless of what she had or hadn't done, she was indebted to them.
"That's enough."
Nan Yue leaned against the table behind her. "Raise your head. You weren't the one who created the scavengers, and you weren't the one who developed the purification project. What do you have to be guilty about?"
Wen Xiang Yuan froze, unable to believe what she was hearing.
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