104: Chapter 104 The Beautiful Headmistress, Half-Human and Half-Snake!

"The Council Building." Her finger pointed to the tallest building on the north side.

"If you want to go underground, you have to get a transit pass from here first."

Chen Chen leaned back in his seat, his fingers tapping twice on the hilt of the Rift-Sky Gravity Ship-Slayer Blade.

"Drive over."

The Ghost Fortress restarted, crushing the gravel road as it drove toward the center of the wasteland city.

Shen Wanxing leaned against the car window and looked out, her light amber pupils reflecting the various faces on the street—there were humans, as well as a few scattered figures of alien races wrapped in cloaks.

"This place is so strange..." she muttered. "There are both people and monsters..."

Su Xiaoqi leaned toward the window on the other side, clutching a half-eaten steak, her cheeks bulging.

"What's that one with scales on its face? Is it edible?"

The cabin fell silent for two seconds.

"...No." The six of them spoke in unison.

The Ghost Fortress stopped in front of the Central Plaza.

In the center of the plaza stood a rusty flagpole, from which hung a flag sewn from bulletproof cloth, flapping loudly in the wind.

A pattern of a crossed gear and wrench was painted in white on the flag.

At the main entrance of the Council Building stood four fully armed guards.

Unlike the two at the east gate, these four wore uniform dark gray tactical armor. Their helmet visors were down, and instead of battered rifles, they held standard-issue energy rifles.

The muzzles were pointed directly at the Ghost Fortress.

The doors behind the four guards were open, revealing a warm yellow light from within.

A copper plaque was nailed above the door frame, engraved with crooked characters:

"Rusted Wasteland City Council—Every trade is negotiable, every rule must be followed."

Chen Chen pushed open the car door and landed on the ground in his military boots.

The Rift-Sky Gravity Ship-Slayer Blade hung at his waist, its purple patterns flickering once.

The muzzles of the four energy rifles moved two inches following his figure.

In the communicator, Qin Hongye's voice came down from the second-floor sniper position, steady and cold:

"Four targets locked. First from the left, armor gap at the neck. Second one has an old injury on the right knee—ready to fire anytime."

"Don't move yet."

Chen Chen raised his hand, palm forward, making a 'no hostility' gesture to the four guards.

"I'm here to talk to your Speaker. A transit pass, and—"

He paused for a beat.

"Is anyone here selling nuclear reactor parts?"

The four guards exchanged glances.

One of them took off his visor.

It was a young face, in his early twenties, with an old scar running from his cheekbone to his jaw on the left side.

"nuclear reactor parts?" The scarred guard sized Chen Chen up, his voice carrying a hint of surprise.

"Are you here to take the 'Underground Cleanup' mission?"

"Depends on the situation."

The scarred guard hesitated for two seconds before stepping aside half a step.

"Follow me. The Speaker happens to be in."

He glanced at the Ghost Fortress's massive hovering body, his Adam's apple bobbing once.

"But let me warn you—the Speaker isn't an easy person to talk to. Especially when you're negotiating terms with her."

"Her?"

The scarred guard's expression was a bit subtle.

"Yeah. The Speaker is a woman. And—she's not human."

"Not human?"

Chen Chen didn't stop, following the scarred guard into the Council Building.

"What race?"

The scarred guard lowered his voice: "Snake Scale Tribe. Have you seen those gray-skinned ones with vertical pupils at the stalls outside? The Speaker isn't the same subspecies as them, but they all belong to the cold-blooded alien races."

He pushed open a heavy iron door at the end of the corridor.

"Her name is Yi Chang. She arrived on the third day the wasteland city was founded. She brought a group of Snake-Scale subordinates to take control of the underground factory entrances and exits, then gathered a group of wandering human survivors to build the trade zone. She set the rules, and she built the city defense system."

"Get to the point."

"The point is—"

The scarred guard looked back at Chen Chen. "She charges high prices. And she likes to test people. Those who took underground missions and lost contact weren't all killed by monsters. Some of them... failed her test."

At the end of the corridor was a half-open wooden door, from which came the faint sound of clashing metal.

The scarred guard stopped and called into the room: "Speaker, an outsider wants to see you. Hovering vehicle, at least A-rank configuration."

There was no sound from inside.

After three seconds, a woman's voice with a distinct airy quality drifted out. Her enunciation was slow, with a half-beat gap between every syllable.

"Let him in. You are dismissed."

The scarred guard nodded to Chen Chen and turned to leave.

Chen Chen pushed the door and entered.

The room was about fifty square meters.

It must have originally been some company manager's office, but now it had been converted into a council chamber.

Stacks of handwritten paper documents were piled on a tin desk. An old communication terminal sat in the corner, its screen flickering with static.

A person sat behind the desk.

No—a 'thing'.

That was Chen Chen's first thought.

Yi Chang's upper body was humanoid.

Her features were excessively delicate, with a high-bridged nose, thin and sharp lips, and a smooth jawline.

Her skin wasn't a human's complexion, but an extremely light silver-gray, with fine, almost transparent scale patterns.

Her hair—or some hair-like structure on her head—was dark silver, combed back against her scalp and hanging all the way to her waist.

She had two vertical pupils with ice-blue irises, completely different from the human ice-blue of Jiang Jiuyou.

These were the pupils unique to reptiles, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

She wore a human white shirt, buttoned to the very top, the collar tight against her slender neck.

Below the shirt was a dark gray knee-length skirt.

But there were no feet beneath the skirt.

Instead, a thick snake tail covered in silver-gray scales poked out from under the skirt, coiled around the iron chair. The tip of the tail rested on the corner of the desk, occasionally tapping it lightly.

Snake Scale Tribe.

Half-human, half-serpent.

Yi Chang looked up, her vertical pupils scanning Chen Chen from head to toe.

After the scan, her pupils contracted slightly.

The reaction was very subtle.

But Chen Chen caught it.

The bioelectric field crushed out by his 117 points of constitution and 180 points of charm was effective against carbon-based organisms, and against cold-blooded alien races—

It was also effective.

"Sit."

Yi Chang reached out a finger and pointed to the chair across the desk.

Her fingers were slender, the tips tinged with a faint silver-gray, and her nails were sharp and thin, like blades.

Chen Chen pulled out the chair and sat down.

The Rift-Sky Gravity Ship-Slayer Blade was placed horizontally across his knees, its purple patterns flickering twice in the dim light.

Yi Chang stared at the blade for two seconds.

"Purple quality. Built-in gravity module."

Her airy voice dragged for half a beat. "You've killed quite a few things."

"I'm here to talk business." Chen Chen leaned back. "The underground transit pass—how do I get it?"

Yi Chang didn't answer immediately.

Her snake tail retracted from the corner of the table and slowly coiled once behind her.

"I issue the underground transit passes. A total of twelve have been given out."

Her vertical pupils stared at Chen Chen. "The number of people who have returned alive—zero."

"So?"

"So I'm curious." Yi Chang's upper body leaned forward two inches, pulling the collar of her white shirt into an arc and revealing a small section of her silver-gray collarbone.

"What kind of human would actively request to enter a place with a one hundred percent mortality rate?"

In the communicator, Shen Wanbing's voice pressed against Chen Chen's eardrum: "She's testing you. Don't reveal your hand."

He didn't need the reminder.

"It's none of your business why I'm going in." Chen Chen tilted his chin up. "What's the price for the transit pass?"

The tip of Yi Chang's snake tail tapped three times on the tabletop.

"Two choices."

"First, complete a city defense mission. A group of roaming Second-Order Aberrants has recently appeared on the outskirts of the East District, numbering about fifteen to twenty. Clear them out, and the transit pass is free."

"Second—"

She pulled a palm-sized metal token from a drawer and slapped it onto the desk.

"Buy it directly. Fifty intermediate vehicle cores."

Chen Chen almost laughed out loud.

Fifty intermediate cores.

The proprietress only asked for fifty for information, and you dare to charge this much for just one transit pass?