WEF - Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Ning Dali, the Lawless Rogue
"You two are not going to change your minds and walk away, are you?" Ning Dali looked genuinely alarmed. "There is so much meat here. If you do not buy it, I will have to eat it all by myself for years while obeying every last rule!"
By then, it would be little more than old, tough meat.
"It is not that we are backing out, and it is not that we cannot afford it." Accountant Li adjusted her glasses and quickly found a reason. "We are members of the Restraint Faction. We cannot buy this much meat with so little restraint."
At those words, the shadow, which had not yet left, folded its whole body into a question mark. It tipped forward and hooked Accountant Li's neck with its curved hook.
Accountant Li's expression remained stern. Even with the hook around her neck, she showed no intention of retreating. With her eyes, she sternly reprimanded her superior for acting so capriciously.
Yes, their bases could afford to buy all that meat. Five bases supported more than a hundred thousand people, and the points they held were more than enough to buy it.
Points were absolutely not the problem.
But the problem was this: after buying this much meat, they would have few points left to buy rice.
There were also the unpleasant consequences of buying so much meat... Why spend points to make trouble for yourself unless something was wrong with your head?
Accountant Li advised, "Why don't we buy a few slices back and try them? We have to think about the bigger picture."
Those few pieces of meat were enough to make anyone's mouth water. They were fresh, and many of the cuts were ones none of them had ever seen.
They could buy a few slices back and film a food video. They could even buy one or two pieces and, now and then, make their communal meals a little more lavish.
But buying all of it? They could forget it. They did not have the resources to spare!
[Use my personal points.] A line of small words appeared across the shadow's averted face as it kept its back turned to Ning Dali.
Accountant Li shook her head and silently mouthed, "Not enough."
[Have the bases lend me some, and add my personal points.] The shadow spoke again.
Accountant Li mentally calculated how many points the bases could lend and added them to the total...
"Still not enough." It was all fresh, premium beef, and it did not even look as though it had begun to rot.
The shadow's pitch-black form suddenly flared, clawed limbs spreading in every direction.
[Secretly borrow some from another base.]
Accountant Li's eyes asked: How exactly are we meant to borrow it secretly? Have you no concern for your dignity?
The shadow fell silent.
"Why don't you go deal with the handcuffs instead?" Accountant Li offered her a way out. "I will handle the arrangements with Ms. Dali."
There was no expression on the shadow's faceless face.
The shadow and Accountant Li held each other in a silent standoff for a moment. Then it turned to look at Ning Dali with obvious reluctance and, with bitter resentment, hurled a frying pan out of the shadows. It was still flecked with butter.
The rich aroma of meat clung to the pan. The shadow had no idea when the butter had been left there. In any case, it was evidence that Ning Dali had eaten meat.
Ning Dali had fried some meat and eaten it. A big piece of meat!
But she did not have to abide by [The Law], because when she had fried the meat, she had probably still been an Extremist Eater and therefore beyond [The Law]'s reach.
The world was bitterly unfair. The Extremist Eaters could eat as much as they liked; all they had to do was put down their chopsticks, slip into the Restraint Faction's embrace, and be forgiven and accepted by [The Law]. And yet she, the Shadow King, had to dutifully obey [The Law]'s rules... She did not even have the right or the funds to eat a piece of meat.
Was that fair? Was this not a bug?
If the Shadow King had her way, whenever those Extremist Eaters joined the Restraint Faction, their eating records for the past thirty years should have been investigated, every one of them tried, and every one of them sentenced to death!
When she later came face to face with [The Law], she would give her a stern talking-to... The shadow shot Accountant Li one last glare, its inky form dissolving into flowing water and streaming toward the ground.
As the shadow departed, every shadow around them returned to normal and slipped back into the position where it belonged.
Ning Dali raised an eyebrow and picked up the frying pan from the ground.
There was an XX Group logo on the side of its handle.
Holding the pan by its handle, she casually covered the inconspicuous mark with her palm.
"Does your Shadow King make a habit of snatching other people's pans?" she asked.
"She generally does not use things other people have used." Accountant Li forced a smile. "Um, if it bothers you, we can buy this pan from you too."
"Now you are going to force the sale?"
Ning Dali's tone was sharp, but Accountant Li only smiled as if she had not heard. Then she changed the subject. "By the way, where did all this meat come from? It does not look like something you gathered gradually."
All the beef was nearly identical in quality and appearance, clearly bought in bulk and possibly cut from a single cow.
When the question came up again, Ning Dali paused for several seconds.
If Accountant Li had asked even a moment earlier, Ning Dali would not have known how to answer. She did not understand the unwritten rules of this world and might easily have made up the wrong answer.
Yet Accountant Li had asked only after the shadow had.
With the shadow's help and timely reminder, Ning Dali had already worked out her entire cover story and persona.
In the past, she had been forced to join the Extremist Eaters and had even been imprisoned by them. She had had very little contact with the outside world.
Later, she unexpectedly seized an entire airdrop, acquired a small fortune, renounced the Extremist Eaters, cut all ties with them, and became a member of the Restraint Faction.
So where had all this meat come from?
She had gotten it by raiding airdrops back when she was an Extremist Eater.
The Restraint Faction had to obey [The Law]. They could eat only five grams of beef a day, take only one item from each airdrop, and waste no food... The moment they violated [The Law], punishment would come down on them.
And the Extremist Eaters?
According to Ning Dali's reasoning, the Extremist Eaters did not have to obey [The Law].
If [The Law] could restrain the Extremist Eaters' behavior, they would have ceased to exist long ago instead of surviving until this day.
She had also eaten a large steak herself, long since breaking the daily five-gram beef limit, yet she had not been fitted with Flame Shackles.
[The Law] was powerful, but it was not omnipotent. It could not govern the Extremist Eaters, the lawless rogue Ning Dali, or the visitor from beyond the heavens, Ning Dali.
Facing Accountant Li's question, Ning Dali's heart was as steady as a rock.
She did not rush to give the answer she had prepared.
For an experienced old liar, constructing a plausible answer was only the first step in fooling someone.
Answering eagerly would invite suspicion and make people wonder whether the answer was correct.
What she needed to do now was slip completely into her persona, consider what lay behind the other person's question, and shift the focus of the conversation.
Did Accountant Li truly want to know where the meat had come from at this moment?
No. That was not her real purpose.
Ying had asked the same question a few moments ago, but had not dug any deeper. She had already presumed the answer: Ning Dali had seized an entire airdrop by herself, one that happened to contain a great deal of meat.
Accountant Li had assumed the same thing.
So the sentence sounded like a question, but it was really a threat, a warning.
The true meaning was this: "I am reminding you that your meat will not bear scrutiny. You would be wise to cooperate and not become too brazen."
Ning Dali slowly raised her eyes to Accountant Li. With a faint, bitter smile, she asked, "What do you want?"
The question cleverly avoided an answer. It tacitly accepted Accountant Li's assumption and steered the conversation into its next phase.
Accountant Li noticed none of the subtlety. She followed Ning Dali's lead and put forward her own demand.
"Let us each take a step back. You will keep what just happened to yourself and tell not a soul. In exchange, we will not expose your situation to anyone."
There was no change in Ning Dali's expression, but her eyes betrayed a touch of frustration at having been maneuvered.
She reluctantly nodded and said, "That is all? What about my fifteen million? Are you still going to pay the hush money?"
Accountant Li cared only about points, not money. Her response was generous. "The compensation and hush money we agreed on remain unchanged. We will also compensate you at full price for all the food that was destroyed."
"We will take fifty grams of every kind of meat on the ground."
"As for anything besides meat, we will buy however much you want to sell and settle everything in points at the bases' prices."
Aside from the painfully expensive meat, Accountant Li had also found frozen corn and similar items while sorting through everything.
None of it was moldy or rotten. It was exceptionally well preserved, the kind of food they rarely encountered. If they came across it, they would of course buy as much as they could.
And if they bought nothing... she was afraid their mighty Shadow King might switch on the shadowless lamp and kill herself.
"Then I will sell it all," Ning Dali said. "Oh, right. How are you going to pay?"
Fifteen million. They could hardly pay that much in cash.
"By transfer," Accountant Li said. "Send me your account number, and the funds allocated to the Shadow King will reach you within one business day."
Ning Dali blinked.
"I used to be an Extremist Eater."
Meaning she had no legal bank account and could not receive a transfer.
"Then wait until you have opened an account at one of the bases, and give me your card number." Accountant Li took a spotless white business card from her pocket and handed it to Ning Dali.
The card was simply designed. A pitch-black shadow marked the front, while the back bore the name and contact number of the Shadow King's personal accountant.
Ning Dali put the card away, still looking unsatisfied.
She took out her smart device. "Let us exchange contact details and sign a contract?"
It was a reasonable request. After all, it involved fifteen million.
Without a contract, she could hardly feel at ease.
For some reason, a faint unease welled up inside Accountant Li. Instinctively, she wanted to refuse Ning Dali's request.
But after two seconds of thought, she still could not find a suitable reason to refuse. In the end, reason overcame instinct. She forced down her unease and took out her smart device.
"Beep."
The friend request had been approved. Accountant Li's friend list now included a contact called "Not Ning Dali Herself."
"Hurry up and weigh it," Ning Dali said. "If you take much longer, I am afraid Wang You and the others will have reached the bases."
"Mm..." Accountant Li resignedly took out an electronic scale.
She had only just squatted down to begin weighing when her smart device started vibrating.
"Bzz."
"Bzz."
"Nothing to worry about. Do not mind it. I am just giving you a like. Your feed is far too interesting." Ning Dali said it lightly.
She went through every post Accountant Li had ever shared and liked them all. Then she carefully selected several of them, took screenshots, and saved them to her smart device's photo album.
Those screenshots of the likes could all serve as evidence of her connections in the future.
After riding the Shadow King's coattails and walking away unscathed, she had also added the Shadow King's personal accountant as a friend. Rounded off, that was tantamount to her and the Shadow King bonding like old friends at first sight and sharing drinks and laughter.
Accountant Li stood frozen, a scale still in her hand. "..."
For a moment, she wanted to take the card back.
"Why do you look like that? Cheer up. Smile." Ning Dali leaned her face close beside Accountant Li's and took a picture with her.
Comments
Post a Comment