"On the surface? What if it's not just on the surface?"
Cipher seemed to have caught the key point in Claire's sentence.
"If it's not just on the surface..."
Claire fell silent for a moment, then continued:
"I felt a B+ rank aura from Jasmine and Ethan. This can no longer be explained by a simple Ability Overclock."
"You mean, Jasmine and Ethan erupted with B+ rank strength at that time?"
After hearing Claire's words, Cipher immediately got her meaning.
Claire nodded, confirming Cipher's thoughts.
"Exactly. There is a much more powerful force inside their bodies. However, for some reason, this power has been hidden within them. Unless it's a moment of crisis, it basically won't show itself."
"Hiss... I feel like I've seen this setting somewhere before?"
Listening to Claire's description, Cipher rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
Three people, one guy and two girls, all with hidden powers—isn't that just Dan Heng, March 7th, and Stelle?
Where have I ended up? This is a textbook protagonist template, isn't it?
If she hadn't joined their team, would the subsequent plot have been wiping out the Arasaka Heavy Industries squad, being hunted by Arasaka, then going through various dangers, gradually discovering everyone's secrets, and finally, everyone exploding with power to defeat Arasaka Heavy Industries?
Cipher instantly felt like she had successfully constructed the plot in her mind.
"Have you?"
Claire tilted her head in confusion, not understanding Cipher's remark.
"No... I remembered wrong. Please continue."
Seeing her confusion, Cipher just brushed it off.
Claire gave her a suspicious look but didn't ask further, continuing instead:
"I suspect this power is something they originally possessed. But because they all went through some unpleasant experiences, their brains activated an automatic protection mechanism, sealing away that original power. It might only be reactivated when they are truly on the brink of life and death."
Hmm... it's becoming even more similar.
"So what should we do now? Go and activate the power in their bodies?"
Seeing Claire explain so much, Cipher followed the information and asked curiously.
"I'm not sure. If their brains sealed it away to protect them, wouldn't we be harming them if we just went and activated it like that?"
"But if we don't activate it, they won't have access to powerful strength. In this Pit Bottom District, weakness is the sin. Although it gets activated in life-or-death situations, it's still an unstable factor."
Facing Cipher's question, Claire also seemed somewhat troubled.
"How about we wait for them to wake up and ask them one by one? After all, we can't protect them all the time. This time was an example."
"...That's the only way."
After thinking for a while and finding no better method, she agreed to Cipher's proposal.
"By the way." Just as Claire turned to go do something else, Cipher suddenly stopped her. "Didn't you transfer over three million to me before? But because I had something to use it for at the time, I didn't pay you back yet."
"So, I'm here to pay you back now!"
Saying that, Cipher took out her terminal and transferred two million to Claire's account.
Seeing her action, Claire looked down and took out her own terminal.
"Two million?! Boss, did you make a mistake?"
As soon as she saw the transfer information, Claire's eyes widened, and she hurriedly shouted at Cipher.
Faced with Claire's confusion, Cipher put on a look of disdain.
"How could I make a mistake? This cat was just too lazy to calculate how much of that money was yours after subtracting the part that was sold. So I just gave you two million. This two million includes the money I owed you, plus your cut and so on. As for the extra, just keep it for yourself."
After saying that, Cipher turned and left the living room, returning to her bedroom without giving Claire any time to react.
"This..." Looking at the closed bedroom door, Claire slowly muttered, "The transaction amount is exactly two million... It's not that hard to calculate..."
...
Inside the bedroom, Cipher murmured somewhat dissatisfiedly to herself:
"Why care so much? This cat doesn't lack these credit points. It's just two thousand stellar jade... Uh, wait, it seems more heart-wrenching when put that way."
She had certainly heard Claire's last words, but she had done it mainly to repay her.
Moreover, another problem was... besides credit points, she didn't know what else she could use to repay Claire... "Forget it, don't think too much. My turn, draw!"
Cipher patted her cheeks, opened the gacha interface with an expectant look, and directly spent 1.6 million credit points to start drawing.
Eight blues and two purples.
"a wisp of aura? Is this a duplicate purple? System, don't always keep fleecing the Reclusive Princess alone!"
She finally got two purples, but the first one was Castorice's aura again, so Cipher couldn't help but complain.
But complaining aside, she had to admit that the Reclusive Princess's aura was really useful; she felt quite bad after using it last time.
Moving her gaze away from the wisp of aura, Cipher looked at the second purple item.
[Good Fortune gel (Purple)]
Effect: After applying fu it, good gain extr8luck for the next 24 hours, and the user will spend the day safely.