"On the surface? What if we look deeper than that?"
Cipher caught the hidden implication in Lu Zhaoran's sentence.
"If we don't look at it from the surface..."
Lu Zhaoran fell silent.
"I sensed B+ rank signatures from Lin Wei and Xiong Lei. That isn't something explained away as a simple Overclocking."
"You mean Lin Wei and Xiong Lei manifested B+ rank strength at 그 moment?"
Cipher immediately got the gist. Lu Zhaoran nodded.
"Exactly. There is a much more powerful force residing within their bodies. For some reason, this power remains hidden. It stays buried unless they reach a moment of absolute crisis."
"Hiss... I feel like I've seen this setting somewhere before?"
Cipher rubbed her chin.
'Three people, one male and two females, all possessing hidden powers. Isn't this just Dan Heng, March 7th, and the Trailblazer?'
'Where exactly did I end up? This is a textbook protagonist template!'
'If I hadn't joined their squad, would the plot involve them wiping out the Arasaka Heavy Industries team, being hunted by the corporation, undergoing trials, gradually discovering secrets, and finally having the whole team awaken their potential to defeat Arasaka?'
In an instant, Cipher constructed the entire plotline in her head.
"Is that so?"
Lu Zhaoran tilted her head, not understanding Cipher's remark.
"No... I remembered wrong. Please, continue."
Cipher brushed it off. Lu Zhaoran gave her a suspicious glance but didn't push.
"I suspect this power is something they originally possessed. However, due to past trauma, their brains likely triggered an automatic defense mechanism. It sealed that original power away. It only becomes possible to reactivate it before a true life-or-death situation."
'Yep... it's getting even more similar.'
"So, what should we do now? Try to activate the power inside them?"
Cipher followed the logic of the information provided.
"I'm not sure. If their brains sealed it to protect them, wouldn't we be harming them if we just forced it open?"
"But if we don't activate it, they have no way to obtain true strength. In this Pit Bottom District, weakness is the original sin. Even if it activates during a crisis, it's still an unstable factor."
Lu Zhaoran appeared quite troubled.
"How about we wait for them to wake up and ask them individually? We can't protect them every second of every day. This time was a perfect example."
"...I suppose that's the only way."
Lu Zhaoran agreed to Cipher's suggestion.
"Oh, right." Cipher suddenly called out as Lu Zhaoran turned to leave. "You transferred over three million to me before. I had something to use it for at the time, so I didn't return it yet."
"So, I'm here to pay you back now!"
Cipher pulled out her terminal and transferred two million to Lu Zhaoran's account.
"Two million?! Boss, did you make a mistake?"
Lu Zhaoran's eyes widened. Cipher put on an air of disdain.
"How could I possibly make a mistake? This cat was just too lazy to calculate how much of the money was yours after subtracting the sales. So, I just gave you two million. This includes the money I owed you plus your share. As for the extra, just keep it."
Cipher turned and left the living room, heading back to her bedroom.
"This..." Lu Zhaoran slowly muttered to the closed door. "The transaction amount was exactly two million... it wasn't that hard to calculate..."
★ ★ ★
Inside the bedroom, Cipher grumbled to herself.
'Why care about that much? This cat isn't short on these measly Credits. It's just two thousand Stellar Jades... ugh, wait, it hurts more when I put it that way.'
She heard Lu Zhaoran's final remark, but she did it specifically to repay her. Besides, aside from Credits, she didn't know what else to use to repay Lu Zhaoran.
'Forget it. It's my turn, draw!'
Cipher slapped her cheeks and opened the gacha interface. She consumed 1.6 million Credits to start the pull.
Eight blues, two purples.
"A Wisp of Aura? Is this a duplicate purple? System, stop plucking wool from Princess Homebody all the time!"
She finally managed to get two purples, only for the first one to be Castorice's aura again. But complaints aside, the Princess Homebody's aura was incredibly useful.
Moving her gaze, Cipher looked at the second purple item.
[Fortune Glue] (Purple Consumable)
Is luck a skill? Perhaps. Can luck be changed? Herta believes so.
This genius invented [Fortune Glue]. By applying it to the eyelids, one gains exactly 24 system hours of good luck.
Many people at Herta Space Station tried this invention with great excitement; they all spent an entirely uneventful day. This proves that in a volatile world, being able to live a mundane life is already very lucky.
[Effect: After applying Fortune Glue to the eyelids, good luck descends upon the user for the next 24 hours. The user will pass the day peacefully.]
★ ★ ★
T/N: I made a translation error a couple of chapters back. I wasn't aware the "dwelling princess" was referring to Castorice; I thought it was something else. I've now changed it to Princess Homebody and her "wisp of scent" to aura.