"Set the price."
The moment those words left Pei Wan's mouth, the black mass outside had already moved closer.
In the rain, the infected were packed so tightly together they looked like a single shifting body. Their footsteps were chaotic, but not slow.
They were following something.
Some scent.
Something pulling them through the dark, past the northern intersection, toward the light of Mist Convenience—
and toward something even more hidden.
Su Yu held Sui Sui so tightly her knuckles had gone white.
Wang Defa had already flattened himself against the very edge of the shutter door, barely daring to look outside.
Lin Wu, however, didn't answer at once.
She lowered her eyes first, checking the system panel.
[Infected swarm ETA: 90 seconds.][Recommended Option 1: Retrieve special item into store core immediately.][Recommended Option 2: Use suppression-type item to delay resonance.][Current Risk: Medium-High]
Suppression-type item.
Lin Wu lifted her gaze and looked at Pei Wan.
"You have something that can suppress the fluctuations from the sealed case."
It wasn't a question.
Pei Wan's expression darkened slightly.
A direct hit.
"We do," she admitted. "Two single-use suppressor injectors."
Lin Wu made the calculation instantly.
"I want one."
"And the portable low-temp containment case from your vehicle."
She paused, then added,
"And one escort from your recovery team. Destination: the underground cold storage under the old CDC building in North District."
Pei Wan frowned almost immediately.
"The first two, yes. The third, no."
"Why?" Lin Wu asked, calm as ever.
"Because I don't even know how many of us will still be alive by tomorrow morning." Pei Wan stared at her. "I'm not trading my team's next operation away for one last-minute request from you."
Lin Wu nodded.
"Fine."
"Then replace it with your other authority fragment."
That one landed hard.
Pei Wan's face changed for real this time.
Outside, the man carrying the black equipment case took an involuntary step forward.
"That's impossible—"
Lin Wu didn't even look at him. Her eyes stayed on Pei Wan.
"You didn't come for that box with only one fragment."
"Either you have another one on you, or it's in the car."
"I'm not asking for full clearance. Just one fragment."
She tilted her head slightly.
"That price is already generous."
Pei Wan fell silent.
For a moment, the only sounds in the store were rain—
and the low, distant growls getting closer outside.
At the side, Qi Ye suddenly understood why the place was called Mist Convenience.
When Lin Wu bargained, she moved like mist too.
You thought she'd stepped back—
but she'd already slipped behind you.
Finally, Pei Wan spoke.
"Tell me first how you plan to handle the case."
"That's a separate price." Lin Wu answered instantly.
Pei Wan closed her eyes briefly, as if pressing down irritation.
A few seconds later, she reached into the inner pocket of her jacket and pulled out another sealed pouch.
Inside it—
another silver authority fragment.
Different number.
Same material.
The system reacted at once.
[Detected: Authority Fragment-05][Can form preliminary splice with currently acquired fragments.][Value: Extremely High]
A faint light flashed through Lin Wu's eyes.
Good.
Very good.
This trade was worth it.
"Is that enough now?" Pei Wan asked.
"Almost." Lin Wu nodded. "Now bring me the suppressor injector and the low-temp case."
Pei Wan turned and signaled to her team.
Moments later, a slender silver metal injector and a portable low-temperature storage box were delivered to the edge of the barrier.
The injector was marked with a blue measurement line, clearly designed for one-time insertion.
The case was small, but heavily reinforced, with pale vapor curling off its shell from the independent cooling unit inside.
System evaluation followed immediately.
[Single-use suppressor injector ×1][Portable low-temperature containment case ×1][Combined Value: High]
Only then did Lin Wu nod.
"Deal."
The system prompt flashed.
[High-value special transaction complete.][Store Reputation +4][Reward Obtained: Temporary Isolation Bench ×1]
Another new function.
But Lin Wu didn't have time to inspect it.
Because the infected swarm had already reached the edge of the barrier.
The first infected that slammed into the golden boundary was instantly blasted into black ash.
But the ones behind it didn't stop.
If anything, the scent seemed to be driving them harder. One after another, they hurled themselves against the shimmering arc of light. The rain filled with short, sharp buzzing sounds.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
It sounded like an entire horde of monsters testing the foundations of the store.
Su Yu's face turned pale.
"Are they… going to keep doing this?"
"They will," Qi Ye said quietly, eyes fixed outside. "Unless that thing stops giving off a scent."
At the counter, Pei Wan lowered her voice.
"Now tell me your method."
Only then did Lin Wu turn her attention away from the outside.
"Two options."
"First—you take the case, leave with it, and drag the whole swarm somewhere else."
Pei Wan said nothing.
Because that wasn't a method.
The moment they left this safe zone, they wouldn't make it two blocks.
"Second," Lin Wu continued, "the case stays here for now. But it gets handled under my rules."
Pei Wan stared at her.
"Specifics."
Lin Wu stopped holding back.
"I have a place that can suppress it temporarily." She tapped the counter. "But before I do that, I want every precaution you know."
"Seal failure signs. How the suppressor injector works. Temperature parameters for the containment case. And—"
She paused.
"Whether or not this thing can explode."
Pei Wan looked at her and asked, "I thought you said you weren't curious what was inside."
"I'm still not." Lin Wu's voice stayed level. "I only care whether it can blow up my store."
The answer was so brutally practical that Pei Wan almost respected it.
No more circling.
"It won't explode," she said. "But it will keep releasing attraction waves. The stronger the waves get, the higher the level of infected it draws."
"If the seal fully fails, infected within a three-kilometer radius could be pulled in."
Su Yu nearly stopped breathing.
Three kilometers.
That wasn't a neighborhood problem anymore.
Pei Wan continued,
"Inject the suppressor into the blue port on the side of the case, and you can force the waves down temporarily. Six hours at most. The low-temp case can delay it further, but it won't solve the problem."
"To actually stabilize it, you need the full authority fragments and a dedicated parsing platform."
Lin Wu's eyes shifted.
"You have one at your base?"
"Yes," Pei Wan answered. "But we can't get back there right now."
That matched.
They weren't refusing to take the case.
They were trapped with it.
Lin Wu lowered her eyes and thought for two seconds.
Then she reached beneath the counter.
The silver-gray sealed case appeared on the surface a second later.
The instant it returned, Pei Wan's breath hitched.
Inside the rest pod, Xie Lin sat upright sharply.
And outside—
the horde reacted like it had smelled fresh blood.
The impacts against the barrier came faster, harder. The buzzing rose layer after layer, the golden lines in the rain turning bright enough to sting the eyes.
Lin Wu ignored the outside and examined the case.
Just as expected.
The red seal, already scuffed, had begun to curl at the edges. On the side of the case, a faint blue light pulsed softly—
like a heartbeat.
Pei Wan pushed the injector across immediately.
"Now."
Lin Wu didn't move.
"You do it."
Pei Wan looked at her, then didn't waste another word.
She grabbed the injector, aligned it with the tiny blue port on the left side of the case, and pressed it in with clean precision.
Click.
The blue gauge dropped one level immediately.
A second later, the unstable light across the surface dimmed.
Outside, the rhythm of the infected striking the barrier visibly faltered.
They didn't scatter at once.
But the wild, mindless urgency weakened.
The system updated.
[Special item fluctuation decreased.][Swarm attraction intensity: Medium → Low][Proceeding to next processing stage is now possible.]
Pei Wan had barely exhaled when Lin Wu dragged the low-temp case over.
"Open it," Lin Wu said.
Pei Wan obeyed.
The moment the lid lifted, cold white vapor spilled out. Inside were custom-shaped brackets and locking points, clearly designed for transporting this exact class of object.
Lin Wu looked inside.
But she didn't put the sealed case in.
Instead, she asked the system:
"Which is safer—store core retrieval or low-temp containment?"
The panel paused for two seconds.
[If retrieved into store core, maximum stability will be achieved.][However, unknown changes will be triggered.][If kept under external containment, stability will remain moderate.]
Unknown changes.
Again.
Lin Wu stared at the case and tapped one finger against its edge.
She hated uncertainty.
But she also knew—
sometimes the best gains were the ones you had to steal out of the unknown.
Pei Wan watched her.
"What is it?"
"Nothing." Lin Wu looked up, then smiled slightly. "I was just thinking… maybe this deal can still make me a little more money."
Pei Wan: "…"
A bad feeling hit her instantly.
And sure enough, Lin Wu spoke again.
"Captain Pei, one more term."
"You said full authority fragments plus a parsing platform can stabilize it."
"If I decide to buy parsing information from you after daybreak…"
She smiled faintly.
"I get first priority."
Pei Wan stared at her.
"You want that too?"
"Of course." Lin Wu sounded perfectly justified. "If this thing's going to sit in my store, I'm not leaving myself without a backup plan."
Pei Wan was silent for two seconds.
Outside, the impacts against the barrier hadn't stopped entirely. Her team was already exchanging low urgent reports. Rain kept falling, and the whole street felt soaked in cold pressure.
At last, she nodded.
"Fine."
"But you still have to survive tonight first."
"No problem." Lin Wu raised a hand. "Then I'll give you something in return."
As soon as the words fell, her palm settled over the sealed case.
Her mind sank.
[Retrieve special item into store core?]
This time, Lin Wu didn't hesitate.
[Yes.]
The silver-gray case vanished silently from the counter.
Not like when it was stored away.
Not like being put into inventory.
This felt different.
As if something deeper—something inside the store itself—had opened its mouth and swallowed it whole.
The entire convenience store trembled, just once.
The lights didn't flicker.
The shelves didn't move.
But everyone in the room felt it.
The air had changed.
Like something sleeping deep inside the store had shifted in its sleep.
Pei Wan's pupils constricted.
"What did you do?"
Lin Wu didn't answer.
Because the system had already started refreshing rapidly across her vision.
[Special resonance item retrieved.][Store core absorbing…][Unknown change generating.][Please remain calm.]
Outside—
the infected swarm, still hammering the barrier seconds earlier, froze all at once.
As if they had suddenly lost the trail.
Then the front line of infected gave confused, guttural snarls and began turning aimlessly in the rain. The ones behind them lost cohesion too, the pressure at the front collapsing as the pack started to spread apart.
Qi Ye was the first to react.
"…The scent's gone."
Pei Wan whipped her head toward the street outside, and for the first time, genuine shock broke through her composure.
It had actually worked.
Not by containment case.
Not by injector.
The store had simply…
eaten it.
Behind the counter, Lin Wu stared at the final line slowly appearing on the system panel.
Then, little by little, the corner of her mouth rose.
[Congratulations, Store Owner.][New store function unlocking: Special Goods Cabinet.]