The instant the deep-blue crystal core rolled across the tile, it felt like every light in the store brightened by another layer.
Not an ordinary blue.
It was deeper than that. Colder than that.
Like an entire snow-choked night had been compressed into a single shard of mineral.
Click.
The core struck the floor lightly once—
then came to a stop in front of the register.
Inside and outside the store, every eye locked onto it.
Qin Zheng's gaze darkened sharply.
Pei Wan straightened at once.
Even Zhou Qiming's breathing stalled for half a beat the moment he saw it.
Qi Ye almost stepped forward on instinct—
then forced himself to stop.
Because Cen Dong had already fallen through the door.
She hit the floor hard inside the store, one shoulder striking first. Her cloak tore aside, exposing the insulated lining underneath, nearly soaked through with blood.
The wound on the right side of her abdomen wasn't a clean stab or slash.
It looked more like something had ripped through her viciously, leaving the edges torn and blackened by frozen damage.
And yet even in that state, the first thing she did after hitting the floor was not clutch the wound.
She reached for the crystal core.
"Don't touch—"
Her voice was hoarse enough to split.
Too late.
Lin Wu had already picked it up half a second before she could reach it.
The instant it touched her palm, it sank with weight.
Not like stone.
More like a compacted shard of frozen electricity. Even through her skin, she could feel fine currents of energy crawling slowly along the ridges of her fingerprints.
The system prompt detonated almost immediately.
[Detected: High-Tier Energy Crystal Core — Grade Three][Value Assessment: Extremely High][Notes: Triple-use item — energy source, calibration medium, and interworld trade currency][Notice: Current store may register this as "special currency."]
Excellent.
Not ordinary hard currency.
The kind that could directly alter how the store functioned.
A flash lit in Lin Wu's eyes almost at once.
And when Cen Dong realized the crystal core had already landed in Lin Wu's hand, something in the final thread of tension holding her up suddenly loosened.
Her forehead almost touched the ground. Her breathing turned ragged and shaky.
"…Log it first," she said, eyes closing for one second. Her voice was so low it was almost only breath. "Don't let anyone take it for free."
The moment those words landed, the line of Qi Ye's jaw tightened violently.
Lin Wu looked at him once and understood immediately.
This wasn't just familiarity.
This was the same kind of person.
The type who, even when almost dead, still made sure the goods were entered into the books first.
"Relax." Lin Wu closed her hand around the core, her tone perfectly steady. "Once something enters my store, nobody takes it without paying."
Then she stored the crystal core into the warehouse space in one clean motion.
The moment she did, Qin Zheng's gaze grew colder still—
but he said nothing.
Because he understood perfectly well:
that crystal core was Lin Wu's merchandise now.
If he wanted to touch it again, he'd have to pay.
"Qi Ye." Lin Wu tilted her chin. "Get her up."
This time Qi Ye didn't hesitate. He stepped forward and pulled Cen Dong upright. The moment his hand touched her shoulder, his movement stalled for the slightest fraction.
She was freezing.
Not the cold of ordinary blood loss.
The kind of cold that came from being out in wasteland snow for far too long.
Cen Dong steadied herself against him and opened her eyes to look at him. The corner of her mouth moved slightly.
"You're alive."
Qi Ye's voice dropped.
"So are you."
"Almost wasn't." Cen Dong let out a weak breath. "Too bad my life is harder to kill than I expected."
The moment she finished, darkness visibly washed across her vision again. Her body swayed.
Lin Wu had already stepped closer and lowered her eyes to the wound at her side.
That was not an ordinary tear.
Inside the injury, there was a faint trace of frost-white residue, like something unbelievably cold had scraped inward from the outside.
"What did that?" Lin Wu asked.
Cen Dong's breathing turned rough.
"White Tower District…"
"Icebreaker."
Qi Ye's expression darkened immediately.
"You reached the innermost zone?"
Cen Dong didn't answer. She only coughed twice, and a faint trace of blood misted at the corner of her lips.
Zhou Qiming's face changed immediately.
"It's not only the external wound. Her body temperature is dropping."
Qin Zheng looked once at the wound near her waist, voice clinical enough to sound almost cruel.
"The injury carries cold-type contamination. If this drags on, first the blood fails. Then the organs."
Su Yu, holding Sui Sui, felt her own hands go cold.
By now she had started getting used to the fact that everything said in this store somehow kept getting more terrifying.
Lin Wu, however, only extracted the useful part.
Can be saved.
But quickly.
"Where are the goods?" she asked Cen Dong.
Cen Dong looked up at her, visibly not expecting that to be the first question at a time like this.
But then, somehow, she smiled again.
Very faintly.
Very exhausted.
And unmistakably like someone who had finally made it to the right place.
"Left leg strap. Half a map."
"Inside pocket of the cloak. Old White Tower access badge."
She paused to breathe.
"The crystal core from just now was the deposit to get in."
She continued:
"The rest of the price…"
"…we negotiate after I survive."
Good.
Professional.
Lin Wu liked professional customers.
"Fine." She nodded once. "Then I'll extend your life first."
She turned and pulled out the newly acquired field medical module, the hemostatic spray, and a box of anti-infection injectors from storage. The way she laid them out on the counter was fast, precise, and almost absurdly organized—like she was building a standard treatment package instead of saving someone's life.
Qin Zheng's eyes shifted when he saw the injection box.
Because that had originally been second-team inventory.
Now it was stock.
"Professor. Shen Xiaohe. Over here." Lin Wu lifted her head. "Between the two of you, who understands this wound better?"
Zhou immediately stepped forward, and Shen Xiaohe followed him with determination despite her still-pale face.
One look at the injury, and Zhou's breathing deepened.
"Icebreaker claw wound," he said. "There's low-temperature contamination left inside. The hemostatic spray can only close the surface. The real problem is the cold inside her."
"How do we treat it?" Lin Wu asked.
"Raise temperature first. Then suppress contamination." Zhou clenched his jaw. "Best case? Heat patches, anti-infection injectors, and—"
He didn't finish.
Lin Wu had already turned her head toward Qin Zheng.
"You heard him."
"If you pay more, I'll stabilize her right here."
Qin Zheng: "…"
This time Pei Wan genuinely lowered her head, and one shoulder moved slightly.
She was numb now.
Even in a moment like this, Lin Wu had still identified the single person most suitable to foot the bill for this life.
And the worst part?
It really was Qin Zheng.
Because what Cen Dong had dragged in wasn't just a Grade-Three crystal core.
It was half a White Tower transit map and an old access badge.
In any other place, those were valuable goods.
In the eyes of the Second Team, they were mission-grade value.
Qin Zheng looked at Cen Dong for two seconds.
Then finally asked,
"What do you want?"
"One short-acting sedative." Lin Wu answered instantly. "And every heat patch in your vehicle."
Qin Zheng frowned.
"The sedative isn't meant for this kind of wound—"
"I know." Lin Wu cut him off directly. "I don't want it to heal her. I want it to suppress the unstable response inside her first."
Professor Zhou's eyes shifted immediately.
"That could work," he said fast. "Her condition isn't just the wound. The active response in her system is becoming unstable too. The sedative can suppress one layer of it."
Good.
Professional backing acquired.
Qin Zheng didn't argue further. He simply raised a hand toward his team outside.
A moment later, a silver short-acting sedative injector and an entire pack of heat patches were delivered to the edge of the barrier.
Lin Wu collected them with her usual efficient motion.
First into storage.
Then back out.
The whole process was so smooth it looked less like emergency medicine and more like a standardized business protocol.
"Cen Dong." Lin Wu crouched slightly and held up the sedative. "Clear terms first."
"This injector was newly purchased."
"It's not part of your deposit."
"If you live, you repay."
Cen Dong was barely able to keep her eyes open now, but she still forced out an answer through her throat.
"…Log it."
Lin Wu was satisfied.
As long as the customer understood the rules.
The next second, she pressed the sedative in.
The moment the silver-blue liquid entered her bloodstream, Cen Dong's entire body tensed violently. Her fingers went white from the strain.
But after a few seconds, the shuddering—that awful tremor that had felt like she was freezing apart from the inside out—finally eased.
Shen Xiaohe tore open the heat patches immediately and began assisting Zhou with the wound.
The hemostatic spray fell across the torn edges. The wound twitched once, sharply, and then the blood finally stopped continuing to seep outward. Once the heat patches were layered into place, at last, a trace of life returned to Cen Dong's death-white face.
Qi Ye remained beside her the whole time, silent.
But Lin Wu noticed that his gaze never left Cen Dong's wrist.
There was an old scar there.
A thin ring, as if something wire-like had once cut into her skin hard enough to leave a permanent memory.
Not a new wound.
An old story.
And once the worst of the immediate danger had passed, Cen Dong didn't ask whether she would live.
She looked first at Lin Wu.
"You took the map and badge?"
"Of course," Lin Wu answered.
"Good." Cen Dong breathed out slowly. "Then this life of mine is finally worth the first payment."
That line bought even Qin Zheng two seconds of silence.
This woman was no ordinary piece on the board either.
At that moment, the system flashed again.
[New customer "Cen Dong" carries high-correlation intelligence.][Notice: The "Half White Tower Transit Map" in her possession is linked to the origin of the store anchor.]
A light flashed instantly in Lin Wu's eyes.
Very good.
She had already known Cen Dong brought premium goods.
Now it turned out the goods were not merely premium.
They reached all the way down toward the roots of the store itself.
"Fine." Lin Wu straightened slowly, tapping the ledger once with one finger. "Now that your life's been extended…"
She looked at Cen Dong, and the light in her eyes was almost impossible to hide.
"…we discuss the next order."
Cen Dong was leaning against the rest pod now. Her abdomen still throbbed, but her eyes had focused again.
She looked at Lin Wu, then let out a small, tired laugh.
"I knew it."
"A store like yours…"
"…would never ask me first whether it hurts."
"Obviously." Lin Wu turned to a fresh page in the ledger. "Whether it hurts doesn't matter."
She wrote three words with clean precision:
White Tower District
Then she looked up, her voice sharp enough to cut.
"What matters is this—"
"How did you, in the deepest part of White Tower District, see the words…"
"When the black shop lights up, the door will open?"
The store fell silent again.
Even the gray mist behind the cabinet seemed to still.
Because everyone in the room understood that this was no longer about directions.
This was about who, on the other side of the door,
had known about this store first.