“You! Are you serious?!”
Ella stood frozen in place.
Her fingertips curled slightly.
Even her breathing unconsciously became lighter and slower.
She wasn’t some naive girl who didn’t understand the world.
From the moment she stepped into this chaotic and lawless sea, she had understood how dangerous people could be.
She also knew that a woman like Sereya, who could firmly establish herself at Transfer Station No. 29 and hold both resources and power, could never be as gentle and pure as she appeared on the surface.
Yet even after preparing for the worst, she had never expected the other party to be so direct, so unrestrained in throwing out such a condition.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
The smile on Sereya’s face didn’t fade in the slightest.
Instead, it carried a kind of calm that saw through everything.
Her golden pupils gleamed with a cold sharpness under the dim light.
“Yes, I’m serious. What about it?”
She leaned forward slightly.
Her tone was flat, yet carried an unquestionable dominance.
“I figured you would reach this point sooner or later. You already know what kind of place this is. Without a backer, without any leverage, you would eventually be chewed down to the bone. Rather than going to those stingy, disgusting people later to negotiate a price, why not follow me now? I promise I won’t mistreat you.”
Her words were so direct they were almost naked.
There was no cover, no hint of euphemism.
“This…”
Ella’s throat tightened.
For a moment, she didn’t know how to respond.
The pair of folded wings behind Sereya suddenly spread open slightly.
The broad wing membranes cast a heavy shadow that instantly enveloped Ella completely.
There was no gale, no outward pressure.
Yet Ella could clearly feel an invisible sense of oppression wrapping around her limbs.
It was the natural suppression of a superior toward the weak.
It was the aura Sereya released unconsciously, leaving her with no way to resist.
The other party didn’t make a move.
She didn’t scold.
She simply used the simplest and most direct method to force her to make a choice.
“This…”
Ella’s gaze wavered.
Her heart was surging with intense struggle.
To be honest, she wasn’t without crooked thoughts.
Who was Sereya?
A tall, golden-haired onee-san with a powerful presence, real authority, and a genuine high-ranking figure at Transfer Station No. 29.
A real rich and powerful woman.
In this land full of crises, being able to climb up to someone like her was no different from finding the most solid backer.
Her purpose in coming here was precisely to infiltrate the upper echelons and gather intelligence.
The stepping stone Sereya offered was practically a shortcut delivered right to her door.
But the price was far too great.
It was selling herself.
It was handing over both her dignity and her body in a single transaction.
She lowered her head.
Her gaze fell on the tips of her small leather shoes, which were still fairly clean.
The shoe tips were stained with a bit of dust, looking out of place with the dilapidated surroundings.
Two completely opposite thoughts inside her body pulled at each other frantically, waging a fierce internal war.
One was instinctive rejection.
She hadn’t yet reached the end of her rope.
She still had a final way out.
She was far from the point where she had to sell herself just to survive.
More importantly, she was unwilling from the bottom of her heart.
Even if she was stuck in the mud, she didn’t want to give up her bottom line so easily and exchange for stability in such a disgraceful way.
But the other voice was unusually calm.
Even cold to the point of cruelty.
It kept echoing in her mind.
This was an excellent opportunity.
She only needed to pay the price of her body to rise to the heavens in a single step.
She could directly infiltrate the core circle of Transfer Station No. 29 and come into contact with secrets that others couldn’t glimpse even after a lifetime of effort.
She could complete her mission smoothly.
Compared to her ultimate goal, what did this small sacrifice even count as?
In this world of the weak being preyed upon by the strong, bottom lines and dignity were worthless to begin with.
Why cling to meaningless persistence?
The pros and cons were laid out so clearly they were glaring.
Reason was frantically urging her to nod and agree.
Emotion was desperately resisting.
Ella bit her lower lip.
Her fingertips dug deeply into her palms.
The pain helped her barely maintain a shred of clarity.
Hesitation, conflict, unwillingness, calculation…
All kinds of emotions intertwined, almost turning her thoughts into a tangled mess.
After a long while, she raised her head.
The struggle in her eyes gradually settled, replaced by a kind of near-stubborn determination.
“I… cannot accept it.”
The moment her words fell, she clearly saw a trace of surprise flash through Sereya’s eyes, quickly replaced by faint amusement.
“Hm? You’re actually refusing?”
Sereya raised an eyebrow, as if she had never expected this answer.
“I thought you would be a smart person.”
Ella had just opened her mouth to say something when her wrist was suddenly grabbed by a strong hand.
The warm palm carried an unyielding force.
Before she could react, Sereya had already turned around without another word and dragged her toward the black vehicle parked not far away.
“What are you doing?! Let go of me!”
Ella panicked instantly and struggled with all her strength.
But her strength was like a mantis trying to stop a cart in front of Sereya.
It had no effect at all.
She was half-pulled, half-dragged to the side of the car.
The car door was roughly opened.
Then her entire body was forcibly shoved into the soft seat.
Bang——
The sound of the car door closing was like a heavy shackle, temporarily cutting her off from the outside world.
The vehicle started smoothly and slowly drove away from the street corner, heading toward the deeper, more prosperous, and more heavily guarded areas of the Transfer Station.
Ella leaned against the car window, watching the street scenery rapidly recede.
Her heart was pounding wildly.
Yet her mind uncontrollably replayed every word and action Sereya had just made.
Her tone had been far too practiced.
Her posture had been far too natural.
Even the expression when she proposed that kind of transaction had been as calm as if she were discussing today’s weather.
A terrifying thought suddenly rushed into her mind.
She seemed to… not be doing this for the first time.
This kind of smooth, practiced guidance.
This kind of natural dominance.
This kind of completely unreserved transactional tone.
It didn’t feel like a spur-of-the-moment decision at all.
It felt more like a long-formed habit.
This woman who looked elegant and beautiful, with an overwhelming presence, had already used this method to gather countless people before.
Habitual offender.
This word froze in her mind.
Ella suddenly turned her head and looked at Sereya, who was sitting beside her with her eyes closed, resting.
The evening sunlight slanted through the car window onto her side profile, outlining a delicate and perfect contour.
Her golden hair glowed with a soft luster.
That face was brilliant and beautiful, aggressively beautiful, and deceptively beautiful.
But looking at this face now, Ella didn’t feel the slightest appreciation in her heart.
Instead, a wave of uncontrollable disgust surged up.
Hypocritical.
Domineering.
Selfish.
Using power and resources to wantonly plunder others.
Treating other people’s dignity and bottom lines as commodities that could be traded at will.
So that’s how it is.
After understanding this point, the panic and unease in Ella’s heart strangely calmed down quite a bit.
It even faintly gave birth to a trace of relief.
If Sereya had been someone who acted on a whim with good intentions, she might have felt guilty about using her.
She might have wavered in her original intentions because of the other party’s kindness.
But now it seemed she was nothing more than a selfish bastard who was used to controlling everything through power.
Since that was the case, she could use her without any burden and with complete justification.
The moment she realized this, the hesitation in her heart nearly disappeared.
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