Chapter 585 - Upgraded Spiritual Contract

Just to be safe, Han Wu didn’t bring Director Jia Gui and his underlings into the base where the gate was, calling the Commerce God King out instead.

Jia Gui’s nodding compliance was excessive to the point of being uncharacteristic for a World life form. When Commerce arrived two hours later, he immediately recognized his long-lost classmate.

“Jia Gui, you’re alive?”

“Li Xiulian, you haven’t kicked the bucket yet either; how could I die first?” Jia Gui replied, stutter disappearing as he tried to hug Commerce.

Commerce frowned. “Don’t call me that. Call me the Commerce God King.”

“Of course, Li Xiulian!” Jia Gui agreed, blatantly ignoring the request.

Even with Commerce verifying his identity, Director Jia Gui was still barred from the base. Regardless of his background with the Divine Civilization, the fact that his Core had been destroyed and he was left to wander around remained unchanged.

The Heaven Stair Civilization was the reason he had survived to this day. Knowing this, even Commerce couldn’t ascertain Jia Gui’s true loyalties. Thus, to be safe, he wasn’t allowed to enter the base.

Jia Gui didn’t mind this at all. In fact, he started reporting about the inner workings of the Heaven Stair Civilization without prompting. As an outer member and director, he was naturally well-informed and answered every question without hesitation.

Those from the Divine Civilizations were thrilled to learn this inside knowledge. If true, then the entirety of the Heaven Stair Civilization’s outer member sectors were exposed. All they would need to do was target specific areas to invade and capture all fifty floors of the outer area.

However, therein lay the problem: no one could tell if he was speaking the truth. What if this was a trap to lure in a huge group of invaders to their death?

Director Jia was a smart man and was aware of their concerns. So, he volunteered to sign a Spiritual Contract. If he were lying, his soul would be destroyed. This bold offer swayed the hearts of many into believing him. Even the Commerce God King was convinced.

Han Wu was also affected, but as an experienced invader, he felt that just signing a Spiritual Contract was inadequate. Pulling out an upgraded version of the contract from his bag, he placed it in front of Jia Gui.

Several master Epistians with powerful Mystic Arts had augmented this upgraded contract, making it several times more powerful than a regular one. A regular Spiritual Contract could be voided with special items or methods. This upgraded version, on the other hand, would require a hundred times more resources to completely negate it.

Increasing the cost of negating the contract also increased the effects of the contract. When Jia Gui felt the power of this upgraded contract, he became hesitant. He never thought that Han Wu would actually ask him to sign one.

Jia Gui’s uncertainty snapped Commerce out of his stupor. He had been hypnotized!

Stomping to his feet, he seized Jia Gui by the neck. “I thought of you as a classmate, but you clearly thought of me as an idiot! It seems that you’ve betrayed the Divine Civilization after all, so you have no reason to live on!”

“Wait, most of it was the truth!” Jia Gui panted, using all his strength to escape his grip. “I only lied in some parts to protect my own assets. Please believe me!”

“I will not!” Commerce activated his Divine Ring, which appeared behind him. A huge string of numbers representing his assets appeared above his head. The numbers started to fall, and his strength rapidly increased in response.

Jia Gui also unveiled his Divine Ring. It was almost invisible and was shaped like the mouth of a loudspeaker. As he spoke, his Divine Ring contracted and expanded rhythmically to form sound waves.

The denizens of the Divine Civilization and their units felt their minds turn hazy as the sound waves rippled over them. An unshakeable belief in Jia Gui’s words took root within them, and they started persuading Commerce to stop.

Han Wu quickly activated Replicate and revealed his four-element Divine Ring to counter the effect of Jia Gui’s.

Based on this, Han Wu could roughly guess that Jia Gui’s Divine Ring worked by hypnotizing targets. The sound waves appeared to make people more susceptible to his words. While his Divine Ring didn’t seem to have any offensive abilities, this was an undeniably powerful effect when used against the masses.

Han Wu also had some thoughts on Commerce’s Divine Ring. It appeared related to trade, with assets being exchanged for power. The thirty-digit number above his head represented his assets. Han Wu didn’t know the denomination it represented, but he was confident it wasn’t Divine Essence.

If it were, Commerce could have long purchased the entire Divine Civilization in its entirety and wouldn’t need to head to other civilizations to trade. Still, Commerce’s power had immense potential. Theoretically, if he could grow his resources and assets exponentially, his power would scale exponentially as well.

Commerce landed a powerful blow, pinning Jia Gui to the ground. One more hit, and he would crush Jia Gui’s skull.

Jia Gui repeatedly shouted denials of his betrayal between bloody coughs. At the last minute, he desperately cried that he would swear on Xiao Fang’s name.

Commerce didn’t land the finishing blow. His fist remained suspended halfway.

Han Wu’s ears perked up.

Who’s Xiao Fang?

he wondered.

Disappointingly, the two didn’t say anything more on the subject.

After confirming that Jia Gui was swearing on Xiao Fang’s name, Commerce dragged him back to the negotiation table, where he then signed the upgraded Spiritual Contract.

In the end, Jia Gui had barely managed to obtain the trust of Commerce. His information was swiftly uploaded to their encrypted internet.

Information about all the Heaven Stair Civilization’s outer members and units had been leaked.

With this knowledge, the Divine Civilization could stop their guerrilla warfare tactics and go straight for the kill. In just one day, all the gates connecting the Divine Civilization to the Heaven Stair Civilization had a new coordinate: the headquarters of the outer members.