Chapter 776: Conditions (4/2, bonus chapter for

First of all, 【Immortal-Slaying Water】 is a must. In reality, this thing is simply too important to me—important to the point where I absolutely cannot do without it.

Only by holding the Immortal-Slaying Water can someone like me, who hasn't even reached Cloud Level, possess the deterrent force to intimidate the Cheaters!

Next is information. I need to know at every moment the awakening status of the Cheaters, especially after what happened with Su Bairong. I have no desire to face a Cheater who has fully recovered their strength. At that point, even holding the Immortal-Slaying Water, I would be powerless.

Lastly, I need some self-protecting Oddities, and to arrange fallback plans for people around me like Yuan Jie.

Unlike in the game, in reality, without Advent Synchronize, I am just an ordinary person.

If someone wants to assassinate me, all they need to do is stake out a spot and use a sniper rifle—one bullet to a vital spot, and I'm done for.

Of course, if I'm given breathing room, I can Synchronize Advent, use Night Breath and my exaggerated physical fitness to immediately recover from injuries and tank the damage.

No matter what, my real-world self is very fragile, very insecure, and needs strict protection.

While thinking these things over, I was led toward the meeting room.

We arrived at the place quickly. Fang Yue stood at the door and waited a while before the meeting room door opened.

Entering inside, Fang Yue found it was just an ordinary round-table meeting room. A few people sat there quietly, their gazes all turning toward Fang Yue at once.

But among these ten people, Fang Yue only recognized the President, Jiang Wanchun.

"Fang Yue, on behalf of the United Front, I express my deep gratitude for your previous actions. You have rendered great meritorious service to the United Front, and the United Front is prepared to give you a reward. You may choose a deposit of one hundred million, or a hundred apartments, or a position within the United Front, becoming the branch president of District One…"

Jiang Wanchun was listing rewards that utterly failed to pique Fang Yue's interest. Fang Yue spoke up directly.

"I want 【Immortal-Slaying Water】."

Jiang Wanchun, who had been chattering nonstop, fell silent at once. At the same time, every president present locked their gaze onto Fang Yue.

"…We can give you one small bottle."

Previously, the situation had been special—suddenly having to face an awakening Cheater. The management had been uncertain, a little panicked, so they had taken out their trump-card Immortal-Slaying Water directly.

But in reality, the rarity and importance of this thing meant it absolutely could not be casually taken out as a reward!

This is one of the very few means capable of keeping Cheaters in check!

"Not enough. I want a hundred bottles!"

Slap!

The moment Fang Yue's words fell, the Second President had already slammed the table and risen, glaring furiously at Fang Yue.

"Fang Yue, don't push it too far! Our stock of Immortal-Slaying Water is limited too. Being able to give you one bottle is already decent. Under normal circumstances, unless a Cheater defects, this stuff won't be deployed, let alone handed to an outsider! If this kind of thing accidentally leaks outside, the safety of every Cheater will be threatened! Until that day comes, every Cheater is an important resource and absolutely cannot have any problems!

You've done great deeds, and we should reward you, but don't push it too far!"

The others were also glaring and fuming. Fang Yue thought for a moment and said, "Twenty bottles."

"Five bottles!"

"Fifteen bottles."

"Ten bottles. That's the absolute limit—no more!"

"…Deal."

Fang Yue knew the United Front's stockpile of Immortal-Slaying Water was certainly not small, but they definitely wouldn't hand it over easily either. Getting ten bottles was already quite good.

"Besides the Immortal-Slaying Water, I also need to know intelligence on the Cheaters—real-time intelligence. I want to know the moment they awaken, along with their previous records."

Fang Yue's way of speaking was somewhat displeasing to the United Front's presidents, but even if Fang Yue hadn't brought it up, they had planned to do this anyway.

Because there was a precedent, they very much needed a powerhouse like Fang Yue, who could suppress Cheaters, stationed here. Informing Fang Yue of the Cheaters' situation was merely incidental.

"This condition is also no problem, but we require you to stay at the United Front headquarters."

Stay at headquarters?

Fang Yue was slightly taken aback, thought for a moment, then shook his head: "I won't stay."

The United Front headquarters offered no sense of security whatsoever.

Take the previous pinhole camera incident, for example. Over at President Qian's side, everyone was trusted, so something like that simply wouldn't have happened.

The United Front headquarters was still too complicated.

"If you don't stay, and a Cheater awakens, and you can't get there in time…"

"That's a problem for you to consider. Don't always count on me to cover for you."

That's what was said, but this result clearly couldn't satisfy the presidents.

"What would it take for you to stay?"

"I won't stay at the United Front headquarters, but I can stay at the Qingshui District branch. However, the prerequisite is recalling President Qian and the others from neighboring Haiyu City and restoring the previous arrangement."

The presidents exchanged glances and said, "…We'll consider it."

This meant the matter was being shelved for now.

As if seeing that Fang Yue had come prepared this time, Jiang Wanchun said directly, "What other reward do you want? Just say it."

"I need 【Oddities】, preferably weapons. Then I need guarantees for the safety of the people around me…"

Fang Yue rattled off a pile of demands in one breath, but most were rejected.

Only the matter of Oddities—the presidents discussed for a while and agreed to give Fang Yue one weapon-type Oddity.

Fang Yue could specify the grade and the specific weapon type, but whether to actually give it to him would be decided by the United Front.

As for the other minor requests, the United Front didn't refuse them.

It could be said the United Front was being very generous with Fang Yue.

Fang Yue hesitated and didn't bring up the pinhole camera matter in front of them. As for the specifics of that, he'd wait for Qiu Dugu's intelligence first. In any case, he couldn't stay at headquarters any longer.

After Fang Yue left, the meeting room returned to its usual quiet.

The ten exchanged glances. After a good while, someone spoke up.

"He doesn't trust us."

"It's obvious."

"That shouldn't be the case. He's one of our own within the United Front! He even risked his life fighting a Cheater on the United Front's orders before."

"Perhaps one of us did something that put him on guard."

"..."

That topic paused for a while and was not continued.

Because among those present, more than one had secretly pulled strings behind the scenes.

Ten people, sharing equal power, each with their own ideas—able to stay aligned on the big picture, but when it came to small tricks, most of the time they were really each playing their own hand.

Especially in that sensitive period when the moment was about to arrive, the underhanded moves grew even more numerous.

In the end, it was Jiang Wangchun who spoke first.

"If we want to win his trust, we can start with the weapon oddities he requested..."

(End of Chapter)