Chapter 238: Exposed
Chapter 238: Exposed
(Unova Syndicate)
(Hidden Location- Planet Xerciam Prime)
Sophie quickly hid the surprise in her eyes and gave the matter some more thought.
Actually, it made sense that false information had spread about humans as most likely no one would bother to research into the topic when humans were so scarce in the Unova Syndicate.
The universe was just so vast and filled with countless races scattered across the stars.
Humanity despite their ego were nothing more than another shining spark of life flashing briefly in an indifferent void.
The everyday inhabitants of the Unova Syndicate not knowing real information about humans was to be expected.
“Ahh I see,” Sophie smiled and didn’t correct Q’reanea’s misunderstanding.
It would be strange for an immigrant worker to suddenly have knowledge about an alien species foreign to the Unova Syndicate.
It was a top priority to rescue Lily, but Sophie wanted to use force as a last resort.
Hopefully, she could just buy Lily from Q’reanea as the blob-like alien was apparently eager to find a seller.
“Now what information would you like to have?” Q’reanea wiggled slightly in his chair and switched topics.
“What can you tell me about the major powers on this planet… I don’t want to offend anyone by accident,” Sophie replied calmly.
She was not going to bring up the topic of buying Lily until the end of the conversation in order not to appear too eager.
“Hmm…. I’m not too sure…. a humble innkeeper like myself rarely knows about those matters,” Q’reanea sighed lightly and two tendrils burst out of his jelly-like body.
Sophie reached into her storage bag and placed more green dollar bills on the table until the greedy innkeeper opened his mouth once more.
Q’reanea talked freely once the money disappeared into his glutinous folds,
“The major financial groups currently active are the Sepriena, Libera, Canercose and Northeirum.”
“They have divided the planet into four major sectors.”
“Of course, there are numerous smaller gangs and forces hidden in the dark, but they don’t control much power.”
“Thank goodness that this area is under the control of the Libera financial group since they generally pay attention to their reputation outside.”
Sophie quietly listened as the innkeeper continued to talk about the major and minor forces hidden around the planet.
Planet Xerciam Prime was only a recently discovered mining colony hidden away in the outer regions of the Unova Syndicate.
The major financial and business groups considered the potential profits to not be worth the investment costs even with the tax incentives provided by the government.
This allowed smaller groups to get the chance to develop.
Sophie’s true purpose was to find out the location of the nearest spaceport and the coordinates of the planet, but after meeting Q’reanea she had changed her mind.
There was a hidden presence in the room staring at her every action so Sophie did not want to ask anything too suspicious.
It would raise too many red flags if someone were able to travel to a planet but somehow did not know what the spatial coordinates were or even where the nearest spaceport was.
She already could tell that this Q’reanea was not a simple innkeeper as he was quite knowledgeable about the layout and strengths of the different forces hidden around the planet.
And some of the aliens kept in those light cages were in the qi spirit stage and yet had no ability to resist.
Sophie had silently noted the slight fear and desperation in their eyes whenever Q’reanea moved his tendrils in their direction.
She was snapped out of her musings as Q’reanea begun to list off the exact level of threat that each group posed,
“The Libera financial group has two qi tide cultivators and numerous combat robots with roughly the strength of qi body cultivators as well as….”
This was not part of the deal.
It was one thing to tell clients the list of all the major powers on the planet, but it was another matter entirely to disclose top secrets pertaining the core structure of those groups.
Either he was confident that Sophie would not leak that the information was from him or he planned on silencing her.
The hairs on Sophie’s arms raised slightly as she could detect a faint killing threat from the presence staring at her.
Sophie continued to maintain her iceberg-like appearance and showed no sign of panic or animosity.
“Thank you for your help,” Sophie nodded her head politely and placed two more red bills on the wooden table.
“Why it was my pleasure!” Q’reanea replied with a cheerful sway.
“I don’t often work with clients that are so enthusiastic about viewing my collection! I hope you can come again tomorrow when I have some new specimen arriving.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Sophie smiled gracefully but there was a frosty glint in her expression.
“But I think I can help you out…
“Oh?” Q’reanea leaned forward and several of the eyes inside his body stared at Sophie.
Sophie also moved closer and whispered in an almost seductive tone,
“I know a collector who collects low quality goods like humans and sells them at a discount auction.”
“Humans aren’t worth much to the wealthy collectors in your circle, so it is much better to just sell it off for cheap.”
Q’reanea stayed silent for a few moments but Sophie did not rush him.
This was only her initial plan and the more peaceful route.
Using violence would undoubtedly startle the mysterious force watching her every move but Sophie had the quiet confidence that she could beat whatever it was.
Maybe it was hubris, but Sophie had grown up over the last couple of months and was now more confident in her abilities.
Q’reanea seemed unable to make up his mind and numerous appendages grew out of his body while he swayed lightly from side to side.
“How much are you willing to pay?” Q’reanea asked suddenly.
“Fifty dollars.” Sophie replied swiftly.
This was the trickiest part of the negotiations as Sophie had no idea what the price of humans in the Unova Syndicate was.
Q’reanea had said that no collector wanted to buy Lily, but Sophie was unsure if that was because their standards were too high or was that the general attitude everywhere.
“Fifty…can you do one hundred?” Q’reanea hesitantly decided to try his luck.
Humans were not worth much and in fact Sophie’s offer had been on the higher end of what he had been expecting.
But Q’reanea was always ready to make some more money so he had no qualms about raising the price.
“I can do…. sixty… but no more,” Sophie replied firmly, and her attitude made it clear that this was her bottom line.
It was not that she wasn’t willing to pay more for Lily, but it was crucial that she maintain her facade.
“Deal!” Q’reanea agreed hurriedly as he feared that this idiotic woman would soon change her mind.
“He extended a tendril towards a plain desk tucked away in the corner of the room and begun to write out a contract.
It only took a few minutes to draw up the sale agreement between the two parties. Q’reanea brought the contract over to Sophie who carefully looked over the terms and conditions.
Seeing that everything was satisfactory, she signed under a false name.
Q’reanea collected the money swiftly and jiggled over to the light cage where Lily was trapped inside.
Using an ion transmitter device, Q’reanea inputted a special code and then the laser beams surrounding Lily’s body deactivated.
Sophie walked over and picked up the frail girl in her arms. Lily was very weak from having nothing to eat for a few days, so she didn’t wake up.
It was not difficult to subtly check Lily’s body to make sure that there were no injuries, and it was only when Sophie finished her inspection that she let out a small sigh of relief.
Sophie had maintained her disguise perfectly throughout the entire evening but unfortunately…
This was where things fell apart.
Despite having the same icy expression and handling Lily like a seller who had to inspect the goods, Sophie had forgotten one crucial detail.
And this one detail was enough to unravel her entire persona.
Q’reanea and regular Unova Syndicate citizens were under the impression that humans were disease-ridden and filthy so they would not touch them under any circumstance.
Sophie had not worn any protective clothing but still touched Lily’s body without hesitation.
Q’reanea spoke in a strange tone just as Sophie was about to leave the room, “Hey…. I thought it was just a coincidence that your species looked pretty similar to humans.”
“But you wouldn’t happen to be part human…. would you?”
“Because my collection could use… a hybrid…”
Sophie’s danger sense kicked into overdrive and she leapt into the air as soon as Q’reanea finished talking.
Several metalloid chains rose up from the ground where Sophie had just been standing.
Sophie could not tell what material made up the chains, but the metalloid structures were moving through the air like snakes.
She now knew why the innkeeper was so confident to launch an attack at her without any warning.
The mysterious danger and killing intent she had felt in the room was not a stranger staring at her or even a real person….
It was some form of bio-metalloid weapon directly controlled by Q’reanea!