Master of Kaidan
Chapter 90: More People Wanting the Money Printer

Chapter 90: Chapter 90: More People Wanting the Money Printer

After leaving the tent of the addict a short while ago, Feng Xue realized that continuing thus was absolutely impossible. The city’s sewer system had myriad branches, much like a maze. Of course, Feng Xue was not worried about finding an exit, but he was worried that upon pushing open a manhole cover, he would find himself in the Jeston family’s backyard.

Just then, a glimmer of light appeared within his line of sight, and he followed it, soon spotting an old, somewhat tattered tent.

A dirty African American man sat in front of the tent, wearing severely worn but not overly dirty clothing. Seeing Feng Xue approaching, he even waved a greeting.

Having encountered this situation more than once along the way, Feng Xue finally bit the bullet, forcing himself to forget that he was wearing an evening gown at the moment. Approaching, he casually uttered a phrase in fluent Columbia-accented Victorian language:

"Hey, buddy, where is the nearest exit?"

The African American, upon hearing Feng Xue’s question, did not find it strange that Feng Xue was wearing an evening gown in the sewer. He merely grinned, showing his white teeth, and casually pointed in a direction:

"Go straight, and turn left at the first intersection."

"Thank you." Although he found it a bit odd, Feng Xue still thanked him and ran along the path he had pointed to. After a few steps, ladders made of steel rebars appeared on the wall—easily missed in the dim environment of the sewer.

"Lucky I asked for directions." Feng Xue shook his head, looking at the rust-red ladder, which seemed coated with a layer of patina. He glanced at his own hands, grateful that the Phantom of the Opera’s evening attire included a pair of white gloves, which helped him quickly overcome his psychological discomfort.

The height of the ladder was not exaggerated, and after climbing beyond the sewer dome, Feng Xue ascended about ten meters and reached the manhole cover. He listened closely, faintly hearing the noise of vehicle engines and the bustling street. After pondering for a moment, he freed his left hand to tug at the cloack-like shadow at his back, then pushed open the manhole cover forcefully.

Whoosh!

A refreshing breeze, carrying the scent of gasoline, brushed past Feng Xue’s face. This spot turned out to be a narrow alleyway between two buildings on a street corner.

Turning his head around to survey the area, he could even see moist "balloons" and footprints in the corner, from which he could deduce many things.

Quickly climbing out of the manhole and, with the basic decency of closing the door behind him, Feng Xue restored the manhole cover to its original position, then dusted off his hands. He waited until the stains on the soles of his shoes faded away before he stepped out of the alley.

It was then that Feng Xue finally understood the difference between "blending into the environment" and "lowering one’s presence."

If lowering one’s presence was about becoming hard to notice, almost like a form of invisibility, then blending into the environment meant making it "fitting for you to be there."

Just as in a forest, you wouldn’t pay attention to the birds on the branches, in a desert, you wouldn’t notice the sand under your feet, in the ocean, you wouldn’t count every drop of water. Feng Xue seemed like an element that should naturally exist wherever he was, without raising any suspicion.

If he had been wearing the assassin’s suit from before, probably no one would have noticed him at this point. But now, dressed in an overly splendid classical gown, whether wandering through the grimy sewers or amidst the modern atmosphere of Saint Luotan City’s streets, he did not attract any odd glances. Instead, he occasionally saw passersby casually lift their hands to greet him—of course, this might also be influenced by the "Treasure" factor provided by the "Money Printer" label.

"Overall, each has its own merits in terms of presence reduction," Feng Xue murmured, adjusting his collar slightly to make the silk scarf less bothersome. Although in terms of concealment, this blending into the environment seemed much less effective, for Feng Xue—who already possessed the "Breath Concealment" ability—the overlapping of abilities wasn’t as significant as the enhancement to his blind spots.

However, compared to the amplification brought by the new equipment, what Feng Xue cared more about was something else—

The "Money Printer" tag had stabilized its growth and seemed to be increasing again!

Although there was still a long way to go to make up for his daily consumption, the feeling of having fresh "Cognition" poured into him every moment was unmistakable.

"Is it because I escaped, so people who originally couldn’t snatch from Jeston but know of my existence are now getting ideas?"

Feng Xue’s lips slightly curled up, not surprised but rather pleased by this development; he wished there would be more people wanting to take advantage from him. If there were about a thousand or eight hundred of them, he wouldn’t even need to think about returning to Infinite City; he could just think of a way to smuggle himself into Yan Country.

Unfortunately, there weren’t that many people.

With the current rate of recognition, it would take him about ten days to gather enough "Cognition" to survive one day in the real world; it didn’t sound like much, but it was an income of 10,000 towers a day!

However, just thinking about how Infinite City’s high-end resources were basically monopolized by the residential areas, and there was nowhere to spend money even if he had it, Feng Xue’s excitement about this income significantly decreased.

"At most, I can only survive about five more days in reality."

Feng Xue felt the rate at which his own "Cognition" was depleting and unconsciously quickened his pace; in five days, he had to either find a way back to that door and re-enter Infinite City to accumulate power, or, in this short period, create more big news to make more people remember him.

At this moment, Feng Xue suddenly felt he understood those from Infinite who abused people in the real world—ultimately, the birth of a tag required a very high degree of recognition—Chen Xiyao for so long, only managed to give him a "Chef" tag during an emotional outburst, and now he could be sure, there were definitely not less than a hundred people looking for him, but none of them provided even a single new tag.

It seems that for every recognizer, the birth of a tag is relatively independent; if there were a progress bar for tag consolidation, unless someone reached 100%, even if hundreds of millions reached 99%, it would still not trigger a tag.

And when does a person generate strong enough recognition?

It must at least be during moments of intense emotion, right?

And when are people’s emotions most intense?

Facing death, extreme pain, intense sadness... Of course, being extremely happy should also work, but compared to making people happy and excited enough to consolidate a tag, causing pain is obviously more time and effort saving.

Just by madly tormenting a person in the real world, it’s highly likely to gain a tag like "Abuser" or "Enemy", releasing him back to modern society would only gather more of the same kind of recognition to reinforce this tag, isn’t that a profitable thing?

But conversely, even if the real-world person’s fondness for him were to reach a point of unyielding loyalty, and she remembered him profoundly, even generating a "Beloved" tag, the only one who could provide recognition to this tag would still be just that beloved person.

After all, it is easy for people to see the enemies of their friends and relatives as their own enemies, even if they have never met, but conversely, it is hard to see a person they have never met as a friend, even if he is unyieldingly loyal to their friends or relatives.

"Being a good person is hard, and for those from Infinite, it’s even harder." Recognizing the contagious mechanism of "tags", Feng Xue sighed profoundly, then began to look around, searching for the general ATM that every urban flow protagonist cannot lack...