Chapter 203 : Chapter 203
Chapter 203
Elbowed Back to the Underworld
“Don’t be so pessimistic~”
Seeing Lu Zheng roll his eyes back with a pained expression like he was having a stomachache, Yi Ning hurried forward to comfort him.
“True, I did toss a resurrection machine into this place, but reviving someone requires their DNA. I don’t exactly go around collecting DNA from dead people.”
At those words, Lu Zheng’s eyes immediately lit up.
He looked up at Yi Ning. “So that means this Pope Wingate Jacob might really just be someone with the same name?”
Yi Ning remained silent for a few seconds.
“…Maybe.”
She wasn’t entirely sure about it either—hence why she had decided to talk it over with Lu Zheng.
Personally, she had never dealt with anything related to Wingate Jacob. Logically speaking, she shouldn’t have had any opportunity to resurrect him.
And according to the parameters she’d set in the Translation Konjac, the probability of two people ending up with exactly the same name was extremely low—at most one in several billion, maybe even a hundred billion. Not impossible given the massive populations of both planets, but when she thought about all the convenient inventions around here made by the Church, Yi Ning couldn’t shake off the bad feeling in her gut.
“Whatever.”
Lu Zheng stood up from the ground and patted the dust off his pants.
“Let’s not worry about whether that Pope is the same guy from Blue Star. Our reason for being here is to deal with the crisis that could destroy this planet. Even if he is the resurrected version of that Wingate Jacob, we’ll put that aside for now.”
After enduring a series of stomach-churning shocks, Lu Zheng’s brain finally returned to clarity.
Their mission was to save the planet—not to take down a resurrected supervillain.
And so what if Wingate Jacob really had been resurrected?
According to the textbooks, Wingate Jacob wasn’t the type of villain who went around trying to destroy the world just for fun.
Maybe they could even borrow his strength in their efforts to save this planet.
As for dealing with him afterward…
“If it comes to that, once we’ve solved the planetary crisis or built a spaceship and returned to Blue Star, we’ll just bring a whole bunch of people to gang up on him!”
“I mean, the guy already got killed ten years ago! The heroes who beat him back then are still active today. If he dares to win the resurrection match and crawl out of the underworld, we’ll just elbow him right back in!”
Lu Zheng raised his fist high, issuing a rousing declaration.
“Oh!”
Yi Ning raised her little fist alongside his, echoing his cry with excitement.
But just a few seconds later, Lu Zheng dropped his hand again and began stroking the stubble growing on his chin.
“Speaking of which… since your resurrection machine actually creates a clone identical to the original, does it really count as elbowing him back to the underworld?”
Yi Ning curled her lips. “How would I know?”
With their current objectives now clarified and the decision made to prioritize the main storyline, Lu Zheng and Yi Ning began pushing forward with the mission to prevent the planetary crisis.
At the same time, though, they also decided to pursue the side quest related to Wingate Jacob.
Gotta grab with both hands, and both hands have to be firm.
According to the textbooks, after establishing his public identity as a philanthropist, Wingate Jacob loved to exploit the impoverished populations under his control to amass huge wealth.
While staying in Esick City, Lu Zheng decided to try sneaking into the local church to see if he could dig up any leads.
But for now...
The two of them were standing in the market, caught in a dispute over the coins in their pockets.
“Thanks to me, you were able to get those ten silver coins. So those ten silver coins should go to me. Hand them over—all of them!”
Yi Ning held out her palm toward Lu Zheng, demanding the ten silver coins he’d earned as a reward from the church.
Truthfully, Yi Ning didn’t care much about the ten silver coins in Lu Zheng’s pocket.
After all, she had a full hundred gold coins in her own pocket—and they were Kir gold coins, minted by the Church!
Even though the Church had issued them with a 1:1 exchange rate compared to other gold coins, they were minted with purer materials. Their purchasing power on the market was actually slightly higher than that of regular gold coins.
The exchange rate was roughly 1:1.05 compared to other gold coins.
The silver coins issued by the Church had a similar edge.
Gold to silver operated on a 1:100 ratio.
Which meant that Yi Ning’s hundred gold coins were effectively worth one thousand times what Lu Zheng had.
How could she possibly care about such pocket change?
The real reason she was demanding the silver coins was because she was worried Lu Zheng might use them to pay Lester and his party.
That’s her money!
And besides, she had already paid off Lester and his crew on Lu Zheng’s behalf!
Spending money on Lester was a waste! (painful)
Unfortunately, Lu Zheng didn’t understand Yi Ning’s frugality.
He merely rolled his eyes helplessly, pulled the still-warm coins from his pocket, kept two, and handed the remaining eight silver coins over to Yi Ning.
Yi Ning wasn’t happy with that.
Two silver coins aren’t money?
“Give me the rest too!”
That was money earned thanks to her brilliance—it rightfully belonged in her pocket.
Lu Zheng quickly clutched his pocket.
“Hey hey, don’t forget, we still owe Lester’s group one silver coin. If you take it all, how am I supposed to pay them back?”
Yi Ning thought for a moment and admitted that Lu Zheng had a point.
She really had forgotten they still owed Lester one silver coin—and it wasn’t even a Kir silver coin, just a regular one.
The exchange rate between Kir silver and regular silver was 1:1.05!
Yi Ning reached out her hand toward Lu Zheng again.
“Then I’ll let you keep one silver coin. Hand me the other one.”
Lu Zheng: “……”
How had he not realized before that Yi Ning was this stingy?
He let out a long sigh.
“Don’t forget, we’re still staying at Lester’s house. Logically and morally, we can’t just freeload. We should at least buy something as a thank-you gift, right?”
Yi Ning rolled her eyes subtly.
She knew Lu Zheng would say that.
She pretended to sigh in resignation and reluctantly withdrew her outstretched hand.
“Fine. I’ll give you a budget of 100—no, 50 copper coins to buy a thank-you gift. Don’t forget, Kir silver coins are worth more than regular ones. You’ve still got 100 copper coins’ worth. Go buy something for Lester with that.”
Lu Zheng: “……”
Seriously?
That stingy?
After spending a good amount of time observing the market, Lu Zheng had a rough understanding of local purchasing power.
One copper coin was roughly equivalent to one yuan on Blue Star.
So 100 copper coins was basically 100 yuan.
And what can you buy for 100 yuan?
Barely enough for a single night at a cheap hotel, if that!
What was he supposed to do—buy a load of groceries and make Lester’s little sister cook it?
Lu Zheng rolled his eyes at Yi Ning and decided to pretend he hadn’t heard a thing.
Yi Ning was visibly displeased. “A hundred copper coins is already generous.”
“Don’t forget, I already paid off our debt for staying at Lester’s place.”
Paid off?
When did that happen?
Lu Zheng was confused.
He hadn’t seen Yi Ning do anything to help out around Lester’s house.
Seeing the puzzled look on Lu Zheng’s face, Yi Ning once again curled her lips in smug satisfaction.
“I promised him I’d take their party on a high-level quest in a few days. Lester was thrilled and immediately invited us to stay a few more nights.”