The Inner City youth, Joseph, after picking up two Outsider trinkets along the way and joining the team, made the place much livelier.
And with some simple probing conversations, Tao Yu's initial impression of Joseph wasn't bad.
This guy seemed somewhat arrogant, but as long as you said something nice and flattered him, he would easily become elated and spill quite a bit of information.
He was someone who craved attention and liked to be flattered.
However, the flattery couldn't be too direct; it needed to be the kind that scratched an itch without leaving an obvious mark.
Zhang Wei also wanted to flatter, but compared to Tao Yu, who had once been a corporate drone, he was far behind.
For instance, Tao Yu indirectly praised his mechanical prosthetic and mentioned his third brother's situation, his words full of longing.
This immediately triggered Joseph's endless chatter.
"Inner City people are also different. Like me, although not from the bottom, my family is only middle-class, but thankfully my talent didn't fail me. My Mechanical Affinity reached C+."
Joseph flaunted his talent. Although C+ might not seem as high as B, Mechanical Affinity as a talent was much stronger than Dynamic Vision.
Especially under circumstances where someone like Joseph had the money to equip and upgrade himself!
"Ah? Brother Joseph is just from a middle-class family? How is that possible?"
With an expression of shock on his face, Tao Yu made Joseph feel quite appreciated. Then, while continuing to gnaw on snake meat, Joseph patted Tao Yu's shoulder with his intact hand and said somewhat indistinctly,
"Little brother Tao, you've always lived in the Outsider areas and your horizons are a bit limited. Since your talent is so good and you have a chance to enter the Inner City, I might as well clue you in in advance."
At this point, he paused, waiting for Tao Yu's sparkling gaze.
"In the Outsider areas, the limits of an ordinary human body are basically your ceiling; any mechanical prosthetic or hybrid implant can easily break the ceiling of you Outsiders."
"Yeah, my Uncle Hu once had the strength of the human limit and also the talent of Predictive Eye. After his hand was severed and a noble appreciated him and granted him a mechanical prosthetic, his strength not only didn't decrease but increased instead."
Tao Yu timely brought up another comparison.
"Haha, so it was him. I took a special look when I came here; his prosthetic is pretty good for an Outsider. It must be something discarded from the Inner City that happened to fit him well."
At this point, Joseph paused, then continued with a hint of pride,
"But compared to this custom-made one of mine, whether in function or potential for optimization, it's no match."
Fortunately, he didn't let success go to his head and remembered what he was saying, so after a pause he continued gravely,
"Mechanical and hybrid implants also encounter upgrade bottlenecks; they are too limited by the materials and the host body.
"Though I advocate the supremacy of machinery, in the later stages, neither hybrid implants nor the intrinsic potential of the human body are inferior to machinery."
At this, he glanced again at Tao Yu,
"It's just that you Outsider people lack such talents and channels."
Hearing this, Tao Yu also digested the information internally, beginning to understand the outlines.
"After hearing Brother Joseph talk about the skills that the python's fang might carry, I also absorbed a few. How should I go about completing them?"
Although Tao Yu had acquired his skills, he was very concerned about some of the information in Joseph's previous words.
The information he could get from his parents was limited, and although Uncle Hu surely knew more, he previously hadn't had the time to pester him with questions constantly. Having someone more knowledgeable to complement was still a good thing.
"Stop thinking about it; I've absorbed one of those things myself, and the information was quite chaotic. You'd need at least twenty or thirty pieces to make it work."
As he spoke, Joseph pulled out several fangs from his pocket, causing Tao Yu to freeze; this guy didn't immediately absorb the Yuan Force items he received? It seemed his pockets were really full.
Moreover, it seemed the others didn't have as strong an ability to organize information about Yuan Force items as himself. He must have been exempt from the mental damage, which allowed him to piece together a skill with less than half the items.
"If you have enough pieces, you could put together a set that's somewhat valuable since it would be a new skill from the Development Zone. Otherwise, it's better to completely block the information and simply absorb it as pure Yuan Force."
"Why? I just absorbed them directly, is there any risk involved?"
Tao Yu took the opportunity to ask.
Joseph glanced at Tao Yu but wasn't stingy,
"Indeed, there are some risks involved, as you should know. Whether in the Inner City, Outer City, or even the Floating City, there will occasionally be insane individuals."
Hearing this, Tao Yu fell silent, his sixth sister who had taken care of him when he was younger and who was close in age, had gone mad a year ago and was then executed by the security squad.
"It seems you've encountered such a situation before."
Joseph glanced at Tao Yu's expression but didn't mind.
"Being exposed to the residual Abyss mist or not entering the Abyss for a prolonged period can lead to the accumulation of madness. Apart from that, it's absorbing these Yuan Force messages."
Saying this, Joseph also seemed a bit emotional.
"But generally speaking, as long as a person's mental state doesn't have any major issues, they also have the ability to self-repair. You've only absorbed a few and it won't matter; it will be fine in a few days."
"Thank you."
Tao Yu's thanks, compared to the previous smooth talk, was much more sincere.
Joseph didn't show much concern for Tao Yu's thanks. After finishing his snake meat, he took out a cloth to wipe his mechanical arm, then clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
"All right, since we're a team, we need to have some team rules. I'll be assigning our order now.
"Chen Guan has first priority, followed by Wolff, then Zhang Wei; little brother Tao, just after me. We'll decide on the spot if any newcomers join. Chen Guan, hand your shotgun over to Zhang Wei."
Joseph spoke calmly, but as Tao Yu listened to the order he somewhat clearly understood its meaning.
Although it was not explicitly said, they weren't officially in yet, but this was essentially the cannon fodder order!
Chen Guan was a skinny man of about 1.7 meters with a double-barreled shotgun. Hearing Joseph's words, his face turned pale,
"Lord Josef, I am not the one with a physical talent, he clearly has more endurance and is better suited for the task..."
"What does that have to do with me? I'm just notifying you, not discussing it."
Josef's expression was cold, a stark contrast to the demeanor he had when he spoke with Tao Yu!
Walt was a relatively well-built white man armed with an assault rifle, and he also wore quite a bit of gear.
But now, he first handed his assault rifle to Zhang Wei, then turned around, snatched Chen Guan's shotgun, kicked him to the ground, and glared at him fiercely, saying
"How dare you talk back to Lord Josef?"
Zhang Wei looked at the assault rifle in his hands, opened his mouth, but in the end, said nothing, just gripping it tighter.
He lacked firearm skills and had no practice, but even so, the gun provided him with a sense of security far exceeding that of a steel pipe!
The most important thing was that with this gun, at least he wouldn't have to be at the very front every time.
Even though he had been leading the way skillfully up to now, given the choice, who would truly want to be the meat shield...?
Tao Yu watched the scene before him without saying much, nor did he mention he had an extra handgun that he could give to the others.
What if someone harboring resentment took the handgun and fired a treacherous shot?
After all, even the strongest Josef would probably drop dead with a single shot to the head.
After another glance at Josef, confirming there were no mechanical units installed on his head, Tao Yu reaffirmed his thought.
Talent doesn't determine everything. If one is from the Inner City or even the Floating City and awakens some useless talent, they could still far surpass an Outsider with combat talent by stacking skills with Yuan Force and undergoing body modifications.
But!
In the harsh life of the Development Zone, talent can be regarded as the only path to rise up. Talent decides everything!
Josef's relatively friendly attitude toward Tao Yu was also because of his "Dynamic Vision" (B)!
Otherwise, he wouldn't even qualify for flattery...
And just as the team's integration issue was 'smoothly' resolved and Josef had gained the goodwill of both Tao Yu and Zhang Wei, he threw out two sealed vials filled with a white powder.
"Catch."
After they did, Josef casually said,
"Use it when you feel stressed, upset, can't sleep, or are in pain. The effect is great. These two are on me, should be enough for half a month's use."
Tao Yu subconsciously caught the vial and paused, but then his eyes deepened, and with a laugh, he said,
"Thanks, Brother Josef. I think I've heard of this Divine Medicine, it's called 'Happiness,' right? Too bad my family is too poor..."
Zhang Wei was also full of surprise,
"My uncle really likes 'Happiness.' This vial must cost at least two hundred units of Yuan Force, right? And it's hard to come by!"
As Zhang Wei spoke, there was a hint of nostalgia on his face, his mouth watering unconsciously.
When he was delirious with fever as a child, his aunt had used half a fingernail's worth of Divine Medicine to control the illness.
Although that memory was blurry and from a long time ago, he couldn't explain why, but the impression of it was strangely vivid and deep.
"Haha, good that you know. But don't take too much your first time; I fear you won't be accustomed to it," Josef said with a laugh, seeing their expressions.
"This vial is on me, but you'll have to earn your own in the future."
"Thank you."
Tao Yu wore a smile, pretending to be about to open it but then paused and hesitantly asked,
"Brother Josef, I've seen people get a bit woozy using this stuff. Will it affect my aim?"
While saying this, he also touched the assault rifle that hung by his side.
The scenes around him started to slow down, and the pulsating of his heart and the feeling of blood pumping became distinctly perceptible.
Everything seemed to slow down.
However, as he entered "Bullet Time," Tao Yu's heart sank as he noticed details he had previously missed.
There was no sign of any blood vessels under the skin on Josef's forehead and face, and apart from his eyebrows and eyelashes, his face was curiously devoid of any hair!
Following the mechanical connection between his shoulder and neck, Tao Yu moved his fingers slightly and then voluntarily exited "Bullet Time," still wearing a curious expression on his face.
Josef, who had been all smiles, felt a sudden chill on the back of his head. Looking at the other man's assault rifle, and the new one in Zhang Wei's hands, he twitched the corners of his mouth, falling silent for a moment as if imagining some unfavorable scenarios.
Soon after, he flashed a broad smile again and waved casually,
"Indeed, it might a bit, especially for newcomers who might find it difficult to handle. Use it when you really need to, but there's no need to take such risks while we're in the Abyss shards..."
"Okay, thank you, Brother Josef. I'll definitely repay you," Tao Yu said with a beaming smile, though his heart grew increasingly somber watching Josef's affable grin.
He had thought Josef was just an Inner City youth who liked to be flattered, not a bad person.
But it turned out it was all a facade. Tao Yu, a former office drone, was nearly tricked by a boy barely eighteen and once again felt the darkness of this world.
Without provoking anything, merely possessing a bit of talent had elicited such 'free' goodwill.
"You deserve to die..." Tao Yu muttered to himself in the depths of his heart...