Chapter 47

After listening, tx479 seemed to be checking something. It took two seconds before it replied, "144,532 high-grade soul crystals, and the rest of the medium and low-grade soul crystals have been rounded off to zero."

"So many?!" Although Zhuo Chuan had anticipated this, he was still shocked. He almost dropped the high-grade soul crystal in his hand. He had only obtained one high-grade soul crystal from his life-threatening duel, which was highly valued even by E-class citizens. Yet, his predecessor had silently dug a huge debt of over a hundred thousand high-grade soul crystals for him?

How could he fill such a large debt? After becoming a citizen, he would have to start repaying this debt. Would he still be able to progress quickly?

"Because your predecessor, before his death, was involved in a massive experiment that consumed all his wealth. The remaining assets could only cover a small portion of the costs. Without a soul to drive the body, it relies on external soul crystals to maintain its vitality, which is extremely costly," tx479, seeing Zhuo Chuan's confusion, explained proactively.

"Is it really necessary to maintain his body at such a high cost?" Zhuo Chuan asked another question, wanting to know the value of this body.

"Of course, it's worth it. His body, which was enhanced from an ordinary underground citizen to this level, required a huge investment. More importantly, his body retains instinctive memories of the soul skills he mastered in life, which can gradually stimulate the soul of his successor, helping the successor to master the same skills. The actual value of those soul skills far exceeds the costs of repair and maintenance."

Hearing this, Zhuo Chuan was surprised by the calculation. The other party believed that the actual value of this body was extremely high, far exceeding the hundreds of thousands of high-grade soul crystals. With this information, Zhuo Chuan gained a new understanding. The true value of this body, which he had only just begun to uncover, was just the tip of the iceberg.

Although the debt was large, he was not despairing. After all, he had the modern world behind him, an entire Earth where no one knew about the use of soul power, which he could monopolize.

Everyone knew the profits of a monopoly. After learning about this huge debt, Zhuo Chuan felt a deeper sense of ownership over the modern world, determined that no one else would share in it.

While Zhuo Chuan was talking to tx479, the body of Jie Cheng had been repaired without him noticing. The red lights of the ambulance faded, revealing Jie Cheng's familiar face, still stern even though his soul had dissipated.

Zhuo Chuan's expression was complex, but this was not a lawless society. The duel was over, and Jie Cheng's original soul had completely disappeared. The remaining body was now under the control of the Earth Mother. He could not do anything like scattering the bones and ashes as he might have in the modern world.

Tx479 seemed to have a special reason and noticed Zhuo Chuan's concern. It explained, "You don't need to worry about his soul successor harboring any grudges or seeking revenge against you."

Zhuo Chuan also sensed that tx479 seemed particularly kind to him, but this kindness was not like that of Old Xu. The robot probably had no real feelings, perhaps for some special reason.

"Why?" Since he had this feeling, Zhuo Chuan decided to use it to his advantage.

"Because, in a true sense, you are the catalyst for his soul successor. You are like the parents of the successor in ancient terms. If you hadn't killed his predecessor in the duel, how could the successor have been born and come to this world? In the future, at most, he will be neutral towards you, and more likely, he will be grateful. There are many precedents for this. The competition among surface citizens is a hundred times more intense than in the underground society. Although each citizen is precious and under the control of the Earth Mother, the proportion of incidents is very small, but the total number of fallen citizens is not insignificant. However, there has never been a case where a soul successor sought revenge on the person who caused their predecessor's soul to fall," tx479 explained.

Zhuo Chuan wanted to ask more, but the voice of the Earth Mother sounded again.

"The duel site has been cleared. All execution robots are to withdraw." With Jie Cheng's body fully restored, the Earth Mother issued a new command.

"Goodbye, thank you for your guidance." Although the other party was just a robot, Zhuo Chuan treated it with human courtesy, a habit from his modern world.

"There's no need to thank me. We might meet again. You saw my number. I am on duty in the underground society. From 10:00 to 14:00 every day is my routine charging and repair time. You can communicate with me during that time," the robot said.

When it said this, Zhuo Chuan even felt that the robot was like a real person, despite its different appearance from humans and the仿真美女机器人“z703” at the Tianhua combat training center. This did not stop Zhuo Chuan from being grateful for its help.

Zhuo Chuan watched as the robots filed out, his mind filled with thoughts. However, he buried them deep inside. He would think about the debt later; now was the time to enjoy his harvest.

He followed the robots out of the sports training center.

"Clap... clap clap... clap clap" As he pushed open the door, a thunderous applause erupted.

Zhuo Chuan saw that the entire training center was packed with people, leaving only a narrow path for the civil execution robots to pass through.

Although the underground population was a trillion, Zhuo Chuan had never seen such a crowd before. Everyone had order ingrained in their bones, and no matter how many people there were, they always queued up.

At this moment, everyone wanted to get to the front. If not for some restraint, the civil execution robots would have had to handle new incidents.

"B47995!"

"Zhuo Chuan! Zhuo Chuan!"

"You are our pride!"

Zhuo Chuan had never seen the people of the new world so excited. Their intelligence was extremely high, each one far surpassing the best in the modern world, yet they were all so agitated for him, completely losing their usual calm.

The first people he saw were Old Xu and Teacher Feng Lan, along with his classmates.

They were all extremely excited, clapping for Zhuo Chuan. Old Xu even came over and gave him a tight hug.

...