Chapter 106 - 106 89 Hidden Features

106: Chapter 89: Hidden Features 106: Chapter 89: Hidden Features Indeed, after ensuring that everything in the garden was in order and that the Life Bank was still as empty as ever, Lu Ping’an should have gone back to sleep. But he always felt that something was wrong there, as if something had been overlooked. And when he subconsciously touched the statue, operating the fields in the “garden,” he suddenly had a revelation. “Operation core?! Oh my, this big cat!” Finally, Lu Ping’an realized what was amiss. He turned his head, smiling, and silently looked at the big cat with a calm gaze, like looking at a mischievous pet cat at home. Ten seconds, twenty seconds, one minute…. Finally, the big cat felt a chill run down her spine and took the initiative to speak up. “What… what are you looking at me for?” “Didn’t you know a long time ago? About the operation core… the bank headquarters, and the gymnasium, where is the operation core?” “What operation core? I…” Lu Pingan silently picked up his phone, filming as he smiled and said. “Nude pianist making her debut? AVI of a nun in despair? Choose one?” In an instant, Chris was paralyzed, she took a deep breath, her face filled with helplessness. In fact, she also knew that when she led Lu Pingan to build the garden, her past lies would inevitably be exposed, but she didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. “… I know, hiding the core function of the building was my mistake. But it really doesn’t matter, the features those two hubs can provide are useless to you right now.” “Whether it’s useful or not, I’ll decide, take me there… if it happens again, you’re going nude on your debut.” Lu Pingan was still smiling, but this time, he was serious. The big cat’s behavior had slightly crossed his bottom line. “Damn, this secret realm doesn’t come with a manual, and the system never responds to my inquiries… well, Chris is the software, the operating system AI, so she’s the ‘manual’ that deceived people?” What Lu Pingan just realized, what Chris was hiding, was that rule buildings, as manifestations of “rules,” have a control hub. And Chris had previously deliberately misled him, causing Lu Pingan, who had no experience in this area, to have the wrong perception. He thought that these rule buildings would automatically activate once used, and these two buildings didn’t need to be used in the first place… This gap in information gave the big cat a chance to hide her operations. He had agreed with the big cat that there would be “no lies,” but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be misinformation or concealment. But if he really forced the big cat to “serve my interests, think for me,” the two of them would become mortal enemies… The big cat would do everything possible to lead Lu Pingan to death under the “rule-compliant” conditions, even if they both ended up destroyed in the process. Before, Lu Pingan was patient and was willing to play it slow with the big cat, knowing that these matters can’t be rushed. Afterwards, after reaching a cooperation agreement, and after identifying their shared interests of life and death, he tried to improve their relationship and placed the sincerity of cooperation on the shared interests. Judging by the results, this was indeed a wise choice. She has given Lu Pingan what appears to be good development suggestions, and now has taken the initiative to explain the wonders of the “Holy Image,” and has started to serve the interests of both of them… the benefits of survival. But now, looking back, some of the initial “lies” seem quite subtle. In fact, bringing Lu Pingan in now, she knows that it will inevitably be exposed sooner or later, and perhaps she has already prepared for the embarrassment of being an ugly daughter-in-law meeting her in-laws. Even if there were no new garden buildings, as soon as the special functions of the stadium and the bank headquarters were activated, it would also give her away. Or, from another perspective, is she now ready to be exposed and serve our common interests? Understanding this is why Lu Ping’an hasn’t flipped out on the spot. And now, Chris led Lu Pingan to the gymnasium. On a grandstand on the second floor, Lu Pingan saw a “silver balance.” As soon as he touched it, Lu Ping’an’s furrowed eyebrows relaxed. The big cat had indeed not lied, this function was almost useless to him at his current stage. “The button to accelerate the recovery of physical stamina (can consume Life-points to speed it up), the resurrection privilege switch of the Arena (there is a daily quota for resurrection, exceeding it requires use of Life-points), these were all previously mentioned. The only thing that was hidden is the betting combat function, which really is useless to me.” Looking at this feature, Lu Pingan was a bit stunned. This Secret Realm really knew its stuff – everywhere you look, you seemingly need to recharge. The Gymnasium, whose prototype was actually Chris’s “Arena”, was the core zone of her previous Secret Realm, and the area where the greatest amount of her power and concepts resided. The dueling function is quite simple, the competing parties can wager on “something”, and winner takes all. Spectators can also place bets, as long as the “balance” between both sides is maintained, the bet can be established, but the stake must be under the category of “life”. “So, the content of the duel is not limited to combat… Interesting, this may be useful in the future.” This function doesn’t serve any purpose now. Big Cat didn’t lie, but this made Lu Ping’an a bit suspicious. “If it doesn’t affect anything, why lie about it?” But soon, when the two of them reached the control core of the Life Bank, the operation desk of the “front desk counter”, Lu Ping’an understood. He closed his eyes, feeling the “new function” had just received. After repeatedly weighing it, he eventually shook his head. “It’s too risky and it can’t directly increase life-points, better to seal it for now. Wait until I find the right target…. no, at least when I reach the third-tier, then I will activate them.” Seeing Lu Ping’an finally giving up, Big Cat also breathed a sigh of relief. Hiding these things (facility functions) that were bound to be exposed seemed like a foolish and shortsighted act, but in her opinion at that time, it was necessary. Back then, she was worried that the overly young Lu Ping’an, with power in his hands, would behave recklessly and drag them both down. Now, Lu Ping’an had gone round the battlefield and understood what high-level professionals meant and how crazy and dangerous this world was. Even if he didn’t scale back, he wouldn’t cross the line and throw points away. In a way, this was a kind of adaptation, a kind of “mutual trust” that can only be obtained when there is enough understanding of each other. However, this incident also served as a reminder to Lu Ping’an. Perhaps Big Cat might be tied to him for life and death and seems to be very docile, but she always have her own agenda. It seems that they are in the same boat, but there is always a subtle gap that requires constant alertness and precaution. “On the bad side, Big Cat is very timid, so she is mostly too conservative and prioritizes survival most of the time. On the good side, Big Cat is exceedingly timid, unless she has the necessary guarantees, she probably won’t take big risks.” The two new toys were unusable, but their functions and tendencies had shown Lu Ping’an the direction for the future. “Maybe, I can slightly adjust my career planning. Maybe, I should start thinking about building and training my own team, looking for potential leeks… comrades who I can trust.” Every aspect of the Life Bank pointed to “team”, “transaction”, and even “competition. Being alone in the Secret Realm, that would render most of its functionalities wasteful, indicating idle resources… my time is extremely precious.” And the risk of exposure? In the world of the Secret Keeper, there are too many secrets that must be kept and the burden of promises are quite heavy. Looking at it realistically, betrayal often requires a substantial cost, and what I can provide is enough to attract any professional. “For professionals, promotion isn’t just about power and wealth, it’s more about survival time.” In that case, it seems that as long as I find the right people, it’ll work out. With that thought, Lu Ping’an nodded thoughtfully. “Don’t rush, it can’t be hurried. Forming a team does need a strong personal strength to hold down the fort, the choice of team members is also extremely important, a bad teammate is worse than no teammate. But I can start off by finding a few quality leeks, raise their credit ratings as alternates.” The only problem is, the quality leeks I have my eye on right now, like Hua Senior Sister and a few others of a high quality second-tier, all have their own lives and are difficult to contact on the Ancient City University campus. “Should I give them a call and see? If I take the initiative to reach out, I feel like I’ll be at a disadvantage in subsequent transactions.” Just then, Lu Ping’an suddenly laughed. “There are only three investment slots, I can only kick out the weakest one, besides, the exams are all over, Meow, you won’t blame me, will you?” The innocently injured party, is still Meow. However, Lu Ping’an might have thought too much. After the exam, Meow couldn’t help herself and celebrated with her living expenses, she was out of money to renew her BUFF. She called her brother to borrow money, but received the reply “I’ll have money only when I get paid next month, I’m eating in the cafeteria.” As a result, not only did she start eating cat food these two days, she was also worried about Lu Ping’an coming to collect debts. What Lu Ping’an didn’t expect was, the day after he felt leeks were hard to find, leeks actually came knocking at his door… for him to choose! “Sister Xia Qin? You’re saying, let me choose the specific personnel for the reinforcement? Sure, sure.”