Ning Shu looked at the soul nail. It was so expensive! Her whole body ached at the thought.

  Merit and faith points were the hardest to get. Sometimes a task didn’t even give her a single merit point.

  Her faith power was slowly rising now, but two thousand faith points? That’s too much!

  As for the 1000 merit points, Mei Ziqing was working so hard to save them up and become an ultra task-taker. It was clear that they were incredibly rare.

  Damn. Was Zhang Jiasen’s death worth this much? Even if she wanted to kill him, she couldn’t use something this expensive.

  She just couldn’t afford it!

  “Ahem…” 2333 made a sound. “Ning Shu, I suggest you don’t touch things like soul nails. Most of the task-takers who used them were ruined by it.”


  “What do you mean?” Ning Shu asked.

  “Soul nails seize other people’s soul energy. It’s a simple process that makes soul energy too easy to get. Task-takers become stronger by absorbing soul energy,” 2333 explained. “A task-taker is supposed to complete the wish of the entrustor to obtain that soul energy, but a soul nail acts as a shortcut. They can use it to steal the energy of others as they please.”


  “That feeling is addictive. Some task-takers start killing people in their task worlds to gain soul energy just so they can strengthen themselves,” 2333 said, “and then end up being eliminated.”


  “More importantly, when an entrustor dedicates their soul energy, that energy is first purified into pure power. Directly absorbing power gathered by a soul nail means taking on energy tainted by the seven sins. The souls’ gathered grievances and impurities can wreak great havoc on the mind.”


  Ning Shu shuddered. She knew it was extremely sinister from the moment she laid eyes on it.

  There was no such thing as a free lunch.

  Ning Shu frowned and said, “If this thing is so dangerous, why put it in the system marketplace?”


  “Why shouldn’t it be available? Merit and faith points are good things that everyone needs.”


  “Those who can’t withstand the temptation of power, choose this option. It means their will is weak and that their erasure and destruction are deserved. The strong survive and the weak are eliminated. The world is fickle with many opportunities for profit. How can someone become an excellent task-taker without having a strong will? How can someone be a strong person otherwise?”


  2333’s tone was frigid. “Taking the easy way out was their choice. What do soul nails have to do with it?”


  Fine. She couldn’t argue with that logic.

  Ning Shu glanced at the soul nail. It was just a tool. And since it was a tool, it was made by people. There was no way that it had been impossible to include the functionality of purifying the collected energy in the soul nails.

  It was a deliberate flaw meant to troll people.

  And it was still so damned expensive …


  It felt like the administration couldn’t care less about the task-takers, that it didn’t even matter if they died.

  There was no chance to start over if the people in power thought someone should be eliminated.

  Ning Shu closed the system marketplace. Life was filled with trolls. It was already hard enough to complete tasks, yet the administration was willing to troll their own people.

  This was so messed up.

  The closer one gets to the top, the fewer people there are. After layers of screening, layers of pruning, there were very few people left.

  The air up there must be very fresh. Ning Shu would love to climb up the ladder to see the view from above.

  “Ding!” The chat system notified her of another message and Ning Shu briefly checked it. It was still Zhang Jiasen…


  She suddenly felt helpless. How could someone be this obsessed!? What on earth was Zhang Jiasen up to?

  MTL Editor: Shark

  Translator: Kaho