"…So, you actually heard everything?"
Luo Lin muttered blankly, her voice sluggish with disbelief.
Cipher nodded, then continued calmly.
"I'm already a member of the Spark Squad, you know. You can't keep hiding things from me forever. It's not like I can't contribute."
"Umm… alright… actually, it's like this…"
Since Cipher had already said that much, Luo Lin found it difficult to keep concealing the truth.
She first took out a spatial bracelet. Afterwards, a pair of metal gauntlets instantly appeared on the table.
"This is the weapon Big Bear uses when fighting. It looks like a pair of metal gauntlets, but it's not an ordinary one."
"Big Bear, why don't you explain it?"
With that, Luo Lin handed the gauntlets to Xiong Lei.
Xiong Lei accepted them and directly put them on his hands.
At that moment, a metal plate on the back of the gauntlet automatically slid open, revealing a small recessed slot. Inside the slot sat a tiny container, and within that container was a small amount of cloudy, semi-transparent liquid.
"It's not just my weapon. It's also an auxiliary device used to activate my ability."
He then pointed at the small container inside the slot.
"This container is called an Energy Storage Capsule, and the liquid inside is called Potential Activation Medium."
"The Potential Activation Medium works through ability-assisting devices, like these gauntlets, to temporarily enhance the user's body and ability level. The purer the medium is, the stronger the boost it gives. The one I'm using now is the lowest-grade kind."
"So the 'weapon maintenance' you mentioned… you mean refilling this thing?"
After listening to Xiong Lei's explanation, Cipher curiously pointed at the little container.
"Exactly. That's the thing."
Luo Lin joined the conversation again and pointed at the capsule.
"What's inside it is basically the trump card of our squad. Because it can raise Big Bear's ability level, we can deal with unexpected situations during commissions. Whenever something goes wrong, Big Bear's enhanced ability lets us turn the situation around. So before every mission, we make sure to refill it."
"But… this thing isn't just expensive… it also lasts for a very short time…"
As she spoke, a trace of sorrow appeared on Luo Lin's face, as if recalling something unpleasant.
"How expensive are we talking?" Cipher asked.
"Five hundred credit points per capsule. And it only lasts one minute…"
"Five hundred each… Then how many credit points do you get from a single commission?"
"On the low end, around twenty. At most, maybe fifty."
Cipher's gaze toward the capsule immediately changed.
No wonder they were short on funds.
At a consumption rate of five hundred per capsule, if a commission ran into one or two unexpected incidents, it would mean the equivalent of ten or more completed commissions gone to waste.
That was simply outrageous.
"And it's not just this," Luo Lin continued. "Consumables like bullets also need to be replenished. The price is one credit point for five bullets."
"…Now I understand why your squad is short on funds."
After hearing Luo Lin's explanation, Cipher's expression softened with a hint of sympathy.
If they wanted to earn money, they had to take commissions. But if anything went wrong during those commissions, they would immediately lose hundreds of credit points.
And the worst part was that these expenses couldn't be avoided. Otherwise, the only thing waiting for them would be severe injuries… or even the death of a teammate.
And besides this major expense, there were countless smaller ones.
Bulletproof armor had to be purchased. Guns and ammunition had to be bought. Medicine was needed whenever someone got injured. And there were also everyday consumables like energy bars and those compressed energy batteries.
In an environment like this, unless someone possessed overwhelming strength, or simply didn't treat their teammates like human beings…
Making money would be nearly impossible.
At best, they could only struggle to survive here, barely managing to stay fed.
"Luo Lin, give me your personal terminal."
Although confused, Luo Lin obediently took out her terminal and handed it to Cipher.
After receiving it, Cipher retrieved the Quantum Storage from her system inventory and plugged it into Luo Lin's terminal.
'If I remember correctly, this thing can not only transfer credit points from the terminal into the storage device, but it can also move the stored credits back into a terminal. Let's try it.'
A holographic string of numbers appeared above the Quantum Storage.
With a slight movement of Cipher's thoughts, the number rapidly changed from [100000/100000] to [90000/100000].
'Let's just give her ten thousand for now. That should last them quite a while.'
With that decided, Cipher placed the Quantum Storage back into her system inventory and returned the terminal to Luo Lin.
"Sister Cipher, what were you just doing?"
Luo Lin and the others had watched the entire process, yet none of them understood what she had done.
All they saw was Cipher pulling out something that looked like a USB drive and plugging it into Luo Lin's terminal.
But in less than a second, without any visible operation, Cipher pulled it out again and handed the terminal back.
"Check your account balance. You'll understand."
Cipher didn't answer directly. Instead, she winked mysteriously at Luo Lin.
"My account balance?"
Though confused, Luo Lin still opened her personal account.
The next moment, her eyes widened dramatically.
"T-Ten thousand credit points?! Where did this come from?!"
"This is money I borrowed from—"
Cipher almost blurted out an absurd online loan advertisement from her previous life, but suddenly remembered she was no longer on Earth.
"—Ahem! Wrong channel, nyaa."
She quickly corrected herself.
"These credit points were stored in something I found inside my storage space. It looked like a USB drive."
"Although it looks like a USB drive… it can't store data. Instead, it stores credit points."
"I'm guessing it's probably property I had before I lost my memory?"
After hearing Cipher's explanation, Luo Lin immediately frowned. She then stuffed the terminal back into Cipher's hands.
"I don't know how a USB drive can hold credit points, but that's not the important part!"
"The important part is… how can we use your money, Sister Cipher?!"
"Why can't you?"
Cipher had already anticipated this reaction.
After all, ten thousand credit points was practically an astronomical amount to them. It was only natural that they couldn't accept it right away.
So she crossed her arms and deliberately put on an angry expression.
"I lost my memory. Yet even though your squad was already short on funds, you still took me in."
"You gave me a place to stay, food to eat, and told me so many things about this world so I could adapt again."
"I can tell that you treat me like family… so I want to treat you as family too."
At this point, Cipher took a deep breath.
Then she stared directly at Luo Lin. Her tone gradually softened, carrying a trace of grievance.
"You're having financial problems, so I want to help you. But what's this all about?"
"Why are you rejecting my help?"
"…Is it because I've only known you for a short time?"
"Do you think I don't belong in your family?"