A clue

" They are different. " Caspian spoke. 

Then he put the tokens side by side. 

" Look at this. This is a three-leafed chrysanthemum . What you hold is a four leafed chrysanthemum. Moreover, the chrysanthemum I hold has green edges, and the ones you hold have no rust of any kind. " 

Both Claire and Zayne looked at Caspian in shock. They are not unfamiliar with tokens and symbols. However, the tokens and symbols they are familiar with mostly look like QR codes, and if the QR's do not match, you are dead meat. 

At first glance, this token looks like it's far too easy to reproduce. To think the devil's in detail ! 

" First, let's check authenticity. " he said, producing a ball of water, washing the two tokens vigorously, then wiping them clean till they are polished bright and shiny. 

However, at this point, he fell silent. 

" hmm.. I need a light spell for checking the authenticity. A very small light spell. Like a pinprick size. " Caspian added the last sentence, as Zayne lifted his hand. 

Zayne lowered his hand. 

Claire raised her hand, and produced that pinprick sized light. 

" Just put the light around the edges of this token, and swirl the token. It's best done stationarily. " he added, giving to tokens to her,

For others, the last part is needed, but she has both telekinesis, float and shift. So, Claire just flew the coin to the light, and rotated against it. 

An incredible thing happened then. 

As the edge swirled around the light, a movie-like montage played in front of them. A yellow chrysanthemum budded, bloomed and withered in front of them. 

On the contrary, when she did the same test with Zayne's token, a number was displayed instead of a flower. 

" They are real. " Caspian confirmed. 

" Where do you learn this sort of knowledge ? Do you learn it in a book ? " Claire asked him. 

Caspian opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Zayne held a sign to not speak, and they all walked to the door, opening the door by a crack. 

" JoJae .. JoJae.." a man whispered quietly through the door. He was dressed like a chicken thief, one glance is enough to know this is a disreputable merchant. 

Claire opened the door. 

The merchant looked very much surprised as he looked at Claire. 

" You .. you are not dead ? " he asked in surprise. 

" I almost died. Thankfully, my luck was good, so here I am. " Claire answered, rasping her voice a little. 

" your voice.. " the merchant squinted his eyes, trying to look. 

Only, it's too dark out. Claire covered her face with a kerchief and bandages. 

" I was injured. So it changed. I can only hope my voice will return to normal in a few days. " Claire groused. 

" I have a cure here, for bad throats and injuries. Do you want it ? " The merchant asked. 

" Not today. I don't have enough to pay. " she blocked the merchant. 

" Ehh… did you not come from the mice field ? I will sell you one for just ten rats, come now. You have as much. " the merchant bargained. 

" I have two. Buy if you want, f*ck off otherwise. Only UBO currency. I have others if you don't want it. " she threatened, taking a gamble. 

Since this merchant was surprised that she was alive, he must be expecting her to be dead. After that, all the questions look very simple, but they are all leading or probing questions. To be able to get a black market token at such a young age, the boy must have been savvy enough, or at least know the prices. In a base that's strapped for any sort of food, buying a who knows what potion for ten rat carcases which are the size of chicken ? impossible. Moreover, she knew all the rat meat drops were collected by the guards or the high level military officers. They will overlook hiding one or two, but no more. 

" Aye. Aye, two it is. " The merchant grumbled. 

Claire activated all the mind spells she owned. The merchant finally paid a hundred UBO coins for the two carcasses, which is considered a pretty high price. Seems the inflation is high. 

She returned to the room, adding the UBO currency to the stash. 

Just before the merchant returned, he stroked his finger on Caspian's hand. Had Claire's perception not been so high, she could not have seen it at all. 

They closed the door after the merchant left, and continued to inspect the house. 

A few minutes later, Caspian walked over to her. 

" I will scout the area. " he told her. 

" Alright. " Claire nodded. 

The moment he left, she sent an eye to follow him. 

Soon, the Caspian met up with the merchant. 

" You said you will take care of them. " The merchant hissed at Caspian. 

" Hey ! I only said I will take him to the minefield. I did not promise I would kill them. Moreover, he is injured, is he not ? Now that I have shown you that I have the ability to take care of them, it is your turn to show me you are the real deal. " Caspian spoke lightly. 

" Hmph ! Injured ! the guy just got a cold and no more. If you want to brag, then at least cut off a limb before doing so. " the merchant cribbed. 

" Oh ! Is that what's needed to show capability these days ? I can always cut off one of your limbs to show. " Caspian cribbed. 

" Is that so ? Why don't you try and see ? " The merchant bluffed. 

" You think I can't ? " Caspian said, placing his hand on his pommel. 

The merchant backed off immediately. 

" There's no need to go that far. Fine. Since you want to die that badly, I will indulge you. " The merchant answered. 

" Lead the way. " Caspian grumbled. 

Soon, the eye followed them to an establishment that looked just like a tavern. From the tavern, they went into the basement, where someone opened a door that looked like a vault door from which no one could come out. For the first time, she had the feeling of witnessing history. She had always heard that the N base came out of a militaristic dictator country and they have a gigantic tunnel system, but she had never realized how extensive this tunnel system is. 

Nor did she know that it is still being used. 

' If only I could teleport here ! I should be able to hunt a lot of wild animals, right ? ' She thought, feeling strangely curious. 

The eye kept moving. 

For the first time, she had looked at how organized these slave traders were. There were reports from the party members of the top rankers, who separated who is really talented, and needed no effort to pick something up, and who is a hard work nut, despite being called a genius. 

Then there were dedicated people who sorted through social networks of these people to pick a girl or boy they like. Then they were sent out either to collect ' seed samples ' or entice female hunters to donate some eggs. Money was involved, and many hunters thought of it more as a spoof. Just like that, the Reapers got away. 

The materials they are scouring did not belong to their country at all. In fact, one could say, not many of the selected belonged to base 9* series. Most of the people came from the hundred base coalition, and the far away west, or the desert bases. The surrogate mothers came from the destitute in the bases of the eighty nine camp, where women faced most oppression with their military government. 

For the first time, she faced the possibility … that both her biological parents may not know of her existence at all. 

She was just born in a factory like this, then abandoned just like discarding a defective product ? 

Was it the same for Robin too ? 

She continued down the tunnel, looking into a room here, eavesdropping on someone there. 

That's how she came across a gigantic ancient looking bejeweled tripod, with blood red liquid in it. It looked very much like an artifact. Any artifacts dealing with blood are not good ones. They are usually accessories to blood magic, most of which are forbidden spells, such as enslavement, life stealing and cursing ! 

At this moment, footsteps sounded. 

The eye is hovering right above the pot. 

The person will not miss it when they enter. 

In her panic, she immediately dropped the eye into the red liquid. 

The moment she did so, it was like a sword piercing through her heart. At the sametime, many unknown images danced in her dreams, but none she could remember, for she fainted. 

When she woke in the morning, she felt like a train had run over her. 

She connected to her third eye, its entire screen is bloody. She manipulated the orb to rise, and it did. 

As soon as the eye came out, she moved it out of the room. 

From that moment on, she only looked for an exit. 

That's how she came to the dilapidated store room, with a whole lot of cardboard boxes. She went through them at lightning speed, looking for a vent , a hole or anything in the corners until a familiar object passed by in front of her eyes. 

For a second, she thought it was an illusion. 

Only upon moving back, she saw.. It's not an illusion. A wooden basket is full of plastic teddybears, just like the one she was wearing around her neck.