Chapter 111: Treasure Hunt

Your family's historical hero and great sage, who lost so badly he's not even wearing pants, is still jumping around the card table and cheating shamelessly.

When Miss Shaliman and Li En came downstairs, this was the hellish scene they saw.

"You... you... forget it." As the ambassador, Miss Shaliman had reason to complain.

Even though she knew heroes were merely mortals, someone like you has gone a bit too far.

But with the words on the tip of her tongue, Miss Shaliman stopped there, pretending she hadn't seen it.

After all, she truly couldn't afford to offend Kukku; if she really provoked the ancient heroic souls, the Princess would tear her apart!

Last night, the surface dwellers had already tested and found that many of the newly arrived group were residents of the Underworld.

This meant a guess had been confirmed.

"The Hall of Heroes spans nations and races; it is our kingdom that needs the power of the heroic souls, not them needing us..." Dai Niya quickly adjusted her state; she might be proud, but she was not stupid.

"It is we who need him." Someone's identity had become even more important; Miss Shaliman's feeling toward Li En grew more subtle.

Now everyone knew Li En's relationship with the Hall of Heroes was extraordinary; as the first inheritor of the heroic soul, he was very likely the executor and agent of the heroic souls, and even the location where the Hall of Heroes unfolded was related to him.

If he chose to leave... Miss Shaliman shivered, completely dares not to think about it.

Her gaze at Li En grew even stranger; yesterday, the Princess's meaning was just short of pointing directly at her and saying, "Why haven't you married yet?", wishing to immediately maximize the beauty trap.

Recalling her increasingly irritable superior, the noble girl sighed.

She was already numb; better to just take one step at a time; after all, hadn't she lived like this before?

"Your Excellency Kukku, may I ask what my... our kingdom can do for you?"

But some things must be done now; the ancient heroic souls are right here in reality; with the competition in the Hall of Heroes so fierce at night, isn't it a bit stupid not to build a relationship at this moment?

"Eh? You can play cards?! Can you?!"

Kukku, desperate from losing, immediately found a new breakthrough point.

Thus, Miss Shaliman was pushed onto the card table with a completely bewildered expression.

Under the cheerful encouragement of her aunt, she began to clumsily learn how to play cards.

Before, as a noble daughter, she had truly never played.

Then, she lost wildly all the way... these two had ten thousand schemes; how could a normal person possibly win?

And Li En was not in a hurry; he went to find the recipe Kukku mentioned; he was also quite curious how a carbonated sweet drink could be made healthy.

"Uh, no wonder they say it's healthy; there seems to be almost no sugar in here; it's all technology and harsh additives."

The small pages were already filled with chemical formulas and recipes; the technical content was far higher than Li En expected.

Calling it an orange drink is not accurate; it is more like carbonated-flavored synthetic soda water with some orange sweetener added.

The materials used were all basic ingredients available at potion and alchemy shops; the key was the processing craft and technology, much of which made Li En suspect it was actually chemical engineering techniques from another world.

"They really put thought into this..." This was indeed relatively healthy; at least Li En could see no problems.

With its unique texture and switchable sweetness, as long as the craft is held in hand, it can become the flagship product of the Dock District.

It is feared that before long, the "lemonade/orange water selling kids" in the slums will become famous, providing them with another livelihood.

"Set the price low! Small profits but quick turnover. Distribute widely, let the children sell it." On the recipe, there were also Kukku's suggestions.

Setting the price a bit lower means no huge profits; letting the children sell it means it won't come to the surface; and this level of revenue will try not to attract those nobles and the greedy; he really put thought into this.

"You, you are definitely cheating!"

At this moment, among the spellcasters over there who had unknowingly turned the game into "Three Kingdoms Kill," someone had already lost their temper.

From Li En's angle, he could just see Kukku hiding cards with Kusla's tail, and Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei whose pupils were changing color, seemingly using X-ray vision.

Uh, you really turned this into a superpower gambling god tournament? Wait, are the cards in Purple Miss Zi Qiangwei's hand changing color too? You are actually distorting reality to change cards?!

"Ahhh!"

The snake woman, having lost her temper, also seemed to activate some extraordinary ability.

Then, a dizzy, silly snake appeared on the sofa.

"So many, so many Kukkus. So many, so many." Her snake hair was all spinning up and down.

"Silly girl." Her aunt, with no good temper, cared for her in a low voice, and also glared at Kukku.

"Don't bully her too much." It seemed she was very protective of her own.

"She looked! She did it voluntarily!" Kukku indicated this was not his fault; she went to look voluntarily.

"Couldn't you just not show her?" This, it seemed, was unreasonable.

"Then it would be no fun! No fun at all!" Kukku was indeed doing it on purpose.

Li En sighed; his choice was indeed correct; a person is noble for having self-knowledge; newcomers should not play with these old monsters.

Li En's expression toward Miss Shaliman added some sympathy; it was not because of her being fooled now, but because her situation and that of her delegation were truly too terrible.

To be precise, the situation of the entire Radiant City was so terrible that no hope could be seen.

Last night's secret talk between Miss Shaliman and Dai Niya, Li En had heard; the situation in Morsodilka was also quite terrible, basically making it impossible to reach an open contract with Radiant City.

Morsodilka, like Radiant City, also had a hawk faction (radical) and a dove faction (conservative).

The main goal of the hawks was: with the Demon Tide approaching, we should seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, charge to the surface, end the era of the orcs, and open the glorious era belonging to the dark elves.

The doves thought the hawks were too hasty; they stated that from previous records, every challenger who rushed out during a Demon Tide became the first wave of cannon fodder; it would be better to hide underground first, wait for a better time, then charge up and open the glorious era belonging to the dark elves.

That's right, they had no essential difference; only the timing of action was different.

Under such circumstances, with the general trend of the common people longing for change, an alliance contract with the surface could not be accepted.

"Personally, and my mother, we both long for peace."

These were the original words of the Goddess City Lord; she should be counted as a dove, but no one believed the words longing for peace; it was true that they were not preparing to fight now.

Li En sighed; this was not even the most difficult thing to handle in this complex situation.

The City Lord cleared herself completely of the "attack incident," saying the hawks did it, but as for specifically who, she couldn't say clearly, because every family in the city could have done it, even those openly doves.

Many nobles in this dark elf city regarded it as a prison; it locked up the beasts and also detained themselves; they wished the whole cage would explode together.

As for the Beast Cult, it certainly exists within the city, but likely has few followers, for the affinity between Dark Elves and Beasts is extremely low, making their power basically unusable.

And the Dark Elves are very pragmatic; without benefits, do not expect us to sell our lives. Even an Evil God must provide power before work begins.

The Princess and Dai Niya discussed much more. The Divine Maiden showed great sincerity, but the intelligence provided was worse than the last, and Miss Shaliman simply cannot handle it now.

Indeed, due to pressure from other nobles, this ambassadorial delegation cannot even depart.

The interior of this city is in utter chaos; currently, they are merely entangled with one another, unable to strike at the delegation.

Now that the delegation is trapped here, with myriad karmic threads intertwined, they cannot move at all. I fear certain truly troublesome killers are already on the way, such as that possible core member of the Beast Cult.

"Snap!"

Suddenly, over there at the table, Lord Lord Lord Kuku stood up.

"Not playing anymore! Can't win!" After Sha Li Man quickly folded, only two big shots remained happily playing cards.

And Lord Lord Lord Kuku's current state truly cannot defeat a complete Legendary Magical Girl.

"I have serious business! Going now." Lord Lord Lord Kuku, having jumped back onto the table, messed up the cards with his foot while stating he had serious business requiring immediate departure.

The sudden words left everyone stunned. What serious business could a familiar/great sage/ancient hero possibly have here? This is not your era.

"To dig up treasure! To dig up people! A Machine Clan! Trapped underground! Go dig them out!"

That unfortunate candidate, whose appearance is not merely like scrap metal but is truly buried within the ruins, has now encountered an opportunity and is awaiting rescue.

And if Lord Lord Lord Kuku is to set out, Li En will certainly have to go along.

"Uh, like this, you still played cards all morning?" Li En felt somewhat helpless; for this candidate to meet you is truly good fortune.

"No problem! She has been buried for a long time! A little more time won't matter." To be honest, that actually seems like sound reasoning.

(End of this chapter)