Chapter 111: Treasure Hunt

Your family's historical hero and great sage has lost so badly he's naked and jumping around the table cheating.

As Sallyman and Li En descended the stairs, they saw a scene straight out of hell.

"You—you're right. Never mind." As ambassador, Sallyman had every right to complain.

Even though she knew heroes were merely mortals, you're pushing it a bit too far.

But the words died on her lips; she pretended not to see.

After all, she truly couldn't afford to offend Kuku—if she enraged the ancient spirits, the Princess would tear her apart!

Last night, the surface dwellers had already confirmed: many among the newcomers were from the underground world.

This confirmed a suspicion.

"The Hall of Spirits transcends nations and races. It's our kingdom that needs the power of the spirits, not the other way around." Deniya quickly regained her composure; she might be proud, but she wasn't foolish.

"It's we who need him." Someone's status had grown even more significant; Sallyman's perception of Li En grew increasingly peculiar.

Now everyone knew Li En's connection to the Hall of Spirits was extraordinary. As the first Spirit Heir, he might well be their executor and agent—even the Hall's location might be tied to him.

If he chose to leave, Sallyman shuddered, unable to even imagine it.

Her gaze at Li En grew even stranger. Yesterday, the Princess's implication had been almost direct: "Why haven't you married him yet?"—she'd practically begged to deploy the beauty trap at full force.

Remembering her increasingly volatile superior, the noble girl sighed.

She was numb now. Best to take it one step at a time—hadn't she always lived this way?

"Your Excellency Kuku, is there anything our kingdom can do for you?"

But some things must be done now—the ancient spirits were here in the flesh, and the competition in the Hall of Spirits last night had been fierce. Isn't it foolish to delay building ties?

"Huh? You play cards?! Do you?!"

Kuku, desperate from losing, immediately found a new opening.

Thus, Sallyman was pushed onto the card table, utterly bewildered.

Under her aunt's cheerful encouragement, she clumsily began learning how to play.

In her past life as a noble daughter, she'd never played before.

Then she lost relentlessly—those two had ten thousand tricks; how could a normal person possibly win?

Li En wasn't in a hurry. He went to find the recipe Kuku mentioned—he was curious how carbonated sweet water could possibly be healthy.

"Hmm, no wonder they call it healthy—there's hardly any sugar here at all. Just science and sheer ruthlessness."

The tiny page was filled with chemical formulas and recipes—its technical depth far exceeded Li En's expectations.

Calling it orange drink was misleading—it was more like carbonated soda water with artificial orange flavoring.

All ingredients were basic materials available at alchemy or potion shops, but the real focus was the processing technique—much of it made Li En suspect it was straight out of another world's chemical industry.

"They really put thought into this…" It was indeed healthier—at least Li En saw no flaws.

With its unique taste and adjustable sweetness, as long as the technique remained in their hands, it could become a flagship product for the docks.

Soon, the "kids selling lemon or orange water" in the slums would become famous, giving them yet another livelihood.

"Price it low! Thin margins, high volume. Distribute widely—let the kids handle it." Kuku's suggestions were written right on the recipe.

A low price meant no excessive profit; letting the kids handle it kept it off the radar, and this level of revenue would avoid attracting nobles and greeders—he truly had thought of everything.

"You're definitely cheating!"

At that moment, among the spellcasters who had unknowingly turned their game into "Three Kingdoms Kill," someone had snapped.

From Li En's angle, he could clearly see Kuku hiding cards with his Kusla tail, and Ziqiangwei's pupils shifting color as if seeing through the cards.

Uh… so you've turned this into a superpower gambling tournament? Wait—Ziqiangwei, are your cards changing color too? You're warping reality to cheat?!

"Aaaah!"

The desperate snake woman seemed to activate some supernatural ability.

Then a dazed, dumb snake appeared on the sofa.

"So many… so many Kuku. So many… so many." Her serpentine hair spun in circles.

"Silly girl." Her aunt muttered under her breath, scowling at Kuku.

"Don't bully her too much." She clearly protected her own.

"She looked! She did it herself!" Kuku insisted it wasn't his fault—she chose to look.

"Couldn't you just not let her look?" That seemed unreasonable.

"Then it wouldn't be fun! Not fun at all!" Kuku was clearly doing it on purpose.

Li En sighed. His choice had been right—wisdom lies in knowing one's limits. Newcomers shouldn't play with these ancient monsters.

Li En's gaze toward Sallyman grew tinged with pity—not because of her current humiliation, but because of her entire envoy's dire situation.

To be precise, the entire Huicheng situation was so bleak it offered no hope.

Li En had overheard Sallyman and Deniya's secret talk last night—Magosdirka's situation was equally dire; a formal alliance with Huicheng was nearly impossible.

Magosdirka, like Huicheng, had both hawkish (radical) and doveish (conservative) factions.

The hawks' main goal: the Magic Tide is coming—we must seize this once-in-a-millennium chance, surge to the surface, end the Beast Era, and usher in the glorious age of the Dark Elves.

The doves thought the hawks were too hasty. Historical records showed every challenger who rushed out during a Magic Tide became the first batch of cannon fodder. Better to hide underground, wait for a better moment, then rise and usher in the glorious age of the Dark Elves.

Correct—they had no essential difference, only differing timing.

Under such circumstances, with the populace yearning for change, any alliance pact with the surface would be utterly unacceptable.

"Myself and my mother both long for peace."

These were the words of the Divine Maiden City Lord—she might be considered doveish, but no one believed her peace talk; she likely just didn't intend to fight yet.

Li En sighed. This wasn't even the most complicated part of the situation.

The City Lord had cleanly shifted blame for the "attack incidents" onto the hawks, but she couldn't name who exactly—every noble family within the city was a suspect, even those openly doveish.

Many nobles in this Dark Elf city viewed it as a prison—blocking the Beasts, but also imprisoning themselves. They'd gladly see the entire cage explode.

As for the Beast Cult—there were certainly members within the city, but likely few followers, since Dark Elves had extremely low compatibility with Beasts and couldn't wield their power.

Dark Elves were pragmatic: no benefit, no sacrifice. Even Xieshen must offer power first before they'll lift a finger.

The Princess and Deniya had discussed much more—the Divine Maiden was sincere, but every piece of intelligence she gave was worse than the last. Sallyman simply couldn't handle this now.

Worse, pressure from other nobles had made it difficult for the envoy to even leave.

The city's internal chaos was total—right now, everyone was entangled, so they couldn't move against the envoy yet.

The envoy was trapped here, entangled in countless causes and effects, utterly immobilized—some truly dangerous killers may already be en route, like the possible core member of the Beast Cult.

"Snap!"

Suddenly, Kuku stood up from the table.

"Enough! I can't win!" After Sallyman quickly folded, only two masters remained playing happily.

But now, Kuku simply couldn't match a full Legendary Magic Girl.

"I have urgent business! I'm leaving now!" Kuku leapt back onto the table, kicking the cards into disarray as he declared he had urgent matters requiring immediate departure.

His sudden words stunned everyone—what urgent business could a pet, great sage, and ancient hero possibly have here? This isn't even your era.

"To dig up treasure! Dig up people! A Machine Race! Trapped underground! We're digging them out!"

That unfortunate candidate wasn't just rusty-looking—he was truly buried in the ruins, now waiting for rescue.

If Kuku was leaving, Li En would certainly go with him.

"Uh… so you played cards all morning?" Li En sighed helplessly. This candidate really got lucky meeting you.

"No problem! She's been buried a long time! A few more hours won't matter." Actually… that made sense.

(End of Chapter)