Chapter 9 Relic Vortex

After gliding for a few minutes, the two landed on a medium-sized sky island.

This island was very close to the tower. The buildings on it were sparser than those on the ground, mostly gray stone towers. Robust young men stood atop the towers, firing jets of white water from cannon-like instruments. Many bore scars from recently healed wounds.

"Are you 'salvaging' relics?" Chu Hengkong asked. "It's like fishing."

The white column of water remained motionless, sticking like a fishing rod amidst the current of weapons. Then, a suit of armor "flowed" from the sky into the water column. The young men gasped and adjusted their equipment with minute movements. Beads of sweat formed on their faces, and their nerves were as intense as if they were walking across a single-plank bridge with dynamite hanging from their bodies.

"You read that right, they're just waiting. The force of the salvaging water column is so strong that getting caught in it can result in complete destruction. Therefore, the salvors spend most of their working time waiting for the relics to naturally 'take the bait,'" Ji Huaisu explained. "Skilled salvors can actively draw out the relics, but most of the people here are outsiders trying to make a living and don't have that skill."

"It's an interesting job." Chu Hengkong was eager to try it out, thinking he might as well give it a try when he had the time. "So the main business of the workshop area is salvaging and selling..."

"Salvage, appraise, and sell," Ji Huaisu corrected. "This is common sense across all Dust Islands. Relics must be appraised before they can be used."

As they talked, they arrived at a tin warehouse that looked like one of the workshop district's logistics centers. Salvagers frequently pulled carts in and out, bringing relics into the warehouse. Their destination was a red brick house built against the warehouse. The windows were taped shut, as if they had recently broken and hadn't been repaired. Across from the door, a whole brick wall was covered with a variety of cold weapons. A short, plump, middle-aged woman sat behind the counter.

Chu Hengkong raised an eyebrow. This place looked a bit like a shoddily remodeled iron paddle shop, but what interested him more was the female owner behind the counter. She had a flat face and pale green scales on her skin, and she didn't look very human.

"Hi, Mrs. Ansah." Ji Huaisu greeted her. Mrs. Ansah's eyes turned towards him, and her tone was much kinder than her appearance.

"Nice to meet you, little Huaisu." She slowly took out two boxes from under the counter. "Is this the new person who joined yesterday? His tentacles are very beautiful."

"Your... scales are also green." Chu Hengkong carefully considered his words in greeting.

"Thank you, but we usually use words like 'lustrous'. My great-grandfather always said it was proof of ancient dragon bloodline, but we all think it was probably caused by some slut messing around with lizards a few generations ago." Mrs. Ansah muttered as she opened two boxes, inside which lay the pendant and iron ring.

"Come on, let's see your stuff."

Chu Hengkong picked up the pendant first, and several lines of glowing words appeared in his mind.

[Pendant-Type Basic Relic - Enhancement]

【Rating: Bottom】

[Effect: Gripping the necklace tightly enhances your perception for 1-3 seconds. The extent and duration of the enhancement depend on the level of your emotions.]

Is the duration of the relic tied to the mood?

He picked up the iron ring that increased his strength again, but this time the instructions were different from what he had imagined.

[Bracelet-Type Basic Relic - Charge]

【Rating: Bottom】

[Effect: When the bracelet is colorless, it can actively accumulate power. The more power stored, the darker the color becomes, and when fully accumulated, it turns black. It can actively release the stored power during attack. The maximum amount released in a single attack depends on the level of emotional excitement.]

"Captain, you're right. Identification is a very important step." Chu Hengkong shook his head. "I actually thought this was a power amplifier..."

The bracelet was now an ivory white, a sign that its stored power had been squandered. That fool, Hugos, had completely misunderstood the relic's purpose. It was clearly meant to deliver a fatal blow at a crucial moment, but he had used it as a show of force and a threat.

Mrs. Ansa laughed heartily. "It happens all the time. Many fools save money by not hiring a craftsman to authenticate their relics, and end up failing at their artifacts. You can't imagine how strange their deaths are; each one is a classic joke..."

Seeing that Mrs. Ansa was about to start nagging, Chu Hengkong quickly asked the question that concerned him more: "Boss, these two relics are so powerful, why are they only considered 'low-end'?"

Mrs. Ansa and Ji Huaisu laughed at the same time.

"Tentacle boy, do you think this stuff is that impressive?" Mrs. Ansa's eyes flashed with nostalgia. "If you had come to Huilong City twenty years earlier, you wouldn't have asked such a question! Back then, our shipping routes connected over three hundred dust islands. The most brilliant minds came to the city with caravans to exchange ideas, bringing with them the most precious treasures from their homelands. The workshops were ablaze with activity day and night, and the appraisers could barely get a wink of sleep. Level three or four relics weren't worth our time. We've seen halberds that tore through heaven and earth, scepters that controlled time and space, and elixirs that exorcised all evil... That was the glory of Huilong City..."

Mrs. Ansah's eyes were strangely bright, as if she were describing a dream as perfect and golden as gold. She tried to depict the glittering light in her dream, to describe a fragment of the past with the most lavish words. But suddenly, her voice fell, and she woke from the dream of the past. What she saw in her eyes was no longer the brilliance, but the dust on the table.

"And those remarkable relics are gone, lost in the war along with their owners." She sighed softly, "You're right. Now these things are the treasures of the city, the most valuable of the day."

Ji Huaisu couldn't bear to listen any longer, so she took the initiative to change the subject: "Don't worry about Mrs. Ansa, things will get better! Speaking of which, there is still a relic that hasn't been taken out, right?"

"Ah, that book..."

Mrs. Ansa smiled slightly. This time, she didn't use a box and directly took out the Silver Eyed Book from the drawer. Chu Hengkong rolled up the book with his tentacles. The new identification text made him stunned:

【unknown】

【Rating: Unknown】

Effect: Unknown

【Note: Throw as far as you can】

"The best appraisers died in the war. A novice like me can't discern its details." Mrs. Ansah was delighted. Appraisers always liked strange things. "The last line is my advice: throw it away immediately. Things of unknown origin are always equated with uncertainty and death."

"I'll consider it." Chu Hengkong stuffed the large book back into his coat and looked at the various types of weapons in the workshop. "Excuse me, do you have any prosthetic limbs for sale?"

"You're really a newbie," Mrs. Ansah said delicately. "Artificial limbs and prosthetic hands are among the most vulnerable items. You won't find a single safe prosthetic arm anywhere in the city, let alone here."

"……Why?"

Outside the workshop, voices could be heard faintly; the salvage workers seemed to be arguing. Ji Huaisu leaned toward the door and said with a wicked smile, "Most prosthetic limbs are malicious traps, designed to trap those who want to take shortcuts to upgrade."

"I really want to be a 'handyman'! Don't stop me from realizing my dream!" Mrs. Ansah imitated the naive tone of young people. "And then in less than half an hour, that fool will be eaten up by the 'bad stuff' in the prosthesis, turning him into a brand new sludge monster, a robot, or something worse. Take my advice, if you want to upgrade, you have to rely on yourself. Shortcuts always lead to death."

Chu Hengkong didn't quite understand this time. He just realized that getting a prosthetic limb was probably a dead end. He nodded and looked toward the tattered window. "By the way, how's the security situation in the workshop area right now?"

Ji Huaisu said succinctly: "Very bad. Squat down."

Mrs. Ansah grunted and immediately ducked under the counter, her head in her hands. The next second, the sound of shattering glass shattered the peaceful atmosphere. The newly papered window was shattered by a large rock. A short, hooded man leaped in from the window, his eyes filled with greed and madness.

"One last fuck before I go back home—ah!"

Chu Hengkong extended his right hand and grabbed the thief's face as easily as if he were catching a chicken. He then slammed the thief to the ground with his backhand. The thief's face made close contact with the ground, and his legs shook and he fell silent on the spot.

"Go back to hometown?" Chu Hengkong raised his eyebrows.

"Damn it, will those outsiders ever stop!" Mrs. Ansah was furious.

Chu Hengkong walked out of the hut and looked around. His eyesight was excellent, good enough to see the scene at the foot of the gray stone tower in the distance. The young salvage workers were fleeing in all directions. Dozens of bandits armed with strange guns had seized the salvage tower. They covered their heads with crude sacks. Amidst the noise of splashing water bullets, the bandits' fanatical slogans were mingled:

"Break the curtain! Leave the city! Return home! Break the curtain! Leave the city! Return home!"

The bandits' water bullet guns possessed a strange power. One unfortunate salvor was struck by a water bullet just two steps away. The water bullet turned into a torrent that shot straight into the sky upon impact. The salvor was instantly hurled high into the sky by the surging force, and was almost crushed by the weapon in the water curtain.

Ji Huaisu had already run out first: "Temporary mission, attack!"

"Got it." Chu Hengkong stretched out his tentacles and picked up a small bag of stones from the weapon wall.

"Temporary requisition, to be returned later."

So the three-day streak of updates has come to an end. From tomorrow onwards, I will update once a day as normal~

(End of this chapter)