Chapter 58 The Crow and the Golden Bird
Sky Island, Ansa Workshop.
It was past noon, and the sky was gloomy. Still no sunlight, the salvage workers stood beneath the oppressive, gurgling curtain of water, shouting as they carried the remains. They were all exhausted. The workshop had been operating at full capacity recently, with shifts increasing from eight to twelve hours. Even with generous overtime pay, they couldn't handle the strain.
No matter what the situation is after the war, we have to stop working for a few days, Mrs. Ansah thought. She turned her eyes away from the newly built equipment and focused on the disk of smoke.
"I tried to use a book to identify it on the way, but there was no handwriting." Chu Hengkong said.
"That's not surprising. This isn't a relic of longing. It's just a small fragment of smoke..." Mrs. Ansah took a magnifying glass and examined it carefully. "Do you know amber?"
"Yes."
"This thing is like a bug trapped in amber. You have to crack the resin to get it out." Mrs. Ansah turned and began to search. "If you want to get it out, just rinse it with sea water. It will take some time. You can go get your light armor first. I'll call you when I'm ready."
"become."
Chu Hengkong wandered around the store, saw nothing new, and left. Mrs. Ansa lowered the smoke disc into the swirling water and carefully carved it with a high-pressure water jet. This was a delicate task. The currents of the Sea of Illusion would carry away most of the thoughts, so careful control was required to break through the smoke without damaging the contents.
"I hope my hands aren't rusty. I last did this over ten years ago," Mrs. Ansah muttered. "Let me see what's hidden here..."
As time passed, the smoke faded away under the washing of the flowing water, gradually forming an outline that resembled a mirror.
·
Chu Hengkong put on the repaired light armor and felt more at ease.
This light armor was severely damaged during the club battle; Du Muyan's slash nearly shattered it completely. Thanks to the workshop's preservation of the blueprints and materials, they were able to work overtime to repair it. He walked to the edge of the small sky island and looked out into the distance, spotting another island guarded by a black watchtower. That island also had a workshop, but the salvage workers were all dressed in black, and their work seemed extremely dull.
The Sky Island under the Black Workshop's jurisdiction was like this, cold and impersonal, like an arms factory. Chu Hengkong estimated the distance between the two dust islands. He estimated that at least two residential areas could fit between them, so leaping across was a complete impossibility. The team currently had no aircraft. To launch an attack, they would either have to hang-glider from the top of the giant tree or sneak across the branches like a single-plank bridge to the bottom of the Sky Island.
They were all sitting ducks, perfect targets for the machine guns. He understood why the Resurrection Corps hadn't attacked the Black Workshop for so long. Unlike the difficult swamps, the guys on Sky Island were truly formidable.
Chu Hengkong withdrew his thoughts, planning to focus on the offensive issue at the next meeting. He glanced at a few dark shadows at the edge of Ansakong Island. They were the "crows" of the Black Workshop, and these gloomy shadows could be found on every island.
In the past, the crows and Ansa Workshop had nothing to do with each other, but today the situation seemed different: a tall and thin man in black walked towards him, with empty hands and no weapons, wearing a black bird-beak mask, a living human-shaped bird.
When they were three meters apart, Crow stopped and said, "Inspector Chu Hengkong."
Chu Hengkong nodded: "What can I do for you?"
"The workshop owner wants to chat with you." Crow spoke slowly, like a mentally retarded person struggling to recite a note. "It's not a trap. Just a chat."
Seeing him like this, Chu Hengkong didn't want to embarrass him. He just smiled and said, "Tell your boss. If you want to talk, come to my place in person. Don't play such insincere tricks."
"Okay. Okay." The stupid crow repeated blankly. He raised his hand and took off the mask, revealing the handsome face of a blond man.
"I always come in person," Kanin said cheerfully. "Now shall we talk?"
Chu Hengkong stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "Tell Mrs. Ansa, everyone should go home and clear the place! I want to have a good talk with the workshop owner!"
·
Small Sky Island was much quieter than usual, as the salvors had all fled after Chu Hengkong's shout. The negotiation took place a hundred meters away at the Black Stone Tower. Two men, each holding a transparent fishing rod resembling a pipe, cast a thin line toward the water curtain, chatting as they fished.
"I was just about to praise you for your courage when I realized you're a coward," Chu Hengkong said.
He was ready to strike when Kanin took off his mask, but the face beneath it was bright and smooth, like a face made of white porcelain. There was no point in fighting the messenger puppet, so he simply chatted with him.
"It's impossible to talk without being timid. Can you resist taking action?" Kanin asked back.
"I'll twist your head off."
"Same here, so puppets are more convenient." Kanin sighed sadly, "Look, our business is so dangerous that even face-to-face conversations have become a problem!"
He swung his rod, hauling a frisbee-like relic from the current, placing it casually beside him. The "fishing rod" they used was a scam used to deceive tourists, claiming a chance of catching a relic from the water curtain, but the actual success rate was closer to winning the lottery. Chu Hengkong sat for a long time without catching a single relic, but Kanin's trophies piled up like a mountain. This man's fishing skills were incredible, catching a relic in less than two minutes, which made one wonder how much effort he had put in.
"This is my skill for making a living," Kanin said enthusiastically. "Our city is a wonderful place. Even if a person has no power, no influence, and no one to rely on, he can still make a living. Fabric, shoes, hats, knives, as long as you learn to reach out to the sky, a pauper can become a millionaire."
"You made your fortune by salvaging." Chu Hengkong said.
"We all made our fortunes by salvaging," Kanin corrected. "That old man Adali has a terrible reputation. If he hadn't leaned into the tide, how would he have gotten his poison skills and walking stick? If he hadn't fished the old man's portrait out of the water, Maivia would have been a ragpicker all his life. And Alex, if he hadn't found that book, how would you be where you are today?"
Chu Hengkong raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected the other party to know his origins. But on reflection, it wasn't surprising. Alex had held the ceremony inside the giant tree, a place that belonged to the Resurrection Force. Only the Black Workshop could send fanatics into the tree.
"You originally planned to let Alex explore the way," he pointed out. "You only had to wait for him to summon a powerful enough demon to destroy the water curtain, and then you would seize the opportunity to attack the City Lord's Mansion."
Kanin neither admitted nor denied it, only offering an elegant smile. He had landed another relic, a beautiful little silverfish. As he reeled in the line, he raised the rod a little higher, and Chu Hengkong saw some rust-like fragments in the waterline.
"Salvaging is like fishing; you need some 'bait' to get the relic hooked," he said. "Whether you place the bait or take the bait—that's the difference between the prey and the hunter."
"In this fair city, we all start out as prey, avoiding hooks, eating bait, and growing in dangerous crevices. Until you finally become strong, you have the right to be a hunter. Living in the shadows for so long makes your feathers black as a crow, but the wealth you gain is enough to cover you in golden feathers."
"With that layer of powerful gold, even a crow can transform into a golden-winged bird soaring in the sky."
Kanin turned his head and looked directly into Chu Hengkong's eyes. His eyes gleamed with a blazing brilliance, childlike innocence yet wildly greedy. It was the fire of ambition. An unquenchable fire burned within this man's heart, craving status, wealth, and power like a bird longing for the sky. That pure ambition had propelled him from salvor to workshop owner, and now it was driving him to take a dark gamble on the city beneath the water curtain.
"Three major wars have broken out in the past twenty years because there's a huge secret hidden in Huilong City," Kanin said softly. "Don't you want to take a look? That secret that even outsiders covet!"
Chu Hengkong thought to himself that what this person said might be true. Someone capable of battling the city lord would look down upon the smaller players in the city. The fact that such a person would wait outside the isolated city for ten years, even for a single day, could only be attributed to the immense benefits that could be gained from conquering the city. And Kanin wanted a piece of the action in this chaotic situation.
Of course, any ambitious person would do the same. When the city is broken, everyone will die. If the city lord wins, the black workshop will have no chance of survival. It is better to burn your boats and take advantage of the situation.
"Have you heard the story of the golden-winged bird?" Chu Hengkong suddenly said.
Kanin blinked: "...No."
"My hometown's mythology says the Garuda was a divine bird with an astonishing appetite, devouring a Naga king and five hundred dragons in a single day," he said. "But before its death, the Garuda suffered greatly because it had consumed so much dragon flesh. The toxins in the flesh accumulated, causing it to struggle and tumble, finally burning itself on the mountain, leaving only a cyan heart."
"It's a legendary ending." Kanin remained calm. Chu Hengkong admired this man even more. Like every good boss, he didn't get angry easily.
"You're quite eloquent and a nice person. If it were my first day in the city, I would consider following you." Chu Hengkong put away his fishing rod and stood up. "But if you want to live a more comfortable life, you should eat less bait."
Kanin watched him jump off Blackrock Spire and shook his head regretfully. He shouted at the top of his voice, "Hey! Don't you want to reconsider? The salary is very generous!"
“I don’t change jobs.”
"Okay, okay, what a stubborn killer." Kanin sighed.
He snapped his fingers, and a brilliant flash of fire rose from the distance, streaking across the sky like a comet before descending upon the giant tree in the city's center. As the spark fell, the tree's surface lit up with a dim red glow. The large elevator within immediately ground to a halt. A rumble like an earthquake resounded throughout the city, and molten lava streamed down the tree's bark, transforming the Ansar workshop, closest to the tree, into a sea of fire!
Almost immediately after the snap, the tentacle pierced Kanin's head. A blue light shone from the broken skull, and a maniacal laugh, muffled by the damage, emanated.
"Then the talks are over, killer. The war has begun!"
From among the many islands in the distance, a beam of black light rose up, reaching the sky. With overwhelming force, it shattered the water curtain and bore a hole like a black hole through the sky above the city.
The Huilong Water Curtain was instantly damaged, nearly a tenth of it halting. The collapsing tide turned into rain, falling along with countless relics. However, within the black light column was a stream of cyan fire. This flame took the opportunity to seep into the water curtain, using the water as fuel to grow wildly.
Countless flaming stars fell from the sky, and heavy rain burned over the city!
(End of this chapter)
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