Chapter 1071: Chapter 679, Underwater Treasure Hunting
Hundred Cities Federation, the marine border.
Across the vast expanse of sea, several ships with straw hat flags drifted with the waves.
Inside the constantly swaying cabin.
Bai Xuan looked at the Book of Lords, furrowing her brows one moment and relaxing them the next.
That morning, the world channel was abuzz with a shocking twist.
The “Dragon Temple Holy Army” had just spammed messages about having killed Fang Hao.
Less than half an hour later, the story took a 180-degree turn, Aerygon was captured and bound.
Bound tightly, with a torn rag stuffed in his mouth.
Who didn’t know Aerygon?
The second-ranked player in the world, an internet celebrity.
Bai Xuan sometimes envied him in secret for being able to join a special faction.
Now, it was getting interesting.
The perennially public second-ranked player had been captured by the top player.
It was news for the world.
Interesting…
Bai Xuan saved a picture, planning to show it to members who hadn’t seen it when she returned.
After all, such events were rare.
Boom! Boom!!
The door to the cabin was knocked on, and a voice from a member of the alliance called out.
“Alliance Hierarch, we’re all ready!”
“Good, I’ll come out now,” Bai Xuan said, closing the Book of Lords and heading out.
She made her way to the deck.
On one side of the ship hung a giant bronze bell.
The bell was iron-grey, with some decorative patterns on its surface.
It was the ‘Gong’ often seen in the channel, mostly used in tower warning bells.
That is, the kind rung when enemies approached.
Next to the bell stood a man, bare to the waist, leaning against the ship’s railing with one hand holding the bell.
“Zhang Mingyu, how is it? Any issues?” Bai Xuan shouted loudly.
Zhang Mingyu smiled, giving a thumbs up, “Rest assured, Alliance Hierarch, everything is going as planned. I’m the expert here when it comes to waves.”
Bai Xuan nodded, “Alright, good, let’s begin.”
“Let’s begin, prepare to dive!” the others shouted out.
Everyone immediately sprang into action.
Clank! Clatter! The sound of the metal chains was piercing to the ears.
As the bell plunged into the water with a ‘plop’, Zhang Mingyu went down with it.
They kept descending to a certain distance.
Only then did they stop, suspended in the water.
Diving bells, when submerged, can preserve a certain amount of fresh air inside.
They are used to allow divers to breathe.
It’s a rather old-fashioned method.
After reaching the seabed, Zhang Mingyu checked his bearings.
He then swiftly swam in one direction.
Passing by wreckage of sunken ships, he longingly gazed towards the area marked by the treasure map.
In the distance was a mountain formed by dark reefs covered in various barnacles.
Around the reef swam numerous fish-like creatures.
He took out the Book of Lords and snapped photos rapidly.
Immediately after, he swiftly returned to the ‘Diving Bell’ to take a deep breath of the fresh air inside.
He continued to change positions and take photos, searching for the possible hidden treasure.
Logically, since it was marked on the treasure map, it couldn’t be that there was nothing there.
He just hadn’t found it yet.
After going back and forth three times and taking photos,
Zhang Mingyu had just closed the Book of Lords.
Whoosh!!
A sound rang out.
Startled, he turned to one side only to see a trident spear slicing through the water towards him.
Glug glug glug!!
In alarm, he gulped down several mouthfuls of water.
Zhang Mingyu immediately covered his mouth and narrowly avoided the trident spear.
He turned and fled toward the diving bell, with water churning behind him.
Countless fish creatures charged in his direction.
Continuously throwing the steel forks they held in their hands.
Zhang Mingyu cursed his luck, even though he had been careful, he was still discovered by these creatures.
He pulled out a scroll from his briefs and tore it open.
A stream of water swirled around him,
making him swim even faster.
At least not much slower than the fish creatures.
Two meters from the diving bell, Zhang Mingyu sent out a message with the Book of Lords: ‘Pull me up.’
Then, he grabbed the chain connected to the bell,
While anxiously watching the approaching fish creatures and dodging spears, he opened the latch connected to the bell.
Click!
The latch opened, and the bell fell downwards.
While the chain, pulled from above, quickly pulled Zhang Mingyu up with it.
He had just been pulled out of the water,
When Zhang Mingyu immediately shouted, “Go now, fish people pack!”
Everyone was startled; the water’s surface also seemed to boil, agitating nonstop.
“Turn around, set course for home…!” Bai Xuan ordered loudly.
“Heading back, hurry, everyone move it!” the transmigrators and sailors yelled.
The ship received the command and began to turn, heading towards land.
Whoosh~!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!
Handfuls of trident-harpoons were shot from underwater, puncturing the sides and deck of the ship with crackling sounds.
Everyone immediately ducked for cover.
After one round of hurling their weapons, the attack paused, but beneath the ship came a series of dull thuds.
Someone was smashing the ship.
Everyone’s faces changed at once.
“Full speed ahead, release the oil barrels, quick! The rest of you, meet the attack,” Bai Xuan shouted loudly.
Everyone fought back while steering the harpoon-studded sea vessel, speeding up their departure.
…
“Alliance Hierarch, no one followed us. We’re safe,” someone reported.
A sigh of relief washed over everyone.
The ship’s location was already on the outskirts, and after the mermen had chased for a while, they gave up and stopped pursuing.
Even so, there were still many who were injured.
And even more people were constantly bailing out water and repairing the breached cabins.
“Let’s head back. We can make a profit by selling these tridents.”
The entire hull had become a porcupine,
studding with metal tridents.
It was actually quite strange.
Living underwater and unable to forge iron, how did the mermen make these tridents?
They couldn’t possibly have made them by hand!
“A grass boat borrowing arrows, huh! I’m impressed,” a member commented.
After instructing on the repairs,
Bai Xuan called the core members into the captain’s quarters.
She began, “Zhang Mingyu, have you found anything?”
Zhang Mingyu, opening up his photographs, spread them out on the central table and reported, “No significant discoveries. The region marked on the treasure map is a ‘sea floor mountain.’ If there’s any treasure, it’s likely inside the mountain.”
“Inside the mountain…”
Everyone was at a loss for words.
With so many mermen around, who could get into the core area to explore?
Just when everyone was feeling somewhat depressed, feeling as if the treasure was out of reach,
Xu Yuanhang suddenly spoke up, “Do you think the location captured by Zhang Mingyu’s photos looks like part of a ship’s bow?”
Everyone was first stunned, then shocked.
But they quickly denied it to themselves.
Part of a ship’s bow?
How could that be possible…
That would mean it was a Giant’s ship.
“Bring out all the photos you’ve taken these few times,” Bai Xuan ordered.
The rest displayed the Book of Lords at the photo section, laying them out on the table.
After Bai Xuan reviewed and rearranged the sequence several times,
a complete, clearer picture emerged before her eyes.
“How is this possible?”
Everyone exclaimed in unison.
…
As dusk was nearing,
Fang Hao brought the Gold Eating Queen ‘Amanda’ over.
He turned the heroic Dragon Clan member ‘Aerygon’ and a few critically wounded, dying dragons into huge gold ingots.
Except for their heads, the rest of their bodies were encased in gold blocks.
As for whether they could breathe comfortably or deal with the necessities,
being part of the Dragon Clan, they should be able to solve these difficulties themselves.
He had not killed the Dragon Clan hero outright.
First, he had made a promise to ‘Beata,’ and second, he wanted to see if he could entice both to become heroes.
For the remaining dragons, Fang Hao let the Skeleton merchant ‘Doujin’ purchase Slave Contracts.
Planning to sign them directly as slaves.
Those who resisted would be killed and turned into Bone Dragons.
If he could have these captive dragons sign the contracts and then have them ascend to heroes,
It would be more beneficial for the development of his territory than adding a few Bone Dragons.
After leaving the Blood Prison,
Amanda took a few steps before stopping to look at Fang Hao, “Are you serious? Has the conflict with the Dragon Clan escalated to this extent?”
Fang Hao simply shrugged, “I don’t think they’d forgive me now even if I knelt and kowtowed!”
His demeanor suggested that things had already reached this point, and nothing she said would make a difference.
“All the races fear the Dragon Clan.
In fact, Fang Hao also did not wish for the conflict with the Dragon Clan to escalate further,
Unlike Aerygon.
He thought it was fine to honestly be a Lord, not worrying about food or clothing, and then slowly increase his Divinity, enjoying a long life.
Previously, he had always tried to avoid escalating conflicts with the Dragon Clan.
But when they came to kill, what could he do?
He couldn’t just wait for death, so he could only fight back.
“Don’t worry, I have my plans. Unless the entire Dragon Clan comes over, they can’t do anything to me,” Fang Hao reassured her.
Amanda wanted to continue, but she remained silent.
After all, things had already come to this, and she lacked a viable solution.
Fang Hao spoke again, “You’ve seen the situation in the territory. Send back ‘Aseti’ and ‘Spencer,’ and the transmigrators like ‘Dong Jiayue’ need to manage their own cities.”
Amanda thought for a moment, “Let Spencer come back first. I’ll arrange for someone to replace them in their duties before sending the rest back to you.”
“That’s fine.”
They returned to the Lord’s Mansion,
Only to see the long table placed again in the middle of the hall.
Rolana, the Skeleton craftsman, and the Dwarf engineers were gathered, engaged in intense discussion once more.
Seeing them enter,
Rolana turned around and called out, “Amanda, come quickly. The entertainment construction needs a three-dimensional sandbox model created. Please help with that.”
Amanda, curious, stepped forward, “Entertainment construction? What’s that?”
Fang Hao slapped his forehead.
Damn!
Why had this started again?
…
Seeing that ‘Amanda’ would not be returning any time soon,
Fang Hao went back to the square.
He opened the Book of Lords and found the Blueprint for ‘Shadow Dome Projector.’
[Shadow Dome Projector (Purple): Ironized Wood 220, Fine Stone Bricks 180, Fine Iron 50, Precision Parts 22, Essence of Magic 2, Perfect Essence 1.]
He picked a spacious area next to the ‘Queen’s Gold Tower.’
Confirmed the construction.
In an instant, beams of light rose, constructing a columnar building.