Chapter 343 - 315: Chieftain, Please Stay
A five-colored radiance erupted in the deep-sea darkness, piercing the long-silent gloom and bathing several square miles of water in a light that transformed it into a wonderland.
Not far away, in the caves of the Fishman Tribe, a few Fishmen who had just fallen asleep were startled awake by the sudden, intense light. They squinted, poking their heads out of the caves in a daze to gaze at the source of the light to the north.
In the stone temple on the tribe’s western side, the inner walls were covered with carved murals depicting Fishmen mating.
Inside the stone temple, over twenty female Fishmen were sprawled across the floor. A potent, primordial aura of life saturated the air.
The Fishman Leader slowly walked among them, his gaze sweeping over each body as a muffled whisper rumbled in his throat. "I hope we have more children..."
Suddenly, a blinding light spilled into the stone temple through a skylight.
The light painted the walls and floor in a layer of magnificent, splendid colors.
The Fishman Leader shuddered and whipped his head up toward the source of the light.
’What is this...?’
He hurried out of the stone temple, rushing toward the source of the light.
Above the ruins of the underwater city, once the radiance that had illuminated the seabed dissipated, a massive crater remained. Torrents of back-flowing seawater carried huge amounts of silt, which rushed in to fill the depression.
From all directions, the turbulent undercurrents suddenly slowed as they passed through Qin Ziwen’s location, as if smoothed by an invisible hand, and the flow of water became gentle.
The corners of Qin Ziwen’s clothes billowed gently in the current.
Lorne’s face was flushed as it crossed its hands, struggling to calm the undercurrents.
It stole a glance at Qin Ziwen’s back, its eyes still wide with shock.
’Who would have thought that such a massive underwater city could just disappear like that.’
Lorne had seen the entire thing, clear as day.
’He just took out a Card, and then WHOOSH! That huge city just went WHIRRRR and vanished!’
Lorne’s gaze toward Qin Ziwen was now tinged with awe.
Qin Ziwen caressed the Card in his hand.
On the front of the Miracle Card, an image of an underwater city had appeared in the previously blank space.
Based on its appearance, it was the very same Fishman Race city that had just been absorbed into the Card.
[Miracle Card] Abyssal Ruins
[Construction Requirements] Deep Sea Core, Abandoned Underwater City (Completed), Aquatic Marvels x99
When the Fishman Leader arrived in a hurry, he was met with the sight of seawater rushing back into the crater.
’Where did such a big city go?’
’It’s gone?!’
He stared blankly at Lorne.
Lorne nodded silently.
’That’s right,’ Lorne thought. ’This was the place.’
The Fishman Leader fell into deep thought.
’Although the Fishman Tribe had long since moved out and no longer lived in the city...’
’The ruins passed down from our ancestors were just... gone.’
’And they vanished on my watch...’
He gave Qin Ziwen a complicated look for a moment before finally turning his head away, preparing to leave.
"Leader, please wait a moment."
Qin Ziwen called out to him.
Hearing the voice, the Fishman Leader stopped.
"Do you have any more Marvels?" Qin Ziwen asked, having Pura translate.
After hearing the translation, the Fishman Leader’s face turned livid.
"No!"
He practically squeezed the word from between his teeth, then swam away hurriedly without looking back.
Qin Ziwen stroked his chin. ’Did I go a little too far?’ he couldn’t help but wonder.
’Luring away the tribe’s most talented Fishman, taking the Cards they had saved for years, harvesting a huge pile of the Marvels they’d painstakingly cultivated, and to top it all off, completely carting off the ruins their ancestors left behind...’
After the Fishman Race Leader left, Mogu approached. He held out his hand, revealing two red Cards lying flat in his open palm.
"Master, these are the Cards that dropped from the Thousand-Eyed Snake after it was killed," Mogu said in a low voice.
Qin Ziwen was a little surprised. He hadn’t seen them drop.
’Of course, my view was probably blocked.’
Qin Ziwen kicked his feet, propelling himself upward through the water until he was level with Mogu. He patted Mogu’s shoulder. "Good work."
He took the Cards from Mogu’s hand.
[Function Card] Level 1 Insight, [Function Card] Level 1 Guild.
𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
After stowing the Cards, Qin Ziwen led his followers back to the Fishman Tribe.
When they found the Fishman Race Leader, he was the first to speak.
Seeing the human approach, the Fishman Race Leader said sullenly, "We really don’t have any more White Coral. If you want some, you’ll have to wait. A few gardens have some that are about to mature, but it will take a while."
After listening to Pura’s translation, Qin Ziwen said, "It’s not about that. I came to you for another matter. I hope we can cooperate in other areas."
Qin Ziwen took out the two Function Cards. "These two Cards dropped from the Thousand-Eyed Snake we just hunted. Since we hunted it together, I feel you deserve one of them."
"You can take the Cards," the Fishman Race Leader said after hearing the translation, making no move to claim one. "They’re useless to me. We can’t use them."
’If we could use them, we would have done so long ago. We wouldn’t have let them sit around.’
Qin Ziwen pointed to the temple below them. "Leader, I’ve actually been rather curious. Since your tribe no longer has a Tuiyuan, how are these buildings able to continue existing?"
As far as he knew, if a Lord of the Homeland died, the buildings within the Home would fall dormant along with them.
"It’s Cards," the Fishman Race Leader said. "There’s a special type of Card that allows buildings to exist independently, but we don’t have any left."
Hearing the answer, Qin Ziwen had a moment of clarity. It all made sense.
’If it was because of some amazing Cards, then that’s understandable.’
"You don’t want the Cards, but I believe we can establish a long-term trading relationship," Qin Ziwen said to the Fishman Race Leader.
’The Fishman Tribe can produce Aquatic Marvels. Plus, since they live on the seabed, they’re constantly hunting all sorts of aquatic creatures.’
’Combined with the large number of Fishmen in the tribe, I could leave an anchor point here,’ Qin Ziwen thought.
’The anchor point I was originally going to place in the Island Urban Village can be set up in the Fishman Tribe instead.’
’It’s more concealed here, and safer.’
Pura relayed Qin Ziwen’s idea.
The Fishman Race Leader was quite interested in the long-term trade relationship Qin Ziwen proposed.
After learning the purpose of the anchor point, the Fishman Race Leader considered its potential benefits.
"We can provide weapons and armor," Qin Ziwen said. He was confident that the weapons forged by his Military Equipment Supervisor would receive rave reviews.
’After all, the weapons are infused with Ghost Gold and forged in an Advanced Building.’
’The quality is definitely superior to the Fishman Tribe’s native weaponry.’
’As for what they could offer in return...’
Qin Ziwen glanced around the entire Fishman Tribe and smiled faintly.
’Population is a precious resource.’
’And Fishmen count as people.’
’When the gap between two "civilizations" becomes large enough, it’s like a siphon.’
’Lesser civilizations are naturally drawn toward more advanced ones.’
Unaware that he was being targeted by what was essentially a people-trafficker, the Fishman Leader considered the offer carefully and decided the deal should be fine.
"I will take you to select some of my people, but you cannot choose anyone from the Sacrificial Race. We need them to prepare for the next arrival of the Death God," the Fishman Leader stated frankly.
He summoned a large number of Fishmen.
The tribe’s open ground was soon densely packed with a crowd of Fishmen.
One after another, the bizarrely shaped and homely Fishmen stood on their tiptoes, curiously staring at the man standing beside their leader.
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