Forge a path to success.

Chapter 9 Relic Vortex
After gliding for several minutes, the two landed on a medium-sized floating island.

The floating island was very close to the giant tower. The buildings on the island were sparser than those on the ground, and most of them were gray stone towers. Strong young people stood on the top of the towers, firing white jets of water with devices that resembled cannon barrels. Many of them had recently healed wounds.

"Is that 'salvaging' relics?" Chu Hengkong asked. "It looks a lot like fishing."

The white column of water remained relatively still, like a fishing rod poised amidst the tide of weapons. Suddenly, a suit of armor "flowed" into the water column from the sky. The young men gasped and made tiny adjustments to their equipment, their faces glistening with sweat, as if they were walking a tightrope with explosives hanging from their belts.

“You read that right, they are waiting. The force of the water column used for retrieval is too strong. If you are not careful during the operation, you will be swept away and die without a trace. Therefore, the retrieval workers spend most of their working time waiting for the relics to naturally ‘take the bait’,” Ji Huaisu explained. “Skilled retrieval workers can actively hook up the relics, but most of the people in this area are outsiders who are just trying to make a living and they don’t have that ability.”

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

“Retrieve, appraise, sell,” Ji Huaisu corrected. “This is common sense across all Dust Island; relics must be appraised before they can be used.”

As they spoke, the two arrived at a tin warehouse, which looked like one of the logistics centers in the workshop area. Salvage workers were constantly pulling carts in and out, transporting relics into the warehouse. Their destination was a red brick building built against the warehouse. The windows of this building were taped shut, as if they had just broken and hadn't had time to be repaired. To the right of the entrance, an entire brick wall was displayed with various cold weapons, and behind the counter opposite sat a short, plump middle-aged woman.

Chu Heng raised an eyebrow. This place resembled a hastily modified iron paddle shop, but what interested him more was the female owner behind the counter. Her face was flat, and her skin was covered with pale green scales, suggesting she didn't have much of a human body.

“Hi, Mrs. Ansa,” Ji Huaisu greeted. Mrs. Ansa’s eyes lit up, and her tone was much kinder than her appearance suggested.

“It’s so nice to meet you, little Huaisu.” She slowly took out two boxes from under the counter. “This is the newcomer who joined yesterday? Her tentacles are beautiful.”

"Your...scales are also very green." Chu Hengkong carefully chose his words of greeting.

“Thank you, but we usually use words like ‘glossy.’ My great-grandfather always said it was proof of ancient dragon blood, but we all think it’s probably because some slut messed around with a lizard a few generations ago.” Mrs. Ansa muttered as she opened two boxes, inside which lay the pendant and iron ring.

"Come on, let me take a look at your goods."

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

[Pendant-type Basic Relic - Enhancement]

Rating: Bottom-tier

[Effect: Gripping the necklace enhances perception for 1-3 seconds. The degree and duration of the enhancement depend on the level of emotional intensity.]

Is the duration of the deceased's belongings linked to their emotional state?

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

[Bracelet-shaped basic relic - Power Accumulation]

Rating: Bottom-tier

[Effect: When the bracelet is colorless, it can actively accumulate power. The more power stored, the deeper the color, turning black when fully charged. The accumulated power can be actively released during an attack; the maximum release amount in a single attack depends on the level of emotional engagement.]

"Captain, you're right. Authentication is a crucial step." Chu Hengkong shook his head. "I thought it was a power amplifier..."

The bracelet is now ivory white, indicating that the power it contained has been completely squandered. That fool Hugos completely misunderstood the use of the relic; it was clearly meant to be used for a decisive, fatal blow at a crucial moment, yet he treated it as a show of force.

Mrs. Anza chuckled, "It happens all the time. Lots of foolish young men try to save money by not having the artifacts appraised, only to be ripped off by the artifacts' effects. You wouldn't believe how bizarre their deaths were; each one a classic joke..."

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

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

“Tentacle Bro, do you really think this is anything special?” Mrs. Ansa’s eyes filled 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 outstanding geniuses would come to the city with merchant caravans to exchange ideas, bringing with them the most precious treasures from their homelands. The workshops were ablaze with fire day and night, and appraisers barely had time to rest. Even level three or four relics weren’t worth our time. We’ve seen halberds that could tear the heavens and earth apart, scepters that controlled time and space, and elixirs that could exorcise all evil… That was the glory of Huilong City…”

Mrs. Ansa's eyes shone with an unusual brightness, as if she were depicting a perfect, golden dream. She tried her best to describe the brilliance of the dream, using the most beautiful words to outline a corner of the past. But suddenly, her voice lowered, and she awoke from her dream of the past. What she saw in her eyes was no longer brilliance, but dust on the table. "And those magnificent relics are gone, vanished in the war along with their owners," she sighed. "You're right, these things are now the treasures of the city, the pinnacle of wealth."

Ji Huaisu couldn't bear to listen any longer, so she changed the subject: "Don't think about it, Mrs. Ansa, things will get better! Speaking of which, there's still one of your belongings that we haven't brought out yet, isn't there?"

"Ah, that book..."

Mrs. Ansa smiled slightly. This time, she didn't use a box; she simply took the Silver-Eyed Book from the drawer. Chu Hengkong rolled up the book with his tentacles, and the new authentication text surprised him:
【unknown】

Rating: Unknown

[Effect: Unknown]

[Note: Throw it as far as you can]

“The best appraisers died in the war, and I, a mere amateur, can’t see the details.” Mrs. Ansa was quite pleased; those who did appraisal always loved unusual items. “The last line is my advice: throw it away immediately. Things of unknown origin are always synonymous with misfortune and death.”

"I'll consider it." Chu Hengkong stuffed the large book back into his coat and looked around at the various types of weaponry in the workshop. "Excuse me, do you sell prosthetics here?"

“You really are a newcomer,” Mrs. Ansa said subtly. “Prosthetics and artificial hands are the most common types of relics. Don’t even mention me, you won’t find a safe prosthetic arm anywhere in the city.”

"……Why?"

Faint voices could be heard outside the workshop; the salvage workers seemed to be arguing. Ji Huaisu leaned closer to the door and said with a wicked grin, "Most prosthetics are malicious traps, designed to swindle those who want to take shortcuts to advancement."

“I want to be a ‘skilled hand’ so badly! Don’t stop me from achieving my dream!” Mrs. Anza mimicked the silly tone typical of young people. “Then, in less than half an hour, that silly boy will be devoured by the ‘bad stuff’ in his prosthetic leg and turned into a brand-new mud monster, a robot, or something even worse. Take my advice, if you want to get promoted, you have to rely on yourself. Shortcuts always lead to a dead end.”

This time, Chu Hengkong didn't quite understand, only realizing that getting a prosthetic leg was probably out of the question. He nodded and looked at the dilapidated window: "By the way, how's the security in the workshop area these days?"

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

Mrs. Ansa muttered something and immediately ducked under the counter, covering her head. The next second, the sound of shattering glass broke the tranquility; the newly patched window had been smashed by a large rock. A short, hooded man leaped in through the window, his eyes filled with greed and madness.

"One last push before heading back to my hometown—ah!"

Chu Hengkong reached out with his right hand and easily pinched the thief's face as if he were catching a chick. He then slammed the thief to the ground, his face making intimate contact with the ground, his legs trembled, and he fell silent on the spot.

"Go back to your hometown?" Chu Hengkong raised an eyebrow.

"Damn it, when will those outsiders ever stop!" Mrs. Ansa exclaimed angrily.

Chu Hengkong stepped out of the small hut and peered out. His eyesight was exceptional, good enough to see clearly the scene beneath the distant gray stone tower. Young salvage workers were scattering in all directions, while dozens of bandits armed with strange firearms seized the salvage tower. They had crude burlap sacks over their heads, and amidst the noise of splashing water bullets, the bandits' fanatical chants rang out:

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

The bandits' water bullet guns possessed a peculiar power; an unfortunate salvage worker was hit by a water bullet after only two steps. Upon impact, the water bullet transformed into a torrent shooting straight into the sky, instantly propelling the salvage worker high into the air, nearly tearing him apart by the weapon within the water curtain.

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

"Received." Chu Hengkong reached out and took a small bag of pebbles from the weapon wall.

"Temporarily requisitioned, to be returned later."

　So, the three-day consecutive update streak has ended. Starting tomorrow, it will be one update per day as usual~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)