Night of Despair-Chapter 499 - 497 Parting 1

Inside Margaret’s Water Elemental Palace.

Yu Hong and Harvey quietly awaited the arrival of the Patrol Chief.

The air inside the palace was cool and moist, yet not pleasant, as there was a moldy smell everywhere.

Clearly, Margaret did not care about these things.

Only after Yu Hong and the others had waited for over an hour did she finally arrive, leisurely.

"How was it? What were the investigation findings?" Margaret’s figure coalesced like water onto the seat, looking at Yu Hong.

"It’s basically a small space inside..." Yu Hong carefully recounted what he encountered after entering.

"Black Winged Stone Statue? A burning architectural city?" Margaret furrowed her brows, "I see, next, you can go outside to claim your task reward. I’ll first consult the records to see the origin of this place. Everything has a source."

"Yes."

Yu Hong was led away from the main hall and transmitted out.

Together with Harvey, they soon arrived at the place where the Patrol Chief mentioned for collecting the task rewards.

A particularly obese old man, wearing a green and slightly white apron, was tidily arranging a large stack of supply crates inside the spacious palace.

There were already quite a few people in line. About a dozen people with peculiar looks, all quietly waiting in line.

Harvey indicated a spot for Yu Hong to queue up, then left first with his junior apprentice-sister.

Yu Hong stepped up, queuing in the last position.

Time passed, and the people in front of him, one by one, left with what they received.

Soon it was Yu Hong’s turn.

He stepped up in front of the obese old woman.

"Name, what are you collecting? Who approved it?" the old woman asked coldly, not even lifting her head.

"I’m the captain of the Black Spirit, Yu, here to collect the task reward issued by Patrol Chief Margaret," Yu Hong briefly said.

"Margaret?" The old woman paused slightly and found a black parcel the size of a human head from the stack of parcels.

Picking it up, she casually tossed it to Yu Hong.

"This is yours."

"Thank you." Yu Hong took the parcel and moved to the side to quickly open it.

He tore off the outer cloth, revealing a black small box inside.

He lifted the lid of the box, inside of which was a small bottle, with Night Language engraved on the outside: Clearing Spirit.

"?" Yu Hong was confused.

"This isn’t Star Spirit Alloy..." He suspected he received the wrong item and returned to the fat woman to inquire.

"No mistake, this is yours. A standard portion of Clearing Spirit, stabilizes mood and concentration, about a week’s supply, is the maximum dosage we can give," the fat woman said impatiently.

"Is there anything else I haven’t received? Please check again..." Yu Hong asked again.

"It’s all here. There’s nothing else." The fat woman waved her hand, pushing Yu Hong aside and continuing to distribute items to the next person.

Yu Hong silently stood aside, looking at the small bottle in his hand. He already understood.

Margaret intended to default on the reward....

But even if she defaulted, what could he do?

Make a scene here? Fight his way in? Snatch the reward that was rightfully his?

Yu Hong looked at the tightly closed palace doors of Margaret in the distance, then at the Clearing God Spirit Pills in his hand.

After a pause, he said nothing, merely turning silently towards the teleportation point.

Shortly after, with a flash of white light, he disappeared into the Teleportation Array.

And until he completely disappeared, a team of tall, water-blue Water Elemental beings appeared quietly inside the palace door behind.

"Quite the discerning fellow." The armored leading Water Elemental muttered coldly.

"What if he wasn’t discerning? Charge in here and fight? A Level Three guy, while decent, anyone here can easily suppress him," another Water Elemental mocked.

"Teacher instructed, if he dared to make a move, we’d eliminate him on charges of intrusion. Didn’t expect this guy to hold his temper so well, he saved his little life," the lead Water Elemental smiled.

"Since that guy chickened out, our task is complete, Hunter, it’s your turn to treat today, right?" someone in the team said with a laugh.

"Alright, alright, I, Hunter Dells, keep my word! Today we’re going to the Dark Forest, my treat!" The lead Water Elemental laughed.

The group laughed and joked as they left the palace gate and disappeared at the teleportation point.

On the other side, Yu Hong silently returned to the Black Spirit with the Clearing God Spirit Pills.

The ship flew out of the Light Window, slowly maneuvering between the massive Floating Cities, heading back toward Harvey’s Light Window.

’Time to bid farewell, then it’s time to leave.’

He thought, standing in front of the ring-shaped window, gazing at the mountain-like buildings of the Floating Cities outside.

A multitude of blue Light Windows, like spots on the black structures, each represented an entrance to a space.

Some were large, some small, some private, some public.

In addition, there were countless airships and peculiar creatures emitting golden light, constantly entering and exiting the Light Windows, either passing by the Black Spirit or traveling alongside.

Yu Hong looked at the bustling and prosperous scene here, yet he clearly felt that he did not belong here.

He picked up the Transmission Book, which automatically flipped to a certain page, with colorful, complex advertisements appearing on the page.

One moment, it was a group of rainbow-colored snails lifting themselves up, clumsily waltzing with their heavy shells to weird music.

The next moment, it turned into two dragon-headed humans in red and blue tights, standing in a boxing ring, looking fierce as they prepared to fight, surrounded by a cheering crowd of various strange creatures.

The next second, it changed into a pitch-black earthworm standing up, wearing ancient Chinese-style long robes on a plain stage, performing stand-up comedy.

Yu Hong watched these strange scenes and finally began to truly appreciate the cultural depth of the Floating City, accommodating countless species.

Humans here were neither the only nor the largest group.

"What a pity..." If he could, he’d like to stay for a stable life, but reality was always this harsh.

He looked at the Clearing God Spirit in his hand once more, pocketed it, and sped towards Harvey’s Light Window.

Bam.

Suddenly, a splat of green snot-like slime struck the Black Spirit’s window.

In the distance, a green airship lowered its window, revealing a strong, crocodile-headed monster, who yelled furiously at Yu Hong.

"You damn fool, you blocked my way!"

Yu Hong didn’t respond, only maneuvered the Black Spirit with a sharp turn, skimming past the green airship.

Splat.

The green airship collided lightly with the Black Spirit, scraping off a large patch of its surface.

This enraged the crocodile-headed figure even more, who loudly cursed and threw things but couldn’t catch up with the Black Spirit ahead.

Evidently, the speed of the Black Spirit was slow in combat, but here, it was just a bit faster than the other.

Over ten minutes later.

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Yu Hong drove into Harvey’s Light Window, arriving once more at Jade Island.

The Black Spirit slowly descended.

Yu Hong exited the door, finding only Ku Chan, Yiyi, Chi Xiao waiting there.

"Jiafei and Fisina are participating in the assessment and can’t come. Because Nature God isn’t eligible, Fisina is accompanying Jiafei as her combat partner," Ku Chan briefly explained.

"It’s okay." Yu Hong wasn’t concerned about them, as long as these two were present.

"What about you, when are you participating in the assessment?"

"Starting tomorrow," Ku Chan replied, "But I was lucky to meet an old gentleman beforehand, who appreciates me and thinks I can be exempted from the first round of testing and go directly to the second round."

He seemed in good spirits, with the assessment going exceptionally well.

"I also tried, but the Arcane Master test was too difficult. I only attempted the assistant position, not sure if I passed," Yiyi added.

"It should be fine. The threshold for the assistant isn’t high, and if it doesn’t work out, I can get an entry for her after I pass," Ku Chan said seriously.

"Hmm, I trust you." Yu Hong nodded. He had great confidence in Ku Chan’s character.

"What about you, when are you leaving?" Ku Chan asked back.

"... I’ll leave tomorrow," Yu Hong replied.

He also planned to find out the price of the Star Spirit Alloy himself. If it’s too expensive, to see if he could buy some needed resources himself before leaving.

Margaret’s breach of promise, he remembered it. But that’s to settle after he returns, right now he needed to purchase urgently required supplies.

"I heard from Harvey that you went on a mission and now that you’re back, you should’ve gotten the Star Spirit Alloy, right?" Ku Chan casually asked.

Yu Hong didn’t respond, he just took out the bottle of Clearing Spirit and tossed it to Ku Chan.

"What’s this?" Ku Chan caught it, confused.

"Task reward."

"Hmm?" Ku Chan’s expression changed, "Defaulting?"

"Yes, defaulting. Who told me to be of little significance? Actually, I had some hunches before, but some things, only when they come face to face do you believe it’s happening to you," Yu Hong said calmly.

"...." Ku Chan examined the Clearing Spirit, his gaze beneath the mask was unpleasant.

"This Clearing Spirit is only a few Crystal Coins per bottle on the market. Captain, the mission you executed is worth at least tens of thousands of Crystal Coins! Ruthless, really ruthless!"

"It’s okay, this is reality. I can accept it." Yu Hong’s expression was indifferent.

Ku Chan didn’t know what to say, biting his lip as he scrutinized the bottle of Clearing Spirit, silently returning it to Yu Hong. Then, with a blank-faced Yiyi, he left.

Yu Hong was indifferent, in such environments, being weak meant being exploited. Clearly, Margaret thought he had no future, so she didn’t intend to fulfill her promise of the reward.

It was understandable.

Now he was weak, accepting this reality.

If the other party acted this way, so could he.

When he was no longer weak in the future, he would return and do the same to the other party, surely the other party would have the same realization by then.

Reality has treated me harshly, so I will repay with equivalent harshness.

This was Yu Hong’s philosophy of life.

After a final check overnight on Jade Island, Yu Hong remotely transmitted and traded some Crystal Coins with the Transmission Book, then used the Crystal Coins to buy a basic Arcane Master Meditation Method.

The transmission transaction process was very simple. You just click on what you want on the Transmission Book, triple-click, and the book would project a small Teleportation Array onto the ground ahead.

Just place items into it.

All purchases and sales were verified and brokered by Emma.

Very convenient.

It’s akin to Arcane version online shopping.