Chapter 283: Cooperation |
Hearing Pula's voice, the fish-man who had been talking himself hoarse at the front gate looked at him with a resentful gaze, thinking to himself, if you had come out earlier, I wouldn't have had to talk myself so tired.
Hearing Pula's words, it hurried forward to communicate.
The two fish-men began chattering back and forth.
After a round of discussion, Pula turned his head and said to Qin Ziwen, "Master, it says a great disaster is about to arrive. They wish to invite us to cooperate in hunting the source of the disaster. If we can suppress the disaster, they are willing to offer a Revelation Card as a reward."
Qin Ziwen paused in his steps. "A Revelation Card? What's that?"
Under Pula's explanation, Qin Ziwen learned that this so-called Revelation Card was what he understood as a 'card'.
Speaking of cards, Qin Ziwen was reminded of the figure he hadn't been able to catch up to in the ocean depths.
He thought of those undersea altars. If these fish-men could take the cards, how many cards had they accumulated over all these years?
"I want to know, how do they know about the cards, and how can they take them?"
It turned out these altars didn't continuously refresh. Only when beings like them, whom the fish-men called 'Revelations,' descended would the altars refresh with cards.
Therefore, whenever the fish-men discovered the altars in their habitat had refreshed with cards, they knew a Revelation had descended.
Great, just great. So that's why I couldn't find any altars last time. You guys secretly took them all.
Qin Ziwen mentally noted this down.
"The key point I'm asking is, how can they take the cards."
Pula turned to inquire.
Pula quickly gave a reply. "Master, it says they are born able to take cards."
"Born able to take..." Qin Ziwen frowned. Could it be these fish-men were also descendants of the Home?
Or perhaps they had some other method.
Unable to figure it out with too few clues, Qin Ziwen gave up on guessing. Knowing the fish-men could take cards was enough.
"What is the great disaster they speak of?"
Pula relayed the question and then answered, "They call it the Thousand-Eyed Death God. Every time a Revelation descends, the dead Thousand-Eyed Death God revives from the deep sea to devour all living things."
"Thousand-Eyed Death God?"
Qin Ziwen frowned, pondering.
He suddenly thought of something. Both had the words 'Thousand-Eyed.' Could it be the Thousand-Eyed Serpent on the Heavenly Ladder ranking?
"Tell them, if they want to cooperate, they must first bring the advancement card over to show sincerity. Since they know these cards are useful to us, they should understand that giving us the card earlier would also help our cooperation, right?"
Hearing Pula's relay, the fish-man looked somewhat bewildered. It felt there seemed to be some logic to it, but it couldn't make the decision.
The fish-man prostrated itself on the ground with both hands towards Qin Ziwen, performing a respectful bow.
Then it slowly retreated back into the sea.
On the surrounding reefs, the other fish-men remained seated. In the sky, the torrential rain continued to pour down.
After quite a while, the fish-man surfaced from the sea.
It placed its hands on a reef, exerted strength with its arms, and climbed up.
After arriving before Qin Ziwen, the fish-man tapped its own brow, then bowed respectfully.
Then it turned around and communicated with Pula.
"You're saying their leader has agreed, willing to give me a card first, but it needs something as a token of trust."
At this point, Qin Ziwen frowned. "What do they want?"
Pula stammered as he said, "Respected Master, they hope you can marry its daughter."
"Hope I marry his daughter!?" Qin Ziwen's body jerked backward.
He glanced at Pula, who was hunched over and had a rather peculiar appearance.
Then he turned his head to look at the other oddly-shaped fish-men around them. Finally, his gaze landed on the three moving 'mounds of excrement' at the edge of the reef.
Instantly furious, he declared, "One cannot be subdued by force, nor corrupted by wealth! What kind of person do they take me for!"
Seeing his master's anger, Pula hurriedly ducked his head. He knew the master would definitely not agree.
"Pfft..." Qin Ziwu almost couldn't hold back his laughter, teasing, "Big brother, maybe you should just go along with it. This is a fish-man princess. In stories like these, usually among the uglier races, there's always a princess who is as beautiful as a flower, as lovely as a celestial fairy."
Qin Ziwen shot him a sidelong glance, suddenly seeming thoughtful. "How about I send you for a marriage alliance? That seems like a good idea. You're my own younger brother. No one is more suitable than you, besides me."
Qin Ziwu was instantly dumbfounded.
Qin Ziwen withdrew his gaze. "Pula, tell them, right now they are asking us, not the other way around! When asking for help, one must show the proper attitude! If they won't bring the card first, fine, have them send some fish-man warriors over. Otherwise, let them deal with that snake themselves."
Pula relayed Qin Ziwen's words. Unexpectedly, the fish-man tribe actually agreed to send him a batch of fish-man warriors.
They also gave him a palm-sized purple fish scale as a token.
Through this token, he could command this batch of fish-men who came ashore.
Qin Ziwen's gaze fell upon the group of fish-men around him.
It was hard to imagine the phrase 'a motley crew of misfits' could apply to so many fish-men at once.
"Are these all your clansmen from the Artisan Clan? Are those three at the back from the Hunter Clan or the Turbid Clan?"
"Master, those three are from the Turbid Clan."
"Not a single Hunter Clan member." Qin Ziwen was somewhat surprised.
Then he smiled meaningfully.
Can't even send any Hunter Clan members to put on a show, huh?
It seems this fish-man tribe is even weaker than imagined.
Being weak is good.
When Qin Ziwen took out the fish scale, the eighty-six fish-men before him simultaneously prostrated themselves on the ground.
According to Pula, the fish-man tribe had a strict internal hierarchy. Now he saw it—constantly prostrating or kneeling.
This was also his first time seeing the Turbid Clan. "Come here."
He beckoned to the three big, fat members of the Turbid Clan.
"Oww." The three fat fish-men crawled upward. Their speed was more agile than expected, their waddling seemingly not expending too much effort.
As they got closer, Qin Ziwen saw up close that their bodies were not small, over four meters in length, comparable in size to a walrus.
Their bodies were bald, without any hair.
Layers of fat piled up, like a mountain of flesh.
So heavy, yet still so agile. Their strength must be considerable.
What was interesting was that with such physiques, they could only be part of the Turbid Clan, not the Hunter Clan.
Just how strong must the Hunter Clan be then?
Qin Ziwen called over Jia Liangcai and explained the current situation of temporary cooperation with the fish-man tribe. Jia Liangcai felt his lord's handling was appropriate.
Currently dealing with another residential complex, it was unwise to fight on two fronts. Stabilizing the fish-man side was the best strategy for now.
Moreover, his lord had even borrowed some troops from the fish-men, which was perfect for testing and observing the combat power of the fish-man tribe.
After dealing with the Red Cauldron Tower, they could plan their next move slowly.
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