Chapter 1818 - 934: Good People of the Northern Realm (Part 3)

Why the hell isn't this dog-shit thing dead yet!

Just as he was grinding his teeth, he felt a pat on his shoulder again. He gave a self-mocking smile and turned back: "No need to console me anymore, Your Maj—"

The smile froze on his face.

All he saw was a dog-faced bastard mug, grinning at him with a disgusting beggar's smile.

"What's the Great Craftsman doing here? Right, I respect you too!"

Ji Jue!!!

This dog-shit thing blinked at him, smile full of expectation, his little hands rubbing together: "Next, can we talk about the profit split on the minerals again?"

Dog-shit bastard, every time I try to respect you, you start talking!

"..."

Yellow Beard closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and with all his strength forced down the anger about to erupt.

"How much do you want?" He squeezed the words out through his teeth: "I can make it happen, Beifeng's share can be cut a bit, but don't you dare get too greedy!"

"Not much, just those worthless scraps and offcuts. Maybe folks in the Northern Realm don't care, but compared to other places, they're already rare rich ore."

Ji Jue sat across from him, smiling slightly: "You're dumping slag anyway. Better to outsource it to me—guaranteed safe, eco-friendly, no pollution. Return the Northern Realm its green hills and clear waters!"

"What do you want that crap for?"

Yellow Beard frowned and did some mental math: "If you don't do preliminary refining, but haul it out with a whole production line, then load it on ships to the Seven Cities, just the freight is insane. It's totally cheaper to buy Federation ore nearby."

"Local goods get digested locally, of course. My Gou Zi just happens to be in a growth spurt lately—big appetite, doesn't picky about good or bad."

Ji Jue pulled out a brand-new contract: "For the next stretch of time, it'll stay up here in the Northern Realm. These few months' preliminarily refined ore—my share doesn't need to be shipped to the Seven Cities, just feed it straight to Long Shan.

And I'll trouble you, Great Craftsman, to keep an eye on it so it doesn't go hungry, that's all."

"Don't underestimate the Northern Realm!"

Yellow Beard let out a cold laugh: "No need to keep wriggling around for concessions and compensations. That busted ship of yours—how big a stomach can it have? Whatever it can eat, it eats. If it can't eat its fill, we'll keep shoveling it in!

Do you really think the Northern Realm would be stingy about that kind of stuff!"

No, I'm worried the Northern Realm will go bankrupt…

Ji Jue just imagined the Little Ox and Horse going into storm mode, flexing hard, and couldn't help wiping cold sweat. The look he gave Yellow Beard was obviously full of pity.

Hope you can still say that a month from now…

"Great Craftsman…"

"If you've got shit, just let it out!"

Ji Jue grabbed his hand and sighed from the heart: "You're a good man!"

Yellow Beard's expression twitched once, then again.

This dog-shit bastard swears so filthy!

.

.

After a fight, then mooching lunch plus a booze feast, the craftsman crowd took turns toasting to make sure Mr. Ji was thoroughly drunk, and finally escorted that dog-shit thing all the way to the gate.

This time there were no more tricks.

Gone. Really gone!

Watching the docks drawing closer, Yellow Beard finally truly exhaled, wiped the sweat off his brow, feeling utterly drained in body and soul.

How the hell is hosting Ji Jue once more exhausting than fighting one round of Embers of Decay Decision!

"Whoa!"

Ji Jue sat in the carriage, clicking his tongue as he looked out the window: "Now this is the Northern Realm—efficient, huh. Already putting up New Year decorations this fast?"

Right on the outskirts of Frozen Rock City, the public execution ground had already thrust up a forest of wooden poles, hanging corpses that had long since frozen stiff, exposed under the dim sky.

On those twisted faces and corpses, there were more or less traces of a faint Great Evil taint—most were You Shuang pollution, the rest were mutations from Absolute Abyss and Rainbow… Some even still wore the Northern Realm army's uniform. From what Ji Jue knew, there were even quite a few mid-level officers among them…

The Northern Realm's own Thunderbolt anti-mafia crackdown—its efficiency really was shocking.

Catch and kill on sight, kill and hang, and once they'd piled up enough bodies, drag them off to be burned to ash.

There were indeed things worth learning from.

Ji Jue clicked his tongue as he watched.

Only when the execution ground slid out of view with the carriage's movement did Yellow Beard hear the voice by his side.

"Great Craftsman, if you really can't survive, if you're absolutely cornered with nowhere to go, then going to worship an Evil, fine… At least I think some people can still be salvaged."

He paused, then asked: "Maybe getting into North Wind Workshop already counts as a bright future, right?

If that's still not enough, becoming a Northern Realm captain—doesn't that count as both fame and fortune? A lifetime's money you can't spend out—does that not count as being rich?

They can't possibly be completely clueless about the hidden dangers and disasters that come with the Great Evil, can they?"

"..."

Yellow Beard turned to look at him: "What are you actually trying to say?"

"I just don't get it, that's all."

Ji Jue let out a quiet sigh: "Why are there still so many people who refuse to wake up?"

"Are you telling me some kind of joke?"

Yellow Beard's expression was iron-hard: "Hatred, greed, jealousy, lust for power… Reasons? Too many reasons. Sometimes they don't even need a reason—just pure spite at seeing others live outside of Hell.

In this world, idiots like you and me, who don't know when to quit and whose greed has no bottom, are the majority. How many people actually know contentment and joy, and when to stop?"

"Yeah. As long as people are alive, taking the wrong step, going astray—that's inevitable…" Ji Jue shook his head: "For ordinary people, just surviving is already too hard."

Yellow Beard frowned: "Are you pitying them, Ji Jue?"

"No."

Ji Jue smiled, full of delight: "It's just I suddenly feel that, if some people were wiped out completely, the rest might live a bit easier."

Another one of those messed-up jokes.

Yellow Beard rolled his eyes and pulled his gaze back. The last thing he saw was that young man's smile at the corner of his mouth—so gentle, fleeting.

Yet carrying a chill that raised goosebumps…

.

.

The gates of the harbor opened. Between the readied Dragon Remains Fleet, a ship from Messenger Logistics had already been waiting for quite a while.

"No need to send me off any further, Great Craftsman. Hey, hey, hey… What are you grabbing local specialties for—really, no need."

Ji Jue's hands were full of big and small bags he'd snatched, and he clung to Yellow Beard's hand, refusing to let go, eyes staring straight at him: With a friendship as deep as ours, surely there's some parting gift, right?

Yellow Beard's expression twitched and twitched again. Gritting his teeth, he finally yanked the rune stone off his sleeve, stuffed it into Ji Jue's hand, and then tugged his own hand free.

Consider it bleeding a bit to send this plague god away!

That dog-shit bastard had been sneaking glances at his rings and belt the whole way. He was truly scared.

Almost on board now, just hold it in, hold it in…

He held it in until Ji Jue stepped onto the gangway, then finally couldn't help exhaling. Only to see Ji Jue put the bags down and actually come back again.

Before Yellow Beard could explode and start swearing, Ji Jue pulled two invitation letters from his pocket and handed them over: "Almost forgot—New Spring's got a little event going on recently. If North Wind has time, you can send a few people to watch the fun…"

"We're at war. Where the hell would we get that kind of Empire leisure time."

Yellow Beard pinched the invitations with caution, terrified Ji Jue was trying some Immortal honeypot scam or something. He automatically tuned out the part about seeing him again in a few months, and finally watched with his own eyes as Ji Jue left the soil of the Northern Realm and the ship weighed Anchor and sailed away.

Only long after, when he was sure this bastard wouldn't circle back for a surprise attack, did the heavy stone in his heart slowly drop.

At last…

Only then did he snap back to himself and lower his head to look at the invitations in his hand.

Utterly baffled.

"Hai Province Tech… Expo… sition?"

What kind of bullshit is that?