Chapter 680: One after another

Gu Qing Shan turned into Wang Cheng and quickly returned to the main ship.

As soon as he came out from the wreckage, he saw the second mate standing at the entrance of the main ship, coldly looking at him.

The scavenging was already over.

So everyone had already returned to the main ship, only the second mate was still standing here.

As if he was waiting for someone.

Gu Qing Shan glanced at him, said nothing and just went back into the ship.

“Wang Cheng, where’s your devil?”

As he walked past him, the second mate couldn’t help but ask.

“It? The contract was over so it returned” Gu Qing Shan replied.

The second mate froze briefly before giving him a small pouch.

“This is your salary this month, everyone has already gotten theirs, only yours is left” he said.

“Ah, thank you, no wonder you waited for me here” Gu Qing Shan received the pouch and said.

He didn’t turn around and kept walking, eventually disappearing down the walkway of the ship.

The second mate stared closely at his back without moving.

A long while later.

The second mate muttered in a low voice: “Damn brat, finally dismissed his devil…”

With a sigh of relief, he appeared to be assured.

If Wang Cheng didn’t have such a powerful Devil King guarding him, who would be afraid of that guy?

They made a mistake by not knowing Wang Cheng could summon a Devil King.

Otherwise, when fighting against a summoner, all he needed to do was not give the summoner enough time to chant his incantation.

As for how, within the narrow pathways of the ship, that was easily achievable.

While thinking, the second mate slowly went into the ship as well.

On another side.

Gu Qing Shan walked past the ship’s public area.

He saw the first mate’s corpse as well as the corpse of several others being hung there on display for all to see.

Some members of the ship’s crew gathered here and loudly discussed among themselves.

“So it turns out Wang Cheng had accused the second mate wrongly, the first mate was the one that did this”

“I knew there was a reason why I didn’t like the first mate”

“Hmph, he’s always been so full of himself, doing whatever he liked. Now the captain finally discovered his handiwork”

“To help Bai Yu and Zhang Yi kill Wang Cheng like that, I wonder how much he got bribed?”

“It doesn’t matter, he got what he deserved”

“In hindsight, the previous crew members who accidentally died might have been done by him as well”

Gu Qing Shan didn’t come forward.

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He was only silently listening to everyone’s discussions.

According to Wang Cheng’s memories, there would occasionally be one or two people who died during missions.

But this was unavoidable, as living with such a dangerous job required people to take certain risks.

Just earlier today, the ship was suddenly attacked by void monsters, losing quite a few people in the process.

It was simply bad luck.

Gu Qing Shan’s gaze passed through the first mate and looked at the other corpses.

According to the captain’s announcement, those people were the first mate’s accomplices, the ones helping the first mate arrange these hidden deals and betraying the captain’s trust.

So according to the rules, these people also deserved to die.

But since that was the case, the ship’s situation became a bit awkward.

A number of people died by the monster’s attack, then a few more were killed because they betrayed the captain.

So now there weren’t too many people remaining on the ship.

Fortunately, although the captain was strict, he only did that for everyone’s well being, so the remaining members all felt assured.

Gu Qing Shan glanced over and over through the window of the ship to look at the space vortex outside.

——that was a vastly endless space that connected every world in the 200 million World Layers, where countless fierce and scary void monsters lived and thrived, each civilization needed to follow the established routes in order to travel through this endless space to reach another world.

According to Wang Cheng’s memories, to maintain the safety of a journey, at least 10 veterans working at once were necessary to pilot the ship.

But now that a majority of the ship’s crew had died, there were barely 8 people left.

Seems like the ship will need to recruit more members once it reaches the black market.

Gu Qing Shan shook his head and left.

He returned to Wang Cheng’s personal cabin.

He closed the door and opened the pouch he just got.

Cling, clang clang!

The metal coins fell on the table, making clear chimes that were easy to the ear.

These were green metal coins that had a certain bit of weight to them, not only were they very solid, they also contained secret magic runes to prevent forgery.

The head of the coins depicted a 6-armed monster, while the tail was a number [7] carved using the most commonly used language of the 900 million World Layers.

These were #7 coins.

In the Strife Zones, ranked by their monetary values, there were a total of 1001 types of numbered coins.

The higher the number, the more value they contained.

And among the 1001 types of coins, #7 coins weren’t considered to be very valuable.

——-you can’t really expect someone doing a job like scavenging broken ships actually to make much money, can you?

The truly valuable and powerful flying transits weren’t going to be found by normal void monsters.

And only people without money would ride on these low-quality, garbage flying transits that carried high risk.

The most common type of transit to run into accidents were these bottom-tier vehicles that transported poor people.

Which means the job of a scavenger that searches through the wrecks of these garbage really didn’t pay much at all.

To depend on this job to make any sort of fortune was a daydream within a daydream.

This was also Wang Cheng’s tragedy.

If he was only able to advance just one step further as a Devil Summoner, he would’ve been able to let go of this dead-end job and get a job that paid better.

But he no longer had the chance.

Gu Qing Shan silently sighed, stopped thinking about that and looked at Wang Cheng’s payment.

All of them were now on the table, the same green #7 coins, about 40 pieces in total.

This was all of Wang Cheng’s salary.

Gu Qing Shan went silent, then lightly tapped a spot in Wang Cheng’s personal cabin according to his memories.

A small chest showed up.

He lifted the chest up and opened it on the table.

The chest was filled with #7 coins.

Gu Qing Shan smiled bitterly.

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Fine, I’m currently dirt poor without a penny to my name, so even though these coins are one of the lower valued ones, they still amount to a small fortune.

He took one of the coins and carefully observed it in his hand.

The 6-armed monster on the coin had noticed his stare.

It appeared to be extremely irritated, even trying to swing its arms at Gu Qing Shan in threat.

Below the depiction of the monster were two small lines of text.

[Six Claw]

[Small monster, characteristics: thick-skinned, low threat]

As Gu Qing Shan read these two lines of text, he couldn’t help but smile sarcastically.

“Small monster, a low threat?”

He muttered.

——-Gu Qing Shan already ran into this 6-armed monster when he had just left the First Zone.

At the time, this monster simply charged through the space vortex without minding any other creatures.

Gu Qing Shan saw with his own eyes how this monster devoured everything it wanted, the embodiment of ‘unbeatable’ in that place.

But it was still only #7, called a small monster and rated as being low threat.

According to Wang Cheng’s memories——-

There were a total of 1001 types of numbered coins in the Strife Zones, each of them depicting a different kind of monster.

And these monsters were also ranked according to their strength.

So the monster depicted on the #1 coin was the weakest.

While the strongest was depicted on the #1001 coin.

But it wouldn’t be easy to run into such a creature.

Rumor has it that during the Age of Old, even the Old Gods had to fight for several years before they could finally overwhelm it and kill it.

The monster now only existed in legends, something that a normal person would never have a chance to gaze at——- not even through its depiction on the coin.

Within these 200 million World Layers, the majority of people would never even have a chance to look at the #1001 coins in their entire lives.

If a normal Professionist were able to use a #500 or above coin, they would be able to ensure a life of luxury within the Strife Zones without ever worrying about money again.

Gu Qing Shan silently fell into thought for a while before sighing.

He put all the #7 coins back into the chest before putting it into his Inventory Bag.

As he finished, Gu Qing Shan’s expression slightly twitched.

He took out a newspaper.

——–the Spire Keeper Association newspaper that Kitty gave him before.

The very first thing that he saw was a large picture on the front page.

A towering spire that stood among the clouds was broken in half, slowly collapsing.

Line after line of text quickly appeared below the picture.

[Day of the Spire’s destruction]

[An unspeakable horror had come! It came too quickly, beyond all expectations]

[The Tower of Knowledge created by the Old Gods have been destroyed]

[The Spire Keeper Association’s casualties are immeasurable, they are currently taking their last stance]

[SOS! SOS! Requesting the help of all Lord-class and above Combatants throughout the 900 million World Layers!]

[This is a battle that will decide the survival of our entire 900 million World Layers, if we fail, it will become even more powerful. For the sake of your own survival, please join the battle at the world of the Spire Association!]

Gu Qing Shan held his breath as he read the news.

How did the situation become so serious?

This was completely out of my expectation.

That thing in God Institute, the creature with a face that was half-man, half-woman—— what exactly is it?

What kind of creature, or power could possibly destroy the Tower of Knowledge that was made by the Old Gods in one fell swoop?

Can no one really stop it?

Gu Qing Shan was unable to take his mind off of it.

The news was already fully displayed, and he had finished reading through the newspaper.

But before he could put the newspaper away, another unexpected event had occurred immediately after.

The humanoid figure of light once again appeared before him.

To be exact, it had appeared in front of every living being in the Strife Zones.

With the solemnity of a divine being, the figure of light declared: 「 Announcement: The first group of followers to light their Tree of Divinity has appeared 」

「 The path to godhood has official opened 」

「 The Divinity barrier of the Gods will soon be activated 」

「 The Strife Zones will be hidden away from the rest of the 900 million World Layers 」

「 From this moment onwards, anybody who leaves the Strife Zones will no longer be able to re-enter the Strife Zones! 」