Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-PerpetualMreow, Proofreader-adjective
The next morning, February 17, Ji Dong, Ren Jianmo, and Mo Tiangen, did not go to Hourglass Cube as originally planned and instead, reentered ‘Lian Ge’.
The reason for the change was due to a message Mo Tiangen had inquired from Zhang Ying.
“You’re still in contact with her?”
When he heard the source of the intelligence, Ren Jianmo raised his eyebrows, and his gaze stayed on Teacher Dagen’s handsome face for two seconds with a playful look.
Zhang Ying was the female nurse who had entered the [City of Ashes] with them and had managed to survive to the end. She was later recruited by Compass with her best friend, Min Qingqing, to become the two new members of the guild.
The two girls turned out to be quite competitive. They performed well in the second [Film] they participated in, and they both stimulated psychic abilities and were now considered to have a firm foothold in Compass. They had even become the focus of the guild’s future training.
In their first world, they exchanged names with Ji Dong and the others, so they could easily find them.
But, what made Ji Dong feel quite surprised was that instead of contacting him, the two girls took the initiative to find Mo Tiangen.
Zhang Ying, the little nurse, phoned teacher Dagen immediately on the night she left the [Film] to ensure their safety.
In addition, she also shared some of the information she got from the guild with Mo Tiangen, one of which was that there was a guy who could handle collectibles for the participants in the the [Peach Blossom Spring].
“Is that so?”
Ren Jianmo smiled and asked with interest, “What does this so-called ‘handling’ mean?”
“This person has a wide range of business.”
Mr. Dagen counted with his fingers and counted them one by one.
“It is said that whether it is identification, storage, selling, buying or even bartering, he can do it. He charges… ah, I mean of course with points, it’s much cheaper than the official system of [Peach Blossom Spring].”
Ji Dong received Mo Tiangen’s message in the middle of the night yesterday. Although he heard that there was such a person, he did not have time to ask for details carefully, so he knocked his chin with his knuckles.
“So, it sounds like a second-hand dealer who specializes in collectibles! So he’s a participant like us? Or does he have some other identity?”
The problem was a bit serious if the second-hand dealer was also a participant who was forced to be thrown into the [Film], on the 15th of every month.
The [Peach Blossom Spring] had a rule that the participants should be witnessed by each other’s artificial intelligence when they made a certain agreement.
In this way, as long as both parties were still in the [Peach Blossom Spring], they could not use fraud, breach of contract, or violence to take any points or items from others, which was more secure than signing a contract, because if anyone violated the rules, the consequences would be so severe that no one would dare to disobey the law.
But if the dealer was also a participant, it meant that he would be forced into a certain [Film] on the 15th of every month, and if a mistake was made and the dealer did not come out alive, then the collectible was given to him for safekeeping and sale… would it all return to the owner unharmed?
“I don’t know!”
Mr. Dagen shrugged his shoulders.
“Xiao Ying also said that the identity of that person was not clear, only heard that he rented a room in ‘Lian Ge’ for a long time, as his own store.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Pc ‘Oljc Xf’, jr ibcu jr bcf xcfk atf gbbw cewyfg, bcf mbeiv ufa lc abemt klat atf gbbw’r bmmeqjca, jcv lo bcf uba atf batfg qjgas’r qfgwlrrlbc, atfs mbeiv fcafg.
Ji Dong tried to use his watch to dial the communication phone.
Soon, the call was picked up.
“Hello? Hello?”
At the other end of the phone, there was a low and magnetic voice of an older man.
It was a deep and hoarse voice, seemingly intellectual and elegant, comparable to a state-run platform prime time eight o’clock program’s voice actor, in other words, it could make people’s ears pregnant.
However, in the next second, the voice of the older man suddenly became grumpy.
“I don’t recognize your room number, so let’s not talk nonsense, tell me, what is your current [Film’]difficulty level?”
Ji Dong: “… F.”
“Bye!”
The magnetic uncle’s voice over the phone replied dryly.
“No, no, no!!!”
Ji Dong hurriedly shouted, “We just got a collectible item and want to ask you to identify it!”
There was a second of silence on the other side of the phone.
“You have a collectible item?”
The tone of the uncle’s voice rose slightly as if he had some doubts, “You mean, you guys got a collectible item?”
Ji Dong: “Yes, yes, yes!”
The man’s voice seemed more troubled.
“You mean, you got it in the [Film] that just ended? It really wasn’t given to you by someone else?”
Ji Xiao’niao: “Yes, yes, yes, that’s it!”
This time, the other party was silent for a longer period of time.
About ten seconds later, that uncle’s voice replied.
“Okay then, although I know that today is going to be unlucky… you guys come up.”
———————
Five minutes later, Ji Dong, Ren Jianmo, and Mo Tiangen stood in front of the door.
Like the other rooms in ‘Lian Ge’, it had a white-gold round-arched metal door. There was no writing on it, but a sign the size of a palm was hung on the door with a pure white background and a fiery red maple leaf in the center. At first glance, it looked a bit like the flag of Canada.
Ji Dong reached out and knocked on the door of the room.
“Come in.”
Inside the door sounded what he had just heard, a magnetic and deep, rich voice.
As the words fell, the door opened silently as if it was voice-activated.
The room was somewhat dim, however, Ji Dong’s eyes were very good, he could see a dark shadow about the same height as him, when he looked into the room.
He walked in slightly apprehensively.
After all three had stepped inside, the metal arch door behind them closed, and in the next second, all the lights in the room were lit up in a flash.
Ji Dong: “?!?!”
He was stunned, and for a moment, simply could not believe what he was seeing.
Because, he saw that in the center of the room, stood a tall bird!
The bird had long, slender feet covered in gray feathers, as well as a small crown of feathers behind its head that stuck out like dull hair.
More importantly, it had a large head and a huge beak. It looked like the head of a whale. The beak was wide and thick, and the end of its mouth was curved into a sharp hook shape. It looked very lethal.
The bird was dressed in a black silk robe and cheongsam jacket, with only the original cuffs and back hem of the coat cut with a hole to reveal its two wings and cocked tail feathers.
It had a pair of high-top studded riding boots on its feet, so one couldn’t see what its claws looked like, and an oversized flap bag slung over its shoulder, and a red five-pointed star embroidered in the middle—it looked just like a character from a hundred years ago!
Ji Dong: “……”
“Crap!”
Mo Tiangen blurted out, “Isn’t this a whale-headed stork!?”
After Teacher Dagen, rich with knowledge, yelled, Ji Dong remembered.
——Yes, this is a whale-headed stork!
——The fierce stork was once the rage on social media, it originated in Africa. It is said that a fierce stork with a huge mouth could swallow fish, chicken, and even children!
“Pei pei, don’t talk nonsense!”
The whale-headed stork in the black silk vest spoke up, with a low magnetic tone, it was the same uncle’s voice they heard earlier on the call.
“Please call me Yao Wanguan! You know what, it’s not the whale-headed stork, it’s Yao Wanguan!”
Ji Dong: “……”
——Although his language is not really good, this is exactly how a person loaded with wealth would talk with homophonic stem, it really fits his identity as a second-hand dealer.
“Okay, okay, Mr. Yao Wanguan.”
Ji Dong tried to control his facial expression and put on a calm, gentle and respectful smile. “We want you to help us identify a collectible.”
The whale-headed stork… no, he should say, Yao Wanguan, with wobbly steps, walked towards the crowd, tilted his head, with his round bean-like eyes gleaming at the three people swept over one by one.
“You guys, all of you are F-rank?”
Ji Dong swore that he actually saw doubt and contempt in the whale-headed stork’s face.
Still, he nodded his head.
“Well, you guys bring out the things you want to appraise.”
Yao Wanguan lowered his voice and muttered.
“I’d like to see what you can get from a [Film] of F-level difficulty!”
Ji Dong pulled out the “Moon God Stone” from his trouser’s pocket and heard the whale-headed stork’s words with sharp ears, and his heart went cold.
“… Laozi has never heard that an F-level [Film] can get collectibles…”
Ji Dong strongly suppressed the confusion in his heart and handed the blue-golden stone to Yao Wanguan, “Here, this is it.”
“Huh, surprisingly it’s really a collectible”
Yao Wanguan’s pair of bright bean eyes dilated and stretched out his wings to take the “Moon God Stone”, but stopped before the feathers were about to touch Ji Dong’s hand and looked at him with a crooked head:
“Each appraisal requires a charge of 200 points.”
When Ji Dong thought about it, this is indeed much cheaper than the [Peach Blossom Spring’s] charge, and still within his affordable expenses, so he did not hesitate to nod.
However, in the very next second, he felt a heartfelt, profound, almost suffocating, regret for his decision.
Because the whale-headed stork opened his big mouth like a hacksaw, and with a sigh, he grabbed the palm of his hand that was holding the “Moon God Stone”, and then only heard a “gu dong”, and the stone was swallowed by him.
Ji Dong: “?!”
Because he was so surprised, he even kept his palm held out straight and forgot to withdraw it.
“Hiccup!”
A few seconds later, Yao Wanguan stretched his neck and burped, then turned his head and spat the “Moon God Stone” he had just swallowed back onto Ji Xiao’niao’s open palm.
Feeling the sticky and warm touch in the palm of his hand, Ji Dong stiffened and looked down.
The “Moon God Stone” was still the turquoise-gold color he was used to, with a faint metallic sheen, but there was a very suspicious layer of mucus on the surface, and there were still some undigested small fish and shrimp pieces on it!
Ji Dong: “!!!”
He felt like he was going crazy.
——Someone tell him whether this stone is still usable or not?!?!
it’s the shoebill!! OOOOOH
… disgusting.
Thank you for new chapter~
😂😂 poor Ji Dong
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Poor Ji Dong
Thanks for the chapter
Ugh doin the right thing sometimes causes massive trouble 🤦🏽♀️ Poor guy yo trouble just starting 😂😂😂😂 thanks for the update
I feel this those girls were order by the guild to contact them. My trust issues surges up again 🤧