Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton Chapter 1478: 1039: The Snake, Dead

Chapter 1478: Chapter 1039: The Snake, Dead

“Black Rope Corps? Black Cord rcenary Group?” Negris’s face showed an awkward expression.

Indeed, they are old acquaintances—so familiar that even the Old Immortal, if he knew, would jump out of his grave to erase the mory—but Anthony ntioned ‘Corps’ and not ‘rcenary Group,’ which carries a significant difference in the Universal Language spoken by humans.

“The Black Rope Corps is the outer organization of the Black Cord rcenary Group. When a rcenary group has been around for a long ti, they inevitably accumulate a pile of idle personnel, like mbers’ parents, wives, kids, lovers, and such. These people need proper arrangents; one, to stabilize morale, and two, it also…” At this point, Anthony curled his lips and continued:

“Two, it also binds them as a shared-interest community. When your wife, kids, and lover are all within the corps, your likelihood of betrayal plumts. There are also weaker, older, or injured mbers who can no longer tackle high-difficulty tasks, so they’re sent down to the Corps to heal or retire.”

Negris exclaid in surprise, “Arranging care for wives, kids, and lovers—plus healing and retirent benefits—this rcenary group sounds pretty amazing.”

Anthony dismissed it with a wave, “Of course! Any team with solid combat power must cater to all key mbers’ needs. If the demands are high, pay higher commissions. If the risks are great, provide the complete care package for their families. If the benefits are stingy, give them fewer assignnts.”

“Any rcenary group that sends you out to die without a pay raise while blabbering about dedication is destined to go nowhere. For the Black Cord rcenary Group to achieve Uber-Godly level, they must’ve established a sound operational structure,” Anthony explained.

Negris squinted skeptically, “So, these people are peripheral mbers of the Black Cord rcenary Group. Does the Light Disaster have sothing to do with them?”

Anthony replied, “Not necessarily. Besides the Light Disaster, perhaps they provoked so formidable enemy. The underwater terrain here naturally makes it more hidden than other planes. So bubble areas rise high, with thin water curtains allowing sunlight to penetrate—ideal for cultivating nurous crops.”

“That said, we can’t rule out the possibility that they noticed trouble during a task or even took part in causing the Light Disaster. rcenaries, after all, work for silver coin. If sothing slls fishy, they’d start preparing a retreat plan.”

Negris asked, “So what should we do?”

“You dare to wake up His Majesty?” Anthony retorted.

“Am I crazy? Do *you* dare? If you dare, go call him,” Negris almost jumped up at the suggestion. Talking behind the Old Immortal’s back was one thing; waking him up? Was Negris courting death?

Anthony spread his hands, looking helpless, “No way then. These are enemies of His Majesty; I wouldn’t dare touch them. Let’s probe around first and see what we can find.”

The Black Cord rcenary Group is an enemy of the Monarch. They wouldn’t dare snatch monsters from the Monarch—for fear of his wrath.

Just then, Silver Coin suddenly flew back and reported, “I gathered so info. Those migrating mbers of the Black Rope Corps mostly moved in three years ago. Before that, the Black Cord rcenary Group was consistently conducting missions outside. One particular task involved escorting a caravan to a certain plane, and upon returning, they began setting up everyone’s migration.”

“A certain plane? Which plane?” Negris imdiately followed up.

“They don’t know either. The Black Rope Corps is an outer unit, and these individuals who migrated early are even more peripheral. Getting even the scrap about escort missions is already quite good,” Silver Coin responded.

Negris inquired further, “How did you find out? Did you alert them? If they start getting suspicious, it’ll be a big problem.”

“Huh? I paid them to spill. I just asked casually why they moved here—wondering if they found a gold mine or sothing—and then the conversation started flowing. rcenary groups selling information is pretty standard,” Silver Coin explained.

At that, Silver Coin tilted his head, dropped a quick “I’m heading over there,” and zipped away at top speed.

Lately, the busiest mber had undoubtedly been Silver Coin. From organizing manpower and distributing food, picking mbers to join the Comrce Guild, to cataloging various records—he’d been so physically overloaded that he was practically flying everywhere, never touching the ground.

Silver Coin lived in a whirlwind of headaches and joy. If dependency on a team were asured, Silver Coin’s reliance was even worse than Anthony’s. Without a competent crew, Silver Coin couldn’t accomplish a thing.

As such, he was practically going insane from the shortage of manpower. Whether it was a deputy Comrce Guild president capable of handling matters alone, guards, accountants, chefs, or caravan and fleet workers—Silver Coin needed them all.

Hence, his eagerness to acquire the Church of Omniscience. A colossal human resource pool would be at his disposal.

Initially, Silver Coin planned to solve these issues bit by bit using silver coin and food. But Ange, always decisive, resolved everything in the simplest way possible.

In a matter of days, nearly a million people suddenly beca available for recruitnt. Between distributing food and finding suitable hires for his Comrce Guild, Silver Coin now also had to avoid stealing Anthony’s personnel. No wonder he was flying around like crazy.

Everyone had their hands full to the point of chaos. Oddly, the least occupied seed to be Ange. Noticing no one required his attention, Ange quietly, sneakily slipped away.

“Where are you headed?” Negris instantly tailed him.

Ange ignored the question and went straight to the harbor, jumping directly into the water.

Negris urgently called out, “Dead Skull, take with you! I can’t swim—glug glug glug…”

Before he could finish, a Spirit Touch erged from the water, dragging him in and leaving only a cluster of bubbles behind.

With Negris in tow, the two quickly swam to the space above the water curtain. Upon surfacing, a strong, bright sunlight shone down on them.

“So blinding,” Negris squinted his eyes tightly against the glare.

Water, being lighter than air, left air settled beneath it. Above the water curtain, there was no air to scatter sunlight, making the void appear purer than pure.

Sunlight struck directly against the water surface, evaporating a misty layer that floated atop. If hidden within the mist, sunlight’s intensity would weaken; once the mist vaporized entirely, its power surged back again. The cycle continued on and on.

“This surface is uninhabitable. There’s absolutely nothing here—why did you co up?” Negris asked.

Ange remained silent, dragging Negris along until they found an island rising above the water.

He pulled out an exceptionally long rope, tied it to the island, and fastened the other end to a large stone before tossing it into the water.

With this setup, the rope would anchor to the island while drifting steadily within the water.

Negris realized Ange’s intention. Sure enough, Ange retrieved a clump of water algae and secured it along the rope.

“I knew it. I just *knew* you wouldn’t be up here soaking up the sun. There’s no way you’d ever entertain thoughts outside of ‘farming.’ I was way too naïve,” Negris grumbled.

“Still, this actually *is* the optimal spot for growing algae—similar to the Light Sea Plane, all water… Wait, what’s that?” Mid-complaint, Negris noticed a shadow gliding past.

Looking up, he spotted a massive disk hovering in the void, drifting between them and the sun, casting a dark eclipse.

“Snake… it’s dead,” Ange glanced briefly at the disk before resuming his algae arrangent.