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 Mercenary 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 memory—but Anthony mentioned ’Corps’ and not ’Mercenary 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 Mercenary Group. When a mercenary group has been around for a long time, they inevitably accumulate a pile of idle personnel, like members’ parents, wives, kids, lovers, and such. These people need proper arrangements; 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 plummets. There are also weaker, older, or injured members who can no longer tackle high-difficulty tasks, so they’re sent down to the Corps to heal or retire."

Negris exclaimed in surprise, "Arranging care for wives, kids, and lovers—plus healing and retirement benefits—this mercenary group sounds pretty amazing."

Anthony dismissed it with a wave, "Of course! Any team with solid combat power must cater to all key members’ 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 assignments."

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

Negris squinted skeptically, "So, these people are peripheral members of the Black Cord Mercenary Group. Does the Light Disaster have something to do with them?"

Anthony replied, "Not necessarily. Besides the Light Disaster, perhaps they provoked some formidable enemy. The underwater terrain here naturally makes it more hidden than other planes. Some bubble areas rise high, with thin water curtains allowing sunlight to penetrate—ideal for cultivating numerous 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. Mercenaries, after all, work for silver coin. If something smells 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 Mercenary 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 some info. Those migrating members of the Black Rope Corps mostly moved in three years ago. Before that, the Black Cord Mercenary 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 immediately 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 something—and then the conversation started flowing. Mercenary 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 member had undoubtedly been Silver Coin. From organizing manpower and distributing food, picking members to join the Commerce 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 measured, 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 Commerce 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 became available for recruitment. Between distributing food and finding suitable hires for his Commerce 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 seemed 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 me with you! I can’t swim—glug glug glug..."

Before he could finish, a Spirit Touch emerged 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 come 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 arrangement.