Chapter 25: Wealth Stirs the Heart
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Dragging Fatty's corpse into the Great Derivation Boat, Li Fan then quickly cleaned up the blood on the ground and returned to the house as if nothing had happened.
"Truly absurd," Li Fan commented.
This Fatty clearly hadn't grasped the situation. Relying on a bit of cunning, he had discovered that Li Fan might be an impostor and had eagerly come to threaten him, possibly to extort some benefits from Li Fan.
But he didn't think about it: Li Fan had indeed infiltrated Jade Island, but weren't they, the Exiled People, also pretending to be disaster victims to obtain household registration? What essential difference was there between them?
Once they got the household registration of Jade Island, they really thought they were natives.
Li Fan saw very clearly that the Immortal Master who had come to meet him with a covered face, and the Tianbao Tower where Sun Zhang was, had been very cautious, fearing that others would find out.
Clearly, their identity as exiles from the Mortal World was something they couldn't reveal.
Precisely because of this, Li Fan casually killed this Fatty who had come to threaten him without a care for his own life.
He didn't believe that Tianbao Tower and the group from the Exiled Realm would make a big fuss over this.
Moreover, even if they found out that Fatty had come to Li Fan's place before he disappeared, without a body, as long as Li Fan denied ever seeing him, they couldn't do anything to Li Fan.
After all, making a big deal out of it would benefit neither side.
If Li Fan had hesitated and dared not act, leaving Fatty alive, it might have caused all sorts of trouble.
So Li Fan decisively chose to nip the potential threat in the bud.
...
As Li Fan had predicted, a few days passed, and apart from Su Changyu's brief inquiry, Fatty's mysterious disappearance didn't attract any attention from others.
This incident was just a small episode in Li Fan's island life and was quickly forgotten.
In the meantime, Li Fan had been inquiring about various matters on the island and planning how to reasonably use the treasures in the Great Derivation Boat.
Gradually, Li Fan gained a general understanding of the Jade Island where he now resided.
This sea was called the Congyun Sea.
The vast Congyun Sea was scattered with tens of thousands of large and small islands.
Jade Island was located in the southern part of the central Congyun Sea and was of medium size.
It was named Jade Island because the surrounding sea was rich in a type of fish with delicious meat called the Luli Fish.
The Luli Fish was very popular among the mortals on the surrounding islands, and even some Immortal Masters used the Luli Pearl, which occasionally formed in the Luli Fish, in their elixirs.
Therefore, the Immortal Masters on Jade Island would collect a certain number of Luli Pearls every year.
Immortal Masters generally did not meddle in worldly affairs and were rarely seen. The affairs of Jade Island were usually managed by the Luli Bureau established by the island's lord.
Residents of the island could take a job at the Luli Bureau. The more dangerous the job, the higher the pay.
Among them, the most popular was going out to sea to catch Luli Fish.
Not only was it not too risky, but the pay was also substantial.
More importantly, only 70% of the caught Luli Fish had to be handed over, and 30% could be kept and sold.
So, this fishing job was highly sought after.
Unfortunately, going out to sea required a large ship, and the Luli Fish schools were unpredictable. Finding them required the island's specially made Spirit Guide.
The Spirit Guide was only issued by the Luli Bureau when going out to sea and was recovered after returning.
Private fishing was impossible, and if caught, the punishment was immediate execution.
Therefore, fishing for Luli Fish could only be done with the permission of the Luli Bureau.
Those who could go out to sea to fish were envied by the island's residents.
A few days ago, a fleet that went out to sea not only returned with a large catch of Luli Fish but also encountered a sunken ship.
This ship was said to have fled with the entire family to avoid a storm, carrying over a dozen chests of gold and jewels!
All of it now belonged to the fleet.
Regarding the items salvaged from the sunken ship, the island's rules were the same as for the Luli Fish: 30% could be kept!
So, when the fleet returned to the port, half the island was in an uproar.
Even the island's financial manager, Manager Qian, came to inspect.
Seeing the fleet members grinning from ear to ear, many on the island were envious.
They started to seek connections privately, hoping to secure a spot on the next fleet.
...
In Li Fan's view, he could use the same method to gradually legitimize the countless treasures on the Great Derivation Boat, with relatively low risk.
The only difficulty was how to obtain the right to go out to sea alone.
The existence of the Great Derivation Boat must never be exposed.
There were too many people on the island who wanted to join the fleet. After a brief inquiry, Li Fan learned the key.
The island lord's three main subordinates were Manager Zhao, responsible for personnel; Manager Qian, responsible for finances; and Manager Zhou, responsible for security.
Most of the fleet's spots were in Manager Qian's hands. Manager Zhao and Manager Zhou had always wanted to get involved, but Manager Qian firmly controlled the spots, only allowing a few ships to join.
Where there are people, there is struggle.
Li Fan recalled Manager Zhao's reaction when he registered and thought he might meet Manager Zhao.
But Manager Zhao wasn't someone Li Fan could see just like that.
Li Fan decided to still go through Sun Zhang at Tianbao Tower.
Finding out the location, Li Fan went to the front of Tianbao Tower, hoping to meet Sun Zhang.
But he was turned away.
"Get lost, do you think you can just see our Elder Sun whenever you want? Get out of here!" The black-clad men at the gate looked at Li Fan with ill intent, as if they were ready to attack at any moment.
Seeing this, Li Fan had no choice but to leave reluctantly.
He found it strange that Tianbao Tower, which was a business, would turn people away without even meeting them.
Moreover, these black-clad men made their own decision without consulting anyone, as if they already knew who Li Fan was...
"They must have been ordered to deliberately avoid me," Li Fan concluded. He guessed that something must have happened with the people from the Exiled Realm, causing Sun Zhang to turn his back on them.
After some inquiries, Li Fan found out what had happened.
It turned out that Su Changyu, in order to quickly rid himself of the miasma in his body, had resolutely chosen to become an Immortal Master's test subject.
Before leaving, Su Changyu signed his name on the remaining part of the Contract.
With that, the three covenants were complete, and the Contract vanished.
The Exiled Realm and Tianbao Tower were now completely unrelated.
"No wonder they suddenly turned their backs on us and deliberately avoided us. I didn't expect Su Changyu to be so resolute," Li Fan sighed.
"Ai, we all advised him not to be in such a hurry, but he wouldn't listen!" Li Fan recognized the speaker; it was Xiao Heng, who had called himself the Son of the Southern Pacification King in the Tianbao Tower cave.
Xiao Heng seemed to have a close relationship with Su Changyu and was now extremely disheartened: "If it weren't for his terminally ill sister, Brother Su wouldn't have pushed himself so hard."
Hearing this, Li Fan was lost in thought.
(End of Chapter)