Chen Mu, floating at the mouth of the narrow crevice, stared in shock.
The entire view outside the crevice was obscured by a pale white shell.
He climbed up along the cliff wall, stood at the edge of the precipice, and his face immediately changed.
A gigantic pale white turtle shell, over five hundred meters long and three hundred meters wide, suddenly came into view.
Rock-like shells adorned with coral and seaweed, ravines patterned like twisted chessboards, irregularly arranged spikes.
“Heartless Bell… is it that powerful?!”
He quickly realized the truth.
This was not a giant turtle summoned by the Heartless Bell; it was a ship bound for overseas.
“I thought it was a big ship, but it turned out to be a submarine!”
…
Nighttime.
Within the camp on the cliff wall.
Chen Mu sat by the campfire, gazing through the gaps in the trees at the colossal object below the distant cliff, lost in thought.
Under the moonlight, tiny luminescent spots on the white turtle shell could vaguely be seen twinkling.
“Truly marvelous.”
Shape Cultivation Technique, Soul Strength, Ghosts, Magic Artifact—Chen Mu had always known this world was no simple place.
But seeing this gigantic turtle shell still shocked him.
“How on earth was this thing made?”
The world overseas must be incredibly magical.
Thinking this, those harsh requirements didn’t seem so unacceptable anymore.
A dark shadow suddenly appeared beside the campfire.
Tu Shan, with an excited face, said, “I’ve got it figured out, we leave on the fifth of November.”
“Boarding the ship tomorrow?”
Chen Mu fought the urge to nod immediately, “Let’s wait and see.”
“A problem?” Tu Shan’s eyes narrowed in suspicion instantly.
Chen Mu shook his head, “Noble families aren’t that enthusiastic for nothing, it’s not likely a trap.”
“True.” Tu Shan sneered, “One beauty after another sent to Shouyang Palace, all for a bit of blood lineage, tsk tsk…”
“The more bloodlines, the stronger the noble families. To consolidate their position, it’s not strange.” Chen Mu said calmly.
“Let others test the waters first before we go.” Chen Mu stated composedly.
“Then let’s wait a couple of days.” Tu Shan nodded.
…
The year 642 of Da Liang, the first of November.
Chen Mu packed up the camp on the cliff wall, gathered various supplies, and arrived at the summit at Shouyang Palace.
The entire mountaintop had been artificially flattened, and a large complex of buildings was situated upon it.
Red walls and yellow tiles, artificial mountains and waters, galleries and pavilions, flowers and trees, a different view at every step.
Inside a brightly lit hall, a gaunt elder, over fifty years old, sat behind a long desk leisurely sipping tea.
The desk was fully equipped with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone; in front of the elder was a booklet about an inch thick.
There was also a square wooden box to the right.
“Have you made up your mind?” the gaunt elder asked indifferently, “If you’re heading out to sea, you’ll have to work to offset the travel expenses.”
“I’ve made up my mind.” Chen Mu nodded.
“Thousand Mechanism Token.” the elder stretched out his hand.
Chen Mu immediately took out the Thousand Mechanism Token from his sleeve and handed it to the other party.
The gaunt elder took the Thousand Mechanism Token, flipped his wrist, and it disappeared from view, then he pushed the booklet in front of him towards Chen Mu, “Choose a place.”
Chen Mu opened it curiously.
“Mining in Crocodile Cliff Mountain for fifteen years.”
“Cultivating medicines on Sky-Scraping Cliff for ten years.”
“Raising clams in Jianghu for twenty-five years.”
“…”
Chen Mu glanced at the gaunt elder oddly.
Why did he feel a sense of déjà vu from a job fair in a past life?
He flipped through the booklet again, finding that all the pages offered similar manual labor jobs.
And they were just described simply, without any indication of the real situation.
All were labor jobs, with similar requirements; hazardous mining work for fifteen years, yet only ten years for cultivating medicines.
That medicine probably wasn’t anything good either.
Choosing blindly was completely a matter of risking one’s luck.
Chen Mu glanced at the elder without revealing anything.
He pushed the booklet back to the elder, “I still need your guidance, elder, please.”
While speaking, Chen Mu bit his lip and placed five White Jade Coins beside the booklet.
The gaunt old man narrowed his eyes and naturally opened the book, perfectly covering the White Jade Coins.
“Do you have any special skills?”
Chen Mu breathed a huge sigh of relief in his heart. The White Jade Coins worked!
“I am good at cooking!” Chen Mu said with full confidence.
The old man calmly looked at Chen Mu. “Pick another.”
What, do you look down on my cooking skills?
“No one is hiring a chef.” The old man stated indifferently.
Chen Mu’s face fell with disappointment. “I’m also quite good at writing and painting.”
The old man looked at Chen Mu wordlessly. “We’re not hiring an accountant either.”
“I can make various medicines.” Chen Mu muttered after a moment’s hesitation.
The job mentioned earlier, cultivating medicinal herbs for ten years, had made him a little worried.
The gaunt old man nodded in satisfaction. “Then go to Jilong Mountain to plant Yellow Bud Rice, for twenty years.”
Chen Mu: “…”
What does planting grains have to do with my knowledge of Alchemical Technique?
Chen Mu looked at the old man, whose face remained calm.
Could I be getting duped?
“Come, let me stamp you.” The old man opened a wooden box, which contained a row of stamps.
He picked one out and gestured for Chen Mu to expose his arm.
Chen Mu’s eyes instantly narrowed. Was this the marking Tu Shan had talked about?
After being stamped, would he be controlled until death?
“Having second thoughts?” The old man looked at Chen Mu calmly. He had seen this kind of thing many times before.
“Let’s do it.” Yet, Chen Mu resolutely rolled up his sleeve.
The old man looked at Chen Mu in surprise. “Not afraid of being controlled by others?”
Chen Mu said calmly, “I’m more afraid of dying a mediocre death.”
Getting the stamp might mean being controlled, but it allowed him to see more of the world.
Without it, he might indeed live a carefree life, but he could never leave the pond that is Da Liang.
According to his usually cautious nature, he wouldn’t trust his life to someone else.
But to die of old age in Da Liang was even less acceptable to him.
Besides, compared to the mysterious gray wall, what was this little mark?
“Okay.” The gaunt old man smiled, stamped the circular seal onto the forearm of Chen Mu’s left hand.
A sensation of coolness spread, and a circular pattern connected by black star-point filaments appeared on his arm.
Chen Mu subconsciously tried to rub it off, but it didn’t fade in the slightest.
It was as though it had grown on the skin.
“Don’t be scared, it’s just a precaution. When the time limit is up, or if you break through to Perceptive, it will naturally disappear.” The old man shrugged casually.
Chen Mu nodded.
In his previous life, didn’t finding a job and joining a company also require signing a contract?
Since it was already stamped, there was no need to dwell on it.
The old man then took out a token from his sleeve and handed it to Chen Mu. “Take good care of this, it’s your proof.”
“You can board the submarine known as the ‘white gudgeon shuttle’ now, or you can go back to say your goodbyes.”
“But remember, we leave early morning in four days, don’t be late.”
A submarine called the ‘white gudgeon shuttle’?
It doesn’t look like a shuttle at all.
“I’ll go to the ‘white gudgeon shuttle’.” He had wanted to take a look at it for a while.
…
Two days later.
Inside the ‘white gudgeon shuttle’, it was as bright as day.
Two rows of sixteen-story cabin buildings extended to the ends along the inner walls.
There was an open area in the middle, with snow-white pillars rising from the middle, connecting the ceiling and the floor.
On the lowest level, a bustling street had people coming and going, and the cabins on both sides had been converted into all sorts of shops for clothing, food, accommodation, and travel necessities.
People set up stalls on both sides of the street, selling all kinds of bizarre items.
There was even an establishment for listening to music, as well as two tea houses for drinking tea and storytelling.
If it weren’t for the fact that none of these people had made any efforts to disguise themselves, Chen Mu would have thought he had come to a Ghost Market.
“It doesn’t seem as bad as I imagined.”
He had thought it would be pitch-black cabins with dozens of people crammed together in all sorts of unfavorable conditions.
But in reality, the ‘white gudgeon shuttle’ was as luxurious as a yacht from his previous life.
“This shows that we are quite valuable.” Chen Mu gave a wry smile.
Twenty years of unpaid labor just for the travel costs, indeed valuable.
Just then, a muscular figure abruptly caught Chen Mu’s eye, and his scalp tightened. “Bai Miaojin?!”