Safe City Ch.51

Chapter 51: Skywing Dragons

Cheng Qisheng was delighted.

Even if Ruo Buyan had never become a believer, someone with her talent would still have been highly valued by Blue Sea and given an important role.

But only now that she had become a believer could Cheng Qisheng truly put her mind at ease.

She gently stroked Ruo Buyan’s head, bestowing her blessing.

For the first time, Ruo Buyan experienced the same warmth that every member of Blue Sea felt—a warmth that welled up from the very depths of the soul.

She found herself unable to speak.

To Ruo Buyan, the feeling was indescribably strange and wonderful. For the first time in her life, she experienced what it meant to feel completely safe.

She had countless questions she wanted to ask.

“My God, may I devote myself wholeheartedly to scientific research?”

“Even if I never make another breakthrough in the future, will I still not lose the treatment and respect I have now?”

But she never voiced them.

Because once she had truly placed her faith in the Great Creator, she already sensed the answers before the words could leave her lips.

Yes.

Deep down, Ruo Buyan still wanted to keep moving forward and continue making progress.

But in her heart, she no longer felt anxious about temporary setbacks or pauses.

How strange.

She had always believed that if she ever stopped feeling anxious about work, she would lose her drive. In her understanding, pain and anxiety were the best medicine for forcing herself to work diligently.

Yet the opposite proved true.

After the anxiety that had accompanied her for more than a decade finally melted away, she discovered that her passion for her work remained just as strong as ever. If anything, she felt lighter than she had in years.

It was as though an enormous boulder had been pressing against her chest ever since she could remember. She had grown so accustomed to its weight that she had never realized it was there.

Only after the boulder was lifted away did she realize…

So this is what it feels like to breathe freely.

She could finally enjoy a good night’s sleep. Her mind felt clearer than ever, filled with fresh ideas, and she was eager to throw herself into her research once again.

And once the thought crossed her mind, she immediately set out to do exactly that.

She threw herself into her new position, bringing over the team from her small research institute to continue their work. Their goal was to discover new species that could be used to make flight wings, giving Blue Sea a wider range of options.

Since Ruo Buyan’s research had been conducted in the Outer City, most of the members of her little institute were Outer City residents.

Not only did these researchers suddenly find themselves with jobs in the Inner City—complete with higher salaries and excellent benefits—but each of them also received contribution points as rewards. On the spot, several more people converted into believers.

The “Pie from the Sky” squad also received a notification from the AI.

According to the contract Ruo Buyan had signed, they would receive 3% of all profits generated by the flight wings.

The young hunters, who had spent an entire day and night diligently escorting Teacher Liu in search of cold-resistant plants, were stunned.

This… this was what “pie falling from the sky” really meant!

This was literally a windfall!

But after the initial ecstasy of realizing they were about to become rich, their attention shifted to something else.

Flight wings? What flight wings?

The kind that lets people fly?!

Making a fortune was certainly the goal.

But what Blue Sea citizen didn’t dream of flying?

It wasn’t just this hunter squad—famous for investing in opportunities wherever they found them—that coveted the flight wings. Everyone in Blue Sea who heard the news wanted them.

Even the President, the Marshal, and the Pope—the three most formidable figures in Blue Sea—hurried over as soon as they heard about them. They each tried on a set of flight wings, eager to experience what it felt like to have wings of their own.

Ruo Buyan had used the vascular fibers inside the Long-Tendril Leaf to create neural interfaces. As a result, once someone put on a set of flight wings, the four wings felt as though they had become natural parts of their own body.

The wearer could feel the wind brushing across the wings. With practice, they could control every movement, and when someone touched the wings, they could feel the contact as well.

Moreover, because the design used four broad wings, they generated enough lift for even Blue Sea’s largest and strongest people to take flight. A flyer could even carry one or two additional passengers while airborne.

“Who cares about Skywing Dragons?

These are the wings our God has bestowed upon us!”

Before this, whenever Blue Sea discussed where to relocate next, everyone’s priority had been the same:

Find places with lots of land-dwelling snow beasts so we can farm more item cards.

But once the flight wings appeared, that line of thinking disappeared completely.

Now everyone had only one thing on their mind:

More wings. We need Skywing Dragons!

Once they had wings, wouldn’t the entire sky become free for the people of Blue Sea to soar through, and the vast land theirs to wage battle across?

If one area ran out of snow beasts, they could simply fly to another region where there were still plenty.

And whenever the Great Creator summoned them, Blue Sea citizens with wings would be able to fly back into their God’s embrace as quickly as possible.

Even President Qin Zhi, who had always believed in the philosophy of “I want it all,” concluded after carefully weighing the options that, for Blue Sea’s current situation, flight wings were more important than item cards.

This conclusion had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she now wanted to strap on a pair of wings and fly around at least once every day.

It was a completely rational assessment.

There were simply too many people in Blue Sea.

No matter how vast a region was, it could never provide enough territory for everyone.

What Blue Sea needed most now was to spread its population out as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, even after relocating, people would still end up clustered together because of geography—and once again wipe out every snow beast in the surrounding area.

“Find Skywing Dragons. Make more flight wings.”

To Qin Zhi, flight wings were like hardworking hens that laid eggs every single day.

The item cards were those eggs.

With flight wings, and given the combat strength of Blue Sea’s people, would obtaining more item cards really be a problem?

Qin Zhi turned her attention to the informational video about the Skywing Dragon.

Previously, Blue Sea had never paid much attention to the species. After all, the region occupied by Blue Sea Safe City wasn’t particularly attractive to flying snow beasts.

The few Skywing Dragons that had appeared in the area before had all been defective individuals—likely unable to keep up with their flock during migration, causing them to fall behind and eventually wander into Blue Sea’s territory.

So even though Blue Sea’s military had begun capturing Skywing Dragons wherever they could, they had only managed to catch one or two—and every single one had already been injured.

Fortunately, even with wounded specimens, Blue Sea’s experts could estimate a Skywing Dragon’s peak combat strength by examining the hardness of its claws and beak.

At the same time, Cheng Qisheng began gathering information about Skywing Dragons through the city lord group chat.

Interestingly enough, despite having more than forty city lords in the chat, everyone referred to the snow beasts using the names Coriander had coined.

After the previous world, Coriander had clearly developed a remarkable talent for gathering intelligence. Some of the snow beast names came from the local inhabitants, while others had never been named at all—so he simply made up names himself.

He gave all of this information to Cheng Qisheng for free.

Everyone else, however, had to pay.

The prices weren’t high, so most city lords bought the information anyway.

Coriander had his own business strategy.

He had once explained to Cheng Qisheng:

[Boss, when you’re dealing with strangers, if I give them information for free, they won’t value it.]

[But if I charge even a small fee, they’ll think, ‘I spent crystals on this,’ so they’ll take the information seriously. They’ll start using the classification system I’ve created to identify snow beasts. And once everyone gets used to doing that, whenever they need to buy or sell information, I’ll naturally be the first person they think of.]

As it turned out, Coriander was absolutely right.

Once people accepted the names he had assigned, those names naturally became the common vocabulary in everyday conversation.

Even the city lords who had never purchased his documents ended up using the same terminology.

As a result, discussions about snow beasts became much smoother. Everyone immediately understood which species was being discussed, and they were increasingly willing to trade information with Coriander.

This time, Cheng Qisheng formally commissioned Coriander to help her gather intelligence on Skywing Dragons.

Coriander rarely had a chance to help the leader of Blue Sea personally. He was so excited that he practically puffed out his chest as he promised:

[Don’t worry, Boss! I’ll definitely gather enough information about Skywing Dragons for you!]

He had barely sent out inquiries that day, and by the very next day, Coriander returned with a whole collection of information on Skywing Dragons, forwarding everything to Cheng Qisheng in one go.

[To sum it up in two words: they’re trouble.]

[Boss, what do you need information on Skywing Dragons for? These things are a real headache. Most snow beasts on Dazzling Star are solitary creatures, but flying snow beasts like Skywing Dragons live in flocks. When they attack, they descend in huge swarms and overwhelm their targets with coordinated assaults.]

Coriander genuinely couldn’t understand why the boss of Blue Sea would be interested in this kind of flying snow beast—one that had little meat, rarely dropped item cards, and was notoriously difficult to deal with.

[Boss, remember that bald big shot I told you about before? He ran into a flock of Skywing Dragons. They cost him a fortune in manpower and resources, and a lot of buildings created with item cards were destroyed too. After killing so many of them, they only got a single item card in the end.]

Reading Coriander’s reply, Cheng Qisheng’s eyes lit up.

[They live in flocks?]

That was wonderful news.

If Skywing Dragons had been solitary creatures, obtaining enough flight wings for Blue Sea would have been far more difficult.

Cheng Qisheng: [Are there many Skywing Dragons?]

Coriander Safe City: [That depends on the region. I asked around—some city lords have never even seen one, while others have been harassed by them so badly they’re thinking about relocating. But if you’re talking about Dazzling Star as a whole, I’d guess there are quite a lot of them. Most city lords have had trouble with Skywing Dragons at one point or another.]

Cheng Qisheng: [Coriander, I have a use for Skywing Dragons. Please help me find a landing location where they’re especially abundant. Handle the commission through a formal contract as usual. I’m willing to sign a temporary alliance agreement.]

Coriander had never imagined that the very first major commission he accepted would come from his own boss.

He wanted to say that he wouldn’t charge anything.

But Cheng Qisheng spoke before he had the chance.

[You’ve officially started your information brokerage and consulting business now. Just charge the normal rate.]

A warm feeling spread through Coriander’s heart.

[Understood, Boss. Leave it to me! No problem!]

[I’ll definitely find you a landing location with plenty of Skywing Dragons!]

Cheng Qisheng had complete confidence in Coriander’s ability to get things done.

She wasn’t worried about finding suitable coordinates.

She only hoped that there were enough Skywing Dragons across Dazzling Star.

— —

On a distant snowy plain…

Inside a Safe City, a certain city lord wore a thoroughly bewildered expression.

“What?”

“Someone wants to buy the coordinates to this godforsaken place?”

“This place is crawling with Skywing Dragons! I’m so sick of them that I’m planning to move away—and now someone’s actually eager to come here?!”

“Has that city lord lost their mind?”

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