Chapter 460, Three Choices
This old man not only noticed the soul creature but also determined its age at the time of formation was quite young.
"Does the Dean have any questions?" Wu Heng looked at him and asked.
Earlier, Imiro had introduced his name too quickly, so he hadn't remembered it.
The old man looked at him and said, "Necromancers raising spirit servants must follow proper procedures."
"There's no need for the Dean to worry about this. For me to become the guild's Deputy Steward, passing the inspection of the Special Overseer, naturally, everything complies with the rules," Wu Heng replied with a calm tone.
The old man was slightly taken aback, seemingly surprised by his attitude.
He laughed heartily and said, "Not bad, no wonder Imiro values you so highly."
At this moment, the door to the room was knocked again, and Sheila Grey entered.
She gave a slight bow and glanced at Wu Heng.
Imiro spoke directly, "Report on what you all did yesterday so that we can document it and send it to headquarters."
"Understood!"
Sheila Grey was the first to speak, recounting how she went to the port after receiving her task.
She then described Wu Heng's arrival with armored vehicles to bombard the pirates at the port and sea.
When it was mentioned that four mobile vehicles with equipment destroyed hundreds of ships and repelled the enemy's assault.
Everyone present was somewhat surprised.
Especially the investigators, who glanced at each other to see how their colleagues were recording it.
"This matter will be reported to headquarters, and there can be no falsehoods," the old mage reminded.
"At that time, all the team members and several merchants on the island witnessed it. We defended the island, so why would we lie to you?" Sheila Grey's tone was somewhat impolite.
Although they won, everyone had paid a significant price.
These people hadn't helped at all and now acted like investigators after arriving.
"You…" The old mage's tone froze, and he didn't continue speaking.
Next, Wu Heng recounted the process.
Defending the guild building, then receiving Imiro's message, finding, and killing the island owner.
With Imiro's involvement, the credibility was higher, and no one raised any questions.
"Is it all recorded?" Imiro asked.
"It's all recorded," the investigators nodded.
Imiro said, "Alright, now that reinforcements have arrived, the island is safer. You all can go rest. If anything comes up, someone will notify you."
Wu Heng thought for a moment and then said, "Steward, the skeletons assisting in the port's defense need some adjustments, and one of my tamed beasts went missing over there. It needs to be found."
Imiro looked at him and said, "Tonight, you'll take over the port's patrol and handle these matters."
"Understood."
With that agreement, the two left directly.
The old mage took a sip of tea and smiled, saying, "Your two Deputy Stewards here both have quite the personalities!"
Imiro casually sorted through some documents. "Dealing with pirates on Gold-Silver Island inevitably changes one's character."
"Hmm, you're right about that."
...…
Outside the study.
Sheila Grey asked, "What's that old man's name again?"
"Huh? I was about to ask you," Wu Heng replied, looking at her.
"I didn't pay attention. I got distracted and forgot. Is he strong?" Sheila Grey glanced back at the study.
Wu Heng lowered his voice, "Level 18 Professional, some kind of dean. Sounds pretty impressive."
"Level 18, huh? He didn't come yesterday but shows up after everything's over today," Sheila Grey said with some dissatisfaction.
Wu Heng chuckled, "Well, we won in the end. No one got hurt, so nothing else matters."
"Hmm, you're right," Sheila Grey agreed, puffing out her chest. "I didn't expect you to be so amazing last night."
Wu Heng was startled, glancing around. "You're slandering me."
"Yes, where did you get those vehicles? The entire guild is talking about it now."
"Oh, that? They're from back home. I don't have many, so I usually don't use them."
The two chatted as they walked, eventually reaching their respective study doors.
Sheila Grey yawned. "I'm heading back. Let's talk another time."
"Alright."
Wu Heng returned to his study.
He quickly organized some things, left the guild, and returned home.
...…
Night had just fallen.
Wu Heng brought Philipa directly to the port.
"Deputy Steward," the guard team on duty greeted him with a slight bow.
Wu Heng nodded. "I'll be in charge tonight. You all can go rest."
"Yes, sir!"
The team saluted again and left the port.
Wu Heng turned to Philipa and said, "Try sensing your tamed beast and see if you can find it."
"That dumb bird isn't dead, but who knows where it's gone," Philipa said, clearly frustrated.
Yesterday, after finally escaping, she couldn't sense her tamed beast at all.
It hadn't helped at all.
"Take your time searching. If we can't find it, I'll get you a new one."
"Hehe, thanks, Dad!" Philipa exclaimed, then walked off to the side.
She began sensing her tamed beast's location, also attempting to issue commands.
At a great distance, transmitting commands to the tamed beast was difficult.
She needed to sense it while shortening the distance.
Meanwhile, Wu Heng turned all the corpses salvaged during the day into skeletons.
A dense mass of skeletons filled the port.
Glancing at the still-murky sea, he gave the order: "Dive in and retrieve all the equipment, gold, and silver items."
Splash~!
In a scene reminiscent of dumplings being dropped into boiling water.
The skeletons plunged into the sea, swimming downward.
Pirates were generally wealthy; otherwise, they wouldn't risk their lives doing such dangerous work.
Not long after, the skeletons began emerging from the sea one by one, carrying weapons, gold, silver, crates of currency, and intact siege weapons like ballistae and catapults.
One by one, they lined the shore.
Wu Heng looked at the salvaged goods with a face full of joy.
Sure enough, it was a significant haul.
As soon as a batch was retrieved, Wu Heng collected it.
The skeletons then returned to the sea to continue salvaging.
Meanwhile, Philipa followed her sensing ability, gradually reaching the desolate eastern area, surrounded by eerie energy that made her shiver.
"Last chance. If I can't find you, don't blame me," Philipa muttered.
She made one final attempt to communicate with her tamed beast.
This time, she successfully established contact and shared its vision.
It was pitch black all around, with nothing visible.
She issued a command for it to return.
Soon, the rustling of leaves came from the forest ahead, and a fat green-feathered parrot with a red crest flew out.
Covered in grass and leaves, it excitedly flew over.
Philipa was delighted. "You dumb bird, I knew you weren't dead."
"Dumb bird, captain!" the parrot squawked in its shrill voice.
Returning to the port.
Wu Heng was still collecting salvaged goods.
With nothing else to do, Philipa stayed nearby, swatting mosquitoes and chatting with the parrot, asking about what had happened after her capture.
...…
At dawn, Wu Heng assigned the skeletons to assist in defending the port.
He and Philipa returned home.
The house had been tidied up, though the collapsed wall hadn't been repaired.
After sleeping until noon, he heard the voices of several women chatting downstairs.
Wu Heng had a simple lunch.
Then he returned to his fourth-floor study, opened the portal, and went to the Zombie World.
There, it was still a room in the military district.
Standing by the window, he looked outside, where heavy snow was falling.
A large number of skeletons were shoveling snow. Judging by the footprints, the snow was at least 20 centimeters deep.
He took out a walkie-talkie and called for Qi Hancai.
Soon, there was a knock on the door, and Qi Hancai entered.
"You called for me?"
Wu Heng gestured for her to sit down and asked, "How are things here lately?"
"There's not much gold being exchanged at the station now. Once the snow passes, it should improve. Sister Yahong has also paused transactions with the provincial rescue team due to the snow. As for the machine gun blueprints, they still don't seem willing to share them with us," Qi Hancai said, checking a small notebook.
It seemed the heavy snow had been falling for a day or two.
It had disrupted many activities.
"Alright, we'll discuss it after the snow stops."
"Should I take you around to check for any shortcomings?" Qi Hancai suggested.
Wu Heng stood up and followed her outside.
...…
At the guild's meeting room.
Imiro, Dean Janvito, and several 15th-level guild Professionals sat around the conference table.
"Steward Imiro, according to protocol, when reporting the events of Gold-Silver Island to headquarters, it's also time to recommend a candidate for island owner," Dean Janvito said softly.
Imiro looked at him and replied in a low voice, "Dean Janvito, do you have any suggestions?"
"Not suggestions, really. After all, we didn't help much with Gold-Silver Island. But the choice of island owner generally boils down to three options: first, a recommendation from the local guild, typically someone with public support or significant contributions; second, an appointment by headquarters, selecting a new person to take over; third, assigning it to a nearby kingdom for management."