An Youyu had known about this wanted post long ago, and he also knew that the Tiger-Head Mushroom was the key medicinal guide to remove the Wolf-Toxin Sore for Xiaoluo.
When seeing him off this morning, the young girl had stood on the trestle pier, wishing him to draw a good lot.
Out of the twenty-eight donation slips, he happened to draw the very medicine she had been waiting two years for.
"Once this medicine is found, is it handed directly to the person who put up the wanted post, or does it belong to the Anchorage Association?" An Youyu asked.
His encounter with collecting the Sea-Calming Rent had made him a few degrees more wary of matters handled by the Anchorage Association.
"Whomever posted the wanted slip is the one it gets donated to," the clerk said. "The Office merely acts as a witness. Once both parties complete the face-to-face handover, the donation is considered complete."
"What about the salvage boat pledged in the original post?"
"No need to hand that over. What sense would it make to accept a donation and still demand someone trade a boat for it?"
Most of the lingering doubts in An Youyu's heart dissipated.
If the person seeking medicine didn't need to exchange a boat for it, then this donation would truly benefit them.
Calculated this way, it truly was a good lot.
As long as he found the Tiger-Head Mushroom, he could fulfill his New Residency donation while also supplying that missing ingredient for Xiaoluo's prescription.
An Youyu inquired clearly about every remaining detail regarding submission and verification. The clerk answered each question before recording the result in the drawn-lot column and handing the donation slip back to him.
An Youyu put away the slip of paper, pushed open the door, and walked out of the back hall.
Lu Guizhou, Xu Jian, and Ning Cang, who were waiting in the outer hall, immediately gathered around him as soon as he came out.
Ning Cang recognized the post number at a single glance and reached out to take the slip.
"This is the one I put up."
His eyes were pinned on the four characters for 【Tiger-Head Mushroom】, his thumb rubbing along the edge of the paper twice as if to confirm he had not misread it.
Countless old notices that had gone unanswered for years piled up on the Maritime Affairs Board. Some had hung for three to five years without ever being selected, yet out of the mere twenty-eight items accepted into the donation pool each edition, his was actually among them.
How could Ning Cang not be grateful that the old rules maintained by the Maritime Affairs Office still accommodated the medicine-seeking request of a weak commune?
Yet, when all was said and done, the Maritime Affairs Office still had to execute the decisions of the Seven Seats.
When the Stone Unsealing Order came down, the ones arriving to drive out Clown Float-Commune would also be the Maritime Affairs Office.
The dual nature of the system made the gratitude in Ning Cang's heart feel exceedingly conflicted. And when his gaze landed on the words 【Seven Days】 at the end of the slip, he was so exasperated he let out a bitter laugh.
"I offered a salvage boat and begged for two years, yet no one answered the post. Seven days... where are we supposed to find it?"
He would rather hand over his own family's salvage boat according to the original post than let his own request for medicine become an obstacle preventing An Youyu from qualifying for the Tide Battle at such a crucial moment.
"How did you end up drawing this of all things..."
An Youyu caught his meaning. "Are you afraid this slip will delay me from competing?"
"If the medicine isn't found in seven days, your replacement entry will be voided, and Clown won't even have the qualification to participate in the Tide Battle." Ning Cang handed the slip back to him. "I'm begging for Xiaoluo's life, but I can't throw away the homes of nearly a hundred households in our entire commune for it."
"The lot is set and cannot be changed," Lu Guizhou said. "Whichever of the twenty-eight slips was drawn, it's a hurdle Clown must pass."
"Ning Cang, this is a matter for the whole commune. Don't take it all onto your own shoulders."
"But every place that could be searched, I've already searched; every person who could be asked, I've been asking for two years. What could possibly be left out?"
"You searched everywhere a single person could," Lu Guizhou said. "What's left, we'll let the entire commune search."
He decided right then and there to hold a commune hall meeting as soon as they returned, summoning everyone who could sail a boat, recognize Land Goods, or had connections in other communes.
"A way one family can't think of... nearly a hundred households can surely come up with a few more paths."
Of course, Ning Cang was willing to believe these words.
Yet over the past two years, the commune had never left the Ning family to search for the medicine alone.
Whoever encountered a Land Goods vessel in the outer sea would ask on his behalf; whoever heard even a whisper of news about live medicine would hurry over to tell him.
Every accessible angle and every favor that could be called in had already been tried more than once alongside him. Uncle Lu saying they would open the commune hall again was merely an attempt to gather the scattered bits of knowledge held by each family and search one more time.
No matter how difficult things were, he couldn't be the one to extinguish everyone's morale first.
Lu Guizhou stuffed the empty money bag into his chest. "For now, let's sell the fish first. Once they're sold, we'll return to the commune and lay this hurdle out to cross together."
Ning Cang squeezed the money bag, swallowing back the disheartening words on the tip of his tongue.
"Alright, sell the fish first. We'll talk when we get back."
...
With the formalities completed, Xu Jian remained at the office to hand over the document casket and the anchorage closure documents, while An Youyu's group of three left first.
Lu Guizhou and Ning Cang still needed to return to the outer port to sell the flying dagger wood rays in the aft hold as quickly as possible.
Resource fish also demanded freshness. The longer they were kept, the harder it was to refine high-grade iron from their blade-beaks, and the wooden essence within their wood scales would gradually dissipate as well, meaning the price Zhou Manchong quoted earlier might not hold up.
Upon reaching the intersection of Fish Material Street, An Youyu stopped in his tracks.
He drew out the donation slip from his robes, his eyes moving from 【Tiger-Head Mushroom】 to 【Seven Days】 at the bottom.
Returning to Clown Float-Commune to hold a commune hall meeting and brainstorm ideas was naturally one path.
Yet, since he was already in Seven-Masts Anchorage, leaving without asking around would be a true shame.
Ning Cang had searched for two years; he must have visited every place and asked every person possible. However, when the same old clue fell into different hands, what could be discerned from it was not necessarily the same.
Three years as an interrogator hadn't been in vain, let alone the fact that he now possessed a pair of ears capable of hearing the 【Lingering Echoes of Old Objects】.
It wasn't impossible that he might dig up something new.
"It's my first time in Seven-Masts Anchorage. I want to walk around on my own and see if there's anything I can use for my upcoming cultivation."
Ning Cang said, "I'll go with you."
"No need, I'll just browse casually," An Youyu said. "Go keep an eye on those wood rays; don't let the fish merchant drive the price down."
Lu Guizhou glanced at An Youyu and didn't press further, handing him the chest of money collected by the entire commune that morning.
"Take it all. If you see anything useful for your cultivation, buy it. Don't save on the commune's account—this money was meant for your Seize the Mast effort in the first place."
"We'll go sell the fish first. Let's meet at the Clown at the Shen hour and head back to the commune together."
"Alright."
The three parted ways at the street corner.
An Youyu stopped an assistant who had just stepped out of a medicine shop. "Excuse me, where in the anchorage can I buy Tiger-Head Mushrooms?"
"Tiger-Head Mushroom?" The assistant shook his head. "If you're looking for Land Medicine, you have to go to South Bridge. All the Land Goods firms in the anchorage are over there."
...
Just as An Youyu was rushing to South Bridge, the transcribed copy of the nomination document and re-verification results submitted by Xu Jian were copied into seven duplicates and sent to the duty rooms of the current Seven Seats.
【Clown Float-Commune, An Youyu.】
【First-Transformation Salamander Swim, One Hundred Pressure. Scattered force, not Formed a Current.】
【New Residency Donation Pending.】
The person in Unicorn Commune's duty room glanced over the words 【One Hundred Pressure】 and pressed the paper directly into the pending files.
The manager of Three Peaks Commune took an extra look at the Tiger-Head Mushroom, but seeing that qualification was not yet finalized, did not inquire further.
However, inside the duty room of Double Pillars Commune, someone flipped the document back over.
"What if Clown actually finds the medicine?"
"According to Tide Battle rules, he can naturally step into the arena," the old man collecting files said. "Though at merely One Hundred Pressure, whether he can even reach beneath the mast is hard to say."
"And if he actually reaches it?"
The old man collecting files raised his eyes. "Then naturally, we should congratulate Clown."
He closed the copy back up.
"It's just that the Seven Seats aren't easy seats to sit in. No matter who takes the seat, that decision likely won't change."
The person asking tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You've certainly thought through all the troubles Clown would face after taking a seat."
"Thinking too far ahead." The old man pressed the copy back into the scroll file. "Clown won't make it up."
"Will all seven families block them together?"
"After all, sacrificing Clown is the optimal solution."
...
Rate on N.U.
