CHAPTER 288: CHAPTER 147: THE LIGHT IN LIFE_2

"Has the locust demon spirit come out?" Li Xiu surveyed the surroundings but didn’t see any trace of the locust demon spirit.

"No, I haven’t seen it." Shale shook his head.

"That’s strange." Li Xiu walked over to a pit created by an airdrop pod but found no signs of movement, as if the pod had vanished into thin air.

"This broken place is really peculiar." Shale muttered.

Li Xiu walked to the edge of the pool and looked down but didn’t notice anything unusual. After thinking for a moment, he said to Shale, "We’ve been here for quite a while; it’s time to leave. Next time you come here, be more careful."

"This broken place, I don’t dare to come again. My little life can’t take such a toss." Shale shook his head.

After extinguishing the longevity lamp, the two returned to the trial gate. It was already late at night, yet the place remained bustling.

After returning to the manor, it was already dawn. Shale eagerly displayed his Overlord Gloves to Pa Shan.

Qin Shi, who had recovered from her fever, was well enough to get up and have breakfast on her own.

While drinking yesterday, Li Xiu had already told Kun Sha that he would take Qin Shi back to the City of Light. Qin Shi needed to be observed for a while.

After breakfast, Li Xiu left Tyrone City with Qin Shi, while Shale reluctantly saw them off.

Now that Qin Shi was leaving for some time, Tyrone City was in need of manpower, and Shale was embarrassed to ask Kun Sha to let someone go now, so he had to stay in Tyrone City.

Kun Sha specifically arranged a car and driver to take Li Xiu and Qin Shi to the City of Light. Along the way, Qin Shi spoke very little, staring absentmindedly out the window.

"Unfortunate things haven’t happened yet. Could he truly be my destined true love?" Occasionally coming back to her senses, when Qin Shi turned to look at Li Xiu, her expression was quite complex.

Due to the absence of a direct road to the City of Light, the car had to detour via Red Sand City before reaching the City of Light, delaying them considerably.

By the time Li Xiu arrived back in the City of Light, several days had passed.

Over in the City of Light, no special events had occurred, and everything was progressing in an orderly fashion.

The funding from Chu Jun was fully in place, and the Demon Spirit Arena was under construction. The foundation for the initial projects had been laid.

After arranging Qin Shi’s accommodation, Li Xiu went to check on Old Officer. This time, Old Officer hadn’t caused any mishaps; the demon armor Li Xiu wanted was in production, with very promising progress.

The new parts with demon spirit wood material were partially completed and looked quite effective.

However, unlike contracts, demon armor’s performance couldn’t be assessed until assembly testing was complete.

"My lord, the City Lord." Upon hearing Li Xiu had returned, Ye Yuzhen excitedly ran over and summoned a demon spirit in front of Li Xiu.

He had surprisingly contracted an A-grade mechanical skeleton, though it was unclear how he managed it.

Upon inquiry, Li Xiu learned this A-grade mechanical skeleton was contracted with Ah Fei’s assistance.

They had already taken a trial taker inside to test, and the lights there did indeed enhance contract quality.

However, the trial taker they brought in initially had a Flowing Colors quality symbiotic contract, which after absorbing lamp flames only upgraded to the Shining quality, and didn’t reach Chu Jun’s Glorious quality.

It was expected; those lamp flames also varied in quality. The gate Ah Fei led the trial taker through was a D-grade area gate, so enhancing one quality was fortunate.

Li Xiu conjectured, if that trial taker’s contract were of initially high quality, it likely wouldn’t increase even by one level.

The ruby in the stomach hadn’t transformed into a demon spirit ring or been extracted, leaving Li Xiu clueless about the situation.

Luckily, Qin Shi hadn’t had any further issues, indicating the ruby was suppressed, suggesting the transformation into a demon spirit ring was just a matter of time.

What troubled Li Xiu was that the City of Light had only one trial gate, connected to the Black Death City, making it difficult to acquire high-level demon cores, which was unfavorable for feeding the Jedi Knight and Demigod Shana.

"Where else can I find a trial gate?" Li Xiu studied the distribution of nearby trial gates.

The entire Southern Cross Federation had many trial gates, unlike Space City, where there were fewer than ten trial gates within its controlled territory.

In Southern Cross Federation, each of the five main cities had over ten trial gates within its area.

This was possibly because Southern Cross Federation was rich in gemstones. Early speculations linked the appearance of trial gates with gemstone mines, granting Southern Cross Federation numerous trial gates.

Southern Cross Federation was essentially a paradise for trial takers, although only one trial gate belonged to Li Xiu within this paradise.

After studying for a long time, Li Xiu found that among the publicly known trial gates, the closest one to the City of Light was Guyue City’s Golden Gate.

The straight distance from the City of Light to the Golden Gate was less than forty miles, but the route was obstructed by primitive jungle, making travel inconvenient.

The Golden Gate belonged to a wealthy tycoon in Guyue City, requiring golden green tourmaline gemstones to open.