Chapter 199: A Low Key Arrogance (I)
There were limited numbers of tents in the campsite. Therefore, it was rather decent treatment that the Silver City delegation was given a large one of their own. As for no special consideration for the fact that one of their members was a girl... that was all too normal. As superhumans, this was to be expected.
It was rather the presence of a dog that elicited surprise from some and indifference from others. Superhumans were an eccentric lot. No one cared so long as the dog didn’t interfere with proper business at hand.
......
The Silver City group made a perfunctory round of their tent. Yuan Shuo wanted to rest, Liu Long wanted to discuss their upcoming mission and tasks with Hao Lianchuan. Li Hao grabbed Wang Ming to make new friends.
......
“Li Hao, this is Elder Huang, you know him!” Wang Ming was quite free-handed at times. Under normal circumstances, people usually brought new friends to meet others of the same level. Wang Ming was still a Darkmoon in many people’s eyes, but the first person he introduced Li Hao to was the Sunflare Huang Yun.
The two had met before, after all, so they were familiar with each other. Making a social call meant an introduction, a request to look after the one being introduced. Being a Sunflare powerhouse, Huang Yun shared his tent with only one other person despite not being assigned one of his own. There was a bulky man in his tent who was as dark as night. He seemed to be an honest, friendly person. Dense earth energy surrounded him, an obvious sign that he was an earth supernatural.
Huang Yun smiled when he saw Wang Ming visit with Li Hao in tow. He was quite close to Wang Ming and familiar with Li Hao.
“Hello, Elder Huang!” Li Hao said bashfully with a tone of inexperience. He was obviously a young man wet behind the ears when it came to networking. The young man looked at the earth powerhouse after greeting Huang Yun. “Greetings to this big brother!”
“Big brother?” laughed the earth powerhouse. “I’m old enough to be your dad! My name’s Zhao Huan and I’m a chief commissioner from White Moon City!”
“Zhao Huan is an earth supernatural,” introduced a smiling Huang Yun. “He’s very good at earth bending! It’s hard to fly through the skies, but even harder to fly through the ground!”
They welcomed the two young men into the tent.
The tents were big at this campsite, making for spacious lodgings. Thanks to an earth supernatural in residence, simple structures had been raised inside. There was a table, a raised platform for a bed, and others. It was much more comfortable than the other tents and more comprehensive.
Wang Ming walked inside with Li Hao, looking enviously at the cups and bowls on the table. “It’s definitely better to be where Uncle Zhao is! Earth supernaturals will excel in building cities if there are no battles to be fought!”
“Little Wang, your metal attribute is not bad either,” Zhao Huan threw his head back with laughter. “If there really are no battles in the future, I’ll build a city and you reinforce it with metal. We’ll craft a metropolis together!”
The two were plainly comfortable with each other given how they joked around. They didn’t ignore Li Hao either. Huang Yun waved them into chairs and looked kindly at their latest addition.
“Li Hao, you should speak some sense into your teacher regarding Sun Yifei’s letter of challenge. Your teacher doesn’t have any friends or family, he’s in contact with you the most over these years. You’re his final disciple and his personality is fiery and stubborn. Sun Yifei is so very strong at late Solar. Brokensky absolutely cannot compare to him...”
He wanted to influence Yuan Shuo through Li Hao. It was not the best choice to fight at this moment. It would benefit all of the other factions to the detriment of only the Night Watchers and Red Moon. In fact, Red Moon wouldn’t be affected much. It was the Night Watchers that would suffer the most.
“I’ll try!” Li Hao nodded solemnly. “But my teacher can be inflexible, so my words may not have much of an effect.” He shook his head with some regret and lowered his voice. “Elder Huang, I asked Brother Wang to bring me here because I want to understand the situation. I’m embarrassed to ask other people and have bumped into Elder Huang a few times...”
“What would you like to know?” Huang Yun smiled.
“Well... um... I’m wondering if there’s anyone among us Night Watchers who can handle Sun Yifei, apart from Director Hou?” Li Hao asked worriedly. “I hear that many organizations might have sent Solars for the expedition and none of the factions are too pleased with us. We’re very strong—Elder Huang and everyone are premier Sunflare elites. But... can we... handle so many Solars?”
He actually wanted to know if these people knew about that woman’s existence. Sunflare was the core of Silver Moon's strength. If they didn’t know, then he’d have to probe Hao Lianchuan. The sudden appearance of a mid Solar was someone he had to get a handle on.
“You don’t need to worry too much about that,” Huang Yun responded after some consideration. “The various organizations are not a tight knit whole, even when it comes to acting against the Night Watchers. Differences in opinion exist. The two mid-sized organizations actually partner with us more because they’re local factions. The three great organizations only have branches here—their main force is in the central region.”
“So this means that Director Hao is our only Solar?” Li Hao had to ask directly since this wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
Huang Yun nodded, there was nothing to hide about this. “There’s no helping it, only Directors Hao and Hou are Solars among the Silver Moon Night Watchers. Director Hou can’t leave his post, which means Director Hao is here alone.
“But don’t be thinking that this makes us weak! We have seven Sunflares with us for this expedition. Other than me and Ole Zhao, there are two peak Sunflares among the rest!”
He was an initial Sunflare and Zhao Huan was a mid Sunflare. Li Hao didn’t ask about them because their suns seemed too small to his eyes. As for the peak Sunflares... The young man cross referenced against the suns he’d seen earlier. It should be one man and one woman, both middle aged.
“Director He of the water attribute, and Director Zhou of the metal attribute,” Wang Ming interjected when a baffled look appeared on Li Hao’s face. “There is one director and five deputies among the Silver Moon Night Watchers. Director Hao is the first deputy director below Director Hou. Of the remaining four, we have Director He—peak water Sunflare. You know, the crabby looking auntie...”
Huang Yun and Zhao Huan raised their eyebrows at him. This kid has some nerve! Although she is on the auntie level, that doesn’t mean she likes being called that. You’ll be in for it if she catches you!
“I know Director Zhou better!” Wang Ming chuckled. “I’m a metal supernatural too, so I often ask Director Zhou for pointers. He’s the handsome uncle who was standing next to Director Hao, he had a sword on his back! He’s a peak Sunflare and who I think is most likely to be the third Solar among the Night Watchers.”
Metal supernaturals were adept at offense. Since Director Zhou was the same attribute as Wang Ming, the latter was very familiar with him and quite worshiped the man.
Huang Yun and Zhao Huan did not refute the handsome young man. Director Zhou was ferocious when attacking and he was a veteran Sunflare. It wasn’t impossible for him to progress to Solar.
Li Hao flashed a grin. He was now familiar with four out of seven Sunflares. After exchanging some more words with the two in the tent, he made his excuses. This was just a social call, so it wouldn’t do to stay too long. It was dark outside, so they couldn’t continue chatting forever.
......
Wang Ming left with Li Hao after a while. Since they were making rounds, they would visit everyone one by one. Thus, the handsome supernatural brought his colleague to meet some of the other Sunflares. Everyone was very polite to Yuan Shuo’s student.
Gu Mei was a mid wood Sunflare and the healer of the entire group. Liu Ping was an initial thunder Sunflare with tremendous offensive ability. His stature was diminutive as he was a full head shorter than Li Hao, but he packed quite a loud voice.
Li Xiangdong was a mid Sunflare of unique abilities. He shared the same surname as Li Hao and his abilities were so special that it made him the eyes of the team. Li Xiangdong was in charge of surveillance. According to Wang Ming, this Night Watcher could hear everything within a few kilometers—even ants crawling over the ground.
The setup of the team made sense. Offense, intelligence, medical, and defense were all accounted for. Add to that the wind attributed Huang Yun being adept at escape, it made for a formidable delegation.
......
When Li Hao walked out of the last metal supernatural Zhou Huaimin’s tent, his cheek muscles were almost frozen in place. He’d been smiling for so long! As a junior and meeting all of these great personages for the first time, he naturally had to present an amiable front.
Everyone was nice to him on the surface. The two deputy directors even gave him a pep talk. Of course, many were those who wished him to talk some sense into Yuan Shuo and not fight with Sun Yifei.
“Ole Wang, why don’t we also visit the Darkmoons?”
Wang Ming almost stumbled over his feet! He was tired as he was the one to make the introductions each time. His mouth was dry and his throat was scratchy after repeated openers. Now they were to visit the Darkmoons? What was the point of befriending Darkmoons?
That could wait until tomorrow. A casual conversation could be struck if they ran into the Darkmoon Night Watchers.
“That’s enough for now, Li Hao!” Wang Ming wasn’t very willing.
Li Hao smiled and looked silently at his compatriot. His stare made Wang Ming uncomfortable. What are you looking at me for? Show some respect for powerhouses. I’m a Sunflare! Regardless, he capitulated with resignation after a while.
“Fine! But I’m not too familiar with some of the Darkmoons either. Not all of them are from White Moon City, some were redeployed from elsewhere. The same goes for the Sunflares, some come from Flare City.”
Li Hao nodded and turned to a tent with a massive sun. That woman was in there.
“That seems to be...” Wang Ming followed his line of sight. “Let me think... Oh, where the female supernaturals are gathered.” He narrowed his eyes at Li Hao. “Are you going to pay your respects or trying to pick up girls?”
The kid laid eyes on the ladies’ tent as soon as he looked around!
The Night Watchers had sent roughly fifty people for the excavation. Not all of them would enter the ruins, a portion would stay outside. Roughly thirty would actually be part of the expedition, and there were approximately ten females total. The Darkmoons slept four or five to a tent. Li Hao was looking at one of them.
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