Chapter 66: A Sincere Invitation to Join Wancheng

With the strength Gu Chen has now displayed, no matter which city he chooses to join, the professionals in that city will undoubtedly reap the benefits.

This is an absolute certainty.

Why does the Divine Xia Empire cultivate professionals?

Because every time an Abyss Achievement is unlocked, the Abyss forces' invasion of this world is curbed.

Although Abyss Achievements are not as easily obtained as personal achievements, once an Abyss Achievement is secured after clearing a dungeon, the difficulty of that specific Abyss decreases, and the clear rewards increase correspondingly.

The reason why the clearance difficulty of the Bone Crypt has remained stubbornly high is precisely because very few professionals have ever attained an Abyss Achievement there.

To secure an Abyss Achievement, one must enter a Hell-grade Abyss.

Although Gu Chen does not currently meet the conditions, no one doubts his potential.

After all, in the eyes of the world, he is an unadulterated genius, and for such a genius, achieving Abyss Achievements is only a matter of time.

It was only at this moment that someone finally figured out why the Mayor of Wancheng was the first to rush to the Abyss Plaza.

For present-day Wancheng, they are in desperate need of a genius like Gu Chen to help them secure an Abyss Achievement.

Although the Bone Crypt is a Tier-1 Abyss, its difficulty is so prohibitively high that a vast number of novice professionals have been forced to abandon it altogether.

When the Abyss right on their doorstep cannot be beaten, professionals are inevitably driven to move toward larger cities.

Consequently, a massive wave of Wancheng's professionals has been quietly drained away.

The loss of fresh blood destines a city to begin its decline, and once that decline starts, it plunges into a vicious cycle.

At this point, several professionals from the neighboring city suddenly woke up to a fatal realization.

"No, absolutely not! If Gu Chen gets snatched away by Liang Yi, he will be a Wancheng person from now on. Even if he subsequently achieves Abyss Achievements, we won't get the slightest benefit from it."

"How can this be? Neighboring City finally produced a talented professional, and he must not be stolen by Wancheng."

"Wait, do you even realize what kind of attitude Neighboring City had toward Gu Chen? He got an SSS-rank rating ages ago—what happened to his guaranteed recommendation spot?"

"Hey, hold on a second. Why are you people from Neighboring City running all the way to the Bone Crypt? This is Wancheng's Abyss!"

"Fantastic. If Gu Chen can drive the rise of Wancheng, I'm going to rent out my balcony for a thousand bucks a month starting today."

......

Everyone harbored their own hidden agendas.

Those people from Neighboring City who had chased after Gu Chen simply to bask in his popularity suddenly felt the ground shift beneath their feet.

Initially, they hadn't paid much attention to the matter itself; at most, they had followed along just to watch the spectacle and catch a glimpse of how the legendary royal scion differed from ordinary people.

After all, Gu Chen was on a completely different plane of existence from them, and they would likely have no connection to him in the future.

However, things were different now.

Judging by the natural talent Gu Chen had currently displayed, securing an Abyss Achievement was merely a matter of time. It was almost foreseeable that in the near future, the clearance difficulty of the Bone Crypt would plummet, and the rewards would become far more generous.

As a result, future professionals in Wancheng would no longer need to leave their hometowns just to level up.

Once Gu Chen cleared the Abyss, every single professional in Wancheng could also take a share of the spoils.

It is no exaggeration to say that Gu Chen was about to become the ultimate pillar of support for all professionals in Wancheng!

"What the hell! What the hell is going on in Neighboring City? Why hasn't anyone from the Municipal Government shown up yet?"

The professionals from Neighboring City grew anxious as they watched Liang Yi leading a group directly toward Gu Chen's location.

"Damn those bastards, Liang Yi is utterly shameless! Who has connections inside the Neighboring City Municipal Government? Quick, call for reinforcements!"

"Hold on, I'm calling the Mayor right now."

"Holy shit, big bro, you're amazing—you actually have the Mayor of Neighboring City's personal number?"

"Isn't there a mayoral hotline?"

"Oh, well go ahead and dial it then. If it goes through, I'll eat my hat."

"......"

At that moment, Gu Chen had just finished organizing the spoils he gained from this Abyss run when he spotted several imposing middle-aged men appearing before him.

Liang Yi stood directly in front of Gu Chen. Dispensing with all pleasantries, he came straight to the point:

"Hello, Gu Chen. I am Liang Yi, the Mayor of Wancheng. On behalf of the people of Wancheng, I cordially invite you to join our city—"

"Alright, I'll join," Gu Chen agreed instantly, without the slightest hesitation.

For no other reason than this: putting the identity of Wancheng's mayor aside, Liang Yi had clearly come with utmost sincerity.

The four individuals standing behind him were carrying two treasure chests and two gift boxes respectively. Regardless of what was actually inside them, having been in this world for so long, no one had ever offered him such generous terms right out of the gate.

Hearing Gu Chen's prompt agreement, Liang Yi's face broke into an undisguised expression of elation.

Standing behind him, Li Feng's cheek twitched slightly. A mere four words had completely dismantled the three sets of talking points he had racked his brain to prepare.

Was this guy completely ignoring conventional protocol?

Behind Li Feng, three negotiation experts exchanged glances, the corners of their mouths lifting into synchronized, knowing smiles.

Job done, time to clock out.

They had never worked such an effortless gig in their entire lives.

Just as everyone was basking in this joyous moment, another middle-aged man wearing a dark gray jacket approached with a few subordinates in tow.

"No way, the people from Neighboring City Municipal Government are only showing up now? The cold dishes have already been served!"

"The one leading them is Mayor Xu Lai. I've seen him before; he was in the news just recently."

"There are five of them in total, and they're all coming empty-handed? With an attitude like that, do they really not care about Gu Chen at all?"

"Setting aside his identity as a royal scion, he is still a genius who cleared a Nightmare-grade Abyss!"

"My god! Thank goodness I'm a Wancheng native. I guarantee you, Neighboring City is going to be completely ruined in the hands of a mayor named Xu Lai."

......

"Young Master Gu!"

Xu Lai caught sight of Gu Chen's figure and jogged all the way to the front.

"Young Master, on behalf of Neighboring City, I congratulate you on successfully clearing the Tier-1 Abyss, the Bone Crypt. The Li family has already been wiped out; please come back to Neighboring City with me now. The people of the entire city are waiting to celebrate your triumph."

"As for the matter of the guaranteed recommendation spot, it is true that the Neighboring City Municipal Government handled it incorrectly. Rest assured, this humble servant has already prepared a set of resources no less inferior to a Hell-grade clearance reward, served as your compensation."

Xu Lai spoke at a rapid pace, disgorging the speech his secretary had prepared for him in one breath, yet he carefully avoided mentioning the actual implementation of the guaranteed recommendation spot.

Hearing this, Liang Yi nearby instantly burst into laughter.

"Mayor Xu, Gu Chen is an SSS-rank rating holder who cleared the Temple Ruins Hell-grade instance dungeon and reset the Bone Crypt Nightmare-grade Abyss, and this is your compensation? Are you trying to brush off a beggar?"

Xu Lai let out a cold snort, ignoring Liang Yi entirely, and continued addressing Gu Chen: "Young Master, you are a son of the Northern Frontier. You should return to Neighboring City first—"

"What did you just say?" Gu Chen directly cut off Xu Lai's words.

"Uh......" Xu Lai paused, thought for a moment, and said, "I said we should return to Neighboring City first."

"No, the sentence before that."

"You are a son of the Northern Frontier."

"Who told you I am a son of the Northern Frontier?"

"You are the young master of the Northern Frontier Royal Family!"

"Mayor Xu must have mistaken me for someone else. There is no such name as mine in the royal family's genealogy. Please make your way back."

Xu Lai's expression froze, utterly silenced by that single remark.

After a brief moment of recovery, he spoke up again: "Young Master, the Sovereign has already made arrangements. As long as you return to Gubei City, the guaranteed recommendation spot will definitely be honored."