Chapter 967 Hooded Refugees
"How dare you call me a hag too! I'll have you know I am still in my early—!" the 42-year-old woman was enraged by the hooded person.
However, before the 42-year-old woman could finish venting her anger, she suddenly stopped shouting after catching a glimpse of the hooded person's cold eyes.
The 42-year-old woman felt a chill run down her spine when their eyes made contact.
In that instant, she instinctively knew the person was dangerous, and it was better not to get involved with the person.
This instinctual feeling was not determined by the hooded person's strength. In fact, the woman did not know how strong the hooded person was.
However, the hooded person's cold eyes contained extreme yet controlled rage.
"Actually, it's fine. I guess I am an old hag now. Sorry for the trouble," the 42-year-old woman said before scooting off to mind her own business.
Even if she could beat a crazy person, it was too troublesome for what it's worth.
After the woman left, the hooded person shifted his attention back to the young man.
"The details," the hooded person uttered.
"Ah? Right… The labor recruitment location is outside the royal palace's main gates. You have to be at least Rank 5 Body Tempering to apply. You can find all the information you need there," the young man said.
"However, why are you hooded? You look very suspicious like this, and they might not accept you," the young man added shortly after.
"Why am I hooded? I have a rather grotesque face, so I rather not show it to others lest it makes everyone uncomfortable. Anyway, thanks for the information," the hooded person said.
The young man realized it was a woman behind the hood and no longer pried into her secrets. After all, a beautiful woman with a scar would definitely be conscious of her face.
Nevertheless, since the young man hadn't seen the hooded woman's face, he could only make a blind guess at how bad her face scars were.
Even so, the young man knew better than to pry.
"Ah right, there was a quota on the labor hire for the job! I better hurry!" the young man recalled before scooting over to sign up.
In any case, he had already passed the word out to the outer district.
Whether his neighbors and acquaintances are willing to grab hold of this opportunity is up to their own choices.
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Outside the royal palace's main gates, a massive crowd of humans and elves lined up in front of the labor recruitment board as they waited their turn.
It was already packed within the first few minutes of the recruitment notice, which spread like wildfire.
Half an hour since then, the crowd had inflated tenfold.
The main square could not contain everyone queueing up for the labor recruitment; it spanned across multiple streets and blocks.
City guards were deployed to keep the order in the open while the shadow guards secretly observed the situation from the dark.
Their task was more than just simply controlling the crowd.
The hooded woman frowned when she saw how extensive the registration line was. Despite that, she still joined the queue obediently without causing any problems for others.
There were several hundreds of hooded people just like her in the queue.
Nevertheless, the queue moved forward fairly quickly.
The officials at the labor recruitment board only asked a few simple questions before handing the labor hires their identity tokens.
"Take it and don't lose it. Otherwise, you will not be paid for the work you put in," one of the recruitment officials informed the hired laborer, a male elf at the Rank 8 Body Tempering Realm.
Nevertheless, the male elf was filled with questions.
"What do I do with this exactly, sir?" the male elf politely asked while glancing down at the metal token with his name engraved on it.
The metal token shared similarities with the contribution tokens, but they were not the same.
"The token records your contribution on Extreme Misty Forest. Each time you turn in the logs at the worksite, an inscriptionist will update the contribution count on your token for you," the official patiently explained.
"I see. Thank you, sir," male elf nodded with understanding.
"You may enter the outer courtyard," the official directed.
"Once the numbers are filled, a Transcendent will transport you to the worksite in the north. Of course, if you believe you can get there on your own, then forget what I just said."
"I'll wait for the transport, sir," the male elf smiled wryly.
There's no way a Rank 8 Body Tempering body cultivator could get to Extreme Misty Forest from New Capital quicker than a Transcendent can.
Nevertheless, not all Transcendents were in charge of transporting the hired laborers to the outskirts of Extreme Misty Forest directly.
While Metal Transcendents transported large groups on large metal frames to the worksite, the other Transcendents escorted the hired laborers to the docking bay to take the airships there.
After the male elf entered the royal palace's outer courtyard, the official welcomed the next person in the queue.
However, the official immediately frowned at the hooded person.
"Take off your hood. Why are you hiding your appearance? Your action is very suspicious. Please comply, or you will be detained for further questioning," the official demanded.
At the same time, the nearby city guards were ready to swoop in and apprehend the suspect.
Nevertheless, the official's firm tone and the city guards' intimidating auras quickly scared the hooded person.
"W-what! I'm not someone suspicious! I just look hideous under the hood!" the hooded person quickly explained.
"How hideous can a person—holy sh*t!" the official accidentally cussed at how hideous the hooded person's face was after seeing it.
It was like the person's whole face had been burned and melted into an unrecognizable state. It was terrible beyond belief, even worse than someone who had undergone facial torture.
"I told you so…" the man hid his face under the hood again in shame.
"Excuse my sudden outburst. Your condition… was much worse than I imagined. You must be a refugee from Durham or Valaran, right? I apologize for putting you through this," the official said.
"However, I still have to check all your identities regardless. So please lift your hoods during your turns."