Chapter 266: A Celebratory Banquet

How could there be no fruits of life here? Wasn't this the peak-grade treasury? Flustered, he shouted at the artificial intelligence overseeing the treasury.

"Honored Champion of the Void Cup, the fruit of life isn't considered a peak-grade treasure, and cannot be found in this treasury. The fruit of life is an additional reward given to the top three participants in the Void Cup. Unless you wish to receive an additional fruit, you will not need to specifically request more."

Zhang Lie sighed in relief. This was a little different from what Yan Long had mentioned, but not by much.

"Would you be able to hand me my fruit of life immediately?" That said, Zhang Lie couldn't truly relax before he had the fruit in his hands.

"As you wish, Honored Champion."

Within ten seconds, a robot whirled into the treasury with an orange-colored fruit in his hands.

The most pressing matter resolved, Zhang Lie turned back to the items within the treasury. Among these items were rare treasures that Zhang Lie had only heard of but had never before seen. It took him half an hour to go through the items one by one, and he finally settled on six spiritual herbs.

After all, at this point in time, Zhang Lie was essentially the only pillmaster in the world, and the potency that he could obtain from these herbs was worth far more than any other treasure. Indeed, before the awards ceremony, he had handed a list of rare herbs to the other hunters of Team Zenith, requesting that they prioritize anything on the list if possible. Considering the fact that their performance had been in large part due to the resources that he had shared with them, the members of Team Zenith agreed immediately.

After finalizing his selection, Zhang Lie returned to the arena as the awards ceremony was drawing to a close. After the ceremony, Zhang Lie and the others were instantly surrounded by rabid fans. Even the presence of the Ural guards wasn't sufficient to deter them. They all knew that the competition had ended, and that this would be their final chance to get close to Zhang Lie.

It took Zhang Lie and the other hunters three whole hours to make it out, and that only with the help of the Ural guards.

"I can't believe it—they've torn my clothes to shreds!" Sun Xiaowu, who had been standing by the outskirts of the party, exclaimed in shock.

"They're even more difficult to deal with than our competitors in the Void Cup..." Fang Yi murmured.

"Of course—after all, we can strike at our opponents, but certainly not the fans. But of all of us, the captain surely had it the worst—didn't you see how many people were surrounding him?"

"If nothing else, at least we're back at the hotel now. I really do pity Commanders Yan Long and Su Feng, who are still out there in the crowd," Zhang Lie replied. "As for the rest of you, you need to get used to this sort of situation. If this is what it's like here on Ural, can you imagine what it would be like back on Earth?"

The hunters' eyes bulged. They knew that Zhang Lie was right, but for them to get used to such fanatical crowds wasn't something that could be done easily in the short term.

Luckily, they didn't have to worry about anything here at the Nike Hotel. Indeed, because of the fact that the humans were staying here, the Nike Hotel had grown immensely in popularity, and Ural guards had been specifically requisitioned to patrol the area. No regular fan would be able to bother Zhang Lie and the others at all.

What they would need to worry about was the upcoming banquet before their departure. After all, Zhang Lie and the humans had made a few allies during the tournament, including the blood demons and the night spirits. They were also on good terms with the starbeasts, aquatic, and the nightdemons.

This might well be the last time they saw each other in person for quite a while, so the other races would likely bring up their imminent cooperation to develop limit fragments as well.

"Mengmeng, have the hotel start preparing a banquet. Everyone else, help greet the young leaders and representatives from each race that shows up!"

In principle, Yan Long and Su Feng should have been responsible for organizing this banquet, but they would likely be trapped out in the crowd for some time. Indeed, Zhang Lie's preparations were prescient, because Yan Long and Su Feng only made it back to the hotel in the evening.

By then, Xing Bai of the starbeasts, Lianna of the aquatic, and so on had already begun messaging Zhang Lie about a potential banquet before his departure. Zhang Lie cordially invited them to the largest ballroom the Nike Hotel was able to provide.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Moments later, however, Zhang Lie, the members of Team Zenith, and even Yan Long and Su Feng began receiving messages from the other races of the Milky Way, hoping to secure an invitation to this banquet.

It was obvious to everyone that this would be a celebration for Zhang Lie, as well as a farewell. In other words, for those races that had yet to secure Zhang Lie's cooperation, this was their last chance to meet with him before his departure.

The Nike Hotel was large, but not impossibly so; not all the representatives of each race would be able to obtain an invitation. In the end, Zhang Lie invited all the representatives of the hundred strongest races, and sent word to all others who had requested an invitation that he would eventually expand his research team and draw them into the fold.

At the grand ballroom of the Nike Hotel, the young leaders of the four prime races, along with those of the hundred strongest races in the galaxy, gathered with their retinues, in a show of power and prestige surprisingly comparable to that of the Void Cup's awards ceremony.

Zhang Lie, the members of Team Zenith, Yan Long, and Su Feng were all surrounded by a crowd of people.

A few musicians were playing classical music in the background, but other than that, the crowd was surprisingly silent.

Zhang Lie strode toward the center of the ballroom. "Everyone, thank you for joining me for a banquet today despite your busy schedules. Owing to our success in the Void Cup, we've prepared this banquet to thank all of you for your support and goodwill.

Everyone applauded.

After a short speech, Zhang Lie announced the start of the banquet, and the guests began to mingle with each other, enjoying the delicacies and appetizers that were being served.

The first to toast Zhang Lie was Hong Yu of the winged. She had no choice but to make such a public gesture; as the new young leader of the winged, her burdens were particularly weighty.

The relationship between the winged and the humans had been rather fraught because of what had happened with Phoenix and the white-winged emperor, but the winged certainly couldn't give up on these limit fragments. As a result, Hong Yu had to repair their damaged relationship at any cost.

"Mr. Zhang, I'd like to congratulate you once more for your magnificent performance during this Void Cup. I'd also like to take the opportunity to apologize once more on behalf of the tensions that have arisen between your team and the winged because of several of our kin.

"Mr. Zhang, our kinsmen's actions aren't representative of the winged at large, and I fervently hope you won't hold it against us. Allow me to give you a toast!"

Hong Yu inclined her head and drained her glass of wine.

"Don't worry about it, Miss Hong Yu. I don't intend on holding the winged accountable, so there's no need to probe my attitude once and again. Once I'm prepared to work together with your race regarding my limit fragment research, I'll let you know," Zhang Lie responded directly.