Chapter 487: Chapter 376: An Invitation from a Smart Person
Upon returning to the small villa, Long Yi shared the news with the girls. Ai Lin, who had a solid formal education, thought it would be a good idea to go and observe. After all, the amount of information Long Yi could obtain on his own was limited, while the Empire’s high officials and wealthy businessmen had a much broader information channel. Whatever insight he could gather would certainly be beneficial to his future plans.
With the support of the intelligent Ai Lin, Long Yi naturally felt reassured.
The Eye of the White Dragon was the primary thinktank of the White Dragon Empire. It had more than thirty years of history and was involved in all aspects of the empire. One could argue that the current prosperity of the White Dragon Empire owed a lot to the Eye of the White Dragon.
Long Yi had originally planned to take everyone to observe how intellectuals conduct their meetings. However, Isrile explicitly expressed disinterest. She was a pure advocate of brute force and firmly believed that any cunning trick would ultimately amount to nothing without actual strength. The Dandi sisters were interested, but they tactfully declined. Despite Long Yi not worrying about impropriety, the sisters themselves understood that having just been integrated into this strange so-called "family," they should maintain a certain level of reserve.
As the most well-read and intelligent person among them, Ai Lin’s attendance was crucial. Suolin had no intention of participating initially, but Long Yi still insisted she should go. Suolin once singlehandedly controlled Blood Coagulation; Long Yi didn’t believe this would be possible if she simply followed orders. Suolin must possess the talent for the big picture.
As for Little Zi, she would go wherever Long Yi goes and wouldn’t miss anything.
Not long after dinner, a carriage quietly stopped at the front door of the small villa. The villa falls under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Palace, and ordinary people could not gain entry. However, it’s evident that the Eye of the White Dragon is not just a simple thinktank to gain access with ease.
The carriage, carrying Long Yi and the others, left the small villa and made its way quietly through the Imperial City. Long Yi then noticed that both the carriage and the horses pulling it seemed to have underwent a unique magical treatment, allowing them to operate incredibly quietly. The Eye of the White Dragon was truly mysterious indeed.
"In the beginning, we did not utilize this kind of quiet carriage, and the meeting locations were relatively fixed. All attendees would arrive individually. However, after an incident of an attack on the Eye of the White Dragon by Blood Coagulation, the boss decided to change the way we meet. The location is chosen by the boss at the last moment, with all attendees being escorted by our carriages", the young man, who was also sitting in the carriage, explained to Long Yi, perhaps noticing his confusion.
The carriage was small, seating only four people in pairs. Long Yi and the young man sat on one side, with Suolin and Ai Lin on the other. At this moment, Suolin wished she could bury her head in her chest. The attack on the Eye of the White Dragon was a direct command that Suolin had issued to Toen, and naturally, Suolin’s command was from Emperor Kaniel.
Since being with Long Yi, Suolin had never brought up her past deeds. When she remembered these things during sleepless nights, it would cause her immense sadness. She did not want Long Yi knowing about her past at all. But now, the young man had unexpectedly brought up the incident right in front of Long Yi.
What should she do?
Ai Lin could feel her face blushing hotly with shame. At this moment, she was extraordinarily grateful that Long Yi could not see her face. Otherwise, her face would probably be red and purplish, right?
This jerk! He made me lose face in front of Brother Long!
Should she... just kill him?
No way! Long Yi would definitely be mad if she killed him directly! She must do it when he doesn’t notice! That’s right! Not only the young man but anyone who knew about the incident must be silenced!
Just as this thought arose, a murderous intent immediately filled the carriage. The young man did not have any battle training and was completely unaware of the killing intent. He only felt an inexplicable unease in the surroundings, but Long Yi and Ai Lin immediately sensed it.
"Suolin!"
Long Yi abruptly broke the silence, placing a hand on Ai Lin’s shoulder.
"Huh! What?" Ai Lin woke from her thoughts, looking up to ask.
"We’re merely observing a few influential figures. You don’t know them, and they don’t know you. There’s no need to be so nervous, okay?" Long Yi said with a smile.
Suolin immediately cleared her mind. She was terrified by her own thoughts. What just happened? Why did she have those thoughts? She is different from before! She is no longer the leader of Blood Coagulation! She is Suolin! Just Suolin!
Feeling the warmth coming from her shoulder, Suolin calmed down. She looked up at Long Yi. "Thank you, brother Long. I’m fine now. I’m sorry."
Suolin was apologizing for her earlier behavior, but Long Yi smiled and nodded, not minding it at all.
At that moment, Little Zi relayed a message to Long Yi.
"Suolin’s mental state is not quite stable," Little Zi said.
"To what extent?"
"The two different personalities could potentially influence each other, and if stimulated, she may act unpredictably", Little Zi made it as tactful as possible. Besides the young man, everyone else felt the murderous intent just now.
"Well, let’s see how it goes, she might be okay eventually." Long Yi responded.
The carriage silently came to a stop in a small courtyard, where a neatly arranged row of similar carriages was already parked. Long Yi counted and there were thirteen in total.
"Our carriages don’t only transport one person. There’s one guide like myself and three attendees inside each carriage," the young man explained.
"You sure have a knack for reading people," Long Yi had to admit, a bit puzzled at how quickly this guy picked up on his uncertainty.
"Thank you for the compliment." The young man smiled, thinking to himself, ’You’re not exactly subtle with your expressions, you know?’
As they pushed open the door to the central room, they found a group of uniformed Dragon Knights. Seeing Long Yi, their faces were filled with excitement.
It was Long Yi, the idol of all Dragon Knights in the legend!
But the moment Ai Lin and Suolin appeared behind Long Yi, he was immediately ignored.
Naturally, the beautiful and noble Fairy Dragon Ai Lin didn’t need to be mentioned, she was every man’s dream. However, the woman beside Ai Lin had an even more irresistible figure! Even though she wore a mask and her face was hidden, her figure alone was enough to make everyone’s blood pressure skyrocket.
"Ahem." The young man in front cleared his throat, and the Dragon Knights quickly pulled themselves together. They quickly formed a strange formation, with the young man leading Long Yi and the two girls to stand amid them. Their Fighting Auras surged, and the circular ground began to descend slowly. The Dragon Knights watched as everything descended, until a new floor slid out, they reluctantly sighed in disappointment.
The darkness did not last long, and the disc eventually stopped, revealing a brightly lit hall.
As Long Yi appeared, the man standing in the center of the hall announced excitedly to those around him, "Ladies and Gentlemen, let us welcome Long Yi and his friends!"
Applause broke out immediately around him. Long Yi smiled, quickly adjusting to his surroundings. It was not a large space, with three rows of people seated around, altogether not exceeding fifty, and many seats were still empty.
"Hello, everyone." Good-natured Long Yi greeted with a beaming smile, raising his hand and waving in a leader-like manner to everyone.
"Haha, Uncle, look, he’s quite funny. Does he really think he’s some big shot?" A youth with a small dragon on his shoulder laughed, speaking to the middle-aged man beside him.
"Well, whether it’s in terms of power or influence, this Long Yi really is a significant figure." the young man’s uncle responded.
"Influence? Can he compare to our Eye of the White Dragon? As for power? I think it’s just so-so. I didn’t see anything impressive. Does fighting those weak monsters on the square count as power?" The young man scoffed.
The middle-aged man just smiled and said nothing. It was a good thing for the younger generation to challenge each other, as they were full of vigor.
While others observed Long Yi, Long Yi was also observing people around. He had noticed some of them at the Emperor’s conference, but he didn’t recognize most of them. What was strange was that there were no military personnel here, whereas most of the people Long Yi knew were from the military. It seemed that the Eye of the White Dragon was a civilian group.
The person standing in the center presiding over the meeting was likely the boss of the Eye of the White Dragon.
For some reason, Long Yi felt he’d seen this person somewhere before.
"Hello, Mr. Long Yi, welcome to the Eye of the White Dragon. I am the boss. You can call me Boss, or ’Hey.’" the boss spoke up.
"Hello, Boss." Good-natured Long Yi shook hands with the boss, asking, "Excuse me, Boss, haven’t we met somewhere before? You just look so familiar."
Yet, the boss just smiled faintly, "I was at the Emperor’s speech in the square, maybe you saw me there."
Long Yi nodded, "Makes sense. It’s a far more plausible excuse than outright denial."
The boss, however, shook his head, "It’s the truth."
"Alright then."
Long Yi was quite certain that his encounter with the boss was more than a brief one because as he shook hands with the boss, Long Yi felt all his hair stand on end. It wasn’t fear, but an instinctual dislike, and Long Yi certainly wouldn’t dislike a stranger.
"Mr. Long Yi, you can sit wherever you like. Our meeting will now commence," the Boss said.
Long Yi nodded, looked around, found an empty row of seats and walked over with the two girls to sit down.
"Haha, Uncle, look, this Long Yi is such an attention-seeker. It’s already an incredible honor to be invited to the Eye of the White Dragon’s meeting, and he even brought his women along. Ai Lin is a Fairy Dragon, that’s another story, but do you see the other one? Dressed like that, with that mask, is she too ugly to show her face? Long Yi’s taste sure is becoming more peculiar. I heard that many nobles in the Imperial City are starting to follow his example."
The youth on the side whispered again.
But his uncle merely laughed, "I told you that you needed to get out more, but would you listen? Which is more reliable, hearsay or seeing for yourself? I saw with my own eyes how powerful that woman wearing the mask is."
The young man sneered and didn’t believe it at all. (To be continued. If you like this novel, please vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com for reading.)
