Chapter 494: Chapter 383: Local Customs and Practices
Thus, when Long Yi appeared, the Earth Dragon Knight stared unwaveringly at his face.
From the beginning, Suolin had created Long Yi’s disguise with reference to an object. And that object was none other than Abbas.
Usually, Abbas doesn’t enjoy going out. However, Abbas, as a member of the Black family, naturally inherited the features of the Black family. And these features, Suolin had taken into account carefully.
Long Yi’s current appearance belongs to the type that appears similar at first glance but not so much upon closer inspection. However, as you look at it more and more it grows on you.
Especially those Earth Dragon Knights who were already so nervous, it naturally appeared to be a perfect match in their eyes.
"Ahem, sir...I’m just doing my duty, I hope you don’t mind..." the Earth Dragon Knight said nervously. He held a device larger than the one before. As he spoke, he infused Fighting Aura into it, and immediately the device emitted a glow, scanning Long Yi and Ai Lin from top to bottom.
The main function of this device is to detect Fighting Aura. But at this time, Long Yi had completely turned all his Fighting Aura back into Giant Power, while Ai Lin’s internal powers were completely Dragon Power, which the device could not detect at all.
Upon noticing that the device did not trigger an alarm, the Earth Dragon Knight finally breathed a sigh of relief. He bowed and said, "Please enter, sir, allow me once again to extend my apologies."
Long Yi laughed, turning to throw a small bag to the chariot driver and said, "Thank you for your service on this journey. Use this little something to buy yourself some decent clothing."
The driver received the bag, and the hardness and sharp corners immediately raised his blood pressure, and the edges peeking out from the bag made the Earth Dragon Knight’s eyes pop.
It’s actually a gem!
This guy actually gave the coachman a gem as a fare!
It’s unbelievable!
If the Earth Dragon Knight was somewhat doubtful initially, he now had no doubt about it. Within the Black Dragon Imperial City, only a handful of families had the capacity to be so generously extravagant!
Little Zi passed underground, while Suolin entered the city under the cover of Long Yi and Ai Lin. Compared to nighttime, it’s actually easier to enter the city during the daytime.
"Phew... it feels great to be a rich mogul!" Long Yi reached into his pocket, took out a gem and admired it under the sun.
"It doesn’t really feel real, since it doesn’t seem like it was bought with money." Ai Lin said as she looked at the diamond held in Long Yi’s hand.
"Haha, even though I made these things, they are no different in composition!" Long Yi proudly said.
Yes, both the Night Pearls and these gems were all made by Long Yi himself.
The Night Pearl naturally goes without saying. The composition of pearls and shells have no significant difference. Using the Giant Staff, he turned oyster shells into dust, made them into pearls and randomly put something luminous inside them.
The diamonds were even simpler. Just find some charcoal and you can easily make them. Since the composition is simple, they are purer and appear even more brilliant than real diamonds!
There were several famous hotels in the inner city, Long Yi and Ai Lin chose the most luxurious one to stay in. Their extravagant payment method of using gems scared the hotel owner so they did whatever they said, providing them with the best rooms and most delicious food.
Then, for three whole days, Long Yi and Ai Lin explored the entire Imperial City.
Despite the impact of the highest level of control, the prosperity of the city is undeniable. The Black Dragon Imperial City occupies nearly six hundred square kilometers and has a population of over a million. Of course, this includes the area and population of the outer city. The inner and outer city area is eighty square kilometers with a population of less than a hundred thousand. Unlike the White Dragon Empire, an open commercial empire, Black Dragon Empire monopolizes everything in the Imperial City, which ensures that the most famous, best and most luxurious are all operated by the royal family.
After spending these three days in the Black Dragon Imperial City, Long Yi had a thorough understanding of the residents.
To put it nicely, they are all pragmatic. To be blunt, they are all very snobbish.
No, extremely snobbish.
The common thing was not just looking down on others as in the actual world; the most common thing here was public displays of wealth.
While in Long Yi’s previous world, wealth was flaunted subtly, the manner of flaunting wealth in this world seemed crude. In just three days, Long Yi witnessed rich ladies competing with each other several times to buy expensive jewelry, saw a couple of instances where wealthy merchants in an auction were deliberately overpaying for useless objects, and even more brainless actions.
Yet in Long Yi’s view, this kind of flaunting wealth didn’t indicate they were rich. This was because after spending a heap of money, didn’t they still eventually get an item nearly worth that much? In other words, this was still just the stingy poor.
Indeed, there was a straightforward way to show off wealth.
Just donate.
Build a house for the homeless, let them live there totally free of charge, and take care of them for life. Buy a carriage for every poor person in the city, and take care of it for them for life.
How cool would that be?
However, apart from this, Long Yi also gained a deeper understanding of the residents of the Imperial City.
These people supported their emperor in an extreme way. Anytime the emperor was mentioned, their faces filled with a sickly excitement. They would even shout long live the emperor during meals, and thank the emperor for their income when they receive money.
This kind of treatment, the White Dragon Emperor had never experienced before.
If he hadn’t been worried about Little Zi being discovered, he would really want to show her. To see if everyone had been brainwashed or not.
However, thanks to this sycophantic atmosphere, even during this period of the highest control, the patrolling warriors in the streets did not bring much trouble to Long Yi and his crew. Long Yi, when in Rome, acted fully as a nouveau riche.
In three days’ time, while Long Yi adapted to his new surroundings, Little Zi and the Dandi sisters searched the entire city. The Dandi sisters located Yaksha, and Little Zi even sneaked into the lab of the Black Dragon Empire. Long Yi was surprised to find out that the factory which once used to produce undead soldiers had restarted its operations.
It seemed that the destination of this time has increased once again.
And then, Long Yi began his move.
That morning, Long Yi arrived at Abbas’s mansion and handed a letter of credentials to the guards at the entrance.
Not long after, a gaunt old man came out and looked Long Yi up and down before saying, "Follow me."
This old man was Abbas’s personal attendant, who had grown up with Abbas, and their relationship was like that of blood brothers. He was deeply trusted by Abbas and managed many affairs for him.
Long Yi wore a mild smile, followed the butler, and entered Abbas’s massive mansion.
Even in the Black Dragon Empire, a place known for its wealth, Abbas’s gigantic mansion was still astonishing. As a merchant from the royal faction, the money he had earned in his lifetime was comparable to the national treasury. Of course, most of it was also used as taxes to the state treasury.
Abbas had two passions in life.
Money.
Gambling.
Abbas gambled often and the stakes were always high.
But one wager in particular haunted Abbas to no end.
Ten years ago, when the old emperor was still alive, Abbas had a bet with Emperor Kaniel, who was convinced one could find a natural Fire Eye Giant Diamond in the world.
The so-called Fire Eye Giant Diamond is essentially a huge diamond, with a fiery red diamond at the center. No one knew why they ended up arguing over it, but the bet sure caused a stir at the time. Abbas bet his life that if he could find a Fire Eye Giant Diamond before he died, then the emperor would reduce his tax rate. If Abbas failed, the emperor would increase his already high tax rate to an astonishing level.
From that point on, Abbas had been searching all over the world for the Fire Eye Giant Diamond, even offering a hefty reward. But this elusive treasure was not so readily found. Some people tried to cheat and deceive, but even the attribute of the giant diamond was difficult to satisfy. After a few people lost their heads, no one dared to challenge for the reward again.
Abbas thought that the wager no longer held any ground after the death of the old emperor, but the new Emperor Yake brought it up again, obviously intending to raise Abbas’s tax rate.
This aggrieved Abbas greatly, but when he thought of the monstrous Yake, he dared not object. After all, those ministers who lost their heads served as examples.
Now, Long Yi had arrived.
Abbas was a fat man, short and fat. Without Toen’s height and any fighting aura, he seemed extremely awkward. But when Long Yi took out that Fire Eye Giant Diamond as big as a fist from his private space, Abbas almost pounced in front of Long Yi, his greedy eyes fixed on the fire eye within the still uncarved gem.
"My Lord!"
The butler said something on the side.
Abbas immediately realized his loss of decorum.
Abbas then handed over the Fire Eye Giant Diamond to the butler. The butler put on special glasses and examined it carefully. After some time, Abbas personally saw his always calm butler shaking with excitement!
"It’s real!"
Though the butler tried his best to suppress his emotions, the sudden joy caused his hands to tremble uncontrollably.
Abbas hurriedly took over the giant diamond. Even though it was an uncut raw gem, its huge size and incredible purity already caught Abbas’s attention. With his greedy eyes fixed on the fire eye in the center, he was almost unwilling to move his gaze away!
"My lord, can we start discussing the compensation now?"
Long Yi reminded. (To be continued. If you like this novel, please vote for it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile phone users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
