Chapter 267: Chapter 194: The New Drug
The gloomy snowstorm licked the sky of the Empire’s new city.
The sky, darkened by the fog emitted from the solemn megacity, was shrouded, with skyrails like veins connecting the city. Black and gold trains spewed steam above, traveling through the jungle of steel.
The next moment, an intricately designed hover vehicle emerged from the thick fog, descending towards the city center’s municipal hall.
The pale gold door slowly opened, and a young man dressed in a pure white custom-tailored suit leaned out, stepping onto the smooth back of a female slave as he disembarked, casting a look of disdain at the surroundings.
One must understand, true aristocrats of the Empire have always represented the glory of the Prophet, residing aloof in the Sanctuary Fortress, never approaching the filthy earth.
Vena never quite understood why Uncle Blood Vulture would build his office in such a low place.
Even if the nobles must manage the livestock of the city’s lowest level, they shouldn’t wallow in the mud with them, should they?
The air was filled with the smell of coal burning. Vena instinctively wiped his collar, as if the murky scent had tainted his tailored garment.
He presented his identification to the guard at the municipal hall entrance, and after receiving the Duke’s permission, Vena stepped into the residence of the Blood Vulture Duke.
The corridor’s lighting was quite ordinary, the light slightly pale, lacking even the sunlight simulation that nobles were accustomed to.
"Uncle Blood Vulture." Vena cautiously knocked at the door at the end of the hallway.
No response. Vena swallowed nervously, gently pushed the door open, and was immediately greeted by the sight of a life-sustaining nutrient pod.
Inside the nutrient pod sat an old man in a blood-red robe, emaciated, his body covered with various tubes, and an electrical wire extending from the back of his neck, connected to a server in the center of the room.
Aside from this, the room was empty.
To be honest, this place didn’t resemble the office of an Imperial Duke but rather a cold and eerie cage.
The sole ’prisoner’ here had sentenced himself to a lifetime of captivity in his own ideological dream.
Vena knew that the consciousness of the Blood Vulture Duke was constantly at work within the dreamscape of the server, while his body endured an unimaginable burden and pain every second.
For most of the information within the server was personally borne by the Blood Vulture Duke.
It was an amount of information enough to crush an ordinary person...
The reason Blood Vulture was Blood Vulture was that he was a genius beyond ordinary reach from birth. Perhaps this was also why those of lower rank were willing to follow him...
Vena slowly approached the nutrient pod, kneeling on one knee, he looked up with a gentle and elegant smile: "I’ve come to visit you, Uncle Blood Vulture."
"Cough, cough, cough..."
The old man let out a hoarse cough, weakly opening his eyes, which were sharp and chilling like a wolf’s: "Speak of the important matters."
Looking at that extremely gaunt face, Vena’s body trembled slightly, and a scene from his childhood suddenly flashed in his mind.
A tall, handsome man stood amidst the sea of flames. Surrounded by hunters, he personally beheaded the current head of the Azkato Family.
"I will lead the new Empire to new prosperity, and you bunch of idlers who only know how to drink and revel..."
The wind and snow howled as the man tossed the head into the flames, casting a glance at everyone below, squeezing a threat from his throat that terrified all family members: "You better not stand in my way."
On that day, the Blood Vulture Duke was indeed unstoppable, but now?
Look at him, an awe-inspiring and fearsome figure of the family, who began leaning slightly towards the lower-ranked livestock and was consequently shackled in his mechanical dream by his own hands, turning into this pitiful state.
It’s truly...
Utterly foolish.
Moreover, the economic lifeline of the Empire has always been in the hands of various great families, even the Mad Emperor cannot resist the will of the family heads, and now, the Mad Emperor has already paid the price, yet Uncle Blood Vulture, despite being born into the family, stands on the side of the lower-ranked livestock...
This uncle’s beliefs are truly incomprehensible.
But to realize his beliefs, Uncle Blood Vulture eventually found that those in power still have to bow to the family time and again.
Vena mocked internally, yet he carefully suppressed the cold smile at the corner of his mouth, not daring to show any pleasure in front of Uncle Blood Vulture.
The moment he stepped into the municipal hall, several Night Owl Hunters had already locked onto him.
He was just a messenger, the previous fool who relied arrogantly on family background had been alive with his spine removed by Uncle Blood Vulture.
"Uncle Blood Vulture, actually I am here under the Schiller Family Head’s instruction, to solve your problem."
He adjusted his tone to show some respect: "The enterprise controlled by the family has finally developed the new drug you have long awaited!"
"New drug?"
Blood Vulture slightly furrowed his eyebrows: "What is its effect?"
Vena took a small glass vial from his suit pocket, smiling as he displayed the blood-red ’potion’ inside to Blood Vulture.
"Do you recall the ’experiment’ our family enterprise conducted on Lion Heart Island?"
Vena laughed proudly: "Although the greedy Ark King seized the island that should have belonged to our Empire enterprise, our research on the Celestial Calamity in the Lion Heart Kingdom wasn’t fruitless."
He gently rotated the glass vial in his palm, the young man’s gaze becoming obsessed, as if holding endless wealth.
"With this, those responsible for receiving information— technicians—are no longer disposable."
Vena explained: "A single injection will accelerate the growth of flesh in their brains, allowing them to withstand more information efficiently."
The old man raised an eyebrow, then asked: "What about the side effects?"
"The side effect is that the drug will cause them to painfully swell into grotesque masses of flesh and blood, bursting from their skulls."
Vena spoke nonchalantly: "But they were going to die anyway, so this doesn’t really concern you."
Blood Vulture simply remained silent.
After a moment, he finally spoke: "What is the compensation plan from the family enterprise for them?"
"Compensation?"
Vena was momentarily stunned, as though hearing something absurd: "Uncle Blood Vulture, in fact... giving such a precious drug to them for free is already a loss for the enterprise..."
He smiled: "Actually, the Family Head hopes that you could additionally collect a treatment fee from them."
"So what you’re saying is..."
Blood Vulture’s voice betrayed no emotional fluctuation: "The family intends not only for those young individuals to endure extra suffering for the Empire but also plans to strip them of their deserved compensation?"
"Why not, Uncle Blood Vulture? You’re well aware that the municipal hall of the new city can no longer afford such compensation fees."
Vena continued endlessly: "And this new drug not only allows them to bring glory to the nation but also brings a considerable benefit to the municipal hall and the family from Black Soron!"
"Everything we do is for the prosperity and strength of the new Empire."
The young man from the family smiled: "Only the Azkato Family can help you realize your ideals!"
