The Empress’s Gigolo

Chapter 918: Night Investigation

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“The people here are so skinny…” Lin Qiaole muttered as she sat by her bed and looked at the people below. “They are like the lampposts in Lan City.”

Not only were they thin, but they also hunched their backs and walked hastily with their heads down, stepping around carelessly.

“They are ordinary people,” Ren Baqian replied faintly. “There are rich and poor people in every society. The rich are fat, whereas the poor have difficulty getting enough food and staying warm. These people are fine. Although they look emaciated, they are still pretty healthy.”

“If they can afford to eat vegetables, why don’t they eat more meat!” Lin Qiaole mumbled as she turned her head away.

He was speechless.

This was well said!

If Ren Baqian had grown up in an environment like Dayao, he probably would say something like this as well!

In this place, this was something that only the people of noble families who led extravagant lifestyles could say.

Only the aboriginal commoners could astonishingly say such things!

Just look at the people in the captive camps. Regardless of their former identities, they were eating so much meat that they had gotten sick of it. Their eyes would glow whenever they saw vegetables.

However, there were advantages to this as well. By consuming so much meat and toiling hard every day, they had gotten much stronger and looked more like elite soldiers than city guards of the Yun Nation.

It had been three years. After Ren Baqian returned to Dayao, he would issue physical cash coupons to the captives as salary.

On one hand, this would allow them to have hope, and Ren Baqian strived to retain a group of them as technicians. On the other hand, Dayao was ready to start reforming its currency.

After all, gold, silver, and copper were too inconvenient to be used as currency.

A large amount of copper was also used as circulating currency in the market.

It was the exact kind of metal that Ren Baqian very much needed at present.

Electric wires, voltage regulators, and telephone lines were just a few examples. The annual copper production of Dayao and the Yun Nation was extremely inadequate compared to his demands.

Copper alloy had excellent wear resistance, corrosion resistance, castability, and mechanical properties. It could also play a great role in various bearings and mechanical parts.

Just like on Earth, one would be able to tell the quality of equipment solely based on whether its internal parts were made of copper.

In any case, Ren Baqian simply couldn’t tolerate having such a hugely useful metal just circulating in the market as money.

However, before he could embark on this matter, he had to deal with the issues in the Yun Nation first.

What was the situation for those sect experts who had gone into seclusion or left the nation? More than half of the 127 sects and gangs had chiefs that were actually behaving like this… What were they doing? Were they hiding something?

Ren Baqian decided to wait for Gluttonous Duke to return with information. Otherwise, he would have just grabbed a few chiefs and brought them back for interrogation.

As he was pondering, a figure flashed through the window and stood beside them. It was a person in patched clothes who had a messy gray beard and hair as well as a faceful of wrinkles. It was Gluttonous Duke.

He first grabbed the wine pot and took a huge gulp before letting out a comfortable moan.

“It’s been tough on you. How’s the situation? Any news?” Ren Baqian asked.

Gluttonous Duke stroked his head and didn’t look very happy.

“It was futile. Everyone in the village is gone!” he replied. “Strange. Why would that fellow leave? Why did everyone in the village actually leave as well? From the look of it, they had already left the place for at least three months with no signs of returning.”

Ren Baqian knitted his eyebrows… Although he didn’t have eyebrows, he still made this action.

This wasn’t good news.

This also confirmed Zhan Changkong’s words that some of the idle experts were missing.

“What’s his name? What level is he?”

“Lin Ye. The last time I saw him was ten years ago. At that time, he was only one step away from condensing a Heaven-grade weapon!”

One was already considered a top expert after being able to condense a Heaven-grade weapon. As long as he wasn’t one of those rare cases where the Heaven-grade weapon didn’t improve his strength, he would easily be ranked among the top 60 or 70.

There were less than 30 Spirit Wheel experts in all of Tianjing Basin, and only few had condensed their Heaven-grade weapon.

The entire Yun Nation only had about 80 Spirit Wheel experts, and there were less than 20 who had condensed their Heaven-grade weapon.

There were more experts in Great Xia, which had at least 200 reputable Spirit Wheel experts. Among these, about 40 had condensed their Heaven-grade weapon.

Being one step away from condensing a Heaven-grade weapon, Lin Ye was already considered to be a world-renowned figure. The disappearance of such a person, in addition to those experts who had gone into seclusion or left the nation, didn’t seem normal in any way.

After some contemplation, Ren Baqian looked up at Li Yuanzhu and Gluttonous Duke. The former felt the same, while the latter was feasting away without restraint. One could tell from his name what he was fond of.

“Apart from him, many others are missing as well.” Ren Baqian told them the information he got from Zhan Changkong, especially to Gluttonous Duke

Although Li Yuanzhu wasn’t in the room at that time, no voices in the entire inn could have escaped her ears.

“This is indeed a big matter!” Gluttonous Duke immediately looked grave.

“People, let’s split up!” Ren Baqian said with a deep voice. “Gluttonous Duke, you shall go contact your old friends as well as Gao Yi’s disciple. If it’s futile, take the opportunity to find out more about the situation. You can do as you deem fit. As for Priestess Li, there’s something that I have to trouble you with!”

“This it shall be! Where will we reconvene?” Gluttonous Duke wasted no time. He wiped the oil stains on his mouth and was ready to set off once again.

“We shall meet up in Yongjiang City in two weeks!” A map of the Yun Nation flashed across Ren Baqian’s mind. Yongjiang City was the closest city to Mount Luofu, the largest sect in the nation.

“Great!” Gluttonous Duke acknowledged Ren Baqian’s reply and vanished in an instant. It was as if he had never appeared.

There were still two tables of guests on the second floor of the restaurant who had long noticed this table of strange people. As if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight, their eyes glared when they saw this.

Moments later, Ren Baqian contacted Zhan Changkong again.

Zhan Changkong knew that Ren Baqian was here, and as such, he had always been keeping a close eye. He appeared right in front of Ren Baqian in less than a minute after Ren Baqian sent the signal.

Ren Baqian inquired about the situations of the local sects and asked him to investigate Lin Ye before turning to Li Yuanzhu and saying, “Priestess Li, there’s a Boat Gang nearby, and I’m going to meet their chief this evening. Do you have any plans?”

“Is he in seclusion? I will follow you this evening. I’m getting more and more curious!” she replied faintly.

“Great!”

“As for whether or not there is a culprit behind the scenes, if they know you are here, they will not let you go. If you die, I’m afraid that all of us will also die in this land of exile.”

Ren Baqian smiled and felt that he had a little bit of self-protection. However, Lin Qiaole, Xin Zhe, and Lin Yue all had the ability to protect him.

Still, since the deputy protector general of the Protectorate of the Northeast and two lieutenant colonels had been ambushed and killed on the same day, the strength of the culprit would definitely far surpass his protectors.

Of course, if things turned bad, he could escape with them and immediately return with his big treasure weapon!

However, that would involve a lot more variables.