Chapter 284 - 227: Preparing to Leave (2)

Chapter 284: Chapter 227: Preparing to Leave (2)

At the same time, Hell wasn’t completely desolate. Its various exaggerated landforms were far more prominent than those on the continent.

Canyons thousands of meters deep, mountains tens of thousands of meters high, mesas so flat they made you question your own eyes, strangely shaped stone forests, and an abundance of hot springs.

The temperatures ranged from 30 degrees to boiling, with most of them being the latter.

Unfortunately, everything was red.

Of course, in the eyes of Devils, there were all sorts of different reds, but it was useless—other races couldn’t tell the difference.

Zog bought up many places he felt had potential at rock-bottom prices, planning to develop them into tourist attractions after the Devils and Demons finished their war and formal diplomatic relations were established with the Main Plane.

He was going to sell a single bottle of cola inside for 20 Copper Coins!

Although Asmodis was happy to get the money, money was useless in Hell. However, some merchant Devils controlled trade channels with the Main Plane and could buy many scarce resources.

But he didn’t quite understand what use Zog had for buying up those worthless piles of rock.

Besides tourist spots, Hell had another very important specialty.

Minerals.

Back when the passages to Hell were still freely open, minerals were the main goods sold to the Main Plane. Later, they became scarcer and scarcer, and Zog had assumed they were all mined out.

After some investigation, he discovered that only the commonly used ore types from a few hundred years ago had been depleted. What remained was stuff that both humans and devils disdained as completely useless: petroleum, natural gas, and rare earth.

Zog had just looked up "rare earth" in the Zog Group’s knowledge network and couldn’t be too sure.

Currently, research on rare earth elements was purely at the academic level, with no attempts at practical application.

But Zog believed that sooner or later, these minerals would become valuable.

So today’s goal was to acquire those mines from Asmodis at a low price.

It was the ultimate bargain.

Humming a little tune, Zog headed to the farewell banquet arranged by the Lord of Hell.

If he weren’t planning on swindling the mines away, he really wouldn’t want to attend this banquet.

The Devils’ food was truly awful.

He understood that Hell’s resources were too scarce to produce anything tasty.

But the things they did serve were a bit hard to stomach.

The grain was so coarse it was hard to swallow, arthropods served as the main source of protein, and the most stimulating part was the soup, where you could fish out a few eyeballs at any given moment.

This was the part where Devils most resembled Devils.

That soup reminded him of a scene from a movie he’d seen before, where eyeballs were fished out of soup. It had become a source of childhood trauma for him, a memory seared into his mind.

In the castle’s banquet hall, nearly all of Hell’s important figures had gathered to send off this sincere friend of the Devils, the Dragon.

Zog gave a short speech, describing the Red Dragon and the Devils as unbreakable allies.

His passionate speech earned thunderous applause from the assembled High Tier Devils.

Zog knew he was just putting on a show. The High Tier Devils also knew Zog was just putting on a show. And Zog knew that the High Tier Devils knew he was just putting on a show.

But the atmosphere remained cheerful and harmonious.

A Dragon’s life is all about the acting.

After the speeches came the feast. Zog held a wine glass and wandered around the hall, looking like he had a poor appetite.

He did, in fact, have a poor appetite.

It was impossible to have a good appetite in this place.

The wine glass was mainly a prop. He didn’t dare take a single sip of the wine, unsure of what the stuff actually was.

He had barely eaten anything these past few days, relying on his thick layers of fat.

Wandering around the hall also served another purpose: to find Mammon.

All the Lords of the Nine Layers of Hell were present today, and Mammon was naturally no exception.

Zog didn’t think it was Hell’s Mammon who was behind the incident with the Magic Vision Device.

’He just doesn’t have the power, you know?’

The Devils of old might have had that kind of power, but after the divine wars and the Church’s purges, Hell could no longer produce Devils on par with the original Lords.

It was most likely some organization that had popped up out of nowhere, borrowing Mammon’s name.

Still, Zog wanted to ask Lord Mammon about it. He might know something about an organization using his name.

The current Mammon had a completely Human appearance. High Tier Devils more or less all made themselves look somewhat Human.

But besides the Lord of Hell, this Mammon was the only one present with a completely human-like form.

He had a head of curly golden hair, a slender figure, and fair skin. Zog guessed he was male, but his appearance was very androgynous.

Much easier on the eyes than Asmodis’s greasy middle-aged look.

"You must be Lord Mammon, I presume?" Zog went over to strike up a conversation.

"Respected Mr. Zog, I have the utmost admiration for the Zog Group you’ve established," Mammon replied politely.

As the Devil who symbolized greed, Mammon was probably the one in all of Hell who loved money the most—just like Zog.

At the same time, he also controlled most of the channels for commercial exchange with the Main Plane, so his understanding of the Zog Group was more specific than the other Devils’.

Zog didn’t plan on beating around the bush and asked directly, "On the Feilin Continent right now, there’s an organization claiming that Mammon brings salvation. They broadcast a short film on my Magic Vision Station, throwing many cities into chaos. So far, the losses have been considerable."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Mammon immediately raised his hands. "That has nothing to do with me! I only just succeeded the title of Lord. Even if I wanted to launch some kind of operation, I don’t have the means."

Zog had already noticed that this Mammon was not a very powerful Devil. He counted as High Tier, but he was at the very bottom of the High Tier ranks.

It seemed that Lords among the Devils weren’t chosen purely based on combat prowess. Perhaps the Devil symbolizing greed was chosen based on who could make the most money.

"Then who on the Feilin Continent could be using Mammon’s name? Do you have any ideas?"

Every Great Devil has their own corresponding believers; names aren’t typically used carelessly.

"Maybe it was the previous Mammon. Who knows? He’s already been executed. Perhaps some of his followers on the Continent are still loyal to him."

The curly-haired Devil explained timidly, "If they were my followers, they’d all have converted to the Magic Goddess by now. I myself am a faithful follower of the Magic Goddess. Praise be to Magic."

Zog looked at the current Mammon with some disdain. ’Have a little backbone. Even if you’ve gone over to the Church, you don’t have to announce it to everyone.’

’But with that shameless attitude, he’s definitely got the makings of a good businessman.’

"Executed?" Zog asked about the death of the previous Mammon.

"Yes. He was selling weapons to the Demons, so the Lord of Hell had him secretly executed."

’Selling weapons to the enemy... Is this what they call a collaborator?’

’But secretly executed...’

Zog’s intuition told him something was fishy about this.

He definitely couldn’t ask Asmodis about this directly. He’d have to wait until he established his own power base in Hell before investigating.

"Aha, Mr. Zog, there you are." Asmodis walked over at that moment, also holding a wine glass.

"How are you finding it? The food in Hell isn’t too bad, is it?"

"Do you want the truth or a compliment?"

"Alright, I think I understand. But this is all we have in Hell. Maybe things will get better in the future."

"Do you know how to create Tieflings?" Zog asked suddenly.

"Tieflings? Isn’t that just what you get when a Devil and a Human have a child? There are always some Devils who can’t control their lower halves and create some unlucky wretches who aren’t welcome on either side."

"Not by birth, but by turning Humans into Tieflings through a ritual. It’s been happening on the Continent."

"Did you switch careers and become a great detective now?" Asmodis joked.

"This transformation is affecting my customers."

"Oh, alright. Perhaps there is such Magic. I’ll need some time to investigate. You know, because of the constant wars and several near-extinction-level disasters, many of the Devils’ techniques have been lost. These days, our research and development relies on archaeology."

According to what he’d read online, Hell had also established a research institute, run by that Alchemist who came up with planting crops in corpses. Its main job at the moment was to excavate Relics and figure out the ancient artifacts and Magic left within them.

"Alright, I hope you can figure it out. Thanks."

"Don’t mention it."

"You’re a really good friend."

"No, what I mean is, you don’t need to say thanks. I need something more... tangible."

Zog glanced at Asmodis’s crafty smile. ’As expected of a Devil.’

"Don’t look at me like that. You just swindled several tourist spots out of me. I only just figured out the value of those places yesterday."

Zog spread his claws, gesturing for him to name his price.

"I want... to improve the image of Devils in the eyes of other races."