The night was pitch black.
The full moon hanging high in the sky had vanished without a trace. Deputy City Lord Claire and Deputy Commander Lauren left the City Lord’s mansion side by side, leaving Chen Yu standing with his hands behind his back, gazing into the dark night from the council hall.
“You won.”
The little demon, hugging her arms, walked up and whispered.
“According to our bet, I will help you when you are in danger. Congratulations, your plan succeeded, every move was calculated.”
“Likewise.”
Chen Yu, standing in the council hall, spoke slowly.
“Who was the spy hidden in the city?” the little demon’s eyes were filled with confusion. “The person I told you about was Luo Ma, who was drunk in the tavern. So who lit the grain warehouse?”
“I sent someone to do it.”
“Ah?!”
The little demon, still hugging her arms, froze instantly and grabbed Chen Yu’s shoulder.
The sharp pain made Chen Yu gasp. The little demon frowned, looked at him, and pulled down the clothes on his shoulder. She saw that Chen Yu’s left shoulder was bruised.
“You’re injured, why didn’t you say so?”
The little demon frowned, then produced some ointment from somewhere and gently applied it to Chen Yu’s bruise.
“Does it hurt?”
“It’s okay, it hurt a bit at first, but then I didn’t feel any pain.” Chen Yu, still looking outside the mansion, whispered. The little demon rolled her eyes at him impatiently. “Fortunately, you’re tough. If any Golden Realm cultivator had been there when the grain warehouse collapsed, they would have been finished. You just got a bruise.”
Although she grumbled, the little demon applied the ointment diligently.
About half a minute later,
The little demon, having evenly applied the ointment to Chen Yu’s bruise, put the ointment away and gently pulled his clothes back up, then clapped her hands.
“It should be better by tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you for your trouble.”
Chen Yu responded quietly, then returned to his seat and sat in silence. Sensing that Chen Yu wasn’t quite right, the little demon also moved closer to him.
“You just said you sent someone to do it, Chen Yu, isn’t that cheating?”
“Hey, I didn’t cheat.” Chen Yu’s eyes widened, and he frowned. “Our bet mentioned whether the grain warehouse would be burned, but it didn’t specify who had to burn it.”
“If we go by your logic, then I was bound to lose.”
“That’s right.”
“I…”
The little demon clenched her fist for a long time, then finally punched the bruised spot on Chen Yu’s shoulder. The pain made Chen Yu grimace, and sweat beaded on his forehead.
“That was too hard.”
Chen Yu shouted, crouching on the ground and gritting his teeth. The little demon sneered.
“Why don’t you just die from the pain? Sona was right, you’re a scoundrel. I can never win when I bet with you. You’re shameless, setting fire to the grain warehouse just to win. What’s your goal?!”
On the first day of recruitment, Chen Yu went to the barracks to observe.
The little demon, left in the city, discovered Luo Ma communicating with someone outside using a communicator during her leisure time. She explained the matter to Chen Yu that evening.
Chen Yu also intended to use this plan to deal with the issues in the sub-cities.
For several days, Chen Yu carried out his initial plan, building the grain warehouse and using suitable excuses to have Luo Ma guard it, giving him ample opportunity to act.
However, after nightfall, Chen Yu sent someone to set fire to the grain warehouse.
“Initially, I planned to give Luo Ma an opportunity. The problem is, after I returned from the supply convoy, I thought of something.” Chen Yu’s gaze deepened, and he frowned. “With so many sub-cities within the territory of Fengqi City, could Luo Ma be the only spy sent to me? If so, why not expose more spies hidden in the city at once?”
“How would you expose them, by burning the grain warehouse?”
“Yes.”
Chen Yu spread his hands and said solemnly.
“If Luo Ma were to burn the grain warehouse, at most only he would be exposed. The other hidden dangers in the city would remain. But if someone I sent sets fire to the grain warehouse, and then through Luo Ma’s connection, he can contact more hidden dangers. Even if not all of them are cleared, clearing half of them should be no problem.”
Casting a long line to catch a big fish.
Chen Yu had been contemplating this matter since his return from the supply convoy. He wanted to know whether to let Luo Ma self-destruct or to investigate the enemy’s situation more deeply.
Seventy-two sub-cities.
Who was loyal to Fengqi City, and who harbored malicious intentions.
Chen Yu needed to understand this clearly.
He couldn’t just strike down all the sub-city lords. He was not a tyrant, nor did he practice tyranny. He would rather betray the world than let the world betray him, but at least Chen Yu couldn’t do that at this moment.
Using Luo Ma as a connection to sort out the sub-cities was what Chen Yu should do.
“The problem is, who did you send?” the little demon’s gaze deepened. “Luo Ma has already been apprehended by the cavalry corps. How will this connection be used now?”
“3!”
“Huh?”
“2!”
“Chen Yu, what are you counting down for? I’m asking…”
“1.”
The moment Chen Yu finished speaking, the door of the City Lord’s mansion was kicked open, and Deputy Commander Lauren rushed in with a panicked expression.
“City Lord, Luo Ma was intercepted and taken while being escorted.”
…
…
…
The one-eyed City Lord, his eyes full of satisfaction, leaned back on his chair in delight. He rubbed the ring on his left index finger with his greasy right index finger, making the ring shine.
“Luo Ka, why have you called us here again?”
More than a dozen people were seated in the room, all dressed in opulent clothing and exuding an imposing aura.
The one-eyed lord sat at the head of the table. He lazily looked at the dozen or so city lords before him, grinned, stretched, and then sat up straight.
“Viscount Otto is indeed impatient.” Luo Ka squinted, smiled, spread his hands, and said, “I know you are all busy city lords with many official duties. Since I have urgently summoned you, it must be for something important. Otherwise, how would I dare to trouble you?”
“City Lord Luo Ka, what exactly do you want us to come here for?”
A beautiful woman with two horns on her head smiled, her lips pursed. Her smile was so gentle it could make one fall for it, but judging by her seat and the attitude of the others when she spoke, it was clear she was not as soft as she appeared.
“I didn’t expect Sister Miyaye to be here too.”
“When discussing official business, it’s better to be formal. City Lord Luo Ka can call me City Lord Miyaye, or Earl Miyaye.”
“Earl?”
Luo Ka, seated on his chair,’s eyes widened. He picked at his ear with his finger.
“Promoted to Earl.”
“City Lord Miyaye is a trusted general of the Seventh Prince. Who in the royal family doesn’t know that the Seventh Prince is on the rise? It’s not strange to be promoted to Earl.” A playful smile emanated from a corner. Everyone turned to look and saw a gloomy young man sitting on the outermost seat.
He was chewing something in his mouth, his cheeks bulging.
“Baron Helios, you seem to have a prejudice against me.” Earl Miyaye smiled and said, “I was able to be enfeoffed as an Earl through my achievements and the territories under my command. If not for these, even if the Seventh Prince held a high position in the inner city, he couldn’t have enfeoffed me as an Earl without becoming king.”
“Territories, including those you seized from your own younger brother?”
Helios sneered, “I’d rather remain a baron. I can’t commit the ugly act of slaughtering my own kin. Even if it’s a cousin, we are connected by blood. Yet Earl Miyaye could attack her own brother, and it’s said it was a sneak attack. Frightening.”
Those seated listened silently, no one interjecting.
They all mingled within the same territory, and they were well aware of what happened within the borders. Miyaye had recently seized her younger brother’s territory, and her brother was close friends with Helios.
Helios, relying on the fact that his jurisdiction was far from Miyaye, was expected to taunt her a few words.
“In this entire underground world, the strong have always reigned supreme. If you don’t have the strength to defend your territory, you will only be plundered. The lands of this world were originally ownerless. It was the appearance of powerful individuals that divided the underground into various kingdoms, and we became city lords of a city within Hurricane City.”
“Baron Helios speaks of human feelings and blood kinship, but I wonder…”
“If my legion were to march to your city’s gates, which of your blood relatives would come to your aid? Or do you think they would help you fight me, or join me in plundering your land?”
Earl Miyaye, despite her smiling demeanor, spoke words that sent chills down everyone’s spine.
Helios also frowned, clenching his fist.
“You intend to attack me?”
“I’m not particularly interested in the borderlands.” Miyaye smiled faintly. “It’s just that Baron Helios is a bit too complacent. By rank, you are a baron, and you should perform a kowtow before an Earl. In terms of city strength, you can’t even muster three thousand soldiers, so how dare you speak to an Earl with a fifteen-thousand-strong army like this?”
No city lord who heard the words ‘fifteen thousand’ was unmoved.
Even Luo Ka, who had been watching the show, raised his eyebrows and stood up to mediate.
“We are all on the same boat, why should we be like this? Let’s not talk about this, let’s get down to business. You must have all seen the fire in Hurricane City, and even if you haven’t seen it, you must have heard the news.”
“I heard that Fengqi City’s grain warehouse was burned, and tens of thousands of tons of grain were turned to ash.”
“Tens of thousands of tons?!”
Some city lords gasped at the news.
“Fengqi City actually had so much reserve grain. Where did they get it from? Wasn’t most of Fengqi City’s grain supply plundered by us before? The city suffered several months of famine because of it.”
“The new City Lord of Fengqi City seems to be a wealthy gentleman.”
Luo Ka squinted and smiled, saying, “Haven’t you heard that the laborers in their city can earn thirty copper coins a day? A few days after he officially became City Lord, the city’s grain crisis was resolved. If nothing unexpected happened, he must have bought it from grain merchants.”
“Buying grain from merchants, that’s really rich.”
There was no one in the entire underground world who didn’t know about the special organizations of grain merchants and equipment merchants. As long as one had enough money, they could obtain the necessary food and equipment from them. However, the grain sold by grain merchants was considerably more expensive than the market price.
Sometimes, a pound of coarse grain costing 6 copper coins outside could sell for 30 copper coins from a grain merchant.
Five times!
This was also why there were heavy grain taxes in the underground kingdoms.
The underground world lacked grain. To ensure that the people below had food to eat, many kingdoms had to purchase grain from grain merchants, and they had to make up for this difference.
Grain taxes, thus, appeared.
“More importantly, do you know who burned his grain warehouse?” Luo Ka asked the surrounding city lords with a smile. “Honestly, you all have to thank me. My son burned the grain warehouse.”
“Oh?!”
The eyes of the other city lords were filled with suspicion, but Luo Ka snorted indifferently.
“I heard it wasn’t like that. The one who burned the grain warehouse was someone else. Your son was apparently arrested by Fengqi City’s troops for excessive drinking.”
“Heard, it’s just hearsay.”
Luo Ka showed a contemptuous smile and beckoned slightly.
“Son, come out.”
Suddenly, Luo Ma, who was being held and smelled of alcohol, appeared in their sight. Beside him stood a jackal half-beast.
“Greetings to all uncles and aunts.”
Luo Ma, standing there, didn’t show any of the humility he had in Fengqi City. He exuded an arrogant demeanor from head to toe.
“I just heard Uncle Yaluo say that I was arrested by the troops. That’s true, I was arrested, but I was also rescued.” As he spoke, Luo Ma put his arm around the jackal’s shoulder. “Let me introduce everyone, this is my sworn brother in Fengqi City, Chai Bao. He’s as fiery as his name suggests.”
“It was also he who burned Fengqi City’s grain warehouse.”