Chapter 135: Cities and Kingdoms (2)

"Damn!"
"Damn it!!"
"Damn, damn, damn!!!"

As Seventh Brother went through the inventory, he couldn't help but curse every few moments. The list was simply too shocking; it was completely beyond his expectations!

"I always knew the kid, Thirteen, was a genius, but I never imagined he could be this extraordinary. He holds so many surprising assets under his name..."

Third Brother, bored and idle, was looking through Ye Lang's possessions along with Seventh Brother. Of course, they weren't the only ones; many others were crowded around, equally curious to see just how much wealth this prodigal son, who was like a god of squandering, had truly amassed.

"The Louwailou at Dongming Lake—the most famous restaurant in the Xiangkong Empire, and indeed the entire continent in recent years—he owns seventy percent of the shares!"

"The West Mountain Iron Mine, the largest iron mine discovered recently; he owns it entirely..."

"The Anna Mercenary Group—he actually has a stake in that too. Huh, I’d heard rumors of that before, but it's still surprising."

"Seventh, those are nothing. If you look at this, you'll find it even more incredible!"

"What?! Damn, this kid actually owns a city!!! And it's one of the newly emerging cities that have risen to prominence recently!"

In Seventh Brother's hand was a deed Ye Lang had acquired somehow years ago. It was a transfer agreement from a city lord handing the city over to Ye Lang, complete with a seal that was impossible to forge. In other words, the first city Ye Lang had acquired wasn't this Ye City, but another one entirely.

Although Ye Lang’s assets were a motley collection, they shared one common trait: most of them had been losing money, the kind of things others were desperate to offload. Ye Lang had taken them over precisely in his attempt to squander his fortune. Yet, while many remained money pits—fulfilling his goal of wasting wealth—a significant number had eventually turned around, becoming incredibly profitable.

That was why, as they tallied the list, they kept mentioning how things had changed...

"Seventh, you’re rich now. You can play however you want. Poor me, though—I’ve become a commander with no troops, not a single subordinate," Third Brother lamented. He had found his passion, but Third Brother had not. He was a military genius, and this city wasn't following that path, which left him with nothing to do. Besides, he truly had no men under his command—not one.

"Don't worry. Even though we’re building a free city, we still have to guard against others. There will be an army for you to lead, and I believe they will arrive soon. When the time comes, it’ll be up to you!" Ye Yi, who had not yet left—not because he was eavesdropping, but because he was waiting for the servants to finish readying his quarters—spoke up.

"That's good, but there are no major battles around here, sigh..." Third Brother had been excited for a moment, but his spirits quickly dampened. Even if they annexed everything in the vicinity, it wouldn't interest him; the scale was nothing compared to the minor skirmishes in the Xiangkong Empire, especially since their policy was to avoid aggression and invasion.

"Third Brother, why are you so dense? If there aren't any here, just go somewhere else! You only need to leave a contingent here for defense, and you can take the rest of your men to join wars as mercenaries. That way, you can train your troops and make money at the same time!" Seventh Brother suggested, pointing out a direction for him. Of course, his other motive was quite obvious—this was a potential gold mine!

"Though your motives are despicable, that’s not a bad idea," Third Brother said with a look of disdain, adding, "You’ll provide the military funding, and whatever we earn will go directly back into it!"

"..."

And so, a strange mercenary group appeared on the continent. They only accepted military contracts and never took on other tasks. What made people marvel was that the casualty rate of this mercenary group was almost zero. Everyone knew this group had a miraculous commander who seemed to see through everything on the battlefield, predicting danger and avoiding anything that could threaten his men.

Of course, it wasn't just the commander who was amazing; the mercenaries themselves were extraordinary. Almost every one of them was a master, unlike typical sellswords. They possessed an unspoken understanding, acting with the high coordination of a true army. This mercenary group, needless to say, was the one Third Brother had built. High fees and high efficiency were their hallmarks. And those mercenaries seemed to be the secret Ye family troops who had arrived later.

...Dawn broke, and everything seemed no different from yesterday, yet the people and the world had changed.

Ye Lang had won this city. Although the original inhabitants found it hard to accept, the last will and testament of King Gaofei served as proof, leaving them no grounds for resistance. However, what if they had resisted? What if they had refused to acknowledge the King's will?

The outcome would surely have been the same. Ye Chengtian and the others would have seized political power regardless. That was why they never even considered whether the people of Ye City would object or refuse to recognize them—they simply were never afraid that they wouldn't be able to take the city.

Ye Chengtian and his group also sent a message to the outside world: this city would withdraw from the Thirteen Allied Nations. They did not wish to belong to any faction; they intended to remain neutral. This caused some friction with the Twelve Allied Nations, but under the powerful maneuvering of the Ye family, the allies eventually abandoned the idea of forcing Ye City back into the fold, and in the end, they even sought to cooperate.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion...

In a dream...

"Are you finally willing to come see me? I thought you didn't want to see me anymore!" The young girl in the dream showed surprise when Ye Lang appeared, but she quickly pulled a long face and spoke with displeasure.

"If I didn't want to see you, I wouldn't have come," Ye Lang replied nonchalantly, seemingly oblivious to her anger.

"Hmph, you just didn't want to see me. It's been forty-one days, and you haven't shown up. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here all by myself!" the girl in the dream fumed.

"Forty-one days, huh? You just said that," Ye Lang said, looking a bit dazed.

"..."

The girl in the dream was momentarily speechless. After a long pause, she asked, "Tell me, why haven't you been here for forty-one days?"

"I can't say. If I do, we'll wake up immediately," Ye Lang shook his head.

"Oh, does this have to do with your identity?" The girl in the dream understood. Both of them knew that whenever something touched upon their true identities, it would trigger this effect, causing them both to wake up immediately!