Chapter 1436: The Truth and Beacon City
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Xia Fan’s s.h.i.+p, the Disaster, took off, quickly leaving the Chaos Eagle Empire behind and heading deeper into the Outer Frontier.
It normally took eight days to travel from the Chaos Eagle Empire to the Char Star Region, but the Disaster had a Mechanical Core, so it was three times as fast as an ordinary frigate. Thus, it only needed three days to make the journey.
On long voyages, one would normally put the s.h.i.+p on autopilot mode, setting a course for the main computer. It was very convenient, as the s.h.i.+p only needed to follow the course that was pre-set.
Xia Fan’s hands flew across the control panel, quickly finis.h.i.+ng setting the course, after which he brought Traveling Buddha to the storage hold in the level below.
When the door opened, Traveling Buddha realized to his shock that the storage hold was holding four people.
!!
One was none other than the Imperial City Chief Steward’s son, Padu!
Although Padu had been badly tortured by Sramana, he hadn’t died. His face was haggard and his eyes were bloodshot.
At the moment, Padu and his aides were in magnetic cuffs. They had been left in a corner of the hold. There was some food and water placed in front of them. Once they had eaten a little, their complexions had improved, but they were still frightened and uneasy.
“When did you bring them in?” Traveling Buddha asked in surprise.
Xia Fan said casually, “It wasn’t me. I ordered Dylan to put them here.”
“Shouldn’t you have given these guys to Eastsea Eagle? They were accomplices in the death of the old emperor.” Traveling Buddha was a little confused.
Xia Fan shrugged. “If they were handed over to Eastsea Eagle, they would simply be executed. But if I keep them, at least I can still find out the truth. You know me. Every day the truth remains unknown is a day I won’t be able to sleep.”
Traveling Buddha was rendered speechless. Xia Fan truly was the sort to break a pot in order to find out exactly what it was made of!
Take Chen Changsheng as an example. Not only had Xia Fan wanted to capture him, but also wanted to learn why he had gone from being a doctor to a devil who dismembered people. Only after answering all the questions was he finally able to rest easy.
As for Traveling Buddha, he had little interest in the truth. He preferred to remain unaware and lead a carefree life. Although they were partners, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha didn’t share the same personality at all.
Xia Fan stroked a finger across his spatial ring. He took out a bottle of truth serum and unscrewed the lid.
The acrid smell instantly filled the hold.
Padu instantly went pale from fright, for he knew that the Special Duty Bureau’s truth serum had powerful side effects. When one took it, they would confess the truth, but there was an eighty percent chance that one would be rendered an imbecile from the side effects.
That was a fate even more painful than death, haunted by nightmares night and day!
Xia Fan chuckled and squatted down in front of Padu. He was rather similar to his father, on the chubby side and with pale skin. One could tell at a glance that he had lived a life of luxury.
Xia Fan whispered, “You have two choices. Either answer my questions or answer my questions after taking the truth serum. Which do you choose?”
“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!” Before Xia Fan could even finish speaking, Padu had shouted out, two lines of cold sweat on his forehead. His trusted aides had s.h.i.+fted themselves to the side like they were trying to avoid a venomous snake.
Xia Fan nodded. “Good. First question: how did you contact Sramana?”
Padu immediately answered, “Through Sramana’s little sister! He has a sister whose legs are disabled. Although Sramana is very cruel to his victims, he cares a lot about his little sister. He has been paying for her fees at a sanatorium this entire time.”
Padu explained Sramana’s situation to Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha. It turned out that Sramana’s father was a former pirate who had been forced to leave his organization due to an injury, and his mother had been a slave his father had brought with him. Not long after giving birth to Sramana and his little sister, his mother decided she had had enough of his father’s long abuse and committed suicide.
His father grew even worse after that. He would gamble and drink every day, and then bring multiple women back home with him.
Sramana’s young sister took on the domestic responsibilities. If his little sister wasn’t able to serve up food after his father got drunk, his father would break her legs, which ultimately led to a lifelong disability.
All things in the world had a cause and effect. Sramana’s antisocial personality had developed in that family environment.
After listening to Padu’s story, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha felt deep shock. There was no love without cause in the universe, nor was there hatred without cause. It was none other than Sramana’s father who had planted the seed of evil in him, turning him into that emotionless monster!
“You killed the old emperor, so why did you secretly care for Eastsea Eagle? Why did you a.s.sist him in obtaining the throne instead of the other princes? What was the reason?” Xia Fan asked calmly.
Padu swallowed, his expression s.h.i.+fting. Ultimately, fear of the truth serum won out, and he grit his teeth, dropped his head, and replied, “Eastsea Eagle is my father’s son, my half-brother.”
Traveling Buddha was stunned, crying out in alarm, “G.o.ds! It seems like neither empress was clean! The second empress went off with Scarleteye Eagle, while the first empress went with your father… Heavens, you guys are a mess!”
Padu shouted, “That’s not it at all! The previous emperor was licentious and ruthless! His favorite hobby was sending people into the eagle garden for those beasts to rip them apart! b.u.t.terfly Luo and her sister were both forced to enter the palace!
“You people in the Inner Territories have no idea how heavily the old emperor taxed his people!
“The Chaos Eagle Empire has only fifty million people, but it occupies a rich ore region. With this ore, the common people should have been able to live very good lives! They’re only so poor because of the imperial family! They deserved death!”
Xia Fan seemed to have expected this answer, as he didn’t appear very shocked. He simply sighed.
He stood up and put the cap back onto the truth serum.
Everything was clear now. A tiger would not eat its own, and while the Chief Steward loathed the imperial family, he had expectations for his son and felt like Eastsea Eagle could be a wise monarch.
Thus, he had killed the old emperor, switched out the will, and had his son take the throne.
When Xia Fan thought about how Eastsea Eagle had forced the Chief Steward into death, Xia Fan felt his heart grow cold. That was his own father!
“What do we do now?” Traveling Buddha asked Xia Fan.
Xia Fan looked at Padu and said coldly, “The previous emperor was a ruthless ruler, so he deserved death! But you delivered those pitiful people personally to that devil Sramana, which is also unforgivable!
“I will give all of you one minute to pray.”
Xia Fan walked out without looking back. Behind him, Padu and his aides began to scream, begging Xia Fan to show mercy, but Xia Fan did not respond.
Whoos.h.!.+
The bay door was sealed. Xia Fan stood outside the door, looking at the timer in his hand.
After one minute, Xia Fan pushed a b.u.t.ton. Warning sirens resounded and red lights flashed in the corridor. Through the gla.s.s on the sealed door, one could see the hangar door to Storage Bay 3 slowly opening.
The moment the hangar door opened, the vacuum of s.p.a.ce sucked out everything in the room, including Padu. He became a stiff blue corpse floating in the void.
Traveling Buddha shrugged. “Do you want to announce the news about Eastsea Eagle not actually having royal blood?”
Xia Fan shook his head. “Forget about it. A Chaos Eagle Empire in chaos doesn’t benefit anyone. If a civil war breaks out in the imperial family, it will be the ordinary people who suffer.”
…
After two days and twenty-three hours, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha arrived at their destination: the largest city of the Char Star Region, Beacon City.
In the spa.r.s.ely populated Outer Frontier, it was rare to see large cities like Beacon City, which had a population of two hundred million. There were even thirteen s.p.a.ceports scattered about the edge of the city.
While Beacon City had many people, from a bird’s-eye view, it was apparent that the city lacked tall buildings, consisting mostly of smaller residences. This city clearly lacked the prosperity of the cities of the Inner Territories.
Slums were scattered throughout the city.
The wealthy regions were markedly distinct from the slums. Within their walls were gardens, swimming pools, and luxurious hotels. Outside the walls were mounds of trash and shabby tents.
—
Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha landed the s.h.i.+p at a more remote s.p.a.ceport. As the Disaster had a very conspicuous appearance, Xia Fan decided to rent a simple hangar at twenty-five grams of gold a day to store his s.h.i.+p.
There was no customs checkpoint at the s.p.a.ceport, and one could go in and out as one pleased. After parking the s.h.i.+p, Xia Fan exchanged a Tier 3 energy crystal at the s.p.a.ceport for the gold coins commonly used by the locals.
The gold coins were fifty grams of gold each, and one Tier 3 energy crystal could be traded in for ten kilograms, which was two hundred coins. Excluding the 1% commission fee, he received 198 coins!
Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha got into a taxi. There was no mileage counter in the taxis of the Outer Frontier. The price was negotiated with the driver.
“Have the two of you come from the Inner Territories to do business?” the driver, a swarthy man with a blue tattoo on his face, asked warmly.
Xia Fan chuckled. “How did you know we came to do business?”
The driver replied, “Nine out of ten people from the Inner Territories come here to do business. After all, the people from the Inner Territories wouldn’t come to such a shabby place like this for travel, am I right?”
Xia Fan replied, “That makes sense. We’re looking for a place to stay. Do you have any recommendations?”
The driver chuckled. “That’s easy. The businessmen from the Inner Territories love to stay in the City Grand Hotel. It’s very expensive, but it’s designed well and is rather safe. All the big businessmen live there, so it’s easy to make deals with one another.
“If you’re part of a medium-sized business, then stay at Garden Hotel. The price is rather high, but it’s close enough to the black market that you can walk. People from the Outer Frontier also congregate there.”
After some thought, Xia Fan said, “Then take me to the Garden Hotel.”
“Okay!” the driver agreed. He slowly brought the car into the air. The hovercar had no model number and was cobbled together from a variety of parts, so it wasn’t very comfortable and was rather noisy.
The hovercar flew over the city. As they pa.s.sed a very long wall, the driver pointed down and said, “Look. That is the main market of Beacon City. Of the three major markets of the Char Star Region, Beacon is number one.”
Traveling Buddha stuck his head out the window and looked down curiously, muttering, “So that is the legendary black market. It doesn’t look like much.”
The driver laughed. “Black market is what you Inner Territories people call it. Here, the market is the market. There’s no such thing as illegal goods here. Military arms, drugs, slaves; it’s all for sale here.
“I’m guessing this is your first time?”
Xia Fan nodded. “Indeed it is.”
The driver replied, “Then let me warn you, the market is where dragons and fish mix. It’s best if you find a guide, or else you’ll suffer.
“My cousin is a guide. He’s worked the job for dozens of years. If you need it, I can call him over. Twenty-four-hour service, and one day is only two gold coins.”
Xia Fan frowned. “Renting a hangar of two thousand square meters costs only half a gold coin a day. Two gold coins a day for a guide isn’t cheap.”
The driver said very frankly, “Guides aren’t all the same quality. The beggars around the market can take you around for the entire day if you just give them something to eat, but would you dare to use them?
“These two gold coins aren’t just for my cousin alone, but his entire team: a car, a guide, a bodyguard, and a driver. That sort of professional team for only two gold coins a day is very cheap.”
“Fine. Have your cousin come to the hotel to see me,” Xia Fan said straightforwardly, not willing to haggle over such a small amount of money.
The driver was very happy, even refusing to take any money from Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha for the drive. He led them to the Garden Hotel, and once they booked a room, he noted Xia Fan’s room number and immediately called his cousin.
Sure enough, just as the driver had said, the Garden Hotel was surrounded by beggars and the homeless. However, once one was inside the hotel, one discovered that the occupants of this place were ninety percent Inner Territories people. Their clothing and demeanor made them stand out clearly from the Outer Frontier Natives, with many of the businessmen having large bellies.
Their room was on the top floor, with the rent for each day being half a gold coin. It was a suite with two bedrooms and a living room, all of which was lavishly decorated.
Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha tidied themselves up a little, after which their guide arrived.
His skin was a little fairer than that of the driver who had brought Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha here. He informed them that he was born from the marriage of an Inner Territories resident and an Outer Frontier resident, and was half Ashen-Moonite. His name was Tony, and he dressed very neatly and was an entertaining conversationalist.
“I want to find this.” Xia Fan took out the metal bottle with the Skywing symbol.
Nick smoothly opened the bottle and sniffed it. “Looking for drugs? This is easy. The market’s 17th district and 18th district sell nothing but drugs and medicine. I’m very familiar with all of them.”
Xia Fan thought it over. “It’s the afternoon, so the market isn’t closed yet. Let’s go over now.”
“No problem!” Tony nodded as he stood up.