Chapter 435: Yueliangcheng (22)

"Wah‑la~~ Wah‑la~~"

A sound like rolling waves reached his ears, and white light flickered before his eyes.

When all movement and sound vanished, the white light also gradually faded, and Luosen found himself standing in a spacious, bright, precise room.

Although the room shouldn't be described as "precise," the dimensions of the surrounding walls, the magical runes on the walls, the teleportation array on the floor, and even the two owl‑eagle statues placed at the exit were all saturated with a high‑tech magical industrial style.

Luosen thought to himself, "No wonder it's a highly advanced high‑energy empire."

Lu Bo Te's memory told him that this was the teleportation chamber of Maple Leaf Manor, located in the northwest corner of the manor's courtyard garden.

Maple Leaf Manor was the residence of the Eternal Count Gang Te Jin, covering over 1,000 mu, while the average living space for a Yueliangcheng commoner was 20 square meters.

Stepping out of the teleportation chamber, he entered a long corridor, with a row of Eternal Guardians standing on both sides, numbering twenty in total.

The Eternal Guardian closest to the chamber's doorway emitted a warm, deep voice.

"Welcome back, First‑Class Citizen Lu Bo Te."

Luosen nodded in response, then used Mage Hand to strip off his clothing: "I am ready, begin purifying the body."

Purifying the body means a deep cleansing: not only eradicating viruses and bacteria brought from the mortal world, but also removing high‑energy radiation dust from every corner of the body, while further confirming identity.

"Initiating purification~~~"

"Hum~~~ Hum~~~"

Waves of warm magical energy surged toward Luosen, gently enveloping his body.

Luosen then walked slowly forward along the corridor.

When he reached the end of the corridor, a finely crafted black robe drifted in beside him, made of an alchemical material as soft as water and carrying a faint, elegant fragrance.

After the robe enveloped his body, Luosen finally stepped out of the corridor.

Beyond the corridor lay a vast open‑air garden, vibrant with life, planted with many beautiful flowers whose names Luosen could not pronounce.

The flowers were arranged in perfect rows, swaying with the breeze, resembling lines of orderly dancing maidens.

Luosen looked up and saw a deep‑blue clear night sky, with a bright silver moon.

Without careful perception, or viewed through mortal senses, this would simply appear as a beautiful world.

But Luosen, with a moment of focus, could discern otherwise.

"The entire Yueliangcheng is ring‑shaped and slowly rotating; the inner wall of the ring is the main city district, using axial symmetry rotation to generate terrestrial gravity, and employing precise spacetime magic to cancel the uneven inertial forces of physical rotation."

"The moon, the stars in the sky, and even the sun that will rise tomorrow are all results of magical simulation."

With the Eternal Empire's spacetime magical prowess, creating a demi‑plane is certainly no difficulty, yet they still employ this relatively primitive space‑city structure, likely to conserve energy.

In any case, Yueliangcheng is exceedingly beautiful, countless times more so than a land littered with ruins, monsters, corpses, and waste.

Lu Bo Te is a retainer of Count Gang Te Jin, and has his own residence within Maple Leaf Manor.

Night had deepened, and Luosen walked along the garden path toward his own room, silently reciting in his mind.

"Juliet, I have successfully returned to Yueliangcheng. In an hour, I will upload my work report."

"The information has been logged, your room is now activated and set to relaxation mode."

Soon, Luosen arrived at his room, lifted his hand to press the corresponding rune on the door; the door glowed faintly and silently slid aside, revealing a room bathed in warm white light.

The room was quite spacious, about 100 square meters, with top‑tier amenities—a privilege that commoner Lu Bo Te had fought for years to obtain.

When Luosen entered, the door behind him slid up silently, and soothing "ding‑ding‑dong‑dong" music filled the air; the temperature, humidity, and brightness were all adjusted to Lu Bo Te's preferred settings.

After three steps forward, as he passed the foyer, a young, beautiful woman in an extremely revealing maid outfit approached, bowing respectfully with a coquettish voice, saying:

"Welcome back, Master."

Luosen instantly recognized that she was a fully living person.

At the same time, Lu Bo Te's memory told him that although she was alive, she was a body forged with life magic and implanted with a virtual soul, a so‑called "high‑grade servant."

In Yueliangcheng, "servants" come in high, medium, and low grades; all share the lack of citizenship, being the master's property, centered entirely on the master.

When the master is absent, the servant is enveloped by high‑intensity temporal stasis magic, which minimizes wear and ensures the servant's memories contain only the master.

According to Imperial law, a First‑Class Citizen may own five high‑grade servants, but commissioning and maintaining them is extremely costly.

To cut living expenses, Lu Bo Te only acquired two high‑grade servants.

One for personal use, the other to entertain guests.

The beautiful woman before him was Lu Bo Te's personal high‑grade servant, named "Cui Ni," whose appearance and figure were painstakingly "sculpted" by Lu Bo Te.

Luosen glanced and thought silently: "Lu Bo Te really does favor young‑toothed lolis."

No wonder he would tangle with the daughter of Gwinna Veir in the mortal world.

Luosen, however, had no interest; he found her too frail, too youthful, lacking charm and unable to endure any rough handling.

Of course, to avoid Juliet noticing any irregularities, he mimicked all of Lu Bo Te's actions.

About five minutes later, he was already lying in a bathtub filled with warm water, beginning to upload his mortal‑world work report.

In the report, the first half recounted Lu Bo Te's ordeal; after Lu Bo Te's imprisonment, Luosen took over, revising the sentenced execution into a cleverly devised, resource‑intensive jailbreak.

He was hardly worried about Juliet discovering it, because he had already added the relevant details while in Grey City.

The upload completed quickly, and the report would be sent to Count Gang Te Jin for his review.

If nothing unexpected occurs, the count should summon him tomorrow.

"Master, shall I help you relax your body?" the servant Cui Ni asked sweetly from behind.

Luosen, uninterested in the young lady, replied in Lu Bo Te's style: "Leave me alone for a while, and go warm the bed for me."

"Yes, Master." He had thought the night would pass peacefully, but shortly after, the doorbell rang.

With Luosen's permission, a young woman's voice came from outside the door: "Lu Bo Te, why didn't you inform me the moment you returned?!"

The voice was haughty, dripping with superiority.

Luosen instantly scanned Lu Bo Te's memories and quickly identified her identity.

"Patricia, the third daughter of Count Gang Te Jin, an Eternal noble, and the former lover of the previous Count's envoy, Alex."

After Alex was killed, Patricia flew into a rage, declaring that she would make Grey City pay a heavy price.

In Yueliangcheng, the Eternal Nobility are the highest-status beings, so she has reason to be arrogant.

Robert is a servant of the Count, so of course he dares not offend the Count's daughter; he immediately replied, 'Miss Patricia, wait a moment, I'll get dressed and open the door.'

Hurry up!

An impatient response came from outside the door.

Luosen quickly climbed out of the bathtub, hastily put on his clothes, opened the door, and ushered the person into the living room.

The visitor was a young lady about 1.7 meters tall, extremely beautiful, with an excellent figure and naturally snow-white skin; in Yueliangcheng, such beauty is worthless because it's commonplace.

In Yueliangcheng, any citizen can freely enjoy the Appearance Customization Technique provided by Juliet.

Ordinary citizens enjoy it once every three years, nobles once a month, and even as often as once every ten days.

Juliet's metamorphosis technique is highly skilled, and she also provides many body templates, making it hard not to be beautiful.

The Count's daughter entered the room with an extremely arrogant expression, without any courtesy, as if returning to her own home, and plopped down on the most spacious and soft chair in the living room: 'Robert, I heard you died.'

Luosen immediately said, 'I indeed almost died at the hands of the rebels, but luckily escaped.'

'I'm curious, how did you escape? I saw those mobs hang you on the gallows.'

Luosen knew that as long as he had sufficient permission, Yueliangcheng could see many scenes of the mortal realm, especially outdoor scenes, which were especially clear.

As the Count's daughter, Patricia naturally had this permission.

He then immediately explained, 'I used the Soul Substitute Technique, disguising an unfortunate jailer as my perfect substitute. You know, those mobs have very poor eyesight.'

'Heh, you're quite clever.'

Patricia's tone softened a bit, and she asked, 'Then have you found out the cause of Alex's death?'

'I've found out, Miss. Do you want to hear it now?'

'Go ahead.'

Patricia's eyes were slightly red, her voice sorrowful, showing she still hadn't forgotten their past affection.

Luosen then recounted everything that had happened in the mortal realm in full detail.

After he finished, he concluded, 'I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, but Alex's performance was clearly terrible.'

Patricia nearly collapsed, shouting, 'You're lying! I don't believe it! He clearly said he only loved me!'

Luosen spread his hands: 'Miss, you already believe it, you're just unwilling to accept it. But I must say, he's not worth your grief.'

Patricia took a deep breath, trying as hard as possible to regain her composure.

'Robert, no matter what, thank you for telling me the truth.'

'Although the truth is somewhat painful, after all you risked your life to retrieve it, so I owe you a favor.'

'Speak, how do you want me to repay you?'

Luosen wasn't surprised by this reaction, because in Robert's memory, the Count's third daughter Patricia, although arrogant, was, compared to most noble ladies, daring in love and hate and responsible.

He had come this time to investigate Juliet; since Patricia said so, he immediately said:

'Miss, I have entered the mortal realm this time and deeply feel the insufficiency of my magical power.'

'If possible, I hope to obtain some free reading time in the Great Library.'

This response also fits Robert's character.

In Yueliangcheng, although treatment varies, everyone has enough to eat and drink, and because the social hierarchy is basically fixed, the vast majority of Yueliangcheng citizens just lie around, living in a drunken dream.

But Robert, as a commoner, obtained eighteenth-ring mana and rose from a ninth-class citizen all the way to a first-class citizen, thanks to his strong talent and even greater diligence than others.

In the past, whenever he received a reward from the Count, he would try to exchange it for reading time in the Great Library.

So Patricia wasn't surprised: 'No problem, in the coming year you can freely enter the Great Library to study.'

After saying that, she again showed feeling: 'I have to say, these days, diligent and studious mages like you are truly rare.'

'Although it's not of great use, a down-to-earth mage like you is at least more reliable than those who only know how to sweet-talk.'

She stood up, lightly patted Luosen on the shoulder, and said, 'May you always maintain the virtue of diligence.'

After speaking, she sighed sadly and turned away.

Luosen could understand her last few words, because the Abyssal War destroyed vast amounts of precious magical knowledge.

Even a diligent and studious mage cannot break through the barrier of the twentieth ring, and even reaching the nineteenth ring is extremely rare.

In fact, since the war ended 300 years ago, Yueliangcheng has not seen a new powerhouse surpassing the nineteenth ring.

Precisely for this reason, Robert, who had advanced to the eighteenth ring, gained the favor of the Eternal Count and became his trusted retainer.

This made Luosen's heart stir slightly: 'Robert is an eighteenth-ring mage; if I, with the insight gained from brushing with death, break through to the nineteenth ring, I could greatly elevate my status and thus obtain more permissions.'

The most important thing in Yueliangcheng is actually Juliet's permission.

(End of chapter)