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Chapter 679: Chapter 683: The Strange Inner City
Baerde just laughed it off, ignoring completely what Yadang had said.
In his opinion, Yadang was just being stubborn and unwilling to lose face.
Who knew which remote little Tribe he was from or if he even knew what a house was. Once he experienced the perks of living in the Kingdom, he’d no longer hold such opinions.
Baerde led them to a house, slightly secluded, free from disruptions; but also not far from busy areas – you just needed to glimpse to see it.
"You can stay here. Later, I’ll send someone to serve you. Communicate your needs directly to them."
Xixe and Baerde were acquainted. Xixe nodded with a smile at Baerde, "We appreciate the Chief."
With that, he was ready to follow Su Tang and the rest into the house.
Baerde suddenly halted him. "Wait a second, Mermaid Prince. I have something to discuss with you privately, if I may... "
Xixe took a look at Gaiyin, nodding in response after their eyes met.
He patted Gaiyin’s shoulder. "Then you guys go in first, or take a stroll. I remember there’s a lively street over there."
Grinning, Baerde interjected from the side, "That’s Tianyuan Street, our Kingdom’s main street. It’s laced with plenty of shops. If you’re interested, feel free to have a look."
With that, as though something abruptly occurred to him, he reached for a tiny burlap bag belted around his waist and handed it to Gaiyin.
The bag, of shoddy-looking grey the color of burlap, perceptibly heavy, bore unknown content.
From the bag, Baerde produced two types of currency, elucidating, "If you are to buy anything here in the Kingdom, you’ll need to use these currencies in my hand.
This is a Copper Coin and this is a Bone Coin. These two are the most widely used types of currency in our Kingdom, with one Bone Coin being equivalent to 100 Copper Coins.
If you take a liking to something, inquire about the price, then make your purchase using these. It’s very convenient, unlike how natives conduct barter trade in their Tribes."
I left in a hurry today and didn’t bring much, but you can start with these. I’ll have someone deliver more later."
Gaiyin gratefully accepted the money bag.
Only then did Baerde shift his attention back onto Xixe, "Mermaid Prince, rest assured, I’ll promptly send people to attend to them. As your friends, they’re also friends of our Kingdom, and we’ll ensure their welfare."
Xixe nodded, "I appreciate your hospitality, Chief. didn’t you say you have something to discuss? Where shall we do that?"
"Mermaid Prince, please follow me..."
Baerde took the Forbidden Guard Army and Xixe along, making their exit.
Watching the whole affair, Su Tang blinked. She picked up and inspected the money bag in Gaiyin’s hand.
The Copper Coin, with its hollowed-out square center, was a bit roundish. A vague design was engraved on it.
It was clearly substandard. Even considering standards from a bygone era, this was far from a quality product.
Compared to the Copper Coin, the Bone Coin seemed more refined.
It was also a bit roundish but with a much smoother surface. It had no hollows, but an engraved image resembling a fox decorated its face.
Patterns on the Bone Coins were somewhat variant, but within reasonable limits, suggesting they were probably profiled by some specially tasked engraver.
Based on Yadang’s previous description and all she’d witnessed so far, Su Tang figured the wise fellow of Ten Thousand Beast Kingdom himself likely had transmigrated.
He called himself an emperor, and it was highly probable he had come from an ancient era. Whether he had done a body transfer or a soul transfer, she wasn’t sure.
Building such a vast city-state was certainly no easy task, let alone the recreation of its holistic survival system.
Storing back the Bone Coin and Copper Coin, Su Tang clapped her hands, "Let’s check out their Tianyuan Street. We can learn from them for reference.
Maybe we’ll turn Taoyuan into a pedestrian street one day. We’ll learn from their strengths and weaknesses, continually enhancing despite setbacks, and strive to do even better than them!"
Gaiyin gently patted Su Tang’s head, smiling softly, "I believe in you."
Fired up, Qiu Mo hooted, "I know you can do even better than them, Tangtang!"
Yadang pulled at Qiu Mo’s arm and shook his head in resignation, "Okay, quit being overjoyed. Look at the way you’re going or you could stumble."
Qiu Mo gave Yadang a sideways glance and a blushy smile, "Don’t I have you? Would you let me fall?"
Yadang, taken aback, "So... she was flirting with me?"
Your Dimension Size: he gently smiled, hooked an arm around Qiu Mo’s waist, and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Like this, you won’t take a tumble."
His warm breath rained down the side her ear, making Qiu Mo’s body goosebump.
Her head lowered, face blushing, she was so stiff she could hardly utter a word.
With the corners of her mouth curling up, Su Tang couldn’t help laughing, "I’m afraid to look, my eyes!"
She covered her eyes with her hand, though her fingers flagged a generous gap. Amid her unveiled laughs, Qiu Mo wished she could burrow into the ground.
The group, chattering merrily, bickering, and laughing all the way, moved towards Tianyuan Street, attracting frequent gazes from the passersby.
While they weren’t aware of the unusual amount of onlookers at first, they soon took note and toned it down.
Su Tang frowned slightly and nudged Gaiyin’s collar, guiding him to lean over.
She leaned in and whispered into his ear, "Ayin, don’t you feel something’s off? Look at the Beastman’s expressions; they seem devoid of spirit compared to the beastmen we met earlier?"
The others picked up Su Tang’s words as well.
They’d also felt something was odd and, now that Su Tang voiced it, everything fell into place.
They all unconsciously slowed down, observing with more detail the passing Beastmen around them.
Only after a while did they perceive a problem with the Beastman’s gender demographics.
It wasn’t necessarily relating to how they acted specifically. They bore faces dark with gloom - a facial expression that screamed, ’I’m not in a good mood. Don’t provoke me.’.
If only an occasional Beastman acted like that, they could understand. But, as they proceeded down the street, they saw the same expression on all Beastmen. It begged further investigation.
They no longer fooled around, but walked quietly on the pavement, eyes darting around in an attempt to find something.
But even after they had arrived at Tianyuan Street, their search yielded nothing.
Loads of Beastmen crowded Tianyuan Street, with quite a few stalls. But, despite the crowd, everyone kept quiet. People paid without haggling over prices – vendors took whatever they were given.
Qiu Mo shivered, rubbing her arms, "This feels really weird. It wasn’t like this when I visited last time. They were always jolly and passionate, even pulling me around to introduce their goods."
Also frowning, Su Tang agreed, "That’s the weird part – what on earth transpired here? Let’s ask someone."
