Chapter 1139: Exhibition
Carls Federation, Planet Stael.
Since the inception of the Black Iron Age, the steam era had been like a landslide and tsunami, bringing profound changes to this continent.
The ancient empire collapsed, sending countless nobles and kings to the gallows. Since then, the largest countries in the White Continent were divided into three different countries.
Among them, there was Holy Celbera, which had been criticized by historians over a large number of ancient remnants, and Arkham, the commercial center known for free trade and being completely liberal. The Carls Federation was a unique regime between the two. Its chief magistrate, who was elected by ballot, exercised great authority and even had the protection of civilian officials, judges, etc.
Year 401 of the Black Iron Calendar. In an exhibition hall, Kimbert City, Carls Federation.
“The next exhibition hall belongs to Vincent Gun. He was a great archaeologist, historian, and artist. He is famous for examining the origin of the Mandala on the Black Continent and had participated in many archaeological discoveries. In his later years, he turned his attention toward art. His paintings are known for their unrestrained colors and abstract artistic conception, and it has even devloped into an abstract painting style. Just last month, his work ‘Dream’ sold for a high price of 3,600 gold punks at an auction!”
The female guide stood in front of an oil painting and introduced clearly and concisely.
“… Mr. Vincent suffered from diseases and nightmares in his later years, which can be seen in his later paintings. In the end, he chose to end his life. This was the greatest loss to the art world and the archaeology world in years…”
Fang Yuan was looking quietly at the oil painting among the flow of people.
Vincent was about forty years old on it, with a reclining hairline and wrinkles on his forehead.
Below the painting was a line of description. “Vincent Gun, Black Iron Calendar Year 332-385, archaeologist, artist…”
“So, he eventually couldn’t bear the increasing extraordinary characteristics?” He could not help but sigh.
Fang Yuan was wearing a suit and holding a cane, looking like a gentleman.
He had finally arrived in the Sagittarius Galaxy and naturally chose the more familiar Planet Stael as his destination.
Unfortunately, the follower he thought was still alive had eventually ended his life on the route of crazed self-destruction.
But in fact, this was normal. It was almost impossible for an ordinary person to fully accept extraordinary characteristics. They would go mad sooner or later.
“Miss Tour Guide! I have a question!” A boy of sixteen or seventeen raised his hand.
He had curly blonde, brown eyes, and a few freckles.
“What’s your question? I’d be glad to help!” The tour guide smiled kindly.
“Is that legend… true?” the freckled boy asked. “Vincent was someone favored by misfortune. Almost every friend and family member who had been in close contact with him suffered in the end!”
“It was really unfortunate, but I’m more inclined to think that his luck was just bad!” The tour guide smiled. “Although there was also a saying that Vincent went mad after his third son died in an accident and every oil painting he created toward the later stages of his life was cursed, there weren’t many collectors who suffered from misfortune…”
“Then, the legend about his identity is also fake, for example… being a wizard?” the freckled boy continued to ask.
“Young man, the ships of the federation could cross the ocean a hundred years ago to arrive at the Black Continent and Yellow Continent, almost exploring the entire world. However, none of those ancient legends such as wizards, werewolves, and witches who specialized in kidnapping children have ever been found!” The tour guide pushed her glasses higher up her nose. “Compared to that, you believe in those historical songs? For example, about the Ancients who ruled the planet?”
“Haha…”
The female tour guide’s playful reply caused jolly laughter.
Amid the hustle, the freckled boy lowered his head, and his eyes flashed with a bit of unwillingness.
Another lover of the occult! Fang Yuan secretly commented on the teenager and then looked at the tour guide.
She was well-dressed, tall, and had a small nameplate pinned in front of her full chest. Angelina?! Another interesting person!
After finishing with this exhibition hall, he walked into another hall.
It was a fusion of historical and cultural exhibitions. There were different landscapes in each hall and even rare products from the Black and Yellow continents.
Although Fang Yuan somewhat disapproved of this method of distinguishing continents based on their skin color, it had become custom in this country, so he let it be.
It was just that all the citizens of the White continent felt as though they were superior and civilized. As for the Black and Yellow continents? That was where slaves and farmers were born. And of course, there were also some terrible spells and voodoo legends…
After he finished browsing, he walked out of the exhibition hall and called for a carriage.
This carriage was painted black and reflected the sun. The coachman sat in his position with a serious and respectful expression.
“To 23 Parasol Street!”
Fang Yuan got on the carriage and tossed a silver coin. The carriage started rumbling along.
Although cars had existed for some time, horse-drawn carriages were still important short-distance transportation tools.
Within the soft carriage, Fang Yuan was playing with a gold coin in his hand with great interest.
This was the gold punk currency issued by the Carls Federation. It was the largest domination unit and had the federal emblem on the front and a steam locomotive engraved on the back, giving off a charming luster.
“The federation issued paper gold punks this year, but there’s obviously still a long way to go before the public accepts it. Only some merchants are using it…”
Two black horses marched happily and reached Parasol Street in no time.
Fang Yuan came to his property with his cane in hand.
This was a two-story loft with the sign ‘Old Man Javier’s Convenience Store’ on the door!
Old Man Javier was a small businessman who had made more than a hundred gold punks, a huge sum, through his business.
This amount of money would have been enough for him to have a good life for the rest of his life. It was a pity that he had drunk too much rum, and while he was unable to think clearly, he heard the enticement of a captain and invested all of his savings in an ocean journey.
Unfortunately, that merchant ship had sunk in a storm. Not only did the expected fifty percent gain not materialize, but the principle had not returned either. To make matters worse, Old Man Javier had even borrowed a huge sum of money from a financial company in order to make a fortune.
The ending was obvious—divorce, bankruptcy, auctions… After some formalities, Fang Yuan obtained this store and even bought the several houses behind it to stay in.
“Welcome back, Master!”
In the original store, all the goods had been cleared away and replaced with glass counters and tall wooden shelves. A tall, green-haired woman in a black and white maid uniform was wiping the glass when she saw Fang Yuan return. She nearly knelt in her welcome.
“Morigu Tata, I said before, call me Mister in the future! There’s no need to maintain such formality…”
Although this maid caused many neighbors to covet her—Fang Yuan even saw them staring at his balcony every day—they did not know how scary this maid they were yearning for was.
“Also… don’t dirty our floor and ceiling. I don’t want to scare our customers away or cause some bad transformations…”
Fang Yuan’s current cultivation could fully conceal his Dao Fruit power. He was no different from ordinary people, and there was no problem with radiation escaping or worry about contamination.
But Morigu Tata was different.
Compared to the humans on this planet, she was a real high-energy life form, and she was transforming the surrounding environment every moment.
If not for Fang Yuan restricting her, the whole street would have probably become an environment similar to the Arita World, completely occupied by plant life.
“Sorry, Mister…” Morigu Tata immediately apologized fearfully. On the surface, she was still a cute girl worried about doing the wrong things.
However, Fang Yuan’s gaze condensed, and he saw a jade Uyguklai shivering.
“Forget it. Get ready, our first customer is coming. There’s no need to change our sign first. Is there anything else?” Fang Yuan asked casually as he took off his jacket and hung it on a rack.
He did not use his Dao Fruit to obtain this information. Rather, he was completely enjoying role-playing as an ordinary human.
“Mrs. Mary, the neighbor, visited with a lemon cake. She also invited you to a party three days later!”
“Hmm, that’s quite exciting. What do you think?”
“Mister… In fact, it’s difficult for me to understand them. Their technology is so backward, yet they are so complacent and waste their lives on meaningless things…” Morigu Tata obviously did not like that lemon cake.
“Also… their scientific research mentality is a real mess. The wizards of Mandala received the technology we gave them a long time ago, but there has been no progress at all. They’re even actually regressing…
“But they’re still of value as experimental subjects!”
Fang Yuan sat behind the counter and opened a black leather book to read.
Morigu Tata quickly served him with his habitual hot cocoa and a piece of cake.
Fang Yuan’s prediction was right on point. A few minutes later, a young man entered the store. “Huh? Where’s Old Man Javier? The store has been renovated? Really cool!!!”
“Welcome, dear sir!” Fang Yuan raised his head with a smile on his face. “The products in this store are one of a kind!”