Star Gate

Chapter 632: Nine Dragons Pagoda (III)

“Someone’s watching us,” Li Hao transmitted.

“That’s to be expected,” a calm Hou Xiaochen replied out loud. “Whether it is the nine ministries or the royal family, they can’t possibly turn a complete blind eye to the movements of powerhouses. My car driving out of Night Watcher headquarters will also attract attention.”

“You shouldn’t be so confident as to reply out loud, director. Someone might be eavesdropping on us.”

“The situation isn’t that exaggerated,” Hou Xiaochen laughed. “I would sense it if that was the case.”

“What if it was a fragment of the ancient mirror treasure, the Sky Gander?”

Hou Xiaochen blinked and took a long moment to reply, “That... shouldn’t be the case... It’d be more likely for there to be an imitation fragment. The real Sky Gander was omnipotent according to what the ancient records say. It was so incredibly powerful that it could easily encompass the entire world in its purview. No modern person could hope to command even one of its fragments.”

Li Hao was surprised that the director actually knew about the ancient treasure.

“What you took out just now was one such fragment, wasn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“Use it well,” Hou Xiaochen chuckled. “You can try refining it. Others may not be able to, but you might. If you can refine it... it will be useful in terms of eavesdropping and surveillance.”

Li Hao didn’t continue the conversation. He’d already tried refining it, but this thing seemed to just be a fragment. There was no spirituality to it, so refining it was out of the question.

......

The little car stopped in front of the Nine Dragons Pavilion as they chatted. Several female supernaturals enthusiastically rushed forward to open the car doors. Li Hao was astonished to see that the establishment’s greeters were all supernaturals. This was a massive payroll expenditure, but it also made sense. This was the core of the entire world!

The royal family had built this place to entertain the most important personages of the nine ministries. As such, there were plenty of lowly Darkmoons and Sunflares to be seen.

“Greetings to Commander Hou, your visit brings us great honor...” A woman of roughly thirty years old walked out of the structure. As opposed to the seductive charms that one might expect, she appeared innocent, yet capable. Most people who projected an innocent air were also naive and inexperienced. This woman, however, gave one an exceedingly competent impression.

It was a very unique temperament!

The woman smiled faintly as the car door opened. She paused when she saw Li Hao. This outfit... where did this weirdo come from?

Hou Xiaochen and his two companions alighted without saying anything; the driver steered the car out of sight. Li Hao looked around with admiration—they were so rich here! Massive mysterious power stones adorned the entrance as lights. They exuded a hint of mysterious power and appeared particularly pure. Visitors were immediately graced with a comfortable sensation as soon as they arrived.

Some flowers and plants grew in front of the doors. Li Hao identified energy emanating from them when he took a closer look. These were probably heavenly and earthly treasures.

Hou Xiaochen was unperturbed by what he saw, despite it being his first time here. “We’re looking for a place to eat.”

“I understand. This way please, Director Hou!” The woman continued to smile. She led them past the front doors, whereupon the security and pageboys were all supernaturals. All of them bowed to the visitors and more staff swiftly opened the crystal front doors.

A massive great hall came into view. Some were waiting to be seen. Others were drivers, secretaries, or lower ranked officials of the nine ministries waiting in line for food. They jerked with surprise when the front doors opened and were further startled to see Hou Xiaochen. Numerous ministry officials slouching in their chairs hastily sat upright. Those of the Inspectorate or Night Watcher stood up to snap salutes. “Greetings to Director Hou!”

Hou Xiaochen inclined his head and looked straight ahead as he continued walking forward. Li Hao grasped his little staff; his top hat swiveled in various directions as he looked around with a smile.

His strange attire caught many eyes.

“Why are you dressed like this?” Manager Yu couldn’t help but transmit to the young man. It was so humiliating!

“Don’t you find it quite elegant?”

“I...” The manager was at a loss for words. Elegant? Dumb, more like! She couldn’t be bothered with anything else. Meanwhile, Li Hao was immersed in his own world. Didn’t he look utterly handsome?

It was fine if he didn’t; this was just more convenient to draw his sword from. He couldn’t just run around with a sword strapped to his back, could he? This mode of transport also made it easy for him to nurture the weapon.

He’d already thought things through—this was how he would go out in public from now on. Stellaris would be disguised as a staff to facilitate a quick draw and always having it nearby to attend to. Li Hao was yet to meet with much success in nurturing his sword. Perhaps it hadn’t been long enough since he tried this method. He couldn’t run out with it in his hand forever, so this was a nice idea!

The woman leading the way remained energetically introducing the premises. “Director Hou, there are two restaurants in the pagoda. The second floor is more crowded and there are fewer people on the seventh floor. There are also private rooms on the seventh floor, which is where Director Yellow and the others usually go...”

“What about the ninth floor?”

“Food is served on the ninth floor as well. “The woman’s smile remained animated. “But there’s not that many seats. There are only nine rooms and they are often booked year round.”

Nine rooms! It went without saying that the nine ministers had reserved them.

“Are the nine ministers all present today?” Hou Xiaochen smiled.

“No, there are still five empty rooms. Does the director wish to use one of them?” The smiling woman didn’t seek to stop them. “But we might have to ask the director to change rooms if those august guests arrive... That could make for a less than pleasant dining experience. The view is pretty much the same on the seventh floor.”

“We go to the ninth floor!” Hou Xiaochen responded with a faint smile. “The ninth floor is better and the view is the best. We’ll take the room usually occupied by the Ministry of Finance.”

The woman’s expression changed slightly.

“What, is that room occupied?”

“No...”

“Then it’s settled!”

The woman considered briefly before recovering her smile. “Very well. Then come with me please, Director Hou.”

The Ministry of Finance! Li Hao thought of a certain person—the Nova teenager that Qi Gang and the others had jointly killed. He’d said that he was from the Lius of the Ministry of Finance.

The group filed into the elevator, leaving the crowd in the hall looking at each other. None of them were deaf, and being able to visit this establishment meant that all of them possessed certain strength. What did Hou Xiaochen want to do? How dare he trespass on a private room belonging to the nine ministers?

“He’s so cocky!” Those working for the Ministry of Finance swiftly walked out of the great hall. This matter had to be reported upward. It wasn’t a matter of using the private room, but that Hou Xiaochen might be purposefully antagonizing them.

He was crazy!

The nine ministries were inviolable after being created eighty years ago. But that arrogant upstart Hou Xiaochen had walked right into the Nine Dragons Pavilion and demanded the private room reserved by the Ministry of Finance! It was so shocking!

......

Inside the elevator.

The contraption proceeded smoothly upward. Hou Xiaochen didn’t seem to find anything untoward with his actions. It was just dinner in a private room. Could he not do that?

Off to the side, Li Hao didn’t mind either. “Ah... beautiful lady, how much does one of our meals cost?” he asked curiously.

“......” The woman’s smile stiffened. It was the first time in her line of work that someone had ever asked her how much a meal cost. As speechless as she was, she still replied, “It depends on what you order. The cheapest can be one mysterious power stone and the most expensive can be hundreds or even one thousand...”

“You’re joking!” Li Hao sucked in a sharp breath. “One mysterious power stone is one thousand cubes of power, and I remember that the black market offers one million star coins for one cube. Thus, one mysterious power stone can be traded for one billion star coins!

“Alright, no one will conduct such a transaction, but one piece really is priceless. So a meal at your place costs this much?!”

“......” The elevator fell silent for a moment. The woman just wanted to say, your math skills are really good... She was having trouble keeping the smile on her face.

“Honored guest, the Nine Dragons Pavilion isn’t an ordinary place. You can see mysterious power filling the air. There’s even life force emanating on the ninth floor...”

“Water of Life?”

“Yes. although it is just the barest of Water of Life that satisfies our guests...”

“Hiss!” Li Hao sucked in a sharp breath. “So it’s even more expensive to eat on the ninth floor, isn’t it?”

“Of course... Under regular circumstances, each meal starts at one hundred pieces of mysterious power stones.”

Li Hao clucked his tongue with amazement. That was just the starting price! That meant the nine private rooms contributed at least one thousand stones a day. Added to that the other eight floors... didn’t that mean the pavilion earned around three to five thousand stones a day? And that was their minimum intake! Wouldn’t it be up to ten thousand stones a day under normal circumstances?

My heavens!!

“How long has the Nine Dragons Pavilion been open?” Li Hao ran some quick calculations.

“Eighty years.”

“When did you start charging mysterious power stones as your fee?”

Are you taking a census count or what? The female manager’s face was almost splitting from the force of her very stilted smile. “Roughly... roughly ten years.”

“So you make around three million mysterious power stones in annual revenue?”