The Banquet

Things weren't as bad as Tang Ping had feared.

Before this, he'd always thought that someone like Luo Kedi—a deputy city lord, no less—would bring sweeping reforms the moment he set foot in Lost City.

After all, Luo Kedi had arrived in disgrace. He'd probably wanted to prove his loyalty and ability to the Guild with some impressive achievements, then knock on the door of the power center once more.

But reality had given Tang Ping a hard slap in the face. Ever since this newly arrived big shot had entered Lost City, there seemed to be only one thing on his mind: women.

Rumors about the deputy city lord's palace were no secret in the city.

Whenever anyone passed that grand building, it was either so quiet that even the wind couldn't be bothered to linger, or else the sounds of women's laughter and chatter spilled out from within, rising and falling so sweetly that passersby could barely keep their feet from wobbling.

As for Lost City's affairs, Luo Kedi didn't just refrain from taking an interest; even when his subordinates brought documents to him, he couldn't be bothered to glance at them. As for changing regulations or restoring order, that was out of the question.

Everything stayed as it was.

Those four words were like a calming pill. The several tens of thousands of NPCs in this desert outpost, along with the few thousand players struggling to survive there, all breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, ever since Tang Ping had taken over as city lord, he'd found all the tedious rules troublesome and simply waved away a whole string of exorbitant taxes: the entry tax, marriage tax, trade tax, head tax, and so on. He'd tossed them all onto the scrap heap in one go.

It wasn't that he was especially generous. The city was just too deserted. The taxes collected over an entire year weren't even worth as much as the interest in his account earned in an hour. He found the calculations irritating, so he might as well have abolished them altogether.

As a result, life had suddenly become much easier for the NPCs and players living in Lost City.

Before, everyone had struggled just to get by. Now they could slowly save a little money, and some even dared to think about buying a house and land, or starting a family with someone they loved and raising children.

Sometimes, when Tang Ping saw the busy yet hopeful figures on the streets, he couldn't help admiring the Virtual Universe Company's work. They'd only set out to develop a game, yet they'd made the NPCs so lifelike.

Every one of them had a story, a personality, and a life path of their own. Some NPCs could even turn into heroes after a chance encounter, breaking through their limits step by step. They were practically real people.

But why had the company gone to all that trouble?

Perhaps it was precisely that sense of realism that had led so many people disappointed with life in the real world to call Journey a "second world." Some had simply put down roots there, married NPCs, raised children, and willingly spent their entire lives in that virtual realm.

Most of the players who remained in Lost City were low-level Planetary Rank fighters with no particular talents. They couldn't find decent work in the real world, and quite a few had disabilities: blindness, deafness, or limited mobility. All they could do was take odd jobs in the game to earn game currency and barely make ends meet.

They mined, hauled water, hunted low-level magical beasts in groups, and ran errands for NPCs, repeating the same dull work day after day just to earn a meager income.

Tang Ping's decision to abolish the taxes had been a lifeline for them, and it had earned the city lord, who'd always stayed hidden in the shadows, the gratitude of many.

But Tang Ping knew that the affection of ants weighed no more than a feather. Those at the top of the power structure would never hear the voices of the little people at the bottom, much less care about them.

And so this isolated city in the Lost Desert continued to trudge along its old path.

The NPCs and the few thousand players lived nearly identical lives each day. Now and then, someone was bitten by a desert beast, or even killed. After a brief spell of grief, life went on.

It wasn't exactly exciting, but it wasn't hopeless either. Like a still lake, it rippled now and then, then quickly fell quiet again.

Tang Ping's own days, however, had taken a subtly different turn.

Besides his daily, unwavering practice of secret techniques and his sparring with Luo Xiaoyu to hone his skills and strengthen his resolve, there was another exasperatingly funny matter: Luo Kedi was always holding banquets in the Virtual Universe. Someone was either having a child or getting married, and every time, he made sure to send Tang Ping an invitation.

Attending a banquet naturally meant giving a gift of money.

What left Tang Ping speechless was that Luo Kedi treated holding banquets like an everyday routine. He never seemed to stop, year after year. Eventually, even his sons started getting married and having children, and the banquets came one after another without end.

Fortunately, most of the guests were unofficial members of the Luo Family who already knew what the family was like. They only gave a thousand or so Silver Blue Coins as a gift each time—not enough to make the expense too painful.

After attending a few banquets, Tang Ping couldn't be bothered to show up every time. As long as he sent the gift on time, that was enough to save face.

It was at these banquets that Tang Ping got to know quite a few unofficial members of the Luo Family.

Some among them had mediocre talent. No matter how hard they tried, they could barely make a breakthrough, yet they still refused to give up, practicing while diligently cultivating their connections.

Some had weak wills and spent the allowances the Luo Family gave them on food and drink, waiting around for death in a daze. Others were ostracized by their relatives and spent their days miserable and downcast.

They were all nobodies with little to show for themselves within the Luo Family's system, but one had to admit, they had plenty of gossip to share.

Sometimes Tang Ping couldn't be bothered to socialize, so he'd find a corner and listen to them ramble about everything under the sun. It was a pleasant enough way to pass the time.

From "someone got set up by an alien con artist in a honey trap and lost everything," to "someone followed the crowd into a bad investment and lost a lifetime of savings," to "someone got swindled in business and even lost the family estate," the stories were one more ridiculous than the next.

But the people they talked about most were always the Luo Family's most prominent figures.

At the top of the list was Luo Yanchang. He was still young, yet already at the peak of Star Rank. Smooth and well-connected, he held administrative authority over several star systems, and many of those present made their living under him.

Whenever his name came up, however, everyone sounded a little bitter. They complained that he'd only gotten where he was because of his "good dad," and that his cultivation had been piled up with mountains of rare pills. He had no real ability.

What they enjoyed discussing even more was the forbidden romance between Luo Yuqian and Luo Yurong, the siblings.

Rumors about the two of them ran wild in private. Whenever people brought it up, the men would wear leering smiles and make all sorts of unsavory guesses.

What puzzled everyone most was that Luo Yurong was arrogant and overbearing, violent and reckless, and had offended plenty of people within the Luo Family. Yet Luo Yuqian, who was thriving in the Commerce Department, remained utterly devoted to her.

Could he really be after the thrill of being siblings?

But all that family gossip and the Luo Family's internal squabbles had nothing to do with Tang Ping.

To him, it was just a little diversion from dull cultivation and the uneventful life of a city lord. He listened for a laugh, then promptly forgot all about it.

By now, throughout the Milky Way Galaxy—and even across the vast Black Dragon Empire—one saying had spread: the Earthlings of the Luo Family were born to gather around and gossip. Their eagerness to watch a spectacle without caring how it turned out was practically bred into them.

What was even more absurd was that this "hobby" had actually led to several laughable incidents.

Several times, Earthlings had seen people arguing and fighting in the streets of some interstellar city. Instead of staying out of the way, they'd crowded in, craning their necks to watch, only to get accidentally hurt by a stray fist or kick in the chaos.

Ordinary people in that situation would either accept their bad luck or demand an explanation from the person responsible. But these Earthlings took advantage of their injured heads, got medical certificates, and demanded compensation from the culprits. Some even made a habit of "earning money" this way.

They really did make money with their brains!

After those incidents, ordinary residents of the Milky Way Galaxy and passersby in the Black Dragon Empire alike became more cautious whenever they spotted Earthlings with yellow skin and black hair in public.

Even if they were itching to argue, they'd first check whether any Earthlings were watching, for fear of accidentally injuring someone.

After all, everyone knew that if they got into trouble and the Luo Family's notoriously troublesome legal team came after them, the ensuing lawsuit and compensation could give anyone a massive headache.