Ten minutes later, in the meeting room.
Yang Yong sat in the seat... that had originally belonged to the City Lord.
The chair was hard, its back perfectly straight. Sitting in it felt like being propped up by something...
This was not a chair meant for comfort. It was a chair meant to keep its occupant alert at all times.
The Nine Great Elders sat on either side.
At the head of the left side sat Grand Elder Liu Yijun, a diehard loyalist of the City Lord.
At the head of the right side sat the newly appointed Second Elder, a gaunt middle-aged man curled into his chair, his eyes half closed as though he were asleep.
The other elders sat in order, their expressions varied, but they had one thing in common...
No one spoke first.
Silence piled up in the room, thick as a wall.
Yang Yong was in no hurry either.
He tapped the tabletop lightly with his knuckles. Once, twice, three times.
The rhythm was slow, so slow that every tap seemed to strike the very tip of their hearts.
"Do you," Yang Yong finally spoke, his voice quiet, yet enough to make everyone raise their heads, "really have no Curio Materials left?"
His gaze swept over them, looking at each in turn.
No one answered.
In the end, Grand Elder Liu Yijun coughed and broke the deadlock. "Deputy City Lord, Mechanical City truly has no Curio Materials left to expend."
"Truly none?"
Yang Yong fixed his gaze on his face.
The Grand Elder's expression remained unchanged. "The public stores are indeed empty. But in private hands... naturally, there are still some high-grade materials."
He paused, his tone flat. "It is simply that we are naturally reluctant to use those materials to refine things that cannot