The magnificent hall was bustling with activity.
The nobles and princes, dressed in elegant aristocratic attire, dismounted from their carriages, some with beautiful and luxurious female companions, others with their Vampire and Werewolf slaves.
Ship slaves are no longer in demand; Vampire slaves with unlimited physical strength and Werewolf slaves with powerful muscles are now the top choice in the Northern Continent's aristocratic slave market.
Nobles are Vampire, slaves are Vampire; if you weren't told this was the Northern Continent, you might even think it was the Southern Continent.
The corruption of the Gothic Empire had penetrated to its very core.
The luxurious carriages and unimaginable lifestyle of these powerful and wealthy individuals are merely the most insignificant part of their lives.
The saying "Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste, while on the road, frozen corpses lie" merely depicts the most superficial aspects of the lives of the Gothic Empire nobility.
What truly demonstrates their power and privilege is not their extravagant lifestyle, but their monopoly and oppression!
Today, the powerful and wealthy gathered in this imperial palace control 95 percent of the industry and production capacity of the Northern Continent. From small things like buttons on clothes to large things like houses and public facilities needed for people's lives, and even the steel mills and railways of the Gothic Empire, everything is under their control.
From birth, a person from the lower class receives everything from these powerful and wealthy individuals. They grow up drinking milk produced by these powerful and wealthy companies and eating bread produced by these powerful and wealthy companies. Eventually, they enter these powerful and wealthy companies and become the most insignificant low-level workers, receiving wages that are barely enough to sustain themselves.
To supplement their income and ensure their families had enough to eat, they needed to take out loans from these powerful and wealthy businesses every month, with endless interest and principal to repay. Even if they were driven to the brink of becoming murderers and robbers due to extreme hardship, they still needed to buy firearms from these powerful and wealthy gun shops and sell goods in their stores. They even needed to go to these powerful and wealthy hospitals for treatment when they were sick, and even in death, they had to buy plots of land and coffins in cemeteries owned by these powerful and wealthy individuals to be buried.
This place is practically like Gotham City; everything, from daily necessities to weapons, from drugs to medicine, from baby bottles to coffins, is monopolized.
This is the root cause of the Gothic Empire's decay, and this is the true power of this group of nobles.
Now, they are clearly no longer satisfied with their exalted status and immortality; they have begun to desire to become gods!
Otherwise, why would Yalian LV imitate the Pale God of the past, using Vampire to drag palaces to demonstrate his exalted status?
Such insatiable greed, such pathetic delusions of achieving supreme power, such despicable acts of betraying one's ancestors—these Vampire, clinging to the body of the empire and endlessly sucking its blood, will ultimately perish along with the empire!
This was the condition that Miles XIV had agreed to for Jacob.
Now is the time to put it into practice!
Why hasn't the old emperor come out yet?
"Yes, I don't have time to waste here. The Southern Continent has suddenly opened up in the past two years, and its development has been incredibly rapid. I'm ready to invest a lot of capital and get in before the Southern Continent is fully developed. Then I'll truly become a tycoon of both the North and the South!"
"Oh? I didn't expect Prince Weige to have the same idea. To be honest, our fleet has already gone there three times, and each time we've made a fortune from the goods we transported. Now that Pale God has completely loosened his control, it's the perfect time to enter the market!"
At that time, we can fully utilize the cheap labor force of the Northern Continent to manufacture low-cost products to compete in the Southern Continent market, destroying all private enterprises and even their divine assets, thereby completely controlling the Southern Continent market!
"Hahahaha, that Pale God probably never imagined that we, the discarded pawns purged back then, would return in such a high-profile manner! I'll show him what it means for capital to never die!"
The old emperor hadn't come out yet, but the nobles in the hall were already chatting animatedly.
At their level, some secrets are no longer secrets, and they no longer compete with each other. Instead, they rely more on family ties and marriage to develop together.
Therefore, their conversations occasionally involved confidential matters.
However, since they were still in the capital, and the old emperor was not on their side, they didn't reveal too much.
Time passed, and finally, Miles XIV, who sat atop the tower, was pushed in by servants in a wheelchair, his face grim, as the nobles and royal families from various countries of the Southern Continent grew increasingly impatient.
"Silence! His Majesty has arrived!"
The servants standing on both sides shouted in unison, silencing the lively clamor of the crowd.
Under the emperor's military intimidation, the extremely wealthy and powerful figures eventually gave him some face and gradually quieted down.
However, the members of the royal families of various countries, in particular, did not show much respect on their faces.
After all, they were all emperors. Even though they had lost their power, their own wealth and influence still made them disregard the current emperor.
Even the royal families of several major empires now wore somber expressions.
They had received some rumors before they arrived, and judging from His Majesty Miles XIV's expression, the rumors were likely true!
Before their thoughts had even faded, Miles XIV had already directly confirmed them.
" Yalian LV, Edward XIX, Kaimen XVIII, and Nuoya XIV, you should all know why I have summoned you here today."
The three emperors, Yalian LV, frowned and rose from their thrones.
The other powerful figures around also fell silent; some seemed thoughtful, some had a sudden change in expression, and some remained oblivious.
Regardless, with these words from Miles XIV, the atmosphere in the entire hall instantly became heavy.
Yalian LV's face was ashen, his two scarlet eyes fixed on Miles XIV, who sat in a wheelchair at the very front of the hall.
"You haven't let go of that obsession yet?"
Miles XIV ignored him, instead continuing to scan his surroundings with his cloudy, aged eyes, imprinting the faces of the nobles in his mind.
"My Gothic Empire Gothic Empire has been established for over seventy years. From the very beginning, the idea of fighting against that Pale God to the death has been deeply ingrained in our bones and has become our sole development goal for the past seventy years. It can be said that the birth of my Gothic Empire was to end the tyrannical rule of that Pale God!"
However, in just seventy years, the changes in you all are now beyond imagination.
Vampire you once swore to resist to the death, have now once again become the foundation upon which you enjoy power. Some have even begun to emulate the tyranny of the Pale God of the past, aspiring to become the new deity!
Such behavior is a betrayal of our ancestors and a disregard for the unwavering belief of our forefathers who gave their lives to fight against that Pale God!
Unforgivable!
Over the past seventy years, you have been gradually corrupted by power and pleasure, becoming hopelessly immersed in the dream of eternal bliss. You have forgotten the very foundation upon which my Gothic Empire was founded, and you have also personally contributed to the empire's ultimate collapse!
Today, the rule of that Pale God has become ever more magnificent, and the political landscape of the Southern Continent has undergone tremendous changes. Its development is more rapid and its national strength is stronger than ever before.
This is also the last chance for my Gothic Empire since its birth, and it will be the last glory before the collapse of my Gothic Empire!
I will uphold the very foundation of my Gothic Empire and use all the nation's resources to launch a devastating confrontation against that Pale God.
Greedy capital and stagnant emperors should both vanish into the dustbin of history with the collapse of my Gothic Empire!