The Empress’s Gigolo

The detector was only a small interlude. Ren Baqian and Yang Sen continued discussing Teng Yue’s torn limbs.

Despite the short time that they had spent studying the remains, there was one single discovery that was clearly apparent.

Since ancient times, no human had ever been so close to attaining immortality.

There were a good number of people out there who would throw away their entire fortune for a shot at doubling their lifespan.

The implications that this discovery might bring to society were enormous.

A typical person would take around 17 years of education to get from primary school to graduating from university. That left about 36 good working years.

If he or she continued to pursue a Master’s Degree or PhD, then that left only 30-odd years. After reaching a brief career peak, a person following this path would continue down a road of decline.

Considering the level of theoretical advancement humans had achieved, 17 to 23 years of education was truly insufficient. It was difficult to grasp all the requisite knowledge required to reach the peak of a particular field in such a short span of time.

If one were to double their lifespan, however, then he or she could easily study for 40 years, reach the apex of their academic study, and go on to subsequently work for another 50 years or more. In such a case, a person would be able to maintain their peak status for 20 or 30 years longer than before.

If such a day were to come, then society would become filled with elites and talents that stretched across multiple disciplines.

A long, drawn out life would enable people to spend more time on the things they love and worry less about short term gains and losses.

The rate at which technology could improve would likely increase by five times, maybe even 10 times or more.

A level of technological advancement that previously required 1,000 years to achieve could be attained in only 100. Society would change rapidly.

Humans would be able to create a utopia, a world where people would be free to chase their aspirations and ambitions instead of worrying about money.

Today’s society imposed a lot of stress on its people. Most people needed to rack their brains at a pretty young age to earn money and support their families. Longer lives would mean more free time in the future to pursue the things they aspired toward.

Thinking about the creation of a modern utopia was unbelievably exciting.

The empress was clueless about the implications of a longer life, but Ren Baqian could imagine the amazing things to come. He fully understood the look of excitement that was plastered all over Yang Sen’s face.

“Let’s not keep our hopes too high. After all, such things aren’t that easy to uncover,” Ren Baqian said. He wasn’t trying to be a wet blanket, but was merely trying to manage expectations. None of them knew just how much they could discover using Earth’s current technology.

“We have reached the start of a straight road that will bring us where we need to go. All we need to do from now on is to press onward and take things step by step,” Yang Sen proclaimed. Their heading was set, and the necessary items were already in place. They would reach their goal as long as they continued down this path and kept their eyes on the prize.

He believed that even if he couldn’t live to see it, his next generation would.

Ren Baqian explained everything he knew about Spirit Wheel experts to Yang Sen and the empress would cut in every now and then to supplement his explanation. Yang Sen hadn’t made this trip in vain.

Yang Sen made a request for several materials from the other world before he left.

There were many things that might not seem relevant on the surface, but could provide him with a much better understanding of that world. A deeper understanding might help him to overcome the obstacles that he was sure to encounter in his research.

The things that Ren Baqian had been bringing them were too few.

Yang Sen hadn’t been in much of a hurry previously, but the laboratory was currently buzzing with excitement now that they had this corpse on hand. Both the Messier 87 department and the laboratory could take the opportunity to expand further and bring in even more experts.

Ren Baqian maintained the same mercantile attitude. Even though he didn’t mind helping out with this research, Ren Baqian didn’t want to accede to this request only to have his contributions go unrecognized in the future. Maintaining the current give and take relationship he had with them was a better option.

He didn’t mind even if all they could offer were lower value items like the skunk bombs.

…

After spending another day on Earth, Ren Baqian brought the empress and the idiot girl back to Dayao.

“Please take a rest, Your Majesty. I’ll go check if they have returned,” Ren Baqian said after they had returned to the room that they left from. He turned to look at the dull girl who was now staring around curiously and said, “I’ll take this girl with me too.”

Ren Baqian handed her over to one of the guards upon leaving the room and asked him to find a place for her to settle in.

Ren Baqian had decided to take care of her for now. He planned on eventually bringing her back to Lan City to handle odd jobs.

She wasn’t going to be capable of causing trouble even if her memory were to return. What could a spoiled girl of only 16 be capable of? Furthermore, this place was filled with dangers. She would probably get caught and sold off to a brothel if she even tried to leave Tianjing Basin by herself.

However, he wasn’t willing to take any risks. It would be much safer to keep her close by.

Ren Baqian continued looking for Gong Zheng after the guard took Wang Baobao away.

“Are they back yet?” he asked Gong Zheng, referring to the experts that had gone out to scout.

“Not yet. It’s been more than a day. Barring any incidents, they should be back soon,” Gong Zheng said after checking the moon’s position.

“Let me know when they are back,” Ren Baqian requested.

…

Beneath the moonlight, Zhan Changkong sprinted with a 30-something year old man in one hand and a longsword in the other. His exquisitely embroidered gown was tattered, and his hair was all over the place. With bloodstains on his face, the man had lost his elegance.

A few hundred meters behind him were two shadowy figures that haunted him like demons.

“Chief, please put me down. You can easily escape from Green Ghost and White Ghost without me,” the severely-wounded man in his arm cried out. Two long arrows stuck out of his body. One had pierced through his abdomen, while the other was lodged deep in his chest.

This was the Golden Ring Residence’s quartermaster, Zhan Chiyang. None of the others could be found.

“Shut up. I’m definitely able to bring you back,” Zhan Changkong hissed through clenched teeth.

“Chief, it’s fine if I die. The Golden Ring Residence needs you,” Zhan Chiyang muttered weakly.

“How can I face our people if I’m the only one who returns?” Zhan Changkong chuckled gravely.

Remembering how the scouting mission had played out gave him the chills.

He still couldn’t believe that there had been a mole within their ranks. All the experts who came up from the south had done so with a proof of allegiance.

This person was no different.

Nobody would have expected a mole.

Using the head of a fellow sect member to join as a mole was an incredibly high price to pay! Zhan Changkong shuddered at the thought of such an act.

Because of this mole, the entire group had fallen right into the enemy’s trap. Half of the experts had perished on the spot while some of the others had managed to scatter and escape. Of those who fled, quite a number had been chased down and killed.

Out of the five who hailed from the Golden Ring Residence, internal attendant Xu Qiang and vice custodian Liu Jing died on the spot, while attendant Ling Zekuan had fallen back after initially escaping to buy time for Zhan Changkong. Seeing the two Ghosts continue to give chase likely meant that Ling Zekuan had met his end.

The commander of this expedition, Spirit Wheel expert Zuo Cheng, had been restrained before he could even react. The other party hadn’t just one, but two Spirit Wheel experts in charge.

All Zhan Changkong could think about now was getting back and plotting his revenge! His eyes were burning with anger!