Seized by the System

Once Robert received monetary support from his nephew William, he did not look for Vigilante A immediately. Instead, he got ready to visit the newly opened shop —”Magical Provenance”. Firstly, he had to look for the person-in-charge there for a discussion.

He departed from his mansion on the hills in the south and drove on the jammed roads of Qi City. All manner of vehicles accelerated and stopped at the same time.

When he saw the long stretch of vehicles up ahead again, Robert felt a surge of boredom. He should not have kept such a low profile. He could have flown over the area, like those fellows above him…

He looked forward and noticed a bunch of haughty fellows floating 100 to 200 meters above the ground, gliding casually along the road.

From time to time, someone would look down upon the traffic and display a gleeful expression while pointing and making comments.

After practicing the “Nine Transformation Golden Core Technique” and achieving the Bucket level, the people who have mastered the technique of flying had increased significantly.

In a densely populated area like Qi City, it was no longer uncommon to see Flyers everywhere.

Even one’s ability to fly had become the new standard in choosing partners, replacing the criteria of whether one had a house or not…

Robert was just one step away from mastering the Pond level, but he still knew how to fly.

One was allowed to fly as long as he or she applied for an individual flying permit at Qi City’s Special Affairs Department and learned up basic flying regulations, such as altitude limitations, not flying too fast, obeying some fixed routes, not flying around recklessly…

This city had always been congested. Although it was just a provincial capital, the level of congestion in the main roads could be compared to those within a metropolis… Hence, being able to fly served as a great advantage.

When the Era of Vitality began, more people came to live here due to the Dragon God’s presence. What used to be a mere provincial capital witnessed a boom in population, and numerous neighboring villages sprouted like mushrooms.

During the Lunaette Crisis, the population dwindled rapidly. When the Crisis was over, the number of people increased quickly to the point of being close to overpopulation. According to the latest statistic, the population of Qi City had exceeded 18 million and the city had somewhat become a metropolis.

If it were not controlled in time, the population here would only continue to rise.

Robert looked out of the window resignedly as he cruised along with the other vehicles, but his mind had already flown to the seashore.

The light of the Eastern Pharos ended there. Despite the turbulence in the motherland, it still maintained peace on the surface. Industrial and agricultural production could function normally, and most regular folk could continue enjoying life as usual. There was also the possibility that everything would only get better.

Other countries did not differ much.

Robert had always had a strange feeling when he thought about this. That was like how Vigilante A was not supposed to appear in real life…

If the other party did not appear, in a few year’s time – based on the insider info that he had gotten hold of – the motherland would suffer from at least a dozen catastrophes.

Each catastrophe would also take the lives of thousands of people, if not millions. How many were there in total in the USA?

In other words, if not for Vigilante A’s appearance, many nations would have already been wiped off the surface of the earth, much like the lost nation of Japan.

This was the true nature of the Era of Vitality. Just as how the dinosaurs were unable to cope with the new era, humans facing the imminent new age would pay the price as well.

However, Vigilante A’s sudden appearance was like the immune system of a superhuman, killing off all sorts of viruses before they had a chance to spread.

In fact, he was filled with curiosity. How did the other person manage to determine the presence of the thugs in time? Also, how was he able to avoid making wrong accusations?

In the Era of Vitality, however, there were simply too many mysterious and unexplainable events, and this was just one of them. He could only guess that said person had the Heaven’s Eye of differentiating good from evil… Just like how some people could tell a sliver of truth from a lie.

One could no longer apply the past theories of science when explaining something in this era. New theories were constantly being rewritten to accommodate this new age.

After all, the history of science had always been about debunking old, redundant theories and replacing them with new ones.

He pondered along the way. A car ride that was originally intended to last for half an hour now took two hours. No wonder some people remarked that if the subway was still not repaired, Qi City could be called “Congested City”. (TN: The author uses a pun in the original Chinese text. “齐” and “挤” sound similar and the latter means “to squeeze”, referring to the congestion in Qi City.)

As soon as he arrived at the street where the “Magical Provenance” shop was located, Robert heaved a sigh of relief. He missed the small city in his hometown.

There were not as many people back there as compared to here.

All he could see in front of him was a massive food and beverage outlet, occupying the entire street. All sorts of vehicles sped past and it was truly a sight to behold.

Several large banners hung at the entrance. “Our heartiest congratulations to the CEO and Head Chef of Fang’s Restaurant Group, Fang Ning, for winning the Grand Prize again at the 13th International God of Food Tournament!”

Robert was not interested in this. He raised his head and looked towards the opposite side of the entrance. Situated next to the wide street was the newly opened shop —”Magical Provenance”, which was inconspicuous in comparison with the majestic Fang’s Restaurant.

Surrounded by a bunch of corporate banks and high-class office buildings, it was just a shop close to the street, and its area was only as big as the branch of a normal bank.

Robert steered his car towards the parking lot of the food and beverage outlet. It was the only place nearby with parking spaces.

Then, he walked for a few hundred meters, crossed the road and arrived outside the “Magical Provenance” shop.

The floor of the shopfront was covered with pure white marble. The entire shop looked plain with three stories and a wooden plaque hanging on the front door.

The shop’s name “Magical Provenance” was written on the wooden plaque. Light ebbed and flowed around the edges of the words, giving the sign a magical tinge. This differentiated the shop from the rest of the modern establishments.

Two white and squarish stone men stood in front of the shop. These were the famous honest clan from the Upper Realm — the Whitestone people.

Robert could not deny that using them as employees for such an establishment was, indeed, a smart move.

He knew very well that in order to become an employee of this demanding job, one only had to do as he was told, be honest and not pull any sort of tricks. With this, one could then obtain a steady stream of profits.

On the contrary, if one were to overthink matters and often wanted to do this and that, such as learning the ropes of today’s financial circles, one had better not die too quickly.

“Sir, please enter.” The Whitestone man on the left told him this in a low voice, exuding a steadfast and profound aura.

Although it was not his first time here, Robert felt a twinge of excitement.

This was because he understood the greater meaning of this establishment. It was the point where the Earthlings began to surpass the beings of the Upper Realm.

It could gather disintegrated and useless Magical Energy and trade them to the few powerhouses for their collective usage.

The reason why modern nations could surpass feudal nations in the Middle Ages was due to technological advancement. The evolution of organizational structures allowed for more concentration of human and material resources, showcasing powers that would greatly exceed that of feudal nations from the past.

It was precisely why a microstate was able to defeat a feudal nation of gigantic proportions.

Even though the latter was huge, it failed to harness the power of the people, and its defenses were broken through instead.

That was the purpose of the Magical Energy Bank. It functioned like a regular bank, collecting scattered funds for important matters.

Robert believed, that as time went on, the power that could be displayed by this establishment would only grow stronger. It would become one of the ultimate weapons for mankind to transcend the powerhouses of the Upper Realm…