Douluo Continent: This Tang San is different

Chapter 325 The Current Status of Lingtang Technology Co., Ltd. (Part 2)

"What's all the noise about? Don't you want to work here anymore?"

The office door suddenly opened, and Lingxi appeared with an angry expression. But upon seeing Tang San, she was first stunned, then overjoyed, and exclaimed, "Count, is it really you?"

"Ahem." Tang San coughed twice and said, "Isn't it inappropriate to talk here? His Highness the Crown Prince seems to be in his office as well."

"This...that...I got a little excited for a moment." Lingxi was a little flustered, but she quickly suppressed her excitement, made way for Tang San and Gu Yuena to enter.

"Brother Tang, it's been so long! You didn't even send me a message. I really miss you." Xue Qinghe was sitting at the coffee table when he turned around and saw Tang San. He immediately stood up, smiled, and went to greet him, as if to hug him. But then he thought of something and lowered his arms, laughed, and pulled Tang San to sit down.

But somehow, Tang San could detect a hint of resentment in her eyes…

Lingxi stood to the side, pouring tea and serving snacks for the two of them and Gu Yuena, a natural smile unconsciously appearing on her lips. She thought that Tang San would not return for at least five years after going to Wuhun City, but she did not expect that only two years had passed before he returned to Tiandou City.

This truly delighted her! Even excited her!

"I've been busy with cultivation and research. I only came back this time because I had just finished hunting down a group of fallen people. I was passing through Tiandou City, so I came back to take a look."

Tang San briefly explained his situation, then praised Xue Qinghe: "As for Your Highness, you are becoming more and more mature. I think the Emperor will feel that you have a worthy successor."

The so-called maturity is not just something Tang San talks about. Compared to two years ago, Xue Qinghe's dark circles are more pronounced now, making him look like he hasn't woken up yet.

It is estimated that in the past two years, with the decentralization of power by Emperor Xueye, Qian Renxue has had to deal with more and more matters. In addition, she also has to take care of the development of Wuhun City on the surface, and now she also has to cooperate with Lingtang Technology Unlimited Company. If she is not exhausted to this sleepy state, she would be unworthy of her status as the crown prince!

However, Qian Renxue's true mental state remains unknown. After all, the Six-Winged Angel is a god-level martial soul, a true all-rounder; it's unlikely she'd be exhausted to this state by mere imperial affairs...

Probably.

"Sigh, speaking of Father, his health has been deteriorating lately. It's all because he overworked too much when he was young." Xue Qinghe suddenly sighed.

"Being an emperor isn't easy," Tang San said, knowing that Emperor Xue Ye's deteriorating health was definitely related to Xue Qinghe. He even suspected that Qian Renxue was becoming familiar with imperial affairs and wanted to seize the throne quickly. So he reminded her, "There are so many things to do every day, you're very busy."

"Indeed."

Xue Qinghe nodded in deep agreement, clearly not understanding Tang San's unspoken meaning—that the foundation was insufficient and more truly capable people needed to be cultivated for her.

"I wonder if His Highness the Crown Prince will take any wives or concubines this year?" Tang San, seeing this, did not dwell on the topic, but instead asked about her marriage. "For a member of the royal family, being so old and still unmarried and childless is something people will talk about."

This was also Tang San's well-intentioned reminder: the Crown Prince is not interested in women. If he is under eighteen, he can be said to have great self-control. But if he is over eighteen, people will think that he has problems in that area, or that his sexual orientation is different from that of ordinary people.

This is a big problem for the royal family.

"My father also mentioned it to me, but when I think of the people in the empire who are starving, cold, and unable to find wives, how can I face the prospect of marrying and having children?"

Xue Qinghe looked worried, adopting a posture of concern for the country and its people, which made Gu Yuena, who was eating snacks nearby, roll her eyes repeatedly.

How can a woman like you get married and have children? Are you going to borrow someone else's sperm to have your own baby? Or are you going to pretend to find a woman and then adopt a child?

In the latter case, since the child isn't even their own, how can they care?

Oh, I almost forgot, it's normal for royalty to have no family ties and no care.

Qian Renxue herself was also in a difficult position about this, after all, what Tang San said was true. She was so old and still not interested in women, which would definitely cause controversy and was a flaw in her identity.

But what can she do?

Pretending to be the crown prince is tiring enough; do you really need to find a woman to play along? How much more energy would that take? Besides, which woman could cooperate with her so well?

Forehead···

To be honest, Qian Renxue actually thought of one: Ling Yuan, the new hall master of the Heaven Dou Martial Soul Branch Hall, has the strength of a Soul Douluo. She is already on good terms with her, so it wouldn't hurt to claim that she fell in love at first sight.

Furthermore, she could explain her actions towards Emperor Xueye and the others by using reasons such as "obtaining intelligence about the Spirit Hall," "undermining the Spirit Hall," and "securing advanced soul guidance research data."

Most importantly, Ling Yuan, as a Soul Douluo from Bibi Dong's lineage, is favored by Bibi Dong and knows her true identity, which will surely make things easier for her.

"I admire you." Tang San exclaimed, "To hold yourself to the same standards you hold others to, and to worry about the worries of others, is truly admirable. If you were the Heaven Dou Emperor, you would surely be able to bring peace and tranquility to the Heaven Dou Empire."

"Then thank you for your kind words, Brother Tang." Xue Qinghe felt a little ashamed, after all, she knew very well that she was not a proper crown prince, but only wanted to seize the throne of the Heaven Dou Empire.

"By the way, what brings Your Highness here for this collaboration?" Tang San asked.

"It mainly concerns the future replacement and maintenance of the Soul Guidance Steam Locomotives. I would like to have further discussions with your company on behalf of the Heaven Dou Empire. Transportation is extremely important for an empire. I would even like to establish Soul Guidance Steam Locomotive tracks throughout the Heaven Dou Empire to facilitate the transmission of information, the transportation of supplies, and so on."

Xue Qinghe described the future she wanted to see, and at the same time, she hoped to further expand her influence throughout the Tiandou territory so that after she regained her female identity, she could be accepted by all the people of Tiandou.

For a strong woman who dares to pull off a "switcheroo," not to mention that her martial soul is a six-winged angel, she naturally wants to openly and honestly show the world her true identity.

As for why she gave up her plan after losing to the protagonist in the original work, it was probably because she was too arrogant. As a martial soul with the six-winged angel spirit and the inheritor of the Angel God, Qian Renxue would not allow herself to be suppressed by anyone, even if it meant giving up everything she had worked for.

In fact, this is a common problem among the major powers in Douluo Continent. The children in these families tend to develop an arrogant personality to some extent.

But confidence and pride are not the same thing, especially for the Clear Sky Sect, where pride has turned into arrogance...

"I see." In a moment of reflection, Tang San considered many things, but ultimately returned to the present and said to Xue Qinghe, "This is a good thing, and Lingxi will definitely cooperate fully."

"Please rest assured, Your Highness," Lingxi chimed in. "If steam locomotive tracks are ever built throughout the Tiandou Empire in the future, our Lingtang Technology Co., Ltd. will certainly provide the corresponding technical support."

"Thank you very much then." Xue Qinghe smiled, chatted with Tang San for a while longer, and then prepared to leave. As the crown prince, he had many matters to attend to.

After seeing His Highness the Crown Prince off from Lingtang Technology Co., Ltd., Tang San, Lingxi, and Guangling returned the way they came after walking a distance.

"Your Excellency, His Highness the Crown Prince's idea is good, but it's not very realistic to build steam locomotive tracks throughout the entire Tiandou Empire. At most, it can be built in some large cities, and it may take decades to build a passage between two cities." Lingxi also had some understanding of the situation within the Tiandou Empire. Even excluding those small towns and villages, the gap between the rich and poor in towns was particularly large, not to mention that the roads between cities were not smooth.

Tang San also knew that establishing convenient transportation in Douluo Continent was not an easy task. In addition to the reasons Lingxi mentioned, there were also factors such as soul beasts and soul masters to consider.

Even when the Spirit Hall and the local city lord send people together to clear out the spirit beasts near the road, there will still be some that are missed.

However, compared to Soul Masters, Soul Beasts are still better off. Most Soul Beasts lack human intelligence and their habits are no different from those of wild animals. If they hear a loud noise, they will definitely run away in advance.

But Soul Masters are different.

Especially for powerful and influential Soul Masters, some families and sects are unwilling to see the establishment of the track, since it would cause population movement, which is not a long-term solution for the "landlords" to make money.

Moreover, for Soul Masters, disrupting the orbit is easy—a common problem in worlds with extraordinary power is the lack of a stable social environment and a force to suppress everything. Development is extremely difficult, and from the perspective of the entire group, without external enemies, there will be internal strife.

Those with foresight know that cooperation and development are essential for a brighter future, but selfishness and a desire to climb over others and act arrogantly are unavoidable…

However, taking Xue Qinghe's proposal to build railways connecting major cities as an example, she at least glimpsed a part of the future prospects from the soul-guided steam locomotive, a means of transportation within the city, and even realized the importance of the "train," a soul-guided transportation tool that had not yet appeared, for the transportation of supplies within an empire.

From this perspective, Qian Renxue's political thinking was not completely brainwashed by the Heaven Dou Royal Family's education. As for her political thinking before she disguised herself... what kind of political thinking did the Spirit Hall have? Apart from the rules and governance experience left by their ancestors, they just let the various branch halls manage themselves.

"If she really wants to do it, just cooperate. Anyway, we only provide technical support. As for the rest, you still have to pay the fees." After saying that, Tang San asked about the development of Ling Tang Company. "Tell me about what new soul tools Ling Tang Technology Co., Ltd. has developed in the past two years, and what new businesses it has expanded into."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

Lingxi's expression turned slightly serious. "Regarding soul tools, we basically rely on the finished products sent by Miss Guangling for replication, and make slight improvements to the appearance so that we can provide custom-made ones for some nobles."

"Our research capabilities here are relatively poor. The main problem is that the experiments on soul guide patterns require soul power. Although we can purchase soul guide batteries to serve as energy, the progress will be slowed down. Moreover, if something goes wrong and an explosion occurs, an ordinary person's body cannot withstand it."

"As for Soul Masters, we would like to recruit some young Soul Masters, but they are only interested in Soul Tools and have little interest in researching them."

"Some Soul Masters who haven't broken through to Soul Venerable before the age of thirty want to give it a try, but as the Earl should know, although people over thirty are in their prime, their memory is not as good as that of young people under thirty, and their thinking is rigid. If they didn't do related work before, they are not suitable for research-related work in the future."

"A year ago, we recruited a group of Soul Masters and Great Soul Masters over the age of thirty, but their research abilities were not as good as ordinary people. They could only serve as human soul power batteries, and each of them had a bad temper. They would point fingers at those who were not Soul Masters. Ordinary people did not dare to refute anything, after all, the other party was a Soul Master, and their personalities were relatively impulsive. If they spoke too harshly and angered them, they would be injured or killed. Even if they were compensated afterward, it would be of no use, and it would also affect our own research progress."

Tang San was aware of this, but the mindset of Soul Masters had not changed. They felt that their status as Soul Masters was very noble and disliked being told what to do.

After pondering for a moment, Tang San said, "Then, we won't need to actively seek out Soul Masters anymore, unless a Soul Master who is interested in Soul Guidance Device research comes to apply."

As for the slow progress of Lingtang Technology Co., Ltd.'s research, Tang San felt it was not a big problem. Just like the rail construction proposed by Xue Qinghe, it could not be accomplished overnight.

Moreover, Ling Tang Technology Co., Ltd.'s main business at present is only assembling, manufacturing, and selling life-related soul tools. As for research, it can wait until the mainland is completely stable. However, a suggestion was given: to hold recruitment fairs in the various academies of Tian Dou City, especially the commoner academy, and use lectures, videos, and other promotional methods to arouse the interest of underage soul masters in soul tools.

"Will this work?" Lingxi asked, a little unsure. "Would those academies be willing?"

"I have the connections; I can just pay those academies some fees later," Tang San said. "Besides, academies train students not only to teach them cultivation, but also to teach them how to make money, right? We're helping these academy students find employment! Otherwise, how will they survive after graduation?"

"Join a faction? Or become a free Soul Master?"

"We're simply giving them another option."

"We could even collaborate with these academies... Oh, right, let's exclude Shrek Academy. Although most advanced academies encourage competition, their teaching methods are too much. They're troublemakers and bullies who prey on the weak. Those two things aren't good."

Lingxi nodded: "I will take care of it."

"If we still can't recruit enough young Soul Masters by then, there's no need to rush. We can take it slowly. After all, mindsets can't be changed overnight... By the way, what level has your Soul Power reached?" Tang San asked about Lingxi's cultivation progress.

(End of this chapter)