He controlled his staff, cloaking his figure as he passed through heavily guarded city gates.
It was like traveling through entirely different worlds.
First, there was the outermost refugee district, filled with flowing sewage, cramped shacks, and people with numb eyes.
Then came the commoner district, where the houses were slightly neater, but most pedestrians looked exhausted as they rushed about to make a living.
And finally, there were the scantily clad streetwalkers soliciting business on street corners, drifting between the estates of wealthy merchants.
He clearly witnessed the naked, brutal class divide of the City-State Era.
Every ring was a massive chasm, strictly separating people.
The Carter Royal Capital was astonishingly vast.
Lin Gui flew along the central axis, passing through city gates for a full twenty minutes before reaching the entrance of the wealthy merchant district.
As the class rose, the strength of the guards also increased.
The soldiers guarding the fourth ring's gate had actually reached High-tier Transcendent.
They were even accompanied by a perception-type High-tier Transcendent mage.
He scanned everyone entering with sharp eyes.
Lin Gui silently floated over the mage's head.
He headed straight into the wealthy district of the fourth ring.
The scene here was completely different from the outer rings.
Streets were paved with white stone slabs.
Shop windows on both sides displayed glittering jewels and fine clothes.
The air was filled with the scent of spices and flowers.
Villas of various styles dotted carefully manicured gardens.
Pedestrians, male and female alike, wore fine, exquisitely tailored clothes.
Their faces bore the composure and arrogance of high society.
Lin Gui randomly picked a magnificent restaurant.
He silently climbed onto its high interior rafters.
Then, he began to wait patiently.
He was waiting for a “show” that was staged almost daily.
He wanted to use this show to deepen his disgust, making his thefts feel even more justified.
Sure enough, before long, a sharp, bitter stream of abuse echoed from below.
In a corner of the magnificent restaurant lobby, the crystal chandelier cast a dazzling light.
A noblewoman wore a velvet dress, her neck and wrists adorned with pearls and gems.
She pointed sharply at a young waiter with her silk-gloved hand.
The boy looked no more than fifteen or sixteen, currently bowing his head deeply, his body trembling slightly with fear.
The silver tray he held had fallen to the ground.
An expensive glass of red wine had spilled, leaving a dark red stain on the polished, mirror-like marble floor.
“You filthy, blind, low-class creature!”
The noblewoman's voice was high and screechy.
“Do you know how much this dress is worth? Even if you sold your entire family, you couldn't afford a single scrap of it!”
One of her friends covered her mouth with a feather fan.
She let out a soft laugh, her eyes filled with the pleasure of watching a show.
For nobles like her, they thoroughly enjoyed the pleasure of trampling on others.
This was much more entertaining than going to the grand theater to watch those boring knight operas and royal epics.
The boy muttered, his voice as quiet as a mosquito.
“I-I'm sorry, Madam... You suddenly turned around, and I...”
“You dare talk back?!”
The noblewoman screamed, sounding like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
“Are you saying it's my fault?!”
“As expected of a bug that crawled out of the refugee district. You don't even understand basic etiquette or respect!”
“Scum like you should stay in the sewers of the seventh ring.”
“Who allowed you to come up here and pollute the air?”
Her harsh words whipped the boy repeatedly.
He bit his lower lip so hard it almost bled.
His eyes were red, but he did not dare let his tears fall.
The noblewoman caught the approving glances from her friends out of the corner of her eye, feeling even more pleased.
She lifted her chin, using the tip of her shoe to contemptuously kick the broken glass on the floor.
“Look at what you've done! How unlucky! Where is the manager? Call your manager here!”
“I will make sure you are thrown out of here today, to teach you the price of offending a noble!”
Her performance became more animated, every expression and gesture filled with exaggerated anger and disdain.
As if the shivering boy hadn't just spilled wine by accident, but had committed some unforgivable crime.
This was just the daily entertainment of the nobility.
They took great pleasure in the sense of superiority gained from trampling on the weak.
In the shadows, Lin Gui watched this silently.
Once the noblewoman finished venting, she left the restaurant with her friends, holding her head high like a victorious peacock.
Lin Gui quietly slipped behind her. As he passed a recycling station along the way, he casually picked up a wooden crate.
Soon, they arrived at the noblewoman's house.
A three-story villa with an independent garden, located in a quiet street.
The woman's return immediately brought eager service from several maids.
Lin Gui followed her, wandering around the gaudily decorated villa.
He got a general idea of the layout.
Taking advantage of the noisy tea party the noblewoman hosted for her friends, Lin Gui began to act.
He quickly and silently searched the entire villa area.
Soon, he followed a butler carrying a ring of keys and found his target.
A storehouse in the wing of the basement.
Its door was secured by seven or eight giant locks of different designs.
Following the butler inside, he saw that the storehouse was filled with glittering gold and jewelry, far richer than what he had plundered in Caran.
While the butler turned to count a newly arrived batch of porcelain, Lin Gui struck.
In a corner, a neatly stacked pile of gold coins vanished into thin air.
On the display shelves, several radiant gemstone necklaces quietly disappeared.
The butler seemed to sense a faint change in the air.
He sneezed, looked around in confusion, and saw no one.
His eyes darted toward the exit, and then he slipped a small gold ring into his pocket.
“Ahem, Aunt is so rich, but she doesn't even share a little with her nephew...”
“Leaving money here is a waste anyway.”
“I might as well spend it at the Nightingale and Rose.”
“It'll also help carry on the Doron family line.”
“Ahem, just taking a little bit.”
Hearing the young butler's words, Lin Gui silently lowered the brick he was holding over the butler's head.
He thought to himself: If you're going to steal, you might as well go all the way.
That way, when they investigate later, your guilt will be set in stone.
Lin Gui manipulated two other, seemingly more expensive pearl necklaces and gently slipped them into the inner pocket of the butler's coat.
Having delivered this little “thank you,” Lin Gui became even more brazen in his plundering.
Piles of gold coins floated up and vanished.
To help the young butler cover up his crime, Lin Gui thoughtfully stuffed wooden crates underneath the gold coin piles, propping them up to make them look full.
A moment later, he left the storehouse behind the secretly delighted, completely oblivious butler.
After leaving the villa, Lin Gui didn't stop.
Instead, he did a round of the wealthy district.
Floating into the opera house, a massage parlor, a racecourse, a brothel...
Soon, Lin Gui locked onto several targets.
But unfortunately, there were no kind butlers to help open the storehouses.
Just as Lin Gui was about to leave the home of a wealthy slave merchant, a black-clad assassin agilely climbed through the window, landing right beneath Lin Gui's feet.
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