LBRDI Chapter 69

Spendthrift

The fluorescent dragon on the wall was still endlessly going on. “I’ve already been touched six times today and they also specifically pick Lao Zi’s waist, will you pay for the medical bills if I fall?”

The entire tunnel echoed with the fluorescent dragon’s babble. “I don’t care about the wage deduction, who can stand being touched all the time? I’ve been hanging here all day and glowing, I’m also tired.”

[A little fence: …The beauty in front of me is suddenly not beautiful anymore…it’s actually a subwoofer dragon, I…I can’t anymore.]

[Does your throat hurt today?: I haven’t even been to Fei Yue before…I was just thinking that they were all lights, so wouldn’t it be hot? Turns out they were all working fluorescent dragon’s, that’s it.]

[Humans are super cute: This is my first time knowing of such a job, isn’t that just lying there? I want to go!]

[Sheepish: I did take my cub there before, but the ticket for the tunnel cost over 300 star coins and my daughter refused to go in because it was too expensive. I thought it was too expensive before, but now I’ve calculated the cost and it’s alright.]

[Death Rays: Glowing all day seems to be quite energy-intensive, their wage must be a lot.]

[Seventh Legion Super God: …When it comes to star coins, it’s even less of a fairy tale.]

Yan Tan fell silent, slowly turned around and held onto Livia, very aggrieved. “It’s not at all romantic anymore.”

Livia lowered his head to coax the aggrieved dragon cub, rubbing his hair and patting his back.

Yan Tan’s face was buried in Livia’s clothes and he fell into self-imposed isolation.

He Xing tugged at his mask and fell into a long silence. He had also never been in a place like this before and didn’t know that the “wall lanterns” were all dragons with pay, so when he entered, he wondered why the “wall lanterns” had breathing sounds coming from them.

If he wasn’t too curious, he wouldn’t have gone straight for it.

Gian tilted his head. “Fluorescent Dragon? Aren’t those metal dragons? They look so small.”
Although he was studying “Dragon Genus” on his own, he was still young and there was no 3D projection in the books, so his impression of some of the dragons was a bit vague.

Shen Mian hugged the little dragon cub and explained, “They’re fluorescent dragons, although metal dragons and fluorescent dragons are very similar, metal dragons don’t eat fluorescent algae, so they don’t glow.”

Xing Fei was curious. “They eat algae?”

Shen Mian simply crouched down, held Xing Fei and Gian and taught them on the spot. “Look at these fluorescent dragons, the scales on their bodies are translucent and luminous material is gathered inside the scales. As long as the surrounding area is dark, they will automatically glow.”

“Fluorescent dragons consume luminescent algae, from which they ingest luminescent substances that are transported to their scales through their bloodstream.”

Xing Fei looked at the colourful fluorescent dragons. “Are the fluorescent dragons that emit different lights different subspecies?”

Shen Mian shook his head. “There are currently no subspecies of fluorescent dragons. The different light emitted is due to the intake of different luminescent substances. They emit whatever colour of luminescent algae they eat.”

“Fluorescent dragons like to emit different colours of light and generally do not ingest the same colour of glowing material continuously.”

Gian blinked, giving a confused look.

Shen Mian, “Fluorescent dragons have a custom. They create their own colour and whenever they emit a different colour, they rub it off their scales and attach them to shells to collect their glowing records. When fluorescent dragons gather to eat glowing algae, they show off to their kin how many different colours of light they have emitted.”

Little Gian, who also liked to collect his scales, scratched his face. “That’s very magical.”

The fluorescent dragon that flared up earlier spoke up again, very proud. “I’ve collected twenty-six colours, aren’t I amazing?”

Yan Tan didn’t feel disillusioned at this point and leaned in and asked in a subtle voice, “Brother, can I see your colours?”

Livia, “…”

In the live room:
[Death Rays: The Dragon race, a full-fledged magical race…]

……

The dragon cubs played all the way until night. Shen Mian turned off the live broadcast when evening arrived. Night on the Imperial Star came quickly and it was dark by five o’clock. As the night progressed, many of the entertainment items adorned with coloured lights became especially visible.

Like the rotating spaceship.

The huge ride was running and could be seen from the next area. Xing Fei had just emerged from the thrill room, with a frightened Yan Tan and a temporarily unresponsive Gian standing beside her. 

The little girl took Livia’s hand and pointed to the bright light. “Brother Livia, what is that?”

Livia glanced at it. “It’s a rotating spaceship.”

Xing Fei turned her head sharply, her eyes shining brightly as she looked at Shen Mian.

Dean Shen couldn’t do anything about the energetic little dragon cub,

Shen Mian stopped in front of the rotating spaceship ride and kind of didn’t want to go in.

The so-called rotating spaceship, in fact, was the interstellar version of the combination of the carousel and the Ferris wheel, but the “carousel” was replaced by a spaceship and decorated with a variety of coloured lights, looking particularly girlish. It ran in pretty much the same way; the metal shaft supported the slow rotation and ups and downs of a ship. It could only hold one dragon cub or one dragon in human form.

Shen Mian, “…”
Dean Shen quietly took two steps back.

Anyway, the ship was enclosed so there wouldn’t be any safety hazards and the ship itself didn’t allow multiple people to get on one ship, so Shen Mian bought tickets for the little dragon cubs and didn’t go up himself.

The rotating spaceship would be in the air for more than ten minutes so Shen Mian and He Xing planned to go to a book kiosk not far away to sit down and wait. There were many tables and chairs set up around the book kiosk, and many parents sat on chairs with their tired cubs, looking through the books they had rented.

This kind of book kiosk was not common in the Dragon Empire and could only be found in places like amusement parks. After all, in shopping malls, most adult dragons chose to play with their quantum computers and only in amusement parks, where six or seven out of ten groups of visitors are with their cubs, will parents abandon their quantum computers and choose this kind of “healthy” recreational activity.

As Shen Mian passed by the book kiosk, he saw a row of a collection of essays with the Nova logo on them.

He stopped and picked up a copy. The cover of the collection said it was this year’s new edition and most of the dragon cubs sitting around had it in front of them.

Shen Mian asked the owner of the book kiosk, “Has this year’s Rising Star call for submissions been published?”
Both Gian and Xing Fei had been selected, so Shen Mian was also interested in the publishing and planned to buy a few copies to put in the centre, preferably with a custom display case.

It had only been a dozen or so days since the list was announced, but the legitimate books had already hit the market? Neither of his family’s two dragon cubs had received a sample book from Nova and they hadn’t even received their award certificates yet.

The owner immediately assured him, “These are absolutely genuine, I just went through a little channel to get the books in advance. As you know, the business of physical books is not that easy and if you want to keep it going, you have to have your own way in. Do you want two copies? The quality of this year’s call for submissions is very high, with several exceptionally high scores in both the poetry and short essay categories, as well as a full master’s critique that will improve the young dragon cub’s writing skills.”

The owner looked at the two young “dragons” wearing masks and although they didn’t feel like they were old enough to have dragon cubs, he still tried his best to sell to them. “Now I’m the only one in the entire empire who has the published manuscript, so it would be a great honour to buy it back and give it to a family with dragon cubs.”

He Xing walked up to look through the sample book in Shen Mian’s hand. The opening chapter was his little Gian’s essay. He smiled and asked the owner, “How many copies do you have here?”

The owner thought about it. “There are still more than three hundred books left. I got these ahead of time so the quantity will be a little less and it’s selling well. The rest of these will probably be sold out today.”

He Xing, “Then I want them all.”

Shen Mian, “…”

Owner, “Huh? Sir, these are all new books and are a little more expensive by one or two star coins. Buying two books in advance and going back to read them is fine, but buying so many…you’re not going to complain to the Commerce and Industry Bureau about me, are you?”
Although it was only a star coin or two more expensive, it was indeed expensive and if He Xing complained, he would definitely be in trouble. Moreover, residents in the Golden capital were all wealthy and respectable people, so it might have something to do with that.

He Xing pulled down his mask with one hand, revealing most of his face and smiled at the owner. “I won’t complain.”

Owner, “!!”
It’s actually His Highness, the Crown Prince!

He Xing pointed to the collection. “I have dragon cubs that made the cut, so I want to buy more.”

Shen Mian snapped the book closed. “What are you buying so many for?”

He Xing counted for him. “We keep three books so all the dragon cubs in the centre each have one, right? We have to give a few copies to Yan Zhou and the others when they come to visit, right? The Dragon God Festival is coming up and my relatives are coming to visit, so why not give them a copy? Three hundred or so copies are just enough.”

Shen Mian, “…Are you treating these as special products?”
A scene immediately came to Dean Shen’s mind- He Xing giving out a collection for every relative he received and saying, “This is the Rising Star submission with my dragon cubs in it. It’s nothing much, just that two of them were selected and they scored pretty high. Give it to your dragon cubs as a Dragon God’s Day gift.”

Shen Mian felt suffocated just thinking about it. “Leave your dragon cubs alone.”

He Xing was very regretful as he thought his idea was quite good.

Shen Mian changed his words. “There’s no need to be a spendthrift.”

He Xing grumbled. “Okay then, I’ll get twenty copies.”

Shen Mian, “…”
He was a bit speechless and was about to ask the owner to help him pack up his books when suddenly, a little dragon cub’s voice came from below him. 

“Uncle.”

Shen Mian lowered his head and a little girl in human form stood in front of him.

It was clear that the other had just recently learned the human form, as the dragon form was still evident, with horns on the top of the head, pointed ears, white scales on the side of the neck and a large, beautiful, white tail trailing behind.

Shen Mian bent his knees and crouched down. “Hello.”

The little dragon cub was born beautiful. “Hello Uncle, is that the latest edition of Nova Magazine in your hand?”

Shen Mian nodded.

Little dragon cub, “Could you please speak to the owner for me?”
She held out her hand and in it was a roll of star coins. “I’m too short for the owner to see.”

Shen Mian nodded to her and got up to buy a copy before taking it down to the little dragon cub. “Are your parents not around?”

The little dragon cub handed over the star coins to Shen Mian, hugged the book and smiled at him. “I came by myself. I knew there was this book here, so I came over to buy it.”

Shen Mian was stunned. Very few little dragon cubs would buy this kind of guide book for themselves. It was usually their parents or teachers who requested them to read it.

The little dragon cub touched the cover lovingly. “I like one of the poems in there.”

“The poem talks about an elder that the author longs for and who had a scalding fragrance in their chest.”

“Don’t you think that’s beautiful, Uncle? She most definitely is a dragon cub with a spring in her heart.”

sauced

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Shallotnoodle

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