Heilong-kou (Black Dragon-Mouth/Pass)
Heilong-cheng (Black Dragon-City)
Censorate (Supervisory Court)
Yuling City (Jade City)
Jingui Town (Golden Turtle Town)
Xuanwu City (Black tortoise City)
…
A round-headed, round-eared little head climbed up onto Yin Jixue's lap.
Lou Zhao, sharp-eyed as always, reached out and grabbed the creature by the scruff of its neck.
He turned to Yin Jixue. "Why is there a little Winged Tiger Clan cub in the palace?"
Yin Jixue blinked in surprise. "Wait, it's not a kitten?"
Lou Zhao gave her a look. "There are no cats or dogs in the demon world. Who told you that was a cat?"
Yin Jixue looked innocent. "It just looks like one! They only said it could be kept for now." She stubbornly refused to admit that the cute little furball was a tiger cub.
Lou Zhao let go. The tiny tiger wriggled free and jumped back into Yin Jixue's arms.
"It's fine to keep it. She's a Winged Tiger royal cub."
Suddenly, the fluffy creature in her arms felt like a hot potato. It wasn't that she couldn't keep a tiger, but why did it have to be a royal tiger?
Lou Zhao explained, "The little prince of the Winged Tigers was born weak. Even after a hundred years, he's still like this—can't even take human form. If it weren't for his pure bloodline, they'd have abandoned him in the forest to fend for himself. I'm guessing someone smuggled him out."
Yin Jixue frowned. "Smuggled out? Who would dare steal royal blood from the Winged Tiger Clan?"
"People are driven by greed. Aside from the Four Great Demon Clans, there are many smaller tribes. Blood Demons, Night Demons, Shadow Demons—they weren't originally part of the Black Dragon Clan, only later swearing allegiance. The demon realm is far from peaceful."
Only then did Yin Jixue realize there were many small clans beyond the major four. Just like in the human world—beneath great nations, there were still countless small states. Compared to all that, the Black Dragon Clan felt like the best place to be.
She looked down at the clumsy cub rolling in her arms. "Well, it's lucky it ran into me. I wonder how it ended up here. Were they planning to sell it somewhere?"
Lou Zhao shook his head. "I've never heard of Winged Tiger flesh having any special use. Probably just someone trying to collect pureblood specimens."
Yin Jixue thought to herself—what a twisted hobby. Kidnapping a royal cub to turn it into a specimen? They must have a death wish.
The little tiger rolled onto its back in her arms, tummy exposed, completely failing to live up to its species' fearsome image.
Sensing her gaze, it opened its eyes and let out a soft mewl.
"Awuu~"
Yin Jixue scratched its chin. "No aura at all. Let's just keep calling it a kitten."
Lou Zhao had no objections. It was just a silly little thing, after all.
…
Back in the city, the Marriage Registration Center was quickly completed. The first couple had already signed up.
It was built on the same street as the Censorate, which the palace intended to take over entirely. Departments like the Agricultural Bureau, Price Bureau, and Tax Bureau would all soon split off from the Censorate and become independent offices.
Yin Jixue had received her reward from the system—the promised ancient demon brew recipes. They were surprisingly simple—anyone could do it. She decided to try making it herself.
She asked Ruoshui to prepare both glass jars and earthenware jars. But looking at them, she felt they were better suited for making pickled vegetables than for brewing wine.
Then she checked the system rewards again—and found that specialized brewing jars had been included.
Lou Zhao leaned in, curious. "What are you making?"
Whatever it was, it was rare to see his queen personally get involved.
"It's a type of wine. You've never had it before."
Lou Zhao wasn't particularly fond of alcohol, but he still squatted beside her to watch.
As Yin Jixue worked through the ingredients, she chatted idly.
"After you came back, did you send Da Fu and Da Gui to take over?"
Lou Zhao nodded. "They went with me to two cities and already know what to do. I don't have to show up personally anymore."
Yin Jixue felt like the conversation was straight out of a slice-of-life drama: the long-separated husband (Lou Zhao) returns home to look after his wife (her) and child (the silly cat).
She quickly shook her head. What the hell kind of scenario am I imagining here?
Still, this arrangement was great. The Demon King didn't need to personally handle everything. As long as his trained subordinates could manage the job, they could train even more demonfolk under them.
And if Tiesheng could create a functioning flying machine—or at least an aircraft—intercity travel and communication would no longer be a problem.
"If you've got nothing to do," she said, "I've got plenty of books. Want to help me review some of them?"
Lou Zhao had an amazing capacity for self-study. She didn't want to waste that talent—he might even end up tutoring her someday.
Just to be safe, she exchanged for a learning tablet from the system store—one designed for elderly users.
"If there's something you don't understand, just tap this. It'll read out the explanation."
The learning tablet was a non-networked encyclopedia.
Lou Zhao had never seen anything like it before. Rather than heading to the study, he sat right there and started flipping through a book, occasionally poking the tablet with curiosity.
Which meant Yin Jixue was treated to a constant stream of cheerful voice prompts:
"Good job, little buddy! That's correct!"
She couldn't understand why the tablet for seniors had the same features as a kids' learning device.
Yin Jixue started to question if she was really in a relationship—or just raising a very clever son.
She expected Lou Zhao to be annoyed by the tablet calling him a "little buddy." But he didn't care. Instead, he asked:
"Can this thing be mass-produced?"
Yin Jixue replied, "If it's just for our school, yes. But if you want to sell it, then no. The biggest bottleneck is the battery—they're hard to make. We don't have any demon folk here who are particularly good at physics. If we need a few, we can grit our teeth and buy them. They're reusable, after all—one batch of students can pass them down to the next."
Lou Zhao seemed a little disappointed. So this talking device was unique to him?
He didn't know what a "battery" was, but since he had studied physics before, he suddenly had an idea.
"Can I try making one?"
Yin Jixue looked up. "Try what?"
Lou Zhao's eyes sparkled. "A battery. I remember something in a book—about positive and negative electrodes. I'm not sure how it works, but if I follow the textbook, I might be able to make one."
Yin Jixue couldn't bring herself to dampen his enthusiasm… even though that was basic middle-school knowledge.
To help him out, she exchanged lithium batteries and dry cell batteries from the system store. After thinking a bit more, she decided to just buy all the types available for his research.
"Lithium batteries can be recharged and reused—but we don't have electricity right now. If you're serious about generating power, Black Dragon Pass has the potential for wind and solar energy. I'm not an expert in those fields, but I can dig up the materials for you if you want to try figuring them out. Or, if you're not in a rush, I'll take some time to come up with a plan."
"Dry cell batteries are single-use. If you can manage to make them, we'll be able to mass-produce learning tablets."
Lou Zhao frowned slightly. "Isn't there a way to generate power in Black Dragon City?"
He had just come back, and now she was already trying to ship him off to Black Dragon Pass again—even if it wasn't that far.
Yin Jixue saw his pitiful expression and felt just as reluctant. "We also have hydropower here. Our hydraulic systems for steel production and textiles are already well-developed. I'll start by pulling up materials on how hydropower works."
She added, "Oh, and if you need copper sheets, iron wire, or other materials, go to the machine factory or steel plant. We still have lots of untapped mines in Black Dragon City."
If she remembered correctly, there were copper and tin deposits on the map.
Say what you will about the Black Dragon Clan's harsh living conditions—their mineral resources were practically a gift from heaven.