Heilong-kou (Black Dragon-Mouth/Pass)
Heilong-cheng (Black Dragon-City)
Heilong-yuan(Black Dragon Wall)
Heilong Bay (Black Dragon Bay)
Heilong Ridge (Black Dragon Ridge)
Censorate (Supervisory Court)
Yuling City (Jade City)
Jingui Town (Golden Turtle Town)
Xuanwu City (Black tortoise City)
Qinglong (Azure Dragron)
——
August in Black Dragon City was especially lively. In years past, this was the time when traveling merchants would come to the city to escape the summer heat.
Even though living conditions in Black Dragon City were once harsh, the cool climate offered welcome relief—particularly for those merchants who were covered in fur, loved the water or lived in trees.
But this year, Black Dragon City had far surpassed their hometowns in terms of comfort and quality of life.
The newly built Botanical Garden quickly become a popular attraction. Inside was a designated Orchard Zone, where, with the purchase of a ticket, visitors could eat as much fruit as they wanted. Staff were even available to freeze leftover fruit upon request, or package uneaten portions to take home.
This all-you-can-eat with-admission model was an instant hit with the traveling merchants—no matter how you calculated it, it felt like a great deal.
Of course, this wasn't your typical botanical garden.
After all, this was Demonfolk territory. Many of the plants looked useless—and, truthfully, were. These were kept in a dedicated educational exhibit area. But since there weren't many species that could be showcased, and few demon folk had any real aesthetic sense when it came to plants, the section looked rather meager.
To remedy this, the Botanical Garden was divided into zones, with different types of flora in each—like Tropical Rainforest, Tropical Desert, and so on.
Most of the plants were unfamiliar to the native demonfolk. They were cultivated from improved seeds that Yin Jixue had acquired from the System's store.
Though it was called a botanical garden, most of the exhibits were edible plants with educational labels, aimed at helping visitors understand what their food looked like before it was cooked or served.
Plant diversity among the demonfolk was historically limited. The forest flora tended to all look the same, and when transplanted into a curated setting, they offered little ornamental value—unless one counted long-extinct plants from tens of thousands of years ago, which at least made for a good marketing hook.
Extinct plants and lost food crops were now being slowly re-cultivated. It likely wouldn't be long before they reappeared in the world.
Yin Jixue and Lou Zhao didn't plan to hide this. They couldn't be bothered to explain it to anyone, and didn't intend to make any formal announcements.
If a demonfolk happened to notice, great. If not—well, they'd figure it out eventually.
In the garden, a staff member shouted, "No pushing! The last group is still in the cherry orchard. You can head over to the strawberry or loquat orchards instead!"
A traveling merchant loudly refused, "No way! There's a special event in the cherry orchard today—that's what we came for!"
The line at the cherry orchard stretched so long it disappeared into the distance. The staff member sighed.
Every time the season changed, the garden director worried about fruit rotting on the trees before they could be harvested, so they held promotions to clear out the produce.
This time, it was cherries. He didn't even like cherries—too small, and they had pits.
If he weren't on shift today, he'd have gone to the strawberry or banana orchards instead.
Different fruits were planted in different zones—bananas in the tropical area, and strawberries in the temperate area—all to suit the ideal growing conditions of each fruit.
The benefit of this setup was that there was fresh fruit every day, without being limited by seasons.
While the kids at Heilongkou couldn't come to play in the botanical garden, the planting operations there had caught up. The school cafeteria ensured every child had fruit with their meals.
And if that wasn't enough, many local parents brought food directly to their children. That was one of the perks of being native to the Black Dragon Tribe—parents could visit freely.
In contrast, parents from other regions had to line up and wait their turn to use Black Dragon Express to send care packages filled with local specialties.
The problem? Their kids didn't even like those treats. What they loved was Black Dragon City's fried chicken and barbecue.
Eventually, the out-of-town parents gave up on sending food. They hadn't even tasted it themselves, and yet their kids were already developing picky palates.
Black Dragon Express was originally intended for parcel delivery, but somehow it had morphed into a takeout service. With high delivery fees, parents could only afford to splurge occasionally.
Determined, they made up their minds—they needed to find a way to make more money.
Otherwise, they feared they wouldn't even be able to afford to feed their kids in the future!