Two days later, the New Flyer motorcade left Basaru City after three days and headed on the road to Sowell City.
The medium sized Magic Car kept bumping along the dirt road outside Basaru City, causing Xu Yi and the other magic machine development center researchers to sway.
The researchers were led by the dwarf Camby. They were using this time to discuss the work they were about to do after arriving in Sowell City, making the atmosphere in the car very lively.
However, Xu Yi was very silent. He turned to look at the scenery outside the window and slightly knit his brows, falling into deep thought the entire time.
Looking over the dilapidated houses on both sides of the road, Xu Yi's expression became more and more serious.
He was currently faced with an important choice, but because of his worries, he couldn't make his decision.
Camby on the side stopped his discussion and turned to see the strange look on Xu Yi's face. He couldn't help asking, "Chairman, what is wrong with you?
Since you went out with Longley Count the day before yesterday, why do you always have this expression?
Could it be that Longley Count did something that made it hard for you? "
Xu Yi gave a bitter laugh and shook his head.
"Although it isn't wrong to say that Longley Count made it hard for me, the truth is that I made it hard for myself."
"What do you mean?" Camby had a confused look.
Xu Yi looked at the small village of small houses in the distance for a while before suddenly asking, "Camby, if you decided to do something that could help many people, but also put you in a very dangerous situation, what would you choose?"
Camby knit his brows, "That depends on whether those people are worth helping or not and how dangerous the situation is.
What?
Chairman, what did Longley Count say to you? It can't be that he wants to invite you to invest in Basaru City, right? "
Xu Yi looked at Camby with wide eyes in surprise.
All along, he had assumed that dwarves like Canbi were rather slow to react to such matters. Yet, he didn't expect Canbi to be so astute as to blurt out the truth.
"Yes, Count Longley did send an invitation and his attitude was very sincere. I have to admit that I was moved by him." Xu Yi nodded.
Thinking of his interactions with Longli Count in the past few days, Xu Yi had a strange feeling.
In the past few years, with the rapid development of New Flyer, Xu Yi had come into contact with a large number of nobles in the Lampari Kingdom. In his opinion, there were good and bad qualities among them.
Good nobles could coexist peacefully with commoners and even extend a helping hand to the commoners as much as possible. Bad nobles, on the other hand, would use their privileges to oppress commoners and satisfy their own desires.
On the other hand, most nobles adhered to the traditions of nobles and were basically on a completely different level from commoners. They had nothing to do with each other, as though they belonged to two different worlds.
But no matter what, Xu Yi hadn't seen a single noble like Count Longley who could truly coexist with commoners as equals. He was even wholeheartedly working hard to improve the lives of the commoners under his rule.
Xu Yi wasn't certain if Count Longley was acting. But from the evaluation of the commoners of Basaru City and the attitude of the commoners of Basaru City towards Count Longley, he could tell that Count Longley's attitude was rather sincere.
After all, it was easy for him to fake it, but it was hard for him to get all the commoners of Basaru City to do the same.
Even if he wasn't acting, Xu Yi had no choice but to seriously consider Longley Count Longley's proposal based on his attitude and the implications of this matter.
Investing in Basaru City wasn't that hard for New Flyer.
Although Basaru City was indeed very poor and there weren't many good resources in the city, based on his observations over the past few days, Xu Yi had already found several ways to develop Basaru City. After investigating it, he felt that it was quite feasible.
The only thing Basaru City lacked was funds and this was what New Flyer didn't lack right now.
If they agreed to Count Longley's invitation and New Flyer came to Basaru City to invest, it would have a deeper meaning. It would mean that Basaru City who publicly supported his highness Eric was actually cooperating with her highness Seveni's New Flyer.
No one would think that New Flyer wanted to support his highness Eric, rather people would think that Count Longley wanted to betray his highness.
The reason was that the difference in power between the two sides was too great.
Although Longley Count Longley was a City Lord, a respected Count, Basaru City was the weakest and poorest city in the northeast province. Longley Count Longley didn't have much power as a City Lord at all.
But New Flyer was different.
As a new company that developed the fastest in the Lampuri Kingdom, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was considered to have limitless prospects. The power and potential that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had was not something a City Lord of a poor city could compare to.
Both sides also had a large difference in support for his highness Eric and her highness Seveni.
But even so, the significance of this matter was very large.
If Longley Count Longley really chose to invite New Flyer to invest in Basaru City and cooperate with New Flyer, it would be considered a betrayal by his highness Eric's side.
Moreover, this was a bad start for many people. It meant that the side that supported his highness Eric wasn't a solid board and there were internal divisions.
If this matter became reality, Xu Yi could imagine how angry his highness Eric would be and how serious the consequences would be.
So when he heard Longley Count Longley clearly invite him, even if Xu Yi was already prepared, he was still very surprised.
"Longley Count Longley, are you certain you want to do this?
Are you certain you know what the consequences of this will be? "
Xu Yi still remembered the bitter and helpless expression on Longley Count Longley's face when he answered this question, as well as a deep determination.
"Of course I know.
But compared to the survival of the tens of thousands of people in Basaru City, what does a mere betrayal count for?
For this goal, our Longley Family has already worked hard for several generations. Now that there is a chance in front of me, if I don't grab it, how could I face my family's seniors, how could I face the people of Basaru City! "
"Are you certain that if you do this, your father will know in the underworld and won't think you're betraying him?"
"The reason father chose to support his highness Eric was because his highness said he would support him first and guarantee that all the citizens of the kingdom would be able to eat their fill. But in order to obtain military merits for himself, he doesn't care about the lives of the citizens and is adding a large burden to Basaru City that they can't bear.
If father was still here, he would be the first one to reprimand him. "
Longley Count Longley's clear answer allowed Xu Yi to understand why he would make this choice that would shock everyone, but it also made it hard for Xu Yi.
Walking around Basaru City with Longley Count Longley over the past few days naturally wasn't to play, rather it was to investigate the environment of Basaru City under Longley Count Longley's lead.
In these few days, Xu Yi found that Basaru City really was the poorest city in the northeast province. Not to mention most of the normal farmers outside the city being like old Hal's family, unable to solve the most basic problem of food and clothing, even the citizens with slightly better family conditions could only barely survive.
Not to mention the rapidly developing Banta City, it couldn't even compare to any of the cities Xu Yi had been to.
Xu Yi of course hoped that with the investment of the New Flyer, Basaru City would develop and improve the lives of these poor people.
But if he did this, not only would Longley Count Longley face serious problems, Xu Yi would also face problems.
His highness Eric's side would think that Longley Count Longley was betraying them, but they would also think that New Flyer was provoking them and even challenging them.
If they really did this, it would break the fragile balance between his highness Eric's side and her highness Seveni's side. It would make the two sides that could barely coexist truly stand against each other.
Xu Yi couldn't bear the heavy responsibility of splitting the Lampari Kingdom, so he couldn't easily agree to Longley Count Longley's request. He could only tell Longley Count that he would consider it and leave him with a trace of hope.
As for whether he would agree or not, Xu Yi had to return to Banta City and discuss this with her highness Seveni.
This matter wasn't just the matter of the New Flyer company.
Longley Count Longley naturally knew Xu Yi's worries, so he didn't force Xu Yi to agree. Rather he warmly welcomed the New Flyer's group, fully displaying his sincerity.
But when he was sending them off, Longley Count Longley's eyes made it hard for Xu Yi to resist.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi couldn't help giving another bitter laugh.
How good would it be if Lampuri Thirteenth didn't have that many children, or if he directly chose one of them as the successor to the throne. That way, everyone wouldn't need to fight for the throne and waste the strength of the Lampari Kingdom.
Now that the Lampari Kingdom had become like this, he as the king should be the one to take responsibility.
However, after all this time, his majesty had stayed out of this. He didn't make any final decisions and didn't show any favoritism.
It was like ….. he deliberately wanted things to become like this.
This king, just what did he want to do?