The Eternal Club 9: The Rong Family Manor
The Rong family manor on 186 Xibei Road of Jin’an District was fully lighted on this very night.
The descendants and key family members of the Rong family had returned to China from where they were based and had rushed back to the manor.
Expensive but unassuming cars were parked at the entrance to the estate.
The architecture of the main building within the estate was modelled after 17th century European designs.
Rong Yiyou, the only surviving member of the second generation of the Rong family, was now lying on his Baroque style bed inside a similarly furnished bedroom of this main building.
He was extremely old, frail and skinny. His skin was dry and pale, so it was obvious that he was on the brink of dying.
His breathing had to be assisted by an oxygen mask and he was hooked up to several medical devices that reported his vitals at all times.
Standing by his bedside were several leading members of the Rong family, as well as some younger ones, who were all standing quietly with a saddened look on their faces.
Rong Yiyou was the younger brother of the one who had become a political leader back then. He had experienced and was an active part of that glorious time in the family’s history.
Every additional day he stayed alive was a reassurance to the rest of the family.
It didn’t matter whether they were old or young members of the family. Rong Yiyou’s existence alone gave them confidence.
If Rong Yiyou died, then the Rong family would end up moving into greater obscurity in the next generation.
“Mr. Rong…” a middle-aged man in a white doctor’s coat called out to the current head of the family, Rong Zhijian.
Rong Zhijian’s gaze shifted from the old man to the doctor.
He motioned to the doctor to keep his voice down, and then exchanged glances with his relatives in the room.
Every member of the family turned to follow Rong Zhijian and the doctor out of the bedroom quietly.
“Mr. Rong, everyone…I don’t think…I don’t think Old Mr. Rong is going to get through tonight,” said the doctor in a grim voice after swallowing his saliva.
The doctor seemed a little nervous since he was surrounded by so many important people.
The atmosphere grew even more solemn after he said those words.
Meanwhile, a tall young man in a gray windbreaker looked towards the manor from across the road.
“So, that’s the Rong family manor?” the young man murmured to himself.
That young man was Lu Li. His target was the Old Mr. Rong residing in this estate.
“Did something happen?”
He scanned the estate and could sense something was amiss. The security around the estate was higher than usual and cars kept stopping at the entrance.
Lu Li shook his head and decided not to think so much about this.
With just a thought in his mind, a notification appeared.
“A hundred times,” replied Lu Li.
His ability took immediate effect and it affected everything around him.
The cars that were speeding down the road, seemed to have slowed down drastically and were barely moving.
Now that his flow of time was going at 100 times that of the rest of the world, he started calculating his walking speed and distance covered. In one second in the outside world, he was able to cover 65 meters.
He could walk 65 meters in one second!
Even if a car travelled at 70 kilometers per hour, it would still only cover about 20 meters per second. Even a car was three times slower than his walking speed.
Converting 65 meters per second to kilometers per hour meant that he was travelling at 234 kilometers per hour. He was as fast as a bullet train now!
Besides, this was merely his walking speed. If he started running instead…then the numbers would become even more terrifying!
Lu Li stuffed his hands into his windbreaker’s pockets and strolled past all the security guards as he walked right into the Rong family estate.
The patrolling guards couldn’t detect him at all.
Lu Li stood with his back against the light and looked up to observe the main building in front of him more closely.
He knew a thing or two about architecture and he could see that a lot of detail went into this particular building.
The front of the building was a wide corridor flanked by two rows of columns. Judging from the way the top part of the columns were carved, they were probably modelled after the three styles of Ancient Greece – the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders.
Lu Li turned away from staring at the building’s architectural traits and smiled as he continued walking into the building itself.
Not a single person within the building could see him.
He looked around casually at the interior of this ancient building.
The wooden border of the fireplace was intricately carved with motifs that carried the elements of the neoclassicism style as well as elements from Ancient China.
The complex carvings on the teakwood wainscoting…the 15 square meter-stained glass skylight window…
Colorful hexagonal mosaic tiles lined the floor. These tiles had been repaired by Italian craftsmen who knew how to do it the traditional way. Apparently, the way to make these multi-colored tiles was to first make a mould out of old tiles, dye separate batches of clay, and then fill the mould with the various colors one by one by hand before finally heating them in a furnace.
“This is truly a luxurious manor,” Lu Li gasped.
He walked towards the bedroom that was located in the innermost part of the house.
After he went past the staircase, he saw all the key family members of the Rong family standing outside the bedroom door.
He raised his eyebrow slightly and smiled faintly.
Then he reduced his time multiplier down to just ten times.
The sound of footsteps suddenly coming from afar instantly drew the attention of Rong Zhijian and his family.