285: Pay taxes in advance

There's no feast that doesn't end. Having done what needed to be done and eaten what needed to be eaten, Lin Ye had to leave.

The Elf Race was incredibly enthusiastic towards Lin Ye; upon learning of his departure, they tearfully tried to persuade him to stay. Lin Ye naturally wouldn't remain, so he declined their kind offer. They then ceased their entreaties and presented him with a heap of local specialties, including an entire bottle of Stellar River Level Water of Life.

"Elves are truly warm and hospitable," Lin Ye mused, reluctantly departing the Elf Continent and returning to Ophiuchus Hou Star.

The Snake-Human Clan, in gratitude for his assistance, also treated him to fine wine and delicious meat, and presented him with a considerable amount of resources.

"Many thanks, Sir Lin Ye, for helping the Snake-Human Clan overcome this crisis," said Queen Dian of the Snake-Human Clan, clearly still a bit fearful. After all, if Lin Ye hadn't detected the issue, given the Elf Race's nature, they might only have sought help when the situation was irreversible. At that point, their Snake-Human Clan would also have been unable to escape unscathed.

"It's merely my duty," Lin Ye humbly replied.

"Sir, to express our gratitude for your efforts, our Snake-Human Clan has decided to pay our taxes in advance," said a minister from the Snake-Human Clan's financial department.

Lin Ye's heart stirred. Taxes were collected once every hundred thousand years, and each collection would stir up a bloody storm.

Tax evasion and avoidance over such a long timeline, while greatly reducing labor expenditure, increased the occurrence of malicious incidents.

A hundred thousand years was equivalent to the lifespan of a Star Domain Level of a normally-lived race. The mentality of 'after I die, who cares about the flood' meant that tax collection was never smooth.

Normally, with advanced technology and virtual world capabilities, how could such things exist? But as times evolved, so did tax evasion and avoidance. Darkness and light exist together; how could there be absolute light or absolute darkness?

"That's excellent," Lin Ye thought, secretly delighted. The taxes for a hundred thousand years from District A, the most developed of the four districts in a Star System, would be worth an extraordinary amount.

It was said that in the previous ranking, the taxes paid by Serpentarius A District were among the highest in the entire Galaxy.

The Queen of the Snake-Human Clan was clearly genuinely grateful; she wasn't just speaking formalities but had taken concrete action.

Serpentarius A District was home to more than just the Snake-Human Clan; it had hundreds of large and small races. The Snake-Human Clan was merely the strongest among them, overwhelmingly so.

When the boss spoke of paying taxes early, even though the actual collection was still several thousand years away, the other races could only grumble and dutifully pay their taxes.

Disobey? They wouldn't even consider who was protecting them. The Snake-Human Clan specialized in medicine and didn't care for other industries, so they handed these over to other races. Such good fortune was unheard of in other districts.

Lin Ye didn't need to do anything; everything was handled by the Snake-Human Clan.

If it were a typical tax collection, suspicious cases would require dispatching trusted aides for verification; those who broke the law would be punished according to regulations; and stubborn individuals would need to be suppressed. There would be many places requiring intervention, causing a lot of trouble.

"Sir, this is the detailed tax payment information for Serpentarius A District. Please review it," said Lin Ye's intelligent housekeeper.

Lin Ye knew nothing about taxation, so he naturally wouldn't foolishly handle it himself but entrusted it to professionals.

"Let me see," Lin Ye said, receiving the transmitted files.

A detailed, complete version—10086T.

A concise, summarized version—125MB.

"Xiao Ai is truly meticulous," Lin Ye was very satisfied with the work ability of his intelligent housekeeper, Xiao Ai.

He first opened the complete version. Although he knew he wouldn't understand it, humans were like that: too curious and liked to challenge themselves.

As expected, it was complex and lengthy, no wonder a huge organization was needed just for taxation. No wonder there were so many instances of tax evasion and avoidance; it was too difficult to investigate.

So he opened the simplified version.

The economy of Serpentarius A District had been relatively stable for the past hundred thousand years—unless there were special technological advancements, economic fluctuations among races within the Galaxy generally weren't significant.

Over the past hundred thousand years, over two thousand trillion galaxy coins in taxes were generated. Lin Ye was secretly shocked that two thousand trillion galaxy coins were already a thousand times his peak wealth.

One should know that his previous surge in wealth was due to a hundredfold increase from betting, meaning that if it weren't for that, the taxes from Ophiuchus might have been a hundred thousand times his wealth.

Some might say that the income of the most prosperous Star System in a constellation for a hundred thousand years is only a hundred thousand times your wealth, so you should be secretly pleased.

But in fact, Lin Ye's Demon Detection Instrument business was too profitable, selling well in several Star Systems and accumulating over thousands of years, yet even so, in the face of Ophiuchus, he was still like an ant.

"No wonder everyone wants to be a direct disciple of the Galaxy Lord. Who could refuse such benefits?" Lin Ye sighed.

Guarding for a hundred thousand years meant gaining half of the hundred thousand years of tax revenue from the guarded territory. This job yielded extremely high returns. Just like Lin Ye, he could receive half of Serpentarius A District's tax revenue, which amounted to one quadrillion.

Generally speaking, ten billion galaxy coins could enable a sufficiently talented person to reach Stellar River Peak. The direct disciples of the Galaxy Lord were all elites, and they would probably need around a hundred billion.

Therefore, other direct disciples, even if they were in relatively poorer regions, could gather breakthrough resources in a short time and then wholeheartedly strive to break through to a higher realm.

"But even so, those who break through to the Master are so rare. Is breaking through to the Master really that difficult?" A hint of wavering appeared in Lin Ye's heart.

Countless geniuses in the Galaxy followed one after another, but the Masters born, excluding those who sacrificed themselves, were only three. This was enough to show the difficulty of breaking through to the Master.

And he, in his pursuit of the ultimate peak, was constantly fusing laws. Was he being overly confident? Fusing two laws didn't significantly change the difficulty of breakthrough, but the further one went, the more the difficulty increased geometrically.

"No, it's difficult for others because their foundations are too shallow. When breaking through to the Master, their physical, mental, and Star Power resources are insufficient to support them in igniting the fire of laws. But I am different; my physical body is invincible, my Soul and Star Power are also at their peak, and my anchor is the Original Universe," Lin Ye thought.

Laws are like engines, and the physical body, Soul, and Star Power are their fuel. If the engine is too powerful, more fuel is needed.

An ordinary person breaking through is like a motorcycle, not needing much oil; a dual-law Fusion is like a small car, their fuel is still sufficient; but Lin Ye's laws are like a rocket launcher, needing tons or tens of tons of fuel.

"Next, I need to pay more attention to accumulating in the mental aspect," Lin Ye thought. Prevention is better than cure; essence, qi, and spirit are indispensable, and his weakest aspect currently is still the Soul.

It seems that the exploration of the Underworld needs to be expedited, as the products within the Underworld are excellent Soul breakthrough resources for him.