Chapter 449 - 292: How Zog Makes a Prodigal Return

Chapter 449: Chapter 292: How Zog Makes a Prodigal Return

Zog wasn’t at the specialty store when the shipment arrived. He was at the City Lord’s Mansion, chatting about traffic and driver’s licenses.

"So, what you’re saying is, we divide the road into several lanes—vehicles in the middle, and pedestrians on the sides?" the City Lord asked, looking at the diagram Zog had provided.

"Yes," Zog replied. "Vehicles are inherently dangerous, and separating the flow of traffic will make travel much smoother. Faster traffic means better economic development. If you’d like to understand it in more detail, you’re welcome to come visit Deepwater City."

Traffic in most places right now was a paradise for those who liked to cut in. There were no clear rules, no right-of-way; it all came down to who had the quickest reflexes.

To make matters worse, carriage companies had invented foot-pedal horns, which were far more convenient than the old hand-cranked bells. As a result, the city was constantly filled with the blare of horns.

Every morning, Zog woke up wondering if he had somehow been transported to India.

"And then there are these: traffic lights. Red means stop, green means go. They will save Twin Tower City’s chaotic intersections."

"Oh, these are certainly useful. But where would I find so many... er... traffic lights?"

"What a coincidence! This humble Dragon just so happens to be involved in the field of traffic light manufacturing."

The City Lord understood. ’So that’s what he was getting at,’ he thought.

"But a light that works on a timer... that doesn’t seem very technologically advanced, does it?"

The implication was that he didn’t have to buy Zog’s lights; he could find his own factories to produce them.

"Ha, it’s no exaggeration to say that our research in the field of color vision is absolutely cutting-edge," Zog said with confidence.

Thanks to the contributions of Dr. Fabric, the Zog Group’s research into the color vision of the various races was already quite advanced.

It was just that Fabric’s team was suspected of using the topic to churn out low-effort publications.

One paper on Dwarf color vision, another on Beastman color vision, then one on adult Dwarf color vision, followed by another on elderly Beastman color vision...

"The traffic lights we produce are guaranteed to be visible to all races—even the color-blind."

"Color-blind?"

"People who can’t distinguish between certain colors."

"Oh, so there’s a specific term for it. I have a servant in the City Lord’s Mansion who can’t tell red and green apart."

"Yes. That’s why our traffic lights incorporate secondary colors within the primary hues. We’ve even implemented brightness distinctions for those with total color blindness, who can’t recognize any colors at all."

Zog didn’t want to see any more of those completely unscientific color vision tests in Feilin that lumped all forms of color blindness and weakness together.

"Well, that’s... remarkably thorough."

"Furthermore, anyone who wants to drive must obtain a driver’s license. Only with a license can they be on the road. As for what the test covers..."

Zog took out a small booklet.

"There’s a written portion, which covers the rules of the road. You must have rules to ensure orderly traffic. Then there’s a practical exam on a closed course, and finally, a road test."

"You have to memorize theory just to drive?" The City Lord’s head began to ache as he flipped through the booklet, seeing all the regulations listed. "Doesn’t that mean you have to be literate to drive?"

"Of course. Aren’t you running a literacy campaign as we speak?"

"That’s true... but with so many prerequisites just to drive a car, will people really accept it?"

It wasn’t just Twin Tower City; nearly every region had come to realize the importance of a literate populace. In an industrial age, literate workers were significantly more efficient than their illiterate counterparts.

At the very least, you only had to teach a literate worker how to use a machine once and give them an instruction manual. If they forgot a step, they could look it up themselves.

An illiterate worker, however, had to ask over and over again.

"As long as the vehicles offer enough convenience, people will certainly accept the requirements."

In addition to driver’s licenses, Zog also educated the City Lord on a whole series of related concepts, such as traffic laws and traffic police.

Automobiles could only demonstrate their advantages within a relatively mature system.

Otherwise, in the current traffic environment, once car ownership per capita rose, driving would be no different from crawling. It would be even slower than riding a bicycle.

Moreover, it was predictable that the accident rate would be astronomical.

It was best to avoid any preventable pitfalls.

Zog’s idea was to use Twin Tower City as a pilot city for all of Feilin, showing people how much convenience could be gained by pairing vehicles with a reasonably sound system of traffic laws.

In truth, all of this was already common practice in Deepwater City. However, since Deepwater City wasn’t well-known enough yet, implementing these systems in Twin Tower City would allow them to be noticed by other regions much faster.

Most of the countries in this region were still in a transitional period, moving from feudalism under Lords to constitutional monarchies. In each nation, only the constitution was decreed by the King and parliament.

As for all other laws within a given territory, they were entirely at the discretion of the local Lord.

Therefore, once Twin Tower City rolled out a functional set of traffic laws, other territories would naturally adopt them.

Zog spent several hours explaining this massive amount of information.

The City Lord was an intelligent man, and he quickly understood and absorbed the vast amount of new information.

There was just one thing he didn’t understand.

"Why are you pushing these policies so aggressively? This doesn’t seem like the sort of thing you’d normally care about."

Although the City Lord asked in a joking tone, he was inwardly quite tense.

He was afraid the Zog Group was about to start meddling in politics.

It was a common phenomenon.

Once they grew large enough, many merchant consortiums would try to dabble in politics to pursue even greater profits.

A group like Zog’s, one that was single-mindedly focused on business, was a rarity.

This was also why the City Lord was able to maintain such a close relationship with the Zog Group.

They created jobs, quietly earned their money, paid their taxes on time, and made no extra demands. A group like that was a precious asset to any city.

But if they did decide to get involved in politics, the City Lord had no doubt that with the Zog Group’s power and influence, it wouldn’t even take overnight for them to go from deciding to render him a powerless figurehead to actually doing it.