Free Web NovelChapter 515: Chapter 251: The Ruler’s City (Part 2)
"Must I understand His concept first?"
Hikari’s pupils trembled. In the young boy’s mind, who knows what new ideas he was contemplating. It was as if he had plunged into a mental storm, frantically pondering and deducing every possibility.
After a brief consideration, he finally said, "Then I still want to stick to my previous thought."
"Why?"
"Because the concept of the Lord of Light and Shadow is terrifying for the nobles of this world. If it ever existed before, they would never allow it and would do anything to destroy that concept."
"Currently, no one knows it. One possibility is that they once destroyed this concept; another possibility is that it never existed, and there was no such God."
"The real answer lies only in your heart. As long as you’re unwilling to speak, no one can get the true solution," Hikari said.
"So, from your perspective, what are the probabilities of each possibility? Describe it with a percentage."
Ye Mingqiu asked.
"...."
Hikari fell silent. He looked at the fire, unable to speak for quite a while. Turning his stiff head toward Ye Mingqiu, he asked in a clumsy voice, "Uh... what is a percentage?"
"...."
Ye Mingqiu went silent. This guy acted so smart that he almost forgot the child was just an ordinary farm boy who had never studied math and naturally wouldn’t know the concept of percentages.
In this world, not everyone is privileged to receive an education and learn new knowledge. Born in such a backward village, Hikari wasn’t even deemed worthy of a name. How could he possibly learn about mathematical knowledge?
The nobles monopolize even the right to name, how could they allow them to learn knowledge?
Thinking of this, interesting thoughts suddenly filled Ye Mingqiu’s mind. He said, "I will use Mastering Skill on you next. You will understand more concepts and meanings in the next hour, but it will expire after one hour."
"Meanwhile, I will give you some books, and you can study during this time. How much you learn depends on you. How about it?"
"Good."
Hikari nodded earnestly.
[Mastering Skill]
Ye Mingqiu cast simple spells while tossing several textbooks of the present world towards Hikari. He also casually threw in many advanced textbooks, saying as he watched him read, "These things are useless to me. I just give them to you, and you can put them in your bag to study afterward."
"Good."
....
The next morning
The four-person team resumed their journey. Modus, who mastered Light and Shadow Transformation, once again transformed the Demon Sword into the Holy Sword. Though seemingly unchanged, he was secretly researching how to use Dark Power.
The hero who embraced darkness possessed a power stronger and more terrifying than the holy form.
As for Hikari, he was still savoring the basic knowledge he learned before and was deducing each word’s concept from the books he read, learning the script as quickly as possible.
Although illiterate himself, he felt that the script seemed different from the world’s characters, as if it came from another civilization, and its knowledge concepts were different too.
This gave Hikari new ideas, but he didn’t show off; instead, he quietly learned, treating those knowledge bits as treasures and secretly practicing the use of Holy Attribute Power as he journeyed.
Days later, they reached the target.
The journey wasn’t far, but the oppressive atmosphere intensified as they neared.
When the city’s silhouette finally appeared on the horizon, the sight made even the prepared Ye Mingqiu frown.
The place was worse than he imagined.
The city itself wasn’t particularly grand, but its structure was a glaring microcosm of this world.
On the outermost edge were sprawling shantytowns made of mud bricks and rotting wood, forming a vast slum.
Sewage overflowed, with pungent smells, and the people were in rags, their eyes mostly numb and hollow, like walking corpses.
Separated by just a wall was a tall, sturdy, heavily guarded city wall enclosing clean streets, exquisite houses, and at the center, the luxurious lord’s castle standing tall.
A wall separated heaven from hell, or one could say, humans from livestock.
Adira timely played the role of a guide, pointing with his lute towards the slum before gesturing at the dense forest beyond, shrouded in gray mist outside the city wall, narrating with the calmness of an observer:
"As you can see, these are the lower-class people. Their value, apart from being harvested like leeks for taxes, is serving as a buffer when beast tides strike."
He paused before adding, "The forest outside is called the Shadow Forest, teeming with magical beasts. At intervals, beast tides would assault the city. These people outside are kept here, to feed those beasts and delay their assault on the main city wall... expendables."
Ye Mingqiu’s gaze swept over those emaciated, hollow-eyed people, slightly furrowing his brows as he asked, "What if a combat genius emerged among these people, growing stronger through battles with the beasts?"
Adira seemed to have anticipated this question, smiling with a nearly cruel understanding, "That’s great. The more beasts he slays, the safer the city becomes. When he becomes strong enough and demonstrates adequate value, the city will naturally send people to recruit him, granting him the status of a city dweller, becoming... an upper-class person."
His tone carried a hint of mockery, "Here, ascending from the filthy, humble lower class to the glamorous upper class is everyone’s ultimate dream, a glory enough to create family records."
Ye Mingqiu was silent for a moment, looking at the people struggling on the poverty line, whose eyes occasionally flashed with longing for the inside of the high wall, his brows knitted tighter.
Many of the people here are beyond help. They’ve given up resisting, merely wishing to become the so-called upper-class through battle and slaughter.
But can they make it?
Are the resources here truly sufficient?
He once thought the world’s decay lay in the antagonism between nobles and commoners, but now it seems it’s far more than that. The rulers here not only divided classes but meticulously designed a cruel mechanism for the bottom tier to self-consume, self-narcotize, and willingly uphold this order.
The common people are categorized into ranks, driven by the illusory "upper-class" dream, to tread on each other in the mire, directing their hostility toward weaker beasts, rather than the real oppressors.
No wonder Modus once displayed such a defeatist attitude, uninterested in salvation. In such a world, justice and protection seem so pale and laughable.
What made them more uncomfortable was, when they walked the muddy streets of the slum, the surrounding pedestrians, seeing them, did not react with curiosity or envy for their relatively tidy attire, but rather ducked their heads as if avoiding a plague, quickly sidestepping, or simply retreating into their broken houses to watch them with fearful glances through the cracks in the door.
This reaction was far more chilling than outright hostility.
This indicates that here, anyone possibly associated with those above does not bring hope but rather deeper oppression and disaster.
The extent of exploitation here is likely far harsher than in the town just pillaged by bandits.
After all, this is the Lord’s territory.
"Lord Blood Erosion Tyrant, how do we enter next?" Adira asked with a smile.
"Walk in."
Ye Mingqiu continued without stopping, heading straight toward the grand gate connecting the inside and outside of the city. With a single hand, he seemed to grip the air; a hideous Blood Spear quietly appeared, with Blood Crystal Patterns crawling up his arm, pulsating with a scarlet glow like a heartbeat.
