Chapter 55: Exploration III

Watching his master’s figure ahead, Lin Hui narrowed his eyes, paused for a moment, and then followed.

As he stepped into the white light, his eyes were briefly dazzled, but they quickly adapted.

What entered his vision was an endless plain dominated by brown and white.

He seemed to be standing on a shovel-shaped gray cliff.

Looking forward from here, the colors of the plain below the cliff were formed by vast swathes of brown and white pavilions and buildings, densely packed together.

The pavilions extended like weeds far into the distance, beyond the limits of his vision—their numbers impossible to count.

Between the buildings, neatly planned white roadways divided all the structures into tofu-like blocks.

“Go down this way,” Master Mingde reminded him from the side. “The permit allows us to stay in the Inner City for one hour. We must leave when the time is up, or our bodies will suffer damage.”

“Mm.” Lin Hui followed his master, along with carts transporting goods, down the mountain path on the right.

“The Inner City is divided into nine districts, and each district has nine towns. The closer to the core districts, the greater the harm to ordinary people, and the fewer people live there. What we see now is the outermost periphery. This is also the place with the largest and densest population because the harm is weakest,” Mingde said. “If you go further in, you can see the core residential areas dominated by Moon Towers. I guarantee it will broaden your horizons.”

“Why?” Lin Hui’s gaze constantly swept across the countless blocks in the distance below.

Looking from afar, he found that the people on the streets seemed to dress very revealingly. Many men wore only pants, a shawl, and a belt.

Many women wore only tube tops and ultra-short shorts; some even wore only bikinis, partially visible as they sat lazily in carriages chatting and drinking tea.

In some street corners, pairs of men and women could even be faintly seen engaging in intense exercise without any concealment.

In broad daylight, on the busiest streets, they were actually going at it!

Lin Hui was dumbfounded.

“The Inner City encourages reproduction; the more children, the more benefits. Besides, the Inner City itself has a feeling that stimulates people’s desires,” Mingde said. “Back to the topic just now. Wait until you reach the Moon Towers and see those huge towers with thousands of floors piercing into the sky; then you’ll know how big the gap is between the Inner City and the Outer City.”

“Thousands of floors!” Lin Hui’s eyebrow twitched. He felt that compared to the Outer City, the Inner City was basically another world.

The Outer City was like an abandoned old town—backward, dangerous, desolate. This was the true new era world.

Descending all the way to the bottom of the cliff, the two followed the convoy into the streets between the vast expanse of pavilions.

The people on the streets were extremely polarized.

Most people hurried, their carriages and horses moving swiftly, as if a whip were driving them from behind.

A small number were incredibly leisurely. Even their travel was like a stroll; they walked pets like cats, dogs, and foxes. Some rode in carriages, some walked, their expressions reserved and noble.

“Military horses passing, everyone give way!”

Suddenly, shouting came from the street ahead.

From a distance, Lin Hui looked and saw a team of exaggerated figures, two to three meters tall, wearing full-body silver armor and holding horse-chopping sabers, leisurely marching in formation down the street.

Behind these tall figures was a gray monster resembling a rhinoceros.

The monster was six meters tall and over ten meters long. Pale red patterns on its skin lit up and dimmed intermittently.

Seeing this team, everyone hurriedly gave way to the sides.

Master Mingde also pulled Lin Hui aside.

“Be careful, it’s the government’s Peace Preservation Army on patrol,” he whispered.

“Peace Preservation Army…” Lin Hui looked at this team, whose bulk far exceeded that of civilians, and fell silent for a moment.

Compared to them, the civilians on both sides, at most two meters tall, were basically bean sprouts—completely incomparable.

“In the Inner City, be careful with everything. Otherwise, if you accidentally provoke trouble, it will be truly dangerous. Although it is safe here, without night mist permeating—an absolute mist-free zone—Summoners have immunity for killing, not to mention Origin Blood Nobles,” Mingde warned in a low voice.

“Besides, apart from the Three Great Powers and Origin Blood Nobles, the experts of the Three Sects and Six Gangs are also a major danger factor here.”

“Because they practice Limit Martial Arts?” Lin Hui understood instantly.

“Exactly. It’s all forced by the environment. The Inner City is safe, but people here also need to go out to perform various cleaning and gathering missions. These require a large number of personnel. If you can’t meet the nobles’ requirements, your status will drop step by step until you completely lose value, are eliminated, and are driven out of the Inner City.”

Mingde sighed, watching the Peace Preservation Army pass by. “And once driven out of the Inner City, wanting to return is almost impossible.”

“I feel the Outer City isn’t bad either. Why are people here so afraid of going out?” Lin Hui voiced his doubt in a low tone.

“Do you really think the Outer City isn’t bad?” Mingde glanced at his disciple. “Or do you really think that just because you weren’t the one missing in the Outer City every year, it doesn’t matter? Or that the jade talisman hanging in your home will truly be effective forever?”

“Master… you mean!?” Lin Hui understood instantly, his face turning extremely ugly.

“It is just as you think.” Mingde’s voice became even lower as he bowed his head. “Whenever the Inner City forces need living people for some tests or whatever, they go to our Outer City and grab people at random. This is the so-called ‘missing.’ And that jade talisman is also controlled by the Three Great Powers; they can remotely control it to be effective or ineffective anytime, anywhere. Maintaining the Outer City population is merely using them as a buffer against the erosion of the Inner City by the Mist Zone and night mist.”

“In other words, our Outer City is just a buffer zone? To use living people to test the reactions of the mist and Mist Zone?” Lin Hui whispered.

“Yes. It’s said there are other functions too, which I’m not clear about, but this is the main purpose. It’s said that over a hundred years ago, the Outer City was even abandoned once.” Mingde sighed. Waiting for the Peace Preservation Army to leave, he continued to lead the way.

“Let’s go. Time is limited. I’ll take you to stroll around the small market here. There are some small things sold by other races that are quite good.”

The two walked forward, turning left and right. After crossing two streets, they arrived at an unusually lively and crowded commercial district.

In the center of this district were several circular stone platforms. On one of them stood a lion-headed man over two meters tall. He wore a gray robe, his golden mane flowing in the wind, a black belt at his waist, and a blue jade scholar’s hat on his head. His arms were spread wide as he loudly preached something.

Passersby occasionally stopped to listen below the stone platform. Some were ordinary passersby, but quite a few were Lizardmen holding wooden staffs and dressed as travel-worn monks.

Lin Hui scrutinized the Lionman carefully and found that he was loudly preaching about how all living beings should unite and help each other under the mist, interspersed with some mysterious superstitious doctrines, urging everyone to believe in a deity named Pan.

“This is Miscellany Street. A special district found in every section and town, dedicated to allowing all races and species to trade and operate here. Doing anything here is unregulated and not illegal,” Mingde explained softly from the side. “So this is also the best place to strike gold…”

“Then these foreign races…” Lin Hui still looked curiously at the Lionman and Lizardmen, sights he basically couldn’t see in the Outer City.

“Lionmen are like this. Their population is small, but every one of them is eloquent and talkative, so they are often hired here to preach doctrines. The Inner City is like this; you’ll get used to it after seeing more,” Mingde explained.

“What about those?” Lin Hui looked at the group of Lizardmen.

These Lizardmen wore tattered robes covered in dust, but the look on each of their faces revealed a penetrating sense of seeing through worldly affairs.

“Those are ascetic monks of the Xi race. They come here with caravans every year to purchase supplies and return,” Mingde said.

“It’s easy to encounter other races here on Miscellany Street, but further in, there are fewer. Because the Origin Blood Nobles of Tuyue are us pure-blooded humans, pure-blooded humans are revered here. Other races going too deep might be attacked and captured as slaves; it’s not safe.”

Lin Hui followed Mingde past the side, the Lionman’s thick voice still echoing in his ears.

“Then why do we rarely see them in the Outer City?” he asked in a low voice.

“It’s okay; occasionally you can encounter them. It’s just that they don’t enter the towns of the Outer City but enter and exit the Inner City directly from other large gates, so encounters are rare. For them, only the Inner City is the true Tuyue City. The Outer City is desolate, backward, and dangerous—that’s the wild. Naturally, no one runs around there without reason.” Mingde smiled. “Lionmen, Xi race, Python race—these are races often seen in Tuyue. You’ll get used to seeing them later.”

The two wandered around the shops on one side of Miscellany Street. Most small shops sold a mess of various monster materials and local specialties of other races, such as Python race shed skin, Xi race hand-woven goods, and consecrated amulets.

Lin Hui spent money to buy a few as collectibles, then, led by his teacher, circled back from another exit of Miscellany Street.

Looking at the hurried Inner City people on the street, ninety-nine percent were humans with normal appearances; non-human races were extremely rare. They seemed more like outsiders passing through, most carrying a strong rustic air, some looking around with expressions of awe and shock at everything they saw.

Master Mingde said that among these non-human races, only the Python race, Lionmen, and Xi race were somewhat developed; the rest were even in the tribal age, very backward. Their first contrast with the Inner City was naturally shocking.

Aside from these normal crowds, Lin Hui also noticed some unusual details.

While sitting down to order food at a cold drink stall, he noticed that in a dark street corner far to the right of the stall, a gaunt young man was prostrating himself on the ground, constantly bowing towards the stone wall.

The man was dressed in rags, his gray robe full of holes and stains. He wore a shoe on only one foot, and the skin exposed on his wrists was black, his original skin color indiscernible.

“Teacher, what is he doing?” Lin Hui sat on the bench and pointed in the man’s direction to his teacher.

“Just a madman, ignore him. He will disappear automatically in a few days, don’t mind it.” Mingde’s face remained impassive as he took out the jade permit to check its color.

“Disappear automatically?” Lin Hui narrowed his eyes, keenly perceiving something hidden within.

“No permit, no Feather Blood, identity proof expired, bloodline dropped to a certain level—people who lose their Inner City qualifications will end up like this within a few days. The Three Sects and Six Gangs assisting the government will quickly clean them up and drive them to our Outer City,” Mingde answered. “These are the so-called ‘eliminated ones.'”

“What happens to them in the end?” Lin Hui asked in a low voice.

“Those lightly eroded can remain normal and live as ordinary people in the Outer City. Those heavily eroded might get sick. The diseased ‘Blood Bodies’ you killed before… those were them,” Mingde said.

He sighed and wanted to say something more, but suddenly a hairy big hand slapped his back hard.

Puff.

This slap was heavy enough that Mingde sank down fiercely, almost activating his internal force protection.

He was about to explode in anger, standing up and turning around, but was hugged tightly in a big bear hug.

“Mingde! When did you come to the Inner City? Why didn’t you tell me?”

The one hugging him was a burly, strong black-furred Lionman.

The Lionman carried a longsword on his back and wore black tight-fitting clothes highlighting his strong muscle contours. At this moment, obvious surprise appeared in his eyes.

“You are… Ouyang Kai?” Mingde’s voice also revealed a trace of surprise. “I thought you went back.”

(End of Chapter)