Lives as Cheap as Grass
Shui Ling knew Yang Haoran was unfamiliar with the situation in Gu Mo City, especially how its common people managed to survive there. Yang Haoran was certainly even less clear on this, so she explained everything to him in detail.
It turned out that Gu Mo City no longer had an Administrative Council. Gu Mo City had always been a chaotic mix of people and powers. Before the Supreme Administrative Council collapsed, the local Administrative Council was protected by it. Although it couldn't bring complete stability to Gu Mo City, it could at least maintain a firm foothold.
However, after the Supreme Administrative Council disintegrated, the Gu Mo City Administrative Council lost its protective umbrella and was quickly eradicated by Gu Mo City's various major factions. The Administrative Chief was killed, the administrative building was torn down, and the Gu Mo City Administrative Council thus met its end.
Without an Administrative Council, Gu Mo City naturally became even more chaotic than before. Various factions fought fiercely to seize territory. In such a turbulent situation, casualties among these factions were inevitable, but the common people of Gu Mo City suffered the most. Countless ordinary people lost their lives in the conflicts between these factions, becoming sacrifices for their interests.
Many ordinary people no longer wished to live under the constant fear of death threats, so they decided to flee Gu Mo City. Although they knew the outside world might not be as wonderful as they imagined, they believed that no matter how bad it was, it certainly couldn't be worse than Gu Mo City.
It was precisely with this mindset that these ordinary people embarked on their escape. However, most of them were killed by various demons, monsters, and ghosts before they could successfully leave Gu Mo City's territory. Some became food for Demons, some became sacrifices for heretical cults, while others starved to death on the road due to lack of food. Still others, realizing they couldn't escape Gu Mo City's bounds, were forced to turn back and return to survive.
In the eyes of these people, although staying in Gu Mo City meant they could lose their lives at any moment, it was still better than dying on the spot. After all, a living dog is better than a dead lion.
All in all, not many ordinary people successfully escaped Gu Mo City's borders; only a few lucky ones managed it. But in today's world, even escaping Gu Mo City merely meant exchanging one slaughterhouse for another, with some butchers just having a slightly lighter hand.
It was precisely because of this that when Yang Haoran arrived in Gu Mo City this time, he only saw a young boy dragging his unconscious father, attempting to leave. Aside from this father and son, along the route they chose to enter the city, no other people fleeing Gu Mo City were seen.
The ordinary people who remained in Gu Mo City, if they wished to survive, had to serve the various major factions, exchanging their labor for meager basic necessities, such as food or clothing.
Furthermore, by serving the major factions, the ordinary people could also gain some assurance of their safety. Although this assurance wasn't substantial, it was at least better than having no protection at all.
The major factions were willing to protect ordinary people not because their hearts were inherently benevolent—though it couldn't be ruled out that some individuals among them were kind-hearted—but this was not the true reason they offered ordinary people a degree of safety.
The reason they were willing to do so was, on one hand, because religious sects needed more believers. As long as these ordinary people were given a little safety, even if it was just a verbal assurance, it could compel many of them to change their faith and worship their True Gods.
On the other hand, the major factions living in Gu Mo City also needed to handle their daily necessities, and there were many trivial and dirty tasks that required attention. It was certainly unrealistic for the non-ordinary members of these factions to do these things themselves, as most of them held their status in high esteem and didn't want to engage in such work. Yet, these tasks had to be done, and in such circumstances, the ordinary people became useful.
There were many services ordinary people provided to the major factions, such as cleaning, mining, selling goods, and so on. There was a wide variety of tasks, all sorts of things. Anything non-ordinary people didn't want to do but ordinary people could, the major factions would hand over to them. Even for some tasks that ordinary people were fundamentally incapable of performing, some of the non-ordinary members of the major factions would still assign these tasks to ordinary people. The ultimate result of this, most of the time, was that the mission remained unfinished, but the ordinary people who went to perform it died.
In truth, these non-ordinary individuals were well aware that the chances of ordinary people successfully completing these tasks were not high. But to ensure the ultimate success of a mission, they would still choose to use ordinary people as cannon fodder, as it was at least better than throwing their own lives away.
Therefore, whether the major factions of Gu Mo City worshipped deities or not, they all needed ordinary people. Gu Mo City's territory had also been completely carved up by these factions. Ordinary people living within a certain faction's territory had to absolutely obey that faction's arrangements. If they disobeyed, there would naturally be only one outcome: even if they didn't die by that faction's hand, without its protection, they wouldn't be able to survive in Gu Mo City either.
Xiang Chuan, who had initially been quite displeased, felt much of the dissatisfaction on his face recede after listening to Shui Ling's detailed explanation.
"In this day and age, ordinary people are no longer considered human in the eyes of some; to these people, ordinary people are merely tools for their own gain, tools that can be discarded after use. Who could have imagined that a perfectly good world would become like this? Perhaps many still believe this is just a dream, an incredibly real nightmare, but they will likely never have the chance to awaken from it."
Xiang Chuan spoke, his usually playful and grinning face now filled with a sigh of emotion, completely out of character from his usual demeanor.
Shui Ling shook her head with a helpless expression. Lu Wu sighed, saying nothing. Huang Sha was a Monster, not human, so he had no particular feelings about the matter.
As for Yang Haoran, although a faint smile still lingered on his face, it was much more subdued than before. He offered no comment on the matter, instead continuing to question Shui Ling.
"Is this area we're currently in, was it previously under our Underworld Office's jurisdiction?"
Yang Haoran asked this because Shui Ling had previously mentioned that there were Death God believers here. Given that, it implied this place might have very well been under their Underworld Office's jurisdiction in the past, hence his question.
Shui Ling nodded and immediately responded.
"Lord Emissary, you are correct. This place was indeed once under our Underworld Office's jurisdiction. Although it is no longer our Underworld Office's territory, some of the believers here still worship our God. However, they dare not reveal their true faith, because once they do, what awaits them is likely destruction. So, they have no choice but to outwardly worship other deities. I hope Lord Emissary can understand this and not blame them."
Shui Ling not only explained everything in detail to Yang Haoran but also interceded for the local believers. She was very worried that Yang Haoran, upon learning that these believers had changed their faith to other deities, would kill them in a fit of rage.
"Heh heh, I have no right to blame them. Moreover, I am not an unreasonable person; I wouldn't blame them for something like this."
Hearing Yang Haoran say this, Shui Ling breathed a sigh of relief, while Yang Haoran continued to ask her.
"Which faction's jurisdiction does this area fall under now? Is it the Spirit Mediums'?"
In Yang Haoran's view, since the Spirit Mediums of Gu Mo City had eliminated the Underworld Office, they would naturally take over the territory the Underworld Office once governed. This area previously belonged to the Gu Mo City Underworld Office, so it should, as a matter of course, now belong to the Spirit Mediums.
However, Shui Ling gently shook her head at him.
"The Spirit Mediums did indeed want to seize this area, but ultimately, they couldn't wrest it from the Saint Mother Sect."
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