Chapter 26 “The Fortress”

Is it a misunderstanding?

Wang Jixuan, who had just been pointed at with a gun and then decisively fought back, looked slightly hesitant.

Amidst the manager Thomas’s hearty laughter and greetings, several waiters lowered the guns they had aimed at Wang Jixuan.

Wang Jixuan slowly released the baby-faced bunny girl he had pulled in front of him to shield her from bullets. The girl was coughing incessantly, clutching her neck, her eyes filled with tears.

Wang Jixuan held the fake revolver and pulled the trigger towards the open space to the side.

Snap!

Colorful ribbons shot out from the muzzle of the gun.

“Hahaha!”

‘Old Goat’ Thomas laughed so hard he almost lost his balance.

“Cough cough! Ugh!”

The baby-faced bunny girl clutched her bruised neck, tears welling in her eyes as she complained:

“I just wanted to celebrate for you… Why did you hit me so hard… It hurts!”

Wang Jixuan shrugged: “Responding to stress.”

“Not bad!”

Thomas greeted them warmly; his flamboyant makeup and stubble created a unique visual impact.

“Come with me. Originally, we were supposed to have her take you to register your household and give you some benefits, but I’ll take you instead, hahaha! I told you, these kinds of surprises can have unexpected twists.”

The bunny girl sniffled, her face full of grievance.

“This way.”

Thomas walked forward in his high heels, his body swaying from side to side.

Wang Jixuan gave the bunny girl an apologetic smile and calmly followed.

They left through the back door, where a handcrafted car, looking somewhat bulky due to its thickened skin, was parked in the alley. Master Wang followed suit and sat in the back seat.

‘The self-moving frame seems to utilize some ingenious technique to constantly gain leverage from the ground.’

Master Wang offered this assessment.

Mu Liang had no memory of riding in a car; he had only seen cars in textbooks and films.

Those cars running all over the streets are considered an important symbol of humanity’s golden age.

Once inside the car, Thomas seemed like a completely different person, expertly applying a face mask and reclining the seat back.

The driver asked, “Where are we going today?”

“I haven’t had a chance to ask yet, something unpleasant happened inside.”

Thomas spoke in his deep, natural male voice:

“Where are you going, Brother Zhou?”

“The supplies your uncle provides are enough for you to choose any minor leader position in one of the seven major gangs. I will personally send you there and arrange everything for you.”

“I don’t recommend choosing the Blackfire Gang. They’ve gotten themselves into some serious trouble lately, and they’re about to shed their skin.”

“When gangs shed their skin, many mid-level and low-level members will die, and many of their territories’ illegal workers will be captured and used as scapegoats.”

Wang Jixuan then asked, “Do you have any recommendations?”

“recommend?”

Thomas thought for a moment:

“The Black Fire Gang is the most lucrative and has the most opportunities. They deal in organs and blood, which is the most profitable business in the lower city.”

“Don’t even consider the forty-seventh and forty-eighth floors. Those are used to transport labor to the outer expansion areas of the fortress. They are extremely dangerous and there’s not much profit in them. You’re new to the city and don’t understand these things yet.”

Wang Jixuan said, “My uncle told me some things, but I don’t quite understand them.”

Which part do you not quite understand?

“The lower city must exist, my uncle said.”

“Hahahaha! Holy crap, my face mask! This garbage stuff is ridiculously expensive!”

Thomas gently patted his large face and said quickly:

Is this so hard to understand?

“The upper city serves the warriors. Technology, social support, and ample food are all provided for those warriors whose mortality rate is as high as 60%, who protect the fortress.”

“Those noble gentlemen are also taking the opportunity to enjoy these benefits.”

“Midtown is a comprehensive industrial city. Like Upper Town, Midtown enjoys the protection of various laws and regulations of the fortress and follows ancient legal principles.”

“Every resident of Midtown receives a reasonable amount of supplies, including food, electricity, clothing, shoes, hats, belts, underwear, and so on. They also have regular light recreational activities and sufficient medical resources. Children born are raised in collective care facilities by the fortress for six years free of charge. And of course, there’s that damn, enviable genetically matched marriage.”

“The upper city and the middle city have actually formed a perfect ecosystem for the fortress.”

“But what should the fortress do if it wants to generate more resources?”

Wang Jixuan pondered carefully, then slowly shook his head: “I don’t quite understand these things.”

“Exploitation, exploiting a population that can be exploited at will, without protecting their human rights, without caring about the laws of the civilized world of the city within a city.”

Thomas’s deep voice carried a hint of sharpness:

“This is the origin of the Lower City. The Lower City was originally called the Additional Layer, which was the part that began to expand downwards after the fortress had been in operation for several decades.”

“The purpose of the lower city is to exploit people.”

“Old Huang, drive a bit further ahead, to any street, let our big client see a real lower-class neighborhood, instead of this fake, bustling, garbage-filled metropolis.”

“Okay, boss.”

The elderly driver smiled and agreed, then started the car out of the alley and drove along the narrow street.

Armed men were everywhere along the way, but they all recognized the old goat’s vehicle, and no one dared to cause trouble.

About two minutes later.

A dim light source appeared outside the car window.

There were hundreds of tin shacks piled up like pigeon coops, surrounded by stinking ditches. Only a third of the dozens of streetlights were working properly, casting a dim, yellowish light.

As his cultivation progressed, Wang Jixuan’s eyesight improved. He could now see many things that the driver and the middleman Thomas couldn’t, as well as those… dull eyes.

“Come on, take a look at them, so you can understand what real estate agents do here too.”

Thomas calmly explained:

“Look at them, they survive on minimal intake, and they can’t find out the source of what they eat, as long as they can live.”

“They are surrounded by despair. If you give them a job so they can support themselves and their families, even if they can only eat half full, will they work hard? Will they voluntarily ask to work overtime without pay?”

“And even if they are killed arbitrarily or die of illness, who will care? Because the rulers of the lower city are gangsters, and gangsters are not responsible for them.”

“It’s very complicated for them to have children. They have to rely on people who know some physiological knowledge. These people are deliberately trained by the gang.”

“This is just the most basic form of exploitation.”

“In fact, the entire Lower City system was designed by the upper echelons of the fortress, and each of the seven major gangs has its own business.”

“The major factions on the 46th floor are the City of Joy and the Silver Party. The City of Joy is an entertainment venue for officials in the Upper and Middle Cities, making it convenient for them to form small groups, consolidate their own circles, and satisfy their desires, which are stronger than those of ordinary people.”

“The Silver Party is a partner of the City of Joy. In addition to providing thugs for the City of Joy, they also turn people into commodities. Look at the waiters in my shop, they are handsome, cute and obedient. Most of them were bought from the Silver Party’s territory. They are very obedient and particularly clever.”

“The 47th and 48th floors are occupied by separate gangs, not because they are powerful, but because they are engaged in physically demanding industries with very little profit.”

“Our fortress now has four large expansion zones, responsible for supplying the fortress with minerals and other resources. The main role of the gangs on the 47th and 48th floors is to supply the expansion zones with unpaid miners, just like slaves.”

“And there are three big gangs on the forty-ninth floor, it’s the most crowded place, do you know why?”

Thomas asked questions with great interest.

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Wang Jixuan replied, “Because the lowest level is furthest from the upper city?”

“Part of the reason, and another part of the reason, is that they can keep expanding their territory downwards by digging tunnels.”

Thomas winked smugly:

“The businesses controlled by the three major gangs on the 49th floor are also different. Wanlijin controls brewing, Blackfire Gang controls organs and blood, and Hellfire controls the ingredients that can be added to tobacco.”

Wang Jixuan was somewhat puzzled: “Brewing wine?”

Have you ever drunk alcohol?

“No.”

Wang Jixuan was saying that Mu Liang had never drunk alcohol.

Cultivators not only enjoy drinking alcohol, but they also like to add all sorts of spiritual roots and herbs, as well as certain parts of certain demonic beasts, to their drinks.

Master Wang did not like that kind of thing.

Thomas looked out at the street scene and said in his rough, deep voice:

“Besides the kind of liquor made with industrial alcohol that I sell, brewing requires a key resource, which is the grains or fruits that humans can normally consume.”

“I grew up on Wanlijin’s territory. If Wanlijin didn’t brew wine, but instead distributed the food resources they controlled, a third of the people in the lower city could eat an extra starch bar every day.”

“This is just a hypothesis.”

“In reality, each gang is consciously keeping most of the people in the lower city living in a state of barely surviving. The gangs also regularly distribute vitamins and anti-darkness drugs, all of which are transported down from the upper city.”

Wang Jixuan pondered quietly.

“This is the fortress.”

This flamboyant middle-aged man, Thomas, seemed somewhat melancholic as he gazed at the street scene, muttering to himself:

“This is the fortress.”

“Brother, what do you think is the most important thing in life?”

Several answers were on the tip of Wang Jixuan’s tongue.

Talent? Comprehension? Innate talent? Perseverance?

The alluring yet melancholic middle-aged man next to him had already answered his own question:

“It is the place of birth.”

“Born in Midtown, if you’re above the 28th floor, you’ll enjoy full protection, at most dealing with bullying and harassment. Below the 28th floor, there’s a risk of being kidnapped. Born in Downtown, it’s likely like what you see here: if you’re lucky and good-looking or have enough quirks, you’ll be pulled into the Pleasure City to work in the service industry; if you’re physically strong, you’ll become a gang’s henchman or cannon fodder, eventually getting killed. Ordinary people, if they don’t work in the gang’s workshops, they’ll just lie around here, their bodies sent to the oil refinery after death. There’s not much difference between the two; more food means more work. If you’re born into one of those small aristocratic families in Uptown, wow, you’re truly lucky.”

“Hard work and struggle can’t change anything.”

“Oh, right, if you’re in the middle city, you still have a tiny chance to change your fate—assuming you’re physically strong and the fortress needs a lot of manpower and is reducing its industrial population, you can enlist normally and fight for the chance to become an officer in the upper city.”

“The soldiers at the top level are all high-quality individuals selected through genetic screening during the embryonic stage.”

“In the lower city, there is no chance at all. If the fortress needs a large number of new soldiers, it will activate the fortress war agreement. The lower city gang can pull out 50,000 young and middle-aged men and women at any time, implant chips in their brains, and become agreement soldiers. Even if they do not die in the war, they will only have a few years left to live due to the aftereffects.”

“Don’t underestimate the will of the fortress. It is cold and cruel, showing no mercy to individuals and prioritizing ensuring that the race has a greater chance of survival.”

“The Downtown Gang is controlled by this will.”

“Never forget that we live in an era that marks the end of human civilization.”

Thomas stretched:

“This is your first lesson. It’s listed in the package. Remember to give your uncle feedback and a good review when you write to him later… Okay, now choose. Do you want to be a waiter on the 46th floor, or go to the 49th floor to brew wine, harvest organs, and develop chemical agents?”

“Let’s brew some wine,” Wang Jixuan said softly.

The Wanlijin Gang and the Black Fire Gang share borders and frequently clash, making them his primary targets.

Thomas said, “Wow, that’s a rare choice. Wanlijin has always been suppressed by the Blackfire Gang because they don’t make enough money. The other two are making huge profits!”

“Isn’t the Blackfire Gang an unselectable group?”

Wang Jixuan changed the subject, staring into the middle-aged man’s eyes, and conveying a hint of the weariness of his true age:

“And what about you, Thomas?”

“I imagine your life hasn’t been all smooth sailing. You must be a successful person in Downtown. How did you manage to do it?”

Are you being polite?

Thomas frowned and said something, then sighed and stared out the car window in a daze.

He didn’t want to say, really.

The world-building chapter introduces the ecosystem inside the fortress.

Some of you might find this a bit wordy, but these are the basic settings, they’re necessary, and the next chapter will advance the plot.

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