Chapter 701: The Soil That Breeds Chaos (2/3)

Chapter 701: Soil Breeding Chaos (2/3)

“…You wouldn’t dare do that. You only dare to bully someone who seems easy to push around, someone you know well but not too well, someone who usually bears burdens without complaint, takes beatings and scoldings without fighting back—like me, standing here.”

“It’s me who’s driving you out of here, right? Then come and kill me, and watch your houses go boom, then crash into rubble! The Empire’s soldiers will use them as cover, and the iron men from the Governor’s Mansion will use them for target practice. When they’re done, they’ll dust off their hands and leave, and you’ll get nothing but a pile of sand and dirt! Come on, don’t you have hands?”

No one moved.

No one even spoke.

Ashin breathed heavily.

He had never spoken so much in his life, especially not in front of so many people.

But he was already standing here, like a mouse cornered by a wild cat.

The only thing he could do now was bluff.

If he showed fear, these people would really kill him.

Gritting his teeth to stop his shoulders from trembling, Ashin tried hard to recall the words he had thought of last night, and continued word by word.

“It’s me, the poorest wretch you lot usually look down on the most, who’s now negotiated a fair price for you, so your worthless shacks can be exchanged for at least four fat pigs you’ve never even touched in your lives!”

“Forty thousand, forty thousand Westland coins! If you’re willing to tear them down yourselves, they’ll give you an extra twenty thousand—that’s the benefit I fought for you! It’s me!”

He shouted hoarsely, his voice turning raspy. The people gathered around heard him and immediately erupted like a boiling oil pot.

Forty thousand!

If they tore down the house themselves, they’d get an extra twenty thousand!

For their shabby mud houses, not to mention forty thousand Westland coins, even twenty thousand might not be wanted! And even if it were worth that much, no one would buy it.

Many were already tempted.

Just as the young man named Ashin said, this sum was an astronomical figure for most people living here.

With this money, they could not only build a spacious little house in the countryside but also buy three or four fat pigs.

And with pigs, they’d be proper farming households, far better than crowding in this slum picking up odd jobs that barely fed them from meal to meal.

Seeing everyone tempted, Vikram panicked.

He made his living by collecting protection money, extortion, and petty theft, and these jobs were all divided into territories.

If he lost this block, he’d be like a stray dog without a home, forced to fight for food on other dogs’ turf.

He’d be bitten to death by those fiercer strays!

He wasn’t opposed to selling his own shack for a good price.

But it should be a huge sum that would let him live comfortably for the rest of his life!

Better yet, it should make him a true wolf-man, not hanging around with these poor wretches like a stray dog!

“Wait—why only forty thousand—” Vikram put on a fierce expression, stepping forward with bluster.

If he took a few men to negotiate with those iron men, maybe they could get more—

But before he could finish, a sudden gunshot cut him off.

A blood hole in his forehead, Vikram stared in shock at the young man whose arm was still trembling, then fell heavily to the ground, red and white spilling everywhere.

He didn’t know.

Someone had been aiming at his head for a long time.

At the sound of the gunshot, the crowd stirred like monkeys splashed with boiling oil, but not forward—they stepped back in fear.

Jai stared incredulously at the rat-man youth who had drawn the gun, as if looking at something utterly rebellious, his voice trembling.

“You killed someone…”

“Yes. Let me be a beast in my next life.”

Hiding the trembling in his fingers and arm, Ashin shoved the gun back into his pocket, coldly dropping those words, then looked at the people around and continued.

“What about you? Will you take the money and get out of here, or do you want to end up like him?”

As he had expected.

No one cared about the corpse.

People died here every few days, whether from starvation or illness—no one paid any attention.

Even though the Governor’s Mansion was right next door.

They cared more about the gun in his hand, the gun granted by the iron men, a symbol of authority, even if it now held only eleven bullets.

Besides that—

They cared about themselves.

Or rather, the money.

As for Vikram.

He was already a dead man.

Few liked him when he was alive, let alone when he was lying on the ground. The mass grave was his final destination.

The man standing behind Vikram swallowed, suppressing the fear on his face, and stared at the young man in the crowd, speaking up.

“You… can guarantee we’ll get that money?”

Ashin answered without hesitation.

“I guarantee it.”

The man hesitated for a moment, then nodded and stepped forward.

Ashin stared at him intently, though his heart was in a panic, he didn’t show it on his face, numb from seeing blood.

One step.

Two steps…

At a distance of three meters, the man suddenly stopped, took a deep breath.

“…Thank you for everything you’ve done for everyone.”

His throat moved, and he continued.

“Like you said… this place will soon become ruins. Even if we don’t take that money, nothing will change.”

Silence hung in the air for many seconds.

People seemed surprised by his agreement.

But soon, scattered voices began to rise.

“True…”

“That price is good enough.”

“His Majesty wouldn’t give us anything.”

“My broken shack has been leaking for a while. I was planning to rebuild it anyway.”

With someone taking the lead, everything became much easier.

Though those insincere words carried a hint of hesitation and doubt, the meaning they conveyed held no surprises—mostly affirmation and praise for Asin.

Watching the compliant crowd, Asin breathed a sigh of relief, but he did not thank the man. Instead, he looked at him coldly and spoke.

“Your name.”

The man replied with a respectful expression.

“Kunar... of the Dog tribe.”

Asin nodded.

“From now on, you’re my man.”

A flicker of joy crossed the man’s face.

Just then, the sky, which had somehow become thick with dark clouds, began to drizzle fine raindrops, one after another falling onto the bloodstained muddy ground.

Noticing the rain, the people, like dogs hearing the dinner bell, rushed frantically toward the clothes and sheets hanging on hemp ropes to dry, scrambling to gather them into their arms, afraid they’d be soaked, even more afraid others would snatch them in the chaos.

But Asin only crouched down, picked up a shell casing from the ground, and with a trembling thumb, wiped off the mud clinging to it.

“Go bury him.” He forced his voice to betray no trace of cowardice.

Standing in the rain, Kunar bowed respectfully, like a loyal servant.

“Yes!”

It wasn’t just Kunar.

Several other men also grabbed Vikram’s hands and feet, lying on the ground, and carried him out of the square.

From that moment on, they were all his underlings.

None of it needed to be said aloud.

Crouching in the rain, Asin did not rise. He just stared silently at the distant patch of blood not yet washed away by the rain, his eyes lost in thought.

This was his first time killing someone.

He realized that as long as he didn’t treat a person as a person, but as a beast of burden, doing this was simpler than he had imagined.

Though now his arms were sore and numb, his tiger’s mouth ached, and his legs were too weak to stand...

...

“Damn, it’s raining.”

“Let’s find a place to take shelter.”

Near the Lowell camp, in the slums bordering Blackwater Street.

Four players patrolling along the alley suddenly saw rain falling from the sky, and it seemed to be getting heavier, so they walked under the eaves of a nearby house.

But the eaves were too narrow, and the wind was blowing outside; no matter how they pressed against the wall, the rain still landed on their armor.

The “Type Five” exoskeleton had decent water-wading performance, but water seeping into the gaps of the ballistic plates was troublesome, and some moving parts would need re-oiling and maintenance.