Monsters Will Die if They Are Killed

Aian continent, southern city-state alliance, industrial mobile city Aiwende.

Late at night, the holy sun has set, and the red light of the Demon Moon shines through the layers of dark clouds on the earth, like the eyes of a bloodthirsty giant opening in the darkness.

Different from the quiet residential areas around the core city, the industrial areas in the lower city on the edge of the city are still noisy. The two-shift workers are like fuel, filling themselves into the bellies of those giant beasts so that they can survive. It roared and spewed out enough black smoke to cover the entire mobile city.

Any city has industrial zones. After all, any mobile city must have a minimum industrial level that can maintain itself.

Of course, self-maintenance alone is not enough. If something unexpected happens while driving in the city, then the basic industry will not be able to carry out comprehensive repairs.

Therefore, any large mobile city has a complete set of industrial systems. Only small mobile city-states need to go to large cities for maintenance inspections every few years, repair damage, and conduct large-scale exchanges and trade.

There are even some mobile cities that make a living by performing maintenance and inspections on other cities.

The industrial city Ayvind is such a mobile city. It travels in the south of the Asmodai Empire, traveling back and forth between the Nanling mining area and the southern coast in order to obtain sufficient industrial raw materials.

In the process, a large number of small mobile city-states will move closer to it, like iron sand attracted by a magnet.

Boom, boom. In the factory, violent source energy fluctuations came, and its power was stronger than the all-out attack of the Extraordinary in the Heart Light Realm.

This is not surprising. As the basis of the source energy industry, the energy level of the large-scale source energy furnace core is far beyond the ordinary heart light level. The source energy fluctuations it emits can even change the celestial phenomena on a small scale. If reasonable protection is not taken, the energy level of this level The source energy radiates enough to cause demonic disease to all who work within it.

The core of a large-scale mobile city is a super-giant energy furnace core that can drive a mountain. It is also said to be able to set off man-made natural disasters and maintain a shield that can withstand natural disasters for a period of time.

Therefore, in the Eian world, workers are a highly respected high-end profession: their daily work is to protect the main arteries of urban life, so they must master certain source energy skills and be able to protect themselves from source energy radiation, and The salary is not low either.

A skilled senior worker or engineer, even if he is not a professional, his status can be compared with that of a knight.

But this is just a 'regular job'.

There are too many jobs needed in industrial cities. It is impossible for everyone to be a respectable worker or master mechanic. The city cannot afford the salary, and not all jobs in factories require professional workers.

Therefore, positions such as ‘temporary workers’ came into being.

Temporary workers don't need much skills or even any education. It doesn't matter even if they don't know a few words. They only need to assemble molds on the assembly line or do some manual labor of transportation - this is the majority of jobs. , so that lowly children from the slums and farmers from the farm can become temporary workers as quickly as possible when needed.

Because of this, the salary is meager and the workers are oppressed.

Most of them have to get up to work at dawn every day and can only go back in the evening. Although workers on the night shift are easier, they are more dangerous: the light of the magic moon will intensify the activity of source energy, making workers in the factory more susceptible to infection. Demonic disease.

But what does it matter? The average age of the workers cannot even exceed forty, and they will die before the demonic disease takes hold.

And regardless of whether they are infected or not, factory owners will squeeze every last bit of strength out of them.

"Ahem..."

Under the dim light, a slight cough could be heard, and a young man dressed simply, even crudely, walked slowly out of the side door of the factory.

Seneca has short brown hair. He is blind in his left eye. The physical mutation caused by the demonic disease has caused half of the boy's face to turn into stone, but the remaining half of his face can still be called He is handsome, even more so because of the petrified left side of his face, which has a kind of incomplete beauty.

Especially the right eye, which has an icy green gem color, and the depths of the eye even seem to be faintly glowing.

Due to the demon disease, Seneca's eyesight was enhanced, allowing him to see defects in substandard products at a glance, so he was hired as a quality inspector.

Most demonized people have abilities that ordinary people don't have. As long as they are not in the advanced stage of demonization, it is not difficult to find a job in a related major. Although they have to endure discrimination and rejection, it is better than not being able to survive.

The evening shift was over and Seneca was now preparing to leave the factory and return to the orphanage to rest.

There are more than thirty orphans in the Xiguang Orphanage, and several old women are hired to take care of them. Professor Sweetley usually bears the expenses alone. Although it is hard work, it is still bearable.

But in recent times, in order to raise war funds, the empire has levied heavy taxes on various places. The orphanage has also been assessed a large amount of taxes. Even the usually calm Professor Svitley has turned a few hairs gray. What to do.

"If you think of a way, there will always be a way."

When faced with children's worried inquiries, the old professor always comforted them like this, but the older children all knew that the tax of 90,000 imperial coins was not a problem that could be solved by thinking about it.

In fact, this is not reasonable at all. Even a fool knows that an orphanage cannot squeeze out so much profit and water. Such high taxes are just to destroy this place.

You know, if you can earn 10,000 to 20,000 imperial coins a year, it is considered a high salary in major mobile cities. If you are a farmer in a fixed village, if you can make a profit of more than 500 a year, it is considered a good year.

Many ordinary people will not earn 90,000 in their lifetime.

But the professor still used all his connections to find a solution. He pieced together things, rushed to complete the commission, and scraped together a little more than 20,000 yuan, but this was still far from enough.

Until he accepted a mysterious mission from a wandering knight and received a deposit of 40,000 empire coins.

Relying on this deposit and the money he had scraped together before, Professor Svitley temporarily sent the tax officials from the tax department to prove that he had the ability to deliver, and then headed to the northwest mountainous area with his two apprentices.

And it took two months to go like this.

Although the professor left a sum of money for the orphanage's daily expenses before leaving, there were always more surprises than expected. As the weather turned colder, several children in the orphanage fell ill and needed medicine. The funds left by the professor were obviously not enough.

So as the older child in the hospital, Seneca took the lead and went to work in the factory to earn money to buy medicine.

"...Sigh, my source energy talent is too poor, otherwise there would be no need for little Luoya and Gaza to accompany the professor to endure hardships."

Sighing softly, the boy with brown hair and green eyes couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "We have burdened the professor."

Mr. Banner's factory works hard, but wages are paid daily, and a free dinner is provided for the night shift. Although he is very stingy like other factory owners and exploits the workers' labor, at least he pays the wages that should be paid, so as not to Always in arrears.

For other factory owners in the entire city who not only exploit but also delay wages in various ways, it is already rare for them to have a conscience - although it is a bit ridiculous to say the word conscience to factory owners, at least they have a dark conscience.

It would be better if there were no psychologically distorted fellow workers.

Snapped.

While walking, a stone flew from a short distance and hit the young man on the shoulder, causing him to stumble and almost fall.

There was a burst of rude laughter behind him, and all kinds of dirty and obscene insults and sarcastic sounds came towards Seneca.

"You brat, how dare you say that the work I did was substandard?"

"Demonizer, get out!"

"What a piece of shit quality inspector, helping the factory owners squeeze us out? Go to the cemetery to find your parents as soon as possible!"

"You bastard who sells your ass, [Ean swears]!"

It was a group of people who were more like street gangsters than workers.

They occasionally come to work in the factory, hang out for a few days and then wander the streets. After all the money is spent, they continue to work. There are many such people.

Fixed skilled workers are rare because of the special nature of Yuaneng's skills, and every factory is rushing to get them.

This is the job of quality inspectors. These temporary workers who make mistakes are unwilling to admit their mistakes and dare not vent their anger on the factory owner who punished them, so they hate the quality inspector because it was he who pointed out their mistakes. mistake.

The identity of a patient with demonic disease is a catalyst that allows these ruffians to humiliate each other openly and on a common-sense excuse.

"..."

After rubbing his shoulders, Seneca said nothing. He just took a deep look at the gangsters and then continued to move forward silently.

"What the hell, you dare to glare at me? I'll dig out your eyes when I get the chance!"

They shouted loudly, but the gangsters did not dare to move forward.

Demonic disease is contagious. Although taking good protection will greatly reduce the chance of infection, as long as the demonized person is desperate, ordinary protection is meaningless.

It's just a matter of bullying a marginalized person, but you really run the risk of becoming a demon yourself... Rogues are not fools, they don't do meaningless things.

But a demonizer... or in other words, an orphan without parents and support, if he wants to live with dignity in this world, he has to face more than just such feeble malice.

"Little Seneca, do you still want to run away today?"

When the boy got rid of the group of gangsters and came to the slum alley between the factory and the orphanage, Seneca, who was hurriedly walking, suddenly felt a sudden push in the chest, and his back hit the wall hard.

"Ahem..."

Immediately, Seneca, who was already in some bad health, lowered his head and coughed violently. But before he finished coughing, a rough hand held his shoulder and the other hand pressed his chin. , forcibly lifting his face.

It was a tall man with an obvious demonic deformation on his left hand and a thick carapace. He was wearing leather armor and had a handmade energy gun and dagger at his waist. He looked like an armed mercenary.

This bearded guy who seemed to have barbarian blood seemed to have been waiting here for a long time. He looked at Seneca's demonized but still handsome face and let out a rude laugh.

"I said, if you want money, I can give it to you. Why go to the factory to earn hard money?"

The man's heavy breathing and strong bad breath made Seneca almost nauseous. She couldn't help but want to turn her head, but the other party forcefully turned his face away: "Stay with me for a few nights, you little ones. I paid for all the medicine for my brother and sister."

As both a demonizer, he was not afraid of infection at all - rather, Seneca was afraid that the other party's more serious symptoms would resonate with him.

"Maras, get away! You don't dare to do this when the professor is here!"

He struggled hard, but he couldn't escape the opponent's hand - Maras was a senior mercenary with brilliant strength. He had been on the battlefield to annihilate the rebels in the Moras Plains Farm, and he had a lot of lives in his hands. It's not something that a fifteen or sixteen year old boy can break free from.

"Professor Svitley... huh, if he can come back, of course I wouldn't dare. Who as a mercenary dares to provoke a real alchemy professor? I don't know how he will die."

He snorted coldly and easily suppressed Seneca's resistance. Malas's tone was subtle: "As for now... To be honest, I am really helping you. The Xiguang Orphanage is over. You can still survive by following me." , continue to stay there just waiting to die."

"Unless you want to be caught and work in the Simov farm and mining area until you die - with your face, some people will still take a fancy to you at that time, but they may not be as 'reasonable' as me."

"What……"

Seneca was not stupid. He could understand what this mercenary meant: According to Maras's information channel, Professor Svitley had obviously had an accident. Otherwise, this always 'smart' mercenary would never have been able to do this. A rough shot.

Sensing the weakening of the boy's struggle, Maras suddenly smiled proudly. He glanced greedily at the other's beautiful face: "You must not know that there was a natural disaster and an earthquake in the Northern Ionian Mountains. I checked. In a moment, it happened to be where the wandering knight took your dean, my dear, several mountains collapsed."

"They are unlucky and will definitely die. Even if they survive by chance, they won't be able to pay taxes before the end of the year. Compared with being sent to the farm, if you follow me, you have a better chance of survival."

This news really shocked the young man and made him motionless.

But just when Maras thought that the opponent had been defeated and was disheartened and decided to give up resistance, Seneca suddenly raised his head, and a round of emerald green light bloomed in his right eye, reflecting in the mercenary's eyes.

"you……?!"

Malas was shocked. He originally thought that Seneca's demonic power was simply good eyesight and had no other special abilities.

But this idea was obviously wrong. He suddenly felt extremely tired and stiff, and then fell to the ground on the spot and fell into a deep sleep.

"...The professor said that using my source energy ability will worsen my physical condition..."

Taking a few steps back, away from the mercenary's sleeping body, Seneca looked at him with a complicated expression.

What Maras said was not false. The reason why he suddenly became bold because he had followed the rules before was precisely because the professor had an accident.

"If the professor really has an accident..."

Thinking like this, the young man's heart sank, but he had no other choice.

There is no shame in struggling to survive, but he followed Maras. Who told the other children in the orphanage this news? How can we save more people?

Without hesitation, he stood up and took steps. Regardless of the severe pain in his right eye due to the use of his source energy ability, he took advantage of the darkness and strode towards the orphanage.

Dark depths.

There are two pairs of eyes watching all this.

"Is it the Human Immobilization Technique or the Sleep Technique? This demonization ability is good, and it is very useful in stealth combat."

"But in the final analysis, he is a demonizer... Do we still need to continue to monitor him? It is clear that Major Yelena was killed, and this mission has failed."

"The higher-ups haven't issued an order yet, so let's just wait and see... It's a pity that such a young child has just begun to enjoy his youth in my hometown."

"Oh, where do you find the sympathy for the demonizer? A group of little ghosts and orphans infected with the demonic disease, and they don't know what the disease is about the professor, have caused themselves so much trouble. "

A brief exchange proved their identity as the Third Army.

They watched everything with cold eyes and did not care what happened to the children in Xiguang Orphanage.

If Professor Sweetley accepts the recruitment and comes back as his superior, he may still take care of him for his sake, but now that the mission has failed, he is naturally too lazy to take care of things.

As for the bullying…

What does the life and death of an orphan in the slums have to do with them?

"Cough cough cough..."

Dawn was about to appear in the sky, and Seneca staggered through the intricate streets of the slums in the lower city. Voices full of life gradually came from both sides of the street. Most people were about to wake up. He took advantage of this chaotic time to get out of the house as quickly as possible. Speed ​​back to the orphanage.

As Malas said, most of the children in Xiguang Orphanage are patients with demonic diseases. This is not because Professor Sweetley is specifically looking for it, but because orphans without parents can easily be confused and confused without shelter. Source energy infection.

Because of this, no ordinary person except Professor Svetrey dared to contact these children; but also, thanks to this, during the period when Professor Svetrey left, not many people dared to approach this family. Orphanage.

Soon, when Seneca, the eldest child who went out to work to earn money for medicine, came back and told everyone that the professor might have an accident, the entire orphanage was in a panic.

But with the help of Aunt Daria, a kind old woman who was hired by the professor to help take care of them, the children, who had experienced the ups and downs of human relationships, finally calmed down.

Aunt Daria once had a child, but she died early due to the demonic disease, and she was not expected to live for more than a few years. So after being invited by Professor Sweetley, she simply came to take care of these children who were also infected with the demonic disease.

When the professor is away, this aunt takes care of everyone.

But when he calmed down, he realized how bad things were.

Several children went out and bought (or even stole) the newspapers of the past few days, which indeed recorded that natural disasters occurred in the northern Ionian Mountains, such that earthquakes and landslides occurred - the location happened to be where the professor was going. Where the excavated remains are located.

This bad news greatly damaged everyone's confidence.

Without professors, no matter how hard the orphans try to support them, they are nothing more than hollow reeds that will break as soon as they are broken. And the few children who are already sick cannot stand the torment, let alone being sent to work on the farm. Without medicine for a few days, a high fever can kill them.

"Isabella and Avro can hardly hold on any longer. The money you left last time, brother, was only enough to buy a pair of medicine. They both said they would give it to the younger Keselina..."

"Brother, we are too conspicuous to escape... If you really want to run away, you should run alone!"

"Is the dean really dead... Wuwuwu..."

Listening to the children's voices one after another, Seneca also felt a headache. He knew very well that since mercenaries like Maras started to take action, it meant that other people who should know about it already knew about it.

If they don't take everyone away as soon as possible, the ending of the entire Xiguang Orphanage will be absolutely miserable... even beyond their imagination.

But unfortunately, Seneca realized it too late.

Just when he was planning to sell the furniture in the orphanage and some alchemy equipment left by the professor in exchange for money to buy medicine, he then led people to escape deep into the lower city.

The tax collector from Ayvind City has arrived.

Just as all tax collectors are the core and most powerful armed force of the local lords, the same is true for the tax collector in Ayvind City. He wears a heavy armor and has an energy gun of the same style as the military on his waist. The head was also completely covered by the helmet, and the whole person looked like a tin can.

"Xiguang Orphanage, right... Be prepared to pay taxes."

This steel giant, which weighed at least half a ton, stood at the door of the orphanage, flipping through the records in his hands, with an indifferent tone: "Ninety-four thousand imperial coins are to be paid, sixty-seven thousand imperial coins have been paid, and twenty-seven thousand more need to be paid. Thousand imperial coins.”

"Take it out now."

Unlike mercenaries like Maras, the tax collector is a direct manifestation of the violent will and ruling authority of the nobles. Not to mention that Seneca's demonic power cannot have an effect on people wearing helmets. Even if it can, he can Don't dare to attack the opponent.

So after working hard all night, the young man who is still awake can only stand up and cheer up: "Master tax collector, didn't you say that this tax will not be paid until January next year? Why now..."

But a cold voice interrupted his words: "Why, do you still want to delay?"

Even though his eyes were hidden behind his helmet, Seneca could still feel the contempt and impatience beneath the cold words of the tax collector: "You demonized bastards, can you really afford to pay the taxes? Or can you? Do you think that if you don’t have money now, you will be able to make money in two or three months?”

The Iron Giant looked down condescendingly. He looked around the entire orphanage with a sneer and said mockingly: "To tell you the truth, your professor has been dead a long time ago - who knows how that alchemy professor valued you demonized little ones? You want breasts?" No breasts, no butt.”

"A good gentleman, but because he took you in, his life is so difficult. It's like there is something wrong with his brain."

At this point, the tax collector lowered his head and looked at Seneca. He said thoughtfully: "Well, but big men do have some inexplicable hobbies... Hahaha, he is dead anyway, so there is no way you can Those who hand over their taxes.”

Undisguised laughter rang out, but he quickly returned to his original indifference. Wherever the tax collector glanced, all the children couldn't help but take a few steps back. Only Aunt Daria stepped forward angrily, like a protector. Like a hen laying eggs, she protects her shivering children behind her.

But he didn't care, he just shook his head: "Don't think too much, man, go to the mining area to mine and make money as soon as possible, and you can contribute to Earl Ayvind as soon as possible."

"As for women, well, there are so many sick? Then we can only deal with them to avoid infection...it's really a cheap life."

Evaluating arbitrarily, the tax collector enjoyed the feeling of having the life and death of others in his own hands.

But he felt a hint of cold threat.

No, not just a hint.

Almost all the children were staring at him with eyes full of hatred.

At this moment, the tax collector suddenly remembered the origin of these children.

They were all orphans picked up by Professor Sweetley from the wilderness four years ago during the drought and famine in the southern city-state...

Most of the timid and cowardly children died at the beginning of the famine and were eaten as food.

And the children who survived, no matter how harmless or weak they looked on the surface... were the ones who could survive the chaos of famine until Professor Svitley picked them up!

"Hmph...forget it today."

His heart was pounding, and the tax collector turned around quickly - he also knew very well that things could not be pushed too far. After all, these people were children, or children with demonic diseases. If they were really angry, it would not be like this. What sense do you have when adults talk like that?

Especially if you accidentally contract the demonic disease, you will lose more than you gain.

With this thought in his mind, the tax collector thought cautiously: "Bring the team here tomorrow... I have already said that demonizers cannot be allowed to enter the city. They are too dangerous, even for children."

But just as he was about to leave.

An emergency report suddenly came from the communication circle built into the armor.

[Attention all ministries, entering level B alert state. 】

"what happened?"

The tax collector was stunned for a moment. He didn't understand why this alert state was activated: "B-level alert... Could it be that there are rebels trying to attack the city?"

But soon, the following report answered his doubts: [The sentry observed that there was a very dilapidated mobile battleship in the northwest, approaching us at a very abnormal speed! 】

[The Earl ordered that he want the battleship. 】

at the same time.

It is indeed dilapidated and old. I am afraid that there are not many battleships older than it in the entire world of Aian.

"Is that your destination?"

The voice of the half-elf Dawn came, with a hint of doubt in her tone: "It... there seems to be a lot of anger and hatred accumulated in this city. These emotions are aimless... In addition, there are also those targeting us, A lot of malice.”

"In the past few eras, I rarely saw such emotional accumulation." She commented.

"Well, this is it."

Standing on the top of the research ship, the oncoming strong wind made the man's clothes rustle. Su Zhou stared at the city in front of him, which was as huge as a mountain but was carried on an artificial base. The city and the sky were reflected in his eyes. shadow.

He saw that there were several smaller mobile city-states connected to this city, guarding it like satellites, looking majestic and majestic.

"I just want those kids back."

But the man just shook his head lightly and said indifferently: "Let them do whatever they want, whatever their malice, anger or hatred."

"I do not care."