Chapter 121
"this……"
Mu Xiaohu was stunned and didn't know what to say for a moment.
Although those short words are only a few words, they can easily make people think of the happy, troubled, hopeful, or lively voices and smiles behind the words. Almost instantly, people can't help but feel deep regret and vague sadness for their passing.
"How...how could there be...so many people..." Mu Xiaohu stuttered, subconsciously doubting what Tang Na said, but the girl's expression dispelled this doubt.
The girl's gloomy look contained a bit of hatred and confusion, and her hatred was like a rootless kite floating in the air, not knowing whether it would fall on Mu Xiaohu and others, or on some people in the distance.
Perhaps it was the clear eyes and sincere concern of the black-skinned boy in front of her that made the girl gradually let down her guard and hostility. After a long time, she took a deep breath and said in a hoarse voice: "They...they died the day before you came to Zhongwu Star...they were killed like pigs and dogs by the Third Corps of the Tulip National Defense Army ...on the street you went the day before yesterday...At that time, the ground was covered with blood...so much...so much blood..."
She stretched out her hands to cover her gradually hideous face, biting her lips stubbornly to prevent the sobs from spilling out of her mouth, blinking hard to hold back all the tears, staring at Mu Xiaohu with bloodshot eyes, and raised the corners of her mouth, saying mockingly: "Do you know why they were massacred?"
“—Because they are dirty!”
"They live like rats in the darkest and dirtiest places in the city, doing the hardest and most exhausting work for the meager pay. Even if they desperately squeeze their own physical strength and life and work non-stop all year round, they can only barely survive."
"Even so...even so...there are people who can't tolerate them!"
"Because those noble, spotless Celestials think that these inferior races have dirty and lowly blood flowing in their bodies, can never wash their faces and hands clean, and always emit a foul odor... Because the Celestials think that these inferior people will damage the image of the great Tulip Country in the eyes of interstellar friends, especially the slums and garbage dumps where they live, which are a disgusting sore that cannot be ignored on the land of the beautiful capital, so they ordered that they must be cleaned up thoroughly!"
On the edge of the vast wasteland, there is a small bar hidden among green plants. A sweet-looking waitress put three glasses of bubbling, chilled light green drinks on the table, smiled sweetly at the people sitting at the table, and her furry tail swayed unconsciously behind her before she left with light steps.
Lin Lai watched her back, and only said to Rong Yuan after the girl walked away: "Many people don't know that these alien races are the original owners of this planet. Humans - that is, the Celestials - are actually the real outsiders."
"In our textbooks, humans are the most intelligent race native to this planet. However, due to their weak constitution, they were enslaved by alien races until three hundred years ago. Later, the sage Kasanlai launched a revolutionary war to protect his young son, which brought hope to mankind."
"After that, the Celestials became the most respected beings on this planet. They received the best education, had the most opportunities, and enjoyed the highest welfare. Even if a person did not work at all, the country would take care of him/her from birth to death."
"Aliens are all pariahs in the legal sense, but in reality, their treatment varies greatly." Lin Lai pointed at Mo Gui, who was leaning against the fence by the lake to enjoy the view, and said, "For example, people like Mo Gui, who are mixed-race children of human and sub-human races and look not much different from humans, are considered first-class. Although they are sometimes despised by the Celestials and rejected by other aliens, they can receive basic education, and it is easier for them to find jobs and fall in love. I heard that some enlightened colleges and universities are now recruiting outstanding mixed-race students, and some of them can even become employees of government departments. Of course, their room for appreciation is relatively limited."
"The second-rate ones are like the waitress. Although they have obvious non-human marks on their bodies, their appearance is close to that of humans, and they are good-looking. The most important thing is that they are good-looking, so people will be very accepting of them, and some people even like them. So they can go to some second-rate community schools, learn basic writing, arithmetic, common sense, etiquette, etc., and then receive some relatively professional training. Then they can become maids, waiters, switchboard operators, factory workers, fashion models, extras, etc., and have no problem maintaining a basic life. Some very outstanding ones can even live better than most people in the Celestial Race."
"Both are called sub-humans. The next level is without any human features, and looks just like wild beasts, but has relatively high intelligence. This is called Ming beast. Some conservative humans are very distrustful of humanoid aliens, but prefer smart and quiet beast-shaped aliens. They will hire them to help pull carts, transport goods, guard the gate, manage farms, etc., or just keep them as pets for companionship. If they get along well, they can be like family to each other. Moreover, when beast-shaped aliens walk on the street, many people are just like cows and horses, which are animals with low IQs, and basically will not cause much disgust."
"The most miserable are those ugly, weird-looking, inhuman aliens, called the Bi people. Even the worst schools will not accept such people. Ninety-nine percent of jobs will refuse them. Many stores will refuse to sell goods to them. Some cities even have laws that prohibit Bi people from appearing in the city during the day, wearing clothes other than linen, and wearing clothes with more than two colors, etc. ... Ah, that's the Bi people."
Lin Lai suddenly pointed outside the bar. Next to the street, a round manhole cover was pushed open, and two guys, all black with only the white of their eyes visible, carefully crawled out. They were short and small, with big heads and skinny bodies. Their fingers and feet were abnormally thick and twisted. Their bodies were covered with scales, and they had a long, thin tail behind them. They looked like the little devils Rong Yuan had seen in fairy tales a long time ago, but they looked timid, as if they would be frightened at any time.
The two dirty guys didn't dare to stay outside any longer. After carefully pushing the manhole cover back, they took out a piece of gray cloth and covered themselves with it. Except for a pair of eyes, not even their toes were exposed. Then they quickly slipped away in the shadow of the corner.
"Are they the workers repairing the sewers?" Rong Yuan asked.
"Maybe, maybe not." Lin Lai said, "Because most of the bison in the city live in the sewers, so maybe that's their home. Maybe they are hungry and have to come out to find something to eat, usually by looking through trash cans or waiting behind restaurants to get some leftovers; maybe they have work to do, because there are always some bosses who like to hire these bison to do some work that no one else wants to do, and they only need to pay a small amount of wages, and some even don't pay wages, just give them some food and daily necessities to get rid of them. If the hired bison accidentally dies, they don't have to pay a high amount of compensation."
His tone was calm, as if he was used to such things. But deep in his eyes, there was indelible pity and pain.
Rong Yuan looked at him for a while, then turned his head to look outside, took a sip of his drink, and said, "You stopped me, said you wanted to buy me a drink, and then told me all this, what is your purpose?"
"I..." Lin Lai was stuck. He gritted his teeth, looked at Rong Yuan, and said, "I hope I can change this... I want to help them, but I can't do anything , so I..."
"So you want to borrow my power?"
"yes."
"You are from the Celestial Race, right?" Rong Yuan asked, "Then you are also a vested interest, why would you want to help the alien race?"
"The Celestials... yes, I am from the Celestials, and even... my father is a big shot in this country, but so what?" Lin Lai said with a wry smile: "In his eyes, I am just an insignificant illegitimate child among his twenty-three children. Maybe he can't even remember my name. From childhood to adulthood, the one who has been with me, taking care of me, and loving me like a real father is a Bei who doesn't even have a surname. Because my mother once gave him a piece of bread when he was about to starve to death, he has been silently guarding us. After my mother passed away, my biological father didn't even have the interest to look at me, but he has been doing his best to take care of me. But... but what can he do? He is just a Bei."
Lin Lai choked up and put his hands over his eyes. After a while, he said, "He gave everything he had to raise me. He was willing to do anything. But... when I was little, I didn't understand his efforts at all. I didn't know how hard it was for him. I hated him for being a poor man. I blamed him for not letting me be as rich as other children. My friends laughed at me because of him. I would just go home and get angry at him... But then... one day, I came home from school and found him lying outside the gate covered in blood. There were so many people coming and going. Everyone walked around him. No one even lowered their heads to look at him."
"He died right in front of his house, less than two metres away. He had a chance to be saved, but... but no one reached out to save him."
"The people who hurt him beat him for more than three hours in public just because they didn't like the ridiculous reason of 'there are people walking on the street in broad daylight'. Many people saw it, even police officers from the Ministry of Public Security, but because he was a person, no one made an effort to stop him."
"My father... He did nothing wrong in his life, but because of an identity he could not choose, he never got justice until his death. I took the guy who beat him to death to court and appealed three times, but in the end I only got 200 yuan in compensation, no apology, no other punishment, only 200 yuan - this is the value of a beetle in the eyes of others! Not even as good as a dog."
The young man's azure eyes were now filled with gloom. Rong Yuan knew that this young man, who seemed cheerful and free-spirited when he first met him, had actually sneaked into the home of the man who had beaten his adoptive father to death late at night with a knife in his arms after appealing many times and failing to get his case, and killed the man's parents and wife, leaving only the man who had been chopped into a human pig alive.
Afterwards, the young man abandoned his original name and surname, and used the alias Lin Lai (Lai was the name of his adoptive father), then hacked into the traffic system and found the people who were laughing and watching when his adoptive father was beaten and insulted, the people who cheered and applauded, the police officers who turned a blind eye, and the people who took selfies and posted videos... and then took revenge on them one by one. After he was arrested, he had more than ten lives on his hands. It was a sensational case in Tulip Country at the time, and it also promoted the establishment of some human rights bills for aliens.
But in reality, legal provisions cannot change people's hearts and human nature. After that, the situation of the bihumans has hardly changed. On the contrary, the environment of the demihumans and the beasts has improved slightly.
After a moment of silence, Lin Lai looked at Rong Yuan and said, "Do you know? The Tulip Empire has a population of more than 8 million, of which about 30% are foreigners, but less than 7% have a formal place of residence and an identity recognized by the state. Before you came, a large number of foreigners were driven out of the capital or expelled to the sewers, and more than 30,000 people were massacred. Among them... most of them were beys."
"This is... the civilized, friendly, warm, gentlemanly... Tulip Country."
