Chapter 98 Hal: Super Fierce
Supervisor Lowell wanted to laugh at that moment.
Nightmare Butcher Yang is not famous in the mainland because he was hunted by the Church of the Fiery Sun. This madman was already wanted by many countries and was notorious before he broke into the seal of someone else's holy land and caused massive destruction.
A mainland wanted criminal with a bounty on his head by at least ten countries, a notorious evil black magician, actually has the nerve to claim that he has never abused violence?
Supervisor Lowell found it extremely ridiculous and almost laughed out loud.
Then... he suddenly felt something was wrong.
He and Yang were from the same era. When Yang became famous more than a hundred years ago, he was also coming to prominence.
Even though they had never met and had only heard rumors about each other, Inspector Lowell clearly knew Yang better than most Nabarronians.
So... the black-robed inspector who almost laughed out loud gradually became horrified...
Yang Qiu smiled but said nothing.
Supervisor Lowell pondered for a moment, and seemed to have come to a conclusion. He shook his head and said, "No... This is just sophistry. Your terrifying actions can never be called maintaining justice and order. You are just creating fear in people."
Yang Qiu smiled calmly: "Dear Supervisor, fairness and order are different from justice and cannot be easily defined. In my opinion, fairness and order are constant and are the laws of civilization that protect the basic human rights and interests of the majority of people. Anything that conflicts with this basic law is wrong."
Supervisor Lowell: “…”
He knew that this guy would definitely use one set of sophistry to defend his other set of sophistry, but he never expected that this guy would actually come up with a "civilized law"...
The black-robed inspector frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "Since you believe that justice and order cannot be easily defined, then what qualifications do you have to define justice and order from your standpoint?"
"Because this is not defined by me, but is the basic law that exists in the material plane." Yang Qiu said calmly, "The birth of civilization of any race or ethnic group must be based on justice and order. When the order is unbalanced and most people in this civilization system cannot live a stable life, no matter how powerful the military force of this civilization is, it will inevitably cause turmoil, war and eventually destruction. When the order is stable, even if the civilization is not strong enough, it will eventually prosper and thrive."
"The Kenyan Empire has a population of 300 million, while the Outer Continent has more than a billion people. Such a powerful Outer Continent does not have order. They attack and conquer each other. In the early days of the Age of Exploration, the foreign slaves who flowed to Nabarron were even tied to the slave ships of the Kenyan Empire by the people of the Outer Continent themselves. Four hundred years later, the foreign slaves who flowed to Nabarron even exceeded the population of the Kenyan Empire."
"So, I think that when a systematic civilization cannot have a fair order that can guarantee a stable life for the majority of people, then this civilization has gone the wrong way."
This time, Supervisor Lowell remained silent for a long time...
He found that he still couldn't understand Yang - wasn't this guy a crazy black magician who was rampant all over the continent? How could he say such a thing and even care so much about why the outer continent became a slave plantation of the Kenyan Empire? !
The Goddess of Prosperity is a secluded person, and the people of the Church of Prosperity don't like to leave their homeland. Supervisor Lowell has never even been to the Kenyan Empire in his life, so he really can't respond to this question. After much pain, Supervisor Lowell decided to bring the topic to a place where he can have a say: "Even if you are right, your behavior is actually disrupting order. If you really respect order as you say, then you should respect the laws of the countries on the Nabarron continent. Even if there are criminals, they should be judged by the countries, instead of allowing you to arbitrarily use lynching."
Yang Qiu couldn't help but smile: "Dear Inspector, please believe that I agree with you on this point. I have learned about the laws of many countries, including the Principality of Shiga. I have to say that these laws on paper do comply with the basic principles of justice and order. The starting point of some regulations is indeed to protect the majority of law-abiding citizens..."
After a pause, Yang Qiu said with some regret: "It's a pity that these laws and regulations can only exist on paper, while the other legal provisions that are not based on the perspective of law-abiding citizens are implemented very well."
Supervisor Lowell's face turned pale, and soon turned red...
Yang Qiu looked at the ascetic monk who refused to accept the truth of the world with pity, and said calmly: "Sir Hans of Camor Town molested several children under the age of ten. According to the constitution of the Principality of Shiga, if enough evidence is collected and witnesses willing to accuse are found and sent to court, the judge can sentence him to more than ten years in prison... But as long as he steps down from the dock, he can pay bail at the price of 100 gold coins per year of prison. If he pays 1,000 gold coins, he can go home. If he is not delayed on the way, he can even catch up for dinner that day."
"Dear Inspector, do you think this is also fair and orderly?"
Supervisor Lowell had nothing to say.
"If you can't establish a new order, then you'd better not rush to destroy the old order." Yang Qiu continued, "I can't make the Principality of Shiga abandon the bail system that leaves a backdoor for the rich, so of course I can only start from what I can do, such as smashing Sir Hans's limbs in front of many respectable people. In this way, Sir Hans's peers will know that if they do the same thing, they will not be able to avoid disaster when they fall into my hands. When these peers want to untie their belts, they should be more or less cautious."
Supervisor Lowell: “…”
"I admit that this crude method is not very smart." Yang Qiu spread his hands, "But it is better than doing nothing, what do you think?"
Inspector Lowell raised his hand and pressed hard on his temple... It was really embarrassing to be left speechless by a madman!
"But this... is still a form of destruction." Supervisor Lowell said stiffly, "This kind of violent lynching in public will cause unrest to people."
Yang Qiu looked strange: "What kind of person would be upset to learn that a criminal was severely punished?"
Supervisor Lowell's expression froze.
"How could someone who has never thought of harming a little boy be afraid when hearing that the person who played with the little boy was punished?" Yang Qiu said with a half-smile, "Shouldn't the normal reaction be to applaud?"
"But--"
"I understand what you mean, Supervisor." Yang Qiu raised his hand to stop the embarrassed Lowell, "What you really want to say is that an outsider like me is violating the constitution of the Principality of Shiga and forcibly punishing the knight of the Principality of Shiga. This is trampling on the constitution of the Principality of Shiga and making people lose respect for the constitution."
Inspector Lowell looked very upset. He didn't know whether to admit it or not.
Yang Qiu smiled and said, "This goes back to our previous discussion... A country's constitutional provisions are not based on protecting the majority of law-abiding citizens, but instead deliberately leave a backdoor for a very small number of people to pay off their crimes even if they break the law. How can such a constitution be worthy of respect?"
"But the existence of laws and regulations at least guarantees a certain level of order." Supervisor Lowell's face turned grim. "Didn't you say it yourself ? When it's impossible to establish a new order, we shouldn't rush to destroy the old order."
"Not deliberately destroying the old order is different from obeying justice and order." Yang Qiu smiled, "Isn't it more correct to start from the extent of your ability and make changes little by little?"
Supervisor Lowell was silent for a long time again...
Yang Qiu was almost done drinking a cup of tea when the black-robed inspector spoke again with difficulty: "I still think you are too optimistic. Those who carry a sharp blade will definitely use it. If you blindly pursue power with this wrong understanding, it will only hurt yourself."
Yang Qiu was strangely silent...
He suddenly realized that the black-robed inspector was not here to find out his past, but seemed to be concerned about him and worried that he would ruin himself...
——He is indeed an ascetic monk, much more conscientious than those thieves. Those who eat and drink his food will remember his kindness!
Yang Qiu smiled happily and said, "Thank you, Lowell. Don't worry, the path I insist on is not something I have explored on my own. In fact, I have a reference. I am just following the successful path of others."
Rowell was startled: "Others? Who?"
"A group of...very remarkable people." Yang Qiu didn't explain much, just smiled.
He grew up in New China, and he had been exposed to the deeds of that powerful army since he was a child.
The strong people in this world are lost in the powerful force, but he will never be lost because he knows where the power should be used - it is not idealism, but the correct theoretical guidance that is successfully combined with practice and has been proven to be absolutely feasible!
Not only him, Yang Qiu believed that as long as the Chinese people who had received compulsory education knew what to do - when playing a survival strategy game, the Chinese people knew that they had to focus on farming to preserve their manpower and keep as many people alive as possible. How could someone like him who had come here before go the wrong way!
Exiled to town.
Hal's shadow faded again, and another player entered his "alienated mental realm".
This time, Hal was much calmer than last time when he turned his gaze to the double images that could be seen through his shadow.
In the double vision, the undead are trying hard to fight Jim, Harrington, and Olive, who have been transformed into monsters by his twisted mental projection.
Hal looked at this strange scene in silence, his heart... unexpectedly calm.
He knew it was not Jim, not Uncle Harrington, and not Olive.
That monster was born from his heart. It was a dark existence that he constructed himself, carrying all his weakness, filthiness, unbearableness, shamelessness, and guilt.
His own projection was also in the picture...hiding in the corner, shivering and looking miserable.
"...That's the real me." Hal looked at his teenage self and had this thought in his mind.
Powerless and incompetent, without the courage to resist the truly strong, they always hold on to their self-righteous cleverness, avoid real dangers, and hide in dirty corners to survive.
Hal felt his face getting hot... This kind of staring at himself would make him feel embarrassed even if there was no one around, not to mention that there were so many dead spirits witnessing it.
Hal sighed inwardly, and had to admit... he was indeed not as brave as outsiders thought. His real weak side was just carefully hidden by him.
The undead that entered this time were no match for the monster in his mind. They only lasted about ten minutes before disappearing.
Not long after the double image disappeared, another undead entered and the scene reappeared. Hal saw his teenage self dragging a body bag again...
"This is really...too torturous." Hal thought numbly, "This is a punishment. That bastard Yang did it on purpose. He just wanted me to see how miserable I am."
The double images did not appear separately. Hal could see one or three independent different images each time.
Ninety-one undead will appear in each double-image, followed by him dragging a body bag.
In other words... Hal could see two or even three of his teenage selves at the same time, dragging a body bag, appearing in front of different undead, falling down in a mess, and being scared to death by Jim crawling out of the body bag...
Hal really wanted those undead spirits to stab his teenage self to death.
When he thought about this, there were actually players who did this...
Probably because they were made impatient by the continuous team annihilation, a team of players decided to take an unconventional approach after "entering the game". They rushed forward with roars without waiting for the young Hal to fall, wanting to see if they could pass the game by killing him directly.
When Hal saw this scene in one of the three images, he even had a little expectation, hoping that the actions of these undead souls would bring him relief.
Then Hal saw... "him" who was stabbed several times not only did not die, but also cried and wailed, "I have tried my best to be a scumbag, why do you want to kill me?" and other words that were so shameful that he could be sent to the outer continent. Then he transformed into an adult dark version, and then turned into an alien monster, killing this group of undead one by one.
Hal lowered his head and buried his face in his hands.
This time he really wanted to die.
What right did he have to reject his teenage self? As an adult, he was a thousand times more despicable than he was as a teenager.
In the first half of the night, Hal and Tuttle, the two brothers, wanted to hang themselves every half an hour.
In the second half of the night, there was no movement from Tattle's side, and only Hal's side was filled with undead coming in and out.
Finally, it was dawn... Tuttle, who had recovered a little energy after a nap, and Rex, who had been quiet and undisturbed all night, looked at Hal, who was so haggard that he looked pale, in silence, and could not speak for a long time...
Hal didn't even have the energy to question why Rex was so safe and sound. He struggled to stand up and said, "Let's go to the Chamber of Commerce cafeteria to see what we can eat."
Tuttle nodded and came up silently to help him.
Rex was originally embarrassed to go with them (he thought Yang was taking extra care of him), but remembering that he hadn't tasted Liu's cooking for more than ten days, he shamelessly followed them.
The players who had been killing enemies for an entire afternoon (it was afternoon on Earth) were filled with resentment. When they saw the two NPCs Hal and Tattle appear in Exile Town again, they glared at them.
Especially Hal. As he walked several hundred meters from the town hall to Living Lane, any undead who saw him would stop and stare at him with murderous eyes.
Hal: “…”
Hal almost burst into tears, feeling a sense of grievance that he hadn't felt for many years.
The undead didn't care at all that they had trampled on Hal's self-esteem all night long, and they were muttering some rude words that were obvious from their tone:
"Why is Hal so hard to beat?"
"I am so impressed. The Inner Demons dungeon of the Novice Village NPC is so difficult. The future group dungeons will be amazing!"
"I'm almost having PTSD, damn inner demon!"
After having a tasteless meal in the cafeteria, Hal was sent back to Westham by Yang and reappeared at the militia headquarters where he had to stay all the time except for setting up stalls. He actually felt a sense of liberation as if he had seen the light of day again.
There were more than a thousand people detained in the militia headquarters, which was used as a temporary detention center. Most of them were clients of prostitutes, and a small number were militiamen, former brothel thugs and bosses, etc., whom Hal considered to be bad people.
The valuable clients who have been redeemed have been moved to the basement of the resettlement site in Area A. The clients held here are either foreigners whose hometowns are far away and who cannot prove their value, or they are artisans, small businessmen, and citizens of Innadli who cannot afford the huge ransom (Yang Qiu hates clients and asks for a huge amount of money, the minimum ransom is fifty gold coins).
As for these people... Hal and others who are in charge of discipline must not be in a good mood. They don't have time to go out for exercise, they have to raise their hands to report when going to the toilet, they will be beaten if they dare to dirty the room, they will be beaten if they dare to make a noise, they will be beaten if they don't queue up for meals... These people are beaten until they are obedient and as honest as quails.
"Sir, how long will we be locked up?"
When the dead came to deliver lunch, a prostitute who was waiting in line couldn't stand it anymore and bowed to Hal to ask him something.
If it were yesterday, this guy who didn't even behave himself when receiving his meal would have been slapped by Hal, but today Hal was in no mood to lecture him. He just said coldly, "How should I know? Wait."
The client who was asking the question was ready to be beaten, but when Hal unexpectedly didn't hit him, he plucked up his courage and asked, "Then, can you let me send a letter? I haven't been home for a long time, and my wife and children are still at home-"
The lazy Hal suddenly went berserk, kicked the guy out of the line, and then rushed forward and kicked him hard: "You have a wife and children, but you still go out to whore! How dare you feel wronged! How dare you feel wronged! How dare you feel wronged!"
Pansy, who was standing nearby, was not prepared for Hal to go berserk, and hurriedly went over to hug Hal's waist, sweating profusely: "Forget it, Hal, don't cause any problems that would be hard to explain."
"Don't you know what a shameful thing you have done? How dare you feel wronged!" Hal yelled at Pansy with red eyes.
Pansy: “???” What are you angry about? ?
Pansy's head was full of question marks, but she couldn't ask any questions, so she could only keep comforting her...
The former mayor was standing in line behind the citizen of Innaderi who was asking questions. Seeing that Hal was in a "good mood" today, he wanted to take advantage of his seniority and ask for sympathy so that he could go home (the old man didn't know that his treasury had been robbed and his house had been requisitioned) and get some quilts, clothes, etc., but when he saw this, he shut his mouth tightly and didn't dare to raise his head.
——When will Baron Marcus come to rescue me!
The former mayor wailed in his heart.
The former mayor, who was only able to drink half the soup after eating, was returning to his room in the crowd when he suddenly saw a large group of people rushing into the militia compound.
The slowly moving group of prisoners suddenly stopped, and many of them looked at the people passing by with hope, hoping to see familiar faces inside and be rescued...
Obviously, they were destined to be disappointed - Westham was now a taboo topic, and those who were sent to check the situation fled quickly when they saw the skeletons moving around all over the town from a distance; plus, Adela III and the Church of the Fiery Sun, who had military forces, remained on the sidelines, so unless a third party appeared, Westham would continue to "fall".
The new lord Charlie Rex, the new mayor Ji Tang, the newly appointed town hall clerks Ms. Shirley and Ms. Sibel, and a rotating security team entered the compound, greeted Hal who was in charge, and began to pick people from the prisoners.
The citizen of Innadli who was the target of Hal's anger was singled out because he was still strong. The new mayor Ji Tang took a look at the bruised and battered guy and nodded to the security team. Then a team member took off the nylon restraint belt hanging around his waist and tied the man's hands.
The nylon restraints awakened the bad memories of this citizen of Innadri. He said in great fear: "What, what are you doing?"
The security team just followed to watch over the person, so of course they couldn't answer him: "Stop talking nonsense and be honest!"
"Don't be nervous, just go to work." Rex explained kindly, "Mayor Jitang needs some people to clean up the town's sewers. Although you are still prisoners who are destroying the town's morals, you can also get legitimate labor remuneration."
Citizen: “This…”
"You don't want to go?" Hal said sinisterly from the side.
"Yes!" the citizen shuddered. "I would love to go!"
Rex stared at Hal blankly, but Hal didn't even look at him. He snorted and turned away.
Players have a limit to their tolerance for brick-moving tasks. If they are given a task like cleaning a stinking ditch that has accumulated years of dirt, players will definitely rebel...
Rex, the new overlord, had money, so hiring locals was not a problem, but the problem was... when he set up the sanitation bureau and the garbage station, he had already recruited all the elderly and weak people who had been doing odd jobs in the red-light district, had no survival skills, and were content with just two full meals.
A notice was posted to recruit young townspeople to clean the sewers, but no one came.
The reason for this is that most townspeople do not have enough trust in the new lord and mayor's leadership team; they can accept doing business with the new lord's people, but are not necessarily willing to be employed by the new mayor.
The townspeople's concerns are very real. They don't believe that these people who took over Westham inexplicably can survive until the day when they get their salaries...
If you work hard but are kicked out by the new lord before you get paid, wouldn't that be a waste of time?
Ji Tang couldn't force the townspeople to be employed, and Rex obviously wouldn't accept it. After thinking it over, the two naturally set their sights on these prisoners who were eating for free.
After careful selection, dozens of strong laborers were selected from the more than a thousand people.
Hal, who had been watching coldly for a long time, came over with a gloomy face, swaying, and scanned the people who were picked one by one with his villain face and mouth that could scare a child to tears, sneering: "I know that you guys dream of escaping... Now you have a chance, why not try it."
The group of people who had been beaten by Hal many times looked pale and shook their heads desperately: "No, no, absolutely not."
"You're welcome, just run away." Hal chuckled and said viciously, "The last time we caught your undead, they were quite polite. There was not a single disabled one when they came in, which lacked a bit of deterrence... I don't like this kind of atmosphere."
The citizen of Innadeli who said something mean earlier almost fell to the ground...
Former leader of a thieves gang, super fierce!
