Chapter 160: What Crime Should Be Sentenced?

"The area ahead is our main zone of activity; I'll go check it out first," said Luo Ge, pointing to a cave passage in front.

The Dark Side City covers a vast area; this red-earth zone, spanning over a hundred kilometers in diameter, belongs to the city's territory, and its caves are interconnected and intricately complex.

However, the city officially has only eighteen thousand plus people; among them, over three thousand were undead, already taken away by Luo Ge, so most of those remaining in the city are now living humans.

Since they are living humans, they need economic activity: planting, production, mining, and trading.

Economic activity requires gathering, which creates residential zones or markets; once the external situation is secure, all kinds of people in the Dark Side City will quickly gather to exchange or purchase daily necessities.

The red-earth caves have several specialties; the most common is refined iron sand, a metal similar to iron that exists in elemental form throughout the entire red-earth zone; with careful digging and sifting, one can always sift out a bit, and once enough is accumulated, it can be exchanged for grain.

This is the main economic source for the residents of the Dark Side City.

Adding refined iron sand to iron ore can increase both the hardness and ductility of iron products, which is very miraculous because hardness and ductility are opposing properties: when hardness increases, ductility usually decreases, yet it can improve both simultaneously.

This causes the price of refined iron sand to be extremely high, even capable of trading for gold coins of equal volume; of course, that is the outside price; in the Dark Side City, a day's worth of sifted refined iron sand might barely suffice to exchange for a day's worth of grain, because here, grain is more expensive than gold.

Besides refined iron sand, there is also mud mushroom, a type of fungus that grows buried in the soil, often reaching half a person's height and as thick as a thigh; experienced residents can touch the red earth and immediately tell whether mud mushrooms lie beneath.

Such a mud mushroom, mixed with a proportional amount of white clay to form mud mushroom cakes, can stave off hunger and also avoid the bloating caused by eating plain white clay, preventing death from overconsumption.

Grain is planted in small quantities but mainly relies on imports; the Dark Side City covers a vast area with interconnected caves, and a mere Silver Knight Corps could never blockade every location; as long as one is determined, there is always a way to smuggle grain in.

As long as the grain price rises to a certain level, even transporting it via spatial artifacts would be profitable.

Of course, besides smuggling with spatial artifacts, the actual transport volume is even greater from merchant caravans; all these caravans fly the 'Invisible' flag, meaning even if Marcus piloted an airship and saw them from the sky, he would pretend not to see them.

The Silver Knight Corps also needs to eat; refined iron ore sells so expensively outside, yet here they buy it for a few bags of grain, then sell it outside for one demon crystal per jin; the grain itself is allocated by the Church, and since they have more than they can use and it's about to mold, it's practically profit without any capital.

With Luo Ge clearing the way ahead, Seeing Ange and his group arrived unimpeded at a bustling cluster of caves; here, one could not see the sky overhead, but sunlight refracted in, providing excellent illumination.

Against the rock walls, many people laid out their goods on the ground for others to choose; the place with the largest crowd was around a carriage, where burly guards stood on both sides, and a merchant on the carriage shouted loudly: "Three jin of grain for one jin of refined iron ore, three for one, three for one; if you have any, come quickly!"

Residents surrounding the carriage either sighed loudly or cursed: "You swindler! Yesterday it was five for one; why has it become three for one today? You're raising prices arbitrarily; do you want to starve us to death!?"

The merchant on the carriage also sighed with a worried expression: "It's not my wish; the day before yesterday, the Silver Knight Corps' camp was blown up by their own people; they are now in chaos, and no one knows what the future holds; prices might rise again in a couple of days; if you want to exchange, come quickly; if you're reluctant, just wait a bit longer."

Nai Ge Li Si and Luo Ge paused for a moment, exchanging glances; how could blowing up the Silver Knight Corps' camp cause grain prices in the Dark Side City to rise?

"This swindler! I'll go chop him down! I explicitly ordered that grain prices in the Dark Side City must not be inflated; the Silver Knight Corps was bombed the day before yesterday, and he raised prices today; even if the wholesale price rises, it shouldn't reflect in the retail price so quickly," Luo Ge said angrily, drawing his sword and moving forward.

Nai Ge Li Si hurriedly held him back: "No need, no need; this merchant is a good person; under these circumstances, he is at least willing to sell grain outward; real swindlers would probably have hoarded the grain and refused to sell, waiting for prices to rise."

Luo Ge frowned, looked around, and said angrily: "Indeed, there are usually three families selling grain; now the other two are gone; I just asked, and they were still here yesterday."

"Sigh, your Dark Side City's situation is too miserable; many people don't even have grain to last overnight, buying and eating immediately; if the other two families won't sell grain and this one doesn't either, someone will probably starve to death," Nai Ge Li Si sighed.

Luo Ge frowned and said: "So, the one still selling grain at high prices is actually a good person?"

"Probably, maybe; go find him and ask," Nai Ge Li Si said.

From the moment they entered this area, everyone's gaze drifted toward them, whether intentionally or not, because their group's appearance was simply too conspicuous.

A pure white, hornless beast, a bronze young dragon, and a pink little angel; if not for Luo Ge leading them, the people in the market would have probably fled in terror long ago.

Everyone watched from afar, daring not approach, because Luo Ge was never known for being approachable.

The merchant standing on the grain cart naturally saw them; seeing Luo Ge beckon, he immediately made a bitter face, afraid yet unable to refuse, climbed down from the cart, and ran over in a trot, explaining eagerly from a distance:

"My lord, please forgive me; I did not intend to raise prices; it was unavoidable; this is a small business with difficult cash flow; if I don't follow market prices, my capital might break on the next purchase; please forgive me, please forgive me," the merchant apologized repeatedly.

"Don't be nervous; I called you over just to ask about the situation, not to blame you," Nai Ge Li Si hurriedly comforted him.

"Mainly, I want to ask: since the Silver Knight Corps' camp was bombed, grain supplies will surely be tight for the coming period; why didn't you keep your grain, wait a few days until prices rose higher, and then sell?"

Nai Ge Li Si's question surprised the merchant; he first cautiously glanced at Luo Ge.

Luo Ge's eyes lit up with dangerous red light as he sternly said: "Answer properly, answer truthfully; this is the most wise and knowledgeable Bronze Dragon, my lord; he can easily see through your lies."

Nai Ge Li Si smiled slightly, secretly delighted to accept this praise: See, someone still remembers the most knowledgeable Bronze Dragon.

As the Black Warrior Emperor, Luo Ge was considered extraordinary in the minds of ordinary people; even he said the dragon was the wisest, so the merchant naturally dared not deceive, saying with a bitter face: "I thought the same thing..."

Luo Ge's hand tightened, and he almost couldn't resist drawing his sword.

"But when I came over, I saw others thinking the same; today, not a single grain merchant opened for business, so I hurriedly dragged my grain cart out; many families have no surplus grain; if I don't sell today, in a couple of days, the customers might be 'gone'." The merchant, at the end of his speech, couldn't help but throw mud on his fellow traders.

"Laozu" referred to those undead beings, because many liches were the ancestors of these living people.

In the past, the order of the Dark Side City was maintained by liches; now that almost all undead have been taken away, the Dark Side City is actually in a state of disorganization, operating merely by inertia, and gradually, more and more rule-breaking incidents are occurring.

The reason it still operates by inertia rather than collapsing into immediate chaos is that Luo Ge and the other undead went to receive treatment, not to die; everyone expects them to return, so those with ulterior motives will temporarily hold back.

Luo Ge drew his sword with a clang and said angrily: "I'll go chop down those two merchants."

Nai Ge Li Si grabbed him irritably: "Is this how you manage a city? So brutal? Do you chop people down at every turn? Feline's level is far better than yours."

"Feline? Lisa's husband?" Luo Ge said with deep respect.

As for who Lisa was, Luo Ge had witnessed it during this period; to marry such a woman and remain married for over a thousand years without being purified, Feline's ability was absolutely impeccable.

"The situation Feline encountered was far worse than yours; the Dark Side City at least has a continuous inflow of grain; the Lich City was far more miserable than here; he almost triggered a Scourge of the Undead, deciding everyone should just die together," Nai Ge Li Si sighed.

"All the problems are actually about grain; once this problem is solved, the Dark Side City, with its vast territory, can actually live very comfortably. Alright, having said all that, do you know who finally solved the grain problem in the Lich City?" Nai Ge Li Si smiled slightly.

Seeing Ange reached into the Palace of Rest, constantly rummaging; he had no interest in what Nai Ge Li Si said and couldn't understand it either; the only thing he understood was 'grain problem,' and this was the area he excelled at.

Someone poked him; looking down, he saw the little angel poking his arm; seeing him look over, the angel immediately pointed to a nearby spot and let out an "Ao!" to him.

Where the little angel pointed, there was a thin, seven- or eight-year-old child, clutching a rolled-up item, staring with wide eyes, timid yet full of expectation, looking over.

Seeing Ange tilted his head in confusion.

The little angel let out another "Ao!" and then made a chewing motion, puffing out its cheeks as if chewing, looking at Seeing Ange.

Seeing Ange understood and pulled out a piece of beet.

The little angel took the beet, ran over quickly, handed it to the child, and then snatched the item the child was holding.

The child, whose eyes had already lit up upon seeing the beet, panicked when the little angel snatched his item; he clutched the beet and lunged forward, hugging both the beet and his own item, refusing to let go.

"Ao!" the little angel shouted.

"Ah! Aa-ya! Yi-ya!" the child shouted back, not yielding, yet no one knew what he was saying.

"Ao!" The little angel clenched its fist, staring at the child's eyes, but after hesitating for a moment, it did not strike.

If it were just after its birth, it might have acted without hesitation, but having 'lived' for so long, it clearly understood that the creature before it could not withstand a single punch from it; even too much force during the struggle could injure the other party, and Seeing Ange would beat it up.

After arguing for a while, it gave up and dejectedly returned to Seeing Ange: "Aow~"

Seeing Ange patted its head, walked over to the child, and pulled out a sack of grain.

The child carefully poked the grain sack, hesitated for a moment, looking a bit dazed, but still shook his head, and even carefully placed the beet he'd originally snatched on top of the grain sack.

Seeing Ange pulled out another sack of grain.

The child hesitated again, and immediately, another sack of grain appeared at his feet.

The child no longer hesitated. He stuffed the rolled-up thing in his arms into the little angel's hands, tucked the beet into his own embrace, then strained to drag one of the grain sacks outside, leaving the other two behind.

A seven- or eight-year-old child, clearly malnourished, found it very hard to shoulder a sack weighing Twenty Jin Weight, and could only drag it along, walking very hurriedly.

Seeing Ange tilted his head, looking puzzled at the other two sacks of grain at his feet: Don't want them?

Lord Nai Ge Li Si was over there bragging to Seeing Ange. He turned his head, saw the main party was gone, flew over and caught sight of this scene, which made him sigh: "Bring the grain and follow him, or you'll be the death of him."

The death of him? Why?

Seeing Ange was somewhat puzzled, but he soon found out why. He followed not far before catching up with the child, and from a distance heard a vicious voice ring out from the cave ahead:

"You little mute, what did my lord give you? Wow! Grain, top-grade refined grain as white as Bai Huahua? So much grain, were you planning to eat it all yourself? Don't you know to show some respect to your big brother?"

Then came the dull thud of a blow to flesh. The child's thin, small body was kicked flying out of the cave mouth, spitting blood as he rolled to a stop in front of Seeing Ange and the others.

Seeing Ange now understood why it would have been the death of him.

"Grain is scarce here. You handed an entire sack of grain to a child in broad daylight — it'd be strange if people didn't rob him," Lord Nai Ge Li Si said.

The child, spitting blood, looked at Seeing Ange with a complicated gaze, then at the little angel, and finally, with unwillingness, his eyes fell on the other two sacks of grain Seeing Ange was carrying. His breath gradually weakened.

Seeing Ange crouched down, channeling the Purification Art into his body — once, twice, three times. Each time, the child's body shook violently, coughing up clotted blood. After coughing and coughing, he suddenly flipped himself upright, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Ho, ho, I—" Hoarse, as if he had never spoken a word in his entire life, the child strained to make a sound. When he produced the syllable "I," he froze completely.

"I— can— speak— now." Straining out a full sentence, the child's tears streamed down uncontrollably.

"You couldn't speak before? He called you a mute? Was it because you couldn't speak since you were little?" Lord Nai Ge Li Si asked. Could Seeing Ange have healed his throat along the way?

"Five— five— years old." The child answered with difficulty. Though speaking was very hard, his expression was intensely excited, and he was trying very hard.

"Couldn't speak since five? Was it from an injury? How old are you now?" Lord Nai Ge Li Si guessed and asked, silently grateful to Seeing Ange — if Seeing Ange hadn't gotten him used to this way of conversing, he probably wouldn't be able to communicate with the child now.

The child nodded and said: "Ten—"

Ten years old? Doesn't look it — he looks only seven or eight. Is it because malnutrition stunted his growth?

Luo Ge had already caught the person who robbed the grain and was dragging him over. He was a young man in his twenties, strong and burly, but now Luo Ge had him by the scruff, his legs so weak he couldn't even stand, with none of the viciousness he'd shown when kicking the child.

"Enough, let's deal with this first. Luo Ge, robbery causing grievous injury or death — what's the sentence?" Lord Nai Ge Li Si asked.