As soon as the Human Emperor Banner came out, I became the Lord of the Old Ones

Chapter 289 Betrayal of Betrayer

The Snake Princess paced back and forth behind Jean-Jacques.

It was like a serrated butcher's knife swinging back and forth.

A long time passed, so long that Jean-Jacques thought he heard a "crack" as his cervical vertebrae broke.

The Snake Princess then asked, "What do you want?"

"All I want is to live."

Jean-Jacques said without hesitation, "I used to think that even if I couldn't change the world, I could at least change this city, and even if I couldn't change the city, I could at least completely control my own destiny."

"But now, I understand that I am just an ordinary person with no control over my own life. In this world full of turbulent waves, I can't change or decide anything. So, I just want to survive, no matter how lowly, humble, or humiliating it is. Of course, if I can have a little money while surviving, and use sensory stimulation to numb myself, that would be even better."

"If you have this kind of understanding, you can't be considered an ordinary person."

Snake Princess deliberately asked, "Have you ever considered joining the Black Dream Organization?"

Jean-Jacques paused for a moment.

"To be honest, even if I agreed right now, it would only be to save my own life."

He said, seemingly candidly, “Listen, after seeing so many selfish people like Hess Bailey, I admire anyone who is willing to sacrifice everything for their beliefs, even if those beliefs are ones I can’t understand for the time being, or even those that sound absurd.”

"Furthermore, given the current state of Dawn City, I don't think the Black Dream Organization can make things any worse—even without your arrival, as long as the Belad family's conspiracy succeeds, at least hundreds of thousands of miners and their families in this city will be abandoned, either starving to death, becoming victims of gangs, or becoming food for ancient monsters in the cataclysmic changes brought about by natural disasters."

"Therefore, I am willing to provide you with all the conveniences for your actions."

"But I don't think it would be more advantageous for you to join the Black Dream organization before you wholeheartedly agree with your beliefs."

"From a certain perspective, isn't it better to maintain some partners or even puppets who are detached from the Black Dream organization than to add a few brainwashed, loyal but foolish cannon fodder to the Black Dream organization?"

The Snake Princess laughed again.

“You’re quite the smooth talker. I’m starting to understand why Hess Belad values ​​you so much, making you his front man to run the Golden Iris Entertainment Center.”

She asked casually, "You just said that Hess Belad has many informants in Dawn City. Can I understand that he has accomplices in various fields to realize the Belad family's grand plan?"

"of course."

Jean-Jacques said, "No one in this world is a real idiot, at least not among Hess Belad's friends and enemies. The Belad family wants to extricate themselves and start anew. Such a huge and complicated plan requires too many crimes to cover up and too many connections to make. Of course, it requires big figures from many fields to collude with them and protect them."

"For example?"

The Snake Princess asked, "In Dawn City, which other important figure is their accomplice?"

Jean-Jacques seemed to understand what she meant.

"You want to ask about the Black Dream Organization's old adversary, the Security Bureau, and who exactly was bribed by the Belad family, right?"

Boa Hancock shrugged. "Really?"

"Not only do they exist, but there are many of them."

Jean-Jacques thought for a moment and said, "You should ask the Dawn City Security Bureau who else hasn't been bribed by the Belad family, then I'll be more likely to answer."

The Snake Princess remained silent for a moment.

"Alright, then tell me, which agent in the Dawn City Security Bureau hasn't been bribed by the Belad family?"

"I do not know."

Jean-Jacques shook his head. "Perhaps the lowest-ranking patrol members, the trainee agents who have just graduated from the security academy, or the agents who have just been transferred to Dawn City from other places, haven't had time to be bribed yet, but I don't remember the names of these minor characters."

"Besides, I can guarantee that any well-known heavy armored operative or mid-to-high-ranking member of the Security Bureau who has stayed in this city for more than five years has been bought off by the Baird family to varying degrees, and may even have been the Baird family's most loyal partners from the very beginning."

The Snake Princess's breathing became noticeably rapid.

His body language revealed his doubt.

"Please don't rush to doubt my conclusion. Think about it carefully and you'll see that if the Belad family's conspiracy succeeds, the order in Dawn City will definitely be in chaos or even completely destroyed. At that time, the Security Bureau will be the first to be impacted."

Jean-Jacques said, "If you don't stuff those security guys with bribes beforehand, how can they turn a blind eye and not investigate and stop it?"

"That seems to make some sense."

Snake Princess said, "However, our Black Dream organization has been clashing with the Security Bureau for many years. Although we have different stances, I have also seen many tough guys in the Security Bureau. Their loyalty to the Heroic Spirit Alliance is even higher than their own lives."

"If you say that some people in the Dawn City Security Bureau have been bribed by Dawn Heavy Industry, then that's not impossible."

"But isn't it a bit too difficult to bribe everyone? Doesn't anyone think this is a betrayal of the entire alliance?"

"Then you have to blame the Alliance of Heroes for betraying most of the border cities, including Dawn City, and everyone living here."

Jean-Jacques said, "The Alliance leadership, which once held the noble belief of 'saving the world and all mankind,' has not taken a step into the wilderness for decades."

"Even when dealing with border cities like Dawn City, the demands exceed the inputs, and there is even a lot of discrimination and prejudice against the residents."

"To put it bluntly, border cities are just 'blood banks' for the big cities in the core area. Generation after generation dedicates their youth here, and in the end, all they get in return is the prosperity of the core area and promises that will never be fulfilled."

"Take the Security Bureau for example. The Dawn City Security Bureau faces various attacks from the wilderness and even the polluted areas. Despite having the heaviest workload, the funds it receives from the core area each year are meager. It has to rely on local powerhouses like Dawn Heavy Industry to maintain even the most basic operations."

"As the saying goes, 'He who takes a man's money is bound to do his bidding, and he who eats a man's food is bound to do his bidding,' how could we possibly refuse the other party every time we spend so much of Liming Heavy Industry's 'special safety funds' every year?"

"In the end, the Heroic Spirit Alliance has never been a normal, united, and equal country. Instead, it is a loose association of countless city-states. City-states like Dawn City, located on the border, were originally just blood packs, sandbags, and breakwaters. Their only value was to obediently provide resources and act as shields. No one would sincerely come to develop and save this place."

"Given the Alliance's treatment of Dawn City, it's no wonder that the Security Service agents here are dissatisfied and seeking their own way out."

(End of this chapter)