Cornflower Witch

Chapter 443 The Girl's Foresight

——Morning·Songzi Street——

Hilti stepped into the neighborhood again, her fingers lightly pressing down on her hood, her eyes curiously scanning her surroundings, and her ears listening to what was happening.

This is where construction workers gather and live. The stuffy dormitories where forty or fifty people used to be crammed together have been greatly improved. They are now built with new wooden planks and divided into smaller rooms with bunk beds. The environment is much cleaner now.

At least under the scolding and guidance of "Four-Eyes," no one urinates or litters in the dormitory anymore, and the smell is much fresher.

Regarding meals, if there are really desperate workers, they can get a cheap but safe and hygienic meal at a designated street location. However, those receiving relief will be forcibly registered by gang members to verify their identity. If there are no problems, they will receive supplementary training and be helped to find a job as soon as possible to make a living.

Such work may not be very good, but at least it allows one to survive and slowly accumulate a small amount of money, and then adjust one's future direction in life, rather than falling to the bottom with no hope or improvement.

After consulting with them, Hiltiya discovered that Four-Eyes and the others had basically carried out the tasks she had been given, without any lip service.

Not bad, she thought to herself.

Afterwards, she went to other neighborhoods and visited them one by one. Although most of the laborers' lives were the same as before, there were far fewer of the poorest and most dangerous people struggling on the brink of life and death.

In addition, the number of children who used to roam around and steal in the laborers' residential areas has decreased significantly. They are now being gathered together and subjected to compulsory education.

Many residents are delighted by this change. In the past, when the laborers went out to work during the day, there was no one to take care of their children. Now, there is a trustworthy place to entrust them with their upbringing, which has saved a lot of energy for many people and prevented these young seedlings from growing up too quickly and going astray.

After finishing her visit, Hilti returned to the underground world of the neighborhood. By this time, Fire Pig and Four-Eyes already knew she was back. After all, in the last few blocks, some people had already recognized this genius girl who had graduated a few months ago.

Inside the enormous underground cave, Four-Eyes, Fire Pig, and a group of other middle-ranking members sat around a round table, watching the girl who had once again taken her seat at the head of the table.

"Lord Hedra." The two were somewhat uneasy, wondering why this young girl had suddenly returned.

In response, Hilti first reassured them for a few minutes before saying that she was only back for a few days.

"You've done a good job, but I think we'll encounter some problems in the next few months. Let's discuss them now."

For the next half day, Hilti and the others discussed and improved their previous approach.

"Although it cost a lot of money, the benefits were also numerous." After the event, Four-Eyes remarked with some emotion.

"Oh, what are the benefits?" Hilti asked curiously.

"It's probably because management is much smoother and easier than before," Four-Eyes replied.

"For example, although the four of us leaders were very strong, we often encountered many challengers, and even some of our subordinates were unruly. We were always worried that one day we would be overthrown and killed by others."

"However, this situation has become much less frequent now, and occasionally people even proactively approach us hoping to cooperate with us."

"We used to be like kitchen rags. We'd pick them up and use them when needed, but once we were done, we'd throw them away as soon as possible because we were disgusted by them and afraid of tarnishing our reputation," Fire Pig complained.

“After you graduated and left, I was actually very worried that the officials in the Asura district would target me and replace me with someone else.” “Fortunately, as the situation stabilized, more and more people in the community and among the workers supported us. They also seemed to realize that replacing someone would cause a lot of turmoil, and finally gave up the idea.”

"Now it's much easier for us to handle things in the neighborhood, unlike in the past when people would fight each other if something went wrong," Four-Eyes remarked.

“I understand,” Fire Pig said, offering his opinion.

"Because now we no longer use that exploitative model that only pursues profit, but instead provide support and assistance to some elderly and extremely poor people, which also makes them feel a sense of security."

"No one can predict what accidents will happen in the future. Everyone is afraid of getting old, injured, or sick. That state of isolation and helplessness is very frightening."

“Our current approach makes them feel that if they reach that point in the future, they might be able to ask the gang for help or have a safe environment to recover from their injuries.”

"With this longing and demand, when faced with some things we bring up, as long as it's convenient or not excessive, they are mostly willing to give us face and show goodwill, demonstrating their friendship with us."

"That way, if something happens to them in the future, we will definitely take care of them and help them get through the difficult times."

"In addition, because we have maintained the community environment very well, there have been far fewer thefts and robberies in the past. Now the police station is no longer hostile to us and will occasionally do us a favor. With their assistance, we can handle many things very flexibly, and it also allows some people who were originally neutral to see that we have the police station's backing, so they are willing to side with us."

"Lord Hedra may not believe it, but this month our income has not decreased due to the relief and assistance; on the contrary, we have earned more money because of our improved reputation and word-of-mouth."

"For example, many business transactions now ask us to act as guarantors. In addition, the gang's leasing and second-hand trading business is also going very smoothly and has made a lot of money."

“In the past, the biggest problem with leasing and second-hand goods was the concern about poor quality or being cheated. Now that we have your backing, no one dares to play tricks, and the business has become much more stable.”

"After all, if something goes wrong, we can go directly to them, instead of dealing with those incompetent guys, arguing with the so-called articles of law, and ending up with no money back."

After listening, Hilti remarked that although such underground societies have many problems, they can also gain a lot of support and endorsement when they truly shoulder certain responsibilities and uphold morality and order.

From this perspective, she made the right move. Although it was only a trial in one region, it validated many of her ideas.

For a national organization to exist in the long term, it must assume some kind of responsibility, so that many people can benefit from it and obtain the most basic stability and security.

Support and endorsement are two-way. Whoever can provide stability and relief to the helpless will gain their support, and the organizations and individuals who gain their support will naturally possess a certain power.

Similarly, if a certain path can provide the world with something indispensable, satisfying a need for stability and security, then this path will be practiced by more people, gain a large number of followers, and thus produce more extraordinary individuals on this path, until the ruler of this path is born.

What the Mage Alliance seeks should not be so-called 'power' and 'conquest,' but to truly give this world what countless beings need. And when that time comes, even if it doesn't pursue it, a steady stream of followers will gather from all directions to jointly forge the birth of a new celestial being.

So, how should the monks accomplish this grand mission?
At least for now, Hilti has not seen any clear vision or action. If they do not clarify this point and the path to the future, they will eventually resort to wars of expansion due to the depletion of resources and the intensification of internal competition.

That outcome was not what she wanted to see.

(End of this chapter)