Reincarnated as a bamboo rat, it begins its extreme survival struggle.

The seemingly ordinary road toll booths are actually an outward manifestation of Huangtancheng's distorted urban management.

Bell had heard about these things while gathering intelligence in Azure Star City, but he didn't expect to encounter them so soon.

"Sir, if you just give us a silver coin as a toll, Huangtancheng guarantees that you will not be disturbed at all along the way. Anyone who dares to rob us on this road will be our sworn enemy."

While Bell was thinking, the man blocking his way was still patting his chest and making guarantees, displaying the blatant thuggery of an official.

His meaning was simple: pay up and you'll be fine; there were no problems on the way to Huangtancheng.

He would give money even if he didn't pay, but there are many bandits on the road from here to Huangtan City, and who knows who might rob him then.

These official bandits, who also robbed so-called "rule-breakers" of travelers, possessed official permission from Huangtan City, which can be considered a unique local custom.

Chapter 205 We are from the slums!

"Mr. Bell, he means he wants money, right? Should we give it to him?"

Because Acorn was very interested in what the bandit had to say, Bell translated it for him.

Faced with Acorn's bewilderment at this request for money, Bell rolled his eyes and said irritably:

"Screw paying for peace of mind, do you think I'd let him get away with it?!"

By communicating with the acorn through his consciousness, Bell's senses locked onto the bandit blocking his way, instantly causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

In a daze, the bandit blocking the road felt as if he were being watched by some terrifying beast. He took three steps back and fell down, unable to keep his balance.

Acorn cooperated with Bell, flicking his wrist to summon the Bone Revolver, which he then fired at a three-person-high boulder in the distance.

This bullet, fired by Acorn, was an explosive bullet. From the moment it left the barrel until it shattered the boulder, its power was astonishing.

"You have thirty seconds."

Bell snorted and only announced a countdown without saying anything more. The bandit blocking the road scrambled to the wooden bridge and, with all his might, cleared the area beneath it.

Several bandits hidden nearby also jumped out simultaneously and worked together with the bandit blocking their way.

To deal with them, Bell only needs to use his senses to lock onto them slightly, and he'll terrify them.

"Sir, please take care. I've already hung up this sign for you. No one will cause you any trouble along the way."

As soon as the plank bridge was lowered, this group of official bandits, with fawning expressions, stayed by Bell's side, their attitude extremely enthusiastic.

This is actually quite common for them. To be able to act as highway robbers on the road, these guys are quite capable in this area. Their average level is just over ten, which is enough to deal with most passersby and merchants.

Moreover, they rarely lay a hand on anyone, and they are very tactful in their speech. When they encounter a powerful person who can easily manipulate them, they instantly become subservient.

In this deliberately ingratiating atmosphere, the two boars grunted and stomped forward, looking extremely proud with their heads held high.

These magical beasts weren't stupid. Although they didn't understand the meaning of those words, they had completely subdued the few who had jumped out by commanding their master, and now they were acting like dogs relying on their master's power.

As Bell continued his journey and drew closer to Huangtan City, he found it increasingly difficult to cope.

Unlike what I saw in Cangxing City, the vibrant scene of life and all things thriving outside Huangtan City was gone.

Outside Cangxing City, there are vast farmlands, and the surrounding hills are planted with fruit trees and tall trees. It is a thriving scene created by the many professionals of the Agricultural Association. Farming is not just an easy job of sowing seeds and then not having to worry about it. Watering, fertilizing, weeding and pest control are all knowledge.

However, the condition of the farmland outside Huangtan City is very worrying.

On the flat areas, there are quite a few farmlands that still show signs of being cultivated, but on the slightly sloping areas, there are far fewer plants, indicating a clear lack of maintenance.

The crops grown are mostly wheat, and other cash crops are rarely seen.

This is actually the root of the problem left by the government's support for a large number of bandits. The reason why a lot of land is left idle outside the city is not because there is no labor force that knows how to farm, but because many people in the city know that farming in these places will not end well.

Generally, during the harvest season, bandits active in various places would appear and loiter around the farmland.

They would target weaker growers, waiting until the harvest was complete before seizing the fruits of their labor.

If no one harvests the crops growing in the fields, they won't bother to collect them, and they won't care even if the crops rot in the ground.

There are only two ways to make use of the farmland outside the city. One is to use large families that specialize in farming. They have a large population and gather in groups every year to harvest, which makes the bandits dare not make a move.

Another method involved farmers gathering during the harvest season to pay tribute to a powerful bandit gang outside the city, in exchange for their protection during the harvest.

The first method is self-reliance; those families that can accomplish this are not considered weak in Huangtan City.

Another option is to negotiate with a tiger for its skin. Only a handful of bandits outside the city are trustworthy, and their hiring fees are high, making them difficult to hire. The cheaper bandits occasionally commit heinous acts, and gang warfare sometimes occurs.

In any case, within Huangtan City, individual farmers would never choose to farm on their own. The agricultural guild is useless, and the city guard of Huangtan City is generally composed of official bandits. The harvest from farming is not as good as simply idling in the city.

For many bachelors, finding a part-time job can make them live a haphazard life for four or five days. If they have sexual needs, they can work an extra day and find a middle-aged woman with a fuller figure to satisfy their needs.

It's kind of funny to say, but there's also a relief center in Huangtan City, which is a purely charitable project sponsored by the church.

However, the relief center here only opens once a week because the entrance is always crowded with people, and the relief supplies that the center can collect are quite limited.

Many people who truly need relief simply cannot squeeze through the crowds. The seriously ill and those who are dying in hardship usually stay in some corner or in some unknown place and die quietly until they start to decompose and are discovered, with the church handling their affairs after death.

Often, church pastors personally walk through slums, delivering relief supplies to those in need; their faith compels them to do so.

The city council has considered abolishing the relief center many times, but the matter has ultimately been dropped.

If the relief center existed, many idle vagrants would gather there and squat there. They could talk about the same old topics, a group of them would get together and smoke half a cigarette, and when they were angry, they could find any excuse to fight and vent their emotions. Even if someone was killed, it didn't matter, as it would be easier for the church to deal with someone who died at the entrance of the relief center.

But if supplies aren't distributed every week, this group will vandalize the relief center, since they've already done it quite a few times.

These guys only know one thing: if the relief center stops opening, they'll smash it up. If smashing it once isn't enough, they'll smash it twice. If smashing only the relief center isn't enough, they'll smash up the other buildings along the street too.

Anyway, after smashing a few more, the relief center will reopen.

When asked about their motives or why they didn't look for other jobs, they would only proudly say, with a look of disdain:

"We come from the slums!"

Can Bell change a city like this?

Chapter 206 Bell's New Abilities

Bell's cart wobbled along Huangtan City, attracting the attention of passersby. In Bell and Acorn's perception, none of these gazes were kind.

Among the many wanderers lining the streets, only one group had the most intense, undisguised gaze.

They were a group of children, probably between eight and sixteen or seventeen years old. Their eyes, fixed on Bell's cart, were filled with greed and cunning. Rather than human eyes, these eyes were more like those of wolves.

Bell knew that these kids were thieves; some had learned a few thieving skills here and there, while others were simply looking for opportunities to steal or rob.

Anyone who enters Huangtan City will be targeted by them. At best, they will steal some spare change; at worst, they will gang up on them and forcibly rob them.

Some of these underlings are acting under orders, while others are self-employed.

If they manage to steal something valuable, they can live comfortably for a while. But if they're caught, it's not uncommon for these guys to be beaten to death in the street.

After all, their main targets were outsiders like Bell, and there were many hidden talents among outsiders. If they encountered someone with keen senses, they could only admit defeat, just like now.

"That damn bastard child stole my head!"

A seemingly simple-minded but burly man reached behind him and grabbed a young boy's wrist. With a forceful jerk, he flung the boy, who was about to steal goods from someone else's vehicle, six or seven meters away, where the boy crashed headfirst into an earthen wall.

With a dull thud, a pool of red blood gushed from the little brat's forehead; he was clearly going to die.

This situation did not make the surrounding gazes disappear; they merely restrained themselves slightly and continued to scan the street, ignoring the unfortunate man who had been flung away.

If he's lucky, he might be able to crawl away after a while and survive. If he dies, the church will come to collect his body. If he's lucky, it will be taken away that day; if he's unlucky, it will only be disposed of after it starts to rot.

"Mr. Bell, you said the environment here is so unique and harsh, why do the people here keep having children? Aren't those children suffering after they are born?"

The iron plank cart turned into a relatively safer area of ​​the city, where Acorn saw a large number of children running around on both sides of the street, from infants in swaddling clothes to six- or seven-year-old boys running wild on the ground.

Some women, unconcerned, exposed their upper bodies and leaned against the edge of the house to breastfeed their children.

Acorn couldn't understand the current situation where an average woman was raising three children.

Along the way, he asked Bell all sorts of questions and learned how unfriendly the environment in Huangtan City was to ordinary people.

In this situation, people's birth rate should not be high, so why are there babies running around everywhere?

"The poorer you are, the more children you want to have..."

Bell wasn't surprised to see toddlers running around everywhere.

In a place where productivity is low, hope for advancement is lacking, and entertainment is scarce, sex is the best form of entertainment. This is something the Acorns cannot understand, because their Skeleton race was not born through such a process, nor did they have such a desire.

Moreover, in this

In this environment, having more children is a worthwhile investment.

The more able-bodied men a large family has, the more resources it can acquire for survival, and the more forceful it can be in dealing with vagrants and homeless people.

If you're lucky, a few talented children might emerge from the family, and you can use these children to enhance the family's influence and acquire more resources.

Raising children isn't that difficult, as long as these little ones don't die. Raising them haphazardly is also a form of effort.

This has led to the children in the city generally being pale and thin, and they often do dangerous things when no one is watching them. After all, children are not afraid, and it is not uncommon for them to play themselves to death.

Interestingly, the smaller families in Huangtan City are generally unwilling to concentrate their family resources on training advanced professionals, which is completely different from the situation in Cangxing City.

In the minds of those small families, it's a losing proposition for someone with ordinary talent to become a high-level professional.

Under normal circumstances, advanced professionals are trained by others. They will all flee Huangtan City and abandon the city that nurtured them, because the social atmosphere in this city is very strange, and everyone prioritizes their own personal interests.

Those family members are generally unwilling to contribute their own resources to support their teammates. There is no win-win situation here, only lose-lose options. It is best if everyone suffers together.

Because once someone gains power, those around them will assume that person is now above them, naturally creating a thick barrier between their respective identities.