Ironclad, died and resurrected, I've decided to go to the mic!

Cocolia's expression finally switched back to the fierce look befitting a Great Guardian.

She walked quickly to the guard and immediately asked:

"Who organized this? Who's in charge?"

The guard, intimidated by her imposing presence, took a half-step back and stammered:

"Yes, it was a woman, not very old, with a red scarf tied around her right hand."

According to the scouts, she is currently giving a speech on a high platform.

The entire lower section was packed with people listening; it was a sea of ​​people!

Cocolia's expression changed.

Meanwhile, in the lower area.

In the central square of Panyan Town, on a high platform, a girl with a red scarf tied around her right hand is standing under the spotlight.

The light shone on her, highlighting the distinct features of her radiant face.

The crowd below the stage was a sea of ​​black, including miners and homeless people.

There were also a few veterans wearing old uniforms from the Earth Fire.

Everyone craned their necks to listen to her speak.

She glanced at the faces below the stage, took a deep breath, and then spoke.

"People in the lower strata!"

Are you cold?

Someone in the audience shouted, "It's cold!"

Are you hungry?

"Hungry!"

Are you tired?

"tired!"

Seele took a step forward, her voice suddenly rising:

"But do you know what?"

The people in the upper-class area are not cold, and they are not tired.

They sat in their warm room, drinking hot soup, watching the snow fall outside the window, and said, "This winter is so beautiful."

She clenched her fists.

"And we, we mine in the snow and wind at tens of degrees below zero."

They slept in drafty tin shacks and rummaged through garbage dumps for burnable scraps.

Every piece of ore we dug out was used by them for heating!

But what about us?

What did we gain?

We only received some food rations and a meager amount of resources to feed ourselves.

A suppressed commotion arose from the audience.

They told us to be patient, and that tomorrow would be better.

They told us to stay united and not to fall into internal strife.

They told us that the High Guardian was trying to find a solution, and that we should trust her.

Seele's voice suddenly turned somber.

"But what day is tomorrow? Has any of you ever seen tomorrow?"

No one answered.

"I've never seen it either."

Seele raised her head, her gaze sweeping over every face in the audience.

The sound suddenly softened, no longer the raging fire it had been just moments before.

"But I have seen a light."

She raised her hand and touched the knot of the red scarf on her right arm with her fingers.

It felt like touching a memory from long ago.

Many years ago, when I was very young and didn't even have a name.

Someone found me in a garbage dump.

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

It's the kind of expression someone would have when recalling a precious memory.

He adopted me back then.

Although he himself was a homeless man, he sometimes ate even less than I did.

But he always manages to find the best things for me in the trash.

Half a moldy loaf of bread, a can of food that hasn't expired yet, and another time.

He picked up a red scarf from somewhere.

"He said the color is too bright and won't hide well in the lower areas. You should wear it; at least it'll keep you warm."

As she said this, the tiny smile on her lips suddenly froze for a moment, then faded away.

Her voice became softer, as if she were telling a story she still couldn't let go of.

"Until one day, he walked a long way on an empty stomach in order to find me more food."

When he returned, he was still clutching half a cookie in his hand.

But he didn't even have the strength to walk up to me.

He leaned against the wall, shoved the half-eaten cookie into my hand, and then closed his eyes and said...

"You eat first, I'll take a nap."

The audience was so quiet that you could hear the dripping of water from the distant mine tunnels.

"He almost died in front of me back then."

Seele's fingers tightened suddenly, and her voice began to tremble, but she enunciated each word with extreme force.

"I stayed by his side all night, when I had nothing."

She didn't even dare to cry loudly.

I held him in my arms and held him until he woke up.

And the first thing he said after waking up was

"Why haven't you eaten yet?"

At that time, I was overjoyed, thinking that he was finally cured!

But the next day, he left, saying he was going to the place up there, where there might be better trash cans.

And he never came back!

She looked up, her eyes glistening with tears.

But the corners of her mouth turned up again, more firmly than ever before.

"This scarf is the only thing he left me."

I never knew where he went or whether he was still alive.

It wasn't until I grew up that I realized the reason he left was because he was going to die; he just didn't want me to know!

The audience was as quiet as a graveyard.

"That man was clearly just a homeless man who came from nowhere and didn't even leave a name."

But he gave me everything he had.

He gave his life to save mine!

"So today I stand here, and I will use everything he taught me."

Go and fight for the tomorrow that belongs to all those in the lower classes, just like him and like me.

Seele raised her hand and pointed upwards, towards the top of the thick layer of rock.

"You should know about those people in the upper districts, eating hot meals and wearing fur coats."

What did they do?!

They use the ore we mined to continuously heat their own houses, but they ignore us completely.

Then he added: "You should be grateful."

She gritted her teeth and spat out each word one by one.

"What are we grateful for?"

Are we grateful to them for giving us scraps?

Are we grateful that they allowed us to live?

Grateful they didn't kick us all out to freeze to death?!

Some people in the audience started shouting, "Ungrateful!"

"Yes, ungrateful!"

"Why should I?!"

Seele suddenly raised her right fist.

"Gun in hand! Come with me!"

Hundreds of voices roared out in unison from the audience:

"Gun in hand! Come with me!"

"We do this for justice!"

"For the sake of justice!"

"We do this for justice!"

"For justice!"

"We're doing this to survive!"

"To survive!"

Seele's voice was already hoarse, but she was still yelling.

"Why should they get three hot meals a day?"

"Why should I?!"

"Why do they have so many heating outlets?"

"Why should I?!"

"Why should they let us mine while they live in warm houses?!"

"Why should I?!"

Seele took a deep breath and shouted out her last words with all her might:

"Who are we?!"

A deafening roar erupted from the audience:

"Earthfire—!"

"We are subterranean fire!"

"We are subterranean fire!!"

The shouts broke through the maze of tin-roofed alleyways in Panyan Town and climbed up the ventilation shaft.

It penetrated the thick layer of rock and traveled to a very, very far place.

Seele jumped down from the platform and landed on the ground.

She looked down at the red scarf on her right hand, as if talking to herself:

"Dad...you saved me back then, now I'm all grown up, it's my turn to save others."

[Light Cone Name: "Prairie Fire" Red Scarf Shape]

[Ability: The wearer's personal charisma increases infinitely with the number of believers, with no theoretical upper limit.]

Every person who truly follows her makes her stronger and more influential.

She has more decisiveness and a more captivating charm that makes people willing to go through fire and water for her.

If one person believes, a lamp shines; if ten thousand people believe, the Milky Way dims.

[Side effect: The stronger the faith power, the more useless the wearer becomes in daily life.]

Specifically, they can't tie their shoelaces, and if they do, they always come undone.

They can't open the door; they always get the push and pull buttons wrong.

If you don't know how to use a lighter, you'll inevitably burn your fingers when you try to light it.

He always trips over the threshold when walking and spills soup on his clothes when eating.

These symptoms are triggered randomly when not in combat, and the more followers there are, the more frequently they are triggered.

But once in combat mode, all the symptoms of being useless immediately disappear, and the character switches to perfect combat mode.