Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

After Lin Gui and Elvia left the stronghold.

They then sped towards the Copper Gate City.

The flying boat glides across the sky.

The ridge of Snake Ridge meanders below.

Like a giant serpent lying on the earth.

The dangers of Snake Ridge are far less than those of Deadwood Wasteland.

It was clearly marked on the gold route he purchased.

To date, only seven legendary demons have been discovered.

There is no trace of epic demons active.

And his dark, gauze-like robe.

It can block the perception of demons below the epic level.

and so.

He barely slowed down.

The airship was traveling at almost full speed.

Speeding along the ridge.

However, the next day...

The airship crossed the last mountain ridge.

Ahead, the view suddenly opened up.

Lin Gui and Elvia knew.

They have officially entered the territory of the central city-state.

Enter the most central area under the jurisdiction of the alliance.

Central City-State Cluster.

Centered around Dawn City.

The framework consists of ten surrounding hub cities.

Thirty-six resource-supplying city-states form the core of this society.

Together they form a vast and breathtaking territory.

These city-states are scattered throughout the land.

They are still far apart.

Wilderness and demons lie between them.

The transport fleet remains an indispensable lifeline.

This land.

It gathered almost nine-tenths of the entire population of Akara.

Its territory spans a vast area, far exceeding that of any ancient empire.

All the city-states in the borderlands, excluding the capital of Carter.

Even if you add them all up, their population might not be as large as this one bronze-gate city.

Tongmen City.

It was just one of the thirty-six resource-supplying city-states.

There are a total of forty-seven central city-states.

A core city: Dawn City.

Ten subordinate hub city-states.

Thirty-six resource-supplying city-states.

Such a large population gathering.

It is not a symbol of prosperity.

Rather, it is an inevitable despair.

Forty years have passed since the Demon God descended to earth.

The Kuroshio Current has occurred twenty times.

Three-quarters of the population of the continent of Akara turned to blood.

Survivors should have had a wider living space.

But the fact is just the opposite.

The devil is everywhere.

The wilderness is infinitely divided.

Every forest, every canyon, every mountain ridge.

They were all possessed by demons.

Legendary, epic, demigod.

Like insurmountable high walls.

Human living space has been squeezed into isolated islands.

Beyond the city-state lies death.

Beyond the high walls lies the abyss.

And the central city-state cluster.

This land is home to nine-tenths of all living beings.

Its perimeter is a desperate situation surrounded by layers of demons.

The closer you are to the core, the safer you are.

The further away from the core, the more dangerous it is.

and so.

The population is pouring into the center like crazy.

Living space is being compressed infinitely.

The airship continued forward.

On the distant hills.

A vast expanse of factories and construction sites came into view.

The towering chimneys spewed out thick black smoke.

The enormous furnace glowed with a dark red light.

The roar of the ore crusher could be heard from a great distance.

Hundreds or thousands of tons of ore.

They were piled up in the open-pit mine.

Waiting to be smelted, waiting to be transported.

Countless figures moved between those factories and mines.

Wearing gray coarse cloth work clothes.

His face was covered in dust and he looked exhausted.

Carrying ore and pushing a cart.

Mechanical and repetitive actions.

Like ants.

Tongmen City.

This is the kind of city-state it is.

It is located in the southeast of Dawn City.

It guards a vital mineral vein.

The products produced here are copper and iron.

There are also a small amount of associated minerals used in the production of magical items.

Hundreds or even thousands of tons of ore are produced every day.

Transported from Tongmen City to Shuguang City.

Those ores were smelted into metals.

They were forged into weapons, armor, and magical items.

Then it will be transported to even more distant places.

The air was filled with the smell of sulfur and metal.

Even if they are far apart.

That smell still wafted into my nostrils.

And these ores, these metals, this wealth.

It flowed through the hands of these gray figures.

But not a single thing remained in their hands.

From birth to death.

They were all serving those eleven core city-states.

In return, Dawn City offers a more affluent and prosperous life than during the Golden Age.

In return, they received towering magic towers that reached into the clouds in the City of a Thousand Towers.

In return, they gained an iron fortress with an ever-burning furnace.

And themselves.

In exchange for.

It's just access to the alliance's transportation network.

It is merely the qualification to continue to be exploited for value.

The airship continued forward.

Near Tongmen City.

The city walls soared into the clouds.

The gray-white walls were covered with densely packed runes.

The runes gleamed with a pale golden light in the sunlight.

But outside the city walls.

On both sides of the city gate.

Rows of tall wooden buildings stand densely packed together.

No.

It's not a building.

It is a nest.

The building is leaning and pieced together from wooden planks.

The gaps were stuffed with rags and dry grass.

One building next to another, one building stacked on top of another.

Some are five or six stories high, while others are three or four stories high.

Every floor was packed with people.

Men, women, the elderly, and children.

They were once ordinary people during the golden age.

They have their own house and their own land.

now.

They could only huddle in this dilapidated wooden building.

Bunk beds, three-tiered, four-tiered.

People piled on top of each other.

Even turning over is difficult.

The windows of the wooden building were very small.

There was only a crack.

Dim candlelight shone through the crack.

And blurry human figures.

Coughing, a baby crying, low murmurs of arguing.

It seeped out from those wooden buildings.

Mixed with the smell of sulfur and metal.

It turned into a dull, continuous buzzing sound.

On both sides, far from the city gate.

There are even more wooden buildings.

More shacks.

More rags and hay.

More people.

There are too many people.

It stretches as far as the eye can see.

Lin Gui stowed the flying boat and, controlling his staff, led Elvia.

It drifted between those wooden buildings.

It's not fast.

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

His gaze swept over those figures.

A thin figure.

The ribs protruded one by one, and could be seen even through the tattered cloth.

A hardworking figure.

His palms were covered in calluses and cracks, and mineral powder that couldn't be washed off was embedded in his fingernails.

A numb figure.

His eyes were vacant, like two dried-up wells.

They watched as the ghost and Elvia floated overhead.

No one looked up.

No one was surprised.

No one speaks.

They just kept carrying ore and pushing carts.

Or they might squat by the roadside, munching on black bread.

Mechanical and repetitive actions.

Like a group of soulless puppets.

Elvia's fingers gripped Lin Gui's robe tightly.

Her brows were furrowed tightly.

She looked at the wooden buildings, the shacks, and the figures.

Messy, chaotic, foul-smelling, and disorderly.

It's ten times worse than the refugee quarters of Carter's capital.

hundred times.

She has witnessed human tragedy.

I have witnessed the oppression of commoners by nobles.

I've seen refugees waiting to die in the gutter.

But I have never seen such a sight before.

Not dozens of people, not hundreds of people.

It's tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands.

Squeezed into this narrow strip of land outside the city walls.

Like garbage that has been carelessly dumped.

Boundless.

Her breathing became rapid.

His fingers clenched even tighter.

Even though she had once been at the pinnacle of nobility, Elvia felt a sense of oppression looming over her.

She subconsciously glanced at Lin Gui.

Lin Gui's face showed no extra emotion.

There was no anger.

There was no sadness.

No mercy.

There was only one kind of calm that gave her the creeps.

He stared straight ahead, without even glancing down.

Elvia paused for a moment.

It sounded like he was making an excuse.

It was as if he was trying to convince himself.

"In a post-apocalyptic city-state, resource collection and transportation are both limited."

"This kind of situation always arises in order to survive."

Lin Gui did not turn around.

His voice was very faint.

It's like talking about something that has nothing to do with you.

There are many ways to solve this problem.

He paused.

"However……"

"But they turned a blind eye."

Elvia's lips moved.

She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Lin Gui continued.

The voice remained faint.

"Because this doomsday city-state is a disaster for all the lowest of beings."

"And for them..."

"It's a dreamland."

"It is a status, power, and strength that far surpasses that of the Golden Age of Peace."

Elvia was speechless.

She wanted to argue.

But no words could be found.

Lin Gui is right.

There are many ways to solve this seemingly unsolvable dilemma.

Reasonable planning.

Resource allocation.

Legal constraints.

Even if it's just a slight loosening of that ironclad class barrier.

All of these can allow the people living in these wooden buildings to live a little more like human beings.

But Dawn City won't do that.

Those eleven core city-states will not do that.

Because that would seriously harm their interests.

But now the disparity is enormous.

This is the lowest-cost, silent plunder.

That's the scene they'd most like to see.

This was a dark age.

But for them...

It was the "golden age" when the privileged class was at its most powerful.

Elvia lowered her head.

He stopped talking.

Lin Gui stopped talking.

He exhaled softly, as if swallowing back some emotion.

He manipulated the staff.

It flew towards the tall city gate.