Outer Gods invade, stuff them all into your equipment inventory.

"There's a post on the forum saying that the mortality rate of the corpse-carrying people in the Thirteenth Settlement has been fluctuating between 60% and 70%."

"I wonder if this post is real or fake?"

If true, it means that at least 6 out of every 10 corpse carriers don't last a full year.

That probability is terrifying.

"What's even more chilling is that... despite such a high mortality rate, the job of a corpse dragger is still in high demand, and you even need certain 'connections' to get a job."

The poor man is dressed in only thin clothes, yet he worries that charcoal will be cheap and wishes for colder weather. This is a classic case of someone who values ​​money over life!

Sean frowned slightly as he recalled the contents of the post.

The population of ordinary people in the settlement area is huge, but the number of jobs that can provide stable income is extremely limited.

Most of the good jobs are taken by F-rank heroes who give up on the path of the hero.

F-rank heroes are still heroes, possessing qualities far exceeding those of ordinary people. Naturally, they enjoy greater advantages when seeking employment.

Although the work of dragging corpses is dangerous, it is extremely lucrative.

Each month, the salary alone amounts to about ten dimensional coins. If one is clever enough to secretly take some materials out to sell every now and then, the monthly income can exceed thirty dimensional coins.

Such a high income is equivalent to more than two or three years' worth of income from other jobs in one month.

Working a full year is equivalent to doing other jobs for decades. It's said that the Hero's Association provides a compensation payment after a corpse-carryer dies. This compensation alone is equivalent to what many people earn in a lifetime.

This enormous profit drives countless people to take risks.

Everyone thinks they're one of the lucky 4 out of 10.

"Why should I be the one who doesn't even live to be a year old?"

"So even if they have to pay a lot of kickbacks in advance, they will still try their best to get in."

However, the post also said that the Hero Association's recruitment process for corpse draggers is now much more shady than before.

They would choose, as far as possible, marginalized people who had no relatives left and were all alone.

On the one hand, such "lone wolves" are more daring and aggressive than others.

A coward like him can't do the job of dragging corpses.

On the other hand, it also makes it easier to default on debts.

In a normal family, if the person who carried the body dies, the compensation should go to their family.

But if they are lone wolves, no one knows who will receive the compensation after they die.

"In previous years, corpse handlers were paid daily in cash."

"However, the policy of 'pressing two and consolidating one' has been implemented since three years ago."

"That means you can only receive your first month's salary after working for three months."

"As long as you're still doing this job, there will definitely be two months' salary tied up in there."

This institutional change is nominally intended to "stabilize the workforce, prevent arbitrary staff turnover, and ensure mission continuity."

But in reality, it facilitates certain individuals' clandestine operations.

Long ago, the Hero Association began to implement a contract system for recruiting corpse draggers.

The Heroes' Guild only deals with "foremen," who recruit subordinates to complete corresponding tasks.

The wages of the corpse-haulers are first given to the foreman by the Heroes' Guild, and then distributed by them.

The same applies to compensation and bereavement benefits.

As long as the recruited corpse carriers have no family members, all the remaining wages and compensation received at the final settlement will go into the foreman's pocket.

Perhaps these foremen would even prefer that more of these people die.

This way they can receive more compensation.

"The post says that many people actually know about this."

"But no one dared to interfere."

"Most of these foremen are backed by powerful families of warriors."

"It's even quite possible that they are members of a family of heroes."

And this isn't even the darkest part revealed in the post.

"It is said that many heroes who protect corpse carriers charge them an extra protection fee."

"Normally, it accounts for 30% to 40% of their income."

"Some particularly outrageous ones even demand up to 50%."

You can choose not to give it.

However, when danger arises, those heroes will "just happen" to be a beat slow to react and then kindly protect you in front of the monster.

People like this often don't live more than a day.

In order to survive, most corpse carriers have no choice but to swallow their anger and obediently pay up.

"Many people know about this situation, but nobody cares."

After all, such lucrative jobs as protecting corpse-carrying teams are usually monopolized by families of heroes.

These heroes may have been born into a family of heroes.

Ordinary people wouldn't dare to meddle in such matters.

"This method of extortion might be instigated by the higher-ups of those hero families."

After all, the annual revenue of the corpse-hauling team is an astronomical figure.

Even those families of heroes would be envious of the astronomical sums.

Moreover, there's the staggering amount of monster corpse materials that the corpse-dragging team handles every year.

Even taking only a small portion of these materials would be quite astonishing.

"If the Hero Association is a big tree, then these hero families are the vines that twine around it."

"Deeply entrenched, their blood ties and networks of interests have long since infiltrated every level of the association. They have influence behind almost every profitable link. Once they have ulterior motives, naturally no one can stop them."

The situation was slightly better at the Thirteenth Gathering Site because it was relatively remote.

In those top-ranked settlements or cities, the Hero Association is almost entirely controlled by those hero families.

"There, the mortality rate for corpse-carrying workers can be as high as 80% or more."

Sean sighed deeply.

To say that all families of heroes are a cancer is obviously too extreme.

There are still many families of heroes who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the Federation.

They are the true backbone and cornerstone of the Federation.

However, if we say that a large portion of the hero families are a cancer...

That statement is definitely correct.

The current state of the Hero Association is a mess, all thanks to these people.

It was their greed and malice, like ever-growing mold, that eroded the Heroes' Guild, causing this great tree to gradually wither.

"The world is missing a Huang Chao."

That's what Sean said.

However, he was just talking, just indulging in his own words.

He had no intention of becoming the kind of subversive who "tramples on the bones of nobles and officials in the capital."

"Isn't it good to be a wealthy family?"

"Many people don't really hate powerful families like the Hero Clan."

"They just hate that they weren't born into a family of heroes."

The power boost granted by the special bloodline of a family of heroes is far too overpowered compared to those of lone heroes.

Those people's hatred stemmed more from despair.

She regretted not being born into a family of heroes.

"But I don't need to hate them."

"How can someone who gets 100 points hate someone who gets 60 points?"