Immortality: Starting with a grave, I'm invincible when burying corpses.

"Was it this group of people who beat up our brothers?"

"That's right, Brother Tiger, it's them! Brother Leopard was beaten up by them last night... Brother Leopard was in a terrible state, covered in bruises, and they even stole the dozens of copper coins he had on him!"

"Damn it! They dare to bully me, Tiger Brother! They've really given them a hard time! Don't they even know who owns Elm Street?!"

"Brother Tiger, they outnumber us, can we win?"

"Brothers, don't panic! With Tiger here, just roll up your sleeves and beat these blind bastards to a pulp!"

……

Two groups of young people bumped into each other in an alley on the edge of the street.

One side has fewer people, while the other side has more. The side with fewer people has only six people, while the side with more people has more than ten.

The people on both sides were not very old, mostly teenagers, and the leader was only about seventeen or eighteen years old, in the prime of his life.

Deng Shan, who had previously told his mother he was going out to play, was on the side with fewer people. Standing in front of him was a rather tall boy.

The boy had thick eyebrows and big eyes, wore patched clothes, and had calloused hands. He was Zhong Hu, whom Deng Shan called Brother Tiger.

Pedestrians hurried past on the street. As they passed through the alley, they heard a noise coming from inside. They glanced into the alley and then quickly looked away.

The pedestrian pretended not to see anything and quickened his pace silently.

These days, there will always be people who use "What are you looking at?" as an excuse to cause trouble. If you don't have friends or family to stick with you, try to avoid trouble as much as possible.

They always pick on the weak; these street thugs love to bully those who are alone.

As for reporting it to the authorities, the pedestrian never even considered it.

As we all know, some things are always interconnected.

Even minor officials have their own territory and have to take "tribute" on a daily basis. This might come from street thugs, peddlers pushing carts, or those easy targets who are given a pretext to commit a crime.

If there's money to be made, then everyone is a law-abiding citizen; if there's no money, then it all depends on one's conscience.

Conscience is often the least valuable thing.

The intricacies of this matter are not to be explained to outsiders.

Whether you're a hoodlum or a gangster, if you want to survive in Qingchuan City, you always have to "pay respects" to the authorities first.

Or perhaps, for pedestrians on the street, such things are no longer surprising.

Looking across the nine realms and throughout history, the existence of thugs and gangs has never disappeared; "chaos" is the theme of every era.

Villages, towns, county seats, prefectural capitals, state capitals...

Regardless of size, they are all inseparable from the word "chaos," and the more remote the place, the more disorderly it is.

Over tens of thousands of years, regardless of the changes of dynasties, whoever was the emperor, or how history books embellished an era.

Fighting, brawling, street disturbances, theft, robbery, and bullying of the weak are all part of history.

These things are too small to be discussed, too small to leave a trace in the grand narrative.

Behind those few strokes of the pen lie countless overlooked individuals.

Perhaps at some point, a certain city will be a little better.

The officials there are relatively honest, and the people's lives are relatively stable, so they don't always have to worry about their safety.

Clear streams appear from time to time, but there is never any possibility of completely eradicating all of this, because all of this is itself part of the historical cycle.

The idea of ​​not picking up lost items on the road and not locking doors at night will forever exist only in the ink of writers and poets, only on paper.

In the real world, even someone walking alone at night will carry a knife to guard against potential risks.

For women and children, the dangers of walking alone at night are self-evident.

In Qingchuan City, if one or two people are beaten to death, it's nothing more than covering the body with a cloth, a few words of lament from the neighbors, or a few words of advice to the children.

As a person grows up, they need to have some close friends and recognize one or two older brothers to avoid being bullied.

Because young people always want to prove themselves, because gangs often have deeper backgrounds, because there are always various reasons why the government is unwilling to get involved in these matters, and because people have long been accustomed to being oppressed.

Because I was already used to it, I didn't notice anything unusual.

Because they had become accustomed to it, they were bullied by the strong when they were weak, and they bullied the weak when they were strong.

Everyone has gone through this, so naturally no one feels there's anything wrong with it.

Against this backdrop, seeking refuge with the powerful and banding together for mutual support has become a spontaneous choice for ordinary people.

……

Of the vast Nine Domains, only Qing'an Prefecture had briefly reached another world back then.

Because Mu An had witnessed two completely different eras before coming to the Nine Realms, he naturally assumed that all of this was possible and that his territory could become safe.

The people of Qing'an Prefecture can walk openly on the streets with their money, travel safely at night, wear their favorite ornaments, and show themselves off without worrying about someone suddenly appearing to cut off their hands or steal their ornaments.

Children no longer need to worry about being abducted, women no longer need to worry about being robbed of their gold and silver, and merchants no longer need to worry about having their hard-earned profits stolen...

Once upon a time, all the gangs in Qing'an Prefecture were disbanded, and all the street thugs changed careers.

Theft, robbery, fighting, and rioting became increasingly rare, and during that period, Qing'an Prefecture was known as a paradise on earth.

Although many problems still exist, the lives of ordinary people living in Qing'an Prefecture have improved so much that most of them have forgotten what life used to be like, and feel that this is how life should be now.

Until Mu An and Mu Ling'er left Qing'an Prefecture one after another, and until the internal strife started again, everything returned to its original state.

With the high command of the Great Spirit Empire tacitly approving the emergence of new gangs, the entire Great Spirit Empire is rapidly sliding in another direction.

From a macro perspective, the productivity of the Great Spirit Empire continues to increase.

With the development of technology, people's living standards are getting higher and higher, and everything is moving in a positive direction.

But few people have noticed that chaos has already begun to brew again without anyone noticing.

The difference this time was that no one paid any attention to the changes. The people of Qing'an Prefecture didn't even bother to pray in front of the statues of gods; they simply let everything change imperceptibly.

Because they can only see a small patch of sky in front of them, because they have never realized what efforts Mu An and Mu Ling'er have made in the past years, they do not know how they obtained the life they have.

Now, the people of Qing'an Prefecture have once again become accustomed to a life where they could be robbed or stolen from at any time, to being charged protection money by people of all ranks, and to being oppressed and exploited by officials, taking it all for granted.

As long as they can still make money and their lives continue to improve, no one cares about a small amount of protection money; once it's given, it's given.

The empire remains powerful, and the people remain wealthy, but beneath the light, the shadows are gradually expanding, turning into a dense darkness.

This darkness was taken for granted by most people until it happened to them, until their families were destroyed and they had nowhere left to retreat, only then did they feel anger and sorrow.

By then, it was all too late.

Change never takes long; the broken windows theory always comes faster than we imagine.

The changes brought about by the efforts of only one or two people often do not last long.

……

This was true not only in Qing'an Prefecture, but also in other regions, such as border towns like Qingchuan City, where similar events occurred almost daily.