A Villain's Journey Begins in the Type-Moon World

"Extra number! Extra number!..."

In Chernobog, busy people often buy a few newspapers in the morning, perhaps reading a bit while waiting for breakfast to pass the time.

"Hey, do you think I don't know about Liberation City 2, Birch City, and Ural City? Almost half of the people there have become infected, and most of the young and strong men have been captured to mine ore and smelt source stone, which has long caused a lot of resentment."

At the dining table, a casual customer listened to the shouts of newspaper vendors outside and said with some disdain.

"Suppressing bandits, suppressing bandits again... We've been suppressing bandits for a whole year now. My brothers haven't been heard from since they were forcibly conscripted. Those good-for-nothings only know how to bully us defenseless commoners. Have they ever won a single battle against the Communists?"

Upon hearing this, another burly man spat out a word, looking utterly disdainful.

"Hey, hey, esteemed guests, let's not talk about state affairs, let's not talk about state affairs. Right now, the city is full of spies patrolling the streets, and officers are loitering around. Our shop is a small business, we can't afford any more trouble."

At this moment, the shop owner pointed to a sign hanging on the wall that read "No Talking About State Affairs." The fact that the owner had put up such a sign clearly indicated that he had recently suffered a great loss because of this matter.

"20 Chervin copper coins, boss, and a serving of black bread with buckwheat porridge."

At that moment, a youthful and energetic voice rang out. A bear-eared girl with M-shaped bangs, wearing a school uniform and looking fierce walked into the store and placed a handful of copper coins on the counter.

"Oh, it's Sonia. I'm sorry, the price of black bread and buckwheat porridge has gone up recently. They now cost 30 Chernwyn copper coins."

Upon seeing the visitor, the boss looked troubled and said...

The bear-eared girl frowned, the red highlights on her forehead swaying slightly as she raised her head. She glanced at the boss's injured hand and said nothing more, only stating:

"Then... give me a smaller amount, not the usual amount."

"How can that be? You're still growing, how can you not eat enough?"

"I didn't bring that many copper coins..."

"Alright... okay then." The boss went into the kitchen and started working. (The last sentence is a nonsensical string of characters and doesn't translate directly.)

The girl found an empty spot and waited quietly, her bear ears twitching slightly as she listened to the complaints of those around her.

"Since the lockdown started, prices have been rising steadily. When will these damned soldiers stop searching us?!"

"It's all those traitors' fault. Why didn't they jump out at the last minute? Now many people in the countryside are following them, and they're even cutting back on food supplies to the city."

"I think you've lost your mind! Blaming Integration? If we weren't desperate, who would rebel?!" (Ursus profanity)

"If you ask me, those merchants deserve to die too. They were profiting from the national crisis at this time. You don't know, I saw those shopkeepers buying up goods in the market with my own eyes, just waiting to hoard them. And guess what happened last night? Hey, the garrison ransacked their homes."

"Hahahaha, dogs fighting, a mouthful of fur, what a good death!" For a moment, cheerful voices echoed in the shop.

"Hey, gentlemen, let's stop talking about this. I still need one hand to make a living, and I don't want my shop to be vandalized again."

At that moment, the shop owner brought a bowl of porridge with a piece of black bread soaking in it, and presented it to the girl with just one hand.

The guests didn't press the matter. Hearing the owner's plea, and knowing his difficulties, they all changed the subject.

"Boss, this portion..." The girl looked at the black bread and buckwheat porridge in front of her, which were not much different from usual. She was about to say something when the boss shook his hand, signaling her not to say anything more.

"Boss! 40 Cervin copper coins, a black bread, buckwheat porridge, and a cup of kvass."

"Alright, coming, coming." Just then, another customer arrived at the shop, and the owner hurried to serve the customer, without having much interaction with the girl.

The girl silently gazed at the black bread soaking in buckwheat porridge in front of her, slowly eating her breakfast in this noisy little shop.

……

An indoor club at Peterheim High School in the outer city

"You mean, you're planning to find some thugs who bully others in the city and beat them up!?"

A beautiful Ursus female student with short blonde hair stared in shock at the girl with dyed hair in front of her.

"Yes, there are many kind people in the city, and they shouldn't be bullied by those guys."

The girl with highlighted hair spoke slowly, then looked at the girl with a light blue single braid who was reading a book carefully beside her, and said:

"Anna, what do you think?"

"I still prefer you calling me by my nickname: Truth."

The girl codenamed Truth raised her head, the single lens hanging over her left eye reflecting a bright white light.

She closed the book, and the cover revealed a copy of a banned book, "The Reunion Movement Propaganda Manual," which was strictly prohibited throughout the city. However, the other students present seemed to be aware of this and didn't seem to care.

"But Sonia, you don't actually think that just because everyone calls you 'General Winter,' you really consider yourself a general and believe you can fight against regular troops, do you?"

Truth spoke slowly.

"Tch... That's a surprise. I thought you'd be very supportive of me doing this, since you read so many books."

After Winter finished speaking, she deliberately looked at the brochure in Truth's hand.

"Sigh...that's why I recommended you read it carefully. After all, even elementary school students can understand some parts of this booklet."

Truth slowly said:

"Then let me ask you, Sonia, what made you decide to ambush those soldiers?"

"Didn't I just say? I don't want the kind people in the city to be bullied," Winter said somewhat impatiently.

"Okay, so let's assume you really succeeded in dealing with some of the thugs. The question then becomes: do you think you've truly achieved your goal? Do you think you've changed the status quo?"

Truth asked earnestly.

“…What do you mean?” Winter frowned.

"Let me rephrase the question: What do you think will happen after a small group of thugs is eliminated? Will the thugs simply disappear? Or will everything remain the same? Or will it lead to a bigger conflict, causing more people to be oppressed or even lose their lives?"

Truth asked the question.

For a moment, the people present fell silent. Although they were passionate and impulsive, they weren't truly mindless. They could, upon careful consideration, discern which of the three possible futures presented by the truth would lead to which outcome.

“Your intentions are good, but good intentions don’t guarantee good results. Sonia, the reason you haven’t solved the problem is because you haven’t grasped the true cause-and-effect relationship, and you haven’t grasped the main contradiction.”

Truth unfolded the propaganda booklet again and read aloud a passage written on it:

"In dealing with conflicts, people often only grasp the surface phenomena and simply criticize right and wrong, people and events. They often ignore the root cause of the problem. This often only solves a single phenomenon but cannot completely prevent the problem from happening again. It may even make the problem worse."

"To solve a problem, we must find its root cause, grasp the principal contradiction, and not ignore the secondary contradictions. We must take a holistic approach, pay attention to the transformation between the principal and secondary contradictions, and shift our focus in a timely manner."

Then, Zhenli closed the booklet and, seeing the students who seemed somewhat confused, patiently continued her explanation:

"Take this case for example. The crux of the problem lies in the highly authoritarian rule of the garrison over Chernobog. They cut off the city's original governmental functions and ruled the citizens in a simple and violent manner."

"This is because soldiers have too much power but fail to fulfill their corresponding obligations, which inevitably breeds corruption. This leads to soldiers abusing their power, extorting money and becoming what people call 'soldier thugs'."

"The city's finances and civil affairs were unable to function properly, causing widespread unrest. Prices soared, and crime proliferated. Ultimately, the city fell into a vicious cycle that was almost self-destructive."

“Sonia, what you are seeing is a secondary problem that extends from the root cause. If you only deal with some thugs, it is just a drop in the ocean compared to the root cause. It may even further encourage those thugs to vent their anger on ordinary people and carry out an even more oppressive reign of terror.”

Chapter 249: An Ambush

"So... according to what you're saying, are we just going to let it go like this?"

Winter frowned and asked, "After all, you said the fundamental problem lies in the oppressive rule of those garrison troops, but no matter how confident I am, I don't think that my small number of people can defeat the entire city's garrison."

“No, we’ll still do it.” Zhenli shook his head, stood up, and said with a smile, “But this time you have to follow my instructions. It’s rare for you to see this, so I have to make the most of this opportunity.”

Winter was taken aback, clearly not expecting Truth to agree. What had she been talking about all this time?

"Let's go. There are some things you won't understand just by being told them. Once you see what I do, you'll understand what's going on."

Truth naturally saw what Winter was thinking and continued, "First, find a suitable group of unlucky guys. Send your people out to search. Rada, I'll leave the teacher to you."

"Ugh, it's me again," the blonde girl said with a pained expression.

“I have no choice, I have to stay with Sonia today to prevent her from causing too much trouble. Besides, I need today’s notes. Please, Rada,” Mari said with a smile.

So the club members left in droves, leaving only "Rada" alone in the club room sighing.

……

In the blink of an eye, a morning had passed, and Winter's burly underlings quickly locked onto a target squad of three. They were only carrying military blunt weapons and no lethal weapons, and they weren't particularly large.

“Joma, go back to your old ways and lead that guy into the alley. Remember to blacken your face so others can recognize you,” Truth instructed.

At this moment, all the students present changed their school uniforms into the image of street thugs, and each of them smeared their faces with ash or coal, and then covered their faces with black cloth to cover their faces.

That way, no matter what they do afterwards, those thugs won't be able to easily find them.

Upon receiving the order, the student named Qiao Ma immediately ran out of the alley.

"Anna, are you sure this will work? And isn't it a bit too risky to be the only one not covering your face?" Winter said slowly.

"That depends on our 'General Winter's' abilities. Whether he can beat them to that extent as I request," Truth said with a smile. "Besides, I've already dressed up, even wearing a wig. If they only see my back, they definitely won't recognize me."

"Alright, then you hide first, and leave the fighting to us." Winter stretched his limbs to show that he was ready.

Truth nodded, then found a place to hide.

……

"Although we just went through that incident the day before yesterday, the ground doesn't seem as heavily guarded as we expected. The number of guards patrolling the area is about the same as usual, and the garrison soldiers are all familiar faces; no new personnel have been assigned."

On the street, Lyudmila, following Wang Chong's orders, was to survey the situation on the ground over the next two days. Currently, it seemed that after the conflict, neither the border troops nor the ordinary soldiers of the Third Army had made any significant changes to their deployments.

"Are they all hidden in the shadows, or... um?"

As Lyudmila was pondering how to conduct a further search, she suddenly noticed a furtive little boy on the opposite side of the street, walking "maliciously" toward three soldiers not far ahead.

"What?! Where did this brat come from? Has he gone mad? At this critical moment, he's actually eyeing those thugs?! Isn't he just asking for death?!"

Lyudmila was certain she wasn't mistaken; although the kid's steps seemed nonchalant, it was clear he was heading straight for the three Ursus Army soldiers.

Did he think his little tricks could fool the soldiers? Soldiers may be rascals, but that doesn't mean they're clueless cowards!

Sure enough, the three soldiers who had been chatting and laughing seemed to notice something and stopped talking. Instead, they waited with amusement for the little brat to come closer.

"Damn it, it's too late."

Lyudmila was on the other side of the street, so it was impossible for her to rush over and warn her.

However, something unexpected happened to the four of them. The little brat said, "Sorry, sorry," and bumped into them, intending to put his hand into the soldier's pocket. The soldier, waiting patiently, thought he could catch the brat's dirty hand—

"boom!"

But then the brat suddenly shoved his hand upwards, hitting the soldier squarely on the chin. "You Lin Xiangyong, you're not free, you Lin Zaizai, you're not here..."

"Pfft!"

What was supposed to be catching a petty thief turned into a physical attack. Caught off guard, the soldier was hit so hard that he felt dizzy and almost bit his own tongue.

At that moment, while the other two were stunned by the sudden turn of events, the kid abruptly created distance and then quickly ran away.

"Damn brat! Don't run!!"

The soldier stroked his chin. The injury wasn't serious, but it felt like a slap in the face. Enraged, he gave chase, and his two companions followed. In an instant, a chase ensued.

Lyudmila witnessed the whole thing and, speechless with astonishment, quickly chased after them.

She suddenly became interested; her intuition told her that this brat's audacity in provoking the soldiers was no accident. There must be a group behind him. Perhaps he was luring the enemy deep into their territory.

"They really did turn into an alley. Hmph, then I can't keep following them like an idiot. I need to find a better spot to observe the situation."

After Lyudmila saw the four people turn into the alley, she immediately used her familiarity with the surrounding terrain to jump over walls and climb several times, and arrived at the rooftop. She then performed parkour on the rooftop, following the people chasing her below.

……

"Don't run, you brat!!" Three soldiers chased the kid who had just tricked them into the depths of the alley. As they turned a corner, one of their comrades suddenly stopped.

"Hey, something's not right."

The comrade held down the soldier who was still angrily chasing the brat. After being held down, the soldier, who had exhausted most of his energy from the chase, calmed down a bit and also sensed that something was wrong.

The area is sparsely populated and quite far from the main street.

"Ta-ta..."

Just then, some masked Ursus men dressed like thugs emerged from the shadows ahead. Each of them held a blunt weapon and stared at the soldiers with menacing eyes.

"Hey! You bastards, are you trying to attack the army and rebel?!"

Clearly, the sergeant noticed the purpose of these people and realized that they had been lured into the alley.

"Ta-ta..."

At the same time, footsteps sounded behind them, and the leader slammed a water pipe into the ground, creating a small hole.

That person was none other than Winter, who had been waiting there for a long time.

"What exactly do you want to do?!" a soldier angrily questioned.

"What are you doing? Isn't it obvious? You used to like to bully others, now it's your turn to be bullied!" Winter said in a hoarse voice.