Pretending To Be A Boss-Chapter 397 - 54: The New Master of the Holy Fortress_2

She looked once more at Madam Wu and said calmly,

"Mother, did you ever consider the possibility that one day I might return?"

Madam Wu was stunned.

Just like the dreams she had had these past few days, she saw her daughter’s frail figure and bright eyes.

And then she found herself unable to say a word.

Lingyi did not make any irrational moves either.

It was the same many years ago; her daughter was always the most sensible one—intelligent, independent, with a strong capacity to learn, skilled with her hands, and quick to pick up various tasks.

The neighbors all envied the Lu Family for having such a daughter.

By comparison, her son was unruly and naughty, showing little interest in his studies and often causing trouble.

But he had talent.

No one would want to cut off the affection they had nurtured for twelve years just because it lacked talent.

This would be exceedingly cruel for humanity as well.

Therefore, the people in this fortress had their own methods of testing for talent.

The older sister could never understand, how, when she had always been the more sensible one, did their father never smile at her again after taking her and her brother on a trip to the mines one day?

Subsequently, her mother also began to ignore her.

Later on, even the neighbors seemed to notice something.

Her memory was a series of grey images.

She sat in the yard of her house, not far away were her brother and some other children playing together.

The adults smiled fondly at the innocence of the children. Only she sat alone in the yard.

It wasn’t until the day she was exiled that she finally understood—it wasn’t that they didn’t want to play with her.

It wasn’t that she was too clumsy or ignorant.

Rather, it was because she... had no future at all.

Lingyi looked at Madam Wu.

During the past four years, every time she recalled these memories, she would silently shed tears.

But today, she did not cry; her tears had long been evaporated by the bright and warm sunshine the moment Tang Xian took her away from the pit.

Lingyi also did not expect that so many complex emotions, so much resentment, unwillingness and grievance, would eventually turn into a smile:

"I’ve come to say goodbye. Mother, thank you for bringing me into this world."

Madam Wu’s entire body shook; the words cut into her heart like a knife.

...

...

Just outside the portal was the area that led to the different streets.

At the junction, the dense crowd began to disperse.

Tang Xian, Qing JiuYu, and Tang Feiji were the last to come out from the portal.

A man, a fox, and a dragon stood in front of the portal, which seemed somewhat empty after the crowd had dispersed.

Qing JiuYu spoke,

"I’ve done as you instructed, returned to Baichuan City, brought back those portable portal cracks, and set up the return coordinates. In fact, they could have all gone directly back to Baichuan City; why did you have them come here?"

Tang Feiji was also puzzled. According to what it knew of Tang Xian, he wouldn’t possibly lead this group to annihilate the people within the fortress.

Tang Xian, uncharacteristically serious, gazed at the mother and daughter in the Lu Family’s courtyard and said,

"The malady of this fortress doesn’t stem from Zhuo He. Zhuo He is just a triggering poison, but the symptoms have not been alleviated."

"Actually, everyone in the fortress is suffering from the same disease; it’s just that the people here are particularly severe."

"So now you’re the doctor of this era? You want to correct this fortress?" Qing JiuYu asked.

"No, the maladies of the soul cannot be treated; they can only heal themselves. What I’m doing is merely out of interest. Besides, the people from the pit deserve an opportunity for revenge, or perhaps... to say goodbye."

No matter how many tears the people of the sacred fortress shed, they could never wash away the stench from the depths of the pit.

Tang Xian never considered himself a saint.

He was very clear on his own identity: an utterly ordinary carnivore.

Nothing more.

Saviors, heroes, saints—all have their respective roles in this world.

But he still wanted to try,

Allowing those who had survived in the darkest depths and those who had exploited them for thirty years in the land of light to attempt reconciliation once.

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The process was inevitably brutal, because not everyone could, like Zero, put aside all grievances with a smile.

It was like a body rotten from head to tail, where removing the decayed flesh brought extreme pain.

But only after that could the sick body be reborn.

...

...

The next day, Yu Xiaozhe, Lin Sen, and Tang Xian used their lord’s authority to let everyone in the entire fortress know what had happened.

The life their abandoned children had been leading for thirty years was no longer a secret of the holy land fortress.

Even the news of Zhuo He’s death was no longer a secret.

Tang Feiji and Qing JiuYu didn’t really believe these people would give up everything they currently enjoyed out of guilt and remorse.

Indeed, that was the case.

After all the residents of the holy land fortress understood what happened, those influenced by Zhuo He began to protest.

The world had always belonged to those with talents, and this era belonged to them as well.

They had grown accustomed to thirty years of privilege; wasn’t every fortress the same?

The most menial physical labor was naturally the duty of these lower non-talented beings.

Although many considered this rhetoric too harsh, when someone protested, these people didn’t object either.

Qing JiuYu finally understood that this was indeed a sickness.

If the fox clan did the same, with six-tailed foxes bullying three-tailed ones and nine-tailed foxes bullying six-tailed ones, she couldn’t even imagine it.

Besides, humans were a very special group; they spent most of their time not in the Myriad Beasts Realm but in the Pyramid, where there was hardly a big difference between talented and non-talented humans, was there?

The protests grew.

Yu Xiaozhe and Lin Sen were used to all this; after all, they weren’t exactly saintly themselves.

"What do you plan to do?"

In Zhuo He’s old office on the sixth level, Yu Xiaozhe, looking at the surveillance screen, asked Tang Xian.

"Not much. After all, I brought these people to say goodbye. They are now citizens of Baichuan City and will be rebuilding human civilization in the future. They have no time to discuss noble lineage with a bunch of parasites," Tang Xian said calmly.

"But if this goes on, they will come to the sixth level and riot," Yu Xiaozhe worriedly said.

"Do you know that in ancient prisons, inmates often protested the unfairness of the jailers with hunger strikes? But the prison managers would comply with their demands by outright refusing to provide food," Tang Xian said.

"I don’t know. What’s the connection?"

"This is bargaining psychology. Turn what the other side thinks is their bargaining chip into your own. Cut off the fortress’s power supply and tell them as a lord that the fortress’s mineral reserves are critically low. And these non-talented individuals will be transferred to other fortresses."

"That’s it?"

"Yes, that will do. People find it very hard to starve themselves when they can obtain food."

Tang Xian paused and then continued:

"The social system of this fortress is thoroughly diseased. What you can do now is to completely disrupt this system.

When they realize that this closed fortress has only talented people and no non-talented people to order around anymore, they will lower their noble heads and voluntarily pick up the mining pickaxes.

Healing of the soul can only happen through self-healing, and human nature isn’t just made of inferior traits. You’ll see quite the spectacle."

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With that, Tang Xian handed the lord’s ring to Yu Xiaozhe.

Yu Xiaozhe was stunned:

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"What’s this?"

"From today onwards, you have the highest authority in the holy land fortress. With this, you’re the top dog."

Yu Xiaozhe still didn’t understand. He took Tang Xian’s ring, fitted it onto his finger, and was instantly astonished.

"This... this..."

"Calm down. I originally intended to give it to Song Que, but Qing JiuYu told me that Song Que has been in a coma," Tang Xian said.

It took a while for Yu Xiaozhe to calm down from his shock:

"The technology in this ring... it’s probably centuries ahead of ours, isn’t it?"

"Perhaps it is."

"You’re giving it to me? I’m an international fugitive, you know. Is this... like stealing a country?"

Yu Xiaozhe was once again stunned by Tang Xian’s wild idea.

"You’re an intellectual, an educated man. Can something you do be called theft?"

Tang Xian didn’t find it inappropriate. In fact, having a Pyramid that provided immense convenience would also be a help for his future endeavors.

"And who would think that the lord of the holy land fortress, cut off from the network, is a federal criminal?"

(Now updating every night past midnight, seems pretty good~ It’s so nice to have saved drafts)

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