Chapter 123: Lower-Class People
Chi Wan heard it clearly. In the jarring vehicle, the iron seat dug into her, causing pain. The car hadn’t moved far before more pollution entities appeared.
They were all in human form.
Sensing the car’s approach, they all cast dead, lingering stares.
Chi Wan kept her head down inside the iron frame, suppressing her mental power and energy to prevent herself from being detected.
She wondered what kind of place this was.
Why were there human-form pollution entities everywhere, and why didn’t they attack this man, Tang Lian, or the old man?
Then, an even denser surge of energy came from ahead, accompanied by shrieks and the sounds of combat.
Chi Wan didn’t dare show her head. She crouched low against the iron floor, afraid of causing trouble for the two of them.
The chaotic noise lasted a long time. The sound of the man on the roof hacking and killing was loud; several times, Chi Wan thought he would break right through the roof.
Black blood splattered through the windows from time to time, mixed with small fragments of flesh.
After another twenty minutes of jolting, the surroundings finally returned to silence.
A deathly silence.
Once the car stopped, Chi Wan peeked out and saw they were in a dark, deep alleyway.
She was about to get out when she saw the dark-skinned man jump down. His voice was flat as he looked at the old man.
“Why did you save her?”
His tone was calm, yet it carried a clear note of interrogation.
The old man’s movements faltered slightly. He kept his head down and said nothing.
Chi Wan’s heart tightened. She whispered immediately:
“It’s okay. I can leave.”
She had never intended to depend on anyone.
With that, seeing neither of them move, she turned to walk away.
SHING!
An iron blade flew through the air, sinking deep into the black soil by Chi Wan’s feet.
In the eerie, silent atmosphere, she thought of the pollution entity’s phrase about “fresh human meat.” Thinking he was going to kill her, she gripped the dagger beneath her cloak.
The man’s voice rang out flatly:
“Take it for protection.”
The voice was filled with a deathly air.
Chi Wan was stunned. Realizing both of them were actually kind-hearted, she whispered her thanks.
“No, thank you.”
She walked away decisively.
But the man spoke again:
“Wait.”
Chi Wan stopped and turned to look at him.
His gaze swept over her. After a few seconds, he dropped a sentence and walked into the building.
“If you have nowhere else to go… come in.”
Chi Wan quickly learned the background of this star system.
ELN was small, originally having thirteen planets. After the pollution, the world had changed completely.
At first, the changes were normal. The Star System Legion expanded rapidly, and almost all Sentinel-awakened individuals joined to protect their homes.
Until one man appeared—Nova.
He possessed an overwhelming over-SSS energy and a powerful ability. Within three months, he became the savior of the ELN people.
Daughters from four of the eight Great Families married him, while the other four families were either absorbed or destroyed by him.
He changed the family system of the ELN Star System and established the only empire—the Nova Empire.
But the situation reversed. Once he established the empire and sat upon all its resources, he ceased all efforts to eliminate pollution entities. He even allowed the star system to be gradually consumed by pollution.
Furthermore, he forced the populace to construct a paradise-like floating city—the “Elysium.”
The massive Elysium took ten years to build, and it gradually drained the life out of the star system.
The class divide was extreme. Above, in the Elysium, there were wine pools and meat forests, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.
But below the Elysium, the people struggled to survive in a living purgatory.
Nova’s original slogan—that the “Elysium” was built for everyone—was discarded the moment it was completed.
All those who were not part of the elite became “Lower-class People” in his eyes, left behind in a world teeming with pollution entities.
The “Lower-class People” had to work for the “Upper-class People” every day in exchange for food discarded from the Elysium to stay alive.
Many went hungry. Some died of starvation, while others chose to become pollution entities. This was especially true for some with Sentinel constitutions; they all became high-level pollution entities with their consciousness intact. Pollution entities could survive on carrion and the flesh of other entities, but humans could not.
“Today’s food is here.”
The old man’s voice pulled Chi Wan back from her thoughts.
She looked at the staggering old man and the pot he carried.
A foul smell hit her.
In the room, the man named Tang Lian and a very thin young boy walked over.
The boy looked to be about thirteen or fourteen. He was so emaciated that Chi Wan could see every single one of his ribs.
The three gathered around the iron pot. The old man skillfully served them each a bowl. When the dark-gray, viscous substance was poured out, Chi Wan nearly gagged.
This… was edible?
Seeing the old man offer her a bowl, Chi Wan shook her head quickly.
“I’m not hungry. Thank you.”
She wasn’t yet familiar with or fully trusting of these people, so she revealed nothing.
Seeing her refuse, the old man simply took the bowl back and began to eat it himself.
He swallowed the gray-black, unidentifiable goo without so much as a flinch.
He was clearly used to it.
“Those pollution people didn’t attack you immediately…”
Tang Lian was the first to finish. He set his bowl down, his voice deathly as he picked up his iron blade and walked toward the exit.
“It’s because they weren’t sure if you were an Upper-class Person from the Elysium.”
“Tang Jie, time to work.”
The boy immediately put down his bowl and followed him out.
“I’m going out to familiarize myself with the area.”
Chi Wan whispered. Seeing the old man nod, she walked out.
This area of ruined black buildings had clearly been ravaged by a great fire. It was completely dilapidated.
The moment she left the ruins, Chi Wan saw many people walking like the “living dead.”
She pulled her hood lower and put on a black mask, moving away from the crowd to explore in another direction.
Before long, she saw many pollution people. They were eating carrion from the refuse.
The scene was too disgusting. Chi Wan furrowed her brow and hid in a corner.
She roughly understood. These humans who had become pollution entities to survive relied on eating non-human entities and the carrion of dead humans.
She had to find non-human entities and absorb their essence to level up.
Boldly exploring toward areas with more energy, Chi Wan finally saw some non-human pollution entities.
They were fighting with the human-form entities.
Chi Wan hid in the distance. Her energy could be released from a distance. Finding the right moment, a burst of silver energy struck the leading non-human entity, instantly sucking away its essence!
It collapsed with a thud, leaving the surrounding human pollution entities stunned.
Sensing the aura, they looked toward Chi Wan’s direction. Just as they were about to attack, they were forced back several steps by a blast from an interstellar ion cannon.
The ion cannon was immensely powerful, blasting a massive crater into the ground.
It was a piece of advanced weaponry they had never seen before.
Chi Wan’s voice rang out:
“I only kill them, not you. But if you try to make a move against me, I won’t leave a single one of you alive.”
The voice clearly belonged to a girl. Although she had lowered and chilled her tone, she could not hide its clear, soft, and pleasant quality.
All the human-form pollution entities froze, their solid black eyes filled with shock.
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