Chapter 8 - Anger’s Mysterious Shop

The walls of the dark alley were damp and moldy, with dark brown spots scattered across the indistinct graffiti.Both sides of the walls were piled with debris, including dilapidated cardboard boxes, rusty iron barrels, and scattered pieces of flesh and rotten organs.

Dust and cobwebs covered the surfaces of abandoned furniture, while mice and insects darted and jumped around, startled into fleeing by the movement.

Two thugs were beating a ragged vagrant, using fists and kicks.

"Is he dead yet?" One lean thug grabbed the vagrant’s filthy long hair and leaned down, "Answer me!"

The vagrant’s eyes were murky and weary, staring silently at the person before him, showing no response to the knife pressed against his face.

"Get out of the city, you bum, don’t be an eyesore in our territory. I’ll kill you, believe it?"

"Boss, it looks like someone’s coming." the other squat thug whispered.

The two straightened up, the lean thug squinted, using the dim light in the alley to see the person clearly.

She was petite, with blonde hair hanging by her ears, her brows furrowed, her still somewhat youthful face filled with impatience.

"You’re blocking the way. Get lost."

The two thugs exchanged a glance, then silently put away their weapons, swaggering past the girl as they brushed shoulders with her. It wasn’t until they reached the end of the alley that the squat thug confirmed she wasn’t paying attention to them before leaving behind a harsh threat.

"Next time I see you, you’re dead!"

It was unclear if he was speaking to the vagrant or just talking to himself.

City folks were always like that, Xu Xiaoyou wasn’t bothered.

Zone Seven, Eight, and Nine were all within the Evil Gang’s sphere of influence. Those two thugs were likely members of the Evil Gang, and Xu Xiaoyou’s first impression of them was cowardice and bullying the weak.

As one of the areas with the most chaotic public security in all of Nest City, murder, robbery, and violent debt collecting were commonplace. Here, a few vagrants disappearing each day wouldn’t draw anyone’s attention, until parts of them appeared on someone’s dinner table.

"Did you hear? They said if they see you here again, you’re dead." Xu Xiaoyou said.

The vagrant didn’t respond to her, his expression numb as he leaned against the wall.

Xu Xiaoyou kicked over the begging bowl in front of him and continued walking deeper into the alley.

Deeper in the alley was a slave shop, an oily yellow lamp hanging at the door, its dim light illuminating the surrounding dilapidated scene.

Xu Xiaoyou let out a soft breath, then walked inside.

The shopkeeper of the slave shop was a Green-skinned Orc, whose gaze hadn’t left her since the moment she entered. His narrow eyes squinted slightly, emitting a shrewd light, seeming to be assessing her and not in a hurry to greet.

A credit point fluttered in front of him.

The girl leaned her hand on the counter, tilting her head calmly at him.

"Sir!"

The slave merchant patted his head, showing a very regretful expression.

"Eh, I didn’t see you coming in because the light outside was too dim. Look at my eyes, hey~"

"You’re here to buy slaves, right? You’ve come to the right place. I have the most of this type! What do you want? Female Green-skinned Orcs, Catwoman, Dark Night Elf?"

Quickly getting up to greet her, the slave merchant showed no more neglect, leading Xu Xiaoyou deeper into the slave shop.

"Or if you want to play with something more high-end, urban grotesque creatures? I have those too, just the price is..."

Xu Xiaoyou paid him no mind, maintaining her silence.

Green-skinned Orcs, known as the Cancer of Nest City, usually dwell at the bottom of Nest City’s societal pyramid, mostly slaves.

All because of the characteristics of their race.

This race differs from the commonly seen Orcs in movies. They don’t need to actively consume food; their bodies have plant-like traits allowing them to perform photosynthesis in sunlight, gaining energy supply. Even if their limbs are severed and ground into spores, sprinkled into soil, a newfound batch of Orcs will grow again next year.

This also means, without control, these resilient, powerful creatures with frightening reproductive capabilities and generally low intelligence could rapidly overrun the entire Nest City like cancer cells, causing it to stall and collapse. Ultimately, Nest City would fall like a giant tortured to death by maggots, rotting and stinking.

Therefore, most Nest Cities classify Green-skinned Orcs as a ’high-control species,’ usually prohibiting intermarriage with other races, requiring registration of offspring, banning them from politics, restricting their activity zones, etc. No matter how foolish the so-called intellectuals are, they would never raise the issue of human rights for Green-skinned Orcs, as behind each stringent decree lies a bloody lesson.

For a Green-skinned Orc to become a slave trader, their survival skills or intelligence cannot be as simplistic as Nest City’s stereotype.

Xu Xiaoyou took a deep look at the hunched figure walking ahead and followed behind him.

Iron oil lamps burned along the dim passageway, illuminating slave rooms akin to cages. Most slaves appeared emaciated and weak.

The deeper they went, the harder it was to endure the smell—the scent of rotting flesh mixed with a foul stench. Xu Xiaoyou could even see through the iron bars a few rotting corpses under straw, surrounded by flies.

The slave merchant stopped in front of a cage, his kerosene lamp illuminating the scene within—a gaunt Ghoul engrossed in munching.

Your number two linked product is attacking your number one linked product.

This image inexplicably surfaced in Xu Xiaoyou’s mind.

"No... I didn’t kill him. He died himself... He crashed into my claws himself!" The Ghoul squinted against the light of the lamp, panicking and avoiding, "Really wasn’t me..."

Looking at the still-steaming intestines in its hand, Xu Xiaoyou and the slave merchant both fell silent: "Hmm..."

Seeing the slave merchant’s face darkly turn, the Ghoul leaped frantically to the cage front, claws towards the blonde girl, eyes crimson with a thirst for fresh meat:

"I’m just too hungry... What did I do wrong? You smell so good, your skin so tender... Must be juicy. Let me eat you, okay? It’s simple; just put your arm in here. I’ll savor it greatly!"

Bang—

"Ah—"

Xu Xiaoyou’s gun barrel was smoking, her eyes indifferent. The Ghoul crumpled on the ground, moaning and begging for mercy, body curling, desperately clutching the bleeding wound on its thigh.

"Not going to kill him?" The slave merchant watched the blonde girl with interest, his face’s thick flesh piled up as if his empty black eye sockets would gaze right through her. "He’s just a slave. His life doesn’t matter."

"Only by living will he always be in pain; it’s what I grant him. I want him to remember this pain with his body." Xu Xiaoyou said, slowly holstering her gun, giving a faint smile to the slave merchant, "Remember the cost of offending me."