Chapter 6125 - 5138: A Journey of Surprises (13)

The majority of people see the face of the world as it is, which is not the entirety of this world, and may not even be the entirety of their own country or region. Even in developed countries, hidden beneath the shadows under the light, lies a side that most ordinary people cannot touch. Dark, profound, and terrifying.

For many people, the security issues they often hear about are just the tip of the iceberg of the underground world; like a small branch growing up to the surface, hiding a much larger root system below ground. All the crime problems in this world are woven into the same network in the underground world.

Even someone like Deathstroke, who has walked the underground world for many years, cannot claim to see the whole picture from a glimpse; he can only see some semblance of branches from within this network. The area of mercenaries and assassins is the junkyard of the underground world, where all branches grow to their end, wither and die, ultimately falling here. Deathstroke’s scavenger career allows him to see from a broader perspective how the criminal world of human society truly operates.

The underground world is by no means chaotic or disordered; much like the upper ordinary human society, the underground world also has a very distinct hierarchical system. Rather than calling it a hierarchy, it is more of a machine grinder with various components, each with different functions, meant to consume humans from head to toe thoroughly.

First is the excess social wealth. The value generated by someone in society beyond basic survival is often snatched up cleanly through means like fraud. This includes not just traditional scams or telecom fraud, but also emotional deceive, and even some legal "frauds," such as stocks and futures, and even impulsiveness in entrepreneurship.

Next is the basic survival element. Stable housing, a steady food source, and a job to exchange for compensation can be deprived by high living costs or impacted by unfavorable living conditions, leading to complete loss.

Then comes social identity. This is a watershed, where social identity grants order outside the jungle, once lost, a person becomes no different from a beast, falls entirely into the field of animals, no longer considered humans merely to be slaughtered the same way as animals.

Followed by the non-lacerating deprivation of bodily resources. Generally includes sexual resources and reproductive resources, the latter mostly owned by females, but the former both males and females have. Due to the watershed below, people are mostly regarded as livestock to be slaughtered, or mere items, so gender differences become less important.

Finally, the most basic resources every animals have: skin, meat, bones, all are divided, every piece of flesh, every drop of blood, naturally has its destination.

This is an extremely complete ecosystem, from top to bottom, intertwined and interconnected, each layer extends out countless teeth, anyone touching a single one, will be drawn into this grinder machine, then consumed thoroughly according to this flow.

The crime problems currently troubling human society are also just one link in this system. For instance, gambling is usually used to deprive social wealth, drugs cause people to fall below the watershed, while human trafficking and organized prostitution are the second last link, used to exhaust bodily value.

Contrary to many people’s intuition, in this system, the projects closer to the bottom are more harmful because these projects can backstop the upper projects, making the upper industrial chain more rampant.

For example, when a gambler runs out of money and cannot gain any social wealth by any means, he might think, I can still sell my blood. Suppose the conditions for selling blood in his area are very relaxed, then he can earn money from selling blood to continue betting. Such gambling addicts not only sustain the casinos but also fuel the illegal blood trade, usurious lenders, and even organ traffickers.

Similarly, a drug addict who cannot afford drugs might think of prostituting oneself for drug money. If in a place where cracking down on such crimes is lenient, the money obtained will ultimately become part of the drug trade chain, sustaining numerous drug dealers.

All this is interconnected, you connect to me, I nourish you, as long as one link relaxes, others inevitably follow suit, like sharks smelling blood, dragging everything in this region into the Abyss.

And once this system completes its cycle, it becomes even more stable than most societal systems above ground and becomes impossible to eradicate fully; being consumed is only a matter of time. A Cleaner like Deathstroke at the end of this industrial chain knows best that this is the cancer of modern society, only worsening with delay, currently still incurable.

Undoubtedly, Nina in this story is typical. Initially due to some psychological issues, she engaged in bad behaviors like drug abuse and alcohol consumption, which did not heal her psychological problems; instead, it exacerbated her condition, then someone exploited her vulnerability, leading her astray into this grinder to gradually fall, eventually shattering entirely.

Except for Little Superman, everyone present could sense this, but whether for professional ethics or the desire to win the game, they all have to figure out a way to save Nina; otherwise, wouldn’t the previous effort be for naught?

The greedy brain rapidly spins: Nina absolutely cannot be let out; her situation is too dangerous now. She had just consumed medication with strong alcohol, which possibly may lead to adverse reactions; should it occur amidst the alleys, she might die right there.

Even if she managed to escape the drug effects by luck, whatever she was going to do wouldn’t be a good thing, nor would she meet any good people. If someone harbored ill intentions midway, she might not be able to return.

Then there’s that Andrew. If she insists on rushing to deliver money overnight, Andrew is either a gambler who has lost everything or an addict who is already high. Either way, it’s very dangerous, and Nina could very likely lose her life in his hands.

In short, as long as she leaves the house, the chance of coming back alive is slim. They must find a way to stop Nina.

Just then, Nina pushed the door open and walked out, and the players could finally fly out. The scene in the living room was simply unbearable, with scattered wine bottles and takeout boxes everywhere, heaps of pots and pans on the floor, and garbage piled up like a mountain. Nina walked straight toward the door as if she didn’t see it.

At this moment, Greed keenly noticed that there was a fire sprinkler on the ceiling of the living room. In America, most houses for rent have this thing, even those that are very old or in remote areas. It’s not that their fire safety awareness is so high, but because many building materials in American buildings are too flammable. A slight spark can burn down the whole house. Moreover, rebuilding costs not only materials and labor but also taxes. To prevent tenants from acting recklessly, landlords will install this thing in the house anyway.

Most fire alarms have another characteristic: they cannot be violently dismantled. Although the principles vary, most will emit a sharp alert if they detect violent destruction, and some won’t even tolerate being covered up, so using tape or the like to seal them is out of the question.

For those who rent, the sensitivity of the alarm is actually an important evaluation factor. It affects not only whether they can cook, but some alarms are so sensitive that even smoke wafting in from outside the window will keep it ringing, and could even set off sprinklers, which causes a lot of trouble.

"Quick, quick, quick! Fire alarm!" Greed immediately shouted.

The few of them immediately understood his meaning, and several orbs of light flew to the ceiling as fast as possible and began to tamper with the fire alarm. Greed worked on the outer casing, Little Superman worked on the sprinkler, and the agent and Deathstroke went inside to find precision parts to mess with. Though these orbs of light don’t have much strength, the alarm itself is quite sensitive. As soon as they exerted a bit of force, a sharp alarm sounded, and then it started spraying water.

Contrary to what many people imagine, fire sprinklers don’t spray mist. The rapidly rotating sprayer discharges water that could even flood the house. The spraying curtain of water, like a glass wall, falls to the ground with some force, and Nina immediately screamed.

A person like her, already with psychological issues, would be very afraid of such sudden sharp noises. Moreover, she wasn’t using high-quality cosmetics; with the fire sprinkler spraying, her makeup was ruined, and her clothes were soaked. She couldn’t possibly go out now.

She screamed while holding her head and ran into the bedroom, slamming the door shut with a bang after entering. Greed breathed a sigh of relief; regardless of what would happen later, she definitely wasn’t going out tonight.

Not long after celebrating, another door in the house opened, and the man who appeared in her memories came out. Seeing the activated sprinkler, he cursed, but his first reaction was neither to shut off the sprinkler nor to find the landlord. Instead, he went to Nina’s door and started banging on it, cursing vilely and spewing such profanities that it was almost spiritual pollution, and the players couldn’t stand it.

However, he was in such a hurry to get out he forgot to close the door to his own room. An orb of light, where Little Superman was, swooshed in and flew back immediately, saying, "There’s a phone in his room!"

They all flew in immediately. Although they didn’t know which country it was, they decided to call 911 first. The combined strength of these orbs was just enough to press the phone buttons: three of them pressed the number keys, and the last one pressed the call button. After a few beeps, the call was connected.

Even though the orbs couldn’t speak, the man’s voice cursing was very loud and was heard by the operator on the other side. The operator might have thought it was domestic violence or an intrusion and immediately connected the call to the local police station. Before long, police lights flashed outside the window.

They all breathed a sigh of relief. Though the police aren’t always reliable, given Nina’s current situation, calling the police seemed the best option. After all, the door wasn’t very strong, and if this man, who might be her relative, broke it down, her life would be in danger.

In some parts of America, police like to use excessive force, but for this reason, people who stand against them usually don’t end well. Any rash movement could result in a charge of assaulting a police officer, even if you use self-defense measures far above necessary levels; the police union might back it up. No sane person would want to mess with the police.

However, it was obvious this man wasn’t in his right mind. As the police knocked on the door outside, he was still banging on Nina’s door and continued to curse non-stop. Due to the excessive profanity, even the police couldn’t take it, and with a bang, they kicked open the door and rushed in, pointing their guns at his head.