(5) Methods of exploitation

The night passed by and it slowly turned to dawn. 

The sight of the purple sky gave the impression that it would appear like night even in the day, but surprisingly it was no different than the ordinary morning. 

It was like the purple sky did not affect the ground below. A portion of the purple sun rose from the horizon, flooding its gentle sunlight upon the land below. 

In such a contrasting sight, three men moved on the street naturally, they were used to such a sight from their childhood.

The Three men walked into the dirty alleyway with beggars and vagrants laying at random places. 

The fresh and cool air of the morning was diluted with a putrid stench instantly. 

The man in the middle, Reane furrowed his brow, while stating lazily: "No matter how many I visit this place, it's as disgusting as ever!" 

Tevesh beside Reane looked at the dirty body of the beggars and spat uninterestedly: "It's been more than a year now, Reane, you should get used to it quickly. These trashes are repulsive but we have to do our work properly. That's just how we are able to make a living."

Reane didn't continue the conversation on this subject. They had already conversed on similar subjects multiple times in the past.

The one to speak up next was the third man, Jeken: "Well, It's a waste of time to banter on such matters anyway. We should just do our work. Send this garbages to the construction site, check the ones who died, and report the ones who ran away." 

Tevesh, the one who was the oldest, chuckled: "So you were able to memorize our work properly at last! Hahaha!" 

Their voices spread around the silent alleyway, waking up some of the beggars. 

There was something very similar in all three of their attitudes — They looked down and detested the beggars here. 

Favor the rich and disdain the poor, detest ugliness, and love beauty, these were common in the world. 

Reane walked up to the woman who was still slumbering silently, the woman looked to be extremely weak with her thin arms and legs. She was laying on the dirty floor breathing thinly.

Scratch...

Reane slightly pulled back his leg and directly dug it into the woman's stomach, who was laying with her back against the wall, it truly was the best position to deliver a perfect kick. 

Bang!

"Agh!!" Breath was knocked out of the women's lungs. She curled up while holding her stomach with a grimacing expression, she grunted while feeling the pain coursing through her body. 

Just when the diaphragm relaxed, allowing the woman to breathe properly, A foot embedded itself on the woman's head. 

Wantonly Reane spoke in a loud voice: " What the hell are you doing still squirming around like that, huh?! Get your asses up!" 

Reane's gaze moved, scanning all the beggars in the area, contempt could be felt oozing from him. 

"Do you think you can live here for free? Why can't you all wake up early as instructed, do I appear that lenient to you? Hmm?" This was a necessary act to ingrain dominance into these people. 

Even if all the beggars woke up and were ready early, Reane and others would pick someone randomly, to beat them up.

Everyone shook their heads with horrified expressions, even the woman below Reane's feet tried shaking her head. This was the norm every morning, there was also a situation where a beggar was killed for even showing a little resistance. 

Even in front of a bottom-tier cultivator like Reane, these beggars had no chance. 

The beggars scurried around, waking people in the distance quickly. 

Jeken, who was watching from the side, walked forward. He stood between Reane and Tevesh, attracting their attention. 

"Hey, Let's go have fun with the woman at the end of the second alleyway!" 

Looking at Jeken's grinning expression filled with obscenity, both of them didn't even need to think about who he was talking about. 

Reane spoke with a thoughtful look: "Well, I will join in the fun but, if I am not wrong, that woman..." 

"She must be dead by now. More than two days have passed since the last time. Remembering her condition, she should be dead for sure." Tevesh cut off Reane's words. 

"What, She might be dead by now? Sigh! She had quite a good figure even while she was malnourished..." disappointment vividly appeared on Jeken's face. 

Tevesh patted his friend's shoulder: "I agree too, that whore was not that bad even when her body was in ruins. Let's just take a quick look and move on." 

After counting the number of beggars, they sent them off to the construction site. 

These beggars had no hope of escaping their grasp, thus they were not worried in the slightest. Getting out of this city was also impossible.

Having some tiny hope left, the three people moved toward the woman they were gossiping about. 

They crossed over to the second alleyway through the way between two houses and woke up the beggars and Vagrants there, by their usual act of ingraining dominance. 

The deeper they walked into the alley, the more feces and dead bodies appeared. The rotting stench made them feel like their noses were rotting away!

Only a few people who were alive appeared, but even they were near to their death.

"Tch! just how deep will we have to walk?!" Reane covered his nose with a normal piece of cloth, feeling like giving up. 

"Hey guys, I think we should just get out of...." 

"Quite, Look at that kid there." Tevesh pointed with a frown on his face. 

All three of their gazes landed upon the kid who was looking at them blankly. Jet black hair and black eyes, the important point, he appeared to be healthy!

How could that be?!

Only the beggars who have lost their worth are thrown in this part of the alley. Hence, finding a healthy kid here made their mind in a state of bewilderment.

The kid had a thin body and limbs, looking weak at first sight. But he still didn't appear to be on the stage where he could not be used anymore. 

So what the hell was this brat doing here?

A second later, terror passed through the kid's eyes, as his body radiated fear. Such a sight decreased the frown on the faces of the three people. 

"Ah...I remember now, he is the son of the whore we are looking for." Reane commented, having snapped out of his confusion. 

"Yeah, I remember now...." 

Still, their suspicion as to how this kid became so healthy didn't go away. The fact that The kid's mother was not here was also very doubtful.

Tevesh walked forward this time, A threatening air enveloped him, which caused the kid before them to start shaking even more in fear.

Tevesh smiled insidiously looking at the kid's expression.

"Where is your mother brat?" 

The kid started opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, before swallowing hard. 

Speaking with a stuttering voice: "I-in the night, A-a man came and took my mother away. He asked me what I needed and I-I asked for food because I was very hungry." 

All three of their expressions took drastic turns, showing an expression screaming - what kind of stupidity is this kid saying?!

A person came and took away your mother? What bullshit are you spouting?!

Such thoughts appeared in their mind before passing away. The thought that the kid before them lying never appeared. They were sure that no beggar would dare to lie unless they were seeking death. 

And the reason why the kid appeared healthy compared to others here was also revealed.

As for the reason why someone took his mother? Many speculations passed through their heads. 

Jeken asked with an amused look: "What did this person look like?" 

It didn't matter if a beggar who was destined to die disappeared, but he was still somewhat curious. 

The kid shook his head rapidly, his eyes fidgeting around: "I-I don't know, it was dark in the night so..." 

"Alright, enough with that. You, come along with us, the work in the construction is waiting for you." Tevesh said in contempt with not much interest in this matter. 

The kid, Mangrel followed the three people quietly, his eyes flickering with unclear intention. 

The moment these three people entered his sight, memories arose deep within him. An idea of what was going on formed within him.

From the beginning, Mangrel had doubts as to how the past host of the body was alive till now, but now it was all clear. 

It was through working in this constructive site, where food would be granted after completing the given task. Like this, beggars could eat food once a day. 

'As long as humans live in groups, this self-made social hierarchy would be created with no exception. In other words, more methods of exploitation are created accordingly.' 

It was really very simple, very similar to how society or any organization works. 

The organization exploits the people working below them, while the people working below the organization try to exploit them in return. 

'But in my current situation, I am going to be on the side of being exploited for a long time, instead of the exploiter.' Mangrel walked with timidness.