Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Lu Yunqi's heart was heavy. He knew some things weren't anyone's fault—throughout human history, there were always things that couldn't be avoided.

But he couldn't shake the feeling. Having seen all this human suffering, he suddenly realized that the world he'd come from was a true utopia.

He asked the system sprite: "Xiao Jiu, why are these people driven to the point of eating each other? Is it because of the famine?"

Xiao Jiu sounded a little excited: "Boss, you finally got my name right!"

Lu Yunqi snapped: "Seriously? Now? Look at these people—how could anyone be driven to this?"

Xiao Jiu said with a sigh: "Boss, this is how it is everywhere in this world. This worldline's civilization hasn't been able to progress. A conqueror who could have unified the Central Plains was finally born, but you—uh, I mean the previous you—drove him insane and turned him into a cruel, tyrannical ruler. Although your world mission is to survive under his rule, as long as you survive, that means he still has some humanity left. As long as he still has that humanity, he can show mercy to the people when he rules. And as long as he lives, your system mission will last longer. Boss, this is our last shot at saving this worldline."

After hearing Xiao Jiu out, Lu Yunqi really started to think about this mission for the first time. He asked: "So Murong Jie is actually the key to this civilization's survival—otherwise everyone on this worldline would just vanish, right?"

Xiao Jiu answered: "Yeah! Including me, boss. As a failed system sprite, I'd be the first one punished."

Lu Yunqi knew—that included him too.

He used to live in constant fear, like there was no tomorrow, working hard on his seduction mission.

But today, after seeing these people swapping and eating their kids, he suddenly felt like none of it mattered anymore.

He asked Xiao Jiu: "If I do my mission right, can I beat Murong Jie and save this worldline?"

Xiao Jiu was quiet for a second, then said: "It's really hard, but... if you can get the civilization level up to 0.7 before he completely loses it, then there's still hope."

Lu Yunqi's eyes lit up: "Really?"

Xiao Jiu thought—this would be really, really hard. Murong Jie would get powerful fast, but...

He figured he should still give Lu Yunqi something to hold onto: "Really!"

Lu Yunqi's eyes lit up and he nodded: "Good! Then let's do it! I'm willing to try!"

With that, he stood up and yelled at the refugees: "I've got a cart of rice here—who wants some?"

Hearing that, the refugees all swarmed toward him: "Really? Does this lord really have grain?"

"Please save us, my lord! We'll sell ourselves into slavery, just give us something to eat!"

"My lord, didn't you just say you wanted to buy our Dani? Please buy her! She's already a big girl—please take her!"

"Kind sir, kind sir, please give us something to eat, kind sir."

Even the lowliest insects cling to life. Lu Yunqi couldn't stand to watch, so he told his bodyguards: "Use their pots and make them some porridge! At least let them have some porridge so they don't starve."

The four bodyguards nodded and pulled the cart out from the weeds, poured the rice into the pots, and started cooking porridge.

The refugees dropped to their knees, crying and shouting: "Thank you, great lord! Thank you, great lord! Thank you, great lord! You're a living Bodhisattva who saves the suffering!"

The porridge cooked fast—ready in under half an hour. The refugees all rushed forward, but the bodyguards yelled at them and kicked over one guy who tried to grab at it, shouting: "Get bowls and line up!"

The refugees finally stopped scrambling and lined up one by one.

But when the porridge was ladled into their bowls, they didn't wait for it to cool—they gulped it down in one go. Some burned their lips so bad they blistered, but they didn't care. They must have been really starving.

Lu Yunqi walked over to the woman holding Dani and asked: "Ma'am, let me ask you—how did the famine get this bad in your area?"

The woman sighed: "It started with years of war, and everyone was terrified. The soldiers would raid homes at every opportunity. In the past two years, the northern prefectures suffered severe drought, then locust plagues hit—the harvest was completely wiped out."

Lu Yunqi asked: "Then... didn't the emperor send disaster relief?"

"Relief? I heard there was some, but that relief grain never reaches our mouths."

A nearby refugee cursed: "I heard the one sent to provide relief was the emperor's brother-in-law. He went straight to the Huanchun Pavilion in our area and didn't come out for three days and three nights..."

Apparently he was throwing money around inside, spending tens of thousands of taels of relief silver—all of it on the courtesans.

Lu Yunqi frowned: "The emperor's brother-in-law? Imperial Uncle Li? He does disaster relief? That guy who drools at every girl he sees on the street... Oh, that's exactly the kind of thing he'd do."

What the hell was this!

After cooking more than a dozen pots of porridge, Lu Yunqi finally got to the main topic: "You're all full now, right? If you're full, come stand over here—I have something to say to everyone."

The refugees, now with full stomachs, finally had their brains working again. Someone whispered: "This benefactor surely won't feed us for nothing. I just wonder what price we'll have to pay."

"Whatever the price, we've eaten our fill. Even if we die, at least we'll die with full stomachs."

"Right, even if we manage to reach the capital, we might not survive. I heard the soldiers there are even fiercer than the border guards."

"Benefactor, do you want us for hard labor or burial sacrifices? We'll do either. Just... give us one last full meal before we die, so we can die with full stomachs!"

Lu Yunqi was speechless: "Who said anything about hard labor or burial sacrifices? I'm asking if you want to work. I have a good place—where you can have white rice like this every day, with vegetables and meat. But you can't eat for free—you have to work for me."

The refugee crowd fell silent for a moment, until finally someone asked: "Does such a good thing exist in this world?"

An elder chuckled: "Benefactor, don't toy with us. Even in good years, we could never afford rice porridge like this. What we ate was mostly mixed with rice bran. Being able to eat this meal today is like meeting an immortal. We wouldn't dare hope for anything more."

Lu Yunqi said: "Elder, you only have one life anyway—why not take a gamble? Come with me, and fight for a future of eating well and living well. Even if you don't come with me, you might not survive anyway. What do you think?"

The refugees looked at each other, thinking... that didn't sound wrong?

At that moment, the woman holding Dani stood up: "Benefactor, I'll go with you! As long as I get a meal, I'll do any work!"

She had long been fed up with this life. Living or dying didn't matter anymore—what mattered was getting some resolution.

Moreover, she had a faint glimmer of hope deep inside—she wanted to secure a future for her children. It was her wild dream. She knew this might be a trap, but what if it wasn't?

What people seek is that "what if."

With her taking the lead, more and more people gradually raised their hands to join.

Only the three men who had exchanged the "vegetable person" with Dani remained unmoved. Everyone had their own thoughts, and Lu Yunqi didn't force anyone.

Lu Yunqi didn't force anyone. He had his bodyguards do the registration while he went to the deepest part of the reed marsh to set up an Anywhere Door.

The Wanping Wasteland had to remain secret for now—he couldn't let these refugees leak information about it.

When he returned, the bodyguards had finished registering everyone. Among them was surprisingly the little boy who had almost been killed.

Lu Yunqi asked curiously: "Hmm? Aren't you leaving with your uncles and brothers?"

The little boy shook his head: "They're not my uncles and brothers, and those children aren't my siblings. We were all actually kidnapped..."

Lu Yunqi: ???

He looked over at those men again—they had already been beaten bloody by his four bodyguards and were lying on the ground wailing.

Lu Yunqi asked, "Are all the kids rescued?"

The lead bodyguard nodded: "All rescued. These are the refugees who signed up—except for those three just now, everyone else registered."

Lu Yunqi gave a hum of acknowledgment and directed, "Everyone, line up. I'll put you all to the test—those who pass can come with me."

The refugees lined up, and Lu Yunqi activated the loyalty mini-program. With one look, he saw that apart from those three traffickers, everyone else's loyalty was around eighty percent.

Lu Yunqi nodded and told his bodyguards, "Take these folks back to base first. I'll hang back a bit longer to see if any more refugees show up."

After the refugees were led away, the three men knelt before Lu Yunqi one after another: "Please take us along, kind sir! We ain't traffickers by choice—we only got into this dirty business 'cause we couldn't make a living any other way."

"Oh?" Lu Yunqi asked. "You... really want to come back with me?"

Their loyalty was under fifty percent, with one as low as twenty. Such people could never be loyal to any organization.

If they were sticking together now, it was only out of shared interests. The moment their interests clashed, they'd tear each other apart from the inside.

One of them, seemingly their leader, stepped forward, grinning obsequiously, and said to Lu Yunqi, "Yes, noble sir. We brothers can throw down. If you're willing to take us in, we'd gladly be your muscle."

Lu Yunqi replied, "Alright, fine. I'll ask you one question. If you pass, I'll let you into my base."

The three quickly nodded: "Sure, sure, sure! Please ask, sir!"

Lu Yunqi asked, "If your mom and I fell into a river at the same time, who would you save first?"

Without missing a beat, the three answered in unison, "You! You! Of course, we'd save you, sir!"

"That's right, that's right! Of course, we'd save you!"

"We must save you! You're like our second dad!"

Lu Yunqi's face went dark. He let out a cold snort and said, "You wouldn't even save your own mom—what kind of person does that? You call yourselves human? Sorry, but my base has no room for trash like you!"

The three were stunned. The leader's expression changed instantly, and he cursed, "Damn you! You think you can mess with me? You're begging to die!"

"Boss, there are three of us and only one of him. This soft-skinned pretty boy can't fight worth a damn! With those two gone, let's jump him and kill him!"

"Alright, kill him and strip him of those fine clothes. Should fetch a few coins for spending!"

==========Author's Note:==========

Fifth update