Kaimen City, 'Upper District' Cathedral District, Silent Forest Villa District No. 22.
Knock knock.
Three seconds after the respectful knock on the door, a cold voice came from inside: "Come in."
The orc Gasas opened the door and led his followers into this study room which could be called a small library. It was 7.7 meters high and covered an area of 79 square meters. All the walls were inlaid with carved bookcases carefully crafted by goblin craftsmen. Even the ceiling was covered with glass curtains. Behind the curtains were scrolls of inheritance crafted with secret methods in ancient times. The floor was covered with a soft pink and purple magic fur carpet.
Although it was not his first time here, every time he saw this luxurious room, Gusas couldn't help but bend his waist lower.
Not to mention the precious knowledge that will never be circulated in the Veil, just this pink and purple carpet is enough to prevent people from having any rebellious thoughts - you know, the fur colors of Veela vary, and pink and purple can be said to be the rarest and most beautiful fur color.
How many Veela had to die to weave such a carpet
Of course, Gesas didn't think the owner would resort to any illegal means for a carpet. According to the owner's personality, he would never display dirty things so openly, so this shows that this carpet is a legitimate work of art that complies with the law.
He guessed that this might be something the owner had purchased from the research institute, or it might be a gift from a Blood Saint scholar—all products related to corpses were basically produced by the research institute.
Only a research institute that controls all the corpse resources could have created such a gorgeous and breathtaking work of art "legally and in compliance with regulations".
Walking along the carpet through the forest of books, what caught Gusas's eye was a desk that looked like a tree trunk. There was no light in the room, and the reddish moonlight passed through the French window, split in half by the chair, and gently spread over the area around the desk.
The person on the seat was bathed in darkness. When he opened his emerald eyes, Gesas looked down at his toes, not daring to look directly into the elf's eyes.
"You don't look like you have good news for me, Gesas."
"We have found Ronald and dispatched two gold-mouthed and seven silver-mouthed soldiers, but because the Death Eaters were too fierce, they finally escaped." Gesas said quickly: "All black market medical practitioners have been monitored by Woodpecker. Once they seek treatment, they will definitely be captured by us."
"Well, what else?"
"Although there is no eyewitness intelligence, from the shopping and garbage collection situations, we can be sure that Igula Bogin is hiding in the apartment of the blood-crazed hunter Amy Lexus. But Amy Lexus is a Moon Shadow, so we can't conduct further searches."
"Even the Moon Shadow tribe is willing to protect him?" The elf was a little surprised: "I think I was deceived. Most of the Moon Shadows are simple-minded monsters... What else?"
"The 'body recovery departments' of several affiliated hospitals have reported that when they went to recover the bodies according to the coordinates given by the Crime Hunting Office, they did not find any bodies. A Crime Hunting Branch in the upper district arrived at the crime scene within ten minutes of receiving the 'death signal', but also did not find any bodies, and could not even trace any traces."
"There have been several sensational murders in the lower district. The leaders of several gangs under the Eternal Wine Club suddenly went crazy and slaughtered their men. The bodies of the murderers had obvious traces of necromancy."
"A former councillor of the Immortal Wine died in his sleep, showing no signs of resistance."
"Such a clean and skillful way of disposing of the body, and a modus operandi full of the style of a controller, it is obvious that the 'corpse lover' Archibald Harvey is seeking revenge."
Gesas said: "Based on his range of activities, we can basically determine that his base is in the pig area. Give me another three days, and I will definitely find him!"
"I don't doubt your ability to do the job, but you definitely can't find him."
The elf tapped the desk with his fingers. "This necromancer violated the Blood Saints' taboos. The Sin Hunting Hall must have been doing its best to track him down these days... Perhaps in the time we are talking, he has been captured by the Blood Crazed Hunters and bled like a pig, his memories have been taken out and his body has been broken down into various materials. When facing an enemy who can touch their interests, the Blood Saints always show respect."
"Although no one was caught, these four can be considered good news. So..."
"anything else?"
Gusas was trembling all over, his knees went weak, and he knelt down with his forehead pressed against the carpet. Even though his heart was gripped by boundless fear, his words were still fluent: "I'm sorry, Woodpecker really can't find any trace of Ash Hiss, no information at all."
A light laugh came from behind the desk: "Under the glory of the blood moon, everyone is equal. Moreover, Gesas, you are a two-winged magician who has been bathed in the golden rain. Don't kneel down easily."
Faced with this seemingly comforting relief, Gesas did not dare to move at all. This orc's favorite still maintained the most humble attitude, exposing his defenseless back to his master.
That's right, he is a two-winged golden magician just like his master. If he were in other places, Gesas would not be equal to his master, but at least he would not be so humble... However, this is the Blood Moon Kingdom.
Laws are God's will, and rules are God's desires.
Unless you are willing to rebel against society, leave civilization, turn into a wild beast, and stop playing this crappy game, even a legendary magician has to follow social rules - and in a game with rules, resources have the greatest say.
Strength is a type of resource, a relatively important one, but not the only one. The more stable a society is, the lower the value of strength as a resource. In this civilized country that has been passed down for more than a thousand years, strength has only existed as a threshold, just like a stepping stone like academic qualifications.
Non-magicians can only honestly become the fuel of society. Although magicians are qualified to participate in this game, they are only qualified because this is a PVP game that started thousands of years ago, and there is no such thing as a novice village or low-level area. All new players who join will face enemies such as various guild bosses (entrepreneurs), hard-working people (upper class people), maximum-level players (legendary magicians) and even cheating players (the second blood moon clan).
The most interesting thing is that although it is a PVP game, the society is a safe zone and theoretically attacks on each other are not allowed.
Therefore, new players have only two choices: become the dogs of old players and share the resources flowing from the old players' fingers by flattering them; or become fuel and be tacitly isolated and squeezed out by the old players.
Gesas is a new player who opened an account in this game thirty-six years ago. Although he is indeed talented, a mere orc could enter the second wing at the age of thirty, his master is an old player who joined this game one hundred and eighty years ago.
Compared to magical power, connections, power, and resources are the most terrifying powers of the elves.
Not to mention the prestigious titles such as President of the Elf Rights Protection Association, City Council Member, and School Professor, the identity of "the master behind the woodpecker" alone can easily destroy Gesas's efforts over the years - although Gesas is the current leader of the woodpecker, most of the core members of the woodpecker can be directly controlled by the master.
It's funny to say that as an internal organization that does dirty work, the core members of Woodpecker actually have no such thing as remuneration or wages. Even if their labor rights and interests are violated, the labor law will definitely not protect them. However, asking the Crime Bureau for help may help them get revenge.
The main source of income for most members of the organization, including Woodpecker, is loans.
The remuneration that everyone receives is a "temporary loan" from the financial company. Of course, as long as you work honestly, they will not ask you to pay back the money, let alone charge interest. But once the financial company chooses to collect the money, all those who cannot pay back the money will directly become "dishonest persons."
In the Blood Moon Kingdom, being a "dishonest person" is like sleeping in a cardboard box under an overpass. You cannot use any means of transportation, enter or exit any checkpoints, make any high-end purchases, rent a house, or even communicate. It is like kicking you out of civilized society.
Some people may wonder, with such harsh conditions, why would anyone join Woodpecker? Can't they just work honestly and sign a labor contract that is legal and compliant and has their rights and interests protected
Because almost all Woodpecker members cannot stand working from 9 to 5. And for a magician, unless they join a specific institution such as a research institute, most jobs are a waste of time for them.
Learning to be an art master requires full-time work and is very expensive.
Even if they wanted to borrow money to practice without working, no bank would approve such a loan. In comparison, Woodpecker's willingness to provide an "interest-free loan with no time limit" seemed very attractive. If they could become a two-wing magician, Woodpecker would naturally waive the loan and even reuse them. Even if they failed to become a two-wing magician, as long as they were honest and did not betray the organization, Woodpecker would not damage their credit.
If you want to practice cultivation while working, it is not impossible. In fact, such people will be promoted as inspirational models. But since it is "inspirational", it shows how bumpy the road is. Successful people all have talent, hard work, and luck to make it out of ordinary life.
If people with these qualities come to Woodpecker to take the wrong path earlier, they may succeed faster.
It is no fluke that Woodpecker has been able to grow to this day. Even without Woodpecker, these evil magicians would still turn to other forces in exchange for learning resources (especially time resources), even if they would sign more stringent contracts and become dogs.
Moreover, most magicians don't even have the chance to be dogs.
They can only be dogs' dogs.
If the income from an ordinary legal job is 1, and dog food at Guss's level is 15, then the income of the Silver-Billed Woodpecker is 5, and the Golden-Billed Woodpecker's income is 10.
So even if Gesas could kill the elf if he suddenly attacked, he would only dare to bow his head humbly.
Even if he killed his master, what would happen? He could not inherit any of the elves' inheritance. The debt-bound Woodpecker would not recognize a criminal leader. Everything the elves had would be divided up by players of the same level. As a game-breaker, Gesas would only be sent to Broken Lake Prison, where he would be squeezed dry of his last drop of dignity as a 'wicked criminal leader' in the Blood Moon Live.
The best result is that other "old players" are willing to appreciate Gesas, save Gesas' life, and take him under their command. In short... Gesas has a new master.
This is the racial equality of Blood Moon. In front of the Immortals, everyone is equally inferior.
This is the human rights freedom of Blood Moon, the freedom to freely choose which old player to serve as a dog for.
Gesas knew long ago that the Blood Moon was a paradise for the immortals. In this game where there is no inheritance, no generational accumulation, and all new players need to "start over", lifespan is the most powerful cheating secret.
The longer you live, the more resources you can get; the longer you live, the more you can become an 'old' player; the longer you live, the more you can form an interest group with yourself as the core.
This is why the Blood Moon Tribe is the ruling class and why the elves are known as the 'stewards of society' - for the Blood Moon Tribe, the elves are the only race that is qualified to be on an equal footing with them.
As for those short-lived species that will die within a hundred years, they are not worth paying attention to at all. It has nothing to do with discrimination, and it has nothing to do with interests, because in the eyes of the long-lived species, the short-lived species are just their resources.
Life expectancy is the biggest class gap.
So even if he had to bow down and scrape, even if he was as lowly as a maggot, Gusas had to earn enough money to allow him to go to the research institute for life-extending surgery.
Sometimes Gesas would wonder, if he had not been born in a foster home in the lower class area, if he had made up his mind to take the middle school and university entrance exams at that time, and finally successfully entered the graduate school to become a blood saint, would everything be different.
But there are not so many ifs in the world. He was not born into the right family and did not go to school well, so he can only take the most difficult path.
Time passed by minute by minute, and the silence in the study seemed to freeze. Just when Gesas's clothes were soaked with cold sweat, the elf's voice slowly sounded: "Keep an eye on Gerard."
After a moment of silence, Gesas said, "Captain of the Blood-Crazy Hunters, 'White-Haired Butcher' Gerard Westminster?"
"Asher Hiss has caused him such a great loss of face, Gerald will definitely hunt him down personally. If Gerald kills him on the spot, then nothing will happen; if Gerald chooses to arrest him and spare his life..."
"Then the woodpecker ate the pest."
In front of the Three-Winged Sanctuary Magician, try to kill Ash Hiss
Even with his intestines, he knew how difficult this task was, but Gesas responded without hesitation: "Your order will be carried out, but Gerard has been acting mysteriously for two days. Even the Hunting Office doesn't know where he is. I wonder..."
"He's probably at Observation Point 53." The elf said, "Go, and may the blood moon light your way."
Gusas walked out of the room step by step and closed the door gently.
The elf flipped open the file next to it, and inside was Ash Hiss's resume, detailing his birth record, foster home, middle school award record, and college activities.
He tapped the desk lightly with his fingers. His fingernails were very thin and long, making a "da, da, da" sound on the wooden table...
"Why haven't you left yet?"
The elf raised his head and looked at the hooded figure in front of the desk.
The hooded man walked out from the darkness of the study and stepped onto the blood-lit ground. He was wearing a mask and his eyes were full of surprise.
"Sure enough, even two-wing magicians have their own strengths and weaknesses." He chuckled and said, "A two-wing magician can detect me. It seems that I can't cheat in front of Gerard..."
"You are not Gesas's follower?" The elf frowned and asked, "Who are you?"
He had noticed this person just now, but he thought he was Gesas's follower and didn't pay much attention to him.
But at this moment, he suddenly realized a problem—Gesas never brought anyone to see him, and only the leader of the woodpeckers was qualified to meet him...
"It's really sad. I went through so much trouble to escape from Broken Lake, but Professor, you can't even recognize your favorite student."
He pulled down his mask, revealing a refreshing smile.
"Nice to meet you, Shilin Dole. I'm Ash Heath."