231: Life is worse than death

After disembarking, the Zhenshan Troops walked towards the main gate of Shanhai Pass.

A colossal plaque hung on the towering black iron city wall, as wind and sand swirled, whipping against Xiao Fan's face as he stood against the wind.

He stood at the city gate, looked up, and his eyebrows slightly raised.

This vast land inexplicably brought him comfort, even giving him a feeling that heaven and earth were within his embrace.

The guards outside the gate were not, as Xiao Fan had imagined, dressed in armor, holding long spears, and standing sternly on either side of the city gate.

Instead, they had brought small wooden stools, leaned against the wall, propped their feet up, and were idly playing on their phones.

Hearing the footsteps approaching, a guard looked up, swept his gaze over the Zhenshan Troops, then suddenly stood up with a chuckle, saying, "Oh, isn't this the trash squad?"

"Get lost! Go play somewhere else!" Meng Tianzong snorted coldly, pushing the guard aside and entering the city gate.

The guard didn't get angry, laughing loudly from behind, "Fifteen people couldn't beat six people."

"You're pure trash, Meng Tianzong. If you can't handle it, let me join the Zhenshan Troops. Don't hog the latrine and not do your business!"

"So noisy!" Meng Tianzong snorted, and the entire Zhenshan Troops quickened their pace.

It seemed the battle had already spread throughout the city; the path ahead would not be easy!

Indeed, as soon as the group entered the city gate, the bald old men smoking pipes and sunbathing by the street began to speak in a Yin and Yang manner.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"Fifteen against six and they couldn't win. If that were me in my younger days, I'd be too embarrassed to even enter this gate again!"

The old women shaking out clothes nearby were all looking at Meng Tianzong with disdain, not to mention the younger soldiers, whose mocking laughter was deafening!

Some people, bored, started making a scene, carrying large drums into the middle of the road, beating gongs and drums while playing small clappers, and reciting doggerel in a cheap, sneering tone.

"How many weaklings there are, Zhenshan has half, their captain's pure trash, beaten until he cried for grandpa, someone wants to eat shit..."

Meng Tianzong sighed, directly plugging his ears with earplugs. He glanced at the team members behind him, and without a word, everyone went their separate ways, returning home, not wanting to invite more insults here.

But Xiao Fan had a faint smile, because everyone around him was praising him, calling him amazing, telling him to quickly go to the Great Wall and kill enemies, to see if fighting foreign races would be more impressive than fighting people!

It wasn't until he and Meng Tianzong walked to a sparsely populated street that it finally became quiet.

Meng Tianzong removed his earplugs and walked side by side with Xiao Fan towards the Great Wall, laughing wryly, "Shanhai Pass is just such a place. Don't take it too much to heart if you're cursed at in the future."

"It's not because of survival of the fittest or anything; it's just that everyone here is a hedonist."

"Because no one knows if they'll see tomorrow's sun, so they enjoy each day as it comes!"

"Is the death rate very high here?" Xiao Fan asked with a frown.

Meng Tianzong smiled without speaking, saying, "Come with me."

Because of the strong winds in Shanhai Pass, most people wore coarse cloth coats, and along the way, no exquisite clothing was seen at all; everyone was very casual.

Soon, the two walked onto a densely populated avenue.

The place was bustling with noise, and all of it was extremely vicious insults.

Xiao Fan was very curious about what was happening, so he quickly walked around the corner and entered the street.

Suddenly, he sharply looked up, his pupils constricting.

Before him was an execution ground, a wide area with a massive black steel cross erected in the center.

This cross was over a hundred meters high, and at the very top, a familiar figure was firmly nailed to it by bloodthirsty steel needles, exposed to the scorching sun.

Bloodthirsty Steel Needles: Possess the ability to absorb blood and Life Qi, and can suppress elemental power.

At this moment, a total of twelve bloodthirsty steel needles were pinned into the sinner's palms, shoulder blades, soles, leg bones, ribs, and other locations, securing her to the cross.

Blood flowed from her Phoenix robe, dripping down.

Below, the people of Shanhai Pass gathered, their insults ceaseless, even throwing rotten eggs and stinky boots at her face.

"CNMD... Those who collude with foreign races should be directly beheaded! Chopped into meat paste to feed pigs and dogs!"

"Why hang her? Just drag her down and chop her! She's disgusting to look at!"

"How can the Super God Class recruit such trash now?"

"Unwavering stance, what good is a god if they're useless!"

"Execute!"

"Execute!!"

"Execute!!!"

...

The curses were deafening, extremely harsh and unpleasant, showing no mercy!

The insults previously hurled at the Zhenshan Troops seemed like praise compared to what was heard now.

At this moment, Xi He's body trembled incessantly, whether from humiliation or pain, it was unclear.

Her once proud head was now completely bowed, her black hair obscuring her face, so no one could see her expression.

She had once roared in anger.

But what she got in return was having her tongue and teeth chopped off.

She now wished to die, but the people of Shanhai Pass insisted on keeping her alive, making her life worse than death.

She had never imagined that humans would dare to do such a thing to her.

Only now did she understand that Shanhai Pass and the Imperial Capital were two completely different worlds.

The people in the Imperial Capital were willing to speak to her kindly, making her believe how noble her status was.

But upon arriving at Shanhai Pass... even dogs had more dignity than her.

Below, Xiao Fan was secretly alarmed. Xi He's psychological resilience would absolutely not withstand such humiliation; even if she were taken down later, she would likely be broken, her spirit completely gone.

Meng Tianzong, however, remained expressionless, pointing to the end of the street on the other side, saying, "Look over there."

Xiao Fan turned his head and saw rows of black wooden stretchers being carried over. The entire street gradually became quiet, and everyone bowed their heads in silent mourning.

On the stretchers, black cloth covered the fallen soldiers.

One, two, three...

Forty... fifty...

"All dead?" Xiao Fan's face slightly changed. Suddenly, he also noticed that there were little girls nearby holding glass jars, all filled with ashes!

Some people didn't even leave a body?

Just then, Meng Tianzong took out his phone, which had an exclusive Shanhai City app, opened it, and placed it in front of Xiao Fan.

Xiao Fan looked down, his face instantly stiff.

[Number of sacrifices today as of now: 8977 people.]

"Today!?"

"How is that possible!?"

"So many?"

"Don't try to fool me with fake information!"

Nine thousand dead in one day? What a joke!

"Who's joking with you?" Meng Tianzong's voice suddenly became a little low, saying, "Open the death list yourself. Everyone's personal information is there. Some who aren't listed died too gruesomely to be identified. Of course, there's also a missing persons list, meaning... they don't even know how they died, and there are no bodies."

"Shanhai Pass sees over a million new recruits annually."

"On average, over a million people die each year. This year, it has even multiplied several times, estimated to reach nearly five million!"

"Five million people, dying this year, on the city wall!"

Xiao Fan, however, was full of confusion, saying, "Why?"

"Why do they fight to the death every day? If it's just defending the city, it shouldn't be possible for so many people to die, right?

"I don't understand."

"What would happen if they didn't fight?"