33: Chapter 33 The Truth Behind the Mysterious Illness, Demon Food Festival

Qin Feng couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

Rumors of demons.

He had always heard of them.

But it was like an urban legend; he had basically never seen one with his own eyes. He never expected that within the Rising Sun Behemoth Factory where he worked... there were demons?

"Being skilled at transformation and disguise is the most basic ability of a demon."

"They have many more mysterious and unpredictable abilities."

"Every demon is different."

"Are you wondering why the rulers of Canglang City don't use methods to isolate demons, just as they do with behemoths?"

"It's not that they don't want to."

"It's that they simply can't. There's no way; demons are too cunning and too good at disguising themselves."

Lu Yunsong shook his head.

"Fortunately, although demons feed on humans, they don't drive them to extinction. They distinguish very clearly between a single full meal and being full every day, and they are truly skilled at 'cultivating humans'."

"Where there are demons, the population flourishes and the economy prospers, which actually promotes the city's development."

"So..."

"As long as the demons don't go too far or try to lay their hands on the Upper City and turn the entire city into their livestock farm, the rulers of the Upper City will turn a blind eye and tolerate their man-eating rampages within a certain range."

Qin Feng listened in silence.

He understood.

There are no fish in water that is too clear.

Demons.

Although they eat people.

They brought development to Canglang City, promoted the prosperity of the Lower City's population and economy, and brought benefits and profits to the elites of the Upper City.

Then these demons were good demons.

Occasionally eating a few people was nothing.

It could be considered their salary.

After all, in the eyes of those in the Upper City, did the lives of the Lower City's pariahs even count as lives?

"Manager Lu, are you worried that the demon in the factory will make a move against me?"

Qin Feng had a sudden realization.

In Lu Yunsong's eyes now,

he was a hot commodity.

Lu Yunsong naturally wouldn't let him be easily killed by a demon.

However,

with Lu Yunsong's ability as a Martial Artist, could he not discover where this demon in the Rising Sun Behemoth Factory was hiding, or rather... who it was?

"The demon in the factory is exceptionally cunning and has a strong disguise ability. You indeed need to be careful."

Lu Yunsong nodded and said, "However, compared to that, what you need to worry about most is the upcoming 'Demon Food Festival'."

"Demon Food Festival?"

This unfamiliar term lingered in Qin Feng's mind, making his expression a bit more confused and strange.

Lu Yunsong explained:

"From the perspective of you Lower City people, you can understand this as a special, mysterious, and eerie pollution disease."

"It suddenly appears in a certain area for a period of time, causing a large number of deaths, and then suddenly disappears."

Qin Feng's pupils constricted:

"ghostly disease?"

He thought of Old Zhang.

He thought of Old Zhang's daughter, who had recently contracted a special pollution disease.

Recently,

in the Bailang District where he lived, a special pollution disease was indeed spreading rampantly, but Qin Feng never expected that this was actually... the work of demons?

"That right. This 'Demon Food Festival' is what you Lower City people call the 'ghostly disease'."

Lu Yunsong's face remained expressionless:

"Like humans, demons also harvest 'crops' periodically at relatively fixed times and then stockpile them, especially those that have formed an organization."

"Only individual stray demons will come out from time to time to attack people for a quick meal; those are isolated incidents."

"Most demons living in Canglang City are very smart. They form organizations and package their large-scale man-eating acts as special pollution diseases. Each time a 'Demon Food Festival' is held, they switch to a different area than before to ensure sustainable development."

"In this way, it neither causes human panic regarding demons nor offends the Upper City too much. It ensures every demon in Canglang City has food to eat while also promoting the city's stability and development. It's like killing four birds with one stone."

"..."

Qin Feng was momentarily speechless.

So it's just a world where only the Lower City people get hurt?

From the big picture,

for the city's rulers,

this was indeed a good thing.

But,

this was based on the premise that the Lower City people were 'crops' and 'livestock,' not humans, who could be harvested and slaughtered at will.

Qin Feng felt an extremely absurd sensation in his heart.

He thought of Old Zhang, who had worked diligently his whole life just to raise a daughter who could get into an Upper City Academy, only for her to contract the ghostly disease and be chosen as a piece of human flesh crop for the 'Demon Food Festival,' liable to be harvested by a demon at any time to become its meal.

It was absurd.

It was ironic.

It was... helpless.

Qin Feng couldn't help but clench his fists.

Lu Yunsong noticed the change in Qin Feng's expression, and a smile curled at the corner of his mouth:

"However, Chief Qin, you don't need to worry too much about this. As long as you work hard to dissect more Medium Grade crystals from the Six-Winged Weird Python Tigers and earn rewards from me to arm yourself, the threat of demons will be insignificant to you."

"Moreover, once the dissection order for those fifty thousand Six-Winged Weird Python Tigers is completed, with That Lord behind me as a guarantor, you will even have the chance to reside in the Upper City permanently and become one of the Upper City people."

"You must work hard, Chief Qin. I have high hopes for you."

Lu Yunsong patted Qin Feng's shoulder again.

He looked exactly like a boss painting a rosy picture.

"Yes, yes, Manager Lu, I will definitely work hard."

Qin Feng nodded vigorously.

He seemed very excited upon hearing the chance to become an Upper City person,

and his mood was extremely agitated.

In reality,

he was sneering in his heart.

He understood that Lu Yunsong told him about the 'Demon Food Festival' not because he truly cared about his safety, but to put pressure on him—a life-threatening pressure.

At the same time,

he also gave him hope—hope of obtaining rewards, countering the demon threat, and even the chance to become an Upper City person.

It was all to make Qin Feng work harder to dissect more Medium Grade Titan Block Crystals.

It had to be said,

this tactic was very clever.

It was more effective than using force to make someone work themselves to death willingly.

"This Lu Yunsong really knows his way around PUA. With just a few words, he has me working for him devotedly, even though I'm being sold out and counting the money for him."

"If I were truly an ordinary person with only Perfection-level Anatomy skills, working frantically to dissect those Six-Winged Weird Python Tigers, I wouldn't even need to worry about the demon threat; the active pollution escaping from the carcasses would probably kill me directly."

"Lu Yunsong wants to squeeze every bit of value out of me before I die."

After a few more casual remarks,

Lu Yunsong left with the titan blood crystals harvested today and the Young Man surnamed Chen.

Watching their departing figures,

the smile on Qin Feng's face

slowly vanished bit by bit.

Until finally,

it turned into a cold shadow that shrouded his face.

...

Boom!

Above the Rising Sun Behemoth Factory,

Lu Yunsong's private hovering car, the 'flying demon leopard,' erupted with a roar like a behemoth's bellow. In the next moment, the air exploded, whipping up a sonic wave.

In an instant,

the 'flying demon leopard' had already become a small black dot in the sky.

Inside the car,

Lu Yunsong was elegantly holding a glass of 'lingering kingdom.'

The blue liquid in the glass swirled with a mysterious light,

reflecting the face of the Young Man surnamed Chen sitting opposite him.

The Young Man surnamed Chen hesitated to speak.

Finally, he asked:

"Manager Lu, do you really intend to let that Qin Feng become an Upper City person?"