It's said that hearing about sothing is nothing compared to seeing it with your own eyes.
Leaving the Fang Mansion, Fang Zheng's private carriage traveled along the main road, lacking the ease of usual days, having to stop and go, frequently avoiding the pedestrians.
The curtain of the carriage lifted.
The flow of people on the road was far denser than usual.
Chief Luo had ntioned that recently, the number of people pouring into the county town was more than double its original population.
Previously, it went unnoticed.
Today,
he truly witnessed it.
The heavy snow from a few days ago had just lted, with the snow seeping into the soil, turning what was once solid ground into a muddy ss.
Especially by the roadside, where sludge and gri mingled.
Figures either crouched, lay, or leaned against street corners, all in tattered clothes, eyes vacant, silent as if they were frozen sculptures.
There were emaciated children with bare torsos lying in the arms of their parents, nestling for warmth.
Elders covered with frostbite, even trembling, knelt on the ground, raising their skin-and-bone hands high, begging for food.
...
"Have rcy, have rcy..."
"Kind-hearted soul..."
"Spare a bite to eat..."
Even the pleading voices were weak and feeble.
More people had vacant eyes, lying there motionless, lifeless, seemingly numbed with despair about life and the future.
The carriage continued forward.
The refugees lying by the roadside passed in succession.
So many!
Far too many!
Cramd and dense, they covered the roadside entirely, leaving not a single gap.
Even the always optimistic Fang Zheng couldn't help but have a somber expression, his heart weighed down heavily as if a lead weight hung there, making it hard to breathe.
In just a few days, how could so many refugees appear?
"Master."
Li San, who was driving the carriage, was good at reading expressions, noticed the doubt in Fang Zheng's eyes, and spoke softly:
"The city gate broke down for so unknown reason, and has been under repair these days. That's why so many refugees have flooded in; usually, they're outside the city."
"At that ti, nobody would know when they would die."
Fang Zheng understood.
He still rembered.
When he first ca to this world, it was also the midst of a cold winter, just after a heavy snow, almost not surviving a single night.
In the blink of an eye.
Two years have passed.
In those two years, his life had undergone earth-shattering changes, but the lives of ordinary people in the Otherworld had not improved in the slightest, and might even have gotten worse.
Reaching the market, the number of refugees finally lessened.
Here, there were people from the Governnt Office maintaining order, the shopfronts faced outwards, preventing refugees from blocking the entrances and affecting business, and the place was even busier due to the influx of outsiders.
Cheerful voices ca from ahead.
"Tap the bamboo board, move forward, arriving at Zhang's Clothing Shop."
"Clothing shop, look around, the business here is extraordinary."
"From the south, going north, and large purchases abound."
"Waves upon waves, waves upon waves..."
A group of beggars holding bamboo sticks and broken bowls, shaking their heads, swaggered into a clothing shop. The leading beggar smilingly raised the bowl to beg.
They continued singing:
"Look at the boss, smiling wide, how much money will be given this ti?"
"The boss's wife, so good-looking, cherry lips outperform a beautiful belle."
"Willow-like eyebrows, slender waist, reach out and grab the money now."
"Five or ten coins, won't complain if small, the God of Wealth will surely call!"
"Give, give!"
The crowd of beggars chid in.
The boss hurriedly took out a few copper coins from his money pouch, put them in the broken bowl, and waved them away, shoving the group of beggars out.
The boss's wife, pale-faced, hid behind him, lacking the joy of being complinted, instead showing traces of panic and fear.
"It's the Beggar Gang."
Li San was introduced by Wu Hai, having hung around the streets for many years, he was more familiar with the situation than others.
He whispered:
"Master, the Beggar Gang is not ordinary beggars; they mostly have so organization, and their leaders are quite skilled."
"If they manage to get money, then it's fine."
"If not, and they bear grudges, secretly sabotaging businesses is a minor matter, but plundering and harming lives, even ravishing won, is not uncommon."
Fang Zheng nodded slowly.
These beggars were quite young, and although their clothes were tattered, their complexion was healthy and their eyes bright, very different from the refugees on the road.
Judging by the situation earlier.
It was more like extortion than begging.
The carriage continued forward.
"Soup is being served!"
"The Fragrance Sect's Mage has co to serve soup!"
"..."
Shouting ca from a distance, the crowd beca restless, and started surging in the direction of the sound, looking from above like a moving ant swarm.
"Fragrance Sect?"
Fang Zheng asked curiously:
"Li San, do you know about this sect?"
"No, I don't." Li San shook his head, saying:
"I had never heard of the Fragrance Sect before; it's only in these recent days that I've known there's a group in the city serving soup under the na of the Fragrance Sect."
"The soup they serve is plentiful, enough to fill the stomach, totally different from what the Governnt Office offers."
"However..."
Licking his lips, Li San spoke in a quieter voice:
"Master, during a ti when disasters are running rampant, preaching and recruiting followers is eight or nine out of ten an Evil Cult!"
"But since they're always serving soup, and many civilians and refugees are gathered there, actions from the Governnt Office could easily incite turmoil, so they haven't used force either."
For the refugees, the Fragrance Sect is their only savior; if the Governnt Office dared to intervene, it would surely cause chaos.
Fang Zheng understood, and then asked:
"Is there really a Mage?"
"Impossible." Li San shook his head repeatedly:
"I've seen their so-called 'Mage', just a few subpar Warlocks using Blinding Techniques to deceive ordinary people."
"A Mage..."
"How could one be confined to a re county town?"
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