Willing to Pay for the Privilege
"Take a guess." Xu Huo lowered his head to look at him.
The boy thought for a moment. "You're so handsome. You must be from Rain City."
Xu Huo smiled. "Are people from Rain City all handsome?"
The boy nodded hard. "I've seen photos of my parents. We all used to be good-looking."
Starved until they were gaunt, made to toil tirelessly and keep having children—no one could look good under those conditions.
"Maybe your parents were just good-looking," Xu Huo teased.
"My parents also said the other uncles and aunties used to be good-looking." The boy immediately defended what he'd said.
"Is that so? Where are your parents?" Xu Huo asked.
"They live somewhere else," the boy replied. "My brothers and sisters and I study here."
A little girl ran over, grabbed the boy's hand, and tugged him back, signaling for him to stop talking.
Xu Huo said nothing more. He watched them return to the group of children before turning to leave the playground. Once he'd walked a little farther, he said to the Players who had followed nearby, "Have someone with decision-making authority from each of the seven Allied Cities come see me."
Three Players quickly disappeared, heading in different directions.
Compared with the Twelve Main Cities, the Allied Cities were so poor they couldn't even afford to keep their defensive barriers on. Of course, they had little choice. When you were weak, you had to make up for other shortcomings with bloodshed and sacrifice.
Members of the Allied Cities soon arrived. Xu Huo met with them in the joint headquarters building in Rain City.
He sat at the end of a long table, while the other fifteen people took seats along its sides. No one took the first seat at