These are unfamiliar faces; they are definitely not the usual group of poor, struggling customers who come to spend money.
Several bosses in the red zones started talking about this topic.
"These people today are a bit strange," one of the glamorous women with tattoos said, smoking a cigarette, but her gaze inside was somewhat odd.
"Yes," another middle-aged, overweight man nodded, smoking a cigarette. "The people who usually come here don't have this kind of air about them."
Those who can take over this borderline business all have powerful backers. The sons of wealthy families disdain doing this kind of business, but everyone knows that although the red-light district earns meager wages, the sheer volume makes the income quite considerable. Just because those above don't care about it doesn't mean those below can swallow all the profits.
You have to pay your respects to the powerful figures involved and hand over most of the benefits.
Moreover, even if you offer bribes, you still need to have connections. Otherwise, no matter how much you offer, you won't get the business.
Therefore, anyone who can establish themselves here is a shrewd and discerning person who can naturally see that those people have extraordinary backgrounds.
"Should we report this to our superiors?" the fat man asked, frowning.
"Are you stupid?" Several female bosses rolled their eyes. "Those people are clearly not simple. What benefit would we get from reporting this to our superiors? If something goes wrong, it might even be our fault. If they can't retaliate against their superiors, can't they at least retaliate against us?"
The middle-aged fat man nodded in agreement; that made sense.
In fact, he had already recognized two of the people in the group earlier. He seemed to have seen them online. One of them was a rising star in a certain military region. He was a commoner who had risen through the ranks in the Jade Dynasty World, and was said to have made great military achievements in the recent battle, and was expected to become one of the youngest major generals.
Such achievements, despite being born into an ordinary family, have already been used by the authorities for propaganda purposes.
Although not born into a noble family, he was still considered a chosen one of the emperor's sons. Why would he come to this place?
Something just didn't feel right, but naturally they wouldn't dare pry into such matters, not even gossip.
"Don't tell anyone about what happened today. Keep it a secret."
"Yes, Sister Feng."
The woman called Sister Feng glanced into the red-light district, stubbed out her cigarette, and a hint of worry flashed in her eyes. She had a feeling that something terrible was about to happen, and hoped that it wouldn't implicate them.
--
Just as those on the outside had expected, these people weren't there for entertainment at all. They were now in groups of three or five, watching the live stream through a single camera in separate data rooms.
Their faces were frighteningly grim.
The reason for coming here is that this is the least likely place to have surveillance equipment. The red-light district is huge and is the largest tax-paying area in the North District. It is not only a mixed bag of people, but also involves some privacy issues. Nobody wants their personal information to be broadcast live. Compared to the strict and scientific West China Region or the stable and luxurious Southeast Region, most of the people who come here to spend money are miners with no future. The higher-ups are too lazy to spend resources to manage this place.
After all, if every single piece of data had to be saved, the current server size would have to double!
That's why they can quietly observe a confidential event from here.
"Could it be fake?" Many people have this question in mind.
"People can fake it, but energy fields can't." In one of the private rooms, a man sneered, "That guy's technique isn't ordinary surveillance; you should be able to tell."
The others fell silent. The Wang Ye gave them was so exaggerated, it was almost as if they were there in person. They could not only see the figures, but also feel the aura emanating from them. And they would not mistake any of those familiar auras.
"It seems these families want us to be their dogs forever. Xu Min, what do you think?"
Some people looked at a young man sitting at the very edge of the private room. He was almost the youngest person there, and if Chen Qing were here, it would be very strange, because this young man looked at least seven or eight parts like Xu Hu!
"How can you look at it? Hasn't it always been like this?" Xu Min said calmly.
"Are we really just going to let them continue like this?" A burly man crushed his wine glass, his eyes bloodshot. "Back in the Jade Dynasty World, good resources were squeezed out. Even when there were better opportunities, they had to be given to those born into noble families. To avoid being monitored and to develop in secret, which of us didn't come from the demonic path? Compared to the good lives of those guys in Qingyun Mountain or Brahma Sound Temple, how much have we sacrificed?"
These words made the atmosphere in the private room even more oppressive.
Back then, Qingyun Sect and Brahma Sound Temple were almost monopolized. Although Elder Zhang was relatively fair, those grassroots disciples who joined later were all programmed with Disintegration Program. Even if they received some good things because of their qualifications and were valued by their teachers, they still had to share them with the organization.
The so-called sharing organizations are just for distributing resources to those useless scions of wealthy families, aren't they?
Those who stayed at the Qingyun Sect to serve as slaves almost never made it big, while those willing to take the risk went on to infiltrate demonic organizations.
That place is completely different from the three righteous sects of the Jade Dynasty. There, you hardly have the right to sleep peacefully. If you're not careful, you can die at the hands of your fellow disciples. There's not a single person you can trust around you.
In that kind of environment, to succeed, who wouldn't be ruthless to others and even more ruthless to themselves?
Even after they managed to build it up, they couldn't make it big. The Federation would try to persuade them to return to the right path and serve the country, or simply return to serve the military in Data City. Many people were exhausted from their struggles and had a safe way out. Although they still felt resentful, they eventually compromised. However, they had no choice but to compromise, since the Disintegration Program was still inside them.
Those who can rise through the ranks of the demonic path are all powerful individuals, and the Federation needs them to go to the frontier to deter the Westerners.
So over the years, I've treated them quite politely, and the matter of the body's Disintegration Program has gradually faded from my memory.
Over time, I unconsciously felt that my status was almost the same as those scions of noble families. But now that things have really gotten tough, I realize that I was overthinking it.
The Federation doesn't threaten them with Disintegration Program to prevent them from becoming disloyal, but when vital interests are at stake, they don't care whether they become disloyal or not.
It turns out their status is actually no different from back then!!
"What do you want if you're not convinced?" Xu Min coldly looked at everyone. "As long as that thing in your body is still there, what can you do with your extraordinary abilities? Zhang Zhengyuan is special because he doesn't have that thing in his body at all. With your vital point controlled, what can you do besides be a dog?"
The crowd's faces darkened. It was an unpleasant truth, but it was true. Once they were programmed, even if they possessed Elder Zhang's abilities, they would only be slightly more sophisticated dogs.
This can be seen from the fact that the scions of powerful families did not hesitate to seize their resources.
"What if there were no such program restrictions?" someone suddenly murmured.
The moment those words were spoken, the entire private room fell silent. Everyone looked at the speaker with strange expressions. They had been invited by this person, and although they had seen many military personnel when they arrived, at least they had been invited to this private room by him.
No one is a fool to have risen from humble beginnings to this point; they understood the situation the moment the other party spoke.
"Is it that Wang Ye?" Xu Min asked coldly. "What does he want?"
"He wants to divide us." The man said bluntly, "His goal is simple: to divide our internal forces and prevent the Central Federation from uniting as one. But so what?"
"He wants us to betray our country!" Xu Min said coldly.
"A nation?" The other person laughed. "Is the current Federation still the same nation it used to be? You'd be better off calling it Alliance of powerful families!"
"Enough, Li Chong, are you crazy?" another person interrupted him directly, "You dare to take on a job like this? Have you thought about the consequences?"