This is an offering.
Until Abigail's voice rang in Hayden's mind through the local mind network.
You probably know how mortals have dealt with the invincible wrath of the gods throughout history, right?
Her tone was full of sarcasm.
Then Hayden understood.
The gods descended to hunt, and mortals offered "sacrifices" as a form of sacrifice. The gods departed satisfied, while the surviving people took pride in the collective sacrifice of their "sacrifices." This system was, in essence, a traditional ritual to appease the gods.
Today, this class conflict is undeniably real. Impoverished mortals both fear and hate the gods, to the point that many are willing to sacrifice themselves and fight to the death against them. Such sacrifices, in turn, increase the internal cohesion of this impoverished laborer community, inspiring even more volunteers to sacrifice themselves for the collective.
In this way, the hunting gods were satisfied, after all, they had brave prey; the surviving poor were also moved, after all, they were more likely to survive; and the families of the victims received honor and care.
Everyone has a bright future. After all, the poor and needy can't really overthrow the gods.
“Mr. Hayden, as you can see, our little self-governing body is actually living a very difficult life.”
After the other workers left, Chairman Lutz turned to Hayden, his expression still somber and sorrowful.
"We poor people are only able to survive by the salt that we painstakingly dug out and figured out how to use. If you want to take away our salt, we are powerless to resist and can only close our eyes and wait for death."
Incidentally, these sacrificial offerings to the gods also served another function.
That is to show it to a compassionate God.
A benevolent God, seeing such suffering and sorrow, will surely soften His heart and extend a helping hand to them.
But who ultimately benefits the most from this cycle of sacrifice?
199: Have self-awareness
[Hayden, let me warn you upfront: don't be fooled by their exaggerated performance.]
So said Abigail, the Dark Witch.
By now, Hayden and his group had essentially seen the state of the slums and the Adabit Workers' Union. They had at least seen the surface of the situation and witnessed just how miserable the situation was.
Abigail immediately warned Hayden via private message: "Their sacrifices are nothing more than a ritualistic magic where mortals offer human sacrifices to appease the gods."
[Moreover, their ritual magic isn't just meant to appease the gods who came down to hunt—after all, the gods are just high-ranking employees—but more importantly, it's meant to appease you! To them, you're something even more terrifying than a regular god!]
Hayden scratched his head and didn't reply.
What is his current social status?
First, within the divine society, he is naturally regarded as the son-in-law of the Peacock King. Then, Hayden himself consumed the elixir, so he now possesses divine-level energy. Most people, judging only by appearance, will mistake Hayden for a normal divine being.
So what is the actual situation?
Hayden's individual strength was indeed only at the level of a god. But a true god is not just about strength, but also a social identity, social relationships, and the wealth resources that can be controlled.
Now, Hayden only needs to pick up his phone, without any reason or conditions, and at least one, and possibly up to three, divine avatars will come to help him uproot Fallen City and throw it into the Pacific Ocean. If the reason is right and the terms of the deal can be negotiated, Hayden could even find one or two powerful gods to do this for him. Isn't this the divine power of social connections?
Even if he doesn't actually have much property and doesn't like financial investments—which isn't necessarily a bad thing—don't forget how much of God's money Hayden can access at any time, and don't forget his technical stakes in several companies. No matter how much money he has, he can control immense wealth with a single word.
This is precisely the characteristic of modern gods.
[Silly boy, you need to learn to clearly and distinctly understand yourself.]
The witch shook her head.
[You are no longer an ordinary god; you are a monster who can influence several deities with a flick of a finger, capable of destroying a nation. To put it more bluntly, your current power even surpasses that of an ordinary minor god.]
[However, back with Astaroth, you didn't realize your social standing was already above hers. Now, dealing with the poor, you haven't noticed they see you as a god more terrifying than the gods themselves. From now on, you must correctly assess your own strength and position. Otherwise, those who follow and believe in you will be the biggest headaches.]
These words certainly make sense. Even if they weren't a wake-up call for Hayden, they at least made him realize something.
However, upon thinking about this, Hayden noticed something ominous: "Hmm? This is a bit strange. My social influence only exists within the Protoss society; to ordinary people, my aura is no different from most Protoss. Why would these people in the slums know I have such great abilities?"
Hayden has now achieved the perfect external alchemy body, and looks and feels no different from most of the gods—gods and immortals are only different in social status, not in essence. If one didn't know Hayden's social connections, one wouldn't know how powerful he is just by looking at him.
...But Hayden's relationships within the divine society should only be known to the gods or a portion of the priestly class. How could the slums of Fallen City know, and even prepare a sacrificial ritual to appease the gods specifically for Hayden?
Not every god has a conscience, let alone a true capitalist god. They might scoff at this kind of thing and just annihilate you all. Why do these commoners know Hayden is susceptible to this? Isn't that a bit strange?
Well, you'd probably have to ask the union leader.
As Abigail finished speaking, she finally glanced at President Lutz, who was sitting in the center of the hall.
[Foolish boy, let me tell you from my four hundred years of life experience: nine out of ten people who become union presidents or run community mutual aid funds are bastards.]
噫
To be honest, Hayden didn't know much about these things.
Different people will draw different conclusions when they see the same thing.
Abigail, as a classic dark witch, mocks this group for merely offering sacrifices to the gods in exchange for the survival of the majority. This is no different from the ancients throwing living people into rivers as sacrifices to the water god. Only now, those who sacrifice themselves and those who witness the sacrifice are even more self-righteous than in ancient times… Of course, this is ultimately just the dark witch's cynical viewpoint.
In Hayden's view, overall, this slum—or rather, the people living here—are actually doing alright.
They were all very ordinary people, with elderly mothers, wives, and children, all with their own lives to live. And they came from all walks of life: wanted criminals who had fled from elsewhere, bankrupt people who had escaped from higher places, from elderly men and women to young children, and young women holding babies… Most of them had little education, lacked skills and knowledge, and their physical strength couldn't keep up with those in higher social classes. They could only do manual labor on the streets or in factories, earning meager wages. But after work, they were very friendly and loving towards each other.
Hayden had only been there for a few hours, but he had already seen a great deal. He saw that at dinnertime, union members were gathered in the square, busy preparing for dinner. Old men were stirring large pots, children were running and playing around, and men and women who had finished work were happily gathering around, bowls in their hands.
They are just ordinary people who simply want to live their lives.
However, from time to time, the gods would come down and hunt them for fun.
President Lutz deliberately showed these things to Hayden. Abigail saw it merely as a way to evoke Hayden's compassion and appease the gods. Hayden, however, saw a different kind of helplessness in the face of oppression at the bottom of society. And the distinction between the two wasn't necessarily clear-cut.
Abigail, you said I need to clarify my current position. You said I'm in a leadership role now, maybe so.
So Hayden rubbed his temples, making up his mind: "So I do have an idea now—you've said so much, so if I asked you now what to do, what would you do?"
The witch raised an eyebrow: "Silly boy, have you ever even run a business before?"
"Of course I'm not as good at business as you," Hayden said, waving his hand dismissively as a compliment. "As the saying goes, knowing how to delegate is a leader's skill. The decision-making power is now in your hands."
Abigail was finally amused.
President Lutz couldn't hear Hayden and the others' private messages. Despite their lengthy exchange, it actually only took a few seconds. After all, they had all consumed golden pills, making them either immortal beings or, like Hongye, originally powerful demons, their thought processes were lightning fast.
So, in President Lutz's view, these gods merely exchanged a few glances before the tall, red-haired beauty (Abigail had adjusted her body to an adult form after consuming the elixir) walked towards him and said, "President Lutz, we've seen it too. It seems things are quite tough here."
The union leader, Lutz, had made such a fuss just to wait for Hayden and the others to say this, so he nodded reservedly.
However, Abigail hadn't finished speaking.
"Although I sympathize with your situation,"
The witch raised an eyebrow at this point.
"But you've gone to such lengths to put on this extravagant show, to worship our boss (god), and you've gone to so much trouble, why don't you just tell us what you want first?"
Upon hearing this, not only was Hayden somewhat surprised, but even Chairman Lutz's expression changed slightly.
"You guys are making such a fuss, it does seem quite interesting, but it's just a waste of our time. You're worshipping the gods but not making wishes, what are you doing? That just goes to show that laymen are no good."
Now in her adult form, Abigail crossed her arms and pouted.
"Quickly state your wishes so we can continue. Don't you understand?"
As a result, the smile that President Lutz had been wearing on his face couldn't stay on any longer.
Damn it, who's the owner here and who's the guest? So arrogant!
However, regardless of whose home this is, Hayden and his group are the strong ones, and gods who can blow the entire arena to smithereens with a single outburst of anger. No matter how furious Chairman Lutz is, he cannot show it here.
"Alright. Since you're so generous, ma'am, let's get straight to the point."
So President Lutz cupped his hands in greeting and said solemnly.
"Mr. Hayden wants the salt here, and of course we can only offer it to you with open arms. We would never dare to or would ever do anything improper. But we have so many laborers and their families who need to work, so many mouths to feed. So please, Mr. Hayden, hire us to be in charge of salt harvesting. I guarantee with my life that our guild's workers are the best value for money in the entire Fallen City. Mr. Hayden doesn't need to worry about anything, he won't encounter any trouble, he just needs to wait for the salt to be delivered to him."
As he spoke, he gestured for one of his men nearby to bring over a freshly printed price list. It was meticulously compiled, listing the total cost of hiring the workers and the salt production rate per unit of time. Hayden took a look and had to admit that the prices were indeed very cheap.
On the other hand, these price lists and invoices make no mention of how the workers will mine the salt, only stating the price and the corresponding timeframe for delivery of the quantity of salt.
Therefore, after Hayden finished reading, he couldn't help but glance at Abigail, wondering how she would respond.
As expected, the Black Witch smiled and continued with a grin, "The price is indeed good, but the output and timeframe aren't ideal. Why don't we have our master buy up the entire area within a ten-mile radius, demolish it, rebuild it, and then bring in the latest engineering machinery from the upper and middle classes to mine salt? Wouldn't that be more efficient?"
That's absolutely not impossible. Hayden really does have that ability. If the union president of Lutz really did investigate Hayden's background beforehand, he would definitely know that Hayden does indeed have this ability.
However, Lutz shook his head: "Ladies and gentlemen, the salt in the Dead Sea has been there for so many years, why are we the only ones digging it out to make medicine? Because the cost is too high and the profit is too low, even the gods don't care about making money that's so troublesome. If you use advanced engineering machinery to mine salt, you won't even earn back the energy cost of the equipment."
That makes some sense. Hayden had actually been pondering this as well. The salt in the Dead Sea was likely transformed by the secret fire when Sodom was destroyed 5,300 years ago. It would be perfectly normal for it to have been completely extracted long ago. Since it hasn't been exhausted, it's probably because it's inefficient or the extraction cost is too high. It's like oil; if it's buried in a place with low extraction efficiency, no company would bother to dig it up—oil is also a very important raw material for chemical refining in this world. Although it's not used as fuel, it's needed to make lubricants, asphalt, and plastics.
No one has come to the Dead Sea to collect salt for the past five thousand years, or at least no one has collected any.
However, Hayden didn't really care about the mining costs and economic benefits—he bought the salt to study samples, not to make money commercially.
But he couldn't help but wonder: if that's the case, what inefficient but also low-cost method did these poor workers come up with?
Compared to modern arcane magic, it is less efficient and less costly.
Do these adjectives sound familiar?
Hayden, thinking this, exchanged glances with Abigail and even the old professor. They had all realized the same thing: these poor workers were probably using some kind of ancient magic to mine salt.
The only question is, what kind of magic is this?
It wasn't that Hayden discriminated against poor workers, but there must be some special reason behind it. They must indeed possess some kind of special magic—it's just that no one knows where that magic came from.
"Modern technology is too expensive to make money?"
Abigail was decisive and asked directly.
"So what kind of low-cost, unique technology do you have? I won't bet easily if I don't know the opponent's hole cards and chips."
Lutz smiled, said nothing, but picked up another piece of white paper, tore it into a beautiful circle with his bare hands, threw it above his head, and chanted: "Earth, my spirit; Moon, my light!"
In the blink of an eye, the paper emitted light like the moon, illuminating the entire room!
Both Hayden and Professor Albion looked quite surprised. Abigail, however, raised an eyebrow: "Interesting, but how do you dig for salt?"
President Lutz didn't answer verbally. He took out another new piece of white paper, carefully folded it for a while, turning it into a small paper boat. He placed it in the light of the paper moon, blew on it, and said, "Change!"
The little paper boat immediately grew larger under the paper moonlight, and in the blink of an eye, it became a small boat that could seat two people.
"The Dead Sea is filled with the magic of death; prolonged direct contact with it is suicidal for the living. But with the protection of this moonlit paper boat, our workers can dive into the Dead Sea. Of course, what is shown here is only a small part of our unique technology."
Although Lutz only smiled, he clearly looked somewhat smug.
"Only we can provide you with the best, purest salt, taken directly from the Dead Sea."
It would be impossible for Hayden and his companions not to have been deeply impressed by this magic.
So he and his partners chatted privately on the local network for a while, and soon came to a conclusion.
"Your union's technology is indeed very attractive."
Finally, Hayden, as the core of the team, nodded to President Lutz.
"I'll go back first today to report to my wife and father-in-law. After things are confirmed, I'll come back in the next couple of days to finalize the employment contract with you."
And so, Hayden and his companions quickly left.
Once they were far enough away that even the gods could no longer hear the sounds coming from here, a few of Lutz's men entered the room to reset the barrier. At the same time, they whispered to Lutz, "Boss, is this big deal done?"
Chairman Lutz's smile vanished. Instead, he narrowed his eyes: "A deal? Those two who spoke today looked cunning. I wouldn't believe a word they said. Who knows if they were just putting on an act? I'll send you the recording right now. Take it and report to the Lord. The brothers below should also remain vigilant, just in case."
---------------------------
As soon as she stepped out of the lower level, Abigail spoke up in a private message:
Those two spells are not right.
"I knew it?" Hayden replied. "I also think that although it looks normal on the outside, and seems very traditional, its actual application is a bit strange."
[If it's just that the actual way it's used is strange, that's not so bad.]
Abigail shook her head and frowned.
I always felt their magic only looked normal on the surface, but inside it was all evil... However, in this Fallen City, the truly evil people are few and far between. The property management itself is a devil.
Besides, Abigail, this dark witch, doesn't really have the right to criticize the things others use as strange.
However, although they feel a bit eerie, they should be improvements on ancient witchcraft based on modern theories, so they should at least still be usable. They're not without value.
However, hearing the conditions from the first company wasn't enough. Let's go check out the second one.
what?