As they thought about it, the workers' foremen all agreed that the chairman was right—this Hayden was simply a river flowing with gold!
So they all said goodbye and dispersed, eager to make a good impression on Abigail.
...On the contrary, after everyone else had left, the calm and composed smile on President Lutz's face disappeared.
"Isn't it said that the richer people are, the more stingy they are? How can there be a madman who spends money like this?"
As he grumbled, he stood up from his sturdy armchair and hurried toward the hidden room in the union building.
This was a room that resembled a solitary prison cell. There were no windows, no furniture, and it was only about five steps from one wall to the other. Aside from the vent and the door, the only other thing in this empty little room was something on the floor.
Strangely enough, it was a lamp, and a rather simple-looking oil lamp placed in the center of the room. It was burning slowly.
This room was almost entirely disconnected from the outside world or any other place. This was not only in a physical sense, but also because almost no one knew of its existence. Although the room was located deep within the union building, no more than five people in the entire Adabit Workers' Union knew of its existence.
President Lutz entered the small room and, without saying a word, bowed deeply to the oil lamp, kowtowing three times. Only then did he speak in a low voice, "Lord, everything is as you said. That witch has returned. How should we deal with her and the new gods she represents? Please let your light guide us."
The flame of the oil lamp immediately flickered as if breathing softly.
Of course, this oil lamp won't make any sound or speak.
But Lutz's pupils reflected the firelight, as if he had heard the instructions given by the lamplight, and his face gradually showed surprise and admiration: "Is that so? Everything is just as you predicted."
He was already kneeling on the ground when he spoke, and at this point, he respectfully kowtowed three times to the oil lamp: "Then I will go and instruct my men to find two hotheads to test the witch's current state, and then have the others completely submit to the new gods behind her, so that your plan can work smoothly with her, my lord."
The oil lamp couldn't speak. But its flame suddenly burned even brighter, swaying as if in the wind.
The firelight flickered in the dark chamber, tracing a dazzling, dreamlike path through the darkness, as if echoing the devout believers' prayers to their revered God.
That firelight must symbolize something that has remained unchanged from ancient times to the present.
It has always been a guide. From now on, it will continue to guide.
And its own will... will naturally be fulfilled!
--------------------------
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.
Abigail was naturally unaware that someone in the guild was plotting against her in a strange way. However, she had long known that these workers would definitely want to resist and cause trouble, and the witch basically disregarded such things.
It wasn't that she was a bully who preyed on the weak, nor that she looked down on these workers... Although she might have looked down on them a little, Abigail was, after all, a great witch over four hundred years old, so it was normal for her to be a little arrogant in some ways.
The real point is that since she had taken the job from Hayden, she was prepared for trouble. In fact, Abigail was somewhat looking forward to seeing what kind of antics these low-level workers might pull off.
Unexpectedly, just as she was busy persuading the workers in the lower district to come and work for Hayden to dig for sea salt, strange noises suddenly came from the outer edge of the crowd.
"Don't be fooled by this rich guy from out of town!"
The ones shouting and cursing were two young, sturdy men.
“These bosses start by saying all the right things, signing beautiful contracts, and picking a few people to be role models, but once everyone starts working, they become worthless pieces of paper! Don’t believe them! They make money by exploiting us poor people!”
The two of them suddenly emerged from the roadside, their gleaming eyes fixed on Abigail, and pointed at her nose, hurling insults.
Abigail, who was busy patiently persuading the workers, was amused by their words instead of being angry. "Really? Are these union leaders really going to use such a ridiculous method to obstruct me? Surely not?"
So the witch carefully examined the two unexpected troublemakers again, and then she noticed a few more clues: although their clothes and appearance were no different from those of normal young workers in the slums, they could be seen to have resolute expressions and strong physiques. They were obviously young men who had practiced boxing in the union and had their muscles and bones tempered with Dead Sea salt.
With the power of their bodies tempered by the Dead Sea salt fire, these two shouldn't be weaker than ordinary city management officers... But, is that all? Is that really all?
“You guys seem to be much better at hitting people than the other workers.”
Therefore, the witch raised her eyebrows.
"It's a pity that besides your skill in beating people, you all seem to lack common sense. The other workers all know that working for me is the only chance to escape this slum cesspool. Yet you, for the sake of your own pathetic pride, want to make the villagers miss this unique opportunity. Are you stupid?"
As she said this, a thoughtful look appeared on her face: "Or perhaps, because you lack the ability and opportunity, you deliberately try to hinder other villagers and prevent them from escaping this cesspool from my side?"
These words were truly piercing. The young martial artists, who had just been filled with hatred, suddenly changed their expressions, becoming both shocked and furious.
What about the other workers present? While not everyone was swayed by the witch's words, it would be truly strange if no one reacted!
So, only Abigail was secretly laughing to herself.
No matter what, she has lived from the last era to the present day, and is a great witch who has been deceiving people since ancient times and will continue to manipulate human nature from now on.
She hasn't had a chance to show off her skills in this area lately, so maybe people are thinking she's a pushover?
205: The Miracle Performer
In the end, Abigail didn't even need to chant a spell or use a wisp of magic. She simply stirred up the other workers who were eyeing her covetously, and she sent the two young warriors who had come to cause trouble away.
Ironically, although these young warriors were very fierce towards Abigail, a visitor from out of town, they immediately deflated like punctured balloons when faced with the angry glares and stares of their fellow villagers and workers. They completely lost the domineering aura they had shown when they glared at Abigail and shouted at her.
Were these young people bullies who preyed on the weak? Of course not. In terms of fighting power, even without wasting her own magic, Abigail was a hundred times stronger than these slum workers. In fact, the witch could tell that the two men weren't truly afraid. Their sweaty faces, their clenched teeth, their expressions of inner turmoil, and the pain they showed when they were chased away by the other workers—all these things made the witch realize what was really going on.
So Abigail quickly found an excuse to send the workers away. She soon went to a secluded spot, into a shadowy alleyway, took out a long pipe from somewhere, and gracefully lit the herbs, exhaling their fragrant aroma with a cold expression.
“My lady, those two young warriors circled around the alley a few times, and then took a detour back to the building of the Adabit Workers’ Union.”
Before long, from the shadows of the alleyway beside the road, Momiji, the fox demon ninja serving Hayden, peeked out like a ghost and appeared silently.
“That’s not surprising at all. If they hadn’t been sent by the union leader, I would have chewed up this pipe and swallowed it… That being said, this is still a bit of a problem.”
Abigail took a deep drag from the pipe, frowned, and blew out a smoke ring.
"If those young men were just scoundrels sent by the union leaders to cause me trouble, they shouldn't have run away so easily when they were being cursed and accused by their fellow villagers—not to mention the expressions on their faces."
These opposition workers' tactics were so obvious, so clumsy, that Abigail almost laughed… but only if it were a genuine joke. If it wasn't, things would get very complicated.
The ninja wearing a fox mask seemed puzzled and shook his head in confusion: "What do you mean? The master told us before that there would inevitably be workers who wouldn't accept the offer. There will always be different opinions in everything, and there's nothing we can do about it. You just need to focus on winning over most of the useful workers at the bottom, right?"
The witch shook her head.
"If they're just putting on an act, then these workers will soon surrender after the sugar and whip have been applied. However... if they genuinely feel that it's better to die in poverty than to submit to the gold coins of the rich, if some of them truly believe from the bottom of their hearts that self-respect is more important than profit..."
Abigail twirled her pipe, gazing coldly in the direction of the guild building, and uttered words that sounded like a curse.
"Then they are fanatics. You can't reason with fanatics who have a morbid ideology."
This statement, and the tone the witch used when she said it, finally surprised even Kureha. That said, Kureha wasn't entirely unable to understand or agree with it. After all, she herself was a remnant of the previous era, a samurai lady from the feudal age of the old gods. She could have chosen to die in battle, but she endured humiliation and hardship to protect her people, willingly serving the new gods who had defeated them.
In other words, her primary motivation was to fulfill her responsibility to protect the people, to ensure the survival of her compatriots, and to allow them to live longer. This is why she chose to humiliatingly surrender and serve the powerful enemy who had defeated her. This was a painful conclusion that Hongye reached after rational calculation and consideration.
Since it was best for her people at that time for the old gods to accept the rule of the new gods, she would choose to obey and carry out the demands of her enemies. She wouldn't need to consider her personal likes, dislikes, or pride in this matter.
If a fanatic were to reject the peaceful life that his compatriots could have had simply because of anger and pride, then Hongye could never condone such a person.
As for Abigail...
"The strong exploiting the weak is an unavoidable truth of the world. Those who only know how to be oblivious to the times are mostly fools who cannot see the facts."
The witch curled her lip.
“Those who want knowledge and truth, just give them knowledge and truth; those who want money and material life, of course, just give them material life. But fanatics who only want self-respect, that self-respect is very difficult to give them. If such workers make up a certain proportion of this slum, that silly boy Hayden’s plan will probably be thwarted.”
However, Hongye was quite alarmed upon hearing this. What kind of personality did she have? What kind of fox was she? Upon hearing the witch's words, she immediately nodded: "I see. Witch, please wait a moment, I will follow them and wipe out those workers and their instigators."
These words finally left Abigail speechless.
"No, no, no. If you alert them like this, you'll scare the entire slum and ruin everything. There's no need for that. Let's get the necessary workers first, and then leave the rest to that idiot Hayden to handle." She quickly adjusted her pipe, while also complaining, "What kind of idiotic thought process is this? Are you really a ninja? When that Skywalker sent you to do things before, were you always going to infiltrate the target location and slaughter all the creatures around?"
Dakini is another name for Dakini. Abigail is cautious and generally doesn't casually reveal the names of the gods in public, lest they overhear (the gods might not be distracted to listen, but such things are always unavoidable). However, even Abigail herself didn't expect that, although it wasn't as exaggerated as she said, Momiji was actually frequently sent by Dakini to carry out "assassination missions to kill everyone present."
When Momiji first met Hayden, wasn't she actually doing something similar? Of course, she wasn't just a ninja who could only stealthily advance, but she was certainly very good at this kind of thing.
After hearing the witch's words, Hongye frowned: "If we cause our lord worry, we should feel ashamed; if we cause our lord to suffer shame, we should atone with our lives. How can we leave such a matter for our lord to worry about?"
“He’s not my master,” the witch immediately retorted. “You’re always thinking about finding yourself a new master; that’s your own fetish. My master was eliminated by the New God Revolution four hundred years ago, and I have no intention of actively finding myself a new boss.”
Needless to say, these words immediately displeased Hongye, but she remained polite: "Witch, you too have been constantly being hired by various people, serving different gods and humans, in order to survive so leisurely from four hundred years ago to today."
Abigail shook her head: "That's not the same thing. Times have changed. We are all survivors of the last era, and you surely know the difference between a monarch and a boss. Those who don't move forward and change will perish. What can remain unchanged forever?"
As she spoke, she looked up at the black steel dome above the ground floor, and her eyes suddenly seemed somewhat sorrowful.
Abigail is an ancient witch who is now extremely rare. But what is a witch? If she is just a woman who knows magic, then she cannot be called a witch.
The so-called witch, a woman who befriends the devil, must be burdened with an ancient and heavy contract and curse.
"Speaking of which, Hayden isn't my boss. I'm just investing my technology in him. I just want to use the technology he developed to solve my own problems... and I'm a little curious about what kind of crazy things he can come up with."
"The Sofia Order seems to have been subdued by Hayden, but that's only 'seemingly'; we can quickly get most of the workers in the union to accept employment, but that's only a certain degree of obedience. And these two sides were originally separate entities."
After saying these words, the witch leisurely walked back to her workplace, just as she had done before.
"That silly boy Hayden will have to put the two separate things together. He'll have to put a bunch of self-important, delusional scholars and researchers in charge of managing and guiding some experienced, particularly self-important, illiterate workers. Besides, there's already a conflict between the two groups."
"If he can make good use of these two groups of people, I'll livestream myself eating a pipe!"
Red Leaf is a very polite and good fox, so she wouldn't speak in that tone like Abigail.
But she had to admit, she was also a little curious. How exactly was Hayden going to solve this problem?
--------------------------
A few days later, Abigail indeed managed to subdue most of the workers in the Adabaite Workers' Union. Wielding money, supplies, and various guaranteed benefits, the witch only took a few days to win over most of the workers in this lower-class area who had experience mining Dead Sea salt.
Strangely enough, although the union leaders could theoretically have resisted more forcefully, they didn't; instead, they were mostly submissive. This saved Abigail a lot of energy and time, but it also made her a little puzzled and suspicious... but it didn't matter.
Anyway, she has already completed this part of the work.
"The rest is up to you, silly boy~"
After saying that, the witch tossed the rest of the text to Hayden, waiting to see what would happen.
To say she was waiting to see Hayden make a fool of himself would be an overstatement, since their interests were intertwined. But Abigail genuinely didn't think Hayden had any way of getting a group of self-righteous, delusional scholars and another group of self-righteous, illiterate workers to do the same job. Hayden also hadn't told them what he planned to do.
Until everyone agreed to prepare to start work, with scholars and researchers guiding workers on how to excavate and refine Dead Sea salt, in order to avoid pollution and pursue clean samples.
The scholars and researchers of the Sofia Order have all come down to the bottom level, to the "beach" of the bottom area.
The Fallen City of Babylon is like a tower embedded in the Dead Sea, and this so-called bottom zone is the area located at sea level. After years of neglect, the abandoned structure of the colony broke down, and seawater flowed in, naturally forming an "inner sea" in the bottom zone.
The Adabait Workers' Union was based here, extracting Dead Sea salt from the water and using their own crude methods to refine it. When researchers from the Sofia Order came to see this, they were furious to find these illiterate workers haphazardly stirring and distilling sea salt in large oil drums, and they berated them for wasting precious resources.
How could the workers possibly respect these experts and professors who came down from the middle and upper classes and wanted to give orders just by talking?
The conflict between these two sides is simply irreconcilable since the beginning of time!
...And then, Hayden happened to arrive at that very moment.
He walked into this chaotic scene calmly, dressed in a grey robe and carrying only a rowanwood staff. Both the workers and scholars immediately complained to Hayden, accusing the other of being an idiot and demanding that Hayden, their new boss, take charge.
But Hayden stood on the beach and shook his head at both of them.
“I’m not here to be a peacemaker, nor to distinguish right from wrong for you. Besides, no one here is completely right or wrong. What we’re about to do can’t be done without anyone, and no one can do it alone. The same goes for me. That’s why I’ve come to you, or rather, hired you.”
Hayden stood by the sea, opening his fiery tongue, and taught the people to listen to his words.
"However, I know you don't completely believe me. Some people have been convinced, but most people are just following along and still have doubts in their hearts."
Gradually, as Hayden spoke so calmly, the workers and scholars on the beach fell silent, standing still and waiting in silence and tension.
They could all sense something in the air, a force gathering as Hayden spoke. It was stranger than any magic they had ever seen, almost incomprehensible—except for its strangeness and the power it possessed.
“I know you’re waiting for evidence. I know everyone wants to see evidence. Some people crave truth and transcendence, so they want to see evidence of the prophet’s divinity; others crave bread and the promised good life, so they want to see evidence of how powerful the new boss is.”
Hayden uttered words as sharp as a flaming sword, his eyes gleaming with the light of the heavens.
“You have no idea how much you’ve already accomplished, no idea that you possess the divine power to move mountains and seas. You just don’t know how to use it. So I’ll show you now, point you in the right direction, and then you must follow me.”
He turned around, waded into the sea, stretched his staff out to the surface, closed his eyes, and meditated in the water for a moment.
When Hayden spoke again, his command was forceful and direct:
"separate."
206: Trailblazers
Hayden stretched his staff out to the sea, as if holding the golden key to sovereignty.
He commanded the sea to part, uttering each word clearly and precisely, and power flowed out like molten iron swords.
And so the world acted according to his will.
An unseen force issues commands written in words, and the universe obeys and rotates.
When it looked down with a thousand radiant eyes, he cried out for its authority.
...and then a wind arose at sea.
On the sea where the wind was howling, a void was carved out.