Chapter 317 This is the world
Lyle's gaze swept across the pairs of uneasy and frightened eyes. Hundreds of people were crowded in the narrow room, which was filled with pungent smells. Lyle frowned, but when he thought of the value of these guys, his brows quickly relaxed again.
"Hey, where are you planning to sell it to?" Lyle asked Harold behind him, "Rhine?"
"Rhine is indeed the largest buyer, but they don't want all of it." Haro squeezed past Lyle into the room and then stood in front of the children, not to protect them, but to show Lyle that the goods belonged to him, "especially in recent times."
"What happened recently?"
"The Rhine has just suffered a famine that occurs only once in twenty years, so they have enough resources on their own." Haro grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Even we go there to buy goods and then sell them back."
"I see. I thought you meant that Rhine only wanted little boys."
"No, they want girls too."
"Rhine actually wants a girl too? What, are you tired of going through the back door?"
"It's for reproduction." Haro shrugged. "Girls are tools for reproduction, and boys are toys. Of course, whether it's a tool or a toy, the first condition is to have decent looks. You've been to Rhine, and you should know that's what they care about most. The closer you are to the top management, the more they care about it. Even the appearance is not decided by us, but they have a fixed template. The closer to that template, the easier it is to sell... Of course, this is confidential, and ordinary people don't know it."
"Hehe, I'm not an ordinary person now." Lyle raised his eyebrows proudly, and then asked, "What if they are not good-looking? Will they be sent to the mines?"
“Only the stronger ones are sent to the mines,” Harrow said. “Those who are too thin are not accepted.”
Lyle looked as if he had "got it": "You're too skinny to dig the mines, right?"
"No, it's because my body can't bear the power of the spell."
"What the hell?"
Haro looked at Lyle with an idiotic expression: "Do you really think that just sending a kid over there can handle such heavy work? Wouldn't it be better to use adults to mine with their bodies? The reason why Rhine wants children is because children's development is not complete. They can directly use magic to force them to grow into the shape they want, and children who are too thin can't bear the cost of magic."
"If that's the case, why didn't you tell me before?"
"Because you're not even a silver merchant." Harrow said, "Think about it, what would happen if the things here got out? Rhine claims to be the first orthodox church, how could it allow those copper merchants running around everywhere to know their secrets? So this is also the condition of Rhine. We can do business with them, but we must be above the silver merchant to participate, so I have never brought you with me, do you understand?"
Lyle naturally heard the hidden meaning in Harro's words - "I had my reasons for not taking you with me before, but I hope you can let bygones be bygones and take me with you in the future."
In response, Lyle hummed softly and folded his hands.
Harrow thought Lyle was showing off the Contract Seed in his hand, which was his identity as a reserve fund merchant, but in fact, what Lyle wanted to show off was his middle finger holding the Contract Seed, which was more important than anything else.
"So what about those who don't look good or whose bodies can't handle it?" Lyle looked at the hundreds of children in the room with their hands tied and their mouths taped shut. "No one wants them?"
“Those will be sold somewhere else.”
"Oh, where?"
Haro really didn't want to explain so much to Lyle, but he thought that there would be only two outcomes for this guy. Either the transaction with the Rhine North Church was successful and he became a gold trader, then there would be no problem telling him about it. Or the transaction failed and he was slaughtered on the spot, then there would be no problem telling him about it. It would never go wrong to invest in a reserve gold trader.
So Harold said, "Come with me," and left the house, closing the door behind him.
Lyle looked back and saw that as the door was closed little by little, the light coming into the house from outside was decreasing little by little. The unrealistic hope in the eyes of the children in the house turned into despair as the light faded.
This made Lyle think of the carriage he had closed with his own hands a week ago in the Rhine, and for a moment he felt an indescribable strange feeling in his heart.
"What's wrong?" Harrow asked.
"Nothing." Lyle took two steps back, then looked up at the row of low houses in front of him that were connected to the house he had just entered. The doors of each house were locked tightly, and the locks were rusty and mottled, and it was obvious that they had been used for many years. "Are all these goods yours?"
"How is that possible?" Haro said unhappily, "If they were all mine, would I still be just a silver merchant? These belong to other gold merchants, and logically you shouldn't be allowed to see them... But since you want to know, I'll let you take a look, but don't tell anyone else."
Lyle patted his chest and said, "Of course, don't you know me?"
Harrow rolled his eyes, thinking that he told you this because he understood you, but he didn't say it out loud.
"Okay, come with me." Harrow led the way in front, and Lyle followed leisurely.
It has been several days since Lord Visas fell into "falling asleep". Without receiving any instructions from Lord Visas, Lyle, who stayed in Nameless Town, naturally wanted to find something to do, preferably something that could make money.
Ahem, this is not for himself, but for Lord Visas!
After all, although Lord Visas is very powerful, we can't let him make money by himself. Such small matters can naturally be left to his little apostle.
A qualified lackey should be able to think about what he can do and what he can still do before his master opens his mouth.
As for the fact that he made a little money during this period, Lyle felt that Lord Visas would not mind.
That's why he went to Haro again. He knew that the old bastard had a lot of ways to make money, such as this one in front of him, so he half-enticed and half-coerced Haro to bring him here. But before coming here, he really didn't expect that the scale of this deal would be so large. At a glance, there were countless houses like the one just now.
"Here we are." Haro stopped in front of one of the houses. "Look, these are the people you just mentioned who couldn't be sold to the Rhine."
Lyle walked forward and looked through the bars of the iron gate.
He saw a group of thin children. The children did not speak or even make much sound, but they were awake and staring ahead with dull eyes.
And there is a fine suture line on their foreheads.
"These are sold to Yongyan." Harrow said calmly, "The people and the heads are sold separately."
Lyle subconsciously covered his forehead and felt a chill on his head, as if there was a draft.
"It has been rumored that the Eternal Nightmare Apostles like to eat human brains. That is false, but they do need brains." Harrow said, "Because only brains can carry dreams. It is rumored that they have built a dream paradise, but the price of paradise is to use these brains to support it."
Lyle asked, "So the people in here have had their brains removed?"
"After removing a part of the brain, they will infer the value of the whole brain based on the removed part, and use that to pay." Haro shrugged. "Those guys are very stingy. After all, most of their wealth is in dreams. And they also want the body after the brain is removed to achieve their research on 'immortality' - that is, to put your brain in a young body to prolong your life indefinitely."
“…This research is a bit disgusting.”
"That's true. Otherwise, why do we say they are a secret sect?" Harrow said, "Okay, stop looking. This is not my business. It's the business of a certain gold merchant."
"Jin Shang is involved in this? Didn't you just say that Yongyan and his gang are stingy?"
"Stinginess is relative. They are willing to pay for those high-quality brains. And they can only rely on us to do this kind of thing, because they spend most of their time hiding in the dream world and living a life of drunkenness and dreams." Harrow said, "The entire church is relying on you. Just think about how much profit this is. Just from what I have heard, there are..."
Harold pointed a number at Lyle, who saw it and his eyelids twitched: "I suddenly feel that this study is not so disgusting."
"Yes, it's actually quite interesting." Haro showed his big yellow teeth again, "They call this opening a blind box. Before opening it, you never know which one is valuable and which one is a loss... Well, their cost is actually very low, there is no such thing as a loss, there are only big profits and small profits, and the cult will not turn against them, which makes this business risk-free. But the participants are basically gold merchants, and even if you become a gold merchant, it is difficult to squeeze in, after all, your bulk is in the Rhine."
"Tsk, what you said makes me want to try my luck with the secret sect." Lyle said half-jokingly and half-seriously, "It seems that the Rhine side is still too upright, and they often torture us when they are not satisfied with the price."
"That's true, but the money is enough, at least for me." Harold glanced at Lyle again, as if to emphasize that Lyle should not forget about him. "Okay, we should go."
Lyle actually wanted to go into the other rooms to take a look. After all, it wasn't just Rhine and Yongyan who were engaging in human trafficking with the black businessmen. He also wanted to see what that group of people were doing.
But Harrow had already said that the business of the cult was monopolized by the old gold merchants. Even if he really became a gold merchant, it would be difficult for him to get involved. He couldn't trouble Lord Visas for such a small matter. So he could only leave reluctantly. Before leaving, he looked back at the room.
The children behind the iron gate were still dazed and quiet, like broken dolls.
Lyle felt a strange feeling in his heart again. He immediately withdrew his gaze and said to Haro as they walked: "If you are willing to give me 30% of your business, I will give you..."
"30%?! You're too fucking greedy!"
"How can this be called greed?" Lyle said, "You have to know that if I succeed, I will be directly connected with the Northern Bishop of Rhine. You should be able to imagine how much profit there is. By then, the money will be too much to count."
"That's only if you can really succeed."
"How can I lie to you? I am..."
Before Lyle could finish his words, as he passed by a tin house, a strange hand stretched out from it and grabbed his shoulder tightly.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Lyle was startled, "What's going on?!"
He looked over, and his pupils dilated instantly.
Because he saw a young boy's face on the other side of the door, but the boy's outstretched hand was full of abnormal muscular blocks.
What kind of monster is this? !
"Save me!" the boy shouted at Lyle, "Please, save me!"
Before Lyle could react, two black marketeers on night duty heard the noise and rushed over immediately.
"Damn it, how did this guy break free?"
"You idiot, what are you still doing standing there?! Get out of here!"
Lyle was pushed away roughly, and the boy's nails pierced through his clothes, leaving two bloody marks on his shoulders.
But that was all. The two black businessmen on night duty skillfully pushed the boy back and then started to beat and kick him.
Lyle still hadn't come back to his senses, and Harrow explained calmly beside him: "See, this is what it looks like when the spell to induce childbirth fails. We are still not very proficient in the spell, and originally wanted to induce childbirth and then sell it to Rhine to earn more labor fees, but...tsk tsk. If you can get the specific usage of the spell to induce childbirth from Rhine after becoming a gold merchant, then I am willing to share 30% with you...what do you think?"
"Um...ah, no problem." Lyle came back to his senses and said absentmindedly, "30%, that's 30%."
"That's a deal, let's go." Harrow walked forward again.
Lyle looked back again and saw the deformed boy lying on the ground dying.
He didn't say anything more and prepared to follow Harrow.
Just as he turned around, he heard the boy behind him mumbling unconsciously.
"Dad, Mom...save...me..."
His body trembled, but he did not stop. He even quickened his pace and fled away.
…
"Okay, it's a deal then." In order to show Lyle his sincerity, Haro said with a smile, "Before you succeed, I can give you 10% of the profits as an investment in you... You won't let me waste it, right?"
"What do you think?"
"Haha, I don't think so. I knew it the moment you left your children and wife behind and came with me five years ago." Haro complimented, "You are destined to achieve great things, but you just got the chance now."
"Of course." Lyle bit a cigarette in his mouth, and then fumbled for a match while saying casually, "Oh, by the way, where do all these goods come from?"
"They're everywhere." Haro said calmly, "They either kidnap or rob, or wait for a disaster. For example, we've been eyeing wildfires recently. Isn't there something wrong there? Anyway, we go wherever there's an opportunity."
"Oh..." Lyle asked "carelessly", "Will we go to an uninhabited area?"
As soon as he said this, Harrow understood what he was thinking and said with a smile, "Of course not. No Man's Land is the property of the Contract Land. It is also the only place we will not take action. At most, people like you will follow us voluntarily. You are different from them, aren't you? Your children are different from them too."
"Of course." Lyle straightened his chest, "I'm much more awesome."
"Yes, yes, yes, future gold merchant, work hard and let your children live a life of luxury in this world." Haro laughed and left after saying this. "I hope you will be a real gold merchant when we meet next time."
Lyle did not say anything. He waited until Haro's back disappeared from his sight before he took out a match. However, he tried several times but failed to light the fire because his hands were shaking slightly as he kept recalling the scene just now.
"Damn it!" he cursed inwardly, "This is how the world is!"
Then with a "crack", the flame ignited.
He took a big gulp greedily to erase the strange feeling in his heart.
"This is how the world is." Lyle said softly in the swirling smoke, "It has nothing to do with me."
Then he heard teasing laughter in his mind.
"Oh, really?"
I suddenly feel a little regretful when writing this, because I feel that the Church of Eternal Nightmare should be able to write a separate and more interesting story, but now it is just stuffed in like a background board. At the beginning of the year, I planned to finish this book by May, but now it seems that I will never be able to finish it, so I'd better take my time.
(End of this chapter)
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