Eight years ago, in 1660, in Camon City.
On a hot summer day, Fenanche drove his car to the lower district, to this cesspool that he swore never to set foot in again.
At this time, the old mayor, Punk, due to his death in the exploration of the Virtual Realm and his old age, was preparing to resign and retire. Fenanche took the opportunity to unite with the members of parliament, bribe the civil servants, and secure the position of mayor. His Linzhong Gallery was also established at this time, with significant influence over the upper class of Camon City.
At this critical moment of planning the election for the next mayor, he put aside all official business, canceled all meetings, and drove alone in an ordinary car, stopping on the side of a road that was so rotten that it could grow feces on its own. He turned the car’s air conditioning to the maximum, smoked his pipe, and stared at a studio at the street corner.
It was an ordinary Ogre studio.
The entire street was filled with Ogre studios, so it was extremely smelly everywhere, which greatly suppressed the surrounding housing prices.
Oil painting was the unique talent of Ogres. As low-educated citizens with an average education level of only prenatal education, they naturally would not challenge the difficulties of life. They could afford to be mediocre with their talents and end up being completely useless.
Although there were many practitioners in this industry, it was not oversaturated. On the contrary, there was a shortage of supply. A genuine “Ogre oil painting” could be said to be in short supply.
The reason for this was that Ogres occasionally resonated with the Virtual Realm while painting. Oil paintings created in this state would allow viewers to slowly increase their faction level, equivalent to navigating in the Virtual Realm.
However, “Ogre oil paintings” had a time limit and would lose their effect within about 60 days. Therefore, Ogre oil paintings were not works of art but consumables. They were still consumables that could have an effect on Artificers, so they naturally had a high value.
But the premise was that they could resonate with the Virtual Realm and create a genuine “Ogre oil painting.” If they couldn’t resonate with the Virtual Realm, it would simply be producing garbage.
Therefore, most Ogre painters would work as apprentices in the studio for several months or even years, working and learning at the same time, until they painted their first painting and earned their first bucket of gold. As for the apprentices’ job responsibilities, they didn’t need to clean, as Ogres didn’t like cleanliness.
If it weren’t for the sake of dignity, Fenanche also wanted to tear apart the white shirt that was so tight it felt like it was strangling him.
Sigh.
As he exhaled a smoke ring, Fenanche slightly turned his head and saw a young Ogre passing by the car.
The young Ogre was wearing a white suspender shirt that had turned brown and a pair of shorts full of holes. With a height of 1.9 meters, he was considered short among Ogres, but his appearance was closer to the standard race, with sharp teeth that were not ugly.
He was carrying two large lunch boxes in his hands, which was his duty as an apprentice: buying meals for the painters.
Ogres wanted to eat every two hours, and they loved to eat warm meals. But they were too lazy to go to restaurants, and ordering takeout was ridiculously expensive in terms of labor costs—no delivery person was willing to come to the Ogre district, where even insurance companies wouldn’t compensate for being killed. Therefore, hiring an Ogre apprentice became the ideal choice.
After all, they didn’t need to pay money, they just needed to take care of the apprentice’s meals.
When he saw this young Ogre in an instant, Fenanche was stunned.
The young Ogre also looked into the car, as if he was staring at the middle-aged Ogre.
But after looking around and confirming that there was no one around, he smirked, spat a foul and murky saliva towards the car window, then put down the lunch boxes and urinated against the car door. After finishing, he picked up a small stone and scraped the car body fiercely. The piercing sound pierced Fenanche’s eardrums like a knife.
The car windows and front glass were double-sided glass, so the inside couldn’t be seen from the outside.
Watching the young Ogre step on the hot street, whistle, and carry the lunch boxes to the studio, it seemed that he was scolded by the boss as soon as he entered. He nodded and bowed, showing a pleasing face, then secretly spat into one of the lunch boxes and respectfully walked in.
Throughout the process, Fenanche didn’t move, and his hand remained in the posture of holding the pipe.
His gaze followed the young Ogre’s figure until he disappeared.
Finally, he drove back to the government office and reported the car as damaged.
He never bought a painting from that young Ogre, nor did he send anyone to help him. In fact, after that, he never went to see the young Ogre again.
Even to find out the recent situation of the young Ogre, Fenanche entrusted the Falconer Hall to investigate more than a dozen Ogres in the name of “preventing Ogre criminal activities,” and the young Ogre was one of them.
When Fenanche was separated from the young Ogre by only a thin car window but dared not roll it down, this man who had risen from the bottom to the pinnacle of power in Camon City finally understood the terrifying and pathological nature of this country.
Eight years later, in 1668, at the scene of the Blood Moon Trial in Shuihu Lake.Fenanche looked at the pale-faced Andreier and said, “Do you know that in most countries, all races maintain the basic unit of family…”
Kenmen subconsciously said, “That’s because they are backward.”
“I’m not interested in arguing whether the family system is backward or advanced, I just want to point out one thing.” Fenanche revealed a ferocious smile, “There are also ruling races in other countries, but their ruling races can reproduce autonomously, even giving birth to royal families and nobility!”
Everyone’s faces grew paler, illuminated redder by the blood moon. Kenmen almost pleaded, “So their classes are solidified, they are backward, the Blood Moon Kingdom is the most civilized kingdom—”
“The reason we prohibit the existence of families is because our ruling race cannot reproduce autonomously, they are naturally homeless!” Fenanche roared loudly, “Blood Saints exchange blood, Moon Shadows wash the moon, they lose their ability to reproduce after changing their race, to develop new offspring, they must transform members of other races!”
“The Blood Moon clans are like parasites that cannot survive on their own, they absorb the best talents of all races to become their own members, absorb the nutrients of all races to strengthen themselves, and enslave all races for a thousand years!”
“Why can’t we have families? Because the Blood Saints and Moon Shadows have abandoned the shackles of blood ties, so we are not allowed to have them! In this way, we cannot form a whole due to the shackles of family, love, and kinship.”
“Why emphasize racial human rights and freedom? Because the Blood Saints and Moon Shadows are genderless, raceless, ageless monsters, they are almost a natural whole, and we will have internal strife due to race, gender, age, education, etc.! They deliberately incite different races, different genders, different ages, different ages of people to fight each other! In this way, we cannot form a collective because of common interests.”
“The Racial Human Rights Act erects high thick walls around each of us, the Bloodline Prohibition Act prevents us from any damage to this barrier. From then on, each of us is an independent individual, only able to face the research institute and the church alone!”
Fenanche raised his left hand that was pressed by the chain, pointing at the prison.
“Do we have any difference from those death row inmates? No.” The ogre said coldly, “Death row inmates are drained of value for the prison, we are drained of value by the Blood Moon; death row inmates are controlled by chips, and we are controlled by thoughts for a lifetime!”
“In the Blood Moon Kingdom, from birth to death we only have two paths: to become a Blood Saint Moon Shadow, or to become the food of the Blood Saint Moon Shadow.”
“Blood Moon, is a beast dressed in the cloak of civilization, it is the most barbaric civilization.”