Meng Chao was dumbfounded for a long time. “And there are people that believe this outrageous rumor?”
“There were originally none, but you know that plenty of monsters who are skilled in mind attacks had appeared during the fog, and many citizens’ mental strength indices plunged so low that their minds broke.” Xiao Fanghua then appeared as if she had something to say, but did not know how to put it into words. “Besides…”
Meng Chao frowned. “Besides what?”
“Besides, the homeless citizens can see the superhumans living in high-end residential areas with tight defenses and luxurious decorations. When they look at their own children, they see them in tents cultivating to the point of coughing up blood, while in the meantime, the children of superhuman families get the best education in aristocratic schools.
“The citizens also see themselves cradling their broken limbs and moaning on folding beds while the superhumans are able to split mountains and soar in the sky. Besides, while the citizens can only eat the cheapest canned food and drink recycled water to keep themselves alive, the superhumans with connections hoard items and get rich through it.
“Some normal people even have to watch their wives sell their own bodies to superhumans so their families would be able to live better.” Xiao Fanghua sighed softly. “In such despair, resignation, and rage, it’s not strange for them to believe in such outrageous rumors.
“Besides, that rumor isn’t the most outrageous of them all.”
Meng Chao sucked in a deep breath. “There’s something that’s even more outrageous?”
“Yes.” Xiao Fanghua smiled. “There are rumors stating that when superhumans march deeper into the Other World to conquer it, they will abandon Dragon City and all the normal people.”
Meng Chao was stunned for a long time. “How could that be possible?”
“Why not? Superhumans aren’t the parents of normal people. Why must they be bound to normal people? We’re only bound together by the identity of Earthlings, that’s all. But we’ve already transmigrated here more than half a century ago, and who knows whether we’ll live to see the day we return to Earth.
“The meaning behind being an Earthling had been growing weaker among us, has it not?” Xiao Fanghua said. “The rumors are going around saying that to the superhumans, normal people are clumsy and not helpful at all.
“They’re a burden, and if the superhumans want to conquer the Other World, there’s no need for them to bring normal people with them. They could just use modified biochemical beasts or automatized runic symbol machines to create an army that would listen to them completely.
“Of course, right now, our biochemical modification technology and runic symbol machines technology isn’t perfect. The fighting power of ans unmanned army might not be able to win against an army formed by normal people, but there’s an advantage to it. It’s cheap, and their cost-price ratio is high!
“If we use an army formed by normal people, if they die, the army will need to reward them or give their families compensation fees. Right now, the resources used for rewards and compensation fees each year just to protect Dragon City are enough to cripple Dragon City’s financial budget. Are we supposed to use an army made up of normal people to march thousands of miles around the Other World to conquer its civilizations? That’s just not worth it.
“There are even rumors saying that even if there are local intelligent lifeforms in the Other World, they are definitely in the tribal stage, which is a very low stage of civilization. The superhumans can just use their great individual fighting strength to move around elusively.
“Their advantage of high mobility will make them the Gods of those local tribes. As Gods, they will be able to enjoy all the benefits of the Other World. Why should they bring normal people along and split the benefits with them?
“Take last time as an example. We obtained full victory in the northern offense. We managed to get a lot of resources from Shattered Starlake, Graveyard Forest, and under Raging Waves, but did any of these resources end up in the hands of the normal people? They were all snatched away by superhumans in the name of cultivation and defending Dragon City. All that was left for the normal humans was the wrathful vengeance from monsters.
“The northern battlefield is the perfect model of our future right now. Even if there comes a day when the superhumans really conquer the Other World, it will have nothing to do with the normal people. After all, we’re not united at heart. Even if we fought together during the decades when we just transmigrated here, that was because we could share our woes and sorrows together. There’s no way that we can share our wealth together as well!”
Meng Chao cast a deep glance at Xiao Fanghua.
The baby-faced teacher looked at him with a smile.
Meng Chao had never known that Xiao Fanghua’s words could be so sharp. It was as expected of a teacher.
Now that he thought about it, the rumors coincided with Lin Chuan and Gao Ye’s opinions. In fact, they were even more bewitching and destructive.
But the problem was, who was the one who started those rumors?
Could it be Xiao Fanghua’s husband, Zhao Feixuan? One of the ten great lost people of future Dragon City?
“Ms. Xiao, you know these rumors really well, huh?”
“The school where I work is a normal middle school in an old residential area,” Xiao Fanghua said. “During the fog descent this time, it was also attacked viciously by the monsters. Nearly all of its defenses were torn down, so the citizens used their own bodies to stop the offense. During that battle, we suffered a lot of casualties. So, even if I want to pretend that I can’t hear the citizens’ complaints about the current situation, I can’t.
“The adults are still pretty okay, but the innocent children sometimes will pop questions that I don’t know how to answer.”
“What sort of questions are they?” Meng Chao asked.
“There’s a pretty girl in the class I teach. Her results were originally really good, but after the fog descended, her results started slipping. She also appeared to be in a daze all the time. It was as if she had become someone else,” Xiao Fanghua said.
“I called her to my office and asked her privately about what happened. We had a pretty good relationship, so she could not help but say that her parents were fighting and asking for a divorce. The reason behind that was because her mother was flirting with a superhuman.
“The girl said that when her parents fought, her mother yelled at her father for being useless and a normal person. When the monsters attacked, he could not even protect their family. It was her misfortune to have married a normal person like him.
“The girl then asked me, ‘Ms. Xiao, is marrying a normal person a misfortune?’
“The girl then immediately asked me another question too, ‘Ms. Xiao, don’t they say that superhumans should protect normal people? So why is that superhuman bullying my mother?’
“When I stayed quiet, she asked, ‘Ms. Xiao, don’t they say that the Supernatural Tower has forbidden superhumans to bully normal people and that the adjudicator court immediately captures the superhumans who bully normal people? Why is the adjudicator court not capturing the superhuman who bullied my mother?’
“I couldn’t answer even one of the three questions.”
Meng Chao was silent for a moment before he said, “The adjudicator court only cares about the crimes committed by superhumans. They can’t fault them for having messy private lives.”
“That’s right.” Xiao Fanghua smiled. Her tone was still as gentle as ever, but the words she said were chilling to the bone. “After the fog descended this time, the parents of many children from the classes I teach divorced. A lot of the wives believe that since their husbands are normal people, they are not able to protect them. They also cannot earn a lot of money, so they cannot get a lot of cultivation resources, either.
“They aren’t able to help their children walk a better path, so it would be better for them to ride on the superhumans’ coattails. They do not need a legitimate status. As long as they can get some scraps from the superhumans, it would be enough for them to live much better lives than before.
“In that sort of situation, it’s inevitable that the husbands who were cast aside would believe those rumors, right?”
“What about you, Ms. Xiao?” Meng Chao looked at Xiao Fanghua seriously. “Do you believe in those rumors?”
Xiao Fanghua looked down and did not answer him directly. Instead, she threw another question at him. “Meng Chao, do you know what about you impresses me the most?”
Meng Chao shook his head and said, “There’s nothing about me that is worth admiration. I’m just a normal superhuman.”
“What impressed me the most about you is not that you created the Broken Star Club, not that you developed the Ultimate Style, and not your performance during the national college examination,” Xiao Fanghua said earnestly.
“Ninth High School is just a key high school in the region, and you were only a normal student. It was difficult for you to get to the top one hundred in the city and get into Agricultural University’s martial arts course, then take first place during the admission test of the martial arts course’s freshmen.
“Others might not understand it, but as a teacher, I know all too well just how much you’ve worked to get this result.
“Many people treat your results as a miracle, but unfortunately, miracles cannot be replicated. It’s very rare for them to happen again.
“As Dragon City’s system is perfected and the spirit energy and cultivation system evolves, the prices for the cultivation resources will continue getting higher. It’ll be even more difficult for poor children to stand out.
“The standards of the school in which I teach are much worse compared to Ninth High School. It’s just a normal high school.
“But ten years ago, when I just joined the teaching staff there, around ten of our top students could get into a key high school, despite us being just a normal high school. Among them, there were always a few who could awaken to supernatural powers and return to their middle school in glory to report the good news.
“But over the recent years, the number has been dwindling. Three years ago, there were twenty-five of ours who went to key high schools. Two years ago, there were seventeen. Last year, nine. This year, we ran into a fog attack. Many of the students’ families were affected, so the results will probably be worse.
“It’s strange. Even though I can’t say that I’m an ace teacher, I’ve still been working for ten years, and no matter what, my teaching experience should be great. Why is it that the success rate of the students I teach is getting lower?”
Xiao Fanghua cradled her stomach and stared at Meng Chao with sparkling eyes.
“Meng Chao, it’s not important whether I believe those rumors or not,” she continued softly. “If the normal schools that serve the poor citizens can only send dozens of students to a higher level key high school each year and only three-to-five of the students who make it in can become superhumans, I believe that all the parents will still see hope, and no one will believe in those exaggerated rumors.
“But if schools like ours continue falling in terms of performance and we become unable to produce even a single superhuman, the parents will know from the first day they send their children to school that their children will never be able to become superhumans. Aside from those rumors, what else can they believe in?
“I agree with what you told Mr. Li. The Other World in the future will belong to superhumans.
“But it makes you wonder. How are the normal people supposed to survive in a world of superhumans?”