Chapter 130 : In Perfect Order
Chapter 130: In Perfect Order
The ant-like crowd bustled below.
There were humans, beastmen, goblins, and even some low-tier lesser demons.
Just as the fat man had said, they worked with fanaticism and numbness.
And at the very center of the basin—
At the entrance to that so-called “ruin.”
The captured fat man lay sprawled on the ground, pointing toward the entrance below that resembled the gaping maw of a giant beast, his entire body trembling.
Following the direction of his finger, Lilia looked over.
Even though she had mentally prepared herself, the scene before her still caused her pupils to contract sharply.
There was no wailing everywhere, no rivers of blood.
No overseers wielding whips, no slaves in shackles trudging forward.
On the contrary—
Everything here was in perfect order.
Massive searchlights divided the entire basin into bright patches of light.
Thousands of people moved along pre-planned routes.
On the left, one group pushed wheelbarrows filled with gravel and black soil, marching in step as they came out of that bottomless pit.
On the right, another group carried timber and reinforcement frames made of metal, or held iron buckets filled with black sludge, quietly lining up to enter.
The rumbling of wheels over gravel, the clanging of shovels striking the ground, and the heavy, bellows-like sound formed by thousands of lungs breathing in unison.
A chill shot straight up Lilia’s spine to the top of her head.
“This… this isn’t right.”
If they were just enslaved laborers, killing the leader would likely cause the rest to scatter.
But these people were different.
Their eyes.
Lilia activated Absolute Senses, zooming in her vision.
She clearly saw the humans and demi-humans pushing the carts.
They were emaciated, with sunken eye sockets and pale skin from long-term lack of sunlight.
But in their eyes, there was no numbness, no despair.
Only a kind of fanaticism that made one’s skin crawl.
That kind of gaze—Lilia had only seen it in her previous life in certain shut-down pyramid scheme dens, or in extreme religious documentaries.
At that moment—
At the entrance of the ruins, on a towering black stone platform, a figure in a dark red robe suddenly stepped up.
The man raised a staff inlaid with a massive purple crystal.
“Clang—”
A crisp bell toll echoed across the entire basin through some kind of amplification magic.
The next second—
A scene Lilia would never forget in her life unfolded.
Thousands of laborers, no matter what they were doing, all stopped at the exact same moment.
Those pushing carts let go of the handles.
Those carrying wood dropped their burdens.
Even those holding bowls of black sludge mid-meal immediately set them down.
Everyone turned toward the black stone platform.
And then—
Knelt down in perfect unison.
Their movements were so standardized it was as if they had rehearsed it tens of thousands of times.
The entire basin sank lower in an instant.
The red-robed man spread his arms atop the platform, his hoarse yet piercing voice carrying a bewitching power as it echoed through the night sky.
“The flesh is a prison!”
Thousands below responded in unison, their voices like a tsunami:
“The soul yearns for eternity!”
The red-robed man shouted again:
“The old gods are dead, the tyrant must fall!”
Thousands slammed their foreheads to the ground, the sound of impact merging into a dull thunder:
“The New God descends! Reshape the world!”
“Long live!!”
“Long live!!”
“Long live!!!”
The overwhelming roar surged through the canyon, shaking loose gravel from the surrounding cliffs.
Standing on the high cliff, Lilia felt like a lamb that had wandered into a pack of wolves, nearly swept away by the wave of fanaticism.
What the hell!!!
This was already a fully formed rebel army!
“The old gods are dead, the tyrant must fall…”
Lilia muttered those eight words, the corner of her mouth twitching uncontrollably.
Could it be any more obvious who they were targeting?
And judging from the scale and level of indoctrination, this was absolutely not something built overnight.
Months?
Even years?
A thunderbolt suddenly flashed through Lilia’s mind.
Camilla!
Across the entire Demon Realm, as long as she wanted to know something, there was nothing she couldn’t find out.
Although this place was far from the Palace of Eternal Night, it was still within the coverage of her intelligence network.
Such a massive base.
So many people.
Such frequent movement of supplies.
Even the previous “cargo” had been transported through her channels.
There was no way she didn’t know.
Lilia wouldn’t believe it even if she were beaten to death.
If she knew, yet never reported it to Hera…
Could it be that she was also a member of this Immortality Society?
Or even one of the masterminds behind it?
If even she had rebelled, then wouldn’t the Palace of Eternal Night already be riddled with holes like a sieve?
Lilia thought of Hera.
Did her Master already know, or was she also being kept in the dark?
If it was the former, then it was fine—anything her Master allowed, she could definitely handle.
But if it was the latter…
Lilia swallowed, her throat going dry.
She had originally thought this was just a simple case of cracking down on an illegal pyramid scheme and rescuing kidnapped victims.
At most, it was just some private operation cooked up by that pervert named Batori.
Who would have thought—
Kick aside this rock, and instead of a few insects underneath, there was a venomous serpent ready to devour people!
This script is wrong!
I’m just a maid trying to cling to a powerful backer and get by—why am I getting dragged into a political conspiracy on the scale of regime change?!
The chants below continued, wave after wave.
The red-robed man seemed to relish the worship of the masses, swinging his staff more fervently. Streams of purple light poured from the crystal at its tip, falling onto the believers in the front rows.
Those touched by the purple light instantly swelled, their bodies expanding as something wriggled beneath their skin, letting out roars of both pain and ecstasy.
They were performing biochemical modification on the spot?!
Lilia couldn’t watch any longer.
She feared that if she kept watching, she would either be assimilated by the fanatic atmosphere below or terrified to death by the horrifying truth.
She needed someone to rely on.
Taking a deep breath, Lilia tried to steady her voice.
Facing the shadow beneath her feet, she called out in her mind with a tone almost pleading:
“M-Master…”
“These people… they really do seem to be coming for you.”
“And at this scale… if we add Camilla…”
Lilia paused, gritting her teeth before voicing the absurd speculation that even she found hard to believe.
“Did we… just stumble into the main nest of a rebellion?”
“What do we do now?”
Should they retreat?
Mobilize the Royal Guard of the King’s City?