I'm a villain, not a devil

It was late at night, and in a corner of the slums of the imperial capital, the air began to fluctuate.

It was as if the curtain was torn apart and Sean walked out.

After entering the imperial capital, he quickly organized the underground forces of the entire imperial capital. The "big news" could be obtained from the royal family, but the "small news" was best obtained by the snakes, insects, rats and ants rooted in the imperial capital.

According to Sean's request, the gang bosses have spread their influence throughout the city. They don't need very loyal subordinates, just enough spies.

In this way, if there is anything wrong in the city, you can find out with a little investigation.

For example, now, the leader of the fox wolves, Black Fox, told Sean that there have been many "accidents" recently in the largest slum in the west of the city.

Originally this was not a big deal. Some were captured to do hard labor, some were abducted as slaves, some were bought by noble young masters and young ladies as toys... Even in the seemingly prosperous imperial capital, such things happened all the time.

However, considering the actions of the big weasel, something seems amiss here.

Bai Zhan released the crazy beast and deliberately created a fire in order to cover up the thousands of people who died in the fire. This reminded Sean of the sacrifice part of the cult ritual.

Obviously, the Founding Fathers Statue is more than just a statue.

If the big weasel wanted to hide, the place where it had previously hunted safely was obviously a good choice.

Walking silently in the slums, it was dark here as soon as night fell. Electricity was not a valuable resource in the imperial capital, but for the poor, turning on the lights all night was obviously a luxury.

Occasionally, the light from oil lamps and bonfires came through the leaky door, illuminating the people passing by outside the house, casting a long, blurry shadow before quickly disappearing.

After turning around a little, Sean frowned slightly.

No traces of the Mad Beast's life were found... Was I wrong?

Mad beasts are different from mutants. No matter how good they are at hiding, places where they live for a long time will still be polluted, not to mention areas with such a high population density.

Therefore, Crimson Mad Beasts usually appear in the wild. They are naturally incompatible with humans, but they can become one with them when they become Crimson.

I casually pulled open the curtain of an old house and looked inside. A couple was discussing something beside an oil lamp. Their two children had already gone to bed and were fast asleep.

"Dad, you said, they are both six years old now, why don't you send them to an institution for mental illness?" the woman in the couple asked irritably.

The man rolled himself a cigarette, opened the oil lamp shade and reached in to light it. He took a deep breath and was about to exhale, but when his eyes caught sight of his children around him, he puffed out his cheeks and changed his position.

He exhaled a mouthful of thick smoke, coughed a few times, and then grabbed his hair and said, "I don't know why, but I always feel that sending them to Kaizhi Institute is not a good thing."

Kaizhi Institute is a public educational institution established by the empire. Every child can be sent there for two years of free preschool education after reaching the age of five. This is also an important reason why the illiteracy rate in the imperial capital has been greatly reduced.

Many poor families find it difficult to afford the cost of higher education. After the establishment of Kaizhi School, almost every family will send their children there when they reach the age.

In addition to the free preschool education, it is also a place for patriotic and emperor-respecting education. There is a blurred statue of the emperor at the door of each school, and on the first day of class, teachers will teach students about the greatness of His Majesty the Emperor.

The couple's conversation continued.

The woman seemed a little worried: "But everyone will send their children to the Kaizhi Institute. In the future, the two of us can only afford the school expenses for one child... If he learns more now, the tuition fee will be lower. The other... the other one who can't go to school won't even know his own name."

The man smoked his cigarette irritably, and after a while he finally spoke: "At worst I can go to Poison City to make a living. There are ways to send both of them to school."

The woman's voice subconsciously became louder, then lowered a little: "Are you crazy?! How can people like us be qualified to go to the Poison City?!"

"What can we do? There are only so many things we can do in the imperial capital... Children, children can't be like us in the future, right?"

The woman choked and said timidly, "But our parents also went through this... At least they were able to survive, right?"

The man shook his head resolutely, his eyes sharp and determined: "No, we can't let them stay in the imperial capital in the future."

The woman frowned and said worriedly, "First they were not allowed to go to the Institute of Wisdom, and now they are not planning to stay in the capital... Father, why do I feel like you haven't been normal recently..."

The man lowered his eyes and said, "You will understand...Also, did anyone tell you anything?"

The woman hesitated for a while, and finally spoke: "The women at the street corner in front... these days, they secretly told me while working... that their men heard something while working with you... that you... that you don't respect His Majesty the Emperor..."

Sean, who had just stopped to relax and listen to a short story, suddenly pricked up his ears.

Not paying attention to the emperor? This is no small matter...

The man's breathing suddenly became faster. After a long while, he said in a muffled voice: "I just think... building that statue is unnecessary... Our life is already difficult, and we have to take out ten days every month to build that statue... So I complained a few words."

The woman was horrified and asked quickly, "Did you and your coworkers complain? This, this...if we are reported, won't our family be gone?!"

The man said irritably, "I just said a few words... and they scolded me... But, I won't report it..."

"What if?"

"No one can ever expect that..." The man suddenly looked at his wife, paused for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Mother, didn't you notice?"

"What did you find?"

The man laughed at himself. "If I had said something like this in the past, not to mention my coworkers, even you would have reported me to the police station without hesitation."

The woman's expression froze for a moment.

The man continued, "But now, I didn't send the children to the Kaizhi Institute, and you were just discussing it with me. You were just worried... Although those workers were talking about me behind my back, no one reported me..."

The woman's expression gradually turned into one of horror: "Are you saying... that we are beginning to disrespect His Majesty?"

The man gritted his teeth and said, "What difference does it make whether we respect him or not? Have we ever met His Majesty? Has His Majesty given us a good life? Is there any difference between our lives and those of our parents? Oh, don't worry about the Mad Beasts... But our parents also helped build the imperial capital, so this is what we deserve."

The man became more and more excited as he spoke: "Damn it, isn't life still hard? How did my father and your father die? Wasn't it because they were exhausted from building the imperial capital? They did that crappy stonework and their lungs were damaged."

"But what about the things the imperial capital promised to give our two families? Bullshit! When the elders in the family died, they said that this was for the benefit of the next generation. This was something they were willing to give to the empire. But they just pretended that what they said never happened in the blink of an eye?"

He sucked on the cigarette hard until his mouth was a little burned, then he exhaled a puff of thick smoke. Subconsciously, he wanted to throw the cigarette butt on the ground angrily, but he put his hand down as soon as he raised it, and put the cigarette butt in the small bucket - a bucket of cigarette butts could be exchanged for some tobacco scraps.

The man spat, "I have finally figured it out these days. Before, I thought that I could live like this, and that His Majesty the Emperor was our great benefactor... But don't think with your heart, think with your stomach. Can I still shout "Long live His Majesty" after working hard on the construction site for ten days with only vegetable stems and a few pieces of oil residue?"

The woman fell silent. She found that everything her husband said seemed to be right...

The couple's voices became lower and lower, perhaps because they were afraid of being heard or what, but the expressions on their faces became more and more expressive.

Sean, who had been listening, gradually showed a look of surprise.

These ordinary poor people, their reverence for the emperor is disappearing...

You know, most of the residents in the imperial capital have those black nematodes in their bodies, and the black nematodes are the emperor's way of maintaining the people's awe of him.

Sean had been thinking about what the relationship was between the emperor and the prisoner at the bottom of the Black Pigeon - was he used and then imprisoned? Or was he used too much and could not be controlled, so he had to be imprisoned...

Unexpectedly, the ordinary people in the slums here began to gradually lose their awe of the emperor.

He didn't wait too long, but pushed the door open and gently hooked his fingers.

The couple's eyes became blurred.

Deceitful Heart, activated.

After a moment, Sean opened his eyes in surprise.

The black nematodes in the man's body were still there, but they were dormant in a way he didn't quite understand.

The black nematodes in the woman's body were similar, except that they still retained a last bit of vitality - this was probably why she still had some awe.

How come the black nematodes in the couple's bodies fell into dormancy...and what caused the nematodes to fall into dormancy?

With doubt in his mind, Sean turned his gaze to the two sleeping children.

After a while, he looked more and more surprised. There were no black nematodes in the bodies of those two children? !

"Interesting..."

Sean left the family.

After taking a walk around the slums, Sean was surprised to find that many people in this place had the same situation as the couple.

The black nematode fell into a deep sleep in a strange way and temporarily lost its function.

The situations of the children here are different. Some of them already have black nematodes in their bodies and they are even quite active. Some are the same as adults, and some have none at all.

At the same time, Sean noticed that the children who did not have black nematodes were mostly under the age of five.

He immediately thought of a place - Kaizhi Institute?

Sean came to the largest enlightenment center near the slum.

As soon as he got closer, he narrowed his eyes.

There is no smell of pollution, but one can smell a hint of sulfur and gunpowder.

The big weasel is nearby.

Silently blending the illusion into the air, Sean floated into the Kaizhi Institute like an invisible ghost.

The overall structure of this place is similar to that of a primary school. After entering the gate, there is a statue of His Majesty the current emperor standing at the front of the playground.

Unlike the statue of the founding emperor, the statue here shows the emperor sitting on the throne, but his face is blurred and made more majestic.

When Sean discovered the black nematodes in the bodies of the residents of the imperial capital, he also tried to investigate various areas, including the Kaizhi Institute.

However, he was the only one who could check the black nematodes, and with his limited energy, he naturally couldn't check every place and every person.

Sean still remembers that he pretended to be a tourist and visited the Kaizhi Institute, but left after not finding anything useful.

Now, we have to investigate carefully.

Sean didn't rush to find the big weasel, he just floated around in the Kaizhi Institute.

The place was neither big nor small, and Sean finished the tour quickly. At the same time, he also found the location of the big weasel.

There is a basement in this place. Although the door was not opened, judging from the smell, the big weasel is probably inside.

However, apart from the factor of the crazy beast, there seems to be nothing unusual in other places in Kaizhi Institute.

“This doesn’t make sense…”

Finally, Sean set his sights on the statue of the emperor.

This was the first thing he checked, but he didn't find anything.

After circling the statue again, Sean frowned slightly.

Still didn't notice anything wrong...

and many more……

Many children who have not entered the Institute for Enlightenment do not have black nematodes in their bodies, and the adults whose black nematodes have entered a dormant state are also beginning to be unwilling to send their children to the Institute for Enlightenment... There must be a connection here, and it is likely that these changes are caused by the black nematodes falling into dormancy.

After all, it is related to the etheric layer. The subconscious of the parasite changes but he does not know why. This is an obvious reaction...

What if the Kaizhi Institute is the place where the black nematodes were implanted?

I don’t notice anything unusual…could that be because of my current state?

After thinking for a moment, Sean continued to conceal his breath and then revealed his figure.

At the same time, he also temporarily hid the huge energy of his deep red middle layer.

Standing in front of the statue, Sean looked directly at the emperor whose appearance he could not see clearly.

Suddenly, Noah gave a reminder.

"Master Saint III, there are etheric creatures invading your etheric body."

Sean's eyes lit up and the statue responded.

Sure enough, only people who have never been implanted and are weak will be actively implanted, and then the sleeping statue will wake up.

The black nematodes that invaded Sean's etheric body crawled outside the thinking hall. Sean ignored it and looked at the statue.

At this time, the statue of the emperor seemed to have not changed, but Sean, who had been observing, keenly discovered that the statue sitting on the throne moved slightly upwards.