Zhou Huai gazed at the scenery outside the truck.

The truck drove out of a deep tunnel, and the view ahead suddenly opened up, only to instantly plunge into a gray gloom.

Though also a capital city, it was far from comparable to the Imperial Capital of Great Xia.

Low, dilapidated buildings clustered together, like countless rusty tin cans, casually discarded on this land.

The walls were mottled, revealing gray-black bricks underneath, and streaks of brown rust seeped from window sills and pipe joints, like dried tear stains.

The narrow streets were riddled with potholes, filled with murky sewage, emitting a nauseating sour stench.

Above, a chaotic web of power lines crisscrossed, fragmenting the already gloomy sky.

Several ragged children chased and played by a rubbish heap, their faces smudged with dirt, their eyes holding a numb emptiness.

Zhou Huai also knew the reason for this.

Tokyo City was divided into an Inner City and an Outer City.

The Inner City was called Takamagahara, meaning the ideal land where gods reside.

It was filled with towering buildings and flashing neon lights, a place where only Professionals could live. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The Outer City, however, was called Ashihara, meaning the impure world where Mortals live.

This was a cage for ordinary people.

"Damn it, this smell is really strong!"

Takeda Masao pinched his nose, his face full of disgust.

"Every time I come back from outside, I have to smell the stench of these commoners first; it’s really unlucky!"

The henchman, as thin as a monkey, immediately agreed.

"Exactly! Boss, look at their deadpan faces; they're so annoying to look at."

"They live like rats in a sewer, yet they keep having children. What's the point of having so many?"

Another person chuckled strangely.

"You don't understand this, Kobayashi."

"If they don't have a few more, what if they don't draw one who can become a Professional? Wouldn't their lives be completely over?"

"Look at that family over there; there are five children's diapers hanging outside their door. They probably want to make a bridge table."

Laughter erupted in the truck, filled with undisguised contempt for the lower-class populace.

Zhou Huai's gaze swept across both sides of the street.

He saw a haggard woman struggling to hold ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ a baby, with three other children of varying ages trailing behind her.

Her belly was slightly protruding, clearly pregnant again.

In Sakura Country, there was an insurmountable chasm between ordinary people and Professionals.

Ordinary people were inherently inferior to Professionals.

They could only engage in the lowest-paying jobs, earning meager wages, struggling to survive in the quagmire of Ashihara.

They could enter Takamagahara to work, serving the high-and-mighty Professionals.

Sweeping streets, clearing trash, or becoming waiters serving dishes in restaurants.

But they could not stay overnight in Takamagahara, much less enjoy the abundant welfare and resources of the Inner City.

The only way to change their fate was to have a descendant who could successfully become a Professional.

The Human Race could only know if they possessed the talent to become a Professional at the age of eighteen, through the Professional transfer ceremony.

This was like a huge gamble.

The stakes were the entire family's future.

To increase the probability of "winning," ordinary families in Sakura Country almost all chose to have four to five children.

They pinned their hopes on a vague probability, but also burdened themselves with an economic load so heavy it was suffocating.

Many families were shattered by this.

Fathers, unable to bear the burden, ran away from home.

Mothers, forced by circumstance, fell into prostitution.

And those children on whom great hopes were placed, once they failed to become a Professional, would instantly transform from the family's hope into an unwanted burden.

Zhou Huai withdrew his gaze, his heart devoid of any ripples.

The Law of the jungle was, after all, the cruelest Law of this world.

The truck bounced on the uneven road for about half an hour.

Everyone in the truck bed had long grown accustomed to the shaking, swaying from side to side, half-asleep.

It wasn't until the truck drove onto a magnificent cross-river bridge that the jarring bumpiness suddenly disappeared.

It was replaced by a smoothness almost like floating.

Zhou Huai's gaze passed through the gaps in the truck bed's railing, looking out at the bridge.

Below the bridge was a wide river surface, with calm water flowing, reflecting a leaden light under the gray sky.

And on the opposite bank of the river, the scenery was completely new.

It was as if an invisible barrier completely separated two entirely different worlds.

One side was Hell, the other was Heaven.

This was no longer the crowded, chaotic "canned buildings" of Ashihara, but true skyscrapers.

Each building was like a meticulously carved work of art, with flowing lines yet full of power.

The road surface was paved with a special pure white material, clean as new, without a speck of trash or stain.

Occasionally, pedestrians walked by, all impeccably dressed and arrogant in demeanor.

They and the numb, empty commoners of Ashihara seemed like two entirely different species.

Even the air seemed to become fresher.

This was Takamagahara.

The ideal land where gods reside.

Zhou Huai withdrew his gaze, secretly sighing in his heart.

No wonder those Professionals looked down on the commoners of Ashihara so much.

Living in two worlds with such vast differences, their sense of superiority had long permeated their bones, completely separating them from ordinary people.

Soon, the truck arrived at the Sankou Building.

This was considered the headquarters of the Tri-Mouth Gang.

Although the Tri-Mouth Gang could only be considered a third-rate small Gang in Tokyo City.

The number of Professionals in the Gang, however, was close to ten thousand.

The Gang had a strict organizational structure.

A small team like Takeda's was also called a Wild Dog.

This meant they were the peripheral lackeys of the Gang, specifically responsible for dirty and arduous work.

Gang members of their level couldn't even enter the building's door.

They could only stand quietly at the entrance, awaiting others' arrangements.

At this moment, quite a few members of the Tri-Mouth Gang had already gathered where they parked.

There were densely packed thousands of people, most of whom, like Takeda's small team, belonged to the Wild Dog category.

Each person's face carried an expression mixed with numbness, brutality, and unease.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of cheap tobacco, sweat, and inexpensive alcohol mixed together.

The noisy discussions merged into a hum, swirling over the square.

Takeda Masao happily approached the person closest to him.

"Kojima, what exactly is the situation today? Why were we all called here?"

The young man called Kojima, seeing it was Takeda, greeted him with a smile.

Then he shook his head.

"I don't know. I heard we're going to war with the Inagawa-kai; our turf in Shinjuku was raided by them."

"War? With just us Wild Dogs?"

A young man with a missing front tooth sneered, his face full of disdain.

"The big shots above eat meat, and we don't even get soup. Why should we risk our lives?"

A slightly older man next to him patted his shoulder, lowering his voice.

"Keep it down, kid, do you have a death wish?"

"Here, we're just cannon fodder. Whatever the higher-ups tell us to do, we have to do it."

While they were chatting and joking, Zhou Huai wasn't idle either.

His parasites were born every five minutes.

After all these days, he had accumulated nearly two thousand of them.

Now that there were so many Professionals present, how could he not make a move?