Chapter 1233: Chapter 25: Schemes, Calculations, and Confrontations [Extra Chapter for Silver Alliance Leader pk Xianyun Completed 67890]

Demons, bandits, Martial Artists, local thugs, Rascals, robbers; rebellion, breaking the law, confiscation of property...

In certain times, beauty really isn’t just a resource, not just capital, and even more not just a commodity, but the root of disaster.

On this, even the Guardians don’t have much of a solution.

You can’t raise them all yourself, can you? Not even an immortal could do that.

So the existence of brothels became inevitable.

And what the Guardians can do is give it a framework of order: all the women in such places, whether entering or leaving, must be listed on a roster.

In other words... they need documentation.

Under control at all levels, they try to reduce things like forcing good women into prostitution as much as possible.

But for those women who have no way to make a living, or simply don’t want to suffer hardship, there’s nothing that can be done.

Of course, it’s also because there’s massive demand.

(I won’t go into detail here. If you don’t get it, don’t project modern society onto this; bleeding hearts, please detour, thanks.)

In such places, the flow of利益 is complicated to the extreme.

You could say, touch these places and you’re basically touching a whole lot of people’s cake.

"Fang Che, I know you’re hot-blooded, but a place like a brothel— even the Ninth lord doesn’t dare touch it lightly!"

Zhao Shanhe’s expression turned completely grave: "This involves the livelihood of more than tens of billions of people! Among them, it even includes part of the Guardians’ fiscal revenue."

"This is something that would literally turn the heavens upside down! It’ll get you killed!"

Zhao Shanhe was so anxious his lips almost broke out in blisters.

Fang Che being this daring and reckless is certainly a good thing for the Southeast, but... suddenly moving against the brothels? How many heads do you think you have, damn it?

"Do you really think brothels are just brothels? They encompass everything. There are even Guardian spies inside, Wei Wo Zheng Sect lines, lines for all the big Jianghu Organizations, lines for the official court... it’s truly a place where dragons and snakes mix..."

"And don’t actually think that once you become a Martial Artist, Silver stops being important. People like you, who can take the world’s wealth at will, are still few. Even the highest-level Martial Artist can’t support an entire family just on Spirit Crystals!"

"Including High-level Guardians, they can’t spend their whole lives living only on Spirit Crystals either!"

"There are hundreds of billions of people on the Continent, but how many can actually use Spirit Crystals? It’s still the common masses that make up the majority."

"And if you do this, you think those brothel women will thank you? Wrong! They’ll only hate you for smashing their rice bowl, destroying their means of living!"

"Fang Che, you have to drop this idea!"

Ever since they started talking about brothels, Zhao Shanhe had switched directly to voice transmission.

He bombarded Fang Che’s ears non-stop.

Fang Che let out a helpless sigh: "General Zhao, do you still remember those few nights of actions?"

"Mm?"

"Every year, a huge number of kids end up wandering the streets, and every year a huge number of little beggars disappear... some of those are from the forces we hit a few days ago, but another part comes through the brothel channels."

"In other words, far too many children disappear after entering brothels. What they end up doing in the future, or how they’re dealt with... that remains a permanent mystery."

Fang Che sent a voice transmission: "Of course I’m not trying to uproot this gigantic creature that is the brothel system. No matter how filthy it is, it still has official backing and the Guardians’ deterrence. On the surface, they don’t dare go too far."

"If I were to uproot the brothels, it would actually benefit those Jianghu Organizations and Wei Wo Zheng Sect instead. How could I do something that stupid?"

"The reason I’m discussing this with you is to work out a way: to knock on the mountain and scare the tiger so they completely rein themselves in, to rescue some miserable people in the process, and then follow the vine to trace the melon, dragging out the Wei Wo Zheng Sect people one by one. Especially our current primary target, the people of the Qinglong Gang."

"And then, within the scope of the entire Continent, establish a rule."

Fang Che said, "That is: everything must be voluntary, no coercion allowed. Whether it’s women or children. If someone seeks them out on their own, that’s fine. But if they’re unwilling and are dragged off anyway... that counts as violating the rule of law."

"And the level of punishment will be raised a bit. That’s all."

"I’m no Savior. I do have a bit of a moral cleanliness fetish, but I also understand that this sort of thing can’t be banned outright across the entire Continent."

Fang Che gave a bitter smile.

It’s not as if he didn’t understand the stakes. That night when they caught those people and followed the vine up the chain, this brothel line appeared, and Fang Che, along with Feng Xiangdong and the others, had been nursing a headache over it ever since!

This line—never mind Fang Che, even if the Wind, Rain, and Snow Three Great Families joined forces, they still couldn’t move it!

Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s just a worldly brothel. Once this industry spreads across the entire Continent, taking root over hundreds and thousands of years, its利益 are like the roots of a giant tree wrapped around the whole land...

Touch one hair and the whole body moves!

Once they realize you’re truly moving against it, everyone whose利益 are involved will fight back to the death!

"This kind of existence may not be possible to ban, but it must be chained... otherwise..."

Fang Che said.

"The Ninth lord has been doing this all these years too—various rules, various inspections, various regulations and statutes, all targeted. But... a brothel is still a brothel."

Zhao Shanhe let out a long sigh: "The money comes too fast, too easy... understand? Let me tell you, on the entire Continent, from ancient times to the future forever, there are only two things that can never be banned: one is sex, the other is gambling!"

"Even if the world achieved great unity, they still couldn’t be banned!"