Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 206 - 030. Aliens

Chapter 206: 030. Aliens

Li Aozi glanced at him.

Banam, who was driving and couldn’t make gestures, had to vaguely say, "I mean, isn’t it natural for a man to protect a woman..."

"Women of the past era had more spirit and pride than the degenerate youth of today,"

Li Aozi criticized,

"Moreover, she is an independent and strong woman. I believe she can find her way out of the gloom on her own. You should, too. Don’t look down on someone because of gender issues."

Banam wanted to argue against this view, but when he remembered Aozi’s origin, he decided not to dispute any further.

Rather, it was ironic that the man in front of him had been driven out by the Frost Plated women, yet he still maintained an egalitarian mindset, making Aozi’s scope and level of thought seem much higher than his own.

Aozi didn’t overly preach. Banam belonged to the type that matures late. An "Architect" is the only designated ’big daddy’ in the "Fine Artistry" branch’s ’Demonborn Framework’. One of the core pieces of knowledge is philosophical thought; without the proper level, one couldn’t aspire to become an "Architect".

Nobody could help with this, Banam had to rely on his own accumulation of experience and learning, broaden his perspective, and then continuously accumulate, reflect, and comprehend.

That said, when Aozi saw the ’Bride’ in the backseat looking out the window in a trance, searching for traces of her own era, he couldn’t help but think of Qiu Ran for some reason.

He could never understand why Qiu Ran had to die; she could have been rescued if only she had waited a bit longer, yet she chose to ignite herself and step into the fire of the Pseudo-Humans without hesitation.

But now, Aozi understood a bit.

For Qiu Ran, perhaps there was something truly more terrifying than death, much like how Miss Alicxia looked utterly dispirited at this moment.

Aozi knew that her home, her faith was killed.

She could no longer find the meaning of her own existence.

In a certain sense, Alicxia was already dead. But the Alicxia Aozi remembered shouldn’t be this kind of person; he believed that this girl from five hundred years ago could stand up on her own will.

However, all the way until they returned to the abandoned factory, Judge Alicxia hadn’t spoken a word.

The hover car entered the factory and slowed to a halt. Aozi and Banam got out of the car, while Alicxia sat stiffly in the back seat, like a lifeless corpse depleted of soul and life, her gaze scattered, almost daring not to be met.

She was tall, only half a head shorter than Aozi, but now she seemed afraid of being seized by reality. When Aozi opened the car door, she turned away, curling up, weaker than a newborn baby or a dying old man.

For a moment, Aozi even started to doubt whether the story told in that past life forum post was true, or was it merely sensationalism crafted by a marketing account to attract views and traffic.

Was this weak woman really the strong, brave Judge they had encountered before?

"David Ryan, have you lost your mind?! We’re allies now, and yet you want to provoke an internal conflict!"

Aozi and Banam turned their heads. Inside the factory, people clustered around their respective groups, armed, each facing off with their leaders against the other.

The woman, who asked with an accusing tone, was a valiant soldier from the citizens’ militia, named Amanda Williams. Her curly hair was braided like a gypsy’s. She was accusing the leader of the Children of Fire Church, David Ryan, a babbling old charlatan, who was keeping his eyes closed, his eyelids painted with orange fluorescent makeup, making it seem as though he had a pair of burning eyes.

"Amanda, it was your subordinate who first disrespected our faith. Hand him over, or else the wrath of Aliasha will consume the whole world."

When David Ryan spoke, it was as though he was drumming; dull and rhythmic. Holding a finely crafted bone magic artifact in one hand and making various gestures with the other, his voice was loud and menacing, his emphasis strange, involuntarily instilling fear in others.

"Fuck that," a young man in the civilian militia angrily said, "You offer the dead to the deities, what kind of respectable deity would want that!"

The young man’s accusation didn’t bring about the outrage he expected, instead, many of the neutral faction criticized him:

"Adam, you’re being too disrespectful, the Children of Fire is a great church, how can you speak like this."

"Exactly, everyone has the freedom to their own beliefs, no matter what, we are brothers in the same trench now."

"Haha, you who do not believe in gods, will eventually be burned to death by the flames."

The members of the civilian militia were mostly people who had received several years of compulsory education and had broken free from superstition, yet not all in the Resistance Army were from the city.

Some came from the countryside, some were big shots in the Outer World, and many were unemployed vagrants and farmers; for them, the existence of deities was like cheap alcohol that could temporarily alleviate the frustrations of reality.

"...The Church?"

Li Aozi was taken aback, he turned his head as Alicxia suddenly spoke.

The influence of the Children of Fire Church was deeply rooted in the rural countryside, and many people stood against Adam because the ability to gather such an immense Resistance Army was partly because the Children of Fire Church had rallied a significant number of followers, mobilizing manpower.

Even though everyone saw the ignorance and backwardness of the Children of Fire, at the moment, relying on their power, they had no choice but to turn a blind eye; the young Adam, inexperienced, lacking understanding of the ways of the world, driven solely by passion and justice, saw the followers of the Children of Fire beginning to use the dead for their rituals, offering sacrifices to the deities, angrily went forward, knocked over the brazier, and disrupted the ritual.

Amanda, upon learning the circumstances, also felt caught between a rock and a hard place.

On one hand, she really didn’t like the crazy actions of the Children of Fire, but on the other hand, if the Children of Fire were dissatisfied and left with their people, the team’s strength would be greatly reduced, and the cause of resisting the Duke would naturally not be possible.

Just then, the leader of the civilian militia had to leave due to some matters; the entire faction’s decision-making fell on her shoulders, so she had to turn around and say diplomatically, "Adam, go apologize."

These words struck Adam’s soul like thunder, he looked incredulously at the trusted leader and the teammates behind him, shoving him, pursing their lips, signaling him to apologize.

"I don’t understand!"

Adam said:

"If we are not here for justice, if not to resist the dominion of the colonizers, then what are we gathering here for? To let such a group of freaks who worship an Evil God take the political stage, how will the world see us? How will our citizens see us?"

Alicxia lifted her head and murmured:

"Colonizers?"

"Fellow countrymen, isn’t our country’s independence and self-determination the most important thing right now? Some are starving on the streets and under bridges, some toss delicacies into the trash daily, under this sunless sky, some are freezing to death, while others have installed air conditioning in their homes!"

Alicxia clenched her fists and stood upright.

"Injustice... oppression..."

Her gaze moved across the crowd, pricking up her ears, taking every bit of Adam’s desperate cries into her ears.

"Fellow countrymen, we have less than fifty million citizens, yet we sustain 600 million Frost Plated People; our milk feeds the Frost Plated warriors, makes them strong, and in return, they oppress us. Who hasn’t suffered at the hands of the Frost Plated? The daughters ravaged by the garrisoned Frost Plated People, have there been few? They are sucking our blood, The Church offers up the bodies of our warriors as sacrifice to non-existent deities—how is that different from the colonizers? They are all bastard bloodsucking vampires."

"Heresy!"