Ange dragged the Little Zombie down, and the 'people' on the road became more numerous, many of them skeletons and zombies, either carrying baskets on their backs to transport goods, or turning the winch to draw water—repetitive tasks like these.
On these skeletons and zombies, Ange saw his own reflection; he was a skeleton engaged in repetitive work too, his task being farming.
With the presence of these Skeleton Zombies, Ange and the Little Zombie appeared inconspicuous; people on the road didn't even glance at them, busy with their own tasks, looking worried and disconsolate for some unknown reason.
Ange was discovering for the first time that there could be so many kinds of 'people' in the world: humans like Aisike, Minotaurs with bull heads, cave dwellers who walked with their long front limbs touching the ground, and Enchanting Demons with cloven feet but explosive figures—various creatures abounded.
Of course, the majority were still skeletons and zombies, who completed almost all the repetitive tasks, such as working the rope lifts, carrying water, and transporting goods.
Leading the Little Zombie by the hand, Ange wandered aimlessly. The farther he walked, the more remote the location, and the fewer the people, until finally, in a secluded corner of the sprawling Underground City, he found a piece of soft, flat land and stopped there.
The reason he stopped was that the soil was soft, fertile, and moist. As a Farming Skeleton, Ange was very sensitive to soil; he could tell at a glance what type of land could grow crops.
The soil here was fertile, but too damp, and there was no sunlight.
Even the farms at the Resting Camp had sunlight—something the Underground City lacked. Yet the lack of sunlight didn't mean there were no plants; on the rock walls at the edge of the flat ground grew a kind of luminescent moss.
This didn't surprise Ange; if the Breathing Soil could sprout moss from rocks, then the Underground City without sunlight could do the same.
After being transported here a few months ago, Ange had not farmed for a long time. Seeing the soft soil and the plants that could grow, the instinct to farm engraved in his soul became hard to resist.
Without sunlight, with no need to avoid it, and without the Resting Wind or the need to dig caves, Ange simply started to fuss with the moss, gathering the luminescent variety from all around.
As Ange collected the moss, a fierce quarrel erupted in the council hall of the Underground City.
The main dispute was between two individuals, Succubus Rina and Goblin Klegg, over Aisike's failure to acquire food, forcing the Underground City to confront a life-and-death situation and make a final decision.
Rina angrily declared, "Your proposal is inhumane, heartless, and immoral! Driving these people out into the wilderness means certain death for them. You're committing murder!"
Klegg responded leisurely, "I'm not a human, so why should I have human feelings? Expelling some so that others may live—isn't that the most moral thing to do? If we don't do that, by this time next year, we will all starve to death."
Rina retorted, "That's just sophistry. Who are you to decide which people get expelled, or how many? And who gets to survive? You don't have that right."
"It's not me who decides how many to expel; the food does," Klegg explained calmly. "How many people our food can sustain is how many stay; the rest get cast out to fend for themselves. Otherwise, when the food runs out, they will all die."
Rina suggested, "We could work harder, keep the Magic Lamps lit for longer. We can all add more Magic Power to them—united, we can definitely get through these challenging times."
"But what about next year?" Klegg dismissed the idea. "This world can't support too many people to begin with. Previously, because of the wealth left by the transfer station of the Undead Empire, we managed to survive an extra thousand years. Now, we really can't hold out any longer. Perhaps we should stop resisting our fate and let things return to their natural state."
Pausing for a moment, Klegg added, "Right now, by expelling the lower-end population, we can still make a selection, retaining more valuable high-end talents. Once we run out of food, even if you want to select, it will be impossible. Noble Mages will starve just like cave dwellers, and clever Goblin Engineers will rot just like those Enchanting Demons who only know how to seduce and beguile. That would be a true waste."
While discussing matters, he didn't forget to put the Enchanting Demons down, infuriating Rina so much she turned her face away and addressed Feilin, "Lord Feilin, Klegg's proposal is absurd and cruel. Please use your vote to veto his proposal."
Feilin nodded, "It is indeed too cruel. However, Rina, if it were up to me, I would suggest invoking the Undead Calamity."
"What?!" As soon as Feilin finished his statement, not only Rina and Klegg but everyone in the council hall was jolted awake.
As the name implies, the Undead Calamity would be a disaster unleashed by the Undead, turning everyone into Undead creatures, effectively killing off all living beings in the Underground City—a more cruel act than Klegg's expulsion proposal.
Moreover, he was fully capable of doing it. All the Undead creatures in the city were under Feilin's command; he could launch the Undead Calamity with but a thought.
For a moment, everyone thought they had misunderstood. Rina, who couldn't believe it, naturally tried to make excuses for the ever-kind and approachable Lord Feilin, "Does Lord Feilin mean to turn everyone into Witches?"
Feilin shook his head, "There aren't enough materials for that. At most, three or five could be transformed, which would be meaningless."
"Then what do you mean?" Klegg asked cautiously. He could accept the expulsion of some since it wouldn't reach him, but if it was the Undead Calamity, he would have to fight for one of those three or five chances to be reborn.
Feilin sighed deeply and asked with great earnestness, "Do you know what the greatest achievement of the Underground City's development is to this day?"
This was a significant leap in the topic, and everyone shook their heads in confusion.
"It's the atmosphere of harmonious coexistence. When everyone first arrived here, Minotaurs and Goblins were sworn enemies, Enchanting Demons were slaves to humans, and many races were each other's food. Do you know what people will do when the food runs out and they become hungry?"
Some guessed what Feilin was getting at and showed grave expressions—an outcome they hadn't considered before.
"They will clean the newborn calf of the cow next door thoroughly and throw it into the pot, skewer Goblins, sprinkle them with seasonings, and put them in the oven, and chop off the feet of Enchanting Demons to make soup."