030. The Outsider
Li Aozi glanced at him.
Barnum, busy driving, couldn't make any gestures, so he vaguely said, "I mean, isn't it a man's job to protect a woman…"
"Women of the old era had far more courage and pride than today's decadent youth."
Li Aozi criticized:
"Besides, she is an independent and strong woman. I believe she can pull herself out of this darkness on her own. And you too, don't look down on someone just because of their gender."
Barnum wanted to argue against this point of view, but when he thought about Li Aozi's background, he decided not to.
After all, this man had been cast out by the women of the Frost-Plated Republic, yet still maintained a normal sense of gender equality. Li Aozi's perspective and level of thinking were far beyond his own.
Li Aozi didn't press the issue further. Barnum was the late-blooming type, and as an [Architect] in the [Craft] branch, 'Magic Biomechanics' required deep philosophical understanding as one of its core knowledge areas. Without sufficient enlightenment, there's no way to become an [Architect].
No one can help with that; Barnum could only rely on his own accumulation and experience to broaden his horizons, then continually reflect and understand.
That said, when Li Aozi saw the 'bride' in the back seat staring out the window, trying to find traces of her era, he couldn't help but think of Qiu Ran.
He had never understood why Qiu Ran chose to die. She clearly could have been rescued if she had just waited a little longer, yet she resolutely set herself on fire and stepped into the fake man's battlefield.
But now, Li Aozi understood a bit more.
For Qiu Ran, perhaps something was indeed more terrifying than death, just like how Miss Alexia seemed so lost and desolate at this moment.
Li Aozi knew her home, her beliefs had been destroyed.
She could no longer find the meaning of her existence.
In a sense, Alexia was already a dead person, but Li Aozi believed that she wasn't someone who would stay down. He believed this girl from 500 years ago could stand back up through her own will.
However, all the way back to the abandoned factory, [Inquisitor] Alexia didn't utter a single word.
The hover car drove into the factory and came to a slow stop. Li Aozi and Barnum got out, but Alexia remained in the back seat, as if she were a rigid corpse, lifeless, with empty eyes that made it hard for anyone to meet her gaze.
She was tall, only half a head shorter than Li Aozi, but now she seemed terrified of being caught by reality. When Li Aozi opened the car door, she turned her head away and curled up into a ball, smaller than a newborn baby or an elderly person on the verge of death.
For a moment, Li Aozi even began to doubt whether what he had read in that post in his past life was true or if it was just sensational content made up by a marketing account to gain attention.
Could this weak woman really be the strong, fierce Inquisitor they had known?
"David Lian, are you crazy?! We're allies now, and you're trying to incite infighting!"
Li Aozi and Barnum turned their heads to see people inside the factory gathered in their respective groups, armed and facing off with their leaders.
The woman questioning was a fierce member of the civilian militia named Amanda Williams, with curly hair braided like a Gypsy. She was accusing David Lian, the leader of the Children of Fire, a grumpy old fanatic who kept his eyes closed, with orange fluorescent paint on his eyelids, making it look like he had burning eyes.
"Amanda, it was your subordinate who disrespected our faith first. Hand him over, or the wrath of Aliaza will consume the entire world."
David Lian spoke in a low, rhythmic tone, as if he were pounding a drum. He held an ornate human bone artifact in one hand, gesturing various symbols with the other, his stern voice and strange demeanor evoking fear in others.
"To hell with that," an angry young man from the civilian militia said. "You sacrifice the bodies of the dead to the gods—what kind of proper god would accept that?"
The young man's accusations didn't bring about the expected outrage. Instead, many of the neutral parties criticized him:
"Adam, you're being too rude. The Children of Fire are a major church; how can you say that?"
"Exactly, exactly. They have the freedom to believe whatever they want. After all, we're all brothers in the same trench now."
"Ha, those who don't believe in the gods will sooner or later be burned by fire."
The civilian militia was mostly made up of people who had received a few years of compulsory education and had rid themselves of superstition. However, the rebels here didn't all come from cities.
Some came from rural areas, some were drifters from the outside world, and many were just unemployed or farmers. For them, the existence of gods was like cheap alcohol, a temporary relief from their unsatisfactory reality.
"…Church?"
Li Aozi was taken aback. He turned his head and suddenly heard Alexia speak.
The Children of Fire had deep roots in the rural countryside. Many of those standing against Adam were also part of the reason why such a large rebel alliance had been formed—the Children of Fire had rallied many followers and mobilized manpower.
Although everyone could see the ignorance and backwardness of the Children of Fire, they were relying on their influence for the time being and had to turn a blind eye. Young Adam, full of passion and justice, didn't understand the ways of the world. Seeing the Children of Fire once again using the corpses of the dead for rituals and sacrifices to the gods, he angrily kicked over the fire pit, disrupting the ceremony.
Amanda, hearing the whole story, felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.
On one hand, she really didn't like the mad behavior of the Children of Fire, but on the other hand, if they became dissatisfied and left, the strength of the entire group would be greatly diminished, and their struggle against the Grand Duke would be doomed.
The leader of the civilian militia had left on urgent business, leaving the entire faction's decision-making to her. She had no choice but to turn to Adam and gently say, "Adam, go apologize."
These words hit Adam's soul like a thunderbolt. He looked in disbelief at the trusted leader and the comrades behind him, nudging him to apologize.
"I don't understand!"
Adam said:
"If we're not here for justice, not here to resist the colonial rule, then what are we gathered here for? To let these worshippers of false gods take the political stage? What will the world think of us? What will our citizens think?"
Alexia raised her head, murmuring:
"Colonizers?"
"My fellow countrymen, isn't our nation's independence and autonomy the most important thing right now? There are people starving by the roadside and under bridges, while others throw delicacies into the trash every day. Under this sunless sky, some freeze to death while others install air conditioners at home!"
Alexia clenched her fists and stood up straight.
"Injustice… Oppression…"
Her gaze swept over the crowd, her ears tuned in to Adam's desperate cries.
"My fellow countrymen, we have fewer than fifty million citizens, yet we feed 600 million people in the Frost-Plated Republic. Our milk feeds their soldiers until they're fat and strong, and they, in turn, oppress us. Has anyone not suffered at the hands of the Frost-Plated Republic? How many daughters have been violated by their occupying forces? They're sucking our blood, and the church sacrifices our soldiers' bodies to gods that don't exist—how is that any different from the colonizers? They're all blood-sucking bastards."
"Heretic!"