Chapter 16 Out of Control

Exiting the "changing room," it still wasn't a residential area, but another large area similar to a train station platform. The shape of this area and the pillars standing in it were almost identical to the one they had passed through earlier, suggesting that the two areas were mirror images built on upper and lower levels.

Here, the surrounding air was breathable for ordinary people like Hank. Passing through this place and another winding passage, a clearing appeared ahead, and the three finally arrived inside Divine Grace Village.

For the two players, what they saw before them was indeed a spectacle. Orange-yellow light poured down from the sky. Looking up, they could see layers upon layers of vegetation, like clouds, forming the sky, the height of which could be roughly estimated as the distance from this underground location to the top of the canyon. Sunlight did not enter through the gaps in this vegetation cover, but rather after being filtered by these plants. This layer of vegetation was like Divine Grace Village's own ozone layer. Of course, what they saw at this time was no longer a purely natural product. This layer of vegetation had been improved several times over the past few centuries by the people living here. This protection was the lifeline of the village and had to be absolutely stable and safe.

Walking forward, they could see neatly arranged roads and monotonous, low buildings. There weren't many pedestrians on the street, and the clothes they wore were uniform. The men's clothing was exactly the same as Hank's, and the women's clothing was not much different in style, only slightly brighter in color.

At this moment, Feng Bujue and Crazy Blade had already taken off their protective suits' helmets and left them in the changing room. They tightened the collars of their protective suits and folded them inward to ensure that the clothes they were wearing inside were not exposed. Even so, they were still quite conspicuous.

To put it more vividly: two fifth-grade students had come to a first-grade classroom. They were wearing different school uniforms and were taller... But after all, they were still wearing school uniforms, not dressed up like Conan going to school. So, the villagers just looked at them with strange eyes, instead of screaming in panic or attacking them with hoes.

"The guy who designed this city has terrible taste. Even robots wouldn't live in a place like this," Crazy Blade commented.

"Heh... what did you think it would be like here?" Feng Bujue asked.

"When he said village, I thought it would be like 'the Shire,'" Crazy Blade said. "I didn't expect it to be like this... This place is like a formatted slum." He sneered. "A real slum is better than this. At least the buildings and people there have..." He couldn't think of a word for a moment.

Feng Bujue interjected, "Individuality."

"Right, individuality," Crazy Blade said. "Look at these guys, living in the same houses, wearing the same clothes, using the same things... Seriously, aren't you afraid of getting lost?" He turned to ask Hank.

Hank replied, "Every road has a number, it's easy to find."

Crazy Blade shook his head and sighed, "Alright."

"At least they have freedom in terms of hairstyles. The leader didn't arrange for them all to shave their heads. Only cadres are allowed to keep their hair or something," Feng Bujue said.

"Phoenix Fairy Academy sends its congratulations..." Crazy Blade really understood and replied jokingly.

The three of them walked for a while and encountered two street patrol officers. The style and color of these two people's clothes were slightly different. They wore epaulets, their boots were knee-high, and they were equipped with a slingshot and a metal shield.

"Stop," one of them called out to them.

Feng Bujue and the others stopped and waited for the other party to come forward and speak. Crazy Blade was fearless. He just looked at the other party with an attitude that was neither humble nor arrogant, standing there silently, while Hank was feeling weak and nervous, afraid to speak.

"Why did you come in wearing protective suits?" the patrol officer asked.

Feng Bujue replied, "Um... Officer, our clothes are broken."

"Broken?" The man suspiciously glanced at Feng Bujue. "The clothes are in the lockers in the changing room, how could they be damaged?"

"Reporting officer, they were accidentally caught by the metal door of the filtration layer," Feng Bujue replied.

"Oh..." The man responded with a skeptical tone. After a few seconds, he said, "Then go to the supply office to get a new set as soon as possible."

"Understood, thank you for your concern, officer!" Feng Bujue replied.

The two patrol officers looked at each other, shrugged, and then left.

Crazy Blade laughed, "Your attitude... you've watched too many domestic dramas. It's like an underground liaison meeting the Nationalist army on the street."

"It works, that's all that matters," Feng Bujue replied.

Hank looked suspicious and said, "That's strange... They actually believed it. How could the clothes be caught by the metal door of the filtration channel? We filter first, then change clothes, right? If anything, it would be the protective suit that got caught."

"Yeah, but how would they know?" Feng Bujue said. "They're not scavengers."

"Oh, right! Patrol officers should never have left the village," Hank realized.

"You thought of that too?" Crazy Blade interjected.

"In a social system with clear class distinctions that cannot be crossed, where everyone performs their own duties and does not interfere with each other, putting aside the upper echelons, a certain group living at the bottom simply cannot understand the work details of another group," Feng Bujue said. "Scavengers can't know how many dishes and soups are served in the patrol officers' cafeteria, and patrol officers can't know the process of scavengers using the changing room. So, I can just make up a reason. Are they going to immediately pull out their phones and Google the specific process of scavengers returning to the village?"

"Um... Due to sensitive words, please allow me to use 'cunning' to praise you," Crazy Blade said. The adjective in his mind was actually "despicable."

"Alright, Hank, you see, there's nothing to worry about. We can handle it well," Feng Bujue turned to Hank and said. "Now, before you go to report to your superiors, take us on a tour of your village first."

"But according to regulations... once a scavenging team returns to the village, they have to..." Hank's words were naturally interrupted by Feng Bujue.

"You've already brought two outsiders into the village, what regulations are you worried about?" Feng Bujue said. "If you go to report now, the two of us definitely can't go with you, because your superiors will see through that we're not members of the scavenging team. We also don't have time to wait for you to report clearly to your superiors before taking action. Besides, I don't trust you to act alone. If you betray us or show any flaws, then something that no one wants to see will happen... a fight.

"Also, bringing 'outsiders' into the village is undoubtedly a capital crime. I think your rulers won't care if you were threatened or not, and they won't listen to your explanation... So, if you plan to sneak away from us and then notify the patrol officers, it will not only lead to the death of your fellow villagers, but you yourself will not escape death in the end."

Feng Bujue watched the changes in Hank's expression, knowing that his persuasion had succeeded once again. "Your best option is to follow my instructions and not go to see your superiors first. Instead, take us to the village. After we've finished our tour, we'll leave the village quietly, and then you can report. At that time, you'll only be late at most, there won't be any serious consequences. No one will be hurt, and no one will know we were here."

"This is different from what we agreed on... you didn't say these things before..." Hank replied in a panic, looking somewhat at a loss.

"Then how did you think things would develop?" Feng Bujue smiled. "A plan has to keep up with the changes."

Now that Hank was on a pirate ship, as Feng Bujue said, everyone has weaknesses. Once they're grasped, they will betray their principles.

At first, Hank just didn't want to be killed. Later, he didn't want to see his fellow villagers killed. Now, these two threats were pressing on his shoulders at the same time. For him, the only solution was to cooperate with these two "outsiders" and hope that they could leave without being discovered.

Of course, he was thinking too simply and too naively. If he could think more deeply, he would understand that even if Feng Bujue and Crazy Blade left quietly in the end, just as they came quietly, waving their sleeves without taking a life, things would eventually be exposed... They had already registered their names when entering the village. Jia Wei and Joey were considered to be still alive and had already returned to the village. How could living people disappear out of thin air? Therefore, it wouldn't be long before Hank was arrested for questioning. If he couldn't explain it clearly, it would be a serious crime. If he explained it clearly, he would die.

…………

Deepest within Divine Grace Village, there was a place called the Temple.

Although this place was called the Temple, it had nothing to do with a temple. This "Temple" was the half of a starship that had been converted hundreds of years ago.

In the village, only the Corbyn family had the right to freely enter and exit the Temple. It was like their palace.

Over the years, the Corbyn family had styled themselves as the spokespersons of the gods. They conveyed the will of "God." Of course, this "God" had nothing to do with Christianity. The will represented by the word "god" could be arbitrarily fabricated by the Corbyn family.

If they wanted to kill someone, they would say that God wanted him to die. If they wanted to kill a group of people, they would say that this group of people were all heretics. If they wanted people to submit, they would issue orders in the name of God. If they wanted other people's property and wives, they could also fabricate corresponding reasons.

In short, the words of the Corbyn family were equivalent to divine will. Those who disobeyed were going against God and disregarding the lives and deaths of the entire village.

Of course, religious lies alone could not maintain their rule for so long. What the Corbyn family truly controlled was "knowledge." The information left behind in the starship was monopolized by them. They only shared it with a small group of useful people (the priests in the village). In this way, when they were willing, they could display some "miracles" to make the ignorant people fear and believe.

This was also why the common people of Divine Grace Village knew almost nothing about biology, medicine, or astronomy.

Biology made people question the Creator, medicine made people recognize death, and astronomy would expose countless religious lies and shatter people's fantasies.

Knowledge changes destiny, technology changes life.

But the Corbyn family was unwilling to see any changes in destiny. Any dictatorial individual or interest group was unwilling to see the good situation before them changed. Therefore, they had to know how to "control."

As the saying goes, the people are difficult to govern because they are too intelligent. The policy of keeping the people ignorant in Divine Grace Village could be said to be very clever. The Corbyn family did not completely prevent the villagers under their rule from accessing knowledge. They allowed the people to learn a part of it, such as farming, smelting metal, architecture, and so on... At the same time, they instilled brainwashing religious propaganda to make them believe in the existence of gods and not dare to do anything presumptuous.

Thus, there was such a unique and deformed civilization.

York Corbyn was the current "Son of God" in Divine Grace Village. It could also be said that he was the village chief, mayor, chief, president, and king...

His ancestors were greedy, treacherous, and visionary. After seizing power, they occupied the starship and then planned this set of ruling methods, creating today's good situation for him.

From his brief exchange with Hank, Feng Bujue had roughly understood what the social system of Divine Grace Village was all about. That was why he dared to assert that this script was just a science fiction setting. What "Son of God"? It was an old trick that had been played a thousand years ago. The dictators of the twentieth century were already too lazy to associate themselves with gods. At most, they would just self-appoint themselves as generals if they hadn't fought in a war, or self-appoint themselves as doctors if they hadn't studied. People with a little culture and intelligence couldn't do things like claiming to be the god's godson, own son, or second son.

As Hank led the two uninvited guests deeper into the village, it was York Corbyn's afternoon tea time.

Corbyn's life was very regular. He had three meals a day, two naps, and in the afternoon, he would drink tea and eat some snacks to satisfy his hunger. He would sleep at nine o'clock in the evening and basically changed the girl who accompanied him every night.

Some people may wonder, there are only a few thousand people in this village, how can he do this? Has he slept with all the women in the village?

In fact, it can be said that he has slept with every woman who is even slightly attractive. Why is that? This has to be said back to the thirteenth century, when European nobles exercised something called "droit du seigneur," also known as "prima nocta," which meant that the daughter of a serf had to be sent to the local noble to be "tasted" the day before her marriage. In Divine Grace Village, this bad habit has resurfaced. It's just that it's not so explicit. It's said that they are first sent to the Temple to receive the "baptism" of the Son of God. The time varies. Some he doesn't like will be sent out, and some he will keep for a few more days.

The Corbyn family has continued this behavior for many years, which has led to another problem, which is that their descendants are all over the village. Generally speaking, the head of the family will choose the most favored woman as his wife, so the nominal Son of God is only one, and his siblings are family members. The second generation is demoted to priests.

But in reality, it is unclear how many people in this village are related to Corbyn.

Over the centuries, the meeting of close bloodlines was inevitable. Although there were exceptions, statistically speaking, the genes of the descendants became worse and worse. Lower athletic ability, physical fitness, and intelligence, and a high incidence of congenital diseases... were all irreversible situations. Unfortunately, medicine in this village was also poor. Only the Temple had a few doctors. The end result was that the villagers were short in stature and very silly and naive. The population base also hardly increased, because the mortality rate from disease was too high.

The decline and demise of Divine Grace Village will come sooner or later, it's just a matter of time.

However, this matter may still have a turning point, because today a guy named Feng Bujue has entered the village...