Lord of Prayer

Chapter 600: Chapter 384: Good and Bad

The Feng City Star Association Medical Department was at a loss regarding Sasha’s current condition. Plus, with the Ghost now dead, they no longer urgently needed the victim to provide clues. Her examination was therefore temporarily put on hold, pending her attending Physician’s consultations with colleagues and external experts to determine the next course of action.

During this period, Sasha was allowed to go out freely as long as she was supervised. Her psychologist also recommended that she have more contact with the outside world, learn about everyday life, and experience new things. This would help her more quickly emerge from the shadow of her abuse.

Zhou Chen and Erin had wanted to enjoy a few days alone, just the two of them, but they saw how much Sasha longed to see the outside world. After talking it over, they decided to bring her along.

And so, that morning, the three of them were photographed on the street. Less than half an hour later, the bombshell news that Zhou Chen had an illegitimate daughter was headlining the news and trending everywhere.

"Damn it, these people are out of their minds!" Zhou Chen sat on a park bench, furiously typing out a post to clear his name.

He was only twenty-one, and Sasha looked to be eight or nine. A guy in his early twenties with an eight-year-old illegitimate daughter? That was complete bullshit. The most outrageous part was that those trashy clickbait accounts were passing Erin off as the mother. Were they blind to her blonde hair and blue eyes?

"Well, it’s not all bad. You’ve got some buzz now," Erin said, casually licking an ice cream cone beside him. "You should just use this publicity to announce that you’re opening your Forging Workshop."

Zhou Chen’s fingers froze over his keyboard. He thought for a moment. ’Hmm, maybe... possibly... that could actually work?’

"But I’d definitely get accused of buying trending spots and hiring online shills..." He scratched his head. "Better not. I’ll announce it some other time."

While his Clone was in North Carolina, his real body had been busy preparing to open the shop. The paperwork was more or less complete, but a whole host of problems still needed to be dealt with, such as the main shop’s location, product lineup, and courier service partnerships.

Even though he was, in a way, being financially supported by Li Xiye and Erin, a man still needed to have aspirations. He couldn’t just be a complete deadbeat, letting them pay for his food, clothes, and housing. His conscience wouldn’t allow it.

Besides, opening a Forging Workshop was also a form of cultivation in itself.

With the Hammer of Forging, Zhou Chen didn’t need to worry about his future; he just had to commit to this path and see it through to the end. But to advance to Tier Four, he needed to master at least one type of Rule Power. That wasn’t something one could learn casually. It required years of study and grueling cultivation; he couldn’t afford to slack off, even with an Authority in hand.

And for someone pursuing mastery in the Forging Realm, the act of Forging itself was the best form of cultivation.

In truth, Zhou Chen could already use the Hammer of Forging to execute Rule Level Skills, but he hadn’t personally mastered any Rule Level Abilities. Only by forging more and more outstanding masterpieces could he delve deeper down the path of Forging. Otherwise, he couldn’t even be considered a competent Blacksmith, let alone inherit the Hammer of Forging and become the next King of Melting and Casting.

As for the Wish Bottle, it didn’t align with his Extraordinary Abilities, so it couldn’t serve as a blueprint for his own path. However, once he advanced to the rank of Crowned King, he could fully assimilate that Authority and become a Crowned King of two Realms, wielding two Authorities.

A few minutes later, he finished writing his post to clear things up and published it. Just as he was about to close the social media app, a trending news headline caught his eye.

—The Beikaro Democratic Republic Officially Founded.

Over the past several days, with aid from the Star Association and support teams from various nations, the Salvation Army had managed to recover from the disaster. They established a new nation, enacted a series of democratic laws, and even announced the complete abolition of the class system. For the people of North Carolina, this was nothing short of a seismic shock.

The class system had been a part of life for the people of North Carolina for as long as anyone could remember, becoming deeply ingrained in their subconscious. Though a significant portion of the population had awakened after the dawn of the new era and thrown off the mental shackles of this system, the majority remained unenlightened. For them, the class system was bone-deep and difficult to eradicate. It was impossible to say how many would be unable to accept the announcement of its complete abolition.

In fact, the comments below the news article mentioned that members of the upper class were already gathering to protest in front of the new government building in North Carolina, demanding that the abolition decree be rescinded.

The Salvation Army was dead set on changing North Carolina and had no intention of coddling these people. They arrested every last one of them. Afterward, a spokesperson issued another statement, emphasizing that the abolition decree would be strictly enforced and that anyone who stood in the way would be treated as an enemy.

Faced with such an unyielding stance, no one else dared to cause trouble, and the abolition decree was implemented nationwide. If the reforms went smoothly, it might only take fifty years to completely eliminate this blight of a class system.

Compared to India’s caste system, this was considered a relatively easy societal problem to solve.

Following the declaration of the new nation’s founding came a memorial service for the fallen martyrs, and among the names listed was "Siegfried."

Zhou Chen chuckled to himself when he saw that. He closed the app and looked over at the two girls licking their ice cream. "Want to get Haidilao for lunch?"

"But the line for that will be super long... Let’s just get regular hot pot instead," Erin said.

"Regular hot pot it is, then. Let’s bounce~"

The three of them had just stood up from the bench when, about fifty or sixty meters away, a middle-aged woman on an electric scooter fell to the ground. A young man not far off saw it happen and rushed over to help her up. But suddenly, the woman grabbed onto his clothes and started screaming:

"You’re the one who hit me! You bastard, I hope your whole family dies! Are you blind?! I’m in so much pain! Don’t you dare try to run!"

The young man was completely stunned, frozen in place.

"Not another one of these people," Erin said, her delicate brows knitting in annoyance.

"You’ve run into this before?" Zhou Chen asked, surprised.

"One time when I was out shopping with Sister Xiye, someone tried to scam me." Erin was still fuming at the memory. "It was almost the exact same situation. I went to help out of kindness, and this woman grabbed me and wouldn’t let me leave. She insisted I was the one who’d hit her and demanded money. She even started cussing me out... I was so furious!"

"And then what happened?" Zhou Chen had never heard this story from Erin before, so he asked curiously.

Erin may have been a well-behaved young woman trained in the etiquette of the nobility, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have a temper. Especially after living with him and Xiye for so long, she was far from the pure, innocent girl she used to be. Still, it was rare to see her this angry.

"Sister Xiye had already been recording, so the woman just muttered a few curses and ran off," Erin said sullenly. "Sister Xiye used it to teach me a lesson. That was the day I learned about the ugliness of human nature."

"A pretty good hands-on lesson," Zhou Chen said with a shrug.

"Why is that lady doing that?" Sasha, standing beside them, pointed into the distance, her face full of confusion. "Didn’t that young man help her? Why is she yelling at him?"

"She’s trying to find a sucker to scam for money. If she fails, she loses nothing. If she succeeds, she makes a quick buck." Zhou Chen was long past being surprised by such things.

"But the young man helped her..." Sasha still looked completely lost.

"That’s what a bad person is, Sasha. There are good people and bad people in the World. Some bad people specifically like to prey on kind, helpful people. It benefits them—they can get money, for example," Erin explained, passing on the lesson she had learned.

Sasha’s expression was a mixture of understanding and confusion. She fell into deep thought, but after a moment, she seemed unable to make sense of it and asked, "So what happens to the bad people? Do they get punished?"

"Not usually," Erin said, shaking her head. "When middle-aged or elderly people pull these scams, they almost never get punished. That’s why they just get more and more brazen."

"How can that be?"

Sasha’s face fell. "But bad people are supposed to be punished..."

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