One day later, the power structure of the Lighthouse had been completely overturned.
Former City Lord Morgan and Church Head Charles were imprisoned in an abandoned supply warehouse at the very bottom of the Dustminer District, accompanied by musty garbage and completely ignored by everyone.
The Lightbearer, on the other hand, became the new ruler of the Lighthouse overnight. She disbanded the original Adjudicators and formed a new Law Council centered around her personal guards, becoming that god's spokesperson on the Lighthouse.
At this moment, all the holographic screens in the Lighthouse lit up simultaneously, whether in the resplendent corridors of the Citizen District or the crowded corners of the Dustminer District.
Ian's figure appeared on the screens, with the deep universe behind him.
"Starting today, the Lighthouse enacts three new laws."
His voice was calm, yet it spread to every corner, drilling into everyone's ears.
"First, the Three Laws are abolished. Emotions and desires are no longer sins."
"Second, the Citizen and Dustminer classes are abolished. Everyone is completely equal in resource allocation and basic rights."
"Third, the Lighthouse will return to the surface in twenty-four hours."
The Dustminer District was dead silent at first, then erupted into a tsunami of revelry. People who had been oppressed for countless generations hugged and cried, smelling the scent of "hope" in the murky air for the very first time.
But in the Citizen District, these three laws were like three death warrants, bringing extreme panic and resentment.
These three commands were like a bomb detonating all conflicts.
"He's crazy! This false god is crazy!"
"The surface is full of Pola Beasts! Going down is mass suicide!"
"Why should our resources be distributed to those inferior genes! They don't deserve it!"
"Overthrow him! Restore City Lord Morgan's rule!"
Anger was completely ignited. A large number of former vested interests—those Citizens accustomed to dictating orders—gathered in the central plaza, emotionally charging the defense line formed by the Lightbearer's guards, demanding the abolition of the new laws.
Marc and Ran Bing stood outside the crowd, coldly watching all this.
Watching those formerly high-and-mighty, brightly dressed people, whose faces were now twisted with hysterical ugliness.
"Look at them, Ran Bing," Marc's voice was low, yet it carried an icy chill. "They aren't afraid of returning to the surface. They are just afraid of losing their power, losing their status, losing the whips in their hands!"
Ran Bing squeezed his hand tightly, saying nothing. She looked at Marc's profile; on that familiar face, something was becoming hard and sharp.
Just as the riot was about to spiral out of control, Ian's massive holographic projection appeared above the plaza again.
His face bore a trace of playful indifference.
"It seems that livestock accustomed to captivity will actually fear the real grasslands."
His gaze seemed to pierce through the screen, crossing the clamoring crowd to land on Marc.
"Marc."
Marc looked up.
"I appoint you as the Chief Executive of the 'New World'."
"The Lighthouse's resources are indeed limited. Since some people are unwilling to share, then help them 'save' it."
Marc didn't hesitate in the slightest.
He squeezed Ran Bing's hand, feeling that warmth, then turned around.
Behind him were countless pairs of eyes—those Hunters and guards who had just been freed from their Dustminer identities. In their eyes burned the flames of revenge that had been suppressed for far too long.
Clang!
Marc drew the weapon at his waist.
A purge against the old world was about to begin.
However, just as he was about to give the order, Ian's voice rang out again.
"Wait."
Ian's gaze swept across the plaza, accurately locking onto an inconspicuous corner.
Standing there was Dustminer 4068.
No, now he should be called "Freeman" 4068.
At this moment, 4068's heart was filled with contradiction and resentment. It was true that he hated the Citizens, but when he saw all the Dustminers rise to the top in a single bound, standing on equal footing with the Citizens, an even stronger dissatisfaction arose.
'Why! Why can these lower-class people effortlessly obtain what I painstakingly pursued but failed to grasp?'
'If everyone is a Citizen, then what was the point of me enduring humiliation and desperately climbing the ranks in the past? This makes my "dreams" and "efforts" instantly worthless.'
He felt that gaze from the sky. His heart first skipped a beat, then an uncontrollable wave of ecstasy surged within him.
'He's looking at me! Could it be that he's taken a liking to me?'
'He must have seen a potential in me that is different from those mediocre masses!'
'My chance has come!'
Ian looked at him, revealing a playful smile.
"Bring him over," he ordered the guards beside him. "I have a very interesting game that requires a sufficiently 'special' protagonist."
The smile on 4068's face instantly froze.
Under the sympathetic or gloating gazes of the people around him, two tall guards forcibly dragged him away from the crowd.
An endless wave of terror instantly swallowed him.
...
The Lighthouse's energy core area.
This place had been temporarily modified. Suspended right in the center was a massive spherical metal device, its surface engraved with complex circuits, flashing with a dangerous faint blue light.
"Emotion Amplifier."
Ian sat lazily in front of the console, propping his chin with one hand while the other casually swiped across the control screen.
"A nice little toy."
Marc and the Lightbearer, who bore a complex expression, stood behind him.
"Once the Lighthouse begins to descend, the massive emotional energy fluctuations will inevitably attract all nearby Pola Beasts." Ian didn't turn around; his voice echoed in the spacious core area. "Rather than passively waiting for them to come for a meal, we might as well actively host a banquet."
He pointed at the spherical device.
"The Emotion Amplifier can magnify a creature's strongest negative emotions—such as fear, despair, and pain—ten thousand times, and then broadcast them out like a lighthouse, forming a 'delicious signal' that no Pola Beast can resist."
"We'll set its landing site as a 'slaughterhouse', and then, wait for all the 'ingredients' to deliver themselves to our door."
The Lightbearer's expression changed slightly. She seemed to want to say something, but ultimately remained silent.
Marc, however, understood.
He looked at 4068, who had been escorted in by the guards and was already paralyzed with fear on the ground. The latter was looking at him in despair, letting out meaningless whimpers from his mouth.
There was not a single ripple in Marc's heart.
He looked at Ian.
"He is that 'signal source'?"
"That's right, he is one of the signal sources. He's very talented in this regard!"
Ian stood up and walked in front of the trembling 4068, as if admiring a piece of art. "His resentment, his unwillingness, his fear... these emotions are so intense and pure. They are simply the perfect raw materials."
"Oh, right! Don't forget Charles for such a good thing!"
"Exchanging the despair of a few people for the safe descent of the entire Lighthouse."
Ian patted Marc's shoulder.
"You see, isn't this exactly what your Lighthouse is best at?"