Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 824 The Lost Ones of the Forbidden Zone

A dream world.

The penalty area east of Os-Nargue.

This is an unrecognized area.

The streams of light that bring life and warmth will stop before the forbidden zone. Obeying the commands of the gods, they spend 99% of their time hovering above the eternal kingdom. Only when the bustling city begins to feel a little tired will they briefly leave, just to allow the eternal people to enjoy a moment of the beautiful twilight.

Within the forbidden zone lies an endless winter and a long night.

The people of the Dreamland believe that the eastern restricted area is "uninhabited," a judgment based on their understanding of the harsh environment there.

No race could survive there.

Even in the coldest, most frigid plains, there is a cycle of day and night, and one can feel the warmth of the flowing light.

But the restricted area is dark.

...

Perhaps only the highest echelons of Os-Nargai know that the dark, lightless night was used to imprison a race that the gods could not control.

Those who have been eternally banished here are the tribes that committed grave crimes.

They have many names—

Remnants, those of original sin, those without light, those forsaken by God, blasphemers...

However, these titles were all based on the punishments they suffered during that era.

Before time immemorial, they had only one title—"The Conquerors".

...

That was a race without fear.

They do not worship those in authority, do not serve the gods, and even wage war against the gods during turbulent times.

The conquerors are not like any other race in the Dreamland, who have innate constraints. They are born without fear and have no sanity bar!

...

Compared to their acts of conquering the gods, perhaps this was the real reason for their exile; in the words of the temple, this was the conquerors' original sin.

The gods dealt with this race in a simple way—endless suffering.

Instead of exterminating them, they spared their lives, banishing them to the forbidden zone to eke out a living.

Because the gods know the weakness of human nature, and that given enough time and enough suffering, the desire to survive will eventually overcome the will to be proud.

Even races unwilling to serve the gods will eventually kneel before the temple.

...

In fact, the gods of dreams succeeded.

This goal has been achieved at least among a portion of the remaining people.

When the survivors, lacking enough food to survive the harsh winter, were forced to leave their tribes and offer their own flesh and blood as sacrifices to the gods, begging for forgiveness, the gods had already achieved their goal. The original sinful race, unwilling to serve those in power, could no longer endure the torment of the forbidden zone and chose to kneel before the gods, begging for blessings.

However, the objects of their supplication were not the gods of dreams.

It is not an external deity.

The last time they summoned it with the blood and flesh of dozens of living people, it was the shadow of the past in the world of consciousness.

...

The reason is that when the gods forgot about the descendants of the conquerors in the forbidden zone, an old witch wearing a tattered red robe secretly came to this place, laid down a path of shadows, and told her about her experiences and her story.

This can be interpreted as the Scarlet Witch picking the fruit that the gods planted ahead of time.

Especially when the Shadow slayed the Outer God's avatar for the sake of his dead believers, the survivors seemed to see the most worthy ruler in the world whom they should serve.

Their inherent pride and resilience have almost completely vanished.

The faith of the Shadows began to spread in the Forbidden Zone from that time onwards.

...

Of course, not all remnant tribes are like this.

The majority still remember the blood and tears of their ancestors; they have not forgotten the name of the conquerors and firmly believe that all those who came to this place were there with malicious intent.

Any survivor who attempts to summon deities or pray to superiors is considered a sinner who blasphemes against their ancestors, and in some extreme tribes, they are treated as winter food supplies.

……

They are now incredibly weak. Under the suppression of the forbidden zone for millions of years, their lifespan has been shortened, their physiques have become fragile, their senses have diminished, and their race's genes are degenerating.

The ultimate goal of all this weakening is to erode the will of the descendants of the conquerors, change their nature, and let fear take root deep in their genes.

This is not merely the gods' wicked pleasure, but a very necessary measure.

Imagine, in the world of consciousness, Morgot of Gaelic, Nero of the Enforcers… these mortals, with their own souls and wills, were able to withstand fear and the will of their remaining Outer God bodies for half their lives. What if the constraint of “fear” had never existed in the first place? What would the result be?
Given this premise, if we add sufficiently powerful forces, then the gods' status above humanity would become meaningless.

……

However, the environment in the restricted area is too harsh, and resources are extremely scarce.

The survivors were already struggling to stay alive; even taking another breath of the cold air was a luxury.

Their bloodline had been suppressed to its limit; they had no power left to speak of.

until a certain day.

An elderly man with a hunched back suddenly appeared.

He was like a lost, walking corpse, depressed and heartbroken.

Yet it lay in the cold desert for a full half month without dying.

...

……

The old man was taken in by a tribe of survivors.

His limbs and skin were old and decaying, as if he had no life, yet he was not dead.

He didn't eat, was indifferent to all the survivors around him, and spent most of his time curled up in a corner, lost in thought.

Some of the survivors believed the old man was about to die and wanted to eat him before he died.

Although it's not the coldest season in the restricted area, who could resist a hot, meaty feast...?

...

However, the young survivor who carried the weary old man back from the wilderness stopped his fellow tribesmen from doing so.

The boy was covered in dust and dirt, and was thin. Like all the other survivors living in the forbidden zone, he was draped in a simple animal skin, and his exposed skin was covered with a substance such as lime powder. The survivors, who had lived in the dark for many years, had evolved powerful night vision. Their pupils were all grayish-white, and they also had extremely thick hair, such as nose hairs that were so long that they could easily be mistaken for a mustache...

He wasn't not hungry.

In fact, everyone in the entire tribe was starving every day.

Even a meal of flesh and blood, even if it's not fresh, is enough to save many people who are about to die. It might even help them get through the cold winter.

But what good is simply surviving one winter? There will be another, and the winter after that.

The light will never come to this forbidden zone...

...

The other members of the tribe did not understand why the boy brought back a living outsider but did not allow him to eat him.

However, it seems that the boy still has a certain say in the tribe, and his fellow tribesmen do not go against his wishes.

Because, during the recent incident where lightning and fire brought light to the forbidden zone, the boy was the only one who witnessed and even participated in the battle between those in power, and who returned alive.

On that day, he witnessed his exiled people offering their flesh and blood to summon an evil god from another world.

It was also the first time in his life that he had seen fire and light...

...

The boy did not believe in gods, and he remained steadfast in this stance, even after that incident.

He saw the glory of his ancestors in the flames and learned how the white-ash desert in this forbidden zone was formed.

The hatred of the remnants of the people had long been planted in his heart. He was a descendant of conquerors, and even with his wings clipped, he was still a god-slayer.

The reason for taking in the hunchbacked old man is actually quite simple.

"You and they come from the same place, right?" The boy placed half a frozen rodent skin in front of the old man. This was his food for the next three days, originally intended for when he went out, but the boy felt that the old man's condition was unlikely to last more than three days.

The old man ignored the boy and didn't take the rat clippings; he remained huddled in the corner, lost in thought.

The boy, however, was very patient.

He began to speak to himself:
“I’ve seen them: the apostates, the shadows, and the black knives…”

"They were fighting right before my eyes..."

"The firelight blinded my left eye, but I can see more clearly than before."

“You have their presence in you, I’m absolutely certain.”

……

The old man still did not react.

...

The boy remained silent for a long time before asking again:
"You come from another world, right?"

"Perhaps you are different from the gods..."

"I want to lead my people away from here. I'll go anywhere as long as we can get out of this hellhole."