The Survival Committee had always wanted to solve the problem of the remaining three lairs.
But Dragon City's greatest problem was not the lairs.
It was not the monsters either.
It was not zombies or out-of-control superhumans either.
The problem was that they had no money.
Lu Siya and Gao Ye were right.
Any city needed to suck the blood of the vast countryside around it. Only through the continuous influx of capital, resources, and population could it maintain its daily operation and metabolism.
And only a developed industry could provide enough jobs for nearly ten million young people who were waiting to be fed.
But the prerequisite for a developed industry was a consumer market that was ten times larger than the market. Without an external market, there was no way for industry to develop.
From the first day Dragon City transmigrated, it turned into a deformed monster. However, due to the threat of survival, the people were forced to band together for warmth, and that was how they managed to last until this day.
By relying on the discovery of spirit energy as a new energy source and the rapid development of biochemistry, runic symbols, and life sciences, Dragon City used the method of a technological revolution to temporarily maintain a "miracle" where tens of millions of people stayed in their own cities but remained orderly.
But the other side of this miracle was that Dragon City's financial situation was constantly on the verge of collapse.
Tearing down seven lairs in just a short twenty years and building a large number of normal residential areas was already the limit of what they could do.
They were constantly in a state of war, so the Survival Committee had to come up with a large budget for the disabled and deceased soldiers.
They also had to rely on the government to solve the basic living allowance for the disabled citizens and the increasing number of unemployed youths to eat.
The construction funds to build the new northern region were also astronomical.
Just ensuring that tens of millions of citizens could eat synthetic luncheon meat made from earthworm meat alone was enough to give the leaders of the Survival Committee a headache.
Tearing down the last three lairs and finding enough empty land in the already crowded Dragon City to build new public renting houses so that the lair citizens could move in and find new jobs for them. During the entire process, they had to ensure that social order was stable and that no major chaos would occur. This was a very difficult task. In fact, it was even more difficult than fighting the northern offense.
'Instead of modifying the lairs, it's better to expand outwards and build new areas. Once we get more funds from the development of the new areas, we can come back and solve the problem of the lairs.' This was the Survival Committee's basic train of thought in the new stage of city development.
Of course, it was not just a problem of money.
The lair had existed for nearly half a century, and it had its own governing system and complicated interest groups.
There were also a lot of gray industries that did not exist in the outside world, but they were flourishing in the alleys that were as complicated and cramped as a maze in the lair. Countless people relied on the oldest industries and used all sorts of methods to sell their bodies to survive.
There was also a high possibility that the really dangerous wanted criminal was hiding in the depths of the lair.
For these people, even if the Survival Committee built luxurious residences outside and respectfully invited them to move out, they would not agree.
It was impossible for the Survival Committee to use force to attack the lair.
After all, 90% of the people living in the lair were normal citizens.
The lair was cramped and messy, and it was very easy for fires or buildings to collapse.
It just so happened that criminals with supernatural powers were the best at causing large-scale destruction.
If they went to war in the lair to capture an out-of-control superhuman, they could not guarantee that the superhuman would not be driven to desperation and drag thousands of innocent citizens down with him.
Right now, they were in the midst of the Monster War. The main conflict between humans and monsters over living space was the Survival Committee. It was impossible for them to create such a large-scale chaos in Dragon City.
Besides, human society is never black and white.
There are always gray areas.
Right now, most of the gray industries in Dragon City were gathered in the three lairs, so it was relatively easier to monitor and manage them.
If they destroyed the three lairs, the gray industries would spread all over the city, and it would be the same as cancer cells spreading, which would make things worse.
The nineteen-year-old Meng Chao might have had a hard time understanding why a city of heroes like Dragon City, the outpost of human civilization in the Other World, would tolerate the existence of dirty lairs.
But after Meng Chao returned from the apocalypse, he gathered information from all sorts of places. His mind raced, and soon, he understood the problem.
The Golden Tooth Lair Lu Siya mentioned was the largest of the three remaining lairs.
It was said that there were hundreds of thousands or even millions of people living there, but no one had ever counted them.
There were all sorts of the oldest industries in the lair.
Naturally, that included monster colosseums.
Compared to the legal monster colosseums in the outside world, the monster colosseums in the lair had two things that attracted people the most.
The first was the illegal monster colosseums in the lair. Usually, the monsters would go through all sorts of insane modifications and become incredibly brutal, bloodthirsty, and terrifying. They would even be injected with all sorts of illegal gene medicine so that the monsters would go berserk and bring unparalleled excitement.
The second was the gambling.
The legal monster colosseums allowed people to gamble, but there was a limit to the amount of money they could bet.
They also had to record the information of the gamblers, and even if they won, they had to pay a high gambling tax to support the development of biochemical modification technology. It was also included in the compensation fund for the disabled and deceased soldiers.
At the same time, illegal loans were strictly prohibited. The citizens were not allowed to borrow money to bet.
It could only be said that it was just for fun.
Of course, the illegal monster colosseums did not have such a problem.
With just a cough, they could borrow one hundred or two hundred thousand or even more money to bet. Of course, the interest was also terrifyingly high. Many people sank into it and could not turn back. In fact, they threw away their normal jobs and lives outside and could only become one with the lair.
"Jin Yongqiang is a frequent customer of the underground monster colosseums in Golden Tooth Lair. The people there know that he's part of the middle management of Heavenly Works Machines and a machine master at the peak of Earth Realm. He has plenty of chances to earn money, so they are naturally at ease and lend him a lot of money," Lu Siya told Meng Chao.
"Honestly, things were fine two years ago. Jin Yongqiang was just playing around and didn't lose a lot of money. Last year, he even won a lot of money.
"But this year, for some reason, not only did he lose all his money, he even pawned his house.
"Even so, he's still enjoying it. When he's free, he goes to Golden Tooth Lair. Perhaps he knows that with his normal salary, it's impossible for him to get his house back, so he can only try his luck in the monster colosseums.
"But what does this have to do with the case of the murderous biochemical pets in Blessed Paradise?"
Meng Chao organized the clues and told Lu Siya his discovery.
"The underground monster colosseums in Golden Tooth Lair definitely have the technology to modify monsters, and they're even crazier than the legal labs in Spirit Creation Creatures and Agricultural University. They don't care about the rules. They have the technology, and they have the motive to modify mutated rabies," Meng Chao said.
"Perhaps this virus has always existed, and it's specifically used to make monsters go berserk to increase their attack power and excitement to attract the spectators.
"Jin Yongqiang is a frequent visitor to the underground monster colosseums, so it's only natural that he knows the rules here. Perhaps he has a way to get mutated rabies.
"This means that as long as we find the underground colosseums Jin Yongqiang often goes to and his friends there, they might be pharmacists, monster controllers, or vets from some monster fighting squad. Then, we'll find our answer!"
"That's right!"
Lu Siya said excitedly. "Meng Chao, I realized that you're really my lucky star. You seem to be able to turn the impossible into the possible. In just a short day, you basically found the answer from the mess of clues. Let's go to Golden Tooth Lair now!"
"Wait …" Meng Chao said hesitantly.
Meng Chao hesitated. "Just the two of us? Based on what I know, there are still quite a number of gangs in Golden Tooth Lair. Many of them have existed since decades ago, during the zombie crisis. Their history is even longer than the Survival Committee's. If we go in alone, what if the situation goes out of control? "
Lu Siya was stunned for a moment before she quickly said, "Of course we won't be the only ones. I'll gather all the clues to the abnormal beast research department and have the higher-ups send elites to support us."
"Is that so?"
Meng Chao was contemplative. "Wait, I think I saw Shen Yupeng."
"What?"
Lu Siya raised her voice. "Where are you? How did you see him?"
"I'm at the entrance of Spirit Creation Creatures," Meng Chao explained.
"The secret police are monitoring Spirit Creation Creatures' lab. When Gao Ye received the test report, he immediately reported it to the secret police. Shen Yupeng must have come to him to understand the situation."
"Damn it, this guy's sense of smell is even more sensitive than a dog's. We can't let him sniff us out!"
Lu Siya said anxiously. "Hurry up and leave. Don't let Shen Yupeng see you. Hurry up and meet up with me at the entrance of Golden Tooth Lair. We have to find the person who gave Jin Yongqiang the mutated rabies before Shen Yupeng and the secret police!"
Meng Chao blinked.
He stood at the entrance of Spirit Creation Creatures and watched the black car Shen Yupeng drove get closer to him.
"Alright, I'm coming," he said to Lu Siya on the phone.
…
On the surface, Golden Tooth Lair was just a place with a lot of buildings. Most of the entrances and exits were blocked by construction waste and vehicles that had been burned to the point of being empty. It was a gray concrete forest.
The entrance was just a seemingly normal market that sold all sorts of monster flesh and blood.
Only the thick fragrance lingering in the air and lingering for a long time showed that this place was different from a normal residential area.
It was the smell of the Hundred Poison Banquet.
Many of the monster organs were poisonous, but they tasted incredibly delicious. They were even better than the pufferfish on Earth.
In the past, there were often citizens who could not resist the temptation and cooked poisonous monster organs, but ended up getting food poisoning.
As time passed, the Survival Committee banned the sale of poisonous monster organs for the purpose of eating them.
And in Golden Tooth Lair, which was a place that existed between the law and the law, the ban was just empty words.
The Hundred Poison Banquet, which was made of hundreds of poisonous monster organs, had long since become a specialty known to all.
Quite a number of citizens came to Golden Tooth Lair just to satisfy their desire for good food.
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