CHAPTER 354: CHAPTER 3: EARTHLY DIVINE KINGDOM! MECHANICAL DIVINE SECT (2)

Duncan felt they were like ruffians.

"Interesting."

"This must be the food chain of the social ecosystem."

Duncan discovered that the people here seemed to have a natural inclination towards order. After gang members divided up the territory, they began to establish rules. The merchants also quickly formed organizations, and even what could be bought in each area of the living quarters was clearly delineated.

As for those hidden esoteric practitioners and cultists, they also swiftly formed small groups and even converted several civilian units.

The entire settlement resembled a massive ant nest.

Seemingly chaotic.

But in reality, everything had its traces. An underground ecosystem had tacitly formed, where everyone was like a cog in a machine, even gang thugs found their own place within this growing massive machine.

"Even without the Mechanical Church intervening in the grassroots, order automatically formed amidst the chaos."

"This kind of subtle change."

"Absolutely wasn’t formed overnight, but is an inertia of social rules."

When Duncan returned to the plaza in the living quarters, more than ten thousand people had already been divided into three groups. The first group consisted of skilled workers. They were like busy worker ants, improving their status by relying on labor. The second group consisted of marginal people, gangs, merchants, thieves, prostitutes, and others. They constituted the society outside the industrial zone, each marking out their own territory. Undoubtedly, the most dangerous among them were the esoteric practitioners and cultists, though Duncan was not yet clear on the difference between the two.

The third group were people like Duncan, idlers who either slept all day or wandered around aimlessly, living off relief food while figuring out how to get into a factory and become a cog in the future.

By this time, the social structure of the settlement was already diverting, and within the second group, there was one type that received special favor from the church.

Those were the pioneers.

Unlike scavengers, they were combat units, each had at least one star, and carried firearms with permits issued by the municipality.

Even those fearsome gang members would avoid them.

These people were desperados.

They were responsible for surveying the underground areas around the settlement, exploring undiscovered ruins, or searching for resource points. These people would gradually illuminate the dark map, after which the Mechanical Church would send people to develop the resources.

Duncan roughly found his career direction.

But just at this moment, a rumbling sound came from the southwest direction of the Divine Hall area, then he saw the idle crowds around the plaza converging in that direction.

"The Prayer Room is open!"

"Hurry up."

Duncan followed the crowd towards it. A mighty stream of people gradually congregated, and the idlers were also gathering here. Basically, apart from those with work, tens of thousands of people were rushing here.

Duncan ran quickly, towards the front of the line, while those behind him saw too many people gathering and gave up, retreating.

Approximately over ten thousand people entered an independent area.

At this moment, a church deacon in a gray robe glanced around, casually pressed a switch, and the heavy steel door closed, isolating the others outside; gathering too many people could easily cause stampedes.

A series of iron gates opened.

At the front of this small plaza, there was a statue of a Steel Angel, followed by the sound of gears turning. The central door at the front did not open, but the side doors on either side did.

About five hundred people formed into each group and gradually entered.

Duncan was positioned quite near the front.

He was among the third batch to enter the Prayer Room, and behind him, a gang member was looking around. His gaze first fell on a unit marked ’Cultist’, he fiercely approached, trying to cut in line, but was coldly glanced at by that person, and immediately shrank back, turned his head angrily at the seemingly small Duncan, "What are you looking at?"

"Get behind me!"

The onlookers were just watching the spectacle, no one intervened, most people were indifferent bystanders, and the church guards patrolling on both sides were also unconcerned.

As long as there wasn’t a major disturbance, the church people wouldn’t care.

If the machine still ran, don’t touch it.

This was one of the proverbs of the Mechanical Church.

But if it caused trouble and caught their attention, sorry, at least a whipping was the starting point; three lashes and your skin would split open, making you bedridden for half a month.

Interesting.

Duncan remained unmoved, observing others’ reactions. The area was swarmed with a mixture of people, and there were dozens of units marked as cultists.

The gang thug, humiliated and angry, directly reached for the collar behind Duncan.

In an instant.

Duncan sidestepped, chopping down with his hand like a blade, and before the gangster could react, his vision went black, and he collapsed instantly.

Since the situation was unclear, he didn’t hit too hard.

Thud.

The gang thug fell to the ground, catching the attention of a patrolling guard, who came over wielding a gun, looked surprisingly at the small-framed Duncan, then single-handedly picked up the gangster and tossed him to the side.

Soon someone woke up the thug, followed by a church member stepping out with a whip.

Crack!

With one lash, the skin split open, blood gushed, and even his clothes were ripped open.

Crack!

The second lash fell, the thug had already fainted, but was immediately roused, and received another whip.

The entire process was swift and skilled, taking less than two minutes. After three lashes, the gang thug couldn’t walk anymore and was thrown outside the walls by the patrolling guard through a side door.