Chapter 35: The Class Game (Part One)

Yun Xueqing watched as the half-human, half-cow figure was whipped again and again until he fully transformed into a cow.

The transformation from human to beast was utterly horrifying.

The man holding him sneered darkly, “You’re next.”

Yun Xueqing’s expression remained indifferent as he lifted his gaze. “Are you going to beat me into a cow too?”

The man leered with a sleazy grin, his face full of flab quivering. “Not necessarily a cow—could be a horse, sheep, or pig. Definitely livestock, though. With your looks, you might turn into a swan.”

Drool trickled from the corner of his mouth, unmasked by any pretense. It wasn’t lust—it was genuine hunger for human flesh.

Yun Xueqing’s tone stayed flat. “You have the power to turn people into livestock?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man snarled with a ferocious laugh. “Kneel down properly and take your beating!”

Yun Xueqing had no desire to waste words on him. He struck the man’s numbing tendon with a backhand, eliciting a scream. Then, with a twist of the arm, he broke free from the hold.

The person nearby who had just whipped the previous slave into a cow saw this and raged, “The slaves are rebelling! How dare you assault a commoner!”

Yun Xueqing repeated the move, landing a palm strike on the man’s nape. The clawing figure immediately fainted.

Yun Xueqing picked up the whip that had fallen to the ground. He glanced at the cow beside him, which had completely lost its human faculties and was now only grazing with its head down. He shook his head lightly, skirted around the Livestock Yard, and returned to the small Wooden Cabin from earlier.

Pushing the door open, he saw Fu Wuxuan sitting on the bed, casually swaying his water-blue tail. Beneath the tail lay an unconscious man.

Seeing Yun Xueqing return, Fu Wuxuan smiled warmly. “Back already?”

His tone was casual, as if he hadn’t considered for a moment that being taken away might put him in danger.

Yun Xueqing nodded indifferently. “Are you alright?”

“Of course. This guy just tried to drag me out—probably to turn me into an appetizer,” Fu Wuxuan said with a slight smile. “I got some info out of him before knocking him out.”

“What info?”

Fu Wuxuan cleared his throat lightly and smiled. “People in this world are divided into six classes based on their wealth: livestock, slaves, commoners, gentry, nobles, and the King. Higher classes have the right to enslave and rule over lower ones.”

Anyone with even a single copper coin could become a commoner, while debtors became slaves, subject to the commoners’ control.

If a commoner was dissatisfied with their slave, they could whip them with a whip, beating them into livestock.

Slaves could earn money through various means to redeem themselves from the commoners and regain commoner status. But once fully turned into livestock, their fate was no longer their own—only being sold or slaughtered awaited.

Yun Xueqing nodded. Based on what the man who grabbed him had said, he figured he was currently in the slave class.

Yun Xueqing eyed Fu Wuxuan’s form. “With your current appearance, according to the rules here, you’re…”

Fu Wuxuan shook his head with a smile. “Half-human, half-livestock. Lucky it’s a water dragon form—no oxen or horse duty for me.”

Even now, he firmly denied any mermaid identity.

At this point, he sighed. “In this world, the line between human and livestock is razor-thin.”

Yun Xueqing suddenly asked, “Does each person’s heteromorphosis manifest different external features?”

Fu Wuxuan paused, surprised by the question. “You knew before that Oracles are actually infected. Their heteromorphosis features are influenced by the Anomalous Domain Lord of the first Weird Domain they encountered.”

Yun Xueqing said, “The lord of your first Weird Domain was a mermaid?”

Fu Wuxuan corrected him. “Not a mermaid—a water dragon.”

He emphasized the word “dragon.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Yun Xueqing couldn’t hold back. “That whip of yours—is it made from your own spine?”

“Of course not,” Fu Wuxuan smiled faintly. “If I pulled out my own spine, I’d be dead.”

Before Yun Xueqing could ask more, he confessed openly, “It’s a dragon bone.”

A section of spine from the Lord of the Weird, polished by him into the whip.

Yun Xueqing lowered his gaze, recalling the Rat Mother’s words about his Spinebone Whip being an S-Rank Weird Artifact. “The first Weird Domain you encountered was an S-Rank Weird Domain?”

Fu Wuxuan had mentioned before that an S-Rank Weird descended only once, destroying a major city in the process. Was Fu Wuxuan a survivor of that cataclysm?

This was public knowledge, so Fu Wuxuan didn’t hesitate to share. “Yes. Actually, after that disaster, a few others survived too—not just me.”

Among them were Tu Hexiangchu from the Spiritual Energy Special Control Bureau, Zhongse from the Degeneration Abstinence Institute, Chen Zhen the Saintess from the Divine Temple, and Shen Le, the leader of the Strategy God Heavens cult. A few more had their info suppressed by the authorities, unreported publicly. Fu Wuxuan was the only one who’d come forward openly.

Those who survived that disaster all became the world’s strongest S-Rank Oracles.

Yun Xueqing mused, “So you’re S-Rank too?”

It was hard to imagine the current frail Fu Wuxuan—who could barely stand—as once being a powerhouse like Tu Hexiangchu, capable of wiping out hordes of Weirds with a wave.

Fu Wuxuan showed no sorrow or regret. “A true hero doesn’t dwell on past glories. Let’s get through the current crisis first.”

Yun Xueqing followed his train of thought. “Zhongse wants to test how much human reason we have left.”

Fu Wuxuan nodded. “The question is how to prove it. With our current state, we know too little. We need to climb up.”

They were slaves now, saddled with massive debts. Their indenture contracts were even held by the commoners at the Livestock Yard. To turn things around, they needed money.

Yun Xueqing lowered his gaze. “I wonder how to make a quick fortune in this world.”

Fu Wuxuan suggested, “Let’s become bandits. Rob the commoners clean of their money.”

Use the commoners’ money to pay the commoners and redeem themselves.

Yun Xueqing eyed him suspiciously, noting the serious expression—as if he really meant to rob houses. Before it came to that, he advised, “Gaining wealth through illicit means probably won’t be recognized by this world’s rules.”

Otherwise, the bottom-rung slaves, with nothing left to lose, would go mad robbing and pillaging for a shot at freedom—and the world would have descended into chaos long ago.

Fu Wuxuan nodded. “Makes sense.”

Slaves were beneath commoners and theoretically couldn’t resist—unless they had combat prowess.

Fu Wuxuan said, “Let’s go out and see if there are ways to earn money.”

He sighed dramatically. “But with my broken body, I can’t do much labor.”

Yun Xueqing raised a brow indifferently. “There are jobs that don’t require moving.”

Like indoor crafts or the like.

“Selling my body?” Fu Wuxuan caught on quick. “To whom?”

His tone teased. “Sell to those monsters? Take me home for braised fish?”

Yun Xueqing hadn’t meant that, but he got pulled along anyway. “Monsters would probably prefer sashimi.”

The back-and-forth wasted more time. Fu Wuxuan, who’d never worried about livelihood in his life, stared at the ceiling and grumbled helplessly, “Let’s go out and earn some money first.”

Yun Xueqing glanced at his tail. “How do you plan to go out like that?”

Fu Wuxuan extended his arms with a smile. “Carry me.”

Yun Xueqing nodded and actually stepped forward to pick him up, startling Fu Wuxuan into waving him off with an awkward flush. “Just kidding.”

Yun Xueqing’s lips curved slightly. He watched as Fu Wuxuan pulled a wheelchair from his Storage Space, somewhat surprised. “You prepared this?”

Fu Wuxuan looked enigmatic. “Better to plan ahead.”

He’d known heteromorphosis would come someday—just not this soon.

Yun Xueqing said nothing, lifting Fu Wuxuan onto the wheelchair.

This time, Fu Wuxuan didn’t resist. Yun Xueqing held his waist with one hand and the tail below with the other.

The tail was covered in smooth scales—cool and not sticky, like harmless ice.

Fu Wuxuan hung his head, hiding his expression. His voice was half-gritted teeth, mostly embarrassed. “You’re groping my ass!”

Yun Xueqing’s face remained impassive, but he quickened his movements, settling Fu Wuxuan into the chair before saying matter-of-factly, “Noted. I’ll be careful next time.”

Fu Wuxuan: “…”

Yun Xueqing pushed him out of the Wooden Cabin, taking a detour to avoid other commoners working the Livestock Yard.

Pushing the wheelchair, he realized this was a town. Stalls sold all sorts of goods, crowds bustled about—it was prosperous and lively, like any ordinary town.

Yun Xueqing tried for day labor like a normal person, but merchants refused with “We don’t hire slaves.”

Fu Wuxuan pondered. “Probably to keep slaves from paying off debts easily. Commoners must have a private pact not to let slaves work in each other’s shops—that way, they can keep enslaving their own.”

Yun Xueqing frowned. Fu Wuxuan smiled. “Humans love doing that.”

“What?”

Fu Wuxuan’s lips hooked up, smile on his face but none in his eyes. “Bringing despair to others.”

Yun Xueqing said nothing, pushing Fu Wuxuan onward in search of work—but to no avail.

As they prepared to head back, a sudden sound of gongs and drums rang out. Following the noise, they saw a gorgeously dressed bald man banging a gong and shouting at the top of his lungs, “Whoever can wear this garment gets a gold coin! No class restrictions—slaves welcome to try!”

One gold coin equaled 100 silver coins, one silver 1,000 coppers. For most slaves, it was enough to flip their status to commoner. Slaves already crowded around the bald man, eager to try.

Yun Xueqing didn’t step forward. His gaze fixed on the garment to try on beside the bald man.

It was a loose white robe, like an outer garment for ancient beauties in dramas.

The fabric was thin, gossamer-like. Draped on a headless plastic mannequin, it looked especially sheer, sleeves billowing in the breeze.

Yun Xueqing stared silently at the robe. An impatient slave already yanked it off the mannequin and threw it on carelessly.

Less than half a minute later, he lost his senses—singing, dancing, then collapsing unconscious.

Fu Wuxuan scratched his chin, seeing through it instantly. “The robe’s haunted.”

Yun Xueqing nodded. “Let’s go.”

They lacked the power to confront a Ghost head-on right now.

But they were already targeted—no escape.

The white robe fluttered like gossamer in the wind, floating mid-air to hover before Yun Xueqing.