The meat buns were devoured while he asked for more, the waitress returned with a smile with another plate while Zhang Dong munched away. Having cash on yourself was a nice feeling as in his previous life he mostly survived on cooking himself some noodles and chicken here and there. Plus the frozen dinners if he didn't feel like doing much, but this food was really good even though he didn't really know what the meat in there was. He burped into his hand while hoping that no one heard, then rubbed his belly that didn't seem to expand that much.
*Hm, where did all of that food go. Well, I guess no more Mr. skinny fat in the future.*
He paid for the food with the gold coin, but this time around he got the change back, leave it to a big restaurant to have enough cash. He smiled at the waitress before going out, resulting in blush from her in response. He wasn't quite used to his good looks and didn't really know that you could use that for benefits.
*Okay, I still have some time to burn before the auction house opens, though I need to get there a bit sooner than the others as the sellers need to present their items for inspection first.*
He headed out into the city in the form of a tourist, looking left and right while at least trying not to look weird while doing it. People were giving him strange looks here and there, girls kept turning their heads while the men squinted their eyes at him. He wasn't using his cultivation at this moment, so others didn't regard him as a lofty senior but just as some good looking guy walking about. He was a bit flattered at the response he was getting from the ladies, but he wasn't here to pick up girls that much but to tour the place instead.
He visited a bathhouse as well, paying for the more exclusive one as he kind of got into the big spender mindset. There weren't many people around here at this time, so he could enjoy the large bath on his own. Dipping his large frame into the water after washing up and looking up at the ceiling while relaxing, taking baths instead of showers might have not been such a bad thing after all. He stayed there for about 30 minutes and ended the experience with a nice full glass of milk, a big mustache left on his upper lip in the process. He smiled at some kids that pointed that out and then headed back out into the city, the day looked nice and it would probably be a nice day, he felt it. Of course, he felt it wrong as after stepping out of the bath building he heard some people screaming.
There was a dirt road right outside, it was a bit narrow so you had to watch your step as there were horse carriage vehicles going back and forth which didn't leave much space for the pedestrians. They were pulled by various creatures, there were regular looking horses here and there but you could also see things like tigers or huge wolves doing the pulling. A commotion was happening about now as you could see people running to the sides of the buildings and off the road to safety. In the distance you could see two carriages speeding side by side while getting pulled by beasts, one was a big tiger while the other looked like a big hyena. You could see people on those carriages shouting at each other while smiling and smirking, having some bottles in their hands, they were clearly drinking.
They appeared a bit away from where Matt as at, he had some time to get a good look at them. They looked like some older teens having some kind of race while drinking booze. The people bolted to the sides while trying not to get run over while others pushed their carts to the side to make way for the rowdy youths behind them. They were probably some young masters doing silkypants stuff as always, guess no place was safe from those Zhang Dong thought to himself as they even had one way back in that tribe he visited. He didn't intend to do anything about it, the people looked like they were going out of the way and he already caused a big commotion when he was entering the city he didn't need people gawking at him even more than they already were.
Though fate had different things in store for him as the most common thing happened in this situation. A child at around 4 years of age tripped, fell and started crying while the mother was trying to pull that child and some other kids to the side. Of course, she pushed the two kids to the wall and then started quickly running back to get her last child back that was rolling on the road crying her little heart out. But the woman was just a regular person, so she wasn't very fast so at the moment that she was picking up her fallen offspring the people riding the monster-drawn wheeled vehicles arrived at the spot. She couldn't do much besides grabbing the child and trying to shield her with her whole body, hoping for the best while apologizing for getting them in this predicament.
Matt's face fell as he saw everything playing out, most people turned their faces to the side as they didn't want to see the daughter and mother pair to get smashed to pieces. He almost forgot what sort of world this was, people beneath a certain degree of power were worth less than dirt to those lofty young lords and clan members. They didn't have any problem in running over a mother and child in broad daylight. It's not that the people didn't care but they couldn't do anything in the face of real power. The people on the top tended to remain there and if you didn't have the tendency for slaughter you mostly didn't get far either. He didn't like that ... he didn't like that one bit...
People looked on in horror as the saw the two beasts run towards the defenseless woman and her child, they knew who the people in the carriages were. They were some Cheng clan members, of course, some from the younger generation. They moved along the city as they owned the place now, it was pretty chaotic the previous clan that was keeping the peace wasn't like that. But they couldn't do anything about it, they gritted their teeth as they looked at the poor woman. Suddenly something happened, they could feel a huge aura sweep over the place and a strange cultivator appeared right where the woman was standing. He waved his hands in a strange way and a strange translucid shield appeared in front of him and the woman. The shield was sparkling with lightning energy and looked deadly to the touch.
The two beasts felt the suppressing defensive ability in front of them but they couldn't stop, the shield wasn't wide so they tried to dodge to the side but they still ended up hitting it. The monsters got shocked and bounced off to the side while the carriages got propelled into Zhang Dong's forcefield ability the people on them looked in horror as they slammed into the sparkling wall which was placed at an angle so the carriage flew upwards while spinning and crashed on its top end. They both landed in a similar fashion with the bests getting yanked over as well.
The Cheng clan members were scattered on the ground but there were still some of them on the inside of the carriage. No one got really hurt though, all these people were cultivators and they could take some hit and this was just a regular vehicle crash. Two youths climbed out of each carriage along with some other men, they were the main silkypants and had their guards in the carriages along with them.
"Who dares! I am Cheng Tong, I'm the third son of the Cheng Clan head, I will have your head!"
One of the youth's barked out while looking around, his hair and robe in disarray as he got thrown about in his carriage like a rag doll.
"Ye, we are from the Cheng Clan, we rule this city!"
The other youth from the other vehicle spoke up, probably also a son from the same family.
At this moment a big vein appeared on Matt's forehead, this was the most stereotypical situation he could find himself in, saving people from some stupid snotty silver spoon-fed kid.
"Oh, you want my head?"
The two youths and their guards that were helping them up looked in the direction of the voice and could see a mad looking Zhang Dong. Energy was exuding from his body at this moment and his eyes began to glow. He took one step forward and his whole body was covered by a sheet of lightning energy. The Cheng clan people took a step back as they felt the oppressing aura, they gulped as the lightning clad cultivator took steps towards them. With each step he kept on growing, after two he was 4 meters tall and crackling with energy. Two more steps and he was 8 meters tall and after a final one, he was 10. He looked down at the bewildered Cheng Clan members that were directly below him now with a frown on his face.
"So, come on up here and take my head."
To Kill or Be Killed that is the way of the ancient time. Softness will make you weak during this time.
Yeah but if you lose that completely you'll become just another asshole.
@sabazurc Well, while that is true, there is a reason why there's so many people like that around after all.
Every single person at the top walked across countless corpses, it's simply how the chinese cultivation world works. Well, every world that isn't filled with powerless people like ours. Whenever people have power that puts them on par with thousands, millions of people at once, they TRULY reveal their dark inner parts. It would be strange if MC wouldn't at least, in some way, become like that as well. It is simply normal.
@IHadSoManyNames Is it? We do not know that because such a world does not exist. It's merely a figment of our imagination. And a lot depends on what kind of environment people at the top will create, which will in return define what direction people's values and culture as a whole go, add to that some natural instincts people are born with and that will the final result. If you have people on top who actually give a sh*t a lot is possible. It's just most do not care or do not care enough, or by the time they get to the top whole society and culture are f*cked up which makes it more difficult to change. I know some politicians and ex-officials in my country personally who have told me that if they did not take bribes and act/be corrupt at least to a certain extent they would get in trouble because the environment was like that around them. Unless you are at the untouchable position if you try to be completely right and uncorrupt in a very corrupt environment you will get fired or worse.
@sabazurc Almost didn't want to read your message since you put it in a nice big block ^^
Either way, to be honest, we all know human nature. The people that actually care about others are almost nonexistent. We all know that, we've seen it, we've heard of it. There is no need to make arguments against that imo, since it's just the truth.
People love to pretend, since it looks nice as a mask for other people, but deep inside, people still prioritise themselves above almost all other things.
Sure, there are some people that feel somehow inclined to help other people (through upbringing), but it's just kinda very rare for such people to end up at the top. Since people that prioritise their own gain above everything else will end up at the top sooner.
@IHadSoManyNames "The people that actually care about others are almost nonexistent"
100% disagree.
"Since people that prioritise their own gain above everything else will end up at the top sooner."
Maybe, sometimes they do not end at the top either. Having such a mentality does give a big advantage though.
@sabazurc Well, agree to disagree. From my perspective, there are almost no people that actually care. But I wouldn't know too much anyway tbh. I don't navigate society too much since I don't like it, so there's naturally no chance for me to meet many people, not that I would want that anyway ^^
@IHadSoManyNames Exactly, you do not know. My country has seen the destruction of the country(soviet union), civil war, loss of territories, extreme poverty, absence of electricity(most of the day), lack of food, revolution (x2), years of mafia domination and extreme corruption, and probably sh*t I can't even remember. The last decade or 2 are better. I can tell you that environment is the greatest factor when you talk about society as a whole. Humans are no angels but if I have to choose which direction they(well most of us) lean more naturally, I would say, they lean slightly more towards good. If there is someone drowning under the bridge and there is a rope tied to the bridge I believe most humans would drop that rope to save that person even if there were not any benefits gainable from that or any punishment(including just being shunned by society) for refusing to save them.
@sabazurc Well, if you call that "good" already, then I guess so yeah.
That action doesn't require any real sacrifice anyway. People would throw down the rope almost instinctively I guess. Whether that is because of instilled morals or the human being's natural reaction, I wouldn't know.
@IHadSoManyNames It might be a slight leaning and it is there. Of course, if you want him drop the rope, jump in, drag them out, call the ambulance, stay there until it arrives, if they are homeless take them home and help them find a job....nope that is very rare. My argument is: that is a starting point(for most, not all...some are pieces of shits naturally) and after that, it depends on an environment where the development takes human's character/personality.
@sabazurc Yeah, I can agree with that I guess. ^^
@sabazurc ever heard of the lucifer effect?