Dragon Clan: They're all insane, and you still want me to slay dragons?

Page 110

Of course, saying one thing and doing another, but even so, after Christianity became the mainstream religion in Europe, European nobles and kings were still restricted in their marriages. They would only marry one legitimate wife, and at most they would divorce and remarry or find a lover, rather than openly taking concubines like in China.

The system of monogamy is ultimately different from the system of monogamy with multiple concubines.

At this moment, Uesugi Koshi implies that Aso Shin would be a great lover. Wouldn't that be a violation of the doctrine?

"Then let me ask you, are you married?"

"No."

"Yes!"

Uesugi Kotsushi shrugged: "You're not even married yet, so how can it be considered cheating?"

A breach of contract requires a prior agreement, and a "wedding" is the covenant in the Bible that establishes a relationship between a man and a woman. You haven't even made an agreement yet, so what kind of breach of contract is this?

Of course, this is a far-fetched explanation.

Gao Kui suddenly realized that Uesugi Kotsu was not actually that devout.

"What are Gao Kui-jun and the boss talking about?"

Aso Makoto sat in front of the stall with a bowl of noodles in her hand, her cheeks flushed as she asked a question. She could sense that Takagi and Uesugi Kotsukoshi had glanced at her a few times while whispering to each other.

Those fleeting glances made her secretly pleased. Could it be that a girl like me could also catch Gao Kui's attention?

"The uncle complimented you on your beauty," Gao Kui said selectively, telling the truth.

She's not as pretty as Gao Kuijun's girlfriend.

Asou Makoto always thought that Gao Kui's girlfriend was Chen Motong. She had overheard the conversation at noon. If they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, she wouldn't have gone out of her way to buy such an expensive suit for him.

But when the words reached her lips, Aso Makoto hesitated to say them, at least not at this moment.

In the end, the girl just lowered her head, her cheeks flushed, and silently ate the ramen that Uesugi had specially added extra toppings for her.

Customers came and went in front of the stall, mostly girls, but none of them were as persistent as the girl from Ochazuke earlier.

Chapter 138 Beyond Heaven

After finishing her ramen, Asou Makoto counted out some change from her pocket and handed it to Uesugi Koshi. She actually could eat onions; her tears weren't from the spiciness of onions.

Uesugi refused to accept it; what was a bowl of ramen?

Asou really didn't want Takagi to think she was a girl who liked to take advantage of others, so she insisted on giving it to him. After Uesugi Koshi declined several times, he said, "Why don't you just stay and help me out for a while?"

Ah, helping the boss, Mr. Gao Kui is also helping the boss, doesn't that mean...?

Aso carefully collected the change and quickly helped Uesugi Kotsugi clear the dishes. Then, she quietly stood next to Takagi, leaning her body towards him in the evening breeze, happily acting as the mascot.

After the addition of another pretty female signboard girl, the ramen stall's business visibly slowed down. A handsome man or a beautiful woman alone can attract customers, but when the two stand together, it actually intimidates people, resulting in a net loss.

Uesugi Yue didn't care whether business was good or bad. He was just happy to see the young, handsome men and beautiful women standing there and to feel the unique innocence and purity of youth.

For Uesugi Kotsugi, who was nearing the end of his life, few things were more important than being happy.

Around 8 or 9 o'clock, Makoto Aso's phone rang. It was his grandmother calling, asking why Makoto Aso hadn't come home yet and whether something had happened to him outside.

Grandma didn't urge Aso Makoto to go back immediately. The child is grown up and should have some independent space and freedom of his own. Grandma was just worried about Aso Makoto.

After hanging up the phone with his grandmother, Asou Makoto turned around and bowed to Uesugi Koshi, apologizing, "I'm sorry, boss, I have elderly relatives to take care of at home, so I can't continue to help you."

Uesugi waved his hand and said it was no problem. Girls your age can earn at least seven or eight hundred yen per hour doing part-time jobs. You've helped me for so long, so I'm the one who's profited.

"Gao Kui, why aren't you taking that girl home yet?" Uesugi Yue continued to give Gao Kui a helping hand.

Asou Shin was about to wave his hand and say no, but a sense of anticipation stirred within him, and he turned to look at Gao Kui. Gao Kui didn't respond, but instead stared blankly at another ramen stall about ten meters away.

A man in his early twenties, dressed in a black suit, stood politely in front of the stall, talking to the ramen stall owner. After a few words, the owner counted out some cash and respectfully handed it to the man in the suit.

The man handed a receipt to the shop owner, bowed to him, and then walked to the next stall to talk to another stall owner. He was about to reach Uesugi Koshi's stall.

"Are they government officials, or property management/sanitation company officials?" Gao Kui asked, somewhat puzzled.

“How could they be from the government or some legitimate company? They wouldn’t be so polite. They’re from a local gang.” Uesugi explained the local situation to Takagi.

Legitimate utility companies and property management companies never come to your door to collect payments; you have to go to their office with the money yourself. Only gangsters, when collecting protection money, will proactively come to your door with a smile to collect it.

Upon hearing the word "Yakuza," Makoto Aso immediately looked timid and stepped back behind Takagi. For an ordinary high school girl, the word "Yakuza" was still too heavy.

"Even street vendors have to pay the gangs?!" Gao Kui was shocked. Were the local gangs really that greedy?

"How rare! Have you ever seen the Hong Kong movie 'Young and Dangerous'? In it, the street vendors have to pay the gangsters a fee; if they don't, they can't do business..."

Uesugi Koshi roughly described to Takagi the methods local gangs used to deal with ordinary street vendors. Basically, if you didn't pay protection money, they would cause trouble at your stall, claiming your soup was spoiled, throwing flies into your noodle soup to say your noodles had hygiene problems, or having someone sit for hours with a tattoo on their face to intimidate other customers...

These are all common tactics seen in films and television dramas from various countries. Common means effective; this is their job, they can afford to wait, and they have plenty of ways to get back at you without breaking the law. Ultimately, the law only regulates the basics of being a decent human being; there are plenty of unethical things that don't break the law.

If you don't want to be disgusted, you can only pay money to avoid disaster.

So-called smiling service and politeness are only given to you after you have illegally "plundered" your personal property through unreasonable means.

"Are all Yakuza like this?" Gao Kui frowned.

"Pretty much the same."

Uesugi shrugged, counting the banknotes he was about to hand over to the yakuza: "Those low-class Yakuza extort us vendors using underhanded methods. The slightly more respectable ones do things more decently, but the vast majority of their income also relies heavily on violence."

More openly organized Yakuza groups became less reliant on violence, employing more covert methods of extortion. For instance, companies creating paid antivirus software and firewalls would deliberately spread viruses online.

As for the top-tier organized crime, have you ever heard of a country called the United States?

What Uesugi said made it sound like the whole world was full of all sorts of yakuza.

Gao Kui couldn't help but examine the Snake-Headed Eight Families according to Uesugi Etsu's point of view. Based on the hierarchy defined by Uesugi Etsu, what level of yakuza were the Snake-Headed Eight Families?

They should be in the second-highest tier, no longer relying so much on violent means. But among all the "powers" in this tier, if we further subdivide, the Snake Clan should be the least competitive.

This "second-rate" status doesn't mean the Snake Clan is weak, but rather that they are a mix of legitimate and illegitimate forces, relying more on violence than other similarly sized groups. They've come a long way, but not completely. After all, they control a large portion of Japan's underworld, and sometimes it's difficult to break free from that path.

As the two were talking, the man in the suit had already walked to the stall. He was about to greet Uesugi Kotsugi when he subconsciously looked over when he felt Gao Kui's gaze, and then froze on the spot.

At this moment, Gao Kui's gaze was even sharper than Yuan Zhisheng's. The man in the suit couldn't help but recall the last time he was angry that a certain colleague had done something wrong and was ordered by Ruotou to cut off a piece of his little finger as an apology. Ruotou's gaze at that time was far less sharp than Gao Kui's.

After the initial fear subsided, the man in the suit instantly recognized Gao Kui. A few hours earlier, the main branch had sent Gao Kui's photo to all its underworld members, claiming him as a VIP. Anyone who discovered him would be rewarded handsomely by immediately reporting him to the main branch.

While collecting the money, the man in the suit was still fantasizing about whether he could run into the handsome young man the family was looking for and make a fortune. The family said there would be a big reward, and there really was. He was getting married soon, and the dowry and wedding expenses would be huge.

Good news! The VIP guest that our family specifically requested has been found.

Bad news: the other party dislikes him.

The man in the suit looked terrible, his voice trembling: "I... I was just following the rules..."

He roughly understood why Gao Kui disliked him; any normal citizen would dislike members of a violent gang.

Uesugi quickly handed the protection money to the man in the suit, gesturing for him to leave. He was genuinely worried that Gao Kui might lose control and do something outrageous.

Human emotions are so strange. Even normal people can be laughing and chatting one second, and the next second they can be completely ruined and become resentful by an unintentional word or image.

The man in the suit took the money and slunk away. He didn't bother collecting protection money from the remaining stalls anymore, ran to a far corner, and took out his phone to call his family.

"Don't make things too hard on him. He's just a nobody. If he can't collect protection money, he might even get his fingers cut off by the headman." Uesugi patted Gao Kui on the shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Even if his finger was cut off, that was his own choice. Did I ask him to join the underworld?" Gao Kui said expressionlessly.

"If you hadn't listened to what I said, and you met him in another place, and you saw him being chased and attacked, or you saw him being forced by his junior to cut off his fingers, would you have helped him?" Uesugi Koshi posed a hypothetical question.

Gao Kui thought for a moment and said, "I will."

Uesugi Kotsuki instantly understood what kind of person Takagi was.

They are very simple and kind, but their perspective on problems is narrow and limited, and they don't even think about things at all. They only seek to have a clear conscience when doing things.

But as John Donne said, no man is an island, entire of itself. Is it truly a matter of conscience to help those who are wronged and to lend a helping hand to those in need?

But what if we shift our focus from what's in front of us to a broader perspective, considering interpersonal relationships?

Perhaps the bastard who just got a good beating from Gao Kui is someone's hero, or perhaps someone he's chatting happily with is actually a heinous villain. It's not always like that, but ultimately, you never know.

Following this point, and combining it with Uesugi Kotsushi's previous theories about the underworld, Takagi's thinking began to diverge, and he gained a clearer understanding of what kind of world this was.

Is it true that black is bad and white is good? Yes, it is. Is it true that we should help those in need and lend a helping hand to those in trouble? Yes, it is.

But there is no absolute black and white in this world, and not everyone has a good choice. One person's freedom may very well infringe on the freedom of others. A's suffering may be B's happiness, and the development of technology also means that some people lose their jobs...

This is the real world; it operates according to certain rules. It's not always perfectly on track, but it never deviates too much.

Is this the world Gao Kui wanted?

Obviously not.

To put it presumptuously, or perhaps a bit naively, what Gao Kui wants is a world where no one is harmed, everyone can be happy, and there is no harm, suffering, poverty, disease, or any other injustice.

Such a world is called "Utopia" in philosophy, that is, a place that does not exist, an ideal kingdom. In theology, it is called the new heaven and new earth, the kingdom in heaven.

The facts are clear: such a world does not exist; it is something that our current material world can never develop to the point of being able to achieve. We can only approach it infinitely, but never truly reach it.

But Gao Kui still couldn't help but fantasize, yearn, and embrace such a world, and he became increasingly disgusted and dissatisfied with the world he was in now.

In a daze, Gao Kui seemed to see two non-overlapping worlds: one was the world before him, and the other was another world. He was both outside the East Red Gate of this world and atop the mountains of another world.

The world is at our feet.

An authoritative voice came from the sky, as clear as a flowing spring and as thunderous as a roar. Gao Kui couldn't quite hear what the voice was saying, but he could vaguely make out the urging in the voice.

At the same time, the sound of a zither drifted from the foot of the mountain to the summit.

Looking around, one could see 144,000 people standing at the foot of the mountain, relying on him. Their faces were obscured, but one could see two barely legible names written on the forehead of each person.

They played instruments and sang, but just as Gao Kui couldn't hear the voices in the heavens, he also couldn't hear the songs on earth. He only vaguely knew that it was a new song, an absolutely new song.

Strangely enough, despite not being able to hear the voices clearly, Gao Kui was able to count the total number of people at the foot of the mountain: 144,000 people, not one more, not one less.

Moreover, Gao Kui knew that each of them was innocent, flawless, and a sincere person who would never utter a single lie.

If utopia truly exists, then the inhabitants of utopia must look just like them, without any exceptions.

They cheered and sang, gazing at Gao Kui as if he were a savior who could save all.

The sounds from the heavens and the music and songs on the ground grew clearer and louder, and the faces of 144,000 people on the ground, along with the two names on their foreheads, became increasingly clear.

In contrast, the world before our eyes is becoming increasingly blurry and alienated; Uesugi is fading, Aso is fading, and the vibrant human world before the Akamon Gate is fading...

To paraphrase an ancient poem, it is like dancing with one's shadow, a scene reminiscent of the human world.

Suddenly, all sounds ceased, and the blurry world before my eyes became clear again. The sounds from the sky and the ground, the mountains, and the 144,000 people shattered and twisted into a familiar figure, whose appearance, build, and clothing were exactly the same as Gao Kui's.