Chapter 435 - 382

Chapter 435: Chapter 382

Gu Ning was sandwiched between the puppy and the fox, and even on the drafty sled, she felt so stuffy she was starting to sweat.

The sled glided at a steady pace down the main road toward the city district. Both sides of the road were lined with vendors, forming a bustling market. Much of what they sold was fresh game: deer and sheep the size of cars, and mountains of fish, each one just as astonishingly large.

She felt like a little person in a Giant Country, where everything familiar was magnified several times over.

However, upon closer inspection, she realized that besides their size, the game also had subtle differences in appearance from the animals she was familiar with.

This world was similar to the one she came from. Beastmen occupied the same ecological niche as humans, and their way of life varied with the region and climate.

For example, Zone 19 was a heavy industrial area and a border city with a terrible environment, relying almost entirely on imported food. Zone 15 wasn’t much better in that regard, but being a central city at the junction of several major zones, any imported goods bound for the Lower District had to pass through it.

The 12th District had both inland ice fields and was near the ocean; judging by its market, it was completely self-sufficient.

This made Gu Ning wonder why Cook had gone to Zone 19.

With Cook’s abilities, even in his degenerated state, he could have hunted on these ice fields and at least kept himself from starving. Besides, from what Barto and the others had said, his brother Kaper was also an exceptionally capable Beastman.

’Perhaps it was because Kaper’s job changed, and he was worried about Cook, so he brought him to Zone 19.’

’But judging from Kaper’s personal file, it wasn’t a simple job change.’

Gu Ning still found it strange, so she asked Barto in a low voice.

Barto said flatly, "Most of the Mixed Breeds who can live here have either paid the ’Security Fee’ or they’ve passed the assessment."

"Assessment?" Gu Ning thought of the credit value on Cook’s personal file. She had gone through a lot to protect his credit value back then.

"It’s pretty much the same as the credit value." Barto knew what she wanted to ask. "The credit value ensures a Mixed Breed hasn’t caused too much trouble and has normal cognitive and working abilities. It’s a pass to travel to the various zones. The assessment constantly monitors a Mixed Breed’s personality, emotional state, and other abilities to determine whether they can continue to stay in a place. Once they fall below the value they’ve set, they’re expelled. It’s put on their record, and they’re no longer accepted... unless they get an exchange form."

Gu Ning understood the first part, but she didn’t quite get the ’exchange form’ bit. "What’s an exchange form?"

Barto patiently explained, "You can think of expelling a Mixed Breed as a transfer of responsibility, a way to palm off the difficult ones onto other zones. If an expelled Mixed Breed wants to return to a region they’ve lived in before, or to their original clan, they have to ask both their current location and their intended destination for an exchange form. They use their credit value and a few... small gestures... to show that they’re a stable Mixed Breed now. They can only go back if both sides agree."

As he spoke, the corners of his mouth lifted in a sarcastic smile. "Whenever there’s a conflict between clans, the Mixed Breeds become the biggest targets and scapegoats. The assessment standards are different in every zone, even between clans. They’re completely useless."

Now Gu Ning understood. She also understood why Zone 19 was home to so many Mixed Breeds.

To Beastman Society, Mixed Breeds were a hot potato that nobody wanted to handle. And the ones who *were* willing to take them, like some of the industrial parks in Zone 19, were just looking for cheap, or even free, labor.

No wonder the "Mixed Breed problem" could never be solved.

An arbitrarily decided assessment, an exchange form that required "gestures" to obtain... it was nothing more than an illusory ticket home.

For a Mixed Breed, whether they were being expelled or struggling to obtain a ticket home, the process was guaranteed to be filled with unpleasant experiences.

She was starting to understand why Barto stayed in Zone 19. At least there, he could live a little more comfortably.

In Zone 19, neither regular Beastmen nor Mixed Breeds were particularly good at following the rules. If you ran into a similar situation, you could just run away. It wasn’t like things could get any worse. The only problem was the lack of guaranteed safety.

Gu Ning squeezed the little fox’s palm, then took his hand in hers. ’Even though the little fox had almost never told her about his past, for someone with his abilities to end up in Zone 19, he must have gone through something awful.’

"Will Zone 19... get any better?" she asked, tilting her head up at the little fox.

Barto lowered his head and kissed her forehead. "Nowhere is good. Every region treats Mixed Breeds the same way. The ones you see now have to face all kinds of inspections and assessments, large and small, every single year. Whether or not they have a good life is partly up to luck. And my luck... wasn’t good..."