Mecha Star Wars.

Chapter 1483 The Uses of Humans

"Love that transcends race..."

"Don't drag love into this." Lin Fan interrupted Antonio before he could finish his sigh. "It's just plunder under the rule of power. Don't glorify the perpetrators."

Two claps rang out as Adrian applauded Lin Fan. "It's rare to see such a clear-headed woman. It's the men who are obsessed with love..."

Even before he finished speaking, Antonio saw the mockery in his eyes. His fists clenched, and he grinned threateningly.

"You want a beating, huh?"

Adrian's face stiffened as Lin Fan spoke.

"So you hate orcs, yet you crave their approval. You hate humans, yet you can only get their approval from them."

In Crystal City, even high-ranking orcs who knew Adrian's mixed-race identity wouldn't treat him well. In fact, the people of Silvermoon City, whose information was relatively transparent and whose emotions were more antagonistic towards people, might treat him even worse.

Adrian's only chance to turn the tide lies in looking downwards. This is the reality for the lower-class orcs of Graystone Settlement. The vast majority are preoccupied with survival, concerned only with immediate gains.

In addition, due to the poor flow of information, the Graystone settlement knew very little about Silvermoon City, let alone Crystal City.

Therefore, only the noble aspect of Adrian's identity has been passed down, while nothing detrimental to him has been omitted.

"You even resent your poor mother more than you pity her. You hate her for being weak and vulnerable, which led to your miserable childhood. You also hate the orcs for trampling on humans. But this hatred is not out of empathy for half your blood, but out of resentment at being discriminated against as a result."

No matter how resentful he was, all his resistance still had to be accomplished with the help of the humans or orcs he hated.

Adrian initially looked unwell, but as he listened, he relaxed as if resigned to his fate.

"Brilliant, brilliant!" He clapped with a smile, his eyes constantly fixed on the undulating dark figure. "What I think is unimportant. In short, my taking the position of family head proves everything. From now on, who will dare to look down on me like they did yesterday? You?"

He glanced at Impelli and gave a mocking smile: "I can't do anything to you, but what can you do to me? From now on, the gossip and slander will gradually decrease as my position becomes more secure, and my origins will be naturally forgotten over time..."

"And then become the pure-blooded orc you used to despise the most?" Impelio lifted his eyelids. "Give up half of your human blood? What's the difference between you and me? No, at least I'm purer than you."

This "pure" statement, seemingly referring to genes and alluding to a stance, directly enraged Adrian.

His eyes widened, glaring hatefully at Impelli. Just as Antonio thought he was about to attack again, Adrian smiled.

He lowered his head, dusted off his clothes, and smiled nonchalantly as if he had truly come to terms with it: "Say what you will. Such meaningless attacks are pointless. As the head of the Finch family, I really have no need to bother with a lone wolf like you. It would only lower my status."

He relented, but Impelli had no intention of letting him off the hook.

"What does your status have to do with me?" He said sternly, continuing to expose Adrian's past. "Isn't it your nominally weak and easily bullied father, your human mother who was sold into this place as a plaything, and your biological father who lies behind the scenes, nominally the head of the family, but actually should be called your grandfather, who decides everything?"

This sentence was packed with information. Antonio's eyes practically popped out of their sockets, his face clearly saying: Curiosity, continue...

Adrian did not get angry as expected; instead, his piercing eyes narrowed further, making the smile on his face look increasingly fake.

“See, this is the difference between you and me.” Adrian calmly picked up the glass in front of him, as if he hadn’t heard Impelio’s attack at all. “The behavior of attacking others by using their past is really low-class.”

Impelli smiled slightly: "Likewise."

"Hey!" Antonio waved his hand in the air between the two, which seemed to be stuck. "So, can I hear the rest?"

Adrian's temple throbbed twice. He turned to Antonio, gritting his teeth and laughing, "What do you want to hear?" "Anton," Lin Fan shook his head at Antonio, "Don't pry into other people's privacy that has nothing to do with us."

"Thank you." Adrian knew that Lin Fan's words had effectively shut up the red-haired man. He breathed a sigh of relief and sincerely thanked him.

“It’s not that I’m being overly inquisitive…” Antonio pouted. “I just want to know what happened when his mother was sold here. It’s just that they’re so unfriendly to people, and then they want to buy people in. It just seems so weird.”

"To be honest, even if you buy an object or a pet, it should be something you like and find pleasing to the eye, right? If you buy something you look down on and don't like and bring it home to face every day, are you torturing yourself or the other person?"

Lin Fan nodded and turned to Adrian.

"That's what we don't understand either. Initially, we thought that humans who were bought and sold were the worst kind of slaves, kept as playthings. In Graystone, you showed us another possibility."

Adrian glanced at the unmoved Impelli and chuckled, "I'm just a profit-driven businessman; I only plan for the outcome that's most advantageous to me."

He seems to be disclaiming any responsibility for his role in improving the human condition. Is he worried that Impelio will betray him?

Lin Fan quickly considered the matter in his mind, without delving into the issue further.

"It wasn't until we went to the auction and heard the term 'original item' appear repeatedly that we realized we might have misunderstood the true purpose of the Annie demon population trade. Perhaps you would be willing to clear up this confusion for us?"

“Yes, yes,” Antonio nodded in agreement, “I just want to know, what exactly do people do after they’re sold here? You people from Crystal City all look respectable, unlike Graystone, who need to keep slaves for hard labor. And this thing…”

He pointed to the restraint ring around his neck: "Wouldn't it be better to use this thing to control superpowers and just capture ordinary people without superpowers? So you developed this kind of thing to capture high-quality natives like us, there must be a special purpose behind it, right?"

He tugged at the restriction ring, and Impelli turned to stare at him again.

"Alright, I didn't give you a chance to speak," Antonio waved his hand impatiently. "If you're not going to talk, then just stay put like a statue and don't cause any trouble."

Impelli had no temper with Antonio like this, so he turned back to look straight ahead and remained silent.

This gesture seemed to please Adrian, prompting him to finally speak up after he had been hesitant.

“It does have other uses,” he nodded with a smile, “and it’s not a secret in Crystal City. Since it’s not a secret, there doesn’t seem to be any harm in telling you.”

He seemed to be explaining to others, or perhaps convincing himself.

"To be honest, in Anemor, the outcome of human trafficking depends on the group that settles there. There are several different types." As the smuggler who controls the underground trade in Graystone Settlement, Adrian has a say in this matter.

"As you can see, in the gray stone area, everyone is from the loess region. They don't have many choices: labor, slavery, prostitution... as long as they have food to eat and are better off than in the loess region, that's enough."

"But when they arrived in Silvermoon City, the people of the Loess Region were very unwelcome because of their strong hostility towards humans. Their need for enslaving people could only be found from outside."

“Aren’t the people outside human?” Antonio scoffed.

Lin Fan wondered, "Silvermoon City's technology is so advanced that most of the low-level labor force has been replaced by machines, right? In this situation, what is the point of having humans?"

“Hmm… do you know any unusual fetishes? Satisfying emotional needs.” Adrian smiled at Lin Fan’s expression. “The orcs of Silvermoon City have a very strong emotional conflict with humans. On one hand, they hate humans and look down on them, but on the other hand, they have a very strong sense of superiority. In some ways, they are even more powerful than the people of Crystal City. So they have a certain need for higher-ranking outsiders. I’m not sure if what you’re thinking is what I’m saying, but that’s roughly it.”

“Torture for pleasure?” Antonio frowned. “That’s too awful.”

“It was indeed tragic, but not the worst.” Adrian shook his head. “Sometimes, dying in the jaws of a lion or tiger is a blessing in disguise.”

"To die at the hands of lions and tigers is considered a blessing?" Lin Fan raised an eyebrow. "Then what horrific things has your Crystal Radiance City done to those original beings whose abilities have been sealed?"