In a perfect world, you start by relying on your own strength.

Mark and the other two glanced at Morgan, who was expressionless, and then at Shi Heng beside him. They opened their mouths, but ultimately said nothing more, bowed, and slowly withdrew.

The heavy alloy door closed silently, completely isolating the inside from the outside into two separate worlds.

In the huge command room, only Morgan and Shi Gen remained.

He remained seated in the high-backed chair, his aged body slightly hunched, yet showing no sign of decline. His half-closed eyes opened completely, all the turbidity receding, leaving only unfathomable cold sharpness, silently gazing down.

Time ticked by, and Mark and the others waited anxiously outside the door. The heavy alloy door completely shut out all sounds from inside, and no one knew what the two people inside were talking about.

The guards faithfully carried out Morgan's orders, strictly forbidding anyone from stepping inside. Even Charles and his party, who had rushed over, were firmly stopped at the door.

The alloy doors to the conference room finally opened slowly as the sun set and the moon hung high in the sky.

Shi Geng stepped out first, his face expressionless, as if his conversation with Morgan was just a casual chat.

Mark, Ran Bing, and the others who were guarding the door instantly tensed up, their eyes all falling on him with eagerness and curiosity.

Charles, standing not far away, stared intently at Shi Geng with a sinister look in his eyes, as if trying to discern something from him.

Shi Geng glanced at the crowd indifferently, without saying a word, and walked straight past them with steady steps without stopping. However, the blue tag at his waist made the group of people pause in surprise. It was an identity tag belonging to the upper class!

Only after Shi Geng's figure disappeared at the end of the corridor did everyone suddenly look towards the conference room door.

Morgan's aged figure slowly appeared. He stood inside the door, his cloudy eyes sweeping over everyone. His face remained expressionless, but his voice carried a hint of weariness: "Jingnan, come with me."

"The rest of you can leave now."

Charles's expression changed, and he immediately stepped forward, unable to hold back his words: "Lord, that is merely a lowly mortal. He defied the law and attacked the commoners; this cannot be allowed to continue! If we keep him alive, it will only incite other mortals to harbor resentment, making them believe that the Three Laws can be trampled upon!"

Morgan gave him a cold glance.

That single glance, devoid of any emotion, sent a chill down Charles's spine, and he swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

"Do I need you to tell me how to make a decision?"

Charles's Adam's apple bobbed, and he lowered his head, his nails almost digging into his palms: "...This subordinate dares not."

"Good that you don't dare." Morgan withdrew his gaze, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable authority. "You just need to focus on being the head of your Light and Shadow Society; you don't need to worry about this."

After saying that, he didn't linger and walked straight towards the command room.

Jingnan glanced at Charles, who was frozen in place and exuding a fierce aura, shook his head slightly, and followed him.

In the empty hall, only Charles and Mark Ranbing remained.

After a long while, he suddenly looked up, his eyes no longer showing any restraint, only coldness and ruthlessness.

"4066..." he murmured the number, his voice like a viper spitting its tongue.

Mark and Ran Bing exchanged a glance, shook their heads, and left. Although they didn't know the specifics of the conversation, it seemed that Lord Morgan had conceded in the end.

As Ran Bing walked out of the command room, she lowered her voice, her tone tinged with disbelief: "The city lord really... made an exception and granted him upper-class citizen status, even transferring him to the Wilderness Hunters as an instructor? What about Instructor Elon?"

Mark frowned slightly, a vague sense of foreboding creeping into his heart.

Instructor Elon must be quite old... He's been guarding the Hunters' training grounds for years, and in terms of seniority and merit, he's one of the most respected elders in the Lighthouse.

Now, a new instructor has suddenly been parachuted in, and he's just been promoted from the common people. How should we position him?

"I heard there's a departure ceremony going to be held at the lighthouse in a few days..."

Mark didn't spell it out, but Ran Bingbing, being incredibly perceptive, instantly understood his unspoken worry, and her expression darkened: "You mean... Instructor Elon is going on a long journey?"

The rules of the Lighthouse are always cold and ruthless: age, value, and combat strength are everything.

It was no secret that Instructor Elon's combat effectiveness had declined and his energy was waning, but no one was willing to take the initiative to expose it.

In the lighthouse, the only fate for an old man who has no value is to follow in the footsteps of the first city lord and travel to the surface.

These words didn't need to be said explicitly; Ran Bing's face instantly turned pale, and she even paused in her steps.

So-called long journeys are never a blessing, but merely a more dignified form of exile, sending those who have lost their value to the surface to feed on extreme beasts.

A cold wind blew through the passageway, carrying the mixed smell of metal and disinfectant, much like the unforgiving rules of a lighthouse. Ran Bing whispered, "But Instructor Elon... he guarded the hunters his whole life."

"A lifetime spent at the lighthouse won't earn you any pity." Mark closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, only heaviness remained. "There's nothing we can do."

This is the law of the lighthouse.

Those who have no value will be abandoned, whether they are from the upper class or the lower class.

Leaving aside their conversation, Shi Gen had already arrived at his room in the Dust People's District.

He did not accept the Lighthouse's arrangement to move into the Upper District, and chose to stay in this crowded, dark, and dusty underworld.

The spaciousness, cleanliness, and privileges of the Upper East Side were nothing more than another kind of cage for him.

In the days that followed, he lived a regular and quiet life.

Aside from occasionally going to the Hunter Base to teach the Hunters, he spent almost all his time in the Dust People's District.

Every day at the crack of dawn, you could see him leading a group of emaciated, but bright-eyed people in their morning exercises atop stacks of shipping containers.

Shi Geng only taught the most basic stance, and the commoners, though clumsy in their movements, learned with utmost seriousness. In this commoner district where even survival was difficult, this scene of morning exercises was like a faint yet dazzling ray of light.

Most passersby hurried past with their heads down, not daring to look too long or get too close; when law enforcement officers maintaining order passed by and saw that it was Shi Geng, they would only glance at him from afar and then pretend not to see him and walk away quickly.

Shi Gen is no longer the lowly mortal who can be beaten, scolded, or executed at will. Even if he stays in the mortal district, he is still an upper-class citizen, and a special upper-class citizen who can disregard the rules of the lighthouse, as personally ordered by the city lord Morgan.

Shi Geng ignored this and went about his own business. Every day, besides quietly practicing the Yundao Fist, he would instruct the hunters and commoners in horse stance, without fail.

However, this also caused a lot of dissatisfaction among the members of the Wilderness Hunters team.

"Instructor, what's the point of this so-called horse stance? Are we really supposed to just stand here and wait for the Devouring Beasts to charge at us and turn us into mincemeat?"

"Exactly, it's better to do a few sets of push-ups instead of this stuff; at least that will build some strength!"

After several days of monotonous horse stance training, the hunters, accustomed to fighting and raiding, finally lost all patience, and complaints rose and fell.