Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 583 - 547: The Fall of the Outer City

Is the situation terrible? The answer might be even worse than imagined.

The Empire has not collapsed, but everywhere, it is almost indistinguishable from collapse.

The cessation of colonial trade has left numerous factories without sources of raw materials, let alone markets, resulting in widespread halts and unemployment becoming the norm in the Empire's homeland today.

Other cities might be slightly better off, after all, due to smaller city scales and less developed industries, the impact is not as severe.

But for Langton, even though the city itself still has numerous demands, the widespread factory shutdowns and closures, along with worker unemployment, are the predominant social phenomena today in Langton.

As for large factories? Not to mention that these crucial large factories were initially on the list to be relocated to the Northern Territory.

Even if they were not on the list initially, upon learning about the impending doom, they managed to find ways to move their industries to the Northern Territory to avoid larger impacts.

The ones truly closing down are mostly medium and small factories with insufficient risk resistance, neither significant enough to make it to the government list nor capable of relocating themselves to the Northern Territory.

So when there are problems with both raw materials and markets, the death of these factories is foreseeable.

The shutdown of factories is not an isolated social phenomenon; the resulting mass unemployment of workers triggers social issues, which are the main reason why Langton appears bleak and desolate, as if the whole city is dying.

The reason is simple: workers' main income source is their wages, and workers in this era are mostly impoverished. A month's salary might not even be enough to cover food and drink for the entire family, requiring other family members to work to supplement the household income, barely enough for survival.

Suddenly losing their income source, the living conditions of these workers can be imagined.

No matter how much the church provides relief or wants to help these people, their capabilities are ultimately limited; they can only ensure that devout believers can survive first.

Regarding this, even if the church knows that the unemployed workers may become fertile ground for the Evil God Sect due to lack of livelihood, they are powerless to do anything about it.

Apart from the factory left behind by the talented Northern Count that used alchemy to produce compressed biscuits, maintaining basic food supplies for some people and solving the employment issues for a small portion, others can't think of ways to improve the survival conditions of these unemployed workers.

It's not that they don't know what to do, but they can't do it.

The simplest way to solve worker unemployment is to provide them with jobs, but the problem is where, now in the Empire's homeland and Langton, are there that many jobs needing people to fill?

Even if everyone could sustain themselves and their families with just one meal a day, provided by almost raw-material-free compressed biscuits, it's still not enough for everyone.

Not to mention, there simply aren't that many jobs that need human hands to complete.

The church indeed plans to build new cathedrals and shelters on a large scale, but even if each position hires three people to work in shifts, there are still many workers unable to find jobs.

Those able to secure a stable job to support their families are, ultimately, a minority.

Thus arises a very terrible phenomenon, where, although the inner city is bleak and in decline, the city still maintains basic order, and some of the shelters being renovated and constructed can provide work and sources of living for some people, barely maintaining their basic survival.

While the outer city...

Originally, when Perfikot managed Langton's municipal affairs, armies and the Knight Order were deployed to the outer city to maintain local order and prevent issues in the outer city from impacting the inner city.

But now, these armies and the Knight Order have withdrawn, abandoning the outer city and retreating to the inner city to establish new defense lines.

This isn't because these people disregard the lives of the outer city's residents, but because the outer city has completely become the domain of the Evil God Sect, and even the church is powerless to conquer it now.

At this moment, for the church, as long as these Evil God Sects don't cause major troubles, or directly summon Evil Gods through sacrifices, the church can't be bothered to intervene.

After all, the church is now overwhelmed; they can barely manage their own affairs, let alone spare energy to deal with the Evil God Sect in the outer city.

Even if there's Godslaying Armor brought from the Northern Territory by Perfikot, that is meant to deal with the descent of the Ancient Gods, not for suppressing the outer city's people.

Though the Evil God Sect indeed maintains order in the outer city, considering they are called the Evil God Sect, one can imagine their practices.

They do provide the populace with a mouthful of food to survive, but the price, besides the need for faith in the Ancient Gods, involves dedication and sacrifices.

Dedication is simple, offering their last remaining possessions to the Gods, which is not too hard for the outer city populace, who are already at the end of their rope.

Moreover, the Evil God Sect is not interested in their paltry leftovers; they need these people to rebuild godly images and shrines for the Ancient Gods, restoring their terrestrial divine kingdom and faith.

From the perspective of these people, this isn't unacceptable: as long as they have food, as long as they can survive, who they work for doesn't make much difference.

But sacrifices are different; these require offering tributes on altars.

And tributes... ever since three years ago, Langton's food production has decreased, how can one expect extra food to raise livestock in times when even people are starving? They've already been consumed thoroughly!

Regarding consuming one's children for food, it isn't unheard of; it's just that the Evil God Sect has forbidden it.

Don't misunderstand; it's not out of kindness or to save those children.

It's because pure children are the best offerings to the Ancient Gods; letting these people exchange them for food is a waste, not to mention, how much meat can a child have?

If eating is necessary, it should start with adults, while children are gathered together, specially fed and trained, and used as offerings in various rituals and sacrificial occasions.

Even more perversely, they use various methods to entice followers to willingly become offerings, dedicating their bodies and souls entirely to the Ancient Gods.

Don't think this is absurd; sometimes, the price of a life is tremendously cheap, cheaper than one could imagine.

There are many people in this world willing to make sacrifices or give up everything for certain things.