"That child is in there, I saw them head this way with my own eyes!"
Chaotic footsteps echoed from outside the Corpse-Grinders' stronghold, accompanied by the noisy clamor of a crowd.
When this band of thugs, armed with all manner of crude homemade weapons, burst into the firelit hall, they did not find the expected garrison of Corpse-Grinder guards lying in wait. Instead, they saw only a man sitting on a stone chair in the center of the hall, cradling an infant.
The campfire crackled, burning not wood but some pungent-smelling fuel.
A scrawny thug snarled viciously, "Boy! Where are the others hiding?"
Caelan ignored him, his gaze falling upon the leader of these thugs.
He was an unusually burly man, his body covered in hideous scars from years of combat. One arm had been replaced by a crude mechanical limb, and his eyes were pale mechanical orbs rather than the dull blue of the under-dwellers.
The leader appraised Caelan warily. "You killed them all?"
As a fellow under-dweller, he knew the other underground gangs well.
No gang would ever abandon the territory they had held for generations, where they had stockpiled all their plundered wealth. Without those riches, the Corpse-Grinders would fall apart, and with nowhere to go, they would eventually perish.
Even in the face of invasion by other gangs, they would fight to the last second, or at the very least, surrender.
But the Corpse-Grinders' stronghold was eerily silent, with only the crackling of the campfire.
They were probably dead!
And the one who killed them was this seemingly harmless man holding a baby.
That was the only conclusion he could draw from the situation.
Whether the man had single-handedly slaughtered the entire Corpse-Grinder tribe, or whether he had other accomplices hidden in the shadows,
Either way, it was bad news.
The man's refined attire stood in stark contrast to the filth of the underworld, marking him as someone of unusual origin, and his unruffled composure suggested he had something to rely on.
Clashing with a man of such obvious caliber was clearly unwise.
Caelan's tone was as calm as if discussing the weather: "They were too careless. I hope they'll be more careful in their next life. And who might you be?"
The leader stared silently at Caelan. The air in the cavern seemed to freeze for a few seconds, but eventually he spoke, "Kagothon, chief of the Ravagers. And you?"
"You may call me Octavian."
"Chief, why waste words on him? Let's just kill him!"
The scrawny thug blustered, but Kagothon backhanded him across the face without turning around, sending the man staggering to the ground with a few bloodied yellow teeth flying from his mouth.
Kagothon's voice was colder than his expression: "You have no place speaking here."
The thug curled up on the ground, trembling, clutching his mouth and not daring to make a sound.
Kagothon bowed his head slightly. "Forgive the discourtesy."
He was not one of those fools who had never seen Cthonia's blue sun. Whoever Claudius was, he was not from the underworld, and he was not someone they could afford to provoke.
"Kagothon, did you come for this child?"
Kagothon's gaze flickered toward the infant. His sea-green eyes were as out of place in the underworld as everything else about him.
He had indeed come for the child.
He had heard that something had fallen from above, and that scavengers had found a baby.
Whoever that child was, wherever he came from, Kagothon realized that this infant represented unimaginable wealth.
Unfortunately, by the time he arrived, the struggle over the child was already over.
Witnesses claimed the Corpse-Grinders had emerged victorious, which was why he had pursued them all the way to their stronghold.
However, Kagothon dared not admit it. "We came only to plunder the Corpse-Grinders' wealth."
He was curious about the relationship between Caelan and the infant, but he dared not ask. A man couldn't risk his life over curiosity, could he?
"There are no more Corpse-Grinders. From now on, everything here belongs to me."
Kagothon took half a step back, signaling his men to withdraw. "I understand. We'll leave at once."
"Since you're here, no need to rush off. Do me another favor, send all the children from your tribe to me."
Kagothon's eyes sharpened. "On what grounds?"
He did fear Caelan's identity, but this was the underworld, the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. Violence was the only order here!
If Caelan pushed too far, he would have to consider fighting to the death.
Thump!
An invisible force pressed down on the Ravagers' backs, as if a thousand-pound weight were crushing their spines, robbing them of breath, forcing their knees to buckle uncontrollably before Caelan.
Their knees slammed against the hard ground. Their necks grew unnaturally stiff, as though icy hands were gripping them.
Their eyes, once filled with brutality, now gleamed with pure, undisguised terror.
The unknown was the most frightening thing of all.
Caelan asked, "Is that enough reason?"
Kagothon lowered his head even further. "Enough. Within a week, I'll send the people."
"I need all the children, whether from the gangs or the meat-men."
"Fine."
"And food too. Raising so many mouths isn't easy."
Kagothon looked up with difficulty. "Our reserves aren't large either."
"I understand. So just send it this once. I'll find my own way afterward. Oh, and, no human meat."
Kagothon kept his head down. In the underworld, what other way was there to find food?
Only by plunder.
He could only hope that after today, Caelan would not come to raid them, and that they would never again venture near the Corpse-Grinders' camp.
Caelan looked down, pinching the infant's chubby cheeks playfully.
"When you possess the power to reshape the rules, you can craft new rules as you please, rather than bending the knee to them."
"Savagery and chaos might forge bloodthirsty gladiators, but only civilization and order can forge warriors strong both inside and out."
"My power transcends the rules of the underworld, so I have the right to make them bow."
"They cannot resist, so they must submit."
The infant stared wide-eyed with innocent curiosity, though it was unclear whether he understood.
If he didn't, that was fine. Caelan could tell him every day. He had all the patience in the world to raise the Son of the End into something great.
"My lord." Durm spoke up cautiously.
Caelan's gaze passed over him and fell upon the children.
Their small bodies were wrapped in tattered rags, their eyes still cowering with unease and fear.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
Washing away the grime from their bodies took only moments, but cleansing the stains from their souls was not the work of a single day.
Caelan said, "Call me Mentor."
"Mentor." Durm corrected himself immediately.
"Sit down. From today onward, you will attend my lessons every day."
Caelan raised his hand gently. In an instant, the ground trembled, and rows of stone chairs rose from the hard rock, arranged in neat rows.
Durm was awestruck by this miracle-like sight.
He and the other children clambered onto the stone chairs nervously, their movements stiff and restrained.
Caelan surveyed the children. "Today, I will teach you what the Law of the Jungle means."
"The core principle of the Law of the Jungle is the strong preying on the weak, the survival of the fittest, natural selection, and the survival of the adapted."
"At its heart, it is a survival game over limited resources."
"For survival, different species and lives will slaughter one another."
"We can understand the Law of the Jungle simply through the game of Jungle Chess."
"The rules of Jungle Chess are that the strong eat the weak, ranked from highest to lowest: Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Sheep."
"A higher-ranked beast can eat those of equal or lower rank; the lowest-ranked Sheep eat grass."
Considering these children had never seen animals, Caelan used his psychic power to trace the outlines of various creatures in the air.
It worked.
The children were immediately captivated by these novel sights, focusing intently on Caelan's lesson.
"The Lion eats the Tiger, the Tiger eats the Wolf, the Wolf eats the Sheep, and the Sheep eat the grass, forming a complete food chain."
"But this food chain is not entirely fixed."
"Whenever a Lion successfully hunts, it gorges itself until it can barely move, needing at least a few hours to digest."
Caelan traced the image of a lion, its belly visibly distended, lying immobile on the ground.
"During those hours, the Lion becomes the weak. Both the Tiger and the Wolf can easily turn the tables and kill it."
"The Tiger ranks just below the Lion in the food chain; it can even hunt the Lion alone and win."
"But the Tiger always hunts alone, while Lions and Wolves are pack animals."
"When a pack of Wolves surrounds a Tiger, even the Tiger will meet its end."
"The Sheep stand at the bottom of the food chain, but occasionally, they too have their moments of desperate counterattack."
Caelan traced a scene of wolves hunting. The flock scattered in panic; wolves pounced, tearing throats with their fangs. But one unlucky wolf, lunging at a young sheep, was kicked to death by its hind hooves.
"In this game of Jungle Chess in the primeval forest, the roles of hunter and prey can reverse at any moment."
"Human society likewise follows the primeval Law of the Jungle."
"Among the different gangs of the underworld, there is also a food chain: the big eat the small, the small eat the smaller, and the smallest can only be scavengers."
"This is because the underworld lacks order, allowing this primitive Law of the Jungle to flourish."
The children listened intently, gradually becoming engrossed and losing their fear of Caelan.
Caelan paused. There should be questions here.
But none of the children dared to ask.
Caelan looked at Durm. The boy clearly did not grasp his meaning.
"What would happen if there were order?"
A sudden voice rang out from among the crowd. The children looked around in confusion but could not find the source.
It was as if the voice had appeared directly in their minds.
'Who had asked?'
"That's an excellent question. If there were order, society would become a Law of the Jungle dressed in the veneer of civilization."
"The Law of the Jungle becomes more concealed, but it still exists."
"In the primeval forest, wolves are pack animals, and among packs there is simple order; otherwise they could not unite."
"The Wolf King leads the pack. The Wolf King has the right to feast first on prey and to breed first with the females."
"But the Wolf King will be challenged and replaced. Younger, stronger wolves are always eager to challenge the king's position."
"Those who lose the competition are driven out of the pack to become lone wolves."
"Human society's order is more complex, but at its core, the strong rule the weak."
"The strong shape the order; the weak submit to it."
"The embodiment of this order is law."
"Law is universal. It allows the strong to rule the weak at lower cost."
"Those who transgress order are punished by it, and all of society condemns them."
"The strong stand above order, but they can hide themselves within the framework of order."
"The weak must obey order, or they will be eliminated by it."
"But the weak can also enjoy the protection of order, gaining a certain measure of survival security, without having to eat raw flesh and drink blood in the forest."
"Order lowers the cost of governance, allowing society to create more wealth and generate more surplus."
"In a healthy society, the strong distribute this wealth reasonably, both providing basic security for the weak and concentrating investment to drive society's overall progress."
"In a sick society, the strong embezzle this surplus and stuff it all into their own pockets."
"Wealth continuously concentrates among the strong. The strong grow stronger, the weak weaker; the rich richer, the poor poorer."
"Society can no longer progress; it becomes stagnant water."
"If the strong remain insatiable, they will further strip away the weak's basic survival guarantees."
"Step by step, they lower the weak's baseline, until finally driving them all underground. At that point, society becomes a complete morass."
"When things reach that stage, order has already lost its original meaning."
"Such an old order will sooner or later be overthrown, and a new order will be established."
"If no new order replaces the old, then the entire world will be buried alongside the old order."
Caelan patiently waited for the children to understand and digest his words.
He had explained the Law of the Jungle in the plainest language possible. Even though these children had never received any education, the cruel world they lived in was already governed by that very law.
Durm raised his head. "M-mentor… we were driven down here, we're the weak. Are we the Sheep?"
"The fact that you can ask that question shows you're really thinking."
For some reason, when Caelan praised him, Durm felt a quiet thrill of pride.
No one had ever acknowledged his thinking in his entire life.
Caelan expounded, "The world is a vast jungle. Natural selection; survival of the fittest."
"Order is the sky of civilization, but some are born above that sky."
"Your ancestors were indeed the weak of the jungle, but you are not Sheep."
Durm was taken aback. 'Then what were we?'
'Were we the Grass?'
Caelan said, "In the underworld, you are Wolf cubs, and they are Grass. Though on Cthonia as a whole, you are nothing but bugs."
They could understand what Caelan was saying; they could find their place in the Jungle Chess analogy.
In the underworld, Durm was a cub in the wolf pack, while the meat-people's children were grass.
But looking at the whole of Cthonia, the underworld was cast outside of order.
Order existed only within the hive. The inhabitants of the underworld were just bugs that stole grass to eat.
In the eyes of the true rulers of the hive, these people should not even be alive.