In Ling’s concept, not being able to truly understand the subtext in others’ words is a manifestation of Little Eight’s lack of humanity. Ling once speculated what kind of existence Little Eight was—is she an artificially written intelligent program? Or a full-time network administrator? Ling had also asked Little Eight, who first responded vaguely and by the end, she herself didn’t even know what she was.
To humans, going against the norm is appealing, especially after entering a game like "Military Road," which defies the heavens; everyone’s rebellious spirit would start to grow and spread.
The enigmatic masked woman, if she hadn’t mentioned those two places, every new player would probably just focus on their tasks without noticing these places. Her deliberate mentioning, emphasizing only that they should not go without explaining why, perfectly hooks into the deepest curiosity within people’s hearts.
The results of the inquiry made Ling even more certain of her guess. Of these two places, one is well-known by all; the other... "Never heard of Dark Night Market," from young children to elderly men, none of the Babylon residents know where it is. As for the temple, any Babylonian could point it out.
Babylon is a city of worshipping gods, with temples for gods like Anu, Enlil, and Iya; however, the "temple" in "Military Road" is not a place of worship but a place of healing.
"There are guesthouses for travelers to rest in Babylon City, as well as private homes for lodging, weapon shops, general stores, and various other shops with different functions, but there is a distinct lack of medical facilities," Ling observed while checking the system map, looking at the clearly marked various locations.
As the main battlefield is always ready for combat, players’ likelihood of getting injured during missions greatly increases. Ordinary shops offer food to replenish Physical Strength, but for severe injuries or mental damage, one must go to the temple for treatment by the temple priests.
Upon hearing that there was a method to treat mental injuries, Ling thought of visiting the temple, as the disastrous torment caused by her last spiritual power injury was still vividly remembered. She researched the routes to the temple; the largest temple in Babylon City is located in the inner city, Hammurabi’s main city, and the next largest temple is to the north of the eastern part of the city, while smaller temples are sporadically located throughout the city.
"Then let’s check out the temple in the east of the city," Ling had only walked a few steps when she heard several people panicking behind her, tripping and bumping into her.
"They say Yanhuang gave out money in front of the city again today, we’re late and there will be no more to receive," those men, covered in mud and clothes and hair unkempt, barefoot, all rushed towards the front of the city.
Ling casually grabbed one of them and asked, "Who is this Yanhuang you speak of?" The man, seeing his fortune blocked, was about to spit a gob of thick phlegm, but Ling dodged swiftly and tossed a few coins to stop the man.
The man, hastily picking up the money, displayed his yellow teeth, "Yanhuang is not a person, but a group of people like you," these men, displaced by war, all fled from other city-states to Babylon City. The luxurious life of Babylon City is unrelated to them, in the past, they had difficulty even eating a meal. Until a few months ago, a group of people in strange attire came to the city, polite to everyone, every five days they would give out clean clothes, spare change, or rice porridge in front of the city.
"Daring to accept things that come without a reason?" Hearing the name, Ling knew that this organization named "Meng Chang" must have some connection with Hua Country.
"It’s not without reason, we also work for them, those people love to hear us talk, from external city-states to other provinces, all kinds of news, local specialties, human interest stories, or bizarre tales, they want to know it all," the man spoke, spitting everywhere, these homeless, who would die unnoticed on the streets, had nothing but their nimble tongues left.
Paying for information, when one thinks of whose information is the easiest to obtain in this world, it can only be beggars; those so-called "Yanhuang" are doing the same thing as Ling.
"I see they are still recruiting now, recruiting people like you, why don’t you try it as well?" The man, having taken Ling’s money, felt he had not spoken enough, and thus sold another piece of information.