1168: Chapter 1168: Past and Present (Two More Chapters, Ask for Monthly Pass) 1168: Chapter 1168: Past and Present (Two More Chapters, Ask for Monthly Pass) As they spoke, the two had already passed by the clothing store, where the owner was already arguing with another custor.
“You really are as rotten as the rumors say,”
Borek retracted his gaze and sneered, “Judging from your tone, the profit margin must be pretty good.”
“It’s okay, a net profit of 30% to 40%, there aren’t many recycled clothes, this business actually doesn’t make much money,”
Weiken took the cigarette butt out of his mouth, “So of the clothes in these stores co from old clothes shipped over from Dawn City and Ains, and that’s handled by another company of mine.”
“You’re not picky,”
Borek scoffed, “You make money off everything.”
“All great wealth accumulates from trifles,”
Weiken flicked the ash and continued deeper into the neighborhood with Borek, “It’s because I never miss any opportunity to make money that I have reached where I am today.”
“It seems you don’t have much affection for this place,”
Borek scanned the crowd, “Hasn’t anyone here ever helped you?”
Their attire didn’t match with the people around, and a space naturally emptied around them.
The people around unconsciously avoided looking at them, steering clear of their gaze.
“The people here have always been greedy and despicable,”
Weiken said with a smile, “If you didn’t look tough, we would have been stripped of all valuables by now.”
Saying this, he paused, then put the cigarette back in his mouth and spoke softly, “But if you ask if there are good people, yes, there are,”
He pointed towards a junction ahead, “I used to live three streets away after turning left at this corner, in a cramped shanty, barely enough room for a dirty and slly small bed, just enough for an adult and a child to sleep hugging each other.
It was left to by my deceased mother,
“While she lived, she always wanted to put through school, but sadly she died of illness before getting that opportunity.
“After her death, it was just in that house,
“At first, many adults tried to drive out to take over my house, most kids who lose their parents here end up like that, evicted and wandering the streets, so lucky ones find a new place, others freeze to death.
“But I was an exception, next to my ho lived an alcoholic, every ti soone tried to take over my house, he would co out, fight them, and drive them away.
“When he was sober, he was quite Reasonable, urging to find a way to go to school, not to spend my life here.
He would occasionally share with a few pieces of bread, and Packaged at with a sour sll, but most of the ti he was inebriated,
“When his craving for alcohol kicked in, he would try to find anything with alcohol, one ti I stole a bottle of dical alcohol, thinking I could use it for disinfection later, but he snatched it away and beat up, leaving bedridden for a day.
“After he sobered up, he seed to feel guilty about it and later found a lot of food for ,”
A few wisps of smoke veiled Weiken’s aged face,
“At fourteen, I was caught stealing from a gang, got a severe beating, and lay in the house for a week, nearly died.
“When I crawled back ho, the drunk was drinking and went with a bottle to trouble those gang mbers, ended up being beaten himself, and was brought back with a broken leg, lying in the house with .”
“I thought we both were going to die, but to my surprise, every morning I’d find pieces of bread and one or two anti-inflammatory pills at the door, and even got two als of Packaged at with steak.”
“Soone was taking care of you?”
Borek asked quietly.
“Not soone,”
Weiken seed to fall into a mory, his voice hoarse, “It was the whole street, those pieces of bread, the anti-inflammatory pills, ca from different ‘neighbors’, and the Packaged at was from several families pooling money together.”
The glow of dusk spread over the filthy shanties and the bustling pedestrians, the Elderly man smirking with a certain sarcastic tone said, “That’s the people here, filthy, despicable, greedy, and occasionally showing a glimr of kindness.”
Borek, walking behind, fell silent for a mont, as if recalling sothing, as if listening to sothing, he lowered his head and spoke hoarsely, “If a person can’t even survive, morality and law are just hollow words and waste paper, only those with stuffed fridges need to think about etiquette and rules, only those with wardrobes full of enough clothes for winter have the ti to ponder honor and dignity.”
Weiken in the front paused for a mont, glanced back at the red-haired man, and after a brief silence, he smiled with the cigarette in his mouth, “Young man, I didn’t expect you to have such profound thoughts.”
He reached out to touch for another cigarette.
“Suote told that,”
Borek shrugged and passed over the cigarette, “This one will cost you.”
“That Devil?”
Weiken took out a new cigarette and accepted the lighter, he paused again, then sighed, “A bit surprising, but it sounds like sothing he would say.”
“So what happened after?”
Borek crossed the pond, looking at the streets under the twilight, his voice hoarse with inquiry.
“Afterward?”
Weiken lit his second cigarette and reflected, “During those days lying in bed, I thought a lot and realized that if I stayed here, my life would never change.
Ultimately, I decided to leave this place.”
“If you go out there, you’ll be holess.”
Borek chid in.
“Exactly,”
Weiken nodded, “I wandered the streets for a few months, nearly died, then while stealing, I t a gang mber.
He saw that I was sharp-witted and took in as a low-ranking mber.
He treated well, and I finally got to eat my fill.
“But within a few months, he got killed for stealing the wrong car, and the gang disbanded.
I was back on the streets.
Soon after that, I saw that Note Intelligence’s security company was hiring with decent pay, so I signed up on a whim.
“Having eaten well for a few months in the gang, I had grown stronger and barely passed the physical test, getting recruited as an expendable foot soldier.
“After that, it was the cliché story of climbing up the ranks step by step.
Quickly, through sheer determination and flexibility, I beca the squad leader at Note Intelligence’s security company and even saved up a bit,
“Then I realized that without an education, this was my limit.
“So, I found a way to get a fake high school diploma, and then I paid for a recomndation letter to get into Minte City Engineering College.
“It was a shoddy school that had nothing but the na of a university.
I spent all my savings, bribed the college leaders, never attended a day of class, and ended up with a diploma.
“Now with a diploma in hand, I bribed our squad leader that sa month to transfer to a clerical job in town,
“Later, with this clerical position and the college diploma, I transferred to the conglorate and soon beca the secretary to the CEO.”
“Never attending a day of college, how could you adapt to clerical work?”
Borek asked in a low voice.
“Of course, I couldn’t,”
Weiken said with a smile, “It’s not just college; I hadn’t even finished elentary school, middle school, or high school.
Only when my cheap mother was alive did she teach a few characters.
“But there was no other way; I could only work during the day and study overti at night, sleeping only two to three hours a day.
Actually, the work content for a clerical job isn’t too complicated.
If I really didn’t know sothing, I’d just pay a co-worker to help , so no one really suspected anything,
“This period didn’t last long.
Soon I mastered most of the knowledge and wasn’t any different from the other colleagues.
In fact, I did even better than them.”
“You’re very hardworking.”
Borek said gently.
“The day I left, I made up my mind to make money, a lot of it,”
Weiken looked up at a turning point ahead and pointed, “Turn left.”
“After your ‘success,’ have you ever co back here to look at your ‘neighbors’?”
Borek asked hoarsely.
“Of course, I ca back,”
Weiken said softly, “It was about five or six years after I left.
At that ti, I hadn’t gotten my college diploma yet, but I was already doing quite well.
I returned to the streets, and by that ti, the people had mostly changed.
“The shack I used to live in was occupied by soone else.
I dragged him out and beat him up.
The drunkard’s house was also taken over.
I beat that person up too.
“Then I learned from that person, after the drunkard beca crippled, he lost his job, and as a temp worker, no one wanted him.
He had no money for alcohol, so he stole others’ drinks and was beaten so bad several tis that he couldn’t walk.
“In the winter two years after I left, he froze to death at his front door.
He was said to have been drunk, caused trouble, gotten beaten, crawled ho, collapsed at the door, and froze to death.
“The neighbors called the Scavengers, who dragged away his body.”
“At that ti, there was pretty much no one you knew on that street anymore?”
Borek asked.
“Pretty much,”
Weiken said, cigarette in mouth, gazing ahead with a slow tone, “People co and go frequently around here, dying fast, and so can’t afford to stay and so move away.
“On that street, there was only one kid left, about the sa age as when I left.
He could be considered the drunk’s nephew.
Not long after the drunk died, the kid’s parents also died in a factory accident, and so he was also left alone.
I took him with ,
“He wanted to acknowledge as his big brother.
At first, I didn’t agree, but later I accepted it.”
He sighed with a blend of nostalgia and pride of an elder recalling a promising younger person, “That kid’s not bad; diligent at work, brave, and just like , both ruthless and decisive,
“I never made our relationship explicit, just quietly gave him a helping hand.
But all these considerations combined made his rise through the ranks incredibly fast.”
“How is he now?”
Borek inquired, “With your status, he must have reached a high position at Note Intelligence by now, perhaps among those executives who got caught?”
“Dead, long dead,”
Weiken took a drag from his cigarette and said calmly in response to Borek’s puzzled gaze, “He finally beca in charge of the security forces but committed suicide out of fear of punishnt, failing to adequately protect the CEO.”
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