This group isn’t large, probably around a few dozen people, many of whom already show signs of fatigue on their faces.
He Ao is currently positioned at the edge of the street, on their path forward, where it’s easy to be knocked over if not careful.
The one who spoke to remind He Ao is a little girl in the group, seemingly quite young, much younger than Erian. This little girl is at the front of the group, holding a picture of Skewis with a large ’×’ drawn over it.
At this mont, the little girl steps forward to block He Ao, guiding the group to make way for him.
"You’re marching?" He Ao shifts aside slightly, smilingly asking casually.
"Yes, sir," the little girl quickly nods, "we’re demonstrating, urging the Senators and Congressn to impeach Skewis."
"Do you dislike the President?" He Ao glances at the surrounding crowd and asks casually.
"Of course, he’s not even the President we elected, he took power through loopholes in the system," ntioning this topic, the little girl imdiately says angrily, "What he’s doing now is completely different from what he promised earlier, and he’s falsely accusing Christos, letting the consortium commit murder, we must make him step down!"
"Exactly!" A few young people nearby casually agree, walking past the little girl.
"Alright sir, we’re moving on," by this ti, the parade has already moved quite a bit forward, the little girl glances at her companions and bids farewell to He Ao, "Be careful walking, don’t get knocked over."
"Okay." He Ao smiles and nods, watching her leave.
"Have these young people been circling around here all day? How co they haven’t dispersed yet?"
At this mont, a few voices of discussion co from beside He Ao, the voices are not loud, seeming to be quite distant, audible only thanks to Hawke’s hearing.
He Ao turns his vision and notices at the edge of his view there’s a small tavern, a few people sitting by the door of the tavern, watching the marching group go away, muttering sothing.
He turns around and walks towards the tavern, with more intense discussion reaching his ears.
"Young people, full of energy, if it were us, we wouldn’t last half a day without slipping off to the strip club."
"Hahaha, why, spent your whole week’s salary at the club again?"
"Hey, I’d like to, but guess what, before I even got the money, the credit card repaynt deducted it automatically, there’s still a huge amount unt, I have to continue the installnts, sotis I don’t even know how much I owe."
"Stop talking, the bank called a few days ago saying I was overdue, I don’t even rember when I opened a card there."
"This protesting group had quite a few people in the morning, now just these Students are left, most can’t hold out this long."
"Did they rush the Evis Spatial System building? I heard there have been quite a few murders recently, a lot of people from Ains have died, not sure if it’s true as it’s not in the news."
"Hey, you think these student kids are fools? They’re clever, Evis Spatial System is guarded by a bunch of soldiers, ruthless killers, they’re just shouting around the City Council and City Governnt."
"Why are they protesting? Anti-consortium? Although Evis Spatial System is ruthless, without them, there’ll be no employers, everyone will be jobless, holess."
"Hey, don’t just say holess, everyone might starve together!"
"But to be fair, Evis Spatial System really doesn’t treat people right, I have an old buddy who got mangled by machinery in a factory recently, his wife didn’t get a penny, Evis even sued them to compensate for the equipnt, the court eventually ruled they lose their house, his son is only five years old, wife had to take the kid and sleep on the streets."
"Sigh, I’ve heard about his story, I think I saw his wife at the strip club recently."
"His wife isn’t too bad-looking, at least she can feed the kid, not starve him."
Under the falling night, a brief silence resus, filled only with the sound of drinking.
"Why are we working ourselves to death? Every waking day is endless work and debt, if I knew I would’ve gone to college, those bookworms sitting in office have steady salaries."
"You think life is easy for those bookworms? Guess how much their tuition is?"
"Twenty thousand?"
"Seventy thousand! Not including accommodation!"
"Where do they get this kind of money?! Damn! Why don’t these universities go for robbery?!"
"Hey, robbing isn’t as fast-money as this."
"Then how do they go to college without money?"
"How? Loans of course, those with good credit borrow from banks, bad ones loan from small companies with interest over ten percent a year, once they graduate, repay in installnts for thirty to forty years, working non-stop, most inco goes to repaying tuition loans."
"Hearing this, they’re better off not going to college!"
"I reckon these universities aren’t for us, they’re for the offspring of those consortium lords."
"Damn, how did this world turn out like this?! My grandpa told when he was young it wasn’t like this at least their life was bearable!"
"Back in your grandpa’s day, there were two or three consortiums in this city, jobs to choose from, they even raised wages to recruit staff now only Evis Spatial System’s left, if you don’t work for them you’re just starving."
"Hey, our credit card main card can only be Evis Spatial System’s, their interest so high even I can’t count, can’t even figure it out, those sitting in offices really don’t treat people right, all our wages go to loans."
"Don’t ntion taxes, it gets on my nerves! The tax bureau are idiots, those dense legislation who the hell can even understand, last year I hired a tax company to fact still repaying, gotta compensate massive taxes, painstakingly saved money all gone to taxes."
"Hey, using damn to pause you’re damn words, aren’t you."
"But I heard those consortium lords of Evis Spatial System don’t pay taxes, their mansions, luxury cars are all tax-free."
"Yet the City Governnt listens to those damn consortium lords."
"That’s how this world is, we pay for those council lords, who dog for unpaid lords."
"Damn Evis Spatial System, damn City Governnt, damn Federation."
"Stop cursing, stop cursing, be careful soone hears."
"Damn it, can’t I curse a few words?"
"Frankly, it’s that we’re not working hard enough, if we struggle to earn big, we’d enjoy those lords’ life."
"Damn it, working fifteen-sixteen hours a day, full-body pain, isn’t that hard enough? How hard must it be then?"
"You work more because you’re dumb, those lords sit doing nothing, money cos to them, that’s smart."
"You’re damn clever, sitting there waiting for money to fall into your hands from the sky."
"Forget it, forget it, it’s tough for everyone, we’re all just trying to get by."
"Actually, I think it might not entirely be our fault. Have you ever heard of ’K’?"
"Damn, are you crazy? Can you talk about that here? Have you been brainwashed by the Evil God?"
"Shh, we’re all old friends here, just chatting, just chatting. I have nothing to do with that ’K’, I’ve just watched so of his videos. Honestly, given the intensity of our work, it’s hard to make money even if we’re smart, and we won’t live long."
"The few of us, a bunch kicked the bucket in their twenties, another batch in their thirties, we might not even live to forty. Those ’old n’, living to seventy or eighty is normal, and they have money they’ll never spend in this lifeti."
"Do you think this is really reasonable? Maybe they’re a bit smarter than us, but are they really that much smarter?"
Under the night sky, silence fell once again, broken intermittently by the sound of drinks being consud.
"So what exactly does that ’K’ say?"
"Nothing much, just two or three videos, and so speeches from Christos."
"Is that ’K’ really credible? I heard that ’K’ is actually an alias for the Grim Reaper, an Evil God? Those parade groups use the parades as opportunities to sacrifice their companions, isn’t this the true reason behind those death cases?"
"I’ve never heard these rumors, where do they co from?"
"Saw them online, they’re everywhere."
"Maybe it’s those ’old n’ who deliberately spread them to slander ’K’. Actually, I feel he doesn’t seem like any Evil God, but rather soone trying to tell us sothing."
"Is this guy really as creepy as you say? Are there videos? Can you show ?"
"Of course—hold on—shh—"
"What’s up?"
"An elderly person walked by. Look, this is the chip, quickly copy it."
"Alright, alright, back in my youth, even when robbing gang stores, I wasn’t this cautious."
"That elderly person looks quite advanced in age, still full of spirit. I’d be thrilled to live to his age."
"Stop dreaming, it’ll be a miracle if we survive past next year."
"White hair doesn’t make soone elderly, my hair’s almost completely white too, and I’m just turning forty in a couple of years."
The tavern fell silent once more, leaving only the sound of drinks being gulped down.
He Ao quietly walked along the edge of the street, passed by the tavern, and headed towards the deepest part of the street.
He was headed to the East Gate; the Hades was parked just to its east.
His body moved forward, through the heavy night, lightly brushing the wristband on his hand. A gentle voice whispered in his ear:
"Hello, K."
The night descended, engulfing the white hair.
——
Dawn City·Glorious Palace
On either side of the long eting table, shadows were fiercely arguing.
"This kind of behavior is entirely provoking a civil war," said a man in his thirties, dressed simply and formally, quickly from the left side of the table, "that Skewis guy purely wants to start a war with us, we must respond!"
"How do we respond?" rasped a middle-aged, broad figure in a white silk suit opposite the man, "Start a war with them? Wouldn’t that be us provoking a civil war?! If actual warfare breaks out, it benefits no one!"
"Then what do you suggest?" a ponytailed woman coldly retorted from the side, "Wait for them to attack and then open the gates to surrender? Or have Mr. Christos go directly to Ains to accept their judgnt?!"
"I think it might not be a bad way to solve the problem," a thin figure in the corner said, "the Federation’s laws and frawork are still in place, we aren’t really criminals, facing off with Skewis in Ains shouldn’t matter, justice persists, everyone knows we’re okay, and they can’t really do anything to us."
"Are you a three-year-old child, friend?" sneered a short-haired man on the left, "If soone slanders us, we have to prove ourselves, then what makes you different from a dog being led with a stick? In Ains, it’s full of corporate people; how do you argue evidence with them? They could just pin any cri on you and throw you in jail, then claim you shot yourself in the back eight tis."
"Watch your mouth, young man," said the thin figure, provoked, sitting up straight with a cold voice, "the Federation President also operates within the Federation’s laws. If we do go to Ains, everyone is watching. Would they dare really make a move on us?"
"Who do you think your audience is? The corporations? Isn’t what Skewis has been doing enough of a face-off? Betting your life and fate on the enemy’s rcy," sneered the short-haired man, "looks like your age has increased, but not your wisdom."
"The key issue is, even if we go to Ains, what can we prove?" a woman with glasses next to the short-haired man said calmly, "Even if Skewis doesn’t dare directly make a move against us, it won’t prevent him from dragging things out, then letting the army and rcenary Corps attack us."
"I still think we shouldn’t go to war," said the man in the silk suit calmly, "a civil war within the Federation benefits no one, and many more people will die."
"You’re afraid it will affect you and your supporters’ business," sneered the short-haired man, "I’ve already said, you small bosses, ultimately, are no different than the corporations, just a matter of scale."
"Dawn City can’t guarantee all resources self-produced," the man in the silk suit neither denied nor admitted but directly said,
"Once war begins and trade routes are cut, many shops will close, thousands will lose their jobs, and these people already carry a lot of debt. They would instantly beco holess; in a short ti, the city would definitely fall into chaos, so I don’t support war; the corporations focus on profit. As long as we are willing to concede so, they are definitely willing to negotiate."
"Concede?" said the man in the simple suit who spoke first, "Concede how? Abolish all legislation, return everything to the beginning? How is that different from outright surrender?"
"Not necessarily retreat all the way; these are bargaining chips, we can negotiate···" said the man in the silk suit calmly.
"I see you just want to surrender—" shouted the short-haired man, standing up.
The entire conference room erupted, filled with intense argunt.
Nestled in the head seat of the conference room, Christos quietly observed the arguing crowd, turning his gaze towards the bustling night city beyond the window.
"Sett hasn’t returned from his ’field work’ yet?" he asked his assistant beside him.
"According to the latest information," the young assistant replied calmly, "Deputy Mayor Sett should be on his way back."
As the night grew deeper, images of those engaged in fierce argunts reflected on the glass curtain wall outside, swaying with the faint flickering lights of the city.
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