338: Chapter 338: Spring and Harsh Winter (Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets) 338: Chapter 338: Spring and Harsh Winter (Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets) [At 17: The first day of the New Year began with the sight of a snowplow sweeping away the frozen corpses from the side of the road.
The wages of an apprentice weren’t high, eighty-two a week, working over ten hours a day, but fortunately, als were included, and you could take so leftovers ho for your mother and sister.
Your eldest brother often ca to visit your mother and sister.
When he saw you, he just remained silent, then hugged you.
He knew you could have gone to college.
He didn’t date or marry, living in the factory and sending all his money back ho.
He always said, “Hang in there, it’ll get better if you just hang in there.”
You made a friend in the restaurant nad Yoen who, like you, was an apprentice.
He seed to know a lot and was always chattering away.
For instance, he disclosed to you, “Electricity isn’t actually shipped from other cities but generated by the nuclear power station in the city.
The winter snow blockage doesn’t really affect the power supply; the hike in electricity prices is just pure greed by the energy consortium.”
He had a smart bracelet and was always scrolling through news.
Smart bracelets and data plans in Rock City were expensive, and you were reluctant to buy one.
Yoen told you that down South there’s a person called ‘K’ leading many in resistance against the Consortium.
K helps those bullied by the Consortium.
You didn’t know who K was.
You asked Yoen about K’s exploits, and Yoen didn’t know much either.
He recounted tales of fantastical feats, and you felt most were tall tales, but this didn’t stop you from believing K must be a great person.
Just like the knights and heroes in storybooks.
You asked Yoen, “What weapon does K use?”
At first, he said guns, but then he said swords.
In sumr, the number of holess people on the streets increased.
Many houses stood empty, and many people had nowhere to live.
Yoen said lots of houses were auctioned every day, taken from those who lost jobs and couldn’t repay their loans.
The top-level of the restaurant was reserved for luxury booths, with well-dressed people dining every day.
They drank wine worth ten years of your salary and feasted on delicacies transported from all over the Federation.
The apprentices loved to serve side dishes in these restaurants, allowing them to sneak a taste of the expensive food.
However, many of the dishes were elaborately garnished, making them hard to sample without notice, and getting caught ant a severe beating.
Yoen was caught once and was bedridden for days, nearly losing his job.
After his return, he beca much more prudent but still often bragged to you, just less frequently.
Your mother’s health seed to have improved substantially, able to walk around, and your second sister’s ntal state had gotten a lot better after rest.
You thought you saw your fifth sister on the street, but it seed like a mirage.
There was still no news of your fourth brother.
Winter returned and the number of holess on the streets increased.
Electricity and coal prices continued to soar, and so Wilderness Wanderers started selling wood.
The streets’ ornantal trees rapidly dwindled, almost completely chopped down.
However, so trees around the Consortium’s factories and shopping centers were owned, and the Consortium organized Tree Protection Squads.
They shot to drive off anyone caught chopping trees, and frequently, holess people died under their guns.
Guests in the top-floor luxury booths seed never-ending.
Your eldest brother was fired.
Your eldest brother hadn’t done anything wrong and his work had been outstanding, but the factory implented a salary cut for all staff.
His wage had been keeping up with your second sister and mother’s dication costs, already cut three tis, and couldn’t be cut further, so he approached the factory owner hoping for so leniency.
And then he was fired.
Finding a job in the winter was tough, and after becoming unemployed, your eldest brother could only find cheap odd jobs, unable to afford the dication for your mother and second sister.
Thankfully, your sister and mother had improved a lot and no longer required those dications.]
[At 18: Your second sister had recovered sowhat and often went out.
She said she t your fifth sister walking beside a young man.
Soon, you too encountered your fifth sister.
In a rush, she found you at the restaurant and handed you a storage chip, having always known where you were.
She inford you the chip contained evidence of the slaughter of workers in the mines, and then hurriedly left before you could even say a word.
You found Yoen, learned how to copy chips and, in an electronics store, spent most of your savings on several chips and a smart bracelet capable of reading and copying them.
You didn’t know what to do next.
You wanted to find your third brother but weren’t allowed visitation in prison.
You asked Yoen how to hold the Mining Consortium accountable.
He said such a cross-city case would require the Federal Bureau of Investigation or possibly consulting with a local mining senator to see if they had any thods to handle it.
Your second sister disappeared.
When you got ho, there was no sign of your second sister.
Your eldest brother said he had visited the areas she frequently went to and had gone to find her.
Your eldest brother disappeared too.
This year started out very cold as well, with heavy snow falling from the sky.
Mother had died.
You felt as though soone nearby was watching you; you had no money for a funeral and could only search for your missing brother and sister while holding a simple ceremony.
You dragged it out until the last day mandated by the municipal governnt, then sent Mother to the crematorium.
At the crematorium, you saw a staff mber fiddling with a piece of jewelry that belonged to your fifth sister, which you had seen when she sent you the chip.
You dragged that employee into a corner and threatened him with force.
He told you that a few days before, such a body had been brought in, covered in wounds from being whipped, and eventually cremated under the guise of a wanderer; the municipal subsidy was gone.
Along with your fifth sister, two other people resembling your second sister and older brother had been brought in.
You felt suffocated; you could not confide in anyone, and you could no longer contact any family mber.
With your last bit of savings, you bought an Ancient Sword from a craft store; you couldn’t possibly afford it, but the boss saw the cross on your chest and sold you the sword at an extrely low price.
Afterward, you went straight to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation building wasn’t far from your ho, in the direction your second sister often walked.
You handed the replicated chip to an FBI agent and told them it was the original.
Not long after leaving the Federal Bureau of Investigation, you felt you were being followed.
You didn’t shake off the tracker, and you were assaulted, ducking into a nearby alley.
[Your mission is: Investigate and reduce the frequent death cases in Rock City.]
[Have fun playing the ga.]
When He Ao regained consciousness, an icy cold wind surged into his throat.
He reached out and touched sothing hard and icy beneath his hand.
At that mont, he was sitting against a wall, with a long trail of blood extending to the end of the light, reflected on the frosty ground by the dim light of the streetlamp.
It was probably March by now.
Dawn City had already welcod spring, with life rejuvenating, while Rock City was still in the grips of a cold winter.
He Ao reached out and grasped tightly onto the Ancient Sword in his hand.
In fact, if Nell had exchanged his money for a gun, his dire situation would have been much lighter.
But he couldn’t afford a gun.
The little money he had left could only buy the sword, which was an act of pity from the boss.
The weekly salary for an apprentice in a restaurant was a re eighty-two federal coins; though als were included, there was almost no chance of saving any money, and as an apprentice, he wouldn’t purchase social or dical insurance.
And such a job had to be done for two full years before one could be moved up to a regular position.
Rapid footsteps echoed from both sides of the alley.
He Ao struggled to stand up from the ground, feeling intense pain in his left chest and right shoulder—two bullet wounds.
Besides those, his right thigh and left arm were also shot, but the bullets had passed through without lodging in the flesh.
The footsteps on both sides were slowing; those chasing him were slowly encircling.
A familiar pursuit.
He Ao gave a self-mocking laugh.
He propped himself up with the sword and activated Super mory.
Nell, like Joey.
Ordinary, and,
Owning nothing.
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