Chapter 549: Putting the Final Nail on the Coffin
Chapter 549: Driving the last nail in the coffin
Sberg is back.
And he met the manager!
The Stone City Hall.
When they saw the familiar face appear at the door, the workers’ union immediately rushed up and surrounded him excitedly.
”Wait a minute! Don’t ask me about the manuscript yet!” Looking at the surging crowd, Sberg seemed to have guessed what they would say, and immediately screamed, “I have something important to say!”
”Hurry up! Stop talking nonsense,” Lovett hooked his shoulder and urged, “You said you were going to the northern suburbs, and now you have been there, what about the rest of the story? How is the chapter on the revolution going?”
”Now I want to talk about something more important than this!”
Pushing Lovett’s hand away, Sberg motioned for everyone to be quiet, and said after clearing his throat.
”He let me try on his power armor, which is really extraordinary… Even with my physique, wearing power armor can gain the strength of a giant!”
An electrician couldn’t help but say.
”Incredible… He really let you wear it.”
The other workers also joked and booed.
”I don’t believe it! Didn’t your coat stink him to death?”
”That’s right!”
”You’re just bragging!”
Sberg didn’t take the teasing of the others to heart, because he knew that what was true could not be false, and what was false could not be true.
”Whether you believe it or not, that gentleman is actually a very easy-going person, and he doesn’t care so much. Although his guards are a bit scary, the young man kept staring at me, which made me dare not ask to borrow the bathroom… But these are not the point.”
Lovett swallowed his saliva.
”What’s the point?”
Is there anything more outrageous than a canner being invited to be a guest by the manager of the alliance and being invited to try on power armor?
Everyone stared at Sberg intently, waiting for him to continue.
Sberg showed a happy smile on his face, as if his dream had come true.
”The awakened can defeat the power armor! This is what the manager told me personally! He is both an awakened and has power armor, no one knows better than him!”
The crowd spread a voice of amazement.
That title really bothered them for a long time.
Even because of that title, Boll’s story was often laughed at by illiterate people in the militia.
Although it was just a trivial matter, the controversy is finally over now.
Lovett clenched his fists excitedly: “I said that the title is not exaggerated at all! Joey, that bastard, I will go to him to make things clear!”
Seeing Lovett excitedly turning around and about to go out, Sperger quickly reached out and grabbed him.
”Don’t worry, this little thing is not worth it.”
He didn’t like the people in the militia.
But the Great Revolution is over, and what is most needed now is unity.
The worker standing by laughed and patted Sperger on the shoulder.
”Don’t look at Lovett like that, he and Joey have a good relationship.”
Another worker also said with a smile.
”That’s right! Joey is not that kind of stingy person. He is one of the few guys in the militia who is willing to tell the truth. Don’t write his ending too tragically.”
”Joey? Is he in the book? Forget it…” Sperger scratched his head and couldn’t remember that there was this character in Boll’s story.
But he planned to write a centurion who stood on the side of the people.
After all, during his time in prison, he did overdo the militia, but there were actually good people among those soldiers.
Whether those guys stood on the side of the poor because they couldn’t get paid, couldn’t rob money, or for some other reason, this was a victory they all won together.
This will never change.
Alyssa stood at the edge of the crowd.
She held a letter in her hand, and wanted to get through but couldn’t squeeze in, so she could only tiptoe and shake her arms.
Sperger quickly noticed her, made a way through the crowd, came to her, and said with a slight smile.
”Is there anything I can help you with?”
Alyssa nodded vigorously, and a rare nervousness appeared on her face.
”Um… is there a reply?”
Hearing this, Sperger scratched his head.
He came back empty-handed.
The Alliance has declared their attitude and choice with actions, and this is better than anything else for them, but he feels that the little girl in front of him is not just expecting this.
But he still chose to tell the truth.
”No…”
Looking at Alyssa’s lost eyes, Sberg thought for a while, sighed and continued.
”Actually… I feel that gentleman feels a little guilty.”
Alyssa was stunned.
”… Guilt?”
”Well,” Sberg nodded, recalling the situation at that time, and said, “After reading your letter, I noticed that his expression changed significantly… It was as if your choice was unexpected to him.”
Those big shots don’t always calculate everything. He has been convinced of this after meeting Mr. Fang Ming.
Even a smart gentleman has an ending that he can’t calculate.
And the manager of the alliance, as he saw it, is just an ordinary human being, not with three heads and six arms.
It’s just that many followers worship him, which gives his identity a different meaning.
It is precisely because of this that he will carefully consider the impact of each choice, and will also feel sorry for unexpected mistakes.
”Why?” Not understanding those reasons, Alyssa looked at him anxiously and asked, “Did I… do anything wrong?”
Sberg scratched the back of his head.
”No, it has nothing to do with right or wrong. It’s more like you did such a good job that he felt guilty. He probably didn’t expect that his words would push a hot-blooded young man to the edge of a cliff… How should I put it? I feel like he wanted to praise you for doing a great job, but he restrained himself.”
Sberg felt that the reason he could perceive these things might be because he had the same feeling in his heart.
Especially when he saw the ending A in the screening room.
The workers carried his body to the inner city, and then fell down in groups, and the blood dyed the whole street red… Even though he knew it was fake, he still couldn’t help but shed tears.
If there was no “Survivor Daily”, no later “Workers’ Newspaper”, and the “Awakener Bol” born from it, there would probably be no such passionate workers, and this jungle-like casino would probably continue to operate.
He did not regret bravely reading out the contents of the newspaper, but he still felt a little scared when he thought about it, which was not contradictory.
If a sentence can turn a coward into a warrior who is not afraid of life and death, then that letter is entirely possible to be regarded as an imperial decree by a group of people.
Even if Alyssa did not have that idea, there would be some speculators who would have this idea.
If nothing unexpected happens, the next city lord should be born in the workers’ union or the militia, or it may be a citizen.
But if the manager wrote that letter, the fanatical people might push a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl to a place where she should not go.
She has done enough.
Solving the current problems in Boulder City is not just about calling on everyone to grow vegetables in pots. Many people don’t even have potted plants at home.
Ideals can bring almost impossible miracles to the earth, but maintaining them requires more realistic methods.
Otherwise, it’s another kind of hell…
Looking at the lost Alyssa, Sperger had an idea and spoke.
”It’s normal that you don’t understand. I actually walked through the gates of hell before I figured out some things… For example, you don’t have to wait until spring to see the people you want to see and do the things you want to do.”
Alyssa was stunned.
”We don’t have to wait until spring?”
”Yes, when I wrote back to my editor, Miss Dolly, I said that I would go to the Alliance in the spring, but I should have gone right away… You have a letter to give to that gentleman, right?” Sberg looked at the envelope in Alyssa’s hand and said with a smile, “Why not give it to him yourself? He happens to be in this settlement and will probably stay for a few days.”
”It’s not convenient for him to reply to you, but if you want to talk to him in person, and in a private setting, I think he will definitely not be stingy with a few words of praise!”
…
At the same time, in the northern corridor of the Valley Province, a huge and prosperous city-state is located on the plain next to the Great Rift Valley.
This city with a population of one million is like an isolated island standing in the wilderness.
The red and blue interlaced light image is very similar to the ideal city.
However, it is just a resemblance.
Whether it is scale, population, productivity, or something at the core, this settlement called the Free State can be called the opposite of the ideal city.
The flood of prosthetics and psychotropic drugs are all over the streets and alleys. The cheap virtual dream is just like the fragile dream, healing people’s trauma and satisfying all their fantasies.
Of course, there is not only decadence and desolation here, but also a good side.
Just like there are refrigerators here that are free but require watching two minutes of advertisements, and there are also floor-to-ceiling windows with spotless inside and outside.
Whether poor or rich, anyone who is valuable to this settlement, no matter how much it is worth, can live here.
The puppets supported by the Great Rift Valley built this settlement and formulated a series of rules to press on its head.
People in the old times had high hopes for it, hoping that it would become the second production department-an ideal city that truly serves the wasteland and obeys the old times. However, those high-ranking planners did not ask the survivors living there what they wanted to become.
The only power left by the ancestors to their people was to give themselves a name.
So people decided to call this place Bugera.
Bugera is both their currency and the name of the Free State.
Because here, only “Bughra” can obtain true freedom, and those who hold “Bughra” can be called living people.
The office of the president of Firestone Group.
Standing in front of the desk, Xavier said respectfully.
”…Recently, a group of immigrants from the south claimed that they were persecuted by the new authorities of Boulder City and applied for asylum from the Bughra authorities.”
Sigma, who was sitting on the office chair, turned his back to him and asked casually.
”What is their opinion?”
”As before, they intend to hand this trouble over to the Great Rift Valley for deliberation…” Xavier looked at the real emperor respectfully and asked cautiously, “What is your opinion?”
”I think they did a good job.”
Sigma suddenly laughed out loud and said in a teasing tone, “It’s just right for the old guys in the Great Rift Valley to see what kind of things they have raised.”
Of course.
With the style of the Great Rift Valley, these “shames” will definitely be treated tolerantly, and the Free State authorities will give them some maintenance regularly to let them spend the rest of their lives.
Sigma has heard of it.
To this day, the oldest guy still feels bad about the disintegration of the post-war reconstruction committee and the fact that each settlement was left to fend for itself.
He has no objection.
Since the old man is so nostalgic, let these bugs live.
Ugliness also has its meaning.
Letting those maggots continue to live is the biggest humiliation to the war reconstruction committee.
Xavier looked at Sigma with admiration in his eyes.
”You are indeed as good as a god. Boulder City can’t even survive this winter.”
Most of the senior executives of the Firestone Group believe that Boulder City can at least survive this winter, and the tide in early spring is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.
After all, logically speaking, the Alliance needs Boulder City to share the pressure of the tide, and will definitely not watch Boulder City collapse, and will even help them delay the crisis. Thinking
this way shows that they don’t understand the Alliance and the manager at all.
Sure enough, there are guys who ignore objective conditions and apply them mechanically no matter where they are.
Sigma smiled faintly and said casually.
”…The demise of the Stone City is inevitable. A large amount of resources are concentrated in the hands of a group of idiots. They use a system that does not create any value to select the winners, and none of the winners’ wealth comes from actual production and operation. It’s like giving a gun to a blind man and a cane to a strong man. It’s a miracle that they can survive until now.”
The Firestone Group is completely different.
Only those who create value for the company can get promoted in the workplace, and blood is worthless here.
Even the children of the company’s senior executives must go through the selection of the education system before they can work in specific positions and become company dogs.
He himself is the best example.
When he replaced the previous president and sat at this desk, he was just a thief in the slums.
”What about the Alliance?” Xavier asked curiously, “How far do you think those people can go?”
”The Alliance is another matter,” Sigma said lightly, “They are another kind of legion. Maybe they will go a long way, or they may disappear soon.”
Xavier frowned and asked.
”Do you think they are also militarism?”
Sigma curled his lips.
”Do you understand the Legion only as militarism? It is just a means to achieve the goal, just like slavery, feudalism, and clone troops. The Weylant people use a racial narrative, and the Alliance uses another narrative. Their goals are very clear. One unites all Weylant people, and the other unites all survivors. This is the fundamental difference in the route, and that’s all.”
If the Legion wins, an empire ruled by new humans will probably be born on this planet.
And if the Alliance wins, a new human alliance will probably be born.
If the Stone City wins…
the probability is too small, so small that almost no one takes it seriously.
As for the Free State of Bughra.
In the future he designed for the Free State, they need to first break free from the control of the legacy of the post-war reconstruction committee, and then win over all the wastelanders abandoned by the ideal city in this wasteland.
In fact, the Firestone Group has been carrying out these two tasks simultaneously.
Whether it is the expedition of the Legion or the Bone Chewing Rebellion, a lot of fresh blood and wealth have been injected into the Free State under his feet. Most of the officers who could not return to Triumph City stayed in the Free State, and the nobles who were driven away by the new authorities of Boulder City also ran over.
In the end, they will become an ideal city in another sense!
A paradise where all wastelanders can indulge in it without worrying about being drowned by dreams!
At this time, there was a knock on the door.
Seeing Sigma’s eye signal, Xavier bowed slightly, pushed open the door and left the office.
A man in formal clothes brushed past him, stood in front of Sigma’s desk, and said in a deep voice.
”There is new news from Boulder City.”
Sigma looked at him eagerly.
”Has the weapon been found?”
The man hesitated and shook his head.
”No…”
Sigma was silent for a while.
”Where’s Rhine?”
the man said with his head down.
”…dead.”
Sigma took a deep breath, stood up from his office chair, and walked to the French window of the room.
He looked past the neon-lit high-rise buildings and looked at the endless wilderness in the south. After a long time, he cursed.
”Damn it!” What
a loss!
…
Garbage city.
The circular parliament hall was silent.
Just now, the news of the drastic changes in Boulder City and its becoming the fifth settlement of the Alliance finally reached here.
When they learned that a large number of inner city residents had been exiled, almost all the councilors had a chill on their faces.
Although their names are councilors, they know very well what they actually are.
As one of the old survivor forces in the wasteland, the beacon that illuminated the southern part of the Valley Province for a century and a half, Boulder City has largely played the role of a role model.
Even if their methods are not the best, it is indeed feasible to reverse history in the wasteland.
Whether it was the earliest Red River Town or the garbage city under their feet, they would have some shadows of the Stone City, imitating the ruling mode of the inner city nobles.
And now, from the exiled inner city residents of the Stone City, they seemed to see their own future.
Almost every member of the parliament became nervous and talked about it at the conference table.
”I heard that the Stone City was overthrown by a group of workers and militias, and a group of scavengers also joined in the fun…”
”But we can’t close all the factories and drive away all the scavengers.”
”Maybe we should improve their treatment.”
”At least improve the treatment of the soldiers!”
”Reserve some dinars or Cr, at least if our currency is finished, we can still pay the soldiers in foreign currency…”
This sentence was recognized by many people.
Many members of the parliament nodded involuntarily, and even the speaker sitting in the first seat rarely expressed his opinion early.
”This is a good idea.”
Not only dinars and Cr, but also silver coins must be included in the foreign exchange reserves!
Otherwise, the present of the Stone City will be their tomorrow!
This issue quickly entered the voting process and was quickly passed by a high vote.
Garbage City will gradually increase its holdings of silver coins through trade until the reserve of silver coins is close to 200 million.
At the same time, they will also purchase silver-denominated bonds issued by the Alliance Bank to hedge against the inflation of silver coins themselves.
Although everyone knows that this is only a temporary solution, it is better than doing nothing.
Just think of it as paying protection fees to this powerful neighbor.
What makes all the council members in Garbage City shudder is that less than a year after the establishment of the Alliance, those poisonous ideas have already made the towering dam full of holes.
They can’t help but think of the future.
If the Alliance’s ideas spread to Garbage City, how should they deal with it?
It is said that some wastelanders from Dawn City brought the “Survivor Daily” there, and some even followed suit and started printing newspapers and telling Boll’s story in the beer hall.
They can’t just snatch the newspaper away from people, right?
But if the survivors of Garbage City also follow suit…
The more the council members thought about it, the more scared they became. Finally, someone couldn’t help but raised his hand and proposed.
”How about we follow the example of our neighbor, the Red River Alliance, and change our name to… the Garbage Alliance?”
Before he finished speaking, he was sprayed back by a congressman sitting not far away.
”Are you fucking crazy?! Do you think your life is too long?”
The man was stunned for a moment, then he read it again, and then he realized that he had come up with a weird name by patting his head.
He said sorry with a look of both laughter and tears, and under the murderous stares of the crowd, he took his hand back in shame.
He admitted that the name was not nice.
But other than that, he couldn’t think of any better and useful method…
The same scene was not only in the Garbage City, but also in the settlements of the River Valley Province.
Facing the collapsed stone building, some people saw the long night coming, and others saw the dawn of breaking through the darkness.
They were insignificant little people in the wasteland, including slaves in the mines, wandering herdsmen, and scavengers in the garbage dump.
Most of them didn’t know Bol’s story.
But they knew that in a place called Qingquan City, there was a group of survivors who united and defeated the evil dragon that enslaved them!
This devastated ruin finally ushered in a new light…
…
The center of the Stone City.
Facing the ruins of the stone building, Melvin’s weather-beaten face was full of haggardness and dejection.
Old Luca glanced at him.
”Do you regret it?”
”I…what can I regret?” Retracting his gaze from the ruins, Melvin sighed softly and said, “It’s a matter of time.”
He knew it very well.
What defeated them was not the debt of more than 3 billion, nor the S-coin that was hyped up to the sky, but the greed in their hearts.
But he had no choice.
He had already used all the methods he could.
Luca withdrew his gaze from him and looked at the old ruins in front of him.
”The administrator said you are a smart man. You are the first person to notice that this train must brake.”
Melvin laughed bitterly and said self-deprecatingly.
”On the contrary, I am not a smart man, but I am hopelessly stupid. Otherwise, I would not have seen it clearly at the end…”
In the end, the sins of their family had to be washed away by the fairy tale he left in the heart of his little daughter…
This was also the most humiliating thing for him.
Luca did not look at him, but simply explained his purpose in a concise manner.
”The administrator asked me to give you a task.”
Melvin looked at him and asked.
”What task…”
Luca continued.
”Compile your history into a book, objectively and in detail recording what has happened in this settlement in the past two hundred years. His library needs such a book, and the library of the alliance will also need it.”
Melvin said with a wry smile.
”Is this some kind of collecting hobby?”
”He said this is one of his jobs,” Luca glanced at the old man who was not much younger than him, and continued, “If you really want to atone for your past, do this last thing seriously. Or do you think you can still do physical work at your age?”
Melvin was slightly stunned.
His Adam’s apple moved slightly, and after a long time, he slowly nodded.
”I will do this seriously.”
Atonement…
ah…
what a kind man.
Melvin suddenly felt his eyes sore.
He was right.
If you don’t want to take regrets and remorse into the coffin, this is the only thing you can do and do in time-
to completely nail the last nail in this rotten coffin.
Seeing the gratitude behind the cloudy pupils, Luca said nothing, but simply nodded, and left with his back to the ruins of the Monolith Building…
–
(My cold has gotten better. I was almost running low these days. I have to go out to collect materials in a few days. I will try to update continuously this month and slow down before the outbreak.)
(End of this chapter)
