Chapter 537 The last straw that broke the camel’s back
Sberg originally thought he was doomed.
His boss Weijia will definitely bribe people in the prison to let him enter vertically and exit horizontally.
However, what he didn't expect was that the co-workers did not abandon him. They formed a circle at the prison door and even alerted the militia.
The prisoners in the prison were watching the fun and whispering curiously.
"My God, the big-antlered deer...I have never seen this scene before."
"What do they want to do?"
"Better fight!" A desperado with a life on his back clenched his fists excitedly, ready to take the opportunity to escape from prison.
Sperger, who was sitting in the corner, coughed slightly.
"There won't be a fight...probably not."
Everyone looked at him.
Siberg was a little scared, shrank back, and whispered.
"I... read them some of the stories. Bol, the Awakener, knows that killing Stephen will not solve any problems..."
The prisoners looked at each other.
Although they didn't know what was going on, their intuition told them that those people outside were probably related to the skinny guy in front of them.
The desperado walked up to Sperger, squatted down, and stared at him for a while.
Just when Sperger was extremely nervous, he suddenly spoke.
"Paul? Stephen? What is that?"
Sberg was stunned for a moment.
"...Then, it's a long story."
The desperado sat on the ground and waved his hands.
"Don't be in a hurry. Please speak slowly. Anyway, you won't be able to go out for a while, and I happen to be the same... We have plenty of time."
Seeing the prisoners staring at him curiously, Sperger swallowed and nodded hurriedly.
"Okay...then let me start from the beginning."
Boll was born in the slums at the foot of the giant wall. He was an out-and-out country bumpkin from the outer city.
But who was in the city from the beginning?
Boulder City was not built in a day...
He told Bol's story in a eloquent tone, and soon he found that not only the prisoners, but also the jailer who was guarding the door were leaning on the railings and listening.
This is the story of a little person.
As the old man said, just one awakened person cannot make a difference.
But here, who is not a nobody?
After telling the story for a while, the commotion outside ended and the prison was full.
Then another boss came over and pretended to want to take his workers back, but people were not willing to go with him at all.
"Go home, my children! The environment here is too bad, dark and cold! You come home with me first. If you have any requirements, we can sit down and talk about it... How about I play Mr. House's radio for you?"
Your favorite channel."
The fat guy was smiling and trying to please the workers who were watching. They had never seen such a kind expression on his face.
"Home? Are you talking about your broken factory?"
"Hahaha, then I won't go back with you!"
"That's it! It's warm here! Not only is it not gloomy, but it's not drafty, and there are stories to listen to!"
"How about you come in too!"
The boss was anxious.
How come these people just can't get enough of it?
Thinking of the deadline for the order, he cried out.
"Are you crazy! If I can't complete the order, the factory will have no money! The IOUs in your hands are real paper! In the end, it is you who will harm yourself! I will pat my butt and leave, and you will become poorer and poorer.
, I can’t even afford nutritional ointment!”
No wonder they are poor!
Not smart, lazy, and mean!
"Then just think we are crazy," a young man looked at him with a hint of contempt in his eyes, "we don't care anymore, anyway, no matter how rich you are, you won't give us a penny, so it's better to make you poorer.
Maybe you will love us more."
"Haha, even now he is still trying to reason with us!"
"No need to talk, buddy, go to the roof of the building for us to see if the wind is strong!"
The constant ridicule drowned out the boss's feeble arguments.
At this point, no matter what he said, it was useless. Even if he endured the pain and offered to pay him some wages, no one would pay any attention to him.
However, he did not regret issuing IOUs. It was the greatest invention. He only regretted not buying some slaves as an emergency.
Boulder City allowed slave trading, but the slaves were too stupid and always broke the machines. Over time, no one wanted to use them. On the contrary, the free survivors worked harder and eliminated the slaves eight lifetimes ago.
It's just that he didn't expect that such a violent "unexpected disaster" would happen today.
In fact, there were less than 200 workers in front of the beer hall. However, in just one afternoon, half of the workers in the industrial area became members of the Workers' Association.
Everyone sat on the floor in the prison.
Seeing that they were not making trouble and were just listening to stories, the warden turned a blind eye to Sperger's stories and even allowed them to leave the prison and move around freely... After all, the prison could not hold so many people. Statistics
They had enough names to copy until tomorrow, so they could only be allowed to leave in the corridor first.
It's crowded here, but it's warm, and there's even electric lights and nutritional cream.
"Brothers, this is heaven!"
"We should have come in here!"
"When a noble lord wants to arrest everyone in the city, then they have to build a prison as big as a stone city."
"Hahaha! Maybe they will renovate our house!"
Although it is just about having fun in the midst of suffering, when a group of people have fun in the midst of suffering together, it is no longer bitter at all, but full of fun.
Everyone discussed the follow-up of the story together, and they all agreed that there was a missing Kent in the story of Bol the Awakener, and they clamored for Sberg to include this funny clown.
Sperger vaguely felt that it was too much to humiliate the comrades who worked together, so he persuaded the excited people to save some face for Kent, deleted one syllable, changed it to "Ken", and noted it as "loves to spit,"
And people who love to put their buttocks against the whip in Master Stephen's hand."
They don't have any lofty ideals, they just want their share.
These days, Sperger is living surprisingly well in prison. After all, he is the only one who can bring entertainment to the people here.
Sperger had a vague feeling that although their warden always had a cold face, he actually sympathized with them in his heart.
That person didn't have a black card or chips. After all, he was a small person and couldn't make much money. Moreover, the chips had been slowly buying less things recently, and it wouldn't be long before everyone was equally poor.
Later, during a storytelling session, the warden intentionally or unintentionally interjected in a joking tone and asked the workers, "Do those who watch prisons count as workers?"
Before the workers could speak, Sperger immediately replied, "Everyone who receives a salary counts."
The warden didn't say anything at the time, but later the food in the entire prison became better, and at least the nutritional cream was no longer watered down.
Another week passed like this. By mid-December, the weather was getting colder and colder. The warden got a batch of cheap scraps. The carpenter and the blacksmith teamed up to use the scraps to make a heater for the prison. It was not just the workers.
They no longer have to endure the cold, and the jailers who don't want to be crowded together with their fellow workers are much warmer.
Sperger secretly wrote a letter and asked an acquaintance of the jailer to help send it to the alliance embassy and sent it to his editor, Miss Dolly, asking the "Daily Survivor" to exchange his remuneration for silver coins and buy some corn.
He sent it to Boulder City Prison. When he saw the corn and bags of radishes and potatoes piled in the open space of the prison, he was shocked.
He didn’t even know that his little royalties could buy so many things!
Later, the guy who worked in the flour mill made a flour grinding tool, and the guy in the cannery made stew for everyone. After eating, you had to find something to do, so the engineer in the repair shop simply gave everyone a class on chemical engineering.
The factory master talked about chemistry...
There is everything here. It doesn’t look like a prison, but like a welfare home. No one pays attention to the bosses’ pleading. Although there is an element of anger, they have indeed proved it with their actions.
They would be better off without Mr. Stephen!
Since he didn't have to work on the assembly line, Sperger also had more time to polish Boll's story into something more realistic.
At this time, someone suggested setting up a rule, or a program. After all, even the gangs outside the giant wall had rules, so they had to have one.
Leading people to rush up in a swarm and disperse in a hurry is a trick. In the end, there is nothing but chicken feathers on the ground. Instead, the real robbers and thieves in the prison will see the joke.
The workers' association must discuss with everyone, solicit every worker's opinion, use communication without threats, and make it clear what everyone wants, how to get it, and how to win, just like fighting... Only in this way can we truly unite.
Someone proposed that Siberg be the president. Siberg quickly waved his hand and refused, saying that he was not qualified for that job and that he could just be a secretary. It would be better for everyone to raise their hands and choose someone who can really take the lead.
But he felt that everyone was right, and he was extremely lucky that he wrote in the story of Bol the Awakener that day——
"...beating Stephen up won't solve anything, not even taking off his belt and peeing on him. Killing a rat will only add more corpses and flies to the street."
"...Alone we are weak, but as long as we are united, Stephen will be afraid of us, all Stephens will be!"
Maybe my initial hunch was right.
This winter won’t be too difficult…
...
After reading the story one day, Sperger yawned and went back to the prison to sleep.
Everyone in the workers' union had long ago separated the snoring workers from the non-snoring workers so that everyone could rest. They also politely gave him a solitary room, a small dark single room, so that he could calm down and write stories.
.
However, what was different from usual was that when Sberg walked into the small dark room and closed the door, he discovered that there was another person here.
The man was not tall, even a little short, and his green eyes were like those of a wolf, which startled him.
It seemed that he was not afraid of him running away at all. The man looked at him with the eyes of a poisonous snake spitting out a message, and spoke slowly.
"Someone wants your life."
Sberg felt his hands and feet were cold.
This guy……
Maybe he is a real awakener!
His Adam's apple moved and he spoke.
"who………"
"I don't even know about a big shot."
"I'm asking for your name," Sperger swallowed and stared at him nervously, "You know my name, but I don't know your name yet."
The man played with the dagger in his hand and said casually.
"Xiao Dao, everyone has called me this since I can remember...do you know what the meaning of my name is? You can settle the score with me when I go down?"
Sperger shook his head.
"No... everything ends when a person dies. In fact, there is no big-horned deer god at all, and there may not be any world after death, although I only learned about it recently."
"Huh?" Xiaodao wasn't very concerned, but he wasn't in a hurry to complete the task.
The wasteland is very lonely. The settlement is a jungle, and outside the settlement it is also a jungle. There are whispers of wild beasts inside and outside.
It's not bad to let this guy talk. Most people only speak a few human words before they die. He likes his employer's money and also likes to hear the last words of the deceased.
Sperger paused and continued.
"...Even if there is no afterlife, after a person dies, his name will continue to live in the memories of others, so names are very important and are definitely not meaningless."
"Are you stalling for time?" Xiaodao yawned, his eyes suddenly rolled, and he stared at him and continued, "Actually, it's not necessary. To tell you the truth, another big shot also gave money. On the contrary, he didn't want you.
If you are going to die so soon, just let me make you half dead, such as cutting off your hands and feet, mute your voice... in short, just leave you breathing.
Siberg felt his whole body was cold.
He had no doubt that the man in front of him had that ability. Just like Bol could beat Master Stephen to a pulp, the Awakened One was still very powerful against ordinary people.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you are a coward like everyone else. The only difference is that you haven't peed your pants yet," Xiaodao stared at his face, a little disappointed, and said jokingly, "I don't know what's so great about a little person like you.
Yes, with so many big shots surrounding you, this is the first time I have received two bounties on the same head... By the way, I heard that the big shot in the northern suburbs even invited you to be his guest?"
An expression of interest suddenly appeared on his face, and his sinister eyes were like a letter spit out by a poisonous snake, swimming on Sberg's face.
"Tell me...if I take you to the northern suburbs, will the manager there reward me with the rank of a captain?"
Sperger coughed slightly.
"Ahem...that adult may give you a sum of money, but he probably won't let you become a captain. These are two different things." Xiao Dao looked at him in despair.
"That's a shame...although the money is good."
After a pause, he continued.
"You haven't answered my question yet... What secret does a guy like you have that makes so many big people stare at you? Do you know something, such as the location of the black box, or the hidden valuable treasure?"
"No."
"No?"
"I'm not lying to you," Sperger stared closely at the dagger in his hand, "I'm just a small person who reads newspapers...how could there be such a thing.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... I believe it."
Xiao Dao smiled and stood up from the hard bed, walked up to Sperger, and turned the dagger in his hand.
"Okay, let me give you another chance to live. Write a letter to the big shot in the northern suburbs. If he is willing to pay a sum of money, I will consider selling you to him... Ah, by the way, I just want
dinar or cr."
Of course, he was just thinking about it.
After all, the other two adults gave him a lot, so he could definitely kill this guy and get all the bounties from the three big shots.
The wasteland is so big that he can run away anywhere. He is just a wandering wasteland visitor and is not interested in this twisted settlement.
However, what he didn't expect was that the good-for-nothing coward in front of him would reject his proposal without hesitation.
"I can't write it."
Xiaodao looked at him in surprise.
"you sure?"
Although he was extremely scared, Sperger did not flinch and stared at this guy intently.
"If you ask me to beg for mercy from Lord Weijia, I can...but if you want to use me to blackmail that Lord, you should give up as soon as possible."
There is no doubt that he is just a small person. He has lived like a mouse for more than 20 years. He can't understand why so many people are interested in his head, but if he must die, he would rather devote his life to it.
An adult.
No reason.
He felt it was worth it!
"Why? There has to be a reason, right?"
"……dignity."
"what is that?"
"People like you wouldn't know, just do it!" Sberg clenched his fists, intending to fight to the death, at least be a brave man and die like a hero.
Xiao Dao curled his lips, stopped talking nonsense with this guy, and stabbed out the dagger in his hand cleanly.
When the prey sees a sharp weapon stabbing its head, it will subconsciously raise its arms to protect its head first, which plays into his trap.
He planned to destroy this guy's two hands first, and then use his legs to mute his throat... He had done similar work countless times, and he was confident enough to do it cleanly and neatly.
However--
This time he failed.
The dagger seemed to have struck a transparent wall. He was sweating coldly and tried to take it back, only to find that the dagger seemed to be stuck in the solid air.
Sperger was also stunned.
He just raised his arms to block, but saw ripples in the air in front of him, and a figure gradually emerged.
"Damn it - who are you?!" Xiao Dao screamed, looking at the figure that appeared in front of him like a ghost in horror.
The dark mirror and helmet obscured the person's face. She seemed to be a woman, or she might not be a human at all.
She quietly held the blade of the dagger. The number x-16 was engraved on the slightly raised breastplate, coupled with the logo of the giant military industry. This number seemed to be given some unusual meaning.
She seemed to have been here for a long time, and even entered the room earlier than the two of them, but neither of them noticed her presence.
Optical camouflage!
A trace of panic flashed in the beast-like eyes. He let go of the dagger, pulled out the short knife tied to his leg, and slashed at the man in front of him.
There is no crisp sound of the jingle.
He didn't even see clearly what the man had done, before he flew out like a kite with a broken string and hit the wall on one side of the confinement room heavily.
"ah……"
Many ribs were broken!
The spine seems to be broken, the lower limbs cannot be used, and urine is leaking...
At the last moment, he wanted to beg for mercy, but before he could make a sound, a dagger pierced his throat.
He could only watch as the man walked in step by step, grasped the dagger lightly, and pulled out the bloody short blade along with his consciousness.
The battle only lasted two seconds, but blood was everywhere.
However, the man standing in the pool of blood acted as if nothing had happened.
He had never seen such a bloody scene. Sberg felt as if his legs were filled with lead and his back was burning. It took him a long time to squeeze out a trembling word from his stiff throat.
"You...killed someone."
Putting the dagger away casually, x-16 ignored his question and looked back at him.
"Someone wants to see you."
Sperger swallowed.
"who……"
"You'll know when you get there."
Hearing these words, a trace of bitterness appeared on Sberg's face.
The only people who dare to kill people in this city at will, and also in this prison, must be only the big shots in the inner city.
To be honest, he didn't want to meet that dangerous guy, but he didn't have the right to refuse.
After all, he saw with his own eyes that she executed the awakened one like a grasshopper, and it probably only took a second to kill him.
"Can I... say goodbye to my friends?" Sperger said in a soliciting tone.
The dark and cold mirror floated out words that did not surprise him.
"no."
...
It's been snowing in the Valley Province recently.
And it’s a big drop!
In order to prevent the snow from crushing the roofs of farmers in the West District, Dawn City organized a group of players and local residents to work on clearing the snow.
Although the money given was not much, there was regional reputation to be gained, and some players who were interested in public affairs carried the ladder without saying a word.
Fortunately, they also have strength.
The number of alien species in the River Valley Province dropped sharply in winter, and many monsters went to hibernate. Before the spring wave came, Chu Guang also had to find something to do for these energetic little players to prevent them from getting bored and causing trouble everywhere.
Seeing the residents of the shelter rolling up their sleeves to help, the residents of Dawn City also stepped forward to help, some holding ladders and some handing shovels.
This winter is indeed much warmer than last year.
In addition to the internal affairs of the alliance, Chu Guang has been keeping a close eye on his next door neighbor.
It's not that I'm planning on picking up the leaks, but I'm afraid that the shit basin will explode.
There are currently more than two hundred players in Boulder City, and they occasionally post their experiences in Boulder City to the official website.
These players are like eyes in Boulder City. Chu Guang has already asked Xiao Qi to compile these posts into a book and sift out some high-confidence clues.
According to the intelligence compiled by Xiao Qi, the situation in Boulder City was far more exaggerated than he expected.
If the alliance's foreign debt is expanding at a geometric rate, then the inflation in Boulder City has almost reached the towering outer wall.
There is no doubt that Malvern can no longer contain inflation.
Ever since the commotion in the industrial area, false prosperity erupted like an avalanche, and the fuse Chu Guang predicted was finally lit.
In the face of this crisis whose source cannot be seen, Malvern is not doing nothing, but he does not have many cards to play.
Being at the end of his rope, he tried his best to no avail, so he had no choice but to rope in Du Long from the city hall and intervene in the production of the industrial zone using not-so-smart administrative intervention methods.
For example, they forcibly withheld a batch of goods that should have been sent to the alliance to deliver orders, forcibly sent intermediate products to the downstream of their own industrial chain, or sent finished products directly to stores, in short, priority was given to filling the shelves of Boulder City.
Alliance factories are indifferent.
The Alliance Ministry of Industry issued an early warning, telling everyone to prepare in advance to prevent "earthquakes", speed up industrial substitution, and purchase intermediate products from places outside of Boulder City as much as possible to avoid chain reactions caused by the other party's default.
The factory owners in the Boulder City Industrial Zone are having a hard time.
Originally, a large number of skilled workers were imprisoned and workers were massacred, which almost brought their assembly lines to a standstill.
Now the man can finally remember where the things on the shelf came from, but he refuses to use his cerebellum to think about it. He only comes up with a folk remedy for headaches and pains in the head and feet.
Of course, they can stop delivering orders from the alliance and give priority to the shelves in Boulder City, but only if someone can pay the liquidated damages for them.
It is a pity that Governor Malvern and Minister Dulong seem to be unwilling to pay liquidated damages on their behalf, nor to make up for the inflation of raw materials. They even require them to sell the goods they produce at a price lower than cost, and they have previously
We cannot stop lending them loans to expand production.
How can that work?!
They don't have much money to begin with, and now they have to use the few profits - or even rebate money - to help the Malvern gentlemen suppress the vicious inflation caused by the "overheated economy".
Although the Alliance also cuts leeks from its own factory, the harvesting process is organized and disciplined, and at least it will not be chopping indiscriminately.
The profiteers in the industrial area had no choice but to show their talents and find ways to circumvent the regulations of the city hall and secretly sell the prohibited goods to their neighbors. Anyway, President Malvern and Director Dulong were sure that
They didn't dare to intercept Master Sid's goods.
Those who have no way out can only admit defeat, but admitting defeat does not mean admitting defeat. The means of production are in the hands of profiteers. If they can't sell the milk, they can dump the milk. If they don't, they will kill the cows and eat meat. No.
let
Kill the cow with a knife and starve it to death, or take the cow directly to the neighbor's house.
Dulong's intervention did not really work. After all, he and Malvern still underestimated people's "greed" in difficult situations.
The shelves were quickly cleared. When the crisis was detonated, the thing was like a black hole. No matter how much materials were thrown in, they were all in vain.
Goods that were supposed to be sold at a low price have become first-come-first-served and those with the highest price. People who have obtained large quantities of materials at high prices will not be satisfied with the immediate food and clothing. Not only do they have to hoard enough for half a year's consumption, but they also have to withhold part of it to sell.
, make money back.
Even squirrels know how to hoard pine cones several times larger than themselves for the winter, not to mention greedy people. Soap and sausages became hard currency first, followed closely by cigarettes and alcohol. Those who really can't buy hard currency just buy them.
Exchange the chips that cannot be spent into other things, such as bonds or coins with strong growth.
The chips circulating within the giant wall are countless times more than the total merchandise within the giant wall, and hot money with nowhere to go is scurrying around like cockroaches.
Of course, all investments are inferior to stable silver coins.
Suddenly there were some small vendors selling food outside the giant wall. They were all merchants of the alliance. They did not want more and more chips, and only bought silver coins with stable purchasing power.
The wealthy people in Boulder City often have to go to the black market first to exchange a pocket full of chips for a few silver coins, and then go to the gate of the outer city to buy potatoes, corn and daily necessities.
The figures pushing the carts seemed to be a beam of light in the heavy snow, illuminating countless longing faces.
And under the shadow where the light cannot shine, there are still some people who are in a hurry.
They often wear clean cotton clothes and are as elegant as businessmen. When they see some businessmen from the alliance, they will approach them and hand out a pamphlet.
There are some "good things" written on them that you can't usually buy.
They are brokers.
They dare to sell anything and accept everything.
Some of them were subordinates of small nobles or factory owners in the inner city, and some were simply militiamen in civilian clothes.
In the hands of these powerful little characters, a thousand cotton clothes can be exchanged for a loom with a daily output of 10,000 meters, and a few bottles of highly distilled alcohol can be exchanged for a 90% new military exoskeleton. Without distilled alcohol
, a few cases of beer or cans would be fine too.
Someone else took out a black card and said that as long as they gave him enough silver coins, he would take them into this "big casino" to find fun that the alliance could not find.
The casino is still operating normally, the Death Lotto is drawing prizes every day, and Malvern is still doing its best to put out the fire, but the flames burning on the firewood pile are getting stronger and stronger.
Everyone in this casino is more or less crazy...
And just when Chu Guang thought this was the limit, a piece of bad news suddenly came from his Foreign Minister Cheng Yan.
After hearing his report, Chu Guang's expression changed slightly.
"That Sperger...is dead?"
--
(I have something to do today, so I’ll update it in advance. The Boulder City chapter will probably have three more chapters. By the way, it seems that Dian Niang will have a live broadcast in a few days. I haven’t decided what to broadcast yet. There are too many games I want to play.