He Ao sat in the corner of the coffee shop and calmly opened the tablet on the desktop.
Through the corner window, he could see the bustling crowd outside, many with smiles on their faces and carrying a large bag of bread flour on their shoulders.
He Ao knew that what they were happy about was not that someone stood up to fight for their power, but that they received bread flour that could feed the family for more than half a month today.
Christos's speech was very inflammatory when first heard, but in the long history of Chenxi City, more than one politician came to power with slogans such as 'increase wages', 'reform medical care' and 'increase taxes on consortiums'.
When the current mayor Vint was campaigning that year, he also claimed to raise wages for everyone. During his eight years in office, the minimum wage increased by 0.05 federal dollars per hour.
It has gone up, but not completely.
Even so, there are many consortiums and companies that do not abide by this minimum wage.
Take some service industries where tips are required as an example. If the tips received by the waiters that month are less than the minimum wage, according to Chenxi City law, the boss should top up the tips to the minimum wage, but few bosses will do this.
The mayoral election in Chenxi City has become a game of choosing a relatively not-so-bad person among several bad people.
"Hello, is there anyone here?"
A gentle voice came.
He Ao raised his head and saw Christos's smiling face.
He put down the tablet and said softly, "No, you can sit down."
"Aren't you afraid that I will send people to surround this place?"
As he spoke, Christos picked up the tablet on the table and ordered a cup of black coffee. Then he looked at He Ao, "Would you like something to drink?"
He Ao shook his head and indicated that he didn't need coffee. Then he looked at Christos through the thick mask and smiled, "You won't send people to arrest me."
This is his basic judgment on Christos after getting along with him several times.
Regardless of whether Christos will live up to his campaign slogan, at least, personally, he is a smart and enterprising man.
He will not be intimidated by a simple message.
"You seem to know me very well?" Christos glanced at the dagger that was put into the mechanical scabbard on the table, then looked up at He Ao's somewhat strange mask, "What do you call me?"
He had seen this short sword. In fact, he provided some of the mechanical materials used to make the scabbard for this sword.
"Let's talk about other things first."
He Ao raised his hand, and the image on the bracelet was projected onto the table. It was the photo he took in the hotel room.
The photo clearly shows the body of the security guard who had been dead for a long time leaning against the window, sniper rifles scattered around, and the assassin nailed to the wall.
Christos had extensive experience in being assassinated, and he understood immediately, "So who is the consortium targeting me this time?"
"Avis Power Group."
Ho Ao looked out the window at the back door of the Avis Machinery Factory.
"It's indeed something they can do."
Christos smiled, knowing that He Ao could not simply mention to him, 'I helped you kill an assassin,' so he asked, "Is there anything I can do?
"
"I need you to do me a favor."
He Ao shrugged, "Maybe there's no need to help. I will contact you then."
"good,"
Christos agreed readily. He glanced at the dagger placed by He Ao on the table and suddenly asked, "You must have listened to some of my speeches just now? What do you think?"
"If it can be done, it would be the best," He Ao leaned back on the sofa and said
"But how do you do it? I hear you seem to be targeting the consortium? So how are you going to contend with the security forces organized by the consortium and the upper-level people kidnapped by their intricate interests?"
"Honestly, I can't help it." Christos also leaned on the sofa and looked at the workers coming in and out of the machinery factory outside the window.
“Six years ago, when I first became a city councillor, I pushed hard for legislation called the Hazardous Occupation Accident Insurance Act.
This bill requires all factories to purchase accident insurance for workers engaged in dangerous positions. Before this, these workers had no protection. Even if an accident occurred, they could only receive a small amount of compensation. They were single-handedly
Even if you sue, you can't compete with the highly paid team of lawyers.
I worked hard to get this bill passed, negotiated with the financial and insurance consortium, lowered the insurance price to the lowest, and forced the factory to implement it, but the result was,"
Christos looked at He Ao and smiled self-deprecatingly, "These factories united and laid off employees in dangerous positions in batches, and recruited new employees at lower wages."
"What part of the salary reduction is the cost of purchasing accident insurance?"
Ho looked at Christos.
"No, more than that," Christos smiled,
“After deducting the cost of accident insurance, they also pushed wages down a bit.
During that time, workers stopped my car every day and insulted me, thinking that I had caused them to lose their jobs or made their income lower. Later, through my mediation, the consortium that controlled the factory agreed to raise wages.
Go back and, in exchange, I won't be able to push any bills involving factories in the future.
And even after the increase, these workers have not returned to their original wage levels."
"How did you come back with revenge?"
He Ao looked at Christos and asked with a smile.
If Christos had really suffered so much, he would not have the fighting spirit and power he has now.
"I happened to meet a friend from the FBI during that time," Christos didn't expect that Heo would grasp the key to the problem all of a sudden. He chuckled,
"Then I happened to have some information about these consortiums smuggling wilderness materials, and my friend happened to see these materials. Later, I arrested a group of people and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 3 to 36 months. Each family was fined about a few dollars.
Millions of dollars.
After that, they agreed to restore the wages of these workers to their original levels, and even increased them a little."
"I probably know why they want to kill you so much."
He Ao smiled.
He suddenly remembered the information about Victor from Slanka's family. The information said that Victor might have a personal relationship with Christos and Bald Smith.
Inferring this, Christos may also have known Smith, so the "friend from the FBI" he mentioned was probably Selena's boss, the bald Smith.
"But after that, it was almost impossible for me to push any legislation through,"
Christos smiled bitterly, "In fact, for a long time, I have been thinking about whether what I am doing is right, whether it is meaningful, and whether I should continue?
After all, as you can see, these things are actually very difficult to succeed. The resistance I may face far exceeds my ability. But once I give up trying to achieve these things, with my current status, I can live a better life than most.
Everyone lives a good life.”
Then he paused and cast his eyes on He Ao,
"But not long ago, I figured out that there are some things in this world that always need someone to do. Even if it is full of thorns, there must be someone who can push aside the first thorn and take the first footprint."
"You might die."
He Ao looked at him calmly.
"Everyone will die." Christos smiled, "I only hope that when I die, the world can change a little, even if I just ignite the fire in some people's hearts."
He glanced at He Ao meaningfully, "When some people die, they die, and when some people die, they leave behind a burning torch."
Of course, Ho Ao knew what he wanted to test. From the beginning of this conversation, Christos had been testing the relationship between Ho Ao and Roy. These topics were not really mentioned casually, but were designed.
"The accident insurance you asked the factory to purchase, how much will the compensation be in case of death?"
He Ao did not pick up his topic, but asked instead.
"Accidental death compensation is 300,000 to 500,000," Christos answered patiently, "However, these factories generally only buy the standard insurance of 300,000."
"I understand, thank you."
He Ao picked up the dagger on the table, stood up slowly, and pulled the lever of the suitcase beside him.
"So, what should I call you?"
Christos asked again.
"You can call me," He Ao took out a playing card from his sleeve and placed it in front of Christos.
"k"
"Is this your name, or the name of your organization?"
Christos picked up the playing cards placed on the table and finally asked the question he had always wanted to ask.
What he said was actually asking whether He Ao, Roy, and even Regit, who first owned the dagger, were members of the same organization.
He Ao paused and said slowly,
"Everyone can be K."
After that, he dragged his suitcase and left the cafe.
“k···”
Christos picked up the playing card from the table.
That's a king of spades.
"Your coffee."
The intelligent robot delivered the coffee to Christos.
"Thanks."
Christos reached for the coffee.
At the same time, a hand stretched out from the side and took away the playing cards from Christos' hand.
"It seems like your 'meeting' was good," the silver-haired man with a ponytail looked at the playing cards in his hand.
"In playing cards, k means king, leader, ruler, and in more ancient times, this word refers to the person who inherits the position of leader.
Spades means sword, and there is a saying that it means justice.
What does this mean? A king who wields a sword and defends justice?”
"Maybe someone just randomly drew a playing card and put it in front of me."
Christos shrugged.
"Yes," the silver-haired man smiled and looked at Christos, "So will this be our new ally?"
After hearing this, Christos thought for a moment, then shook his head,
"No, the people in this organization feel to me more like passers-by in this world. As members of all living beings, they witness and watch the development of history, but they do not participate in history, they just Complete your own affairs step by step."
He paused and looked at the slowly closing factory door outside the window, "Then sow the fire and let it burn in the direction it should burn."
"What you are describing seems to be some kind of secret organization that is behind the scenes." The silver-haired man smiled and put down the playing cards in his hand, "The people in this organization seem to have a great influence on you?"
"yes."
Christos nodded slightly, and his mind gradually recalled the scene that night when the man rushed towards the son of the evil god. "He made me believe that there really are heroic martyrs in this world,"
He withdrew his gaze and looked at the man in front of him, "We are not alone."
The silver-haired man turned his attention to the playing cards in his hand.
He actually heard what He Ao said when he left.
‘Everyone can be K.’
——
Sitting in a taxi heading to Aston District, He Ao took a look at the three playing cards in his hand. All three cards were kings, but kings of different suits.
He didn't do any research on the suit, he just took the code name k.
"You have arrived at your destination."
The driverless taxi slowly stopped, and He Ao raised his head and looked out the window.
