Chapter 568: Storm (please vote for the big chapter)
"Look over there, there are fireworks!"
On the seat in front, a girl excitedly pointed out the window.
"Yes!"
The boy next to the window also looked out the window excitedly.
"The houses over there are so short. Where are they? It would be great to watch the fireworks over there."
The girl held on to the back seat of the car in front of her and looked out the window sideways. There were rows of high-rise buildings one after another. She could only see a corner of the brilliant fireworks through the gaps between the buildings.
"Let me see,"
The boy raised his bracelet and seemed to be looking at the map software on the bracelet. After a while, his tone gradually became lower and his originally lofty shoulders dropped, "That's the villa area in the Saint-Lôte area."
The Saint-Lot district is where the wealthy people of Wetterland gather, and it is also where most large conglomerates have their headquarters in Wetterland.
The girl turned around and seemed to feel the change in the mood of the boy next to her. She leaned slightly on the boy and said, "It's okay. We don't have to buy a house there. We can just go there to watch the fireworks in the future."
She looked at the boy's frustrated and confused look, and pulled out a large canvas bag with an advertisement for Huiermei Hospital from under the seat, "There are some things that you are born with. If you don't have them at birth, you won't have them."
of,"
She fumbled with her hand from the bag and took out a piece of steak, "Let's go back and fry the steak tonight. My sister in the workshop recommended it to me, the synthetic steak of Nolanka Group. Although I haven't heard much about this brand of steak.
I have said it before, but it is said that it tastes very good, has the same texture as real meat, and is very cheap.”
The boy stared blankly at the girl, the bright fireworks reflected the brilliant colors in the girl's dark pupils.
He opened his mouth, and just as he was about to say something, a mechanical female voice came out from the car's audio system.
"Hazel's here."
The bus stopped slowly,
"Idiot, it's time to get off the car,"
The girl glanced at the surrounding buildings, held the bag in one hand, grabbed the boy's hand with the other, and pulled the boy to run quickly towards the opened car door, "We still have ten minutes before half-price transfer time. If we can't catch up by then,
It will be an extra 50 cents."
As they left in a hurry, two other young men wearing simple denim overalls got into the car.
"Regular card users."
"Regular card users."
Two hard, repeated mechanical female voices echoed in the car.
Wetland's bus company basically allows you to pay without contact when getting on the bus. As long as the bracelet is bound to the bus company's application, after getting on the bus, the program on the bus senses the special identity chip of the bracelet and will directly pay for it on the user's phone.
Debit the account.
This kind of contactless payment only supports credit card payment. Credit cards that have signed a cooperation agreement with the bus company will have additional fare reductions.
The bus door closed and the vehicle started slowly.
The two young men took a look at the somewhat empty bus and sat down diagonally in front of He Ao.
The young man sitting outside seemed to be watching some kind of news. The quality of his headphones was not good, and there was obvious sound leakage.
Thanks to He Ao's current hearing, these sounds have become one of the background noises echoing in his ears.
"On the 24th, the bill promoted by Chenxi Mayor Christos on 'further increasing the coverage of accidental injury insurance and increasing the amount of insurance in Chenxi City' was recommended by the city council for modification. This is equivalent to the fact that the bill has not been approved by the city council.
Pass directly.
"Christos said he would revise the bill and then submit it to the city council for a vote.
"This is already the mayor's second bill this year that has not been directly passed by the city council. The previous bill was a bill to increase the minimum wage. The bill was passed after modification, but the amount of wage increase was the same as the original bill.
The bill is significantly reduced compared to the bill.
“Since the mayor implemented the medical reform in Chenxi City last year with thunderous measures that shocked the entire federation, all aspects of his behavior have been under pressure from the consortium.
"Currently, Christos's ruling coalition still occupies the majority position on the Chenxi City Council, but judging from recent circumstances, the ruling coalition seems to be divided.
“According to internal sources from Morningside Daily, conservatives within the ruling coalition believe that Christos’s series of actions since the health care reform are too radical, and excessive restrictions and punishments on the consortium will lead to unpredictable directions.
"The radicals believe that Christos's behavior is too conservative, the punishment of the consortium is not enough, and it is unable to effectively improve the originally bad situation of Chenxi City.
“The recent inability of Christos’ bill to pass directly in the Morningside City Council seems to be affected by this division.
"If Christos and his governing coalition lose control of the Morningside City Council, the ambitious mayor is likely to become a lame duck. As the mid-term federal parliamentary elections approach, Morningside City Council will
The situation may become more complicated."
······
"What are you looking at?"
Next to the young man, his companion sitting by the window leaned over and looked at the young man's bracelet.
"Tellison TV's news report about Chenxi City."
The young man took off his earphones and whispered.
"Chenxi City?" The companion by the window raised his voice slightly. He glanced at the young man doubtfully, "Then there is the entire Federation across from us. You have to sit on a short boat for a whole day. Why should you care about them?"
Then he straightened up, leaned against the window, started to open the video software, and swiped his bracelet, "Be happy, after all, you are so tired at work, why do you have to think about complicated things after get off work."
"Yes," the young man put away his bracelet, and then he seemed to remember something, "The midterm elections are coming soon. Who are you going to vote for for the Senate?"
"Ned."
The companion said without hesitation.
At this moment, the bus was passing a huge billboard with Ned's campaign poster on it.
"Why?" The young man was stunned. The neon light of Ned's campaign billboard hit his face, "This guy's campaign slogan has basically never been realized."
"promise,"
The companion raised his bracelet and showed the projection on the bracelet to the young man next to him.
Looking from He Ao's point of view, you can just see the picture on the bracelet.
It was a beautiful girl blogger with a curvy figure, sharing videos of her life,
"I really like this blogger. She said she thought Ned was pretty good and she would vote for Ned, so I voted for him by the way."
"Ah?" The young man was stunned, "But what if that guy is a bastard?"
"Whatever," the companion said, leaning back to the window, "Which of these men running for the Senate is not a bastard?"
He looked at the video on his bracelet and asked casually, "What about you, who do you want to vote for?"
"Desanque,"
The young man flipped the bracelet and showed an electronic election poster on the bracelet. He excitedly introduced it to his companions,
"He is very young, not yet forty years old, and has worked in industrial areas before. He promised that if he is successful in the election, he will work to promote bills in the federal government to improve employee benefits, raise the minimum wage, and increase employee safety and security.
"Our factory is so dangerous. The man in Workshop 15 was caught in the machine two days ago. He didn't even have a complete bone left. If we can have an accident insurance like the one in Chenxi City, if anything happens to us in the future,
My family can also be protected.”
"Sounds good," my companion leaned against the window, scrolling through the next video, "but when these congressmen were campaigning, none of them boasted about it. This Desik..."
"Desank."
The young man corrected his companion's pronunciation.
"Desank," the companion closed the bracelet, sat up straight, and looked into the young man's eyes, "how do you know that he is not another bastard?"
The young man's face was slightly blank.
"Be happy," the companion shrank back again, "No matter who goes up, the result will be the same. The gentlemen in the city council will not care about us, nor will the federal parliament. Anyone who can appear in front of us is
The consortium has chosen them, these people are all the same, just pick the one you like."
The young man stared blankly at his companions as the bus passed the Ned campaign billboard and arrived in front of a huge shopping mall screen.
And on this screen, Ned's campaign advertisement was also playing.
He raised his head and looked at Ned's confident, winning smile in the advertisement, and suddenly felt a little sarcastic.
The young man turned back dejectedly, leaning on the back of the chair and staring ahead.
This bus is an unmanned bus, and the price is slightly cheaper than that of a driver. There is no driver's seat in the front of the bus, only an empty, huge front windshield.
Through this windshield, the young man could clearly see the high-rise buildings with neon lights flashing in front of him.
One after another, Ned's campaign ads filled the advertising spaces of all sizes.
The cheerful, rhythmic specially designed campaign music was echoing in his ears like harsh laughter at this moment.
He glanced at the poster on the bracelet, slowly closed it, and sighed softly.
"It would be great if Christos were our mayor."
The companion next to him looked up at him, looked at the introduction video on the interface of his bracelet about the contents of Christos' accident insurance bill, and slowly turned off the bracelet.
He also sighed softly.
The rest of the journey was marked by a long period of silence.
The two young men in somewhat rough work clothes got off the bus at the next stop.
People on the bus come and go, but they always remain relatively quiet.
Before He Ao got on the bus, he bought a cloth cover on the street and wrapped the bone ax and the wooden box together. After getting on the bus, he kept leaning against the window. He held the cloth cover in his hand and stared at the road in front of the bus.
.
There are not many passengers on this line, and it is not the peak period for commuting.
This bus line is one of the longest bus lines in the entire city of Weitland, spanning the three districts of Plant, Saint-Lote, and North Weitland.
On the way, you will pass through the old industrial area of Plant, many civilian areas, pass through many prestigious private schools in Saint-Lot, and finally return to the North Wittland district, pass the city council building, and pass the love town where the mayor of Wittland lives.
Lanser Palace, and Wittland University.
This line is not only an ordinary bus line, but also an important tourist route in Weitland. Many tourists on a budget will choose this bus line to see most of the scenery in Weitland with the least money.
Since it is a sightseeing route, the pricing method for this route is also different from other bus routes.
There are two types of ordinary buses in Wetterland, one is the cheap self-driving yellow bus, and the other is the expensive manual-driving blue bus.
The prices are 1 federal coin and 1.5 federal coin respectively.
Of course, monthly subscriptions are also available. The monthly subscription price for yellow buses is 75 federal coins, and the monthly subscription price for blue buses is 97 federal coins. You can ride unlimited rides during the monthly subscription period.
Both types of buses can transfer to other buses at half price within an hour after boarding. However, yellow buses can only transfer to yellow buses, and blue buses can transfer to blue buses or yellow buses, but the price is still the same as that of blue buses.
Calculated as half price.
The route He Ao is taking now is slightly different from the ordinary bus route.
The price of getting on and off the bus in the area is the same as that of ordinary buses. For example, if you get on the bus in Plant District and get off in Plant District, the price is the same as that of ordinary buses, which is 1 federal currency or 1.5 federal coins.
But if you cross districts, you will be charged an additional half-price ticket for each additional district you cross.
For example, the yellow bus that Howao is currently taking was originally priced at 1 federal coin. This time, it took the bus from the station in the old industrial area of Plant. It took you all the way to the North Wetterland District, spanning two districts.
If you add a full-price ticket, the ticket price is 2 federal coins.
But this is actually not the first time 'Jace' has taken this line. In middle school, Jess often took this bus home.
However, Jess has never taken the 2 federal dollar trip before, because he always got on the bus at Tellison Middle School in the Saint-Roto district and took the bus to his home in the North Wittland district. He only crossed one district, so he only had to pay an additional fee.
A half-price ticket costs 1.5 federal coins.
As the bus gradually approached the edge of Plant District, the faces of the passengers on the bus also changed.
The number of workers gradually decreased, and the number of students gradually increased. These students all went to school from the Plant District to the Saint-Lot District.
Some private primary and secondary schools provide boarding services. These students are too far away from home, so they live in the school and go home every weekend.
Today happened to be Sunday, and they had to rush to school the night before so that they could catch the school's morning class the next day.
Of course, this kind of boarding service is not available to students from ordinary families. Even if it is a four-person or six-person dormitory in the school, the boarding fee is not low.
Of course, compared with the high tuition fees of private schools, these boarding fees are not too much.
Some schools will waive part of the boarding fees for students with particularly outstanding academic performance to help poor students with their studies and at the same time increase their school's admission rate.
But such students are still in the minority.
Therefore, students who can attend private schools in Saint-Lot are not from poor families, even if they live in the Plant District.
The school uniforms of these students are basically neat and clean, and some have even been personalized.
In addition to students, there were also some young people in formal clothes on this bus.
They are company employees who work the night shift in the Saint-Lot district. Although they work among the bustling buildings, their wages are not enough to support the rent they rent near these high-rise buildings.
So they basically live in the Plant District where the rent is lower and the safety environment and living environment are worse.
Commuting to and from get off work every day often takes several hours by bus or subway.
The students chatted about the latest emerging idols and popular figures in the school, while the office workers leaned on their seats and took a nap, watching the information or videos on their bracelets.
The bus moved forward slowly, and people on the bus got on and off.
Heao passed through old residential areas, prosperous company buildings, and splendid parliament buildings, and finally arrived near Wetterland University and got off the bus at the North Gate Station of Wetterland University.
Starting from the bus station and walking a few hundred meters ahead, you will find a quiet apartment building.
This is where Jace's parents live, and where Jace grew up.
Holding the cloth cover in hand, He Ao's figure blended into the darkness and approached the apartment building.
This is also where Jess's mother committed suicide.
