After the talk show ended successfully, the barber politely declined Mr. Emperor's invitation to stay for lunch.
Soon after he opened a certain door, he crossed the space and appeared directly in Russell's first-class cabin.
He tightened his tie and walked to the window.
Like a top-like floating island, the tall buildings above, the snow-capped mountains and the wilderness are bathed in the sun. The densely packed, needle-like buildings in the lower city are hidden in the shadows.
"This is the happy island..."
The barber sighed.
He once thought that Happy Island embodies the darkness of the world, a rotten land that is prosperous on the outside and corrupt on the inside, where entertainment is paramount. But after walking around outside and returning home, he found that the environment here was actually quite good...
…
At least the people on Happy Island can still find jobs unlike Sogo Island, which suffers from massive unemployment; the civilians on Happy Island still have hope, unlike Sun Island, which has a caste system called "intelligence" and has a permanent caste system.
With regional separation, those with slightly worse performance will become the test subjects and advertising racks of the strong...
On Holy Blood Island, if people accidentally get into debt, they may be arrested by Ampoule Biomedical for experiments and medicine testing. Ampoule Biomedical may even directly conduct some biological experiments on the mainland without permission -
—For example, conducting research on new drugs in nursing homes and mental hospitals.
Yongquan Island faces two dilemmas, both internal and external.
The security of Yongquan Island is the best, and the degree of corporate exploitation is also the weakest. However, the entire island is almost submerged in water, and a large amount of moisture permeates the entire environment, making it difficult for ordinary people to live healthily. More than 80% of the houses
They are all submerged in water, which also reduces the lifespan of the house. But this is an extremely suitable environment for aquatic creatures, but it faces another problem... that is, most of the aquatic creatures are not in a very good state of intellectual development.
Not to mention that there is no positive BUFF, and most of them even have DEBUFF. It is easy to find a job.
If you can't find a job locally, or have simply committed a crime... you will not be locked up. Instead, you will be sent to explore the ocean and radiation-filled areas in the name of "free explorer" or "hired exploration team"
Land. After exploring valuable oil fields or mines, you must wear protective clothing to mine. Protective clothing can block radiation and curses to a certain extent. The strong physical fitness and simple thoughts of aquatic creatures can delay distortion and weakness.
, Madness and Death.
It can be said that the modern life of other empty islands is based on the sacrifice of Yongquan Island.
The situation on Taoyuan Island is one of monopoly by aristocratic families and high housing prices.
Although Russell has never been to that empty island, he has asked about bad days.
Taoyuan Island has many similarities with the land where Russell lived in his previous life...the biggest difference is that it is a land governed by a company.
This results in fundamental differences in many areas.
For example, Taoyuan Island does not have a unified college entrance examination, and its examination system is no different from that of Xingfu Island and Tongshen Island. They have become specialized entrance examinations for various universities; coupled with the characteristics common to all empty islands in the Sky Island Age - that
That is, the Big Seven do not have to pay taxes. …
Because Kongdao has no country at all. Taoyuan Trading Company itself is a top-level building.
Instead, people have to pay taxes to the company...
For example, Happy Island's "low-end transaction tax" requires that all goods sold for less than 1 credit point must take a 10% commission and give it to the company as a "necessary means to maintain prices."
The unique tax on Taoyuan Island is the "real estate transaction tax". If you don't buy a new property, you can only rent a house - because a second-hand house will be more expensive than a first-hand house.
But if you buy a first-hand house, it is not certain when the house will be delivered...
Taoyuan Island is also the island with the most complete preservation of "family" inheritance, which also means that besides the "company" line of inheritance, there is another family line. Just like the bad day that was once called Nanliujing,
Grandma Lan is the same as Delphinium's mother... they don't attach as much importance to "code names" as they do to other islands, because the concept and custom of "surname" still exists on Taoyuan Island.
This directly resulted in that, although the survival pressure imposed by Taoyuan Trading Company itself was not high, many positions in the company were passed down from father to father, and from father to son. Too much emphasis on "human relations and sophistication" led to the same class, as well as those above
With the two adjacent classes below, the flow of favors within the three supply classes has become extremely solidified. It is the same as Russell's establishment of the "Relief Society"... except that their exchanges are limited to the people they can come into contact with, which is actually
This has led to further solidification of resources.
The development of aristocratic families has led to real estate monopoly.
Pieces of land are constantly being bought and converted into manors, villas or viewing spots.
The land logic on Taoyuan Island is that as long as you build a building on this land where no building has ever been built, you will also own the land. When you trade a building, you will also trade the building's subordinates.
land; and if you already own a piece of land, you cannot buy new land, and all land owners cannot hold any non-connected land. This was when Taoyuan Island was first established, owned by Taoyuan Trading Company
Determine the basic rules.
But there is a loophole here...that is, you cannot buy new land, but you can expand old land.
The family will then start to buy a series of buildings in the surrounding area along the land they already own. They will demolish them all and then flatten them to create artificial wonders.
Low-yield places such as schools and shops often sell their land to rich people who control adjacent land at a very high price. After taking a large amount of money, they go to places far away from these rich people and use it.
Part of them buys warehouses, residential buildings, bankrupt factories and other lower-yield land, then bulldozes and rebuilds buildings. Then when the rich expand again, they sell the land to them.
As a result, the land that can be rented and lived will gradually be eroded. Taoyuan Island is currently the island with the best preservation of land culture, and it is also the island with the best environment... and the island with the most expensive real estate.
——As for Tongshen Island, it is even more powerful.
Tongshen Island has at the same time the employment pressure and extremely high unemployment rate unique to Sogo Island, the education monopoly and poor public security unique to Happy Island, the large slums and racial segregation unique to Holy Blood Island, and the "privilege of some people" unique to Taoyuan Island.
"Utopia". Moreover, an environment without sunlight and an environment full of moisture are equally unsuitable for people to live in; at the same time, Sanzhi Heavy Industry will also capture children for experiments like Ampoule Biomedical...
The luxury six-in-one is.
If Chairman Sal hadn't triggered the "miracle" at the cost of his life, at least one-sixth of the people on Tongshen Island should have been killed by now. This means that almost 80% of family relationships have been shattered, and the entire family relationship has been shattered.
Every island will fall into complete shutdown and chaos.
It can be said that it has actually been destroyed once.
But after it fell from the cliff, it was caught in mid-air by a lasso and pulled back alive.
Russell, who witnessed all this with his own eyes, has now returned to Happy Island again.
Even the uncoded people huddled in the lower city seem to be a little "happier" - at least they are not like those on Holy Blood Island, where they will be directly hunted and captured by people sent by the company to be used as test subjects. Tian'en
The group just made them into petri dishes to draw cards to find demons...
...It can only be said that competition is indeed the eternal theme of cyber society.
And this also made Russell feel sad.
If Happy Island is really the "Gotham" that condenses the darkness of the world, then it would be okay and it would make Russell feel comforted.
Because that means that the only problem Russell needs to solve is the Island of Happiness itself. The suffering he sees is the deepest suffering in the world.
But now the facts are before his eyes.
The suffering he saw was far less than one-tenth of the suffering in this world; the tired and painful people he met could really be regarded as "happy" people.
So ironic. And so despairing.
Changing one empty island would already consume Russell's lifetime, let alone seven.
But it was precisely because of this that Russell completely gave up the idea of changing everything by relying on his own abilities.
He must unite people...and he must draw on the power of the people.
If the "barber" needs to be the wise, calm, down-to-earth leader, the person who takes charge of the overall situation——
Then "Ultramarine" will stand on the other side, entrusting people's inner passion and ideals, as the "hero" that people expect to see.
The barber's show is over.
Next, it's time for "Ultraline" to appear...
Dongdong.
At this moment, there was a dull knock on the door of the room.
"Mr. Ultramarine...are you awake? We are almost there."
That was Ringo's voice.
When taking the airship from Sun Island, Russell told her that he had to catch up on his sleep in the room on the grounds that "I woke up early today and didn't get enough sleep". It would take ten to twenty minutes for the airship to arrive at Happiness.
Come back and wake yourself up when you are on the island.
Yes, Russell finally decided to bring Ringo back too.
But this is not "absconding".
Although Ringo herself said that she did not intend to return to Sun Island, as long as she could leave. However, she could say this when she was impulsive and self-destructive, but Russell could not take her words seriously.
If he really thinks about Ringo, he must consider her - be prepared that she may "go home" in the future. No matter how much she hates this "home", and Sun Island does not feel like "home"
"The appearance is the same. …
So Russell contacted "Professor Chen" as Ultramarine and transferred the identity of Ringo to his own name.
Not as the deputy director of the execution department, but as the deputy general manager of the Sanzhi Heavy Industry Headquarters.
——Although Russell has not yet accepted the name "Thal", Shenzhen Heavy Industry gave him a higher status when he left, in order to prevent him from being targeted by Tongshen Island executives who did not know the truth.
This identity is just a false position. The reason why it is "deputy general manager" rather than a higher identity is because this identity only needs to be modified on the internal website, and does not need to be posted in any field or actually manage any department.
, and there is no need to be interviewed at all. And no one can interfere with him except the board of directors. At the same time, it will not affect the original staff promotion-it is the general manager who will be promoted to the board of directors, not the vice president.
Manager, and the deputy general manager does not necessarily become the general manager.
This can be regarded as the highest-ranking vacant position within Sanzhi Heavy Industry.
Although in fact there is still no real power, sometimes just identity is enough.
Originally, Professor Chen wanted to interfere with Russell's decision and wanted to get Ringo back; but after Russell said that he knew the director of Amirus, Professor Chen changed his mind and said that he needed a higher price; but after Russell revealed his identity
, Professor Chen immediately changed his mind again - this time he didn't want anything, and also gave Russell the data of the experimental psionic suit that Ringo was wearing.
He said that this suit has actually developed a newer model and entered the elimination sequence. After three years, it will no longer provide update support - after they repeatedly changed the version three times, they still decided to use the dual energy system.
And prepare to restructure the suit based on this.
——It’s like Party A and Party B had a lot of back and forth, and after changing several samples, Party A decided to go back to the first version.
But for ordinary designers, this is nothing more than making a few pictures or making a few samples.
However, for "probationers" like Ringo, this means that their future is over.
Professor Chen obviously knew this a long time ago.
That's why he sent Ringo out for breeding... because he knew that after Ringo returned, he would no longer need to accept advertisements. The institute has also found a new model - who is equally cute, equally smart, but younger.
girl.
But now that the "old system" was about to be eliminated, Professor Chen sold a favor and gave its data to Russell.
In this way, even if Ringo leaves Sun Island with Russell, he can still collect materials on Happy Island to upgrade his suit.
He even generously reserved a position in the research institute for Lin Ju... allowing her to serve as an "expatriate researcher" and "follow the general manager of Qunqing as an off-island intern." When she returns to Sun Island, she will rely on this expatriate assignment.
Experience can also lead to direct promotion on the spot.
There is no doubt about it.
If Russell didn't show his identity, Ringo would definitely not get such preferential treatment. He might even be interfered with, or even send someone to capture him directly...
And even the executives of another empty island, without holding any real power at hand, can easily ask for the research results and permanently take away the employees directly under Thoth Psychic Power...
"It's so ironic..."
The barber murmured quietly.
Hearing strange noises coming from inside the house, Ringo pressed against the door with caution and shouted: "Ultramarine? Are you awake?"
Hearing this, the "barber" raised his head.
The corners of his mouth raised slightly, and he put his hand on his face.
It was like gently taking off an invisible mask... As Russell's hand left his cheek, the appearance of the "barber" disappeared in a burst of ultramarine flames. In the blue flames that floated like flying feathers,
Russell is revealed wearing an executive uniform.
He walked towards the door, operated the door of the room with his mind, and opened it.
"Can you just call me Ultramarine?"
Russell smiled and said: "Are you finally not so outspoken?"
"I thought something happened to you..."
Seeing Russell come out, Ringo breathed a sigh of relief.
She sighed angrily and put one hand on her hip: "What I said is obviously a hint to confirm whether you are safe, sir!
"If you are held hostage, you can say, 'Oh, dear Miss Ringo, there is nothing wrong with me.' Once I hear that this is not the tone you usually speak to me, I can just break in through the door.
I rescued you!"
"Have you watched too many movies?" Russell complained.
"I rarely watch movies...but many novels have this kind of plot!"
She followed Russell to the hall.
The children Russell brought back from the laboratory on Tongshen Island were all sitting there obediently.
A large number of children with pure white, creamy white, silver, and silver-gray hair and the iconic silver-gray piercings, ranging in age from seven or eight to fifteen or sixteen, were sitting quietly in their seats.
They no longer wear white sweatshirts with no decorations and only number logos like in the institute, but wear fashionable clothes with different styles. White silk and black silk, short skirts and long skirts, small suits and jeans
Wear clothes, windbreakers and down jackets... There is no need to consider the temperature or the season. Just like a living clothing model.
Russell purchased these in large quantities from Sun Island, which can best highlight the cuteness of the children.
Their appearance is correct and cute, and they are all different, without any spiritual characteristics. The ratio of boys to girls is about 1:1.5. They are like balls of fluffy white balls, neither noisy nor moving, and are sensible
And well-behaved. They will also focus on Russell as he appears. That ignorant and innocent look will make people subconsciously feel fond of him.
——This is a well-behaved state that is never possible for normal human children.
"Remember what we said before? The airship will be arriving soon. Please keep quiet until I introduce you."
The hero Ultramarine put her finger up to her mouth, making a silent gesture.
He squinted his eyes and showed a soft smile, with two shallow dimples showing at the corners of his mouth.
It’s natural to feel happy when you look at these children.
"Remember to act cute and lovable. My lovely children."
He moved all the artificial humans from the entire Tongshen Island.
——Tongshen Island doesn’t want them anymore. But Russell does.