Sberg thought he was doomed.
His boss Weijia would bribe the people in the prison to let him in vertically and out horizontally.
However, he didn't expect that his fellow workers didn't abandon him. They surrounded the prison gate and even alarmed the militia.
The prisoners in the prison watched the excitement inside and whispered curiously.
"God of the Great Horned Deer... I have never seen such a scene."
"What do they want to do?"
"It's better to fight!" A desperate man with a life on his back clenched his fists excitedly, ready to take the opportunity to escape from prison.
Sberg, who was sitting in the corner, coughed lightly.
"There won't be a fight... I don't think so."
Everyone looked at him.
Sberg was a little scared, shrank back, and whispered.
"I... read them the story. The awakened Bol knew that killing Stephen would not solve any problems..."
The prisoners looked at each other.
Although they didn't know what was going on, their intuition told them that the people outside might have something to do with the skinny guy in front of them.
The desperado walked in front of Sberg, squatted down, and stared at him for a while.
Just when Sberg was so nervous, he suddenly spoke.
"Paul? Stephen? What is that?"
Sberg was stunned.
"... Well, that's a long story."
The desperado sat on the ground and waved his hand.
"Don't worry, tell me slowly, anyway, you can't get out for a while, and it just so happens that I... we have plenty of time."
Seeing that the prisoners were all staring at him curiously, Sberg swallowed and nodded hurriedly.
"Okay... Then I'll start from the beginning."
Paul was born in the slums at the foot of the giant wall. He is an out-and-out country bumpkin from the outside city.
But who was in the city from the beginning?
The Boulder City was not built in a day...
He told the story of Boll in a leisurely tone, and soon he found that not only the prisoners in the prison, but also the jailers leaned on the railing to listen.
This is a story of a small person.
Just like the old man said, a mere awakener can't make a difference.
But who is not a small person here?
After telling the story for a while, the commotion outside ended, and the prison was full.
Then another boss came over, pretending to take his workers back, but people were not willing to follow him.
"Go home, my children! The environment here is too bad, gloomy and cold! You come home with me first, and we can sit down and talk if you have any requests... How about I play Mr. House's radio for you? Your favorite channel."
The guy with a big belly was smiling and flattering, making the workers around him laugh. Everyone had never seen such a kind expression on his face.
"Home? Are you talking about your shabby factory?"
"Hahaha, I won't go back with you then!"
"That's right! It's warm here! Not only is it not gloomy, but it's also drafty, and there are stories to listen to!"
"Why don't you come in too!"
The boss was anxious.
Why are these people so stubborn?
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, you will hurt yourself! I will just leave, and you will become poorer and poorer, and you can't even afford the nutritional cream!"
No wonder they are poor!
Not smart, lazy, and mean!
"Then you can just treat us as crazy," a young man looked at him with a hint of contempt, "We don't care. Anyway, no matter how rich you are, you won't give us a penny. It's better to let you be poor, maybe you will love us more."
"Haha, he is still trying to reason with us now!"
"Don't talk, man, go to the top of the building to see if the wind is strong for us!"
The laughter drowned out the boss's feeble arguments.
It has come to this point, no matter what he said, no one paid any attention even if he endured the pain and proposed to pay some wages.
However, he did not regret issuing IOUs, which was the greatest invention. He only regretted not buying some slaves for emergency.
The Stone City allowed slave trading, but the slaves were too stupid and always broke the machines. Over time, no one was willing to use them. On the contrary, the free survivors worked harder and eliminated the slaves eight generations ago. It was just that he did not expect such a fierce "unwarranted disaster" to happen today.
In fact, there were less than two hundred workers at the entrance of the beer hall, but in just one afternoon, half of the workers in the industrial zone became members of the workers' union.
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 Sberg's story reading, and even allowed them to leave the prison and walk around freely... After all, the prison could not hold so many people, and counting the names of these people would be enough for them to copy until tomorrow, so they could only allow them to make do in the corridor first.
It was crowded here, but also warm, and there were even electric lights and nutritional paste.
"Brothers, this is simply heaven!"
"We should have come here earlier!"
"When the noble lords want to arrest everyone in the city, they will have to build a prison as big as Boulder City."
"Hahaha! Maybe they will renovate our house!"
Although it was just a happy ending, but when a group of people were happy ending together, it was not bitter at all, but full of fun.
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Sberg felt that although their warden always had a cold face, he actually sympathized with them in his heart.
That man had no black card and no chips. After all, he was a small figure and could not make much money. Besides, the chips could not buy much things recently. It would not be long before everyone was equally poor.
Later, at a story meeting, the warden interrupted in a teasing tone and asked the workers, "Are the people who watch the prison considered workers?"
Without waiting for the workers to speak, Sberg immediately replied, "All the people who receive salaries are considered workers."
The warden did not make any comments at the time, but later the food in the whole prison was better, at least the nutritional paste was not diluted with water.
Another week passed like this. In mid-December, the weather was getting colder and colder. The warden got a batch of cheap scraps, and the carpenters and blacksmiths worked together to make a heater for the prison with the scraps. Not only did the workers not have to endure the cold, but the jailers who did not want to squeeze with the workers were also much warmer.
Sperger secretly wrote a letter and asked a familiar jailer to help send it to the Union embassy and to his editor Miss Dolly, asking the "Survivor Daily" to exchange his royalties for silver coins, buy some corn and send it to Boulder City Prison. When he saw the piles of corn and bags of carrots and potatoes on the open space of the prison, he was shocked.
He didn't know that his royalties could buy so many things!
Later, the guys working in the flour mill made a flour milling tool, and the guys in the cannery made stew for everyone. After eating, you have to find something to do. The engineer in the repair shop simply gave everyone a class, and the master in the chemical plant talked about chemistry...
There is everything here. It doesn't look like a prison at all, but like an orphanage. No one cares about the bosses' pleading anymore. Although there is a component of anger, they have indeed proved with their actions that they can live better without Master Stephen!
Since he didn't have to work on the assembly line, Sberg had more time to polish Boll's story to make it more realistic.
At this time, someone suggested that they should establish a rule, or a program. After all, even the gangs outside the giant wall have rules, so they have to have one too.
Leading people to rush in and then disperse in a hurry is a bad move. In the end, there is nothing but a mess, which makes the real robbers and thieves in the prison laugh.
The workers' union should discuss with everyone, solicit the opinions of every worker, use communication instead of threats, and make it clear what everyone wants, how to get it, and what counts as victory, just like fighting a war... Only in this way can there be real unity.
Someone suggested that Sberg be the president, but Sberg waved his hand and refused, saying that he was not suitable for that job, he would just be a secretary, and everyone should raise their hands to elect someone who can really take the lead.
But he felt that everyone was right, and was extremely glad that he had written in the story of the awakened Bol that day -
"... Beating Stephen up won't solve any problems, even if you unbuckle your belt and pee on him. Killing a rat will only add a corpse and flies to the street."
"... One person is weak, but as long as we unite, Stephen will be afraid of us, and all Stephens will be!"
The original premonition may be right.
This winter will not be too hard...
...
One day after reading the story, Sperger yawned and went back to the prison to sleep.
The workers' union had long ago separated the snoring workers from the non-snoring workers to make it easier for everyone to rest, and politely assigned him the confinement room - a small dark single room, so that he could calm down and write stories.
However, unlike usual, when Sperger walked into the small dark room and closed the door, he found that there was another person here.
The man was not tall, even a little short, with a pair of green eyes like a wolf, which scared him.
It seemed that he was not afraid of him running away. The man looked at him with a venomous snake-like gaze and said slowly.
"Someone wants your life."
Sberg felt cold hands and feet.
This guy...
Maybe he is a real awakener!
His Adam's apple moved and he spoke.
"Who..."
"A big shot, I don't know."
"I'm asking your name," Sberg 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.
"Little Knife, since I can remember, everyone has called me this... Do you know what my name means? Wait until I go down to settle accounts with me?"
Sberg shook his head.
"No... Everything ends when a person dies. In fact, there is no great deer god, and there may not be any afterlife, although I only found out about it recently."
"Hmm?" Xiaodao didn't care much, but he wasn't in a hurry to complete the task.
The wasteland is very lonely. The settlement is a jungle, and the jungle is also outside the settlement. There are whispers of wild beasts inside and outside.
It's not bad to let this guy talk. Most people only say a few human words before they die. He likes the employer's money and likes to listen to the last words of the dead.
Sberg paused and continued.
"But... even if there is no afterlife, when a person dies, his name will continue to live in the memories of others, so the name is very important and it is definitely not meaningless."
"Are you stalling for time?" Xiaodao yawned, his eyes suddenly turned, staring at him and continued, "Actually, there is no need. To tell you the truth, another big shot also gave money. He is just the opposite. He doesn't want you to die so quickly. Let me kill you half to death, such as cutting off your hands and feet, making your voice mute... Anyway, just keep a breath."
Sberg felt cold all over.
He had no doubt that the man in front of him had the ability. Just like Bol could beat up Master Stephen, the awakened were still very strong against ordinary people.
"Tsk tsk tsk, you are a coward like everyone else, the only difference is that you haven't wet your pants yet," Xiaodao stared at his face, a little disappointed, and said jokingly, "I really don't know what's so great about a small person like you. You have so many big people around you. This is the first time I have received two bounties on the same head... By the way, I heard that it seems that the big man in the northern suburbs has invited you to visit him?"
An interested expression suddenly appeared on his face, and his sinister eyes roamed on Sberg's face like a letter spit out by a venomous snake.
"You said... If I take you to the northern suburbs, will the manager there reward me with a thousand men?"
Sberg coughed lightly.
"Well... that lord might give you some money, but he probably won't let you be a centurion. These are two different things."
Xiaodao looked at him disappointedly.
"That's a pity... Although the money is good."
After a pause, he continued.
"You haven't answered my question yet... What secrets do you have that make so many big shots stare at you? Do you know something, such as the location of the black box, or a valuable treasure?"
"No."
"No?"
"I'm not lying to you," Sberg stared at the dagger in his hand, "I'm just a little guy reading the newspaper... How could I have that kind of thing."
"Hehe... I believe it."
Xiaodao smiled and got up from the hard bed, walked in front of Sberg, and turned the dagger in his hand.
"Okay, I'll 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... Oh, by the way, I only want dinars or Cr."
Of course, he was just considering it.
After all, the other two adults gave him a lot. He could kill this guy and get all the bounties from the three big guys.
The wasteland is so big that he can run away anywhere. He is just a wandering wastelander and is not interested in this twisted settlement.
However, what he didn't expect was that this useless coward in front of him rejected his proposal without hesitation.
"I can't write."
Xiaodao looked at him in surprise.
"Are you sure?"
Although he was very scared, Sberg did not retreat and stared at this guy intently.
"If you let me beg for mercy from Lord Weijia, I can... but if you want to use me to threaten that lord, give up this idea as soon as possible."
There is no doubt that he is just a small person. He has been living like a mouse for the past 20 years. He can't understand why so many people are interested in his head, but if he must die, he would rather give his life to that lord.
No reason.
He thinks it's worth it!
"Why? There must be a reason, right?"
"... Dignity."
"What is that?"
"People like you won't know, do it!" Sperger clenched his fists, intending to fight to the death, at least to be a brave man and die like a hero.
Xiaodao curled his lips, stopped talking nonsense with this guy, and stabbed the dagger in his hand cleanly and neatly.
Seeing a sharp weapon stabbing at his head, the prey will subconsciously raise his arms to protect his head first, and this is exactly what he wants.
He planned to cripple this guy's two hands first, then pick his legs and make his throat mute... He has done similar work countless times, and he is confident enough to do it cleanly and neatly.
However-
This time he missed.
The dagger seemed to have hit a transparent wall, and he tried to retract it with cold sweat, but found that the dagger seemed to be stuck in the solidified air.
Sperger was also dumbfounded.
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?!" Xiaodao screamed, looking at the figure that appeared in front of him like a ghost in horror.
The dark mirror and helmet covered the face of the person. She seemed to be a woman, or maybe not a person at all.
She quietly held the blade of the dagger, and the number X-16 was engraved on the slightly raised breastplate. With the logo of the Giant Stone Military Industry, this number seemed to be given some unusual meaning.
She seemed to have been here for a long time, even entering the room earlier than the two of them, but neither of them noticed her existence.
Optical camouflage!
A trace of fear flashed in the beast-like eyes, Xiaodao loosened the dagger, pulled out the short knife tied to his leg, and slashed at the man in front of him.
There was no crisp sound of golden swords clashing.
He didn't even see what the man did, and he flew out like a kite with a broken string, hitting the wall on one side of the confinement room heavily.
"Ah..."
Many ribs were broken!
The spine seemed to be broken, the lower limbs were out of control, and urine leaked out...
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 the man walk in step by step, lightly grasp the dagger, and pull out the bloody short blade and his consciousness together.
The battle lasted only two seconds, but blood was everywhere.
However, the man standing in the pool of blood seemed to be nothing.
Having never seen such a bloody scene, Sberg only felt that his legs were filled with lead and his back was burning. It took a long time for him 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."
Sberg swallowed his saliva.
"Who..."
"You'll know when you get there."
Hearing this, a trace of bitterness appeared on Sberg's face.
The only person who dared to kill people in this city at will, and in this prison, must be a big shot in the inner city.
To be honest, he didn't want to meet that dangerous guy, but he didn't have the power to refuse.
After all, he saw with his own eyes that she executed the awakener like squeezing a grasshopper to death, and it would probably take only 1 second to kill him.
"Can I... say goodbye to my friends?" Sberg asked in a soliciting tone.
The dark and cold mirror surface floated out words that did not surprise him.
"No."
...
It has been snowing in the Valley Province recently.
And it's snowing a lot!
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 participate in the work of clearing the snow.
Although the money given was not much, there was regional reputation to be gained, so some players who were interested in public affairs went there without saying a word, carrying ladders.
It just so happened that they had the strength.
In winter, the number of alien species in the Valley Province dropped sharply, and many monsters went to hibernate. Before the spring wave came, Chu Guang had to find something for these energetic little players to do, so that they would not get bored and make trouble everywhere.
Seeing that the residents of the shelters rolled up their sleeves to help, the residents of Dawn City also went up to help, some holding ladders, and some handing over shovels.
This winter is indeed much warmer than last year.
In addition to the affairs within the alliance, Chu Guang has been keeping a close eye on his neighbors next door.
It's not that he is calculating to pick up leaks, but he is afraid that this shit pot will explode.
There are about 200 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 asked Xiao Qi to compile these posts into a book and select some clues with high credibility.
According to the intelligence compiled by Xiao Qi, the situation in Boulder City is far more exaggerated than he expected.
If the foreign debt of the alliance is expanding at a geometric rate, then the inflation of Boulder City has almost submerged the towering outer wall.
There is no doubt that Melvin can no longer hold back the inflation.
Since the turmoil in the industrial zone, the false prosperity has erupted like an avalanche, and the fuse predicted by Chu Guang has finally been ignited.
Facing this crisis whose source cannot be seen, Melvin is not doing nothing, but he does not have many cards to play.
After trying his best to no avail, he could only ask Du Long from the City Hall to intervene in the production of the industrial zone with unintelligent administrative intervention.
For example, he forcibly intercepted a batch of goods that should have been sent to the Alliance to deliver orders, and forced the intermediate products to be sent to the downstream of his own industrial chain, or sent the finished products directly to the store, in short, he prioritized filling the shelves in Boulder City.
The Alliance's factories don't matter.
The Alliance Industry Department issued an early warning, telling everyone to prepare for the "earthquake" in advance, speed up industrial substitution, and purchase intermediate products from places outside Boulder City as much as possible to avoid the other party's breach of contract and cause a chain reaction.
The factory owners in the Boulder City Industrial Zone are in a difficult situation.
Originally, a large number of skilled workers were imprisoned and the workers' collective slacking had almost stopped their assembly lines.
Now the masters finally remembered where the things on the shelves came from, but they were unwilling to use their brains to think about it, and only came up with a folk remedy that only treated the symptoms.
Of course, they could stop delivering the Alliance's orders and give priority to satisfying the shelves in Boulder City, but the prerequisite was that someone could pay the penalty for them.
Unfortunately, President Melvin and Director Dulong seemed unwilling to pay the penalty for them, and unwilling to make up for the price difference of raw material inflation. They even asked them to sell the goods they produced at a price below cost, but the loan they had previously lent them to expand production could not be stopped.
This is simply robbery!
They didn't have much money to begin with, and now they have to use the few profits - even pay money, to help Melvin suppress the vicious inflation caused by "economic overheating".
Although the Alliance also cuts the leeks of its own factories, they harvest in a methodical, organized and disciplined manner, at least they won't chop them all over the place.
The profiteers in the industrial zone were forced to show their skills. Those with connections found ways to circumvent the regulations of the city hall and secretly sell the banned goods to their neighbors. Anyway, President Melvin and Director Dulong would definitely not dare to intercept Mr. Sid's goods.
Those without connections could only admit defeat, but admitting defeat does not mean admitting loss. The means of production are in the hands of profiteers. If they can't sell the milk, they can pour it. If they are not allowed to pour it, they will kill the cows for meat. If they are not allowed to kill with a knife, they will starve the cows to death, or directly take the cows to their neighbors' homes.
And Dulong's intervention did not really work. He and Melvin underestimated people's "greed" in difficult situations.
The shelves were quickly cleared out. When the crisis was triggered, that thing was like a black hole. No matter how much materials were thrown into it, it would be a waste.
The goods that should have been sold at a fair price have become the first to get the moon and the highest bidder to get the moon. Those who get a large amount of materials at a high price will not be satisfied with the immediate food and clothing. They not only have to hoard enough for half a year's consumption, but also intercept a part to sell and make back the capital.
Even squirrels know to hoard pine cones that are several times larger than their own volume to survive the winter, let alone more greedy people. Soap and sausages first became hard currency, followed by cigarettes and alcohol. If you really can't buy hard currency, you can exchange the chips that can't be spent for other things, such as bonds or S coins with strong growth.
The chips circulating in the giant wall are countless times more than the goods in the giant wall. Hot money with nowhere to go is running around like cockroaches.
Of course, all investments are not as good as stable silver coins.
Outside the giant wall, there are suddenly more small vendors selling food. They are all merchants from the alliance. They don't want more and more chips, but only accept silver coins with stable purchasing power.
The wealthy people in the Stone City often have to go to the black market to exchange a bag 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.
Those figures pushing carts have become a beam of light in the heavy snow, illuminating countless eager faces.
And under the shadows that the light cannot reach, there are still some people in a hurry.
They often wear clean cotton clothes, elegant and decent like businessmen. When they see some merchants from the alliance, they come over and hand out a booklet.
It says some "good things" that can't be bought at ordinary times.
They are brokers.
They dare to sell everything and take everything.
Some of them are small nobles in the inner city or the subordinates of factory owners, and some are simply militiamen in plain clothes.
In the hands of these powerful little characters, a thousand cotton clothes can be exchanged for a loom that produces 10,000 meters per day, and a few bottles of highly distilled liquor can be exchanged for a 90% new military exoskeleton. If there is no distilled liquor, a few boxes of beer or canned food will do.
Some people took out black cards and said that as long as they were given enough silver coins, they 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 being drawn every day, and Melvin is still trying his 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 listening to his report, Chu Guang's face changed slightly.
"That Sberg... is dead?"