Street restaurants.
This restaurant is filled with excitement and noise. Many customers after get off work at night gather here to order affordable and delicious dinners, and then get some low-alcohol ice wine to soothe their nerves and fatigue with the cool stimulation.
In the corner, the two of them were sitting quietly, one was devouring food, while the other rarely moved his chopsticks and just watched the other person eating.
The young man in black shirt munched on the grilled hot meat slices, and then drank a large gulp of cool beer. When the table was a mess, he put down his chopsticks, rubbed his belly, and leaned back on the chair.
"I'm full." He made a satisfied sound, looking relaxed.
In response, Valk nodded slightly, then stood up to pay.
Taking the tattered coats, Greed and Valk walked out of the restaurant and walked aimlessly along the street.
The two of them said nothing along the way. After a long silence, Greed couldn't help but speak.
"Don't you ask me why I'm being hunted by the people from the 'Three Pointers Workshop' tonight?"
"I want to ask, but I don't want to ask either." Valk shook his head.
"If you don't want to tell me, you will find various excuses if I ask." The two grew up together, and he was very clear about Greed's behavior.
"Oh, you have become smarter and calmer." Greed said with a hint of sarcasm, and then his tone became slightly more serious.
He looked at the brightly lit shops across the street, paused for a moment, and then spoke.
"I accepted an order to spy on the trade secrets of the 'Three Pointers Workshop'."
"You." Valk also stopped at this time and frowned.
"This is a fatal mission." This kind of snooping has always been a taboo for various companies. In the process of defense and protection, they will not hesitate to kill the intruder directly, even if they will lose a lot of money later.
"I know." Greed leaned on the guardrail beside the bridge and looked at the hover cars passing by below.
"But you only have one chance." After saying that, he leaned against the guardrail, closed his eyes and raised his head.
"You don't understand how important this is to me." The tone in his voice was very complicated.
"I don't understand, but I know it will have serious consequences." Valk replied.
"Once your identity is exposed, not only will the other company not let you go, but also because of file issues, the result may not be imprisonment, but execution directly. Even because of you, many people in the orphanage will be implicated and face danger. "
"Orphanage? What do those people have to do with me? I'm an orphan now. Do I still care?" Greed sneered, his expression a little distorted.
"You know, Valk, I've always been jealous of you, going crazy with jealousy, haha." He covered his eyes, seemingly suppressing some emotion, and said hysterically.
"I know, Pastor Boyce told me to be careful about you and not to associate with you."
"Haha, that old guy is really a poisonous person. If I had known better, I shouldn't have let him live."
"You can't hurt Pastor Boyce. He saved us, raised us, and gave us education."
"Uh, yes, yes, he did these things, but I still hate him." Greed's voice was cold.
"He is always very proud. He is proud that he has helped many people, and he enjoys this kind of respect with peace of mind..."
Beijiu District is an extremely poor place. It lacks industries, resources, cold weather, and only a few mineral cities are located here.
The Black Strontium City where the two were located had discovered a rare lapis lazuli mine more than 20 years ago. Different from ordinary lapis lazuli, the lapis lazuli in this mine was produced by a special magical tide and had some extraordinary properties. Therefore, a piece as big as a fist can be sold for nearly 100,000 federal coins.
This has attracted countless people to come here, taking advantage of the lack of official closure or loopholes in defense protection to steal and mine rare ores.
As a result, the local economy developed rapidly, although the price was chaos in public security, gangs and gray-field firms were at odds with each other, and gun battles occurred almost every day in the mining area.
However, this chaos finally ended. The giant enterprise "Gray Dust Crystal" bought the entire mining area, and then the security forces directly affiliated with "Gray Dust Crystal" cleaned up the entire mining area.
The armed forces belonging to giant corporations are not comparable to those of ordinary gangsters. They not only have many self-disciplined defense units, but also organic mecha teams, elite troops mobilized from various star field branches, and so on.
Some people may ask whether giant corporations have exceeded federal laws or gone beyond control by maintaining such strong arms, but if you are familiar with history, you will know the ridiculousness of this issue.
It was not that giant corporations were born under the rule of the Federation, but the giant corporations compromised and joined forces to build the Federation of Roses.
In that barren era, each of these giant companies with technological singularities was a small country. They had their own fleets, spaceships, management agencies, etc., traveling between abandoned or barren planets, selling their own products. A unique product with few rivals.
However, such development has its limits after all. The upper limit of the market ultimately determines the upper limit of the enterprise. No matter how good the product you produce is, only 100 people can buy it in the end, and you can only earn money from these 100 people at most.
Why after many technological revolutions, only the largest countries can breed the strongest and most cutting-edge technology companies? Because only the largest countries have the largest markets, can generate enough profits, and can support the increasing number of technological research and development. High cost.
A barren and scattered planet cannot provide a large enough market unless a stable and vast country is established, but the company will not do this.
As a profit-making organization, or the embodiment of capital, it instinctively pursues profits because only in this way can this organizational structure be continued.
To establish a country, you have to be responsible for various complex matters, whether it is establishing order, appeasing the people, providing education, building infrastructure, etc. This requires a huge amount of investment and is also extremely risky.
From managing a company to managing a country, it is not just as simple as population increase, there are countless problems waiting behind, but what is the return? It only wants to sell sugar for 1 yuan, but now you say you want it to invest 1,000 dollars for comprehensive pre-construction.
This is obviously a loss-making business, so the company won't do it.
Or some people may say that companies can also sell other things, but things are not that simple. Giant companies produce the things they are good at. The cost may be only 10,000, but the profit can reach 1 million, which is close to a hundred times return.
If you make other products, you not only have to develop and develop from scratch, trial and error, etc., but every time you add a field, you will have to add a competitor in that field, and the final profit will be limited, which is far less than what the company is good at. In order to create these, A lot of labor costs have to be paid, which makes the company become more and more bloated and internal friction becomes more and more severe. In the end, the things that it may be good at gradually lose its ability to innovate, and are finally defeated by new industry challengers.
Although they knew that the market was limited, these giant companies had no good solution and could only remain like this. It was not until the emergence of the 'Golden Flame Rose' that there was a turning point and an opportunity.
Because of these historical reasons, although the Rose Federation is extremely powerful, this power refers not only to the power of the federal government, but also to the power of the giant companies that build the federation. They have their own armed forces, and even fleets belonging to the companies, etc.
However, in the era when the second-generation color-level singer "Cobalt Tears" was blooming, during the special period of the civil war, she allowed the federal government to actively expand its military and continuously suppress and reduce the privileges of giant corporations in the federation. Later, she During the harsh internal cleanup of 'Cobalt Blue Star Tears', many congressmen who accepted bribes from giant corporations were imprisoned and executed. This ultimately greatly weakened the political power of giant corporations in the federation, and finally passed a new bill, and giant corporations no longer Having a fleet can only maintain a certain amount of ground protection armed forces.
————
The topic returns to the former Black Strontium City. Because of the excavation of lapis lazuli, countless people came here. Because order and stability were restored, many speculators left, leaving only a mess, including many abandoned ones. Orphans, Valk, and Greed are one of such people.
They lived an extremely difficult life when they were children, until a pastor with ideals came to the North Ninth District, established an orphanage and a church, and adopted these children.
"Pastor Boyce doesn't treat everyone equally. He obviously prefers obedient and well-behaved children. Unfortunately, I'm not that kind of person." Greed said mockingly.
"Although he adopted me, he never had a good impression of me. It was like raising a dog. He would just feed me something and then finish it."
"As for you, he is extremely patient. Not only does he teach you all kinds of knowledge, he also works hard for you, and finally allows you to obtain a legal resident file in the federation."
"So, you, a person who has been blessed by heaven, want to persuade me that you should live a humble life like a dog?" Greed asked Valk again.
"Even so, you shouldn't..." Valk wanted to persuade him, but in the end he didn't continue because he also knew that this was actually an unsolvable path.
Grid had no tenable legal status and could not leave the barren and cramped slums of the North Ninth Ward, where he did not have many other options except for some extremely hard-working low-level jobs.
The world is unfair, for many people.
"I started to break away from Pastor Boyce's dog leash and went to look for opportunities in complex and dark fields. Although I almost died on a winter night, I also got money, made a simple identity file disguise, and then left the North 9th District. ." Greed said slowly while standing in the night wind.
"Pastor Boyce must have resented me because I went against my promise and threatened him. If he makes a big mistake in the end, he, his former adopter, will also face some troubles."
"Pastor Boyce is not as miserable as you think. He just said that he regretted not paying more attention to you at that time." Valk said.
"Haha, that is in front of you. He will show a tender side because you satisfy his desire to become a respected and loving father figure."
"He gained psychological satisfaction. The more successful you are, the more people around you praise him, and the more he is immersed in this image."
"You think he is very noble, but in fact he just uses us children to satisfy the self-esteem and spiritual emptiness he once lacked."
"I have investigated Pastor Boyce's past. He grew up in the affluent South District 2, but there, he was just an unknown loser. The girl he pursued fell in love with someone else, and the family business he inherited was ruined due to poor management. , he still accomplished nothing in his thirties, and finally came to the North Ninth District out of frustration. "
"Even if his motives are not so flawless, I still respect Pastor Boyce. At least because of him, we survived." Valk shook his head.
"That was you! Not me!" Greed's eyes were ferocious.
"I still can't forget the discriminatory look in his eyes, the disgust and contempt in his eyes, as if he was looking at garbage."
"I want to take revenge on him, I must take revenge on him, I must achieve something, and then go back, slap him hard, humiliate him, kneel in front of everyone, and confess his hypocritical and disgusting performances over the years."
"You shouldn't spend your thoughts on these places. If you find a serious job and live a stable life..." Valk warned again.
"I said, that's you, not me. You have never experienced that kind of contempt and insult, and you don't understand how tortured and uncomfortable it is to feel humble and begging for mercy."
After a heated conversation, both parties fell into silence. Looking at the non-stop traffic world under the high bridge, they also understood that they were no longer the children they once were, and they could not convince each other in this situation.
"I'm leaving." Gray pulled up his coat, draped it over his shoulders, and walked to the side of the bridge.
"I will remember your kindness tonight, and if I have the opportunity in the future, I will repay you."
"Pray, Valk, pray that I will live to repay your kindness, haha." Greed laughed, which seemed to contain deep self-deprecation.
Soon after, the young man in black shirt disappeared at the end of the street, leaving only Valk still looking at the bustling night scene across the high bridge.
Various colors and figures swayed on countless huge screens, and every signboard was filled with the smell of money. It was so prosperous, yet so distorted that people could only sigh silently.
The wheel of history is rolling over everything in the past, and countless simple things are given new meanings. While people are gaining more and more knowledge and theories, they are also facing more and more choices, hesitation and confusion.
Being alive was an extremely lucky thing in ancient times, but in this era, just being alive may be a kind of pain.
Dignity, freedom, those things that were not discovered and were numb and unknown in the past, have now slowly penetrated into everyone's heart.
They are advanced and will bring people good feelings, but once they are not satisfied, they will make people more painful. They can no longer go back to the pastoral era, nor can they bury themselves in the sand and stop looking at the world like ostriches. .
We can only gain this increasingly expensive respect and dignity by being caught up in the trend of the times and constantly involved in fierce competition.
(End of chapter)
