Darkstone Code
Chapter 234 - 0232 Storm, Professional, Aftermath [This - is sponsored by: Lord Shen Ming - 2/8]

Chapter 234: 0232 Storm, Professional, Aftermath [This Chapter is sponsored by: Lord Shen Ming - 2/8]

At eight thirty in the evening, an ordinary citizen, whom we’ll temporarily call Mr. Citizen, pushed open the door with a weary body and returned home.

The cramped room made it increasingly difficult for him to muster the courage to change his current situation with his own capability, as he did in his younger years; he was becoming numb.

"Back?", asked Citizen’s wife, busy in the kitchen, with a slightly nauseating smell that left Mr. Citizen with little energy to respond. He only managed a "Hm" in reply before sitting on the worn-out sofa.

A small section of the sofa had collapsed, with a broken spring that soon affected the others. Eventually, it became an unpopular spot, only occupied by Mr. Citizen’s wife or their not yet heavy children.

After City Hall reissued food vouchers this time, people noticed some problems. It was hard to exchange them for solid food at relief centers. Those hard, stone-like foods they complained about earlier had all been replaced by liquid foods.

It looked like something freshly excreted, packed in tubes, and when eaten, the procedure was simple: just soak the entire tube in hot water for a bit.

Then squeeze it out of the tube, like squeezing out excrement, onto a plate and eat it.

Many people couldn’t get used to this new food, but City Hall explained that there were too many unemployed, too many affected by unemployment, and the city’s finances were very tight. They couldn’t afford for everyone to eat well, let alone heartily.

Of course, if they used two or three food vouchers, they could exchange for the former solid food, but it’s clearly not economical.

In this case, people soon discovered how to make these foods look slightly more palatable.

Women in families would squeeze it onto a baking tray, brush some oil with the bottom of a cup, pressing it down to make those excreted shapes into round chips like cookies.

Leaving them in the oven for a bit evaporated the moisture, leaving solid food like cookies.

This nicely solved the texture issue. Next, they only needed some worthless potatoes, tomatoes, or some green vegetables and a small handful of flour to make a hearty soup, and lunch or dinner could be handled well enough.

The family sat under dim lighting, absent-mindedly eating this barely edible dinner.

Mr. Citizen’s wife couldn’t help but ask, "How’s everything today?", possibly just feeling that everyone’s silence while eating made the atmosphere heavy. She could swear it wasn’t about deliberately provoking her husband, merely disliking the quiet.

The frustrations Mr. Citizen had been enduring ignited once more this instant; he’d erupted several times before. He stood abruptly, angry beyond measure, glaring at the dumb woman challenging his status and dignity.

Perhaps the gaze of the son sitting nearby played some part, Mr. Citizen didn’t go further this time, just uttering "Ruined appetite" before leaving the dining room, heading instead to the living room.

He turned on the TV, perhaps now watching TV was one of the sole pleasures left for him and families like his.

Fortunately, the city cable company exempted people from paying service fees for a while — TV and phones didn’t actually need to be purchased as they were gifts, provided users subscribed to these services for a certain period all at once.

Some required three years, others five. Ordinary families only had to pay a monthly service fee for TV signal access to get a free TV. It was quite a deal, many joined in.

However, phones were different, as communication fees were real-time. Besides paying the basic fee for using the lines, they also had to ensure a minimum monthly usage fee, quite an expense.

Most families didn’t require phones for work or life, so fewer installed them. But TV was different, everyone liked watching it, and especially under current circumstances, they couldn’t do without it.

Just as Mr. Citizen prepared to watch a sports program, unexpectedly, it got canceled, replaced by another match. He cursed, swore at everything; nothing went his way during these damn times.

He searched a day for work outside, begged younger people humbly, yet couldn’t land a job.

He felt like a dog, everyone kicked him a few times, now returning home, mocked by his wife, not even finding satisfaction in watching TV.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got; a destructive mood of violence began surfacing silently from deep within, growing rapidly unnoticed.

His eyes began to redden from heightened blood pressure, a desire arose to pick up a knife in the kitchen, making all those who kept him from happiness regret coming to this world.

But at that moment, his turbulent emotions paused temporarily, his attention catching on the TV screen.

Young girls more scarcely dressed than his wife ran across the TV screen, charged across grass fields; amid the breathtaking scene, his mood quickly calmed.

The destructive emotions only begrudgingly retreated back, awaiting another opportunity.

On-screen, those young bodies allowed Mr. Citizen to faintly sense, even through the TV, a delicate, smooth touch and refreshing scent.

His focus sharpened, occasionally laughing at the collisions along with professional jabs.

Most of the time, his gaze fixed upon the ball, though he never worked in any sports-related job, in terms of watching games, he was truly professional.

When Citizen’s wife and child entered the living room, they expected it might feel oppressive like a grave, or like a about-to-erupt volcano.

What they hadn’t imagined was a hint of a smile on Mr. Citizen’s face.

"This match is really...", suddenly returning from the game, Mr. Citizen noticed his wife and child standing beside him, feeling a bit blushing. He wanted an excuse to explain why he was so engrossed watching those girls, "Really vulgar, oh Lord, they actually put such programs on free channels!"

Free channels were the foundation service of the TV company; paying the most basic fee granted access to such programs, while better or restricted content was on paid channels, where the real spectacular shows were.

Mr. Citizen reached to switch channels but was stopped by his wife, "You were quite focused, maybe I’d like such programs too?"

If a program could calm down a furious husband, the wife was extremely thankful, not wishing to switch channels and then face a scolding, or even get beaten.

If those shameless women could smoothen out the night’s troubles, why refuse?

Thus, the family of three under some divine intervention seriously watched the sensual match fully, making life a bit more harmonious after lights-out.

Such families were not few, the next day massive societal reactions emerged in Sabin City, with many calling the TV company, asking when the second game would air, whether these matches were sporadic shows or a regulated league.

Behind all these inquiries actually lay desires for more frequent broadcasts, new content of such matches!

The television leadership swiftly held meetings, knowing broadcasting this program came from Lynch leveraging Mark’s connection, "buying" airtime.

That’s right, he spent money getting this match on TV, but surely he’ll stop doing so.

The enormous reaction adjusted the relationship between him and the TV station; if the station wanted to continue acquiring broadcasting rights from Lynch, they had to pay.

However, the discussed amount hardly satisfied Lynch, prompting United Transport Association to receive the news — a sports discipline not on their list was born with decent ratings and societal support.

Sabin City TV wanted to buy broadcasting rights from United Transport Association, offering a relatively good price.

Sabin City TV and United Transport Association always cooperated, annually spending about one to two million, even more, on various match broadcasts.

Upon learning about this feat, United Transport Association was astonished, promptly launching an investigation and dispatching a negotiation team to talk with Lynch.

They intended to incorporate Lynch’s team and matches, including the women’s professional football game, into the Association’s jurisdiction.

This had been foreseen by Lynch from the start, his purpose in doing this was precisely to negotiate with the Association; negotiate about broadcast fee shares and promotion resources.

Actually, running a club wasn’t less difficult than operating a company; despite it being a closed industry, competition within was fiercer and more brutal than in open sectors.

Capable teams each year could fill up just with broadcast fees alone, maintaining a healthy club scale, perhaps profiting.

But incompetent or helpless teams, despite garnering broadcast fee shares, couldn’t uphold even the most basic scale!