Life Game In Other World
Chapter 287: The Jewelry of the Disappeared (Please Favorite, Subscribe, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 287: Chapter 287: The Jewelry of the Disappeared (Please Favorite, Subscribe, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

"Getting angry over these people isn’t worth it."

The freckled girl gently shook her head, then whispered, "Let’s go. We’ve arranged a mixer with students from a few schools nearby today, let’s try to get them on board with our philosophy."

"Sure!"

The group of youths instantly grew excited.

They all walked forward together.

"Jessie," a girl beside the freckled girl tugged at her and asked softly, "Did Joey really drop out of school? I haven’t seen him in months, did he leave Dawn City?"

Hearing this question, Jessie was taken aback, as if something had just dawned on her.

Then she gently shook her head, "The school said he dropped out, but I have no idea where he went. I haven’t seen him since then either."

Just then, she paused and looked ahead.

A handsome, lean, and tall man in a leather jacket with a darker-skinned, short-haired, and cute girl got into a taxi.

"What’s wrong?"

The girl next to Jessie followed her gaze curiously but only saw the taillights of the departing taxi.

"It’s nothing, I may have been seeing things because I’ve been staying up too late,"

Jessie shook her head, clearing the thoughts from her mind. For a moment, she had thought the unfamiliar man looked familiar,

"Let’s go or we’ll be late."

——

"Leader, so where are we going now?"

Sitting in the driverless taxi, Penny looked at He Ao with confusion.

He Ao had just pulled her into the car and had not told her their destination.

"Housing agency."

He Ao replied calmly.

To live in a city, apart from a source of income, one needs life security; in a nutshell, that’s clothing, food, shelter, and transportation.

Clothing, food, and transportation aren’t a problem. According to Ronald’s previous memories, Wilderness Wanderers can shop, use public transportation, and eat within the city without any issues, as long as they can pay for the services.

Short-term accommodation is also not a problem, as almost all chain hotels will accept Wilderness Wanderers as guests.

Now it’s about long-term accommodation.

Buying a house and long-term leasing.

Soon, they arrived at the largest housing agency nearby.

Greeting them was a slender young man in neat clothing. After a brief exchange, He Ao roughly understood the rules for Wilderness Wanderers to buy or rent homes in Dawn City.

First is buying a house; Dawn City does not restrict Wilderness Wanderers from buying and selling property in the city.

Without a social security card, Wilderness Wanderers wanting to buy a house must first apply for an ’Individual Taxpayer Identification Number’ at the tax office.

This individual tax number can substitute the social security card number, serving as the sole identifier for the holder, and can be used at the city hall for property title transfer registration.

However, this individual tax number can only be used in a limited number of cases, such as buying property, and the tax rate incurred after obtaining a personal tax number is higher than that for regular Dawn City citizens.

For example, the property transaction tax that must be paid when anyone buys a property in the Federation.

For properties in Dawn City priced below five hundred thousand, the normal transaction tax rate is around 1.8%, but for Wilderness Wanderers with an individual tax number buying property, the tax rate for that transaction increases to 2.3%.

This extra 0.5% naturally wouldn’t be paid by the seller; it has to come from the buyer.

This means that Wilderness Wanderers have to pay more money to buy a property than other people.

Similarly, due to the lack of a social security card number and credit history, Wilderness Wanderers cannot take out a housing loan from a commercial bank and must pay the full amount in cash.

This is for buying a property.

When it comes to renting, although there are no explicit restrictions, in reality, many unwritten rules still exist.

For example, apartments rented out by corporations will generally require tenants to provide a social security number to check their credit, except for some particularly terrible locations.

And although many individual landlords lack the ability to check a tenant’s credit through a social security corporation, most still demand a social security number to sign a rental contract and require the tenant to present proof of income more than three times the rent.

If you can’t provide proof of income, then you’ll have to pay an additional one to two months of deposit, or purchase rental insurance. If you can’t even provide a social security number, your only option is to rent in places with particularly bad environments in Aston District and pay rent that is far higher than the average in surrounding areas.

Rent and property prices in Dawn City were already steep, and having to pay even more could directly overwhelm someone to the point of suffocation.

To summarize the ’rules’ of buying or renting a property, it’s ’possible, but you have to pay a lot more’.

Even if one could manage long-term residence in Dawn City, be it through buying or renting a property, one couldn’t avoid the problem of visa expiration. The Immigration Office of the City Defense Army wouldn’t extend someone’s visa just because a Wilderness Wanderer bought a property in Dawn City.

He Ao originally thought that owning a property might allow him to settle down, but even if a Wilderness Wanderer bought a property in Dawn City, they wouldn’t be eligible for a Dawn City passport.

The Social Security Group also wouldn’t issue a social security card to a Wilderness Wanderer just because they owned property.

After some discussion, He Ao left the real estate agency with Penny.

Then, they visited several other real estate agencies in different districts, inquired on some agency websites, and even personally visited some apartments, but the results they got in the end were much the same.

It wasn’t until the sunset in the west and night fell that the two of them were on their way back to the hotel.

Penny was somewhat silent along the way, staring blankly at the splendid and bustling lights around her, as exquisite and beautiful cars whizzed by her side.

Pedestrians laughed and frolicked in the streets, and flower girls carrying baskets of roses wove through the crowds.

She lifted her gaze to a girl ahead of them, who was being affectionate with her parents,

Fortress City really was safe, no attacks from exotic beasts, no shrill alarms, and no need to worry about tomorrow’s food.

No need to worry that on some random afternoon, a massive exotic beast would break into the camp, everyone running and shouting, while she could only watch helplessly and despondently as her parents were turned into splattered remains.

Everyone in the city spoke with gentleness, which made one not feel any malice.

But countless gentle words, put together, formed a cold rejection.

After hustling about all day, Penny no longer felt the excitement she had when she first entered the city.

She acutely felt the meaning behind the phrase ’the city does not welcome Wilderness Wanderers’.

On this bustling street, she felt like an outsider, only experiencing cold loneliness.

Taking a few steps forward, she suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure.

It was the Wilderness Hunter who had called himself York, the one who had chatted with them last night; right now, he was talking with another person who looked like a Wilderness Hunter.

A new hope rose in her heart.

Because that man had once told He Ao he could help them find work. If he could help them, he could also help other Wilderness Wanderers find work.

"Leader."

She turned towards He Ao, but as she just began to speak, a large hand covered her mouth.

Immediately after, she was pulled into a corner of an alleyway.

She widened her eyes, baffled as she looked at He Ao, not understanding why the Leader would suddenly cover her mouth and pull her into hiding.

He Ao released his hand from her mouth and made a gesture for silence, then gestured for her to observe the other Wilderness Hunter who was talking to York.

The Wilderness Hunter dressed similarly to York, the only difference being that he wore several pieces of jewelry that looked quite expensive.

Penny’s eyes were quickly drawn to the gem-encrusted golden ring on the index finger of the man’s left hand.

The ring was exquisitely crafted overall, and with the inset gems, it looked gorgeous.

However, Penny was not attracted by the ’beauty’ of the ring; she was focused on the ring because she was very familiar with it.

The ring should have belonged to Penny’s cousin from the camp, who was especially close to her.

The crafting of that ring had cost her cousin all her savings, and she had declared that even if she died in the mountains, she would swallow the ring before dying; she would not let the ring fall into someone else’s hands even in death.

Based on what Penny knew about her cousin, it was something she would do. She valued that ring more than life itself and would have never given it to anyone else.

Her convoy had scattered during a prior Bitter Monkey onslaught.

At that time, they were very close to Dawn City.

It was an area where Wilderness Hunters frequently operated.

Then, Penny shifted her gaze to the other pieces of jewelry on the Wilderness Hunter. The jewelry all looked familiar; although she couldn’t remember to whom they belonged, she was certain that they had been worn by Wilderness Wanderers from the camp.

At that moment, she suddenly felt a chill down her spine.