Life Game In Other World
Chapter 378: Tomorrow Will Always Come (Long - Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 378: Chapter 378: Tomorrow Will Always Come (Long Chapter Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

Old Foreman.

He Ao watched the figure ahead, slightly surprised. He glanced around; behind the Old Foreman, there were no others. Nell and Watson were not there— the elderly man had come alone.

"Shall we talk?"

The Old Foreman waved his hand and asked with a smile.

...

"There are people from the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association nearby helping those miners maliciously arrested. I heard from them about a ’passing knight’ who saved people,"

The Old Foreman sat on the edge of the rooftop, looking toward the brightly lit city not far away. "I guessed that person was you, so I followed all the way here."

"I shouldn’t have left any obvious traces?"

This was a rooftop of a relatively low building. He Ao sat beside the Old Foreman, chuckling.

"Talent Sequence 44: Thought Gatherer," the Old Foreman said softly, "standing in a crowd, I can naturally sense people’s scattered thoughts. It’s like some strange collective consciousness. Sometimes, without any effort, I can sense that something might happen.

"Of course, this foresight is not omnipotent. It’s mostly inaccurate, but I can logically analyze what I believe to be the most likely scenario from several possibilities. And, hitting right upon you also involved some luck."

"Sounds like a seer."

"It’s actually not as mystical as a seer. This ability just allows me to vaguely feel most people’s thoughts. Only when many people share the same idea can I sense their thoughts.

"For instance, if I stand among a group of hungry people, what I foresee is that many people will eat soon. In reality, the fact that many will eat is not certain and depends on many factors. If there is no food around, the event will not occur.

"Like when I was searching for you, it was based on the vague silhouettes of you ’seen’ by people. Although you hid well, there would always be someone who saw the ’mysterious figure.’ As long as enough people saw it, I could sense the direction. However, since everyone has different standards, this method has a high rate of failure."

The Old Foreman’s speech was slow, as if telling a long story, recounting leisurely.

"So you came to find me specially, because you ’foresaw’ something?"

He Ao looked at the distant lights and asked softly.

"You are eager to change this city," the Old Foreman looked ahead, "and so am I, but my time is running short."

In fact, my time might not be much longer than yours...

He Ao shook his head. The Old Foreman must have had something important to discuss; he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths just to chat.

But just as he was about to cut straight to the point, the Old Foreman slowly raised his head, looking toward a somewhat dim patch of light in the distance, and began to narrate,

"I’m actually not a miner.

"My family was poor, so I dropped out of school at fifteen. Due to long-term malnourishment, my body wasn’t strong enough, and the mines wouldn’t take me, so I could only work odd jobs on the factory assembly line.

"The work on the assembly line was incredibly dull; every day was a repetition of the previous day, and after just a week, my mind went blank, filled only with how to assemble parts.

"We worked twelve hours each day, and every night after getting off work, going back to the dorm, after a shower, the moment I hit the bed and opened my eyes, it was time to go to work again.

"Back then, I felt like a machine, but my foreman corrected me; I was ’cheaper than a machine.’

"During those oppressive days, we always cherished every break we got, gathering together to talk about things unrelated to work, like relationships and life.

"Back then, the woman I most wanted to marry was a clerk who sat in a second-floor office.

"Of course, she wasn’t considered beautiful, but my fellow workers thought she had an air of elegance. She was a regular employee, a notch above us who worked odd jobs on the assembly line.

"The assembly line work was tiring, and my favorite thing to do was squat in a corner of the assembly line and watch her sway her hips, step by step, into the office.

"That was the greatest enjoyment in life."

"So what happened later? Did you get together with her?"

"She died. That year, the factory went on strike, and the Consortium sent security forces to suppress us. She died from a stray bullet.

"We never spoke. She didn’t know my name when she died."

The Old Foreman seemed not to have talked about the past with anyone for a long time. He stood up, dusted the dirt off his trousers, then took out a small mining pick from his waist and handed it to He Ao—it was the very one that hung in his room,

"If I die, would you be willing to become the next leader of the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association?"

"Why me?"

Instead of responding directly, He Ao quietly asked.

"We are the same kind of people," the Old Foreman looked at He Ao’s somewhat youthful face, "I have a feeling that you will do better than me."

He Ao still didn’t reach out to take the mining pick.

"There is a sensor chip inside this pick, containing the names of all members of the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association, including the mining leaders who organized strikes and marches,"

The Old Foreman’s murky eyes calmly looked at He Ao. "I think you will need their strength."

He Ao slowly reached out his hand, but he still seemed hesitant.

"In that list is also the phone number of Commander Wright of the 108th, we’re on good terms. Take this pick to him, and he’ll be willing to meet with you,"

The Old Foreman saw He Ao still clutching the pick and pushed it directly into He Ao’s arms, chiding with a smile, "You slick kid, this old man doesn’t have much else to give. There’s nothing more."

With that, he immediately turned and walked towards the stairwell.

He Ao watched the elderly man’s faltering figure, his hand slowly gripping the pick in his hand.

"If one day I do die, remember to claim my body. Don’t let me be taken away by the city’s waste collectors like Yates."

The elderly man seemed to notice He Ao’s gaze. He waved his hand with a smile and walked into the dark stairwell.

"Right, this chip is password-protected,"

an elderly voice rose slowly in the night,

"The password is,

’Tomorrow will always come.’

——

The Old Foreman seemed to have anticipated something, a secret that apparently couldn’t be said outright.

The events in this city were getting more and more complex.

But the fact that he could sense the complexity meant that He Ao might already be gradually touching upon the deeper secrets of the city.

He Ao tucked the small mining pick into his trench coat and walked quietly along the streets

Vehicles from the City Defense Army raced past; chaotic crowds, children with cries in their voices, and vagrants scurrying to hide were everywhere.

Snowflakes fell from the sky, one by one.

This was the North District, the part of Rock City with the most miners.

This was the North District, the most hopeless place in Rock City.

Casually, He Ao knocked down two members of the Ice Wolf Gang who were forcibly snatching people, then he looked up at the large TV in the shopping mall broadcasting the news not far away.

Ever since the Mayor’s speech in the morning, Rock City and the Mining Consortium’s violent machinery had kicked into full gear, beginning to capture miners en masse, unrestricted.

These miners were quickly sent to court, and after a brief trial, were immediately shipped off to Rock City’s prisons.

Most of the Federation’s prisons are privately owned, with the city government or federal government subsidizing the prisons per head.

The subsidies vary by city; Dawn City’s treasury spends a large amount on these prisons each year, and these hefty prison subsidies not only ensure a relatively decent life for the prisoners but also make a profit for the prisons.

To secure more subsidies, private prisons would go to great lengths.

On one hand, they bribe the judiciary and the courts, calling for harsher sentences to send more people to prison.

On the other hand, they employ the media to hype up prison human rights issues and the treatment of prisoners.

With more prisoners, the proportion of their families outside increases, making these families an important factor in influencing politicians’ elections.

To win over these votes, some politicians feel compelled to promise increased prison subsidies, and, likewise, they accept political donations from private prisons, raising the subsidies as soon as they take office.

After accumulating over time, private prison subsidies have become a significant financial burden for most fortress cities, with a vast amount of fiscal tax revenue devoured by the prison monopolies.

However, this was not a problem for Rock City, whose government was too poor to scrape together any taxes.

As the Mining Group eroded the city government, municipal revenue had been declining year by year. Since the current Mayor took office, by offering tax cuts, allowing free markets, and dismantling government agencies, the city government had gone one or two years without paying financial subsidies to private prisons.

But private prisons had to make money, especially since most of Rock City’s private prisons were subsidiaries of the Mining Consortium.

Thus, these private prisons began to exploit criminals on a large scale, putting them to work in factories, or even building their own factories to generate profits for the prisons.

Criminals didn’t need to be paid, so all the money they earned went to the prisons, which only provided for the criminals’ food and accommodation.

As a result, each criminal represented a substantial profit margin.

Upon interrogation by He Ao, these Ice Wolf Gang members disclosed that private prisons were ’offering a bounty’ of 2000 federal coins for these ’miner agitators.’

The ’bounty’ for some of the younger, stronger miners reached as high as 5000 federal coins.

That’s why these Ice Wolf Gang members were so recklessly grabbing people.

Money moves the heart.

After clearing the streets of gang members and the randomly arresting members of the City Defense Army, He Ao turned into a small craft store.

The shop sold various trinkets and small items.

He Ao purchased a pure white mask and a black waterproof marker.

K was not famous in Rock City.

Here, K’s story was deliberately severed, and searching the internet, He Ao could only find a very limited amount of information about K.

Originally, Yoen learned about K in a closed chat group, but didn’t know much, and that chat group was shut down soon after, so Nell’s understanding of K was also very vague.

He Ao picked up the marker and began to draw slowly on the mask.

He himself wasn’t skilled in drawing, but Vian, who had been exposed to art from a young age, had an art teacher who was a famous master in the entire Federation.

He Ao calmed his mind and immersed himself in Vian’s painting memories.

As the marker glided across, the mask in his hands gradually changed, spots of pitch-black like droplets condensed from the night sky settled onto the pure white mask, forming indistinct patterns.

A bizarre mask with a black-and-white transitioned smile emerged in He Ao’s hands.

It was K’s mask, even more grotesque and eerie than the original version, yet filled with a unique beauty that blended the sinister with the luminous.

Due to its low profile, there were no stores selling masks on the streets, so He Ao could just make one himself.

He was quite satisfied with his own handiwork.

He picked up the mask and slowly placed it on his cheeks.