Life Game In Other World
Chapter 551: The City’s Cleaner (Extra Large - for Monthly Passes)

Chapter 551: Chapter 551: The City’s Cleaner (Extra Large Chapter for Monthly Passes)

"Is this Zhalote District?"

He Ao turned around, walked back to the bed, and took a sip of the nutrient solution.

"Yes."

Heish smiled, seemingly dispelling her inexplicable reserve. She sat back in her chair with composure and nodded lightly.

Zhalote District, a place almost every Vitlander knew of, but where the vast majority would never go.

Located on the edge of the West District, it had gained such notoriety because it existed on the internet in the form of some kind of ’urban legend’.

Zhalote, a word passed down from the wilderness, seemed to have lost its specific meaning, but in Vitland, the Zhalote District was also called ’Trash City’.

And the people who lived there had another name: ’Scavengers’.

All the trash produced by the more than ten million inhabitants of Vitland converged here, where it was processed. Some of it was shipped out of the city to be buried, while some was recycled and sent back to factories for production.

The Zhalote District was like the sewage system that spread throughout the city, part of the city’s ’decomposition plant’.

But the state of the scavengers living in Zhalote District was far from good. While they ensured the cleanliness and tidiness of the entire city, they lived generation after generation in filthy and foul-smelling conditions.

"This is my first time here."

He Ao looked out of the window at the scattered steel structures of small buildings huddling beneath the sky.

Most of these buildings were mere frames, with at least one side, where a wall ought to be, completely devoid of any structure, exposing the interior.

Attached to these skeletal frames were simple mechanical devices.

Small pulley machines continuously carried sorted, compressed masses of trash up to different floors. Then, people clad in ragged clothing would use what looked like very rudimentary mechanical arms to stack the waste deeper inside the floor.

This seemed to be part of some waste packaging and storage operation. Everyone in the area worked methodically, their orderly activity resembling that of a massive factory.

"How does it feel?"

Heish also watched the scene outside the window and suddenly asked softly.

She hadn’t given He Ao a detailed introduction to the place. Since He Ao could name the Zhalote District, he likely had a fair understanding of it.

There were few in Vitland who didn’t know about the Zhalote District.

Although most people knew it through bizarre tales.

"It feels,"

He Ao’s gaze was calm as he looked outside. His eyes fell on those rudimentary mechanical arms, which clearly posed safety risks, and the operators in their thin and worn clothing, "they are working very hard but do not receive a fair compensation."

In the entire Federation, it was rare for cities to have a district like Vitland City’s Zhalote District where a group of people specialized in waste management.

In most cities, including Dawn City and Kaye City, there were specialized cleaning companies that handled waste management and charged residents a cleaning fee.

Upon this reflection, He Ao suddenly realized that Vitland also had cleaning companies charging for waste disposal, and the fee was not cheap.

"That’s a novel perspective; you’re the first person to express such a view to me,"

Upon hearing He Ao’s words, Heish paused, then slowly stood up and walked beside him, "Is this how you high-educated professors approach problems?"

"To be precise, it’s how I approach problems," He Ao shrugged, "Professors also differ from one another. By the way,"

He turned his head to Heish, "I heard the scavengers in Zhalote District, they don’t have social security numbers?"

Jess’s knowledge about the Zhalote District was limited to interesting educational videos on the internet, but those videos still mentioned some key information, like the fact that the scavengers from Zhalote District didn’t have the identities of city residents or social security numbers.

"Yes,"

Heish nodded gently, "The people in this district didn’t live in the city a long time ago, they came from the wilderness,

"Vitland occupied the land of the scavengers’ ancestors during a city expansion, and at its core, this district beneath our feet.

"Back then, the city government allocated this block to those Wilderness Wanderers who had lost their homes, but they didn’t grant these wanderers the status of city residents."

The information Heish mentioned was virtually inaccessible on the net.

"It seems that the mayor of Vitland City at the time didn’t want the Wilderness Wanderers to stay in the city," He Ao looked out the window, "so he tried to force them out this way."

Having once played the role of a Wilderness Wanderer, He Ao knew full well what it meant to be without a social security card number, without formal Federation status in a Fortress City; one would face great difficulties finding formal employment, opening a bank account, or renting property normally.

Unable to support oneself, unable to survive and live in the city, these Wilderness Wanderers would naturally be driven back to the wastelands.

To Heish’s surprise, He Ao had quickly grasped the crux of the problem. Many born in the city with innate Federation legal status couldn’t comprehend what it meant to lose it.

Providing living areas for the Wilderness Wanderers who remained in Zhalote District but withholding their identities was effectively a disguised form of expulsion.

The mayor of Vitland City wanted the reputation but not the Wilderness Wanderers lingering in his city, increasing his management risk.

He wanted to have his cake and eat it too.

"That mayor’s scheme was half successful,"

Heish walked over to a white cabinet beside her, opened it, and a set of men’s clothes hanging inside was revealed,

"Some of the Wilderness Wanderers couldn’t bear the restricted life in the city, and without a livelihood, they returned to the wild. Those who remained managed to survive by dealing with the city’s garbage, eventually forming what’s now known as ’Scavengers.’

Heish took the clothes out of the cabinet and handed them to He Ao, "Your old clothes are beyond repair. Based on their general style, I bought you a new set. Consider it a gift with our deal, no charge."

"Thanks for the trouble."

He Ao took the clothes and gave them a cursory glance; they were almost identical to those Jess had worn.

Jess’s clothes were mostly brand-name, but not exclusively rare custom-made ones; it was quite easy to find the style if you know the brand.

But to determine the brand from He Ao’s pile of ragged garments, then find the corresponding style and purchase it, was indeed a bit of an effort.

"No trouble," Heish shrugged, "I had my subordinates do it, just a word’s work."

"Looks like I was touched for nothing."

He Ao smiled.

He held up the clothes to check, and indeed the size was right for him. Heish had previously tailored a suit for him, so she knew his measurements.

"Oh, and," Heish said as she pulled out a silver mechanical face mask from the wardrobe, "this is a mini air purification mask. You’ve just been injured, and the air outside might be... not so great. You might want to wear this mask before you go out."

With that, she turned and pulled open the door, "Your dagger is in the bedside cabinet. I’ll wait for you outside."

She knew well that He Ao wanted to leave the room; it was only because she called out to him that he didn’t leave immediately.

He Ao looked at the clothes in his hands and shook his head with a smile.

Thanks to his recent promotion, his injuries were mostly healed, so he was now eager to meet Thorne.

As one of the key figures who orchestrated Jess’s tragic fate, Thorne must know many essential clues about Jess and the Mysterious Person.

Last night, after piecing together that the mercenaries who had staked out Heish in the mall were likely the same ones protecting Thorne, set to ambush ’Jess,’ He Ao pinpointed Thorne’s location.

For those mercenaries, killing He Ao had higher priority than capturing Heish.

They would certainly not risk letting Thorne undertake a mission alone; if they were to attack Heish and the unprotected Thorne got caught by He Ao, their efforts would be for naught.

Therefore, they would undoubtedly keep Thorne close, near the main force, ready for an assault from He Ao at any moment.

So, Thorne’s position at that time was inside Heish’s mall, caught up with a bunch of mercenaries, preparing to capture Heish.

With this understanding, He Ao also figured out the information gap between him and those mercenaries.

The mercenaries knew there was a C-level powerhouse with Heish, but they didn’t know it was He Ao, whereas He Ao already knew they were Thorne’s protectors.

Based on this, He Ao could engineer an ’accidental encounter,’ making the mercenaries waiting for Heish meet the more important target ’Jess.’

After He Ao appeared, Thorne lost his value, and due to the suddenness of the encounter, the mercenaries had no time to arrange for Thorne’s protection.

The strength He Ao displayed the night before last, when he wiped out the first elite mercenary squad, was enough to make this batch of mercenaries wary.

So it was highly likely they would come out in full force, leaving only a few soldiers to protect Thorne, or perhaps none at all, choosing to pursue and kill He Ao altogether.

Things went exactly as He Ao predicted: the entire mercenary team came after him, and Thorne was left without any protection.

Of course, Thorne was no fool; realizing he was unprotected, he would definitely run away. He Ao, entangled with the mercenaries, wouldn’t have time for a backturn spear.

Therefore, He Ao took the opportunity to entrust Heish to capture Thorne for him, and to come pick him up at the end.

Heish himself possessed C-level strength and knew Thorne well, so capturing the unprotected Thorne was not a problem.

Moreover, if at the last moment, the Mysterious Person sent additional C-level support, with Heish’s help, He Ao was confident he would make it out in one piece.

Last night, though perilous, was in fact fully under He Ao’s control.

The only potential risk was whether Heish, whom he had just met, could be trusted.

Throughout the charity dinner and the life-death pursuit that followed, He Ao concluded that Heish was reliable and trustworthy.

After all, He Ao had indeed saved her life; they both had the Welme Medical Consortium as an enemy, and capturing Thorne and dealing with the traitor in the marketplace also aligned with Heish’s interests.

While He Ao didn’t know everything about Heish, he acutely sensed that she was quite resolute in opposing the Welme Medical Consortium.

Her actions during the dinner were risky, and as a qualified intermediary, she shouldn’t have gotten involved personally.

Heish’s involvement indicated she had compelling reasons to do so.

Moreover, the ambush in the underground parking lot suggested that the Welme Medical Consortium had been targeting her for a long time, showing there were likely deeper conflicts between them.

And this could serve as the foundation for cooperation: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

After He Ao tentatively voiced his needs, Heish very straightforwardly agreed, proving that his plan also served her interests.

Thus, He Ao ultimately chose to trust her.

The series of events from last night also proved that He Ao’s judgment was correct.

Of course, if Heish was unwilling to cooperate or had other plans, He Ao also had other contingency plans, though they would not be as effective.

Lost in thought, He Ao quickly changed his clothes. He put the pendant back under his shirt and then found the alloy dagger in the bedside cabinet.

Heish had found him a simple dagger sheath that could contain the blade, but perhaps due to the rush, it was not a perfect fit and was slightly too big.

He Ao drew the dagger from its sheath, and with a crisp sound, his eyes were cast upon the cold alloy blade.

The dagger was damaged, and he needed to find a new weapon that suited him.

He returned the dagger to its sheath, placed the sheathed dagger into the inner pocket of his jacket, and then opened the room door.

At that instant, a wind carrying a foul smell hit him in the face.

He Ao twitched his nose slightly, his expression unchanged, and closed the door.

"Are you done changing?"

Heish, who was standing in the hallway with her back to the room door, turned around, and then hesitated, "Why didn’t you bring along the air purification mask?"

"These smells don’t bother me."

He Ao shook his head.

Although he didn’t rely much on his sense of smell in battle, smell could be an important source of information in certain situations.

"As long as you can tolerate the smell, that’s fine,"

Heish nodded, understanding that He Ao had his reasons for not wearing a mask. She then continued down the hallway, "I’ll take you to see Thorne."

"Hmm,"

He Ao’s gaze swept the surroundings.

He realized that the building he was in was also a small one, except that unlike the surrounding buildings primarily used for storing trash, this building had walls all around, and the walls were whitewashed, making it look more like a dwelling place than a garbage factory.

At that moment, Heish was leading him down the hallway.

Among these small buildings, there were also some ’sky bridges’ made of rusty steel, connecting each of the small buildings so that people could walk between them without having to descend to the ground.

However, these sky bridges did not look very safe; only a few had canopies for shelter from the rain, most had just some rusty railing, and some walkways didn’t even have railings, the narrow paths connecting two buildings like slender bridges.

Some children were running across them, their steps clanking loudly on the corroded steel plates.

"What’s the source of income for the scavengers here?"

He Ao withdrew his gaze from the small buildings and sky bridges and asked casually as he continued along the hallway.

"Garbage processing,"

Heish glanced at the dense piles of trash and said softly, "Many of the trash brought here is recyclable. The scavengers sort out the recyclable trash and then use crude machines and methods to process it into industrial raw materials.

"For example, they might melt down the salvaged aluminum pipes and then cast them into qualified aluminum ingots. The cleaning company’s people will come to collect these ingots, but they offer very low prices, only a third or even a quarter of what factories pay.

"In the past, I’ve tried to sell these aluminum ingots directly to factories, but basically no factory is willing to buy materials directly from scavengers, so these ingots have to be sold to the cleaning company."

"So by flipping these aluminum ingots, the cleaning company can directly gain profits that are two to three times the cost?"

He Ao glanced at the scavengers’ tattered clothes. "And what about the trash that’s left after processing, the stuff that’s useless?"

"Most of the trash here has its own place to go."

Heish shook his head, "Only a very small portion of the waste is completely unprocessable. The cleaning company will come to haul this trash away and charge the scavengers a cleaning fee."

Upon hearing this, He Ao paused, "This cleaning company... makes a lot of money."

After all, in Vitland, the cleaning company had already charged the citizens of Vitland City a cleaning fee.

Moreover, the cleaning fees in Vitland were no lower than those in Dawn City, but the fees in Dawn City included the costs for the cleaning company to deal with the trash.

Whereas Vitland’s cleaning company only needed to transport the trash to the Zhalote District.

This saved the costs of maintaining trash processing machinery and constructing trash processing plants.

They could even skim a fee off the top from the raw materials processed by the scavengers.

Most outrageous was that they even charged a fee for hauling the unprocessable trash out of the city.

In fact, in other cities, the cleaning fee paid by citizens already included this cost.

For a moment, He Ao didn’t even know where to start with his criticisms.

"Vitland’s largest cleaning company is the Welme Cleaning Company, a subsidiary of the Welme Medical Consortium,"

Leading the way, Heish continued with He Ao down the stairs built along the exterior wall of the small building, "They’ve formed a monopoly alliance with other smaller cleaning companies in Vitland, dictating the entire city’s waste disposal affairs. Every year, they spend a lot of money lobbying the members of the city council."

Hearing this, He Ao roughly understood why the aluminum ingots produced by scavengers couldn’t be sold directly to factories—an enormous interest group had severed the scavengers’ contact with the outside world.

He also vaguely grasped the sources of conflict between Heish and the Welme Medical Consortium.

"We’ve arrived,"

Heish stopped in front of the door to a somewhat spacious warehouse and pushed it open. The dark interior of the warehouse was revealed, and a faint light in the depths was faintly visible, "It’s not well-lit inside; it might be a bit dark."

"No problem, it won’t affect me."

He Ao looked into the dark warehouse, the darkness before his eyes as clear as if illuminated by a radiant light.

He easily spotted Thorne, sitting at the far end of the warehouse.

Strictly speaking, this was his first meeting with Thorne.

He took a deep breath and stepped into the warehouse.