Life Game In Other World
Chapter 579: Do You Know ’K’? (Seeking Monthly Tickets for a Mega - )

Chapter 579: Chapter 579: Do You Know ’K’? (Seeking Monthly Tickets for a Mega Chapter)

At eight o’clock in the morning, accompanied by the sound of children running and laughing outside, He Ao and Dasanc finished discussing some of the details related to their communication with Stars Pharma, ultimately concluding the meeting.

The general direction was still to utilize the power of Stars Pharma to attack Ned.

"Professor Jess, how come you’re so familiar with the way Stars Pharma operates?"

As Dasanc closed the windows on the desktop, he asked with some confusion.

"I’ve had some business interactions with them before," He Ao said with a smile, "and dealt with some of their higher-ups."

"It seems the project you were discussing must have been important,"

Dasanc nodded slightly.

After all, to engage with the top executives of Stars Pharma...

"Well, you could say that, but we never ended up collaborating," He Ao also nodded, smiling, "That project failed in the end, which impacted the stock price of Stars Pharma a little."

"These medical conglomerates are all no good,"

Dasanc sighed, "You’re right."

"Do you need to rest for a bit?"

He Ao closed all the windows on the desktop, reached out to shut down the smart conference table, and looking at Dasanc’s exhausted face, asked softly.

Dasanc, being an ordinary person, might have a stronger psychological constitution than most, but after last night’s life-or-death pursuit and this meeting, his fatigue was visibly taking its toll.

"I’m fine."

Dasanc quickly said.

"Take some rest for now,"

He Ao glanced at Heish who was also wrapped in bandages and looked weary, yet still enduring, "What’s coming is a tough battle; if we rest well, we’ll have the energy to win this fight."

Heish looked up at He Ao, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded lightly, "Let’s rest for a bit. I have some tonic soup that I prepared earlier which can speed up recovery."

She was acutely aware that putting on a brave front now could lead to failure at a crucial moment.

"Alright."

Seeing Heish agree with He Ao’s suggestion, Dasanc no longer insisted, as he indeed felt extremely exhausted.

After the events of the previous night and the discussion in the meeting just now, He Ao had gradually become the de facto leader among the three of them.

"Then I’ll go to my room with Dasanc, and Heish, you’ll go back to the medical room to rest?"

He Ao looked towards Heish.

"Okay."

Heish nodded her head.

Last night, Heish had already arranged rooms for He Ao and Dasanc, which had simply not been used yet.

He Ao didn’t need to rest, but he was still covered in the blood from last night and his clothes were somewhat tattered. He was too conspicuous in this state, and he needed to tidy himself up a bit.

"Then we’ll head over first."

Dasanc bid farewell to Heish, then followed He Ao out of the conference room.

Heish watched the two leave, staring as the conference room door slowly closed.

She placed her hands on the tabletop, trying to use the table to help herself stand, but as soon as she exerted force, her body swayed, losing strength, and she sat back down.

She sighed and lifted her bracelet.

······

He Ao and Dasanc walked along the corridor outside.

The weather was pleasant today, sunlight piercing through the cold air, casting over both of them.

"Do you know Christos?"

He Ao asked softly.

"I do," Dasanc chuckled, "I know him, but he doesn’t know me."

Then he glanced at the direction of the sun, Dawn City was to the east of Vitland, "Actually, a big part of why I’ve managed to persevere until now is because of his influence."

His pace was slow, stepping forward into the post-dawn sunlight, "When I was younger, I had argued with my parents and worked in the Industrial District, very aware of the kind of life the industrial employees there led.

"Earning the lowest wages with no accidental insurance at all, factories paying the bare minimum or even none for their medical insurance, living in a work environment where accidents could happen at any time.

"While working at the factory, I felt my life was like a disposable rag, used indiscriminately, wrung dry, then discarded without any safety net.

"I remember working at a factory in Plante’s old Industrial District when I once visited a colleague’s house. Seven family members across three generations were crammed into a tiny room less than ten square meters, and in the corner lay his grandmother, an elderly woman in her sixties, her body as withered as dry wood.

"My father was a doctor, and I once aspired to follow in his footsteps. He wanted me to examine his grandmother, who couldn’t afford medical fees, not even those of underground doctors.

"I didn’t know exactly what disease she had, but from her physical state, it was clear she was close to death.

"To a poor family, a sick, unemployed elderly person was a burden. She lay on a wooden plank, her voice already hoarse, and with her shriveled palm, she grasped my hand, begging me in a faded voice to look after her grandson.

"A few days later, I heard she had passed away.

"Later, after researching and consulting with my father, we concluded that she most likely had started with a minor illness, but with no money for treatment and poor living conditions, it had prolonged into a serious condition that took her life.

"Not long after that, I left the factory, got into university, and didn’t pursue medicine but became a lawyer, during which time I continued to refine my principles and successfully became a congressional candidate."

In the Federation, lawyers held a high status and the profession was known for nurturing eloquence. Many congressmen, mayors, and even the Federal President came from this profession.

At this point, Dasanc paused and said with a smile, "When I first entered politics, I had nothing. I yearned to change something but ended up changing nothing.

"It was then that I saw the news about Christos. Back then, he wasn’t the Mayor of Dawn City but just a city councilor of Dawn City.

"I always kept an eye on him, saw him go through many setbacks, and eventually pushed through the accidental insurance bill, improving the security for employees in Dawn City. That’s when I felt that I too wanted to become a councilor like him."

He looked at He Ao and chuckled, "But the funny thing was, nobody wanted to listen to what I had to say. I didn’t have the money for campaign ads, and my ideals weren’t popular with the consortia, so I couldn’t get any funding. I could only rely on some basic connections to keep my campaign going.

"Ultimately, I didn’t manage to get elected as city councilor during the city council’s term renewal, and my attempts to run for congressman also failed."

He sighed, "Not long after that, I noticed that the news about Christos was dwindling, and I began to realize that Christos too was caught in some kind of predicament, a kind that I couldn’t understand at the time.

"It wasn’t until not too long ago, when Stars Pharma pulled its investment in me, that I realized what choices Christos had faced back then.

"Whether to continue down the previous road, facing a forest full of thorns and dangers, or to surrender to the consortia, stop there, save his life, cooperate with them, and then live a carefree life."

"Though at that time I hadn’t thought it through so clearly, I had a vague sense that something was wrong. Fortunately, Christos later made his choice out of that predicament."

Dasanc turned his head to look at He Ao and asked softly, "Do you know ’K’?"

"Hm?"

He Ao glanced at him and nodded, "I know, what about him?"

"I’ve watched ’K’s’ speeches many times, I feel he’s someone like us, but he has gone further and is more resolute.

"And I believe, also being in Dawn City, Christos must have met ’K’, perhaps even cooperated with him, because it was during ’K’s’ active period that Christos announced his mayoral campaign for Dawn City and made his way out of the dilemma."

"And you?"

He Ao asked slowly.

Dasanc had said that he encountered the same dilemma as Christos before.

"I also made my own choice."

With a smile, Dasanc looked towards the morning sun in the sky, "You were right about what you said last night, the future, has to be tested by oneself."

"You were very close to dying last night."

He Ao spoke calmly.

"But someone will always tread over my corpse, follow the path I laid out, and continue forward. Christos probably never thought he could really survive to become the Mayor of Dawn City when he was running for the position,"

Dasanc chuckled, "Maybe I can also influence others whom I have never met, just as Christos and ’K’ have influenced me."

He Ao watched his smile and suddenly spoke up, "Stars Pharma will only focus on criticizing Ned’s flaws and incidentally support their chosen candidate. You need some ’big exposure’ to get more people to know you if you hope to successfully run for office."

"Getting rid of that bastard Ned would be a victory,"

Dasanc pondered, "The resources we can mobilize are still too limited to create the sort of explosive advertisements in a short time. The amount of funding required is massive and even if Stars Pharma were willing to support us, it’s unlikely they would provide so much money for me."

"Large-scale publicity doesn’t necessarily require spending money."

He Ao shook his head, then spoke slowly as Dasanc watched him with a puzzled look, "For the time being, let’s not think about this issue. The timing is not yet ripe, there are some variables I haven’t gotten a handle on yet. Do you know which company’s voting system is used for the Vitland mid-term elections?"

"It’s the ’Phoenix System’ by Trison Communication Consortium."

Dasanc withdrew his gaze and answered slowly.

He did not press He Ao for the method of getting ’big exposure.’

Although the data He Ao had presented at the meeting, and the clever strategy he had shown in using Stars Pharma to drive away one threat only to replace it with another, had surprised him greatly, he thought the idea of creating a massive scale of publicity on a small budget in a short time was a bit too far-fetched, leaning more towards impossible.

He paused, pushed aside the messy thoughts in his mind, and further explained,

"The ’Phoenix System’ is a specialized voting system developed by the Trison Group under the supervision of the Federal Assembly and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They claim that the system is absolutely crash-proof and 100% accurate, and all votes and data can be internally verified and are solely used for election purposes.

"The elections for Vitland City Mayor, City Council, and Federal President all use this voting system, and only a few cities in the Federation still use paper ballots or other voting systems for their mayor and council elections."

"I understand."

He Ao nodded in acknowledgment.

The election in Dawn City is conducted using a voting system developed by the Dawn City government itself.

This was something He Ao knew.

As the two biggest cities of the Federation, East and West, Dawn City and Vitland sometimes found themselves in a competitive relationship.

By now, the two men had reached the entrance to their respective rooms.

He Ao and Dasanc said goodbye and entered their rooms.

The room Heish had arranged for He Ao was the same one he had stayed in after he was injured before. On the table of the room, there was soup medicine for restoring one’s spirit, which He Ao picked up and drained in one go. Then he opened the wardrobe.

Inside hung a set of neatly arranged new clothes, identical to the ones He Ao was currently wearing.

The outfit He Ao was wearing now had been bought by Heish’s people, modeled after his previous attire. Getting a new set had already been easy, but this time it was He Ao who had given the money and asked Heish to buy another set for him.

Jess was not one to fancy dressing up, many of his clothes were purchased in multiples, identical in every way.

He Ao took a bath, changed into a new set of clothes, and then turned on his bracelet to read the contents of the chip Heish had given him.

In fact, He Ao had already seen the files contained inside the night before, while Heish was performing surgery.

The content of these files was simple; there was a gang that had once been within Thorne’s sphere of influence, now actively gathering the materials listed on He Ao’s handouts on a large scale.

And this smuggling group that Heish’s ’friend’ belonged to had taken on most of this ’business.’

They also knew that there was someone behind this gang, but in accordance with the unwritten rules of the underworld, they asked nothing and simply went about their ’business’ peacefully.

The information mentioned that, in recent days, at 10:30 every morning, the smuggling group would drive those materials to a location in the eastern part of the West District and hand them over to the gang, who would then take them away.

Although the time was the same, the transaction locations varied each time. However, the agreed location for the latest transaction, which was today’s, was also included in the information provided by Heish.

It was now eight in the morning, and He Ao needed to get to the agreed location before they could commence a new round of transactions so he could find that gang.

And by following this gang, he should be able to get to the Mysterious Person’s Second Laboratory.

There were only two days left until the mid-term elections, leaving He Ao with not much time.

After straightening up his trousers and stuffing the pendant into his shirt, He Ao put on his overcoat and left the room.

Deafening snoring came from the room next door where Dasanc was sleeping.

Outside He Ao’s room door, a figure sat silently in a wheelchair, waiting.

"Didn’t you go to rest?"

He Ao, just opening the door, glanced at the wheelchair under Heish and asked softly.

"I bought this wheelchair the last time I was injured, I didn’t expect it would come in handy again,"

Heish smiled and stretched out her hand, pointing to a thin young man who was pushing the wheelchair behind her, "This is Ryan, he has been with me for many years and can be trusted. He has a special talent for recognizing routes and is very familiar with the terrain of West District. He also knows the other districts of Vitland well,

"He can drive for you, many gangs in West District recognize him. If there are any matters that are inconvenient for you to handle personally, you can have him do it."

Finding a trustworthy person familiar with the area was something He Ao had previously asked Heish to look for. In events where one is searching for clues, having a local with knowledge of the situation can make things a lot easier.

Heish originally wanted to go with He Ao herself, but her injuries were too severe, and He Ao had stopped her.

"Mr. Jess, hello."

Ryan looked at He Ao and bowed respectfully.

"Hello,"

He Ao nodded to Ryan, then looked at Heish sitting in the wheelchair, "Thank you."

"No need to thank me,"

Heish looked up at He Ao, the sunlight shining on her frail cheeks, "I have a feeling that the fate of the Scavenger might change because of you. I believe in you."

"The intuition of the Scavenger Priestess, huh?"

He Ao smiled.

"Perhaps it’s the inspiration of an ideal,"

Heish revealed a slight smile.

In some sense, they were on the same path, moving forward for similar goals.

······

He Ao said goodbye to Heish and left with Ryan, driving away in the adapted sedan, specially prepared by Heish for them.

This kind of modified sedan was common in the West District and didn’t stand out like the off-road vehicles favored by gangs.

Ryan was familiar with the area and quickly brought He Ao to the transaction site via back roads.

He Ao told Ryan to park the car at the side of the road, just like any ordinary parked vehicle, then they both turned off the engine and sat in the car, looking outside.

Not far ahead, several spacious off-road vehicles slowly drove in.