Life Game In Other World
Chapter 590: People Aren’t Really Blinded (Super Long - , Asking for Monthly Votes)

Chapter 590: Chapter 590: People Aren’t Really Blinded (Super Long Chapter, Asking for Monthly Votes)

"This is the financial report of the Welme Medical Consortium from last year. It’s very pretty, how do you view these beautiful earnings?"

Christos took out a report and laid it on the table.

"It’s bad, very bad, both for Vitland and for the Federation."

Dasanc looked at the report and shook his head.

"Why do you say that?"

Christos looked at him with interest.

"In fact, I think the Consortiums in the Federation have amassed a substantial amount of wealth that shouldn’t belong to them through financial loans and the exploitation of their employees,"

Dasanc took a deep breath and answered.

"Such as?"

Christos watched him.

"Consortiums promote various products through a great deal of advertising, luring people to buy things they don’t really need. When the target consumers can’t pay for their purchases, the Consortiums offer them credit through their own credit cards or consumer loans, ’lending’ money to their target consumers, which leads the consumers to overspend on their products."

Dasanc spread his hands out as he explained,

"This way, they earn money twice on the same product.

"One portion comes from the profits of the product itself, which they increase by continually lowering the wages and reducing the benefits of their employees.

"The other portion comes from the interest on the loans they issue, which is far more secretive. They don’t tell customers how high the true interest on their loans is; they try to hide it within ’wordplay.’

"For example, some loans claim to have a daily interest rate of seven ten-thousandths, but the actual annual interest rate is around 25%. For a ten thousand federal coin loan used over a year, the user would have to pay as much as 2500 federal coins in interest. There are very few industrial products in the entire Federation that can boast a net profit margin above 20%.

"Besides that, they also disguise the interest in installment payments, spread across smaller, more manageable amounts.

"For instance, I once looked into an ’oral surgical service’ offered by the Welme Medical Consortium, priced at 10,000 federal coins. Even with a medical insurance discount, it would still cost 2800 federal coins, no small sum.

"At that point, the Welme Medical Consortium would recommend the patient use their credit card to make installment payments on the 2800 federal coins, 156 federal coins per month over 24 months. It seems like the amount paid each installment is quite low,

"But over two years, the patient ends up paying over 3700 federal coins to the Welme Medical Consortium—an extra 1300 federal coins in interest, with a total interest rate of 46%.

"Since it’s an installment payment, where part of the principal is repaid each month, the actual annual interest rate is probably even higher. The Consortium, through these methods, gains profits that far exceed the cost of the products they offer. Then, they recycle these profits into the next round of sales or financial maneuvers."

"The actual annual interest rate should be around 29.6%,"

Christos calmly looked at Dasanc, "If we follow your reasoning, the Consortium’s products should sell very well, and their profits should be climbing steadily. However, in reality, profits and revenues of the major Consortiums in the Federation have been declining over the past two years, a great number of factories have been shutting down, and a multitude of employees have been laid off. The financial outlook for the Consortiums doesn’t seem to be very positive. What do you think is the reason?"

"Because they’re too greedy,"

Dasanc sighed, "In Plante’s Industrial District, factory workers only make about 300 federal coins a week, but they have to spend over 110 federal coins on rent in shared apartments owned by the Consortiums, and nearly 200 federal coins to pay off their credit card debts or other consumer loans.

"Then they can only use their restored credit limit to buy new household goods, purchasing the products they produce, yet can’t afford to consume for themselves.

"They earn meager wages to buy products from which the Consortiums make huge profits, and on top of that, they bear the burden of hefty interest from the Consortiums’ loans. Under these circumstances, no one has any surplus wealth to spend on consumption, and the goods on the market just can’t be sold.

"No matter how high the profits from the Consortium’s products are, if they can’t be sold, the revenues just won’t rise; without revenue, there are no profits."

"That sounds like a sound analysis,"

Christos kept his eyes fixed on Dasanc’s cheeks, and his normally composed expression finally showed a hint of a gentle smile, "Can you talk to me about your views on the current situation in Vitland?"

Then he pointed to the cylindrical device in the corner, "There’s a projector there, you can connect to it directly with your wrist device if you need to display data or give a presentation."

Watching the smile on Christos’s face, Dasanc nervously clenched his fists. He knew that he had earned initial approval. He slowly stood up, activated his wrist device, and connected to the projector,

"The prominent problems in Vitland are numerous; most notably, the Scavenger community in the West District is an issue. This particular group is actually a reflection of the majority of ordinary people in Vitland, only more extreme, embodying a more prototypical example..."

...

Moonlight scattered across the swaying branches, and He Ao sat on top of the off-road vehicle with a blade of grass in his mouth, gazing up at the vast expanse of stars.

From the nearby combat transport aircraft, the sounds of Dasanc’s eloquent speech faintly carried over.

The wind whistled through the leaves, making a rustling sound.

"Mr. Jess, do you need a blanket?"

The Wilderness Hunter driving the off-road vehicle stuck his head out and offered a blanket.

"No need,"

He Ao shook his head. He looked at the Wilderness Hunter and then glanced at the light behind the transport’s curtain door, smiling, "You should get some rest. They’re likely to talk late into the night. Rest up so we can head back tomorrow."

"But..."

The Wilderness Hunter hesitated. This was the dangerous wilderness, and with the dark night hiding who knows what terrifying creatures, sleeping out in the open without a campsite was a bit too risky.

"It’s okay."

He Ao shook his head again, "Nothing will happen tonight."

"Alright."

After a moment of hesitation, the Wilderness Hunter chose to trust He Ao and retracted back into the vehicle with the blanket.

The off-road vehicles in the wilderness were designed so that the seats for the driver and passenger could lay flat with a footrest, doubling as a makeshift bed, convenient for the driver to rest when at a safe location.

As the sound of the seat folding down came from inside the vehicle, He Ao’s gaze swept the surroundings.

A pair of deep-set eyes emerged in the ink-black night, watching him.

He Ao removed the piece of grass he had been chewing from his mouth, gripped the axe handle behind him, and flipped out of the vehicle.

The dark night was splattered with spilled blood, and the white bone axe was smeared with mottled crimson.

An invisible fear spread from under the man’s feet, like an eternal tyrant seated on a towering throne in the night.

When the last Shadow Wolf’s head was separated from its body, those eyes in the darkness that flickered like tiny lanterns became filled with terror. Then they vanished quickly, disappearing into the vast darkness.

He Ao returned to the side of the off-road vehicle, plucked a new piece of Sweetgrass, peeled the shell, and bit it in his mouth before he climbed onto the roof of the vehicle.

This grass was called Sweetgrass, a very common plant in the wilderness, non-toxic, with a tuberous rootstock. Once stripped of its husk, the white core was revealed, tasting sweet and having a high sugar content.

This grass was one of the main sources of sweetness for Wilderness Wanderers and could be used as an emergency sugar supplement.

All the exotic beasts had retreated, and the soft whimpering of the wild animals that could be carried by the night breeze also faded away.

The Terrorist Talent Sequences were actually more suited to the wilderness than the city. The more killing, the more the accumulating scent of panic, which had a far better effect against exotic beasts than against humans.

After all, humans have reason and can barely resist panic, while exotic beasts would run away as soon as panic descended on them.

Using this skill, traveling in the wilderness would involve a lot fewer troubles.

He Ao patted the grass and mud off his body and squeezed some juice out of a leaf to wipe the bloodstains on his clothes.

Dansanc inside the transport continued to speak loudly.

He Ao raised his wristband and opened the information about Trison Group’s "Phoenix" voting system that Vianne and Eve had sent him before leaving the city.

The Phoenix System was Trison Group’s star product, touted as specifically developed for Federation elections, and claimed to be the Federation’s most comprehensive and secure voting system that could never be hacked.

Although reality wasn’t quite as impressive, it was almost there.

Eve’s analysis indicated that the Phoenix System had the highest data retrieval authority of the Trison Group. If one wanted to forcibly break into this system from the outside, they would have to contend with the supercomputer array of the Trison Group, the Federation’s largest communications conglomerate.

Such a feat was almost impossible.

The combined computing power of the supercomputer arrays of all the top ten conglomerates in the Federation, except for the Trison Group, was less than that of the Trison Group alone.

Although the Trison Group would not likely use all of its computing power to defend the Phoenix System, even a portion would represent a high wall-like barrier.

So, the Trison Group’s claim that the Phoenix System could never be hacked was not entirely untrue.

He Ao read through the details of the Phoenix System carefully.

As the voting system for the mid-term elections and the Federal President elections, the Phoenix System was not used very often, just as advertised by the Trison Group, it was developed specifically for Federation elections.

Vianne found many academic papers on the Phoenix System in the academic network, proving that this system is indeed very precise and excellent, with extremely high development and maintenance costs. Moreover, to maintain the system’s advanced nature, it must be upgraded periodically, further increasing the costs.

To balance these development and maintenance costs, the Federal Central and various cities that use the system had also paid Trison Group a large sum of usage fees.

But according to Trison Group’s own propaganda, these usage fees are not enough to cover the development and maintenance expenses of the Phoenix System. However, Trison Group is willing to operate the system at a loss for the justice and fairness of the Federation.

He Ao did not believe this statement at first, but Eve found an estimate of the various costs for development, upgrade, and operation of the Phoenix System.

After comprehensive calculations, the Phoenix System indeed was not profitable, but it was not operating at a loss either. The benefits received from the Federation and various cities were barely enough to offset its costs.

Of course, for a consortium, breaking even is the same as making a loss.

He Ao reviewed all the materials sent to him by Eve and Vianne, and according to these materials, the Phoenix System was indeed a completely reliable system.

He closed his wristband and looked at the starry sky once again.

The Welme Medical Consortium is not a conglomerate known for its computer technology, nor does the Mysterious Person have computer-related abilities, aside from that hacker.

This is their blind spot in knowledge.

It is also unlikely for the Trison Group to use the Phoenix System to cheat for the Welme Medical Consortium. The two conglomerates have competing projects, and the losses for Trison Group would be too great; it’s not worth it for a Senator.

Thus, the final data obtained by the Phoenix System should be reliable.

Cheating in the voting is not possible.

It seemed as if there were no more problems, right?

He Ao gazed at the stars and the bright moon in the sky, as if watching a complex chess game unfold.

Where would the Chess Master place the next piece?

——

As the sun rose in the east, Dasanc emerged energetically from the combat transport, not at all weary after talking all night. He looked as if he was on a high, though he still carried a bottle of water, constantly gulping it down.

Mr. Kristos saw him out.

"Did it go well?"

He Ao stood at the door of the transport, looking at him.

"We had a great conversation," Mr. Kristos emerged from behind Dasanc, "Dasanc has many ideas that opened up new perspectives for me. He will be a good Senator."

This meant that things had worked out; Mr. Kristos had acknowledged Dasanc.

Dasanc glanced at Mr. Kristos, finally snapping out of his excited nervous energy, and turned his head to speak to He Ao, "Mr. Kristos mentioned a lot of points that I had never thought of before, which opened my eyes."

"Good to hear it worked out."

He Ao smiled and nodded.

The three of them walked towards the off-road vehicle together.

Dasanc was in front, with He Ao and Mr. Kristos walking behind.

"I heard you’ve encountered quite some trouble."

He Ao looked at the morning sun in the sky and spoke softly.

"Is your organization still keeping an eye on me?"

Mr. Kristos chuckled; he also looked at the sunrise, "Things are a bit more complicated than I thought. I assumed many things would be easy, but they turned out to be more troublesome to deal with. Becoming a Mayor isn’t the end; it’s just a beginning."

He looked down at He Ao, "So how about you guys?"

"Business as usual."

He Ao said calmly.

"I can’t figure out what you guys really want to do," Kristos laughed, "I always feel that you deal with a lot of Evil Gods."

"In a way, yes," He Ao shrugged his shoulders, "Many Divine Beings are quite willing to offer their help."

The two stopped in front of the off-road vehicle, and Christos gazed at the person before him as if he saw the youthful figure in the café, and the photograph on the tombstone in Rock City.

His gaze was calm, "I hope this is not the last time we meet."

He Ao got into the off-road vehicle, paused for a moment, and said softly,

"Hopefully."

······

Christos returned to the transport aircraft, and the massive aircraft rose into the air, flying toward Vitland.

Next, he would embark on a short-term ’visit’ to Vitland.

This visit had been arranged only yesterday, at least to the Vitland City government it was a surprise. Christos, who was visiting cities in the central part of the Federation, suddenly decided to cross half of the Federation for a short-term visit to Vitland, catching them somewhat off guard.

But they could not refuse, as this was the first time in a century that a Mayor from Dawn City had come to Vitland. To refuse would make it seem like they were admitting inferiority.

"Professor Jess, how did you come to know Mr. Kristos?"

Sitting in the off-road vehicle, Dasanc looked curiously at He Ao.

"We have mutual friends. I simply shared a bit about you with him, and he agreed to come and have a look,"

He Ao quickly summarized his own actions in response, then looked at Dasanc, "What did you feel when you met Christos?"

"To tell the truth, I was a bit excited."

Dasanc smiled, feeling that the actual situation was probably not as simple as He Ao described, but since He Ao did not elaborate further, he didn’t press on,

"I never imagined that I would come into such close contact with Christos, and even have a conversation with him for an entire evening. He imparted a lot of knowledge to me, and I truly gained a lot from it."

At this, he paused, "But now I feel much more stable in my mindset. I believe my capacity to endure has greatly improved. Even if K were to suddenly appear beside me at this point, I probably wouldn’t be surprised."

No, you would.

He Ao withdrew his gaze and looked out the window, "What about your feelings regarding the election?"

"Actually, I’m still a bit worried,"

Dasanc’s gaze lowered as he glanced at the morning sun in the sky, "Even if Christos is willing to endorse me, the citizens of Vitland may not be inclined to support me."

The so-called endorsement refers to politically influential or senior figures from the same party or faction expressing support for the younger generation.

Some offer verbal support, others make appearances at campaign events, and some introduce their protégés to their own supporters.

In essence, it is about utilizing the influence of the older generation to vouch for the newcomer.

If Dasanc were running for Senator of Dawn City or a city nearby, Christos’s endorsement would be unbeatable. Unfortunately, he was in Vitland.

"Professor Jess, as you know,"

Dasanc spoke softly, as the excitement from meeting Christos began to fade, he also continued to ponder deeper issues,

"As the two largest cities at opposite ends of the Federation, Vitland and Dawn City don’t have the warmest relations, each competing for the other’s consumer market and raw material supply.

"The central city that Christos just visited is within the traditional sphere of influence of Vitland. In the long-term narrative promoted by Vitland, Dawn City has always been portrayed negatively.

"Now, Stars Pharma and Welme Medical Consortium both want to suppress me. They have enough funds to control most of the media in the city. Even if Christos endorses me, it will have no effect if the news doesn’t spread."

"That’s not an issue."

He Ao shook his head slightly.

"Professor Jess, do you have a solution?"

Dasanc looked at He Ao with some surprise.

He Ao gazed at the morning sun, "People aren’t truly blindfolded, unable to see the dawn’s light."