Life Game In Other World
Chapter 678: Former Mayor (Big - for Monthly Passes)

Chapter 678: Chapter 678: Former Mayor (Big Chapter for Monthly Passes)

"Welcome to tonight’s Saint Joen Light Conference,"

Inside the exquisite and opulent rooftop garden, with the glittering urban lights behind her, the beautiful hostess sat on a pristine white outdoor sofa. She was dressed in a lovely white gown adorned with the signature double-circle emblem of the luxury brand ’Vivalo’ at the waist.

Smiling towards the camera, she continued,

"I believe everyone has noticed that we are no longer inside the studio today. The place I’m seated right now is the rooftop garden of the Kajet Group’s Saint Joen headquarters building, and today, we have the pleasure of hosting two ’weighty’ guests:"

She glanced off-camera, "Our respected Mayor Kroter, and the Executive Director of the Kajet Group, currently the head of the Saint Joen branch, Mr. Vellent."

The shot instantly switched to a wide view, where a middle-aged man dressed in a spirited blue suit and an elderly man in a loose-fitting black suit with an air of quality appeared on the screen.

At the same time, a round of warm applause erupted in the background.

"Mr. Mayor," the hostess asked, "according to the information we’ve received, you and Mr. Vellent have been in discussions for the entire day. Can you share any exciting outcomes?"

"Yes, of course,"

the middle-aged mayor said with a laugh, as he placed his hands on the table in front of him and glanced at the elderly man beside him,

"Today, Mr. Vellent and I had a very pleasant conversation. The Kajet Group has preliminarily decided to transform Saint Joen City into its second headquarters. Over the next ten years, we will continue to invest heavily in Saint Joen City, building more factories and creating a vast number of job opportunities."

"That’s right,"

Mr. Vellent beside him nodded with a smile,

"As everyone knows, Saint Joen City is situated amidst several industrial megacities. Air currents bring in a large amount of carbon dioxide here, and the city also has abundant sunlight resources, making it one of the Federation’s most ideal grain-producing areas.

"Although for the past decade or so, Saint Joen City has always been the largest grain-producing area for the Kajet Group, supplying almost 35% of the group’s grain.

"But we believe that the tremendous potential of Saint Joen City has not been fully tapped. We can produce even more and higher-quality grain. This city has the potential to become the grain hub of the entire eastern Federation.

"For a long time in the past, the group was in a process of rapid expansion and was unable to deeply exploit the resources of Saint Joen City. But with the shift in the direction of the group in these two years, we finally have time to return to this very important city for us."

Mr. Vellent spoke with a smile,

"Over the next ten years, we will ramp up our investment in Saint Joen City, build more factories, provide more job opportunities, and develop this place into the food centre of the eastern Federation. It will be a ’win-win’ cooperation."

Another wave of enthusiastic applause followed from the audience below.

······

Rain began to drizzle outside the window.

He Ao’s gaze passed through the car window, fixated on the ’guests’ in the grand screen who were well-dressed and speaking eloquently.

Underneath this massive outdoor screen installed on the building, nearly a hundred square meters in size, some disheveled vagrants huddled in decrepit tents, trying desperately to stay close to the walls or tents to avoid the unexpected rain.

This place was not far from East City; rather, it was at the boundary between East City and South City.

He Ao lifted his gaze to the dreary sky.

The raindrops were sparse and scattered.

In fact, the rain in Saint Joen City was never heavy, not only did the towering factory buildings block out the sunlight, but they also shielded the raindrops.

Most of the rain would hit the edges of the factory buildings, then flow directly into the underground water storage tanks of the factories through the buildings’ surface water collection systems.

The bus moved slowly through the rain curtain while the screen continued to display the beautifully dressed guests and hosts in conversation.

"Who is that Kroter?"

Accompanied by the muffled sound of raindrops on the windows, an elderly voice, frail and bewildered, inquired from ahead of He Ao.

The Elderly looked much older than Cito, her hair completely white, her face covered with the wrinkles of old age. She slowly raised her hand and pointed to the middle-aged man with a smiling face on the big screen outside the window, her voice slow and filled with a certain doubt.

Her memory seemed to have become somewhat blurry.

"That’s the Mayor, Mom."

By her side, a middle-aged man carefully supported her.

"Wasn’t the Mayor that... Snava? I even voted for him."

The Elderly’s voice trembled slightly.

"Snava is dead, Mom. This is the new Mayor; he’s been in office for eight years already."

The middle-aged man said cautiously.

"Dead?" The Elderly looked confusedly at the middle-aged man, "How did he die, how did he suddenly just pass away?"

Hearing this question, the middle-aged man paused, then slowly embraced his mother and whispered into her ear, "He has been dead for many years now."

"Such a good man, how could he suddenly be gone,"

The Elderly slowly lowered her head, then as if she recalled something, looked up at her son, "Do his words still count, then? He said he would build affordable hospitals, that he would construct big parks where the sun could shine... I thought that when I got older, I could take you to the park for walks."

"They built them, all of it."

The middle-aged man embraced his mother, "We can go for a stroll there in a couple of days."

"Snava was a good lad,"

The Elderly smiled, "I knew he was a good lad from the first glance, that’s why I had all of you vote for him, a capable and good lad indeed."

"Mhmm."

The middle-aged man hugged the Elderly.

He Ao looked up at the large screen that had long since been left far behind by the bus, the rain drizzling outside the window.

There was a sudden silence throughout the bus.

People looked in different directions, seemingly preoccupied with their own thoughts.

He Ao’s palm moved slowly, gently patting his granddaughter’s shoulder as she slept.

The white-haired Elderly and her son got off the bus at the next stop.

As passengers boarded and alighted, the occupants of the bus changed in several waves, sometimes noisy, sometimes silent, at times crowded, and at others, dispersed.

He Ao, meanwhile, bowed his head, looking at the information Eve had compiled from the recently visited branch of the Evolution Acolytes.

There wasn’t much useful data stored in the branch’s mainframe.

The Evolution Acolytes had two ’strongholds’ in Saint Joen City, a headquarters and a branch.

This charity foundation was the branch of the Evolution Acolytes, whose level of clearance wasn’t high. Its primary duties involved feeding some monsters and recruiting ’new members’ through the black market while the organization’s core information was not in this branch.

Of course, there was still useful information for He Ao.

Firstly, through this information, He Ao gained a rough understanding of the Evolution Acolytes organization.

According to the doctrine recorded on the branch’s mainframe, the Evolution Acolytes claimed to be an organization ’chosen by the Divine to lead humanity towards evolution,’ and the twisted, terrifying Polluted Monsters were referred to as ’Servants of God.’

What the Evolution Acolytes aimed to do was to combine humans with those ’Servants of God.’

Based on the information from the branch’s mainframe and He Ao’s personal experiences, the Evolution Acolytes had indeed mastered a method for fusing with Polluted Monsters, and this method allowed maintainers to retain a certain level of sanity after the fusion.

They called this method of fusion the "Path of Evolution."

The name of the organization "Evolution Acolytes" is an abbreviation for "servants of gods who tread upon the Path of Evolution."

The branch mainframe did not contain detailed methods of the "Path of Evolution"; this method might be hidden within their "headquarters."

Moreover, He Ao discovered a piece of information while reviewing the files: the headquarters of the Evolution Acolytes was not the main base in Saint Joen City but the true "headquarters" of this transcendent organization spread across more than a dozen cities.

According to the information obtained from Eve, at least until three years ago, the Evolution Acolytes only had one branch in Saint Joen City in the form of a charity foundation. However, since three years ago, they began preparing to relocate their "headquarters" to Saint Joen City.

Aside from the Leader of the Evolution Acolytes, who had not yet arrived in Saint Joen City, the headquarters had almost completely moved to Saint Joen City.

This was also the reason why the Evolution Acolytes had two strongholds in Saint Joen City.

The branch mainframe did not directly record the location of the headquarters.

But obtaining this location was not very difficult, as there was relatively close interaction between the branches and the headquarters.

When the Polluted Monsters in the underground breeding farms had been cultivated to a certain extent, Blood Wolf would take some members of the branch to deliver the Polluted Monsters to the headquarters.

When Eve gained control of the core mainframe, she also took control of the work computers and wristbands used by the internal members of the Evolution Acolytes.

He Ao had Eve use the recorded "delivery" information for transporting the Polluted Monsters on the computers to find the corresponding "delivery people’s" information.

Then, through the wristband’s usage time on the day of delivery, photo positioning, and various stored files and data, a big data analysis was performed.

Ultimately, Eve roughly estimated the location of the headquarters of the Evolution Acolytes—Third Street in West City.

There used to be many small grain companies there, and after those companies closed, many warehouses were abandoned, providing a vast amount of inconspicuous "space" that could be utilized directly.

At the same time, it was also one of the most chaotic areas in West City, which made it very suitable for concealment.

Having ascertained the location of the Evolution Acolytes’ headquarters, He Ao had basically sorted through the information about the organization.

From its charter and foundations, it seemed like a cult with belief in a Divine Being, but their actual behaviors appeared to involve no intervention from any Divine Being, and their members did not reveal the fanatical faith in any "God" typical of cultists.

Based solely on their actions, they seemed more like some secret organization with an extreme pursuit of power, willing even to cease being human.

The organization’s proclamations and reality possessed a kind of distorted patchwork sense.

If they truly worshipped an Evil God, such "irreverence" could possibly invite divine retribution.

Unless, something had happened to the Evil God they worshipped.

As He Ao pondered, he switched the file on the wristband to the next one.

This document was simple—it was a set of data collected by Eve about the whereabouts of people captured by the Evolution Acolytes near Moke Street more than a month ago.

This kidnapping operation in Saint Joen was led by the highest-ranking local official "Shadow Cutter." The Evolution Acolytes captured a total of twenty-five people near Moke Street, including men and women and even spouses.

This group of people was not like other "feed" with names and detailed information; they were uniformly assigned numbers one to twenty-five and locked up in the feed room.

However, Blood Wolf did not torture them because on the third day after being locked up, they were collectively taken to the headquarters. What happened afterward, the branch of the Evolution Acolytes knew nothing about.

After going through all this, He Ao closed the file, opened the chat box, and sent a message to YiXiya, asking if she could find detailed investigation material on the "Night Hawk" previously conducted by the Pollution Cleaning Department.

Then he turned off the wristband and stretched out his hand to take out the Cloud Patterned Jade Ornament from his pocket.

This was a gift Cito gave to his son; the presence of the jade ornament at the Evolution Acolytes branch proved that Cito’s son had been captured by them at some point.

Cito’s son and daughter-in-law were most likely among those twenty-five people who were transferred to the headquarters.

He Ao grasped the jade ornament in his hand, lifted his head, and glanced once more at the hazy window.

The foggy car window reflected an old face full of wrinkles.

······

The rain outside gradually ceased, and the pristine road became increasingly dilapidated.

When the bus’s intelligent announcement reported the third-to-last stop, He Ao slowly woke his granddaughter.

An elderly man and a young girl, carrying their suitcases, disembarked from the bus.

He Ao lifted his wristband to glance at the location sent by the mechanic Temok, and turned into an unpopulated alley next to the platform. After walking several hundred meters deeper and making a few turns, a somewhat dilapidated, rusty iron gate appeared in his view.

He Ao reached out, looked up at the camera overhead, and knocked on the door.

Creak—

The rusty iron door slowly opened, revealing a dimly lit vestibule littered with scattered mechanical parts and fragments.

In the depths of the house, it seemed that the sound of an engine working intensely could be heard.

He Ao glanced inside and walked into the house with his granddaughter.

After they entered, the iron door automatically shut behind them, and He Ao bypassed the vestibule to see the interior of the house.

It was a spacious room, similar to a hall, but it was packed full due to the mechanical arms hanging like bead curtains, small mechanical tables evident everywhere, and a large intelligent machining lathe placed in the center of the room.

At this moment, the massive Temok, wearing a mechanical eyepatch, stood concentratedly operating the lathe in front of him, not daring to be the slightest bit distracted.

"You old fellow, you’re here?"

What surprised He Ao slightly was that the underground doctor Sienzi was also there. He stood in front of an ultra-thin television hanging from the ceiling, looked back at He Ao, and said, "Wait a moment, he’ll finish soon."

"What’s this?"

He Ao, with his granddaughter, navigated through the gaps between the mechanical arms and approached Sienzi.

"You gave too short a deadline," said Sienzi with a shrug. "Temok knows I’m a surgeon with steady hands, so he pulled me over to help him machine parts. I just got a break and you showed up."

A C-level power could already manipulate parts by hand to a certain extent, but precision depended on the specific Talent Sequences.

Having said that, Sienzi glanced at He Ao, "This is me working for free for you."

"This is me having paid for the new cane," replied He Ao.

He Ao raised his head, looking toward the television that Sienzi was watching.

Currently, the broadcast seemed to be replaying an interview program where Mayor Kroter was discussing with Vellent, the executive director of Kajet Group, how to transform the park in the city center into a new Kajet mega-factory.

The director timely switched the scene to an aerial view of Saint Joen City’s Central Park.

"That park is one of the few places in this city where there are no restrictions, where everyone can bask in the sunlight."

Sienzi sighed.

"If I’m not mistaken,"

He Ao watched the scenery of the park in the footage, "this was a project initiated by Mayor Snava. What he left behind has been sold off, almost entirely."

What he had seen in the news in the office of the Scorpion Gang leader was that the city government sold Central Park to Kajet Group.

"This is the last one."

Sienzi stared at the scenes on the television, as if lost in some distant memory.

"So back then," He Ao lowered his head, looked at Sienzi beside him, and asked softly, "what was the reason for Mayor Snava’s suicide?"