Meng Chao and Lu Siya did not want to alert the managers of the waste treatment center, so they could only sit in a shack located among the piles of trash.
As Meng Chao watched the recyclers sweat while working in a horrid environment, he could not help but say, “I didn’t expect that Dragon City would have such a place!”
“You think that their job is very hard, do you?” Lu Siya smirked coldly. “Honestly, they’re already lucky. At the very least, they have a regular, lawful job. There are plenty of people who want to become recyclers, but can’t do it!”
Meng Chao fell silent.
He knew that Lu Siya was telling the truth.
The unemployment rate in Dragon City was always high.
Even though the government gathered data and came up with a statistic telling them that their unemployment rate was ONLY at 10%, that figure was something they obtained after they also included the temporary mercenaries and work relief brought in to kill monsters when they invaded the city and repair the buildings which were destroyed during the fog.
This sort of temporary work that was nothing more than work relief only gave them enough money to buy synthetic luncheon meat, which had basic nutrients, and shelter that would only somewhat guarantee that they would not be exposed to nature. The lives of people who live like that were absolutely horrible.
If they only considered those with full-time lawful jobs, then the true unemployment rate among youngsters from the ages of twenty to thirty would actually be over 50%, and that was an incredibly terrifying number.
It was no wonder then why even a job like a recycler was something countless people dreamed of having.
The trash sight allowed Meng Chao to better understand why Lin Chuan said the Ultimate Style could not save Dragon City.
He could also understand why the future Dragon City had walked to its own destruction.
Then, he thought of Lu Siya’s luxurious car and the high-end, elegant restaurant located near Blessed Paradise. He remembered the price of eating one meal there, and a well of emotions surged up in his heart.
Lu Siya had a keen sense for emotions, and she snorted lightly. “I know what you’re thinking. You and I both hope that we can change what is before us, but if we use Lin Chuan’s method, we won’t be able to solve any problems.”
Meng Chao frowned. “Why? The expansion and upgrading of Blessed Happiness Street Elementary School is almost complete.”
“So what? It’s just one school. We solved the symptoms of the problem, but not the root of it,” Lu Siya said. “The source of all the problems in Dragon City is the lack of resources, space, and market. The current Dragon City relies on mining and hunting monsters to obtain resources. You can say that we’re a high-tech fishing civilization.
“And fishing civilizations are bound to be unable to take care of tens of millions of people within such a narrow space.
“Only industrial civilizations can let tens of millions of people live comfortable and dignified lives.
“But if we want to have an industrial civilization with tens of millions of people, not only do we need raw materials, we also need a market. We need a large consumer with hundreds of millions or even billions of people.
“Dragon City is a foreign force. There’s no way we can find a consumer market that is ten times larger than our size. So then, how can we ensure that we can provide enough jobs for everyone to live comfortable lives?
“This is the core problem. As for whether the superhumans who are born in powerful families only care about enjoying their lives, driving race cars, staying in mansions, and whether they’re willing to contribute to society? That’s secondary.
“After all, more than 95% of people in Dragon City are normal citizens, and only less than 1% of children are born in powerful families. Even if all of us were enlightened and donated all of our money, how many schools could we build, and how many lifelong problems of normal people could we solve?
“So, I’ll just repeat myself. Instead of acting like Lin Chuan and donating all of your money to create elementary schools, it would be better to use that money to cultivate and increase your fighting power to expand our territory and conquer all of the Other World.
“It’s only by conquering the Other World can we open up a consumer market that is ten times or one hundred times larger than Dragon City. We can dump all of the industrial products made by Dragon City outward, and then, Dragon City will be able to create a lot more factories, which will allow us to provide a ton more job positions. Most of the normal people will then be able to earn money and live dignified lives instead of squirming around like litterbugs.
“How can we conquer the Other World? Of course, it’s by relying on superhumans, which is us. But superhumans aren’t stupid either. The Other World is huge, mysterious, and dangerous. All that talk about using the steel army to sweep through the enemy forces is just words to placate the people. There is no superhuman with a clear mind who would think that the road to conquering the Other World will be smooth and will happen naturally.
“There are risks in conquering the Other World, and it’s a fact that people will die. The superhumans can live comfortable lives in Dragon City and enjoy dignified and grand lives. Why should they run into the fog and fight to their deaths with the creatures of the Other World? Saying that they’re doing it for Earth is too vague of a reason. Offering them race cars and mansions is more practical.
“So, to help the pitiful normal people in front of you and to save our hometown, us superhumans should earn money and enjoy our lives to the fullest so that human kind’s endless desires will turn into endless motivation. We will then train hard to expand Dragon City’s territory.
“This will create a large market for normal people and a lot of high-earning job positions. Then, by taxing these people, we can create more advanced schools. This is the way to put things right once and for all. It’s a much more logical plan than Lin Chuan’s naive one, don’t you think so?”
Meng Chao was silent for a long time before he said, “Let’s change the topic. Big Sis Ya, your earrings look really good.”
While they spoke, the tattooed, burly man came back.
Behind him was a dirty girl.
She had a filtration mask and was hidden by a cloak. Her arms were wrapped in thick sleeves to prevent cuts and corrosion. She hid behind the tattooed man and looked at them timidly.
“She saw the person in the picture around half a month ago, but she can’t remember the exact date.” The tattooed man went straight to the point.
Meng Chao and Lu Siya looked at each other. They could see the delight in each other’s eyes.
“Little girl, don’t be scared. We’re just going to ask a few simple questions.”
Lu Siya put the two stacks of cash together and handed it to the tattooed man. She smiled and said, “Tell me, where did the person in the picture you saw go half a month ago, and what did he do?”
“He… He just walked around the piles of trash,” the little girl said timidly. “Once, he missed a step and fell off a pile of trash. He cut his hand because of it. I saw it, so I went to bandage his hand. Then, Uncle Li came over, and he ran off even though I was only halfway through dressing up his wound.”
The tattooed man frowned and asked gravely, “Why don’t I know about this?”
It seemed like he was Uncle Li.
“Forget it. The waste treatment center isn’t a strategic military area. Don’t make things hard for the girl.” Lu Siya cast a cold glance at the tattooed man before she looked at the girl and asked kindly, “Little girl, do you remember what that person in the picture did at that time?”
“I don’t know.” The little girl bit her lip while hesitating. “He ran in the direction of the biochemical treatment factory, and it looked like he was searching for something.”
The biochemical treatment factory was the place where the Giant Sandworms provided by Spirit Creations Creatures ate trash.
Lu Siya remained silent for a while before a thought struck her. She touched the girl’s head, and her voice became even gentler. “Little girl, I’ve finished asking all my questions. The information you gave me is very important to me. Thank you.”
The little girl sighed in relief and was just about to leave when Lu Siya suddenly seemed to have remembered something and asked casually, “By the way, did you meet the person in the picture before or after the Giant Sandworms went out of control?”
The little girl did not even think. She blurted out, “Before.”
Uncle Li coughed loudly. He could do nothing about Lu Siya, but he could glare viciously at the little girl, so he did.
The little girl realized that she had let her tongue slip, and her face turned pale.
Lu Siya smiled faintly and brought out another stack of notes from her pocket. She slapped it against Uncle Li’s chest and drew closer to say softly, “If I learn that you did anything to the girl, I will skin you alive.”
Uncle Li’s ugly face trembled, and he nearly screamed in fear.
“So, the Giant Sandworms here did go out of control half a month ago…” Lu Siya removed her sunglasses and stared at Uncle with cold eyes. “What exactly happened at that time?”
“I-It’s nothing.” Uncle stuttered, but he told the truth. “There are usually more than one hundred Giant Sandworms working here at the same time. When they face spirit energy magnetic field interference, a few of them occasionally go out of control, but that’s normal. In any case, this so-called loss of control just means that they refuse to eat or wriggle around. After the monster controllers call for them, they soon return to normal.”
“Are they monster controllers from Spirit Creations Creatures?” Lu Siya asked.
“Yeah.” Uncle Li nodded. “Spirit Creations Creatures have sent a few technicians to be stationed here for long periods of time. They’re all elites at modifying and controlling Giant Sandworms. For some reason, that day, a few of the Giant Sandworms crawled underground, and no matter what, no one could find them.”
“How many?”
Uncle Li thought about it. “I think it was five. Yes, it was five.”
“What happened after? How did you deal with the situation?” Lu Siya asked.
“We didn’t take any special measures. In any case, Giant Sandworms are gentle creatures and they seldom attack humans. Spirit Creations searched for them for a few days, but couldn’t find them, so they gave up. They compensated us for the missing Giant Sandworms, and that was that,” Uncle Li answered honestly.
At that moment, noise suddenly came from outside the shack.
A few of the recyclers ran inside. They shouted, “Big Brother Li, it’s bad! The rat horde came over to cause trouble again!”
“What?” Uncle Li slammed his fist against his palm. “Damn it, it’s those accursed rats again!”
“What’s going on? Rats?” Lu Siya narrowed her eyes.
“Yeah, rats.”
Uncle Li then told Meng Chao and Lu Siya that there were pests living in the depths of the waste treatment center all year long, and it was very normal.
Usually, they only snuck out at night. They seldom ran out before the recyclers’ steel drills and clamps in broad daylight since it was asking for death.
But lately, the rat hoard in the waste treatment center had become incredibly active. Even if it was daytime, it would still swagger out and run around the area. The rats also became much more aggressive. They scratched and bit the recyclers.
“How long has this ‘lately’ been goin on?” Lu Siya asked.
“Just recently. Around ten days, I think,” Uncle Li answered.
Meng Chao and Lu Siya looked at each other.
“Come on. Let’s go and take a look,” both of them said together.