Chapter 353 Why don't you lend me a chip

   "It's here, hahaha! We're finally here!"

  The towering giant wall finally appeared in the eyes of everyone, and the man wrapped in the white robe cheered happily.

  Old Luca, who was walking on the three-ring elevated road, finally stretched out a trace of relaxation.

   They walked for two full days on this trip.

   Aside from the guy named Black that they first encountered, they encountered at least three waves of attackers along the way.

   Of course, the two waves that followed were all small scoundrels. Not only were their weapons tattered, but their morale was also low.

   As for the man in the white robe who followed them, they were the ones who saved them from the last wave of predators.

  His name is Hal and he comes from Luoxia Province. According to him, he is the prince of the Lion Tribe, the successor of the oasis, and believes in the spirit of the sand sea.

   When asked why he, as the prince and his successor, came all the way to the south of Qingquan City and was captured by a group of thugs with fire sticks, he expressed embarrassment.

   "…our kingdom has many princes, and we must do something to prove that we have the courage and quality to rule the kingdom."

   a young diplomat asked curiously.

"for example?"

  Hall said eloquently.

   "For example, it is our tradition to bring back something that is not found in the desert. Whoever brings back the most expensive thing is qualified to be a candidate for the throne."

   asked another senior diplomat.

   "Then did you find it?"

  Hal's expression was slightly embarrassed, and he coughed lightly.

   "...Didn't I just arrive at Boulder City? Trust me, I'll definitely be able to find it."

   Not to mention finding anything of value, his two guards and the dinar he was carrying were all gone.

   If he hadn't met these kind-hearted people, he might have died in the frying pan.

   Like the hapless guy in the same cage as him.

   He even started to regret that he didn't go south to Jinchuan Province with his brother, but chose to go to some megalithic city.

   The folk customs here are beyond his imagination. It is completely different from the endless sandy sea. There are high-rise buildings everywhere, and every window seems to hide a gun.

   The two diplomats who followed Luca looked at each other.

   As the survivors living in Qingquan City, the concept of throne and prince is completely unfamiliar to them.

   If the manager is compared to a king, then this guy... is probably the son of the manager of the Lion Kingdom?

  Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but envy their faces.

  I really wish their managers would have a few more babies...

   "Dear sir, do you need an escort?" Hal looked at Luka, who had not spoken, and said respectfully.

  's intuition told him that this old man should have the highest status among all the people here.

   Luca gave him a strange look, wondering where this guy got his confidence.

   However, Luca finally gave the young man some self-esteem and said succinctly.

   "No need, what's wrong?"

  Hal had an embarrassed expression on his face, he hesitated for a moment, and finally opened his mouth.

   "My money has been stolen and I have nowhere to go... Can you give me a job?"

   asked Luca.

"what will you do?"

"I can make tea, play the piano, write poetry, and draw, and of course...shooting. I can prove myself that as long as you give me a revolver or rifle, I can hit a plastic bottle 100 meters away !"

  Hall said confidently, but Brother Dog and Brother Dagger, who were walking nearby, couldn't help laughing.

   A plastic bottle 100 meters away is ok.

   As far as the hit rate of the revolver is concerned, it is not bad to be able to hit someone from a distance of 100 meters.

   "If we don't help him, he may not even be able to pay the city tax."

  An older diplomat lowered his voice and whispered beside Luca.

   "If he really knows how to play the piano and paint, his status should not be low... It's not a bad thing to help him."

   This is true.

  Although the new alliance has not yet established diplomatic relations with the survivor forces in the provinces, it will be a matter of time.

   Always go outside, it’s never wrong to make two more friends.

   Luca nodded, looked at the unlucky young man and said.

   "I just need someone to do the paperwork, so just follow me first."

  Hall said with joy.

   "Thank you so much! By the way, I also have twelve artistic fonts—"

   Luca coughed lightly.

   "That's not necessary, as long as you can write things neatly and neatly."

   The group continued to move forward, and soon came to the foot of the towering giant wall.

The plaque of   The Wind from afar Hotel is hung on the building opposite the giant gate. All kinds of businessmen and tourists shuttle in the square in front of the gate. Occasionally, one can see a prosthetic body transformed from metal or silicone, or a machine with an antenna inserted on the Tianling cover.

  The poor in their clothes stood by the roadside, holding wooden signs and waiting for work to come to the door themselves.

   The polarization of living standards is the same here year after year.

  Hal craned his neck and looked around excitedly, everything here was full of freshness to him.

   On the contrary, those players who have come here countless times have long seen it and are accustomed to the people and things here.

   "Triggered a new mission." Looking at the VM on his arm, the old white eyebrows raised a hint of surprise.

   "What mission? Let me see." Fang Chang came over.

   I saw a line of words written on the screen.

  [Task: Go to the Pirate Bay Tavern to find Bit and ask about the employer's news]

   Lao Bai stared at the task for a while.

   "It should be the follow-up quest for that muscle guy named Black... I've synced to the team."

   "Tavern? This elder brother Fang is familiar." Killing Dagger said with a hippie smile.

   "Boss, when are you going to write a story about Fengyue? We've been waiting for a long time!" Goudou also coaxed.

   "Bum, I'm a pure bunch, like you old filthy demons, you know art every day."

   Fang Chang rolled his eyes angrily when he looked at the group of teammates who were smiling.

   Lao Bai didn't laugh at him, he just said with a smile.

   "What do you say? After sending the NPC to the destination in a while, let's go to the Pirate's Bay tavern and ask about it?"

   Fang Chang sighed.

   "Do you think this kind of thing is something you can ask when you walk into a pub and shout?"

  Old Bai asked curiously.

   "Then what do you say."

   pinched his chin and thought for a moment, Fang Chang's eyes fell on the poor people holding signs beside him, his eyes moved slightly.

   "...Blake lives in a slum. Let's find out where his home is first. No matter whether he has relatives or not, there are always friends who know him. Through his friends, we should be able to find out who the man named Bit is."

   "Is it so troublesome?" Killing Dagger asked stunned.

   "This game does require some brainstorming," Lao Bai said with a smile, "Just as Fang Chang said, let's talk about it after entering the city."

   paid the city tax.

   A group of people deposited prohibited explosives and passed through the towering city gate.

   Regarding the exoskeletons on their bodies, the militiamen at the city gate didn't say much. After all, in places like Boulder City, this thing is not so rare that it makes them stare at it all the time.

  According to the manager's instructions, Luca was going to the Alliance's office in Boulder City, but as soon as he got to the street, he found that the atmosphere here was a bit wrong.

  I saw a huge crowd of people at the door of the warehouse area, and the darkness was overwhelming.

   Citizens in linen shirts and hyena-skin coats gathered, looking angry, holding wooden signs high in their hands, shouting chaotic but loud slogans, and marched toward the core of the outer city.

   "Reject unequal trade!"

   "Give us the job back!"

   "Get the New Alliance stuff out of Boulder!"

   "Bread! No nutritional cream!"

   "The guy who eats the inside and the outside, get out of the giant wall!"

   That noisy arrogance is like a boiling heat wave, and it is even more scorching like a soldering iron under the bright June sun.

   The guards standing at the edge of the crowd were at a loss, and the sticks in their hands had begun to lose control of the crowd.

  The militiamen loyal to the city lord watched on.

   As long as it doesn't turn into a shootout, they don't care about these things.

   Hal, who came to Boulder City for the first time, stretched his neck excitedly and looked towards the surging crowd.

   "Are they celebrating?"

The diplomat beside    had a heavy expression.

   "...do you think they were celebrating?"

   "That's what they said... who are they calling to get out?"

  Luka glanced at him, ignored him, and looked at the diplomat beside him.

   "Let's go fast, it's better not to stay on the street too long."

  Everyone nodded and accelerated their pace.

   Although the players following the NPC were curious and wanted to go over to see what happened, the mission was important.

   "...It's really strange," Sha Dagger whispered, "It wasn't like this the last time we came here."

   "I didn't expect that what should come is still here." Looking at the surging crowd, Fang Chang said thoughtfully.

   "What should be coming?" Dog thing asked curiously.

  Fang Chang: "Didn't you see that they were protesting that the things we sold them were too cheap."

Too cheap?

   I don't quite understand, the dog is confused.

   "Ah this... we gave them cheap goodies, what can they complain about?"

"Under normal circumstances, it is reasonable to exchange 10 sticks of nutritional cream for one piece of bread, but now a person suddenly appears, willing to exchange 1,000 sticks of nutritional cream for a toaster oven, and at the same time change the business of nutritional cream and bread. unprofitable.”

   "No matter how cheap the bread is, the cheap ones are those who have chips. For the average survivor, it doesn't help that they don't have a job and can't afford it. It's a coincidence that they will be happy."

  The factories of Dawn City took away the jobs of the residents of Boulder City, and recently the city hall of the outer city even planned to expand the scale of trade with the new alliance.

   The out-of-town residents, who themselves remained on the edge of the poverty line, exploded.

but……

   Is the root of the problem really because the goods in the new alliance are too cheap?

The essence of the    crisis is that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people, and once the currency is no longer in circulation, it loses its role in the market.

  The residents of Boulder City have no bargaining chips to consume, the factories reduce production, the jobs are reduced, the residents are poorer, and finally enter a lose-lose cycle.

   And the massive input of external industrial products only accelerated this process.

  The easiest way to do this is to colonize foreign countries.

Whether it is economic colonization or military colonization, as long as the surplus commodities can be continuously sold to small and medium-sized survivor settlements such as Bate Street and Brown Farm, and the industrial raw materials can be exchanged from them, the original chain can continue. keep it up.

   However, it is a pity that the new alliance is not only unwilling to be a colony of Boulder City, but even liberated a part of the settlement of survivors of the economic colonization of Boulder City, exporting industrial products to their market in reverse.

  The economic crisis of Boulder started a long time ago.

   It’s just that in the wasteland, the economic crisis is not worth mentioning in the face of the existential crisis, so no one has ever realized it, and has no spare time to care about it.

  The nobles in the inner city don't care about how the "supporters" in the outer city are intrigued, and in the eyes of the city lord, except for the things that really deserve his attention, everything is ants.

   What's more, even in the prison of poverty and unemployment, the residents here are still more fortunate than the residents of Bate Street and the serfs of Brown's Farm a year ago.

   It's only recently that those poor people have finally found someone to vent their anger against.

  Thinking of this, Fang Chang couldn't help but have a look of interest in his eyes.

   It's not that he is cold-blooded.

   For a pure player like him, the NPC is just a piece of data, and it will not make him sympathetic.

   What he didn't expect was that the game's economic system was unexpectedly real.

   Not only the relationship between supply and demand has been made, but even the relationship of production has been restored.

   is great.

   It seems that we are one step closer to the day of the public beta!

   The group came to the office on the edge of the warehouse area.

   When they got here, they found a large group of people around the door, and in front of the crowd stood several guards to maintain order.

   Judging from the chaos at the scene, 80% of the time something bad happened.

   Received the news of the arrival of the visiting group early, and Shuyu, who was in charge of the operation of the office, had already greeted him from the door.

   "You guys have arrived safely. I was worried just now if something happened to you on the road." Shu Yu had a comfortable smile on his face, although the smile looked a little tired.

  Obviously, he has been devastated by what happened here these days.

   Looking at the garbage and stones on the ground, as well as the smashed glass, Luca frowned and led the crowd through the crowd to Shuyu.

   "What the **** is going on here?"

   Shuyu followed his line of sight and saw the glass shards sprinkled on the ground, a helpless expression appeared on his face.

"Most of the factories in the industrial zone gave their workers a holiday, and the residents who lost their source of income took to the streets... The city hall sent guards over, but you can see the situation, there are not one or two people at all. The guards can sort it out."

   "Are you not injured?" Luca asked with concern.

"No," Shuyu shook his head, "We have a lot of 'players' living here, and the city hall has sent guards over to maintain order. There's not much of a safety issue... But at this critical time, the most important thing is It's better not to go out at will."

   I'm afraid that someone will make some small moves at this time.

   For example, suddenly firing a shot in a crowd.

   With the proliferation of weapons in the wasteland, this kind of thing is not surprising at all.

   The so-called order is only relative security, and absolute security does not exist even in an ideal city, let alone here.

   Having said this, Shuyu paused for a moment, glanced at the guard next to him, and continued.

   "The situation here cannot be explained in a few words, so let's talk first."

  …

After    sent the NPCs to their destination, the players dispersed and went about their own business.

   Lao Bai took two brothers and went to the slum outside the giant wall.

   On the other hand, Fang Chang took off his equipment and put on casual clothes, and mixed into the crowd of demonstrators.

   There are some things he cares about, and he wants to investigate.

   In my own words - "Participating in this special event might trigger a hidden mission".

   As for Old Luca, after expressing condolences to the staff of the office for the manager, he followed Shuyu to the lounge on the third floor.

  The young waitress came and poured a cup of hot tea for the two of them.

   Shuyu took a slow sip, and was about to talk about something to ease his mood, but when he saw Luca sitting there indifferently, he couldn't help but put down the teacup with a wry smile.

   After a pause, he said.

   "Last night, the warehouse in the industrial area caught fire."

"on fire?"

   Looking at the surprised Luca, Shuyu nodded.

   "Well, the 1,000 tons of Didiwei nutritional cream stored there was burned...that thing was not resistant to high temperature, and was basically destroyed."

   1,000 tons of nutritional cream, based on the wholesale cost, the value is also close to 100,000 to 200,000 chips.

  If it is a retail price, a 0 will often be added to the wholesale price.

   Luca's heart tightened slightly.

"is it serious?"

   "The warehouse has bought insurance and will pay a portion, but it is unclear how much it will pay in the end."

   After a pause, Shuyu continued speaking in a serious tone.

   "You should have seen it when you entered the city. The demonstrations against us are intensifying. These contradictions did not accumulate in one or two days, but they all broke out in a concentrated manner in these days."

   "I'm worried...the recent events will affect our signing of a treaty of friendship and cooperation with City Hall."

   "In order to avoid too many nightmares, I suggest that we'd better sign the contract as soon as possible."

   Hearing Shuyu's suggestion, Luca pondered for a while and said.

   "The manager said that the treaty is just a piece of paper. If the problem is not fundamentally resolved, even if we go back with a beautiful agreement, they will tear that piece of paper at any time."

   Shuyu pressed his eyebrows with some headache.

   "The problem you're talking about has no solution... Do you know what those people are clamoring for? They keep asking the city hall to levy a special 100% tax on us, and give it to the poor who have lost their jobs."

   "More than that, they also require us to store all the chips in their bank, adopt a book-entry settlement method, the exchange rate is determined by the market, and all chips must be used according to their prescribed methods."

to be honest.

   Not only do they want the new alliance's merchandise to be unprofitable in Boulder, but they also want to dictate how the profits the new alliance makes with them are used.

   If they do, the new alliance will become a dumping ground for their industrial products, or even de-industrialize, into a large farm and mine.

  The residents of Dawn City also need to work.

   This kind of agreement is impossible for individuals to sign.

  Those protesting people, and the factory owners behind them, obviously did not intend to solve the problem at all, but wanted to make some impossible demands to overturn the table.

  Since I can't play with you.

  Then we won't play.

   "Of course there is a solution," Luca said in a serious tone, "I'm here for this purpose."

   Shuyu looked at him with a slightly stunned expression, not knowing what method he could come up with.

   Just when he was about to ask curiously, there was a knock on the door.

   The maid who made tea for them earlier came in again.

   "Sir, the Minister of City Hall is downstairs now, do you want to invite him up?"

   Shuyu was stunned for a moment, completely forgetting that there was such an arrangement today.

   "Has he... made an appointment?"

  The maid shook her head.

   "No, he said he came here temporarily while inspecting the fire scene in the warehouse area."

   Shuyu looked at Luca, saw the latter nodded, and looked at the maid again.

   "Please, Mr. Director, go to the reception room on the second floor."

   The other party has already gone downstairs, so they can't be turned away.

   "Okay, sir."

   The maid nodded slightly, turned and exited the lounge.

   "...What are you going to do? This guy definitely didn't pass by temporarily. Eighty percent of the time he was blasted out by the survivors who surrounded the city hall...I bet he's definitely not here to ask for peace."

   Shuyu lowered his voice and said.

   However, at this moment, he suddenly noticed that there was no nervous expression on Old Luca's face.

   There was a glimpse of stunnedness in his eyes, and Shuyu immediately reacted.

   "...The manager has already explained what you should do?"

  Old Luca didn't answer, just gave him a reassuring smile and stood up from the sofa.

   "Let's go, let's go meet the Minister."

  …

   In the reception room.

  Duron's face was full of sleep-deprived anxiety and irritability.

   He didn't understand.

   He clearly signed a beautiful agreement to go back, which not only allowed the new alliance to give up its requirements for the airspace of Qingquan City, but also opened up the market in the northern suburbs without paying any price.

  He thought everyone would applaud his wisdom.

   However, apart from the city owner and the giant stone military industry, who had no opinion, the residents of the outer city and other factory owners almost scolded him.

  Duron completely understands it.

  These factories in Boulder City need technology and technology, and people need people. They don’t have a bunch of rules and regulations about 12-hour work restrictions and minimum wages, and they are afraid of small workshops created by a group of scavengers?

   They use low-priced industrial products for dumping, and you dump them back, won’t you be done?

   This is not good, that is not good, what else do these insatiable vampires want!

   Duron couldn't help but start thinking, it would be nice if City Hall also had a militia regiment.

   He doesn't have to be as strong as the city lord. As long as his combat strength is slightly higher than that of the mercenaries, he won't need to spend so much effort negotiating.

  These people are unwilling to give themselves the rights they deserve, and they are unwilling to give money, so what else can they be expected to do?

   At this time, footsteps came from outside the reception room, and after three knocks on the door, the door opened.

   Looking at the acquaintance he had seen in the hologram before, Dulong got up from his seat out of courtesy, cleared his throat and said actively.

   "Hello... Mr. City Lord."

   When he said this, his expression was slightly unnatural.

   After all, in Boulder City, the city lord is the exclusive title of that adult.

   "Hello, Mr. Duron, don't be so polite, please sit down..." Luca sat down opposite Duron with a soothing smile on his face. "Actually, we can call each other by name."

"These are all trivial matters," Dulong, who sat down again, waved his hand, showing no politeness at all, "I'll cut to the chase, I know it's abrupt, but our agreement needs to be renegotiated. …”

   was not surprised by Duron's proposal, but Luca still frowned.

   "This is not the same as what was promised."

"Because the situation is different now than it was then," Dulong continued, staring at him, "You have also seen the situation outside, if I can't bring back an agreement that satisfies those people, they will put me and the agreement Tear it up together, and the person sitting here talking to you won't be me anymore."

   "So what we talked about before is void?" Luca asked calmly.

   "Only the trade part, the issue of airspace and borders is not to be discussed... This is the request of our city lord."

   Although Dulong's tone was euphemistic, his tough attitude remained unchanged.

   Luca nodded.

   "We can understand your difficulty."

   Seeing the other party's unexpected compromise, Dulong was pleasantly surprised and could not help but breathe a sigh of relief, and a smile finally appeared on his face.

"That's great... Rest assured, I'm not an unreasonable person. In exchange for your concessions, we will take more care of you in terms of safety. After all, we are friends now. Including the rental of the plane, and A more powerful weapon... I will try to help you get some concessions within my purview."

   Shuyu looked at old Luca with an incredible look on his face.

   He remembered that he should have said just now what the demands of those people were.

   With a win-win expression on his face, Dulong took a list from his assistant and put it on the table in front of him.

   "We have listed some of the residents' demands, and I think many of them are reasonable. The specific details need to be discussed, but I hope the negotiation will follow this framework."

   In his opinion, the other party has let go, and the matter is basically settled.

   However, things did not go as smoothly as he had imagined.

   Luca just glanced at the list on the table and turned his attention to him.

   "We can feel your sincerity in wanting to solve the problem, but this is clearly not a solution."

  Duron looked at Luca blankly, frowning slowly.

"……What's the meaning?"

   "Heavy taxes on our goods, requiring us to keep the money in your pockets and spend it the way you want. No dog will do this kind of buying and selling."

   Looking at Duron with a stunned expression, Luka shook his head and continued.

   "It doesn't make any difference whether the agreement is signed or not. If I sign it, there will be no more silver coin trade between the new alliance and the Boulder City. If there is, it must be in the form of a black market."

   "...then do you have a better way?" Duron frowned.

   Luca nodded happily.

   "Of course, our esteemed administrator has a better proposal."

  Although he intuitively told Dulong that these cunning blue jackets were probably trying to play some tricks, he still decided to listen to what these people had to say.

   "...what proposal."

   Seeing that the fish was about to take the bait, a smile appeared on Luca's calm face.

   "The dissatisfaction of your factories and residents comes down to the fact that the former needs the market to make profits, and the latter needs work to support their families."

   "In that case..."

   "Why don't you lend us a chip?"

   (end of this chapter)