Chapter 360 "Daily Survivor"

  No. 97 Street is located in the west area of ​​Boulder City, where the sewage flows, the air is dirty, and the dilapidated tube buildings are crowded together. It is often criticized by the nearby citizens as a "crow's nest".

  Due to the proximity to the huge wall, the residents here can only enjoy the morning and noon sun.

  At dusk, the street is shrouded in the shadow of the giant wall.

  Objectively speaking, if lighting is ignored, life here is much better than the slums outside the giant wall.

   Most of the people living here are workers from nearby factories.

   Unless there are local residents, very few people are willing to approach here.

  There is little entertainment here, and hardly anyone sets up shop among a bunch of poor people.

  People who have a job need to work 16 hours and fall asleep when they get home. People who don’t have a job will not spend a single chip from their pockets even if they stay in a daze all day.

   But not without exceptions.

   At the junction with the industrial area, there is a beer hall called "Walnut". Its iconic sign is the pile of empty walnut barrels at the door.

  These wine barrels are not big, they can be used as a table or as a bench, and they can even be used to deal with hygiene problems.

  When workers pass by here at the end of a day's work, they will occasionally take out a chip for the foreman's reward, drink a glass of cheap and large draft beer, and forget the troubles of the day before going home.

   Some unemployed workers will also come here to kill the whole day.

  Although the pocket is shy, it is good to smell the beer or take two puffs of second-hand smoke.

  No matter what, it's better than sitting at home, listening to that yellow-faced woman sighing and complaining about how hard it is to live.

  Since almost no mercenaries will come here, tourists and merchants from other places will never approach the West District at all.

   Over time, it became a club for the workers of Boulder City.

  Everyone not only drinks, but also gathers in small groups to discuss some family stories or gossip.

   Especially the gossip in the factory area.

  What people are most looking forward to is of course hearing the news of which factory is short of people, but this kind of thing has not happened for a long time.

  A bearded unemployed worker suddenly spoke.

   "...how about we become mercenaries."

   Workers who were fired from the cannery like him cast him a glance.

   "Have you ever touched a gun?"

"No, but I heard it's not that difficult. Open the safety, aim the muzzle of the gun, and then pull the trigger to drive hot metal fragments into the eater's head." The bearded worker gestured with a broom next to the barrel The action of shooting, "Look, it's that simple."

  Everyone burst into laughter.

   "Tide will have to wait until next year. It's summer now, and your opponent is likely to be a predator."

   "I heard that the Lister caravan is recruiting people, and they plan to open a new trade route from here to the Great Rift Valley."

   "The Great Rift Valley...I heard that it is the northernmost part of the River Valley Province."

   "It's really far enough."

  Beside the door beam, a group of workers gathered together, taking turns smoking a nearly burnt cigarette butt.

  Sberg couldn't help but took another puff, and found that everyone was staring at him, so he quickly gave the cigarette in his hand to the next friend.

   Picking up the cigarette **** and taking a puff, Pique, with his arm wrapped in a bandage, suddenly spoke.

   "Speaking of which, why haven't you seen Kent recently?"

   "I don't know, last time he led us to surround the city hall, seeing those well-dressed **** pale with fright, it's so relieved!"

   "Just do it again sometime."

  Anyway, they have nothing else to do, maybe they can get some benefits by going to the street to make trouble.

  At this time, the potbellied tavern owner walked out of the utility room next to the tavern, holding a huge wooden frame.

  His name is Tang, which is a very short word in Renlian, only one syllable.

  Looking at this group of idle poor ghosts, Tang couldn't help complaining.

   "How long are you going to spend your time here? Can't you find a job without money?"

  The worker who was smoking said with a smile.

   "We also want to work. Is there any shortage of cleaning, or waiters? Handyman?"

   Tang laughed and said bluntly.

   "Why should I recruit a big man who wants to have no breasts, butts, butts, butts, as a handyman."

  Another tall and thick man raised his hand and said with a hippie smile.

   "Do you want to recruit the lady boss? I'll sign up."

   "Go away." Tang cursed.

   Things are not going well at the Walnut Tavern recently.

  There are more and more poor ghosts, and even the butts of cigarettes have to be smoked by others, let alone take out chips to buy wine.

  Sberg suddenly discovered that the old girl who helped pour the wine and the boy who did the odd jobs had been fired.

  Now even this kind of physical work is done by the boss himself.

  Before this point, this fat pig was sitting behind the bar, dozing off and being lazy.

  At this time, Sberg noticed the wooden frame in his hand and the stack of papers contained in the wooden frame, and asked curiously.

"What's this?"

   ""Daily Survivor." Tang didn't say much, and moved it into the tavern.

   Daily Survivor?

   Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, they had never heard of this name before.

  Of course, it may also be because they don't read newspapers.

  Although most workers are literate, they basically only know a few words, and they can probably understand the level of equipment operation manuals and recruitment instructions.

  Workers who can afford newspapers will not have time to read newspapers.

  Reading and reading newspapers are pastimes that only those who sit in the office deserve to have.

   "How much is this thing?"

   "No money, you can look at it as you like, but you can't take it away." Tang said impatiently.

   These newspapers are provided free by the Survivor Daily newspaper office, along with a monthly case of Nuka-Cola.

  Anyway, it doesn’t occupy a large area, and it can be used as a pastime for drunkards. In line with the principle of not taking advantage of the advantage, he brought it back.

"for free?!"

  Everyone was shocked when they heard this.

   Is there such a good thing?

   What made them even more unbelievable was that it was actually said by this hairless iron rooster.

  Sberg went up, took a newspaper from the wooden frame, and unfolded it in his hand.

   Pique, who was smoking, also dropped the cigarette **** that had finally burned out in his hand, and came up curiously to watch.

   "..."

  "The negotiations between the city hall and the new coalition authorities went smoothly, and the 200 million aid loan will strive for a win-win situation for both parties... What is a win-win situation?"

   "I just want to smash the new alliance's factories to pieces! Throw the junk they produce through the giant wall!"

   "But being their creditor doesn't seem to be a bad idea... Kate's textile factory has resumed work. According to the newspaper, it is because of an order worth millions of chips."

   "Alisa lost a southern shorthair cat. If anyone sees it, please contact the address in the newspaper. The reward is 25 chips...Alisa... the name sounds familiar."

   "I remembered...it's the youngest daughter of President Malvern!"

  Boulder City has no entertainment industry, let alone celebrities. The headliner of the Queen of the Night bar and the family members of dignitaries and dignitaries are the objects of most ordinary people's gossip.

   Everyone is familiar with the president of Malvern, after all, there is only one bank in Boulder City.

  As soon as they heard the lord's name, everyone immediately came back to their senses, with envious eyes in their eyes.

   "...is actually the daughter of the president's family."

   "If anyone can marry her, they won't have to worry about it in the next life."

   "Stop dreaming, it's not dark yet."

   "It costs 25 chips to find a cat... It would be enough to replace 25 kilograms with nutritional cream! These people have too much money and no place to spend it?"

   "What do you know, I think it's cheap!"

   "Hey, it's nice to have money..."

  Everyone gathered in front of the newspaper was talking about it.

  Although the reward of 25 chips made people jealous, no one set out to find it.

  Boulder is so big, where are they going to find a cat?

   Not to mention whether the cat is still inside the giant wall is a problem.

   All the people were excitedly talking about gossip, but Sberg's attention was on the last line of the newspaper.

  【We are committed to creating a newspaper that serves all survivors. If you see this newspaper on a public newsstand, please leave your valuable suggestions on it, and we will use it as a reference after recycling. 】

   A newspaper for all survivors?

Ah.

   It's really strange.

  Although everyone is a survivor and lives in the same wasteland, Sberg can vaguely feel that people are different.

  Some people are born with a golden spoon in their mouths, and some people are born to live like cockroaches.

   Like that Miss Alisa.

   What is the wasteland like, does it have a lot to do with her?

  She may have never seen nutrition cream, let alone tasted it.

   After hesitating for a moment, Sberg finally borrowed a pen from his boss and wrote at the bottom of the newspaper.

   "We're interested in what City Hall is doing."

   "The president's daughter's cat makes me feel depressed. When I still have a job, 25 chips are my ten-day salary."

  “…if only you could post more information about jobs.”

"wish you a happy life."

   After writing these words, he returned the pen to the tavern owner.

  At this time, Sberg suddenly remembered that it was mentioned in the newspaper that ten empty Coke bottles can be exchanged for one newspaper to take home.

  He couldn't help thinking in his heart, how about waiting for the sky to be completely dark in a while, and go to the bar street to pick up empty Coke bottles.

  It’s good to change a newspaper and take it home to teach my son to read, at least it won’t look like I’ve been wasting all day...

  …

   It wasn't just Sperger who had similar thoughts.

  In the past two days, around the taverns in Boulder City, there have been many "scavengers" picking up empty bottles.

   10 empty Coke bottles can be exchanged for a copy of "Survivor Daily", even if you don't need to read it, you can take it home to cushion the table or make the bed.

  As for where the "Daily Survivor" came from, no one has paid attention to it.

   After all, it has just released the first issue, and its popularity is too small.

  It is impossible for the factory owners, chamber of commerce bosses, and city hall officials as small as Boulder City to notice...

   That night.

  President Malvern returned to his mansion on the inner edge with a radiant expression.

  The negotiations with the Lord of Dawn went smoothly, and the other party came up with a beautiful purchase list, including a large number of building materials, textiles and food.

   This will create at least 50,000 jobs in Boulder City and solve the problem of food and clothing for nearly 100,000 people.

  By this time next year, the GDP of Boulder City will hit a new high!

  The interest repaid by the new alliance and the influx of raw materials from the northern suburbs will bring the factories in the industrial zone back to life!

   What pleased Melvin the most was that recently, many factories have started to borrow money from him.

  Some people borrow money for consumption, and naturally some people are willing to borrow money to expand production, and his bank can make money from both ends.

   And there is virtually no risk of bad debts!

   Boulder City has entered a new cycle, and he seems to have seen the dawn of economic recovery!

   "It seems that you are in a good mood today. Did something good happen?" Madam took the coat in his hand.

   "Of course," Malvin said happily, "After so many days of hustle and bustle, the negotiation is finally over, and the representatives of the new alliance signed the agreement. Our relationship with the new alliance will enter a new chapter from now on!"

  Although the progress of the negotiations was full of twists and turns, thanks to his resourceful performance at the negotiating table, he firmly controlled the rhythm of the negotiations, and finally forced the representatives of the new alliance to make concessions, allowing the two sides to reach an agreement.

   "But... Is it really okay to lend money to those country bumpkins?" Madam's expression was a little worried.

  In her opinion, people outside the giant wall are either vulgar mercenaries, sloppy scavengers, or looters who rob houses.

   She had a hard time trusting those people.

  Even when those people looked at her more than once, she would get goosebumps all over her body and feel physically uncomfortable.

   Malvin had a confident smile on his face.

   "What's the problem? They have copper mines, farmland, and a large forest...I even wish those country bumpkins could borrow more."

   "Debt will make them our slaves, which is much better than chains."

  At this time, he suddenly noticed the newspaper on the table.

  The headline on the cover of the newspaper actually published the news that the negotiations were progressing smoothly.

   Malvin couldn't help raising his eyebrows curiously.

  The negotiations just ended today, and the representatives of the new alliance reluctantly signed the loan agreement two hours ago, and neither party has had time to make an official announcement.

  How did this little-known small newspaper guess that today's deal will be concluded?

  It's pretty accurate.

   It can't be that it was printed a few hours ago.

"What's this?"

   "Daily Survivor."

   Alisa, who was sitting on the sofa, was gently stroking the cat in her arms. After hearing her father's question, she raised her head and replied softly.

   "Has our family subscribed to this newspaper?" Malvin asked doubtfully.

   Alisa shook her head lightly.

   "No, but I think this newspaper is quite interesting... Didn't I lose a cat before?"

  Malvin can't remember which one, his daughter has too many cats.

   Seeing that her father didn't seem to remember this, Alisa continued in a soft voice.

   "At that time, you told me that you had ordered the housekeeper to go to the tavern to post a cat hunting notice, and it would not be long before a mercenary would help me bring it back."

   "It seems that this happened... what happened next?" Malvin couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

   It seems that the cat has not been found, and he broke his promise in front of his daughter.

  But the sensible Alisa didn't blame him, and continued to speak in a gentle tone.

"Later, the mercenary gentleman didn't show up, but this newspaper found me through the cat hunting notice in the tavern, and said that it could publish an advertisement in the newspaper for me for free. Just write a thank you letter."

   Malvin smiled after listening.

  Is this trying to use his daughter's fame to make the newspaper famous?

   These people are quite business minded.

  In the high society of Boulder City, his daughter's name is much more expensive than a few chips.

  However, this kind of trivial matter is not worth his worrying, he just cares about his daughter.

   "If only I could find it."

"yes."

  Touching the kitten in her arms, a look of worry appeared in Alisa's eyes, "I'm really worried whether it will be hungry."

  …

at the same time.

  In a single building not far from the warehouse area, there is a plaque at the door that reads [Voice of the Alliance].

   Judging from the brand-new nail, the signboard should have just been hung.

  Different from the desertedness at the door, the newspaper office is busy at the moment.

  Especially Hal, who is the president of the newspaper, never rested from morning to evening, wishing to divide himself into two people.

   In fact, it is true.

  Because the newspaper was just established and was short of manpower, he had to take on several roles, not only responsible for the content of the newspaper, but also responsible for the typesetting of the newspaper, and at the same time taking care of the relationship between the newspaper and the outside world.

  As for why it became like this, we have to start from the afternoon three days ago.

  According to the instructions of the administrator, the new alliance needs its own voice channel.

  However, due to the shortage of manpower in the office of the New Alliance in Boulder City, after some discussion between Shuyu and Luka, this significant task fell on Hal.

   Hal was flattered by the trust of the new alliance.

  Although he also wanted to repay these people for saving their lives and taking them in, and to prove his abilities, he had never run a newspaper after all, and he didn't even know what a newspaper was.

Fortunately, that Shuyu didn't really leave all the work on him, but went to the talent market for him to find a few employees who had worked in "The Voice of Boulder", which made him Busy, but not in a hurry.

   "Survivor Daily" is the first product they launched, and the distribution range is mainly in the outer city of Boulder City.

   1,200 copies were printed in the first issue, which were placed in taverns, grocery stores and mobile vendors with relatively low consumption levels.

  These newspapers are printed in the local printing factory in Boulder City. The printing volume is less than 10,000 copies, and the factory cost of each newspaper is about 0.5 chips.

  If labor, rent, water and electricity are counted together, their daily expenses today have reached thousands of chips.

  As for income, don’t think about it for now.

   These newspapers are provided almost free to those partners.

  The retail price of each newspaper is one chip. If it is sold, after deducting the profits belonging to the partners, they can recover the cost of printing the newspaper at most.

   And in order to promote these papers, they also hitched fifty-six cases of Nuka-Cola!

  But these efforts are worth it.

  The conference room on the second floor of the newspaper office was in a meeting. Hal summoned the only six editors of the newspaper office to summarize the suggestions left by readers on the newspaper and discuss the content of the next issue.

  At this time, the door of the conference room was suddenly pushed open, and a staff member hurried in.

   "Great news! Half of the 1200 newspapers sold!"

  Hearing this sentence, many people at the conference table frowned, and their faces showed joy.

   Under the condition that you can read it at will, you can sell half of it. For an unknown new newspaper, this result is quite good.

   At least state that there is nothing wrong with their content.

  The staff member paused for a moment, then continued.

  “… But the bad news is that we didn’t make any money. We only got back 120 chips and more than 3,000 empty bottles.”

  Hearing the second half of the sentence, the editors sitting at the conference table glanced at each other.

   "...Maybe we can make some money by selling these bottles." An editor glanced at the head of the newspaper and suggested in a low voice.

  Finding a job is not easy these days.

   Especially things like newspapers are not necessities of life.

  He is really worried that the job he finally found is gone.

  Seeing the worries in everyone's eyes, Hal, who was sitting at the conference table, stood up and cheered everyone up with an enthusiastic voice.

   "Don't worry about losing money, profit is not our goal! There is only one thing we have to do now, and that is to become famous as soon as possible!"

   "I have carefully studied the feedback suggestions just now. The name "Survivor Daily" is still too general, and the content is not targeted enough!"

   "People sitting in the office will not be interested in which factory's assembly line is short of people, and the workers in Boulder City will not care about what clothes the queen of the night is wearing today."

   "I think that in addition to "Survivor Daily", we should also establish different sub-journals such as "Worker", "Citizen", "Playboy", etc., and deliver different content for different customer groups!"

  "Since "The Voice of Boulder City" has occupied the upper class of Boulder City, let's go to areas they have never set foot in and open up new battlefields!"

   While saying these words, Hal felt that every cell in his body was boiling, and his eyes shone with excitement and ambition.

  If this plan can be realized, the newspaper he founded will occupy every minute of the residents of Boulder City after dinner, and the words he wrote will be read repeatedly by hundreds of thousands of people.

   And he will be the "Uncrowned King" of the city!

  Having been away from home for so long, it was the first time he had encountered such an exciting thing.

  Listening to him drawing this astonishing blueprint, everyone showed surprised expressions on their faces.

  An editor couldn't help asking.

   "Do we have that much budget?"

   Hal said firmly.

   "...There will always be a way! Didn't our boss say that? The alliance will not be stingy in investing in the cultural industry!"

   "What's more, we just got a loan of 200 million chips. There must be somewhere to spend the money, right?"

-

   (Thanks to the leader of "Ah Nie" for the reward!! I got up late today...T.T)

  (end of this chapter)