This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 532 Debt is a Knife

Chapter 532: Chapter 532 Debt is a Knife

"How is that possible?!"

City of Dawn, Alliance Internal Affairs Building, conference room.

Melvin, the bank president, sat at the conference table while gazing at the box full of black and white chips, his eyes almost bulging out.

Right after the celebration had concluded, he had eagerly sought out the Alliance’s manager to discuss the millions in chips representing principal and interest on a 510 million debt.

As the president of Giant Stone City Bank, every loan from the Alliance passed through him. He had his shrewdest accountant keep close watch over each and every one of the Alliance’s expenses, even scrutinizing people like List and Detwei, who were closely associated with the Alliance. No one knew the Alliance’s "financial situation" better than he did.

There was no way they could come up with ten million chips for the year-end payment of principal and interest!

How could an organization that relied on borrowing money have a cash surplus? Not to mention a significant trade deficit and the rural folks of North Suburb had been operating at a loss for a whole year!

In fact, it was like a run-down house riddled with holes from debt and deficit, they had spent too much of their future in their efforts to win the war against the Army. Melvin was confident because he had clearly understood this fact.

For now, deleveraging seemed the only way out for the Alliance. If they couldn’t reduce their debt to a manageable level, bankruptcy awaited them!

Melvin did not think these muscle-headed fellows understood much about economics, but he wouldn’t just see the building they had struggled so hard to erect crumble down.

He would help the Alliance pay back the money.

But there was a condition; the Alliance must agree to his conditions.

Such as opening up the free conversion between silver coins and chips, which could squeeze some of the domestic currency’s bubble into foreign currencies.

And it would be even better if they could open up conversion to Cr!

If Chu Guang agreed to let chips transfer from silver coins to Cr to settle the debts, Melvin was even willing to waive half of the Alliance’s debt!

After all, those hardworking folks were also doing it for themselves in the end, with the ultimate goal of letting these noble lords enjoy the better things in life.

Visiting Ideal City was undeniably the ultimate indulgence!

However, what he absolutely didn’t expect was that the Alliance had paid back the loan that was supposed to be impossible to repay in full!

Even the principal and interest due next year had been prepared...

"Would you like to count them?" Looking at the dumbfounded Melvin, Chu Guang asked with a slight smile, "I heard that the chips are produced by things like the black box, so there should be no possibility of counterfeiting, right?"

"Cough... such matters, I of course believe you would absolutely not do," Melvin couldn’t help but look at Chu Guang, "I want to know how these chips came about."

Seeing the suspicious look on Melvin’s face, Chu Guang smiled and frankly said.

"That’s a reasonable request. If someone in the Alliance suddenly came up with a large sum of cash, we would ask them to explain where the money came from as well."

Melvin nodded.

"Could you tell me?"

Chu Guang did not conceal it, simply and straightforwardly.

"Your shareholder lent it to me."

Hearing this brazen response, Melvin’s eyes went wide, and he no longer cared about keeping up appearances, angrily said,

"How can you pay off old debts with new debts?"

Chu Guang replied with a smile.

"Our loan agreement only says we can’t use debts issued by Giant Stone City Bank to repay the loans of Giant Stone City Bank; it doesn’t say we can’t raise money through other channels to repay existing loans, does it?"

"But that doesn’t solve the problem at all!" Melvin said furiously, "Do you realize what you’re doing? Your debt is just growing bigger and bigger, and eventually, it will crush you, not just our money, everyone’s money will go down the drain!"

He finally started to realize the severity of the risk.

What infuriated him wasn’t just that the Alliance irresponsibly increased their own risk, but that there was a better solution available here!

However, this man before him had unilaterally chosen the worst possible one!

"We had no choice," Chu Guang said in a soothing tone, looking at the infuriated Melvin, "Your consumption capacity is too weak; we also wanted to sell some quality goods there, but your residents simply can’t afford them. And just selling low-added value basic resources to your factories certainly can’t fill the trade deficit... anyone with a bit of common sense knows that sand can’t possibly be more expensive than cement! And almost ninety percent of the cement you produced was sold to us; how could we possibly cover the deficit just by selling sand?"

Melvin, exasperated, said,

"But you can’t use this solution! Paying off old debt with new debt, what kind of solution is that? This is the most irresponsible method!"

The reason he had lent the money to the Alliance was because he had believed they could repay it, but now the actions of the Alliance had made him start to doubt if they had any intention of repaying at all!

"But we have complied with every part of our agreement," Chu Guang reminded him with a calm smile, "You wanted us to import more of your goods originally, to reduce our trade deficit with you, and we did exactly as you asked."

Moreover, they did it so thoroughly.

The Alliance, having secured a two hundred million chip loan, not only obediently turned its trade surplus into a deficit but even shot itself in the foot by increasing its labor costs, thus enhancing the competitiveness of Giant Stone City’s cheap consumer goods in the Alliance’s market.

Melvin stared at Chu Guang with a gloomy gaze.

He genuinely couldn’t accuse the Alliance of being untrustworthy, as they had even laid out the principal and interest to be repaid next year right before him. Thus, the harshest phrase he ever used from beginning to end was merely "irresponsible."

Undoubtedly, this was immoral.

Even ten thousand reasons could not change one fact, that the Alliance was continuously offloading the inflation caused by their over-issuance of base currency.

"What about the year after next? Two years later? Ten years later?"

Chu Guang smiled faintly and said.

"By then, the Alliance might already have ten or twenty Survivor Settlements. Do you think we would care about this little amount of money from you?"

Melvin’s eyebrows relaxed slightly, but they were still tightly knit.

The size of the Company and its dividends are two different things. It’s not that the larger the company, the more money investors get. Up to now, Chu Guang had still not yielded on the most fundamental issue—

"You’re worried about the risks associated with the chips, right?" Chu Guang perceptively noticed the concern in his eyes and gently pointed it out.

"Yes," Melvin didn’t hide it and straightforwardly admitted, "But I worry that if you keep playing this way, the bubble might burst right before it’s cashed out. Now, I seem to have understood your trick; we’re backing your debts with our own credit."

"That’s an outsider’s view," Chu Guang lightly coughed and continued in a gentle tone, "Well, I have a proposal that can solve your problem of ’earning too much base currency.’"

Melvin’s hands involuntarily gripped the arms of the chair tightly, his gaze fixed on Chu Guang sitting opposite him.

"What proposal?"

"We plan to issue something called bonds, which you can understand as monetizing the debt to some extent."

Upon hearing about debt, Melvin stood up to leave. However, Chu Guang’s next words made him sit back down just as he had lifted his bottom off the seat.

"Bonds priced and payable in chips... In fact, we have already issued them."

"Why didn’t you say something—" Melvin’s eyes suddenly narrowed, looking at the chips on the table and then at Chu Guang, his expression slowly transforming to realization, "So that’s it, you got the principal and interest through this method."

Chu Guang smiled faintly.

"This is quite reasonable, isn’t it? Sand cannot be more expensive than cement, but highways, railways, houses, bridges cost more than cement. You no longer need to build those things, but we just happen to need them, so you can just buy the bonds we issue with the base currency you earned."

Melvin squinted his eyes at Chu Guang.

The Alliance did indeed provide him with a solution, which was to store the excess base currency in a pool that is priced in base currency and never depreciates.

However, this still did not solve any fundamental problems.

Seeing that Melvin was unmoved, Chu Guang sighed softly in his heart, acknowledging that this guy indeed was one of the few clear-headed persons among Inner City Nobles.

Seeing that they were about to turn a corner, while everyone else couldn’t wait to floor the accelerator, he realized it was time to press the brakes to check the road.

In terms of ability, whether it was Old Charlie or Minister Sun Ruicai, neither really matched him. If the Alliance pulled out a balance-sheet contraction at the departmental meeting later, then the Alliance had been losing from the start.

But this was not their fault.

People of humble origins naturally belong to the Radical Faction; they mostly support vigorous changes but are often limited by their own limitations, still resorting to old methods summarized from past experiences, hence becoming operationally conservative. Either they have some foresight and realize the old ways don’t work, embarking on an unforeseen path, ultimately surprising everyone.

Fortunately, Chu Guang came from an enlightened society, with many professional and amateur players discussing in forums how to make the Alliance better.

"Limitations" don’t disappear just because of a loud voice or much talk, but they can be reduced through exchange and communication.

Game strategies often emerge in just this way.

"I promise that in the future, we will gradually liberalize the exchange of chips and silver coins, and of course, the exchange of silver coins and Cr is also open to you." Seeing Melvin calculating in his mind, Chu Guang further threw out the biggest bait.

Chu Guang could feel that when he said this, Melvin momentarily held his breath, a flicker of eagerness clearly flashing across his calm eyes.

"I want more than just promises," Melvin stared intently at Chu Guang, "You say you honor credit; write it on paper."

"No problem."

Chu Guang readily nodded.

Watching his easy agreement, Melvin was taken aback, suspecting some deceit, and quickly added another condition.

"That paper must have your signature!"

"Haha, of course! It’s such an important agreement, it has to be signed with my name,"

Chu Guang laughed heartily, watching the completely relaxed Melvin and continued.

"In five years, just within five years, we will fulfill all our commitments! It so happens that the bonds we issue have a minimum retirement period of five years. In these five years, you can put the bubbles into this bucket called ’bonds’, and after five years take them out all at once and exchange them for silver coins, or simply switch to Cr... How does this idea sound?"

Despite trying to mask his joy, Melvin couldn’t help but show his excitement.

He got up from the conference table and walked toward Chu Guang, who had also risen, and shook his hand with a relaxed brow.

"This idea is fantastic! Just show me the specific documents, and I will immediately help you issue those bonds... Thank you for considering everything so thoroughly for us!"

Although a satisfying outcome was reached, Melvin still had a reservation.

That was hinting to Chu Guang that he would agree to help issue the chip-valued bonds only after seeing that verbal promise turned into a legally binding document.

If the Alliance really intended to grow and strengthen, it would not take its own laws lightly.

Chu Guang gladly shook his hand, nodding with a smile.

"You’re welcome, solving risks for you is also helping ourselves."

"What we pursue has always been a win-win!"

...

Chu Guang wasn’t joking with Melvin, every word he said was true.

The Alliance did not want Giant Stone City’s bubble to burst too soon.

Even if all bubbles eventually burst, it would have to be after his plans were fully completed and the impact on the Alliance was minimized!

So, Chu Guang gave Melvin sufficient attention.

That day, he drafted a proposal regarding the "free exchange of chips and silver coins" and boldly signed his name on it.

As an attached agreement, Giant Stone City Bank would serve as one of the Alliance’s bond distribution channels, helping the Alliance distribute the chip-valued bonds.

Moreover, Giant Stone City Bank would ensure that the Alliance’s bond trading system could be smoothly launched in Giant Stone City!

Thus, the nobles of the Inner City could not only invest more conveniently in the Alliance’s chip-valued bonds but could also freely list their bonds on the trading platform for sale.

Transactions could be completed with just a flick of the fingers!

This had truly become a high-circulation financial product!

Those buying bonds didn’t have to worry about a long five-year investment return cycle, just selling their bonds when they needed the money was enough.

With so many rich people in Giant Stone City, there would always be bosses with excess cash interested in a few percentage points of interest margin!

And as the agent issuing this "financial product," Giant Stone City Bank could naturally benefit enormously without having to bear any risks like List.

Melvin returned to Giant Stone City that very day with his beloved daughter and a group of bodyguards, excitedly bringing this fantastic news back home.

He had solved a problem that the Giant Stone City Bank had never resolved before—

Massively converting chips into Cr!

"Send a written letter to our shareholders! Tell them to convene for a shareholders’ meeting tomorrow morning at nine o’clock, still at the usual place... not to discuss dividends, but something more important than dividends! Tell them, we are about to witness history!"

On the ruins just a few streets away from Giant Stone City, Melvin made a call to his secretary, his face flushed with excitement as he spoke.

He couldn’t wait to share this great news with his shareholders!

Alyssa, holding her doll, looked at her father with a worried face, a faint worry emerging in her eyes.

She always found out a little news from the newspapers only after everything had happened.

And her father almost never talked to her about his work, so she had no idea what agreement had been reached between the Alliance and Giant Stone City.

But Alyssa still had a bad feeling...

Would it really go this smoothly?

...

Those who had similar concerns were not only the completely uninformed Alyssa but also prominent figures like Lord Vega, who ran the largest business association in Giant Stone City.

And unlike the girl’s baseless worries, Vega’s concerns were not unfounded, but stemmed from the accounts generated by actual business operations!

He was worried about significantly more concrete problems than the invisible figure of the manager’s little daughter.

The products exported by the factories in Giant Stone City to the Alliance or the goods proactively imported by the Alliance from Giant Stone City were mostly settled with chips.

It was a requirement from Giant Stone City as well as a basic demand that best suited the interests of most people here.

After all, no one wanted to trust a currency that was issued arbitrarily and without any anchorage.

However, now Vega had discovered, somewhat between tears and laughter, that he would rather have the Alliance companies settle with silver coins and keep the silver coins in their accounts there, even though he had no direct channel to convert silver coins into chips.

The reason was nothing else but the lightning speed of the chips’ inflation!

The raw materials that could be bought for 1 chip this month doubled to 2 chips the next month. Suppliers weren’t too keen to deal with him when he paid in chips and even required him to pick up the goods himself from the Alliance’s railway station, as the road from the Alliance to Giant Stone City was too difficult.

What was the use of the official 1:2 exchange rate?

99% of people could not exchange 2 silver coins for 1 chip!

To change money, one had to either go through the black market or buy some goods from the Alliance’s market that nobody knew when could be sold and then slowly deal them away in Giant Stone City.

Vega himself had not expected that he, a person primarily in the food business, would end up stockpiling a bunch of copper ore bought with silver coins in his warehouse...

"Aaron, do you believe it? Sometimes I envy my competitors."

Three days after the Alliance festival and also the day after the Giant Stone City Bank’s shareholders’ meeting, Vega was sitting in his office, staring at his ledger, massaging his temple with a headache.

Aaron was his secretary and one of his few trusted confidants.

It was this guy who initially contacted the factory’s security team captain Alec to surround the city hall and planned everything behind the scenes.

Hearing his boss’s voice, Aaron slightly paused, then asked in a low voice,

"Are you referring to... Mr. Detwei?"

Vega sighed and nodded,

"Yes."

Didivei nutrition paste.

There was a time when Didivei nutrition paste, using cheap labor and raw materials from "North Suburb," squeezed into Vega Commerce’s market in Giant Stone City, becoming a thorn in his side.

Fortunately, that blockhead Detwei was clearly not as smart as List, or maybe just a bit too rigid. If it weren’t for the Alliance hyping him up beyond his station, Detwei would at most be a small-time merchant in his lifetime.

Vega knew very well that his shareholders had actually given that guy a chance, but Detwei had been ungracious, never considering getting a Black Card or setting aside some profits for bribes. So, Vega only had to use some methods to conveniently have him eliminated from Giant Stone City.

But now Vega actually envied that guy.

He heard that the Didivei Food Processing Factory had completely transformed, now processing animal feed and agricultural fertilizers, thriving in the agricultural market of Luo Xia Province.

Perhaps this was what they called industrial upgrading?

On the contrary, although the factories under his business association were also improving their production lines, the direction of improvement was completely different.

Take, for example, the Delicious Food Processing Factory.

To allow the survivors of Giant Stone City to afford the nutrition paste, he had to reduce the cost of nutrition paste. Only then could the survivors of Giant Stone City, who didn’t have high wages, afford it. The better quality portion was sold to the Alliance, even though the Alliance’s residents had long stopped consuming that stuff, but Frost Pike Ranch would buy some to mix in the feed for their cattle, sheep, and pigs.

Ordinary people didn’t have foreign exchange quotas, but ranches involved in operational production activities did. They could use chips to settle payments as long as they declared their usage through the proper channels.

Nevertheless, the issue of inflation was far too severe, clients delaying payment by even a week meant that the payment could buy a little less material. If he could earn more next month, it may have been fine, but the rate of profit increase was already failing to keep up with inflation.

He really didn’t know where all this extra money in the market was coming from?!

He urgently urged his clients to settle accounts and also had to please those clients, because exporting to the Alliance had almost become Vega Commerce’s only hope of keeping profits going, and counting on the outsiders of the city to purchase his products had almost become impossible... that group of malnourished wretches were even mixing wood chips into the nutrition paste themselves!

Vega could feel an invisible hand continuously taking away his profits, but his frustration was that he simply didn’t know what to do.

Blame the Alliance for spending too much money?

That was his top customer!

If the Alliance’s feed processing plants and ranches stop importing his nutrition paste starting tomorrow, he’d have to shut down the entire nutrition paste production line!

Perhaps...

Next month, settle the payments in silver coins.

This was not a proper solution.

Although it could solve some of the production issues, the response on the profit line of the ledger was a string of immovable silver coins, and the thought of the official exchange rate of 1:2 would certainly make his shareholders frown.

Just as Wei Jia was overwhelmed by a pile of accounts receivable in the ledger, the phone suddenly rang.

He dared not delay, knowing exactly who could be calling him, and immediately answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"It’s me."

Hearing Sid’s voice, Wei Jia’s face immediately lit up with a smile.

"Mr. Sid, what brings you here... Do you have any instructions?"

Sid didn’t beat around the bush and spoke succinctly.

"I have five billion in bonds, at a discount, 4.9 billion to let go. You buy them through the commerce’s account."

Already worried about the tight cash flow, Wei Jia instantly felt a catch in his heart and blurted out.

"...Five billion chips?! Where am I supposed to find so much money?"

Realizing that his tone might have been disrespectful, Wei Jia quickly lowered his posture, leaning toward the phone and speaking with a pained expression.

"...Respected Mr. Sid, I mean no offense, but the commerce needs funds to purchase raw materials. We can certainly allocate some money to buy bonds...but we do need to keep funds for production and operations."

The crucial point was that he had already bought five billion on Sid’s good graces a few days ago, and grabbing another five billion was truly impossible!

Sid was also annoyed.

He hadn’t expected his good brother Melvin to suddenly stab him in the back.

He still held five billion in bonds, initially planning to offload them slowly, but the Giant Stone City Bank had also targeted the alliance bonds business.

How could he possibly make a differential profit now?

With not much difference in prices, only a fool would not go to Melvin to buy!

However, Sid couldn’t complain much.

After all, he was one of the shareholders of the Giant Stone City Bank.

Melvin’s original intention was to let everyone earn a bit more, and money made by the Giant Stone City Bank also included his share.

Seeing Wei Jia not readily agreeing, Sid, although displeased, still said patiently.

"You are just lending this money to me temporarily. Don’t worry about liquidity, as the Giant Stone City Bank has launched a bond trading platform. You can trade directly there, gradually realizing cash in the second-tier market. If it doesn’t work, use those bonds to pay for accounts!"

Wei Jia, trembling with fear, dared not ask Sid why he wouldn’t just divest in the secondary market, as he was clear that the noble lords would never stoop to picking scraps in the secondary market.

In the end, he could only either join others at the so-called bond trading platform and gamble like the rest, or watch helplessly as his money was locked in accounts.

He no longer cared whether the alliance paid interest or not.

Without liquidity, if he didn’t want to go bankrupt, he could only think of a way to sell those bonds or sell the commerce’s assets...

"Make it quick, are you buying or not, just say it. If you don’t want it, I’ll find someone else." Sid, already showing some impatience as he spoke these words, thought this guy might think his own wings had hardened.

After all, the Vijia Commerce had earned so many chips primarily through his credit and abilities. This damn thing thought he could make money with that little business acumen of his.

Not to mention anything else.

If he hadn’t instructed the research institutions of the Inner City to redefine the nutritional paste consumption standards, how could the Vijia Commerce’s awful sludge have entered the feeding troughs of those swine in the Outer City?

Sensing Sid’s impatience from his tone, Wei Jia broke out in a cold sweat and quickly said.

"I’ll buy it! I’ll buy it!"

What he feared most was Sid’s threat to find someone else.

Because he was very aware that the job he handled was not exactly technical, and the factories also mostly operated in the industrial zone of Giant Stone City. Sid could weigh up and manage List, but squeezing him could be done in an instant, even though both had Black Cards.

"If only you had agreed earlier." Seeing his fostered ’dog’ back down, Sid scoffed mockingly and hung up the phone.

He didn’t care how Wei Jia managed to secure the funds.

"If he knew how to do business, why would he keep that dog?"

He would have killed it and eaten its meat already.

After putting down the phone in his hand, Lord Vega slumped back into his chair, feeling as if all his strength had been drained.

Aaron looked at him worriedly.

"...Boss?"

Lord Vega rubbed his temples.

"At least... we need to get past this immediate hurdle."

After a moment of silence, Aaron spoke softly.

"But the nutrition paste... can’t be diluted any further."

"Are you an idiot? When will we make five hundred million relying on that stuff?" Lord Vega cursed discontentedly and stood up from his chair, walking over to the window.

He had intended to get some fresh air, but through the reflection on the window, he vaguely saw Mr. Detwei grinning foolishly at him.

Lord Vega felt a surge of anger, and since he couldn’t take his frustration out on the window, he lit a cigarette and began puffing clouds of smoke outside.

Aaron watched his boss’s silhouette and after a moment of silence, he said,

"...Earlier, some merchants from the north asked if we had any spare production lines for sale. They are very interested in our mixers, filters, and synthesizers and offered a good price."

Those devices were purchased with loans from Giant Stone City Bank during the trade honeymoon phase with the Alliance to expand their production.

Giant Stone City Bank had lent not only to the Alliance but also to their factories, enabling their rapid development.

Part of the device loans had already been paid off, and selling those devices could at least solve some of the problems, then they could figure out what to do with the remaining capital.

Lord Vega turned around and glanced at him.

"They want to make nutrition paste?"

Aaron shook his head.

"Not really... They want to process livestock feed. Recently, the price of corn in the Alliance has plummeted, and many factories are switching to this. Actually, I think there’s little profit left in nutrition paste, we might as well switch to feed too."

Lord Vega sighed.

"It’s not that simple."

As long as he continued to operate in Giant Stone City and intended to trade in a Silver coin-priced market, he could not escape the sickle.

The first sickle was tariffs, the second was exchange rates. There was a cut when importing raw materials, and another when exporting finished products.

It didn’t matter what they produced, unless they could make something completely unproducible by the Alliance, it was an unsolvable issue.

At least, as a mere commerce executive, he couldn’t resolve it, unless Giant Stone City as a whole united to put pressure on the Alliance.

Suddenly, Lord Vega had an illusion.

It wasn’t an invisible hand taking away his profits.

It was countless invisible hands forming an intangible cage, cruelly trapping everyone in the city.

The terrifying thought flashed by, followed by a deep bone-chilling coldness.

The coolness on the back of his neck made Lord Vega shiver involuntarily, drawing on his cigarette fiercely twice and cursing as he tossed the unfinished butt out the window.

"Damn it, really damn unlucky."

Aaron silently watched him.

"If we don’t sell the equipment, we’ll have to borrow money from Giant Stone City Bank again."

"Sell! Why not sell, what’s the use of producing so much garbage? No one is buying it!" Lord Vega pulled out another cigarette, took a fierce puff, and suddenly an idea struck him. He immediately said to Aaron, "Wait, I’ve got it! The Alliance is issuing those bonds, we can issue them too!"

Aaron paused and hesitated.

"Us? But... who would buy it?"

Who would buy bonds issued by a factory?

Surely we can’t ask Mr. Sid to buy them back...

That would be suicide.

"Isn’t it time to issue salaries?" Wei Jia chuckled triumphantly, "You hurry and go to finance, let them make the IOUs—oh no, bonds, and issue them to those poor devils. When times get better, I will settle everything, principal with interest!"

Aaron stared intently at his boss.

"But... can it be done?"

Wei Jia Commerce has over 4,000 employees, each earning an average daily wage of 4 chips. Even if the salary and bonus of 120 chips per employee were written off, it would only amass 480,000 chips.

That’s not even close.

It’s missing at least three zeros, right?!

"I have no choice, we need to scrape together whatever we can, at least enough to cover our purchases. Those people outside only want cash, we need to pay them first."

Wei Jia had his reasons. He paused and then methodically said, "As for Mr. Sid’s five hundred million... that’s a separate account. We’ll just get a loan from the bank president."

First, he’d use the bonds borrowed from Mr. Sid as collateral, nominally borrow five hundred million from Giant Stone City Bank for manufacturing, but actually, this amount wouldn’t be used to expand production. He planned to pay Mr. Sid 4.9 billion, which would leave Wei Jia Commerce with a profit of ten million.

That profit was indeed in solid cash, and the interest generated from the bonds pledged would be enough to cover the loan interest from Giant Stone City Bank.

Though it sounded like murky accounting, Wei Jia believed that Melvin, the bank president, was reasonable enough not to refuse lending him the money.

Your Giant Stone City Bank’s own underwritten bonds—you wouldn’t deny them, would you?

Well, when you think about it, it’s simple.

No money?

Just borrow it and be done with it.

I borrow, you borrow; you mess up, I mess up more.

Having understood everything, Wei Jia instantly felt light and cheerful, both physically and mentally. Not only was he not worried anymore, he actually burst into laughter.

The equipment, of course, had to be sold, as it was his own property, and he was free to dispose of it as he wished.

Nowadays, there are so many ways to make money, one could get rich by just lifting a finger—only a fool would do the hardest and most thankless jobs.

Wouldn’t it be much more comfortable to sell the factory and become a "city merchant"?

Besides, the lighter the assets, the faster you can move.

List could never control Sid because that cunning merchant refused to move his factory into the city.

But Wei Jia was a smart man. Seeing Aaron walking out the door, he suddenly remembered something and immediately called him back.

"Wait a second."

Aaron stopped in his tracks.

"Do you have any other orders?"

Wei Jia tossed his cigarette butt out the window, then walked over to Aaron and patted his shoulder with a smile.

"I almost forgot to mention, your salary will be issued as usual, including your colleagues’ and the security team’s... Don’t worry, if you stick with me, I won’t let truly capable people suffer."

Aaron nodded.

He had never questioned his boss about this matter.

After all, wasn’t it a given?

...

Finally, night fell, and the bell signaling a shift change rang at last.

The workers on the day shift handed their tasks over to those half-grown children and lined up to receive last month’s wages from Alec.

At first, Spielberg was curious—today the moon had risen from the west, as the Chief of Security Alec personally handed out salaries, flanked by a group of thugs who looked like trouble. It wasn’t until he received an IOU from Alec that he realized—good lord, these cunning merchants were too crafty!

Everyone was exhausted, lacking the energy to complain, though no one was willing to take the lead in doing so. Some accepted the IOUs comfortably, perhaps out of trust for their boss.

Spielberg also obediently took the IOU, named a bond, consoling himself that people with large families and businesses wouldn’t just default and disappear. But life was indeed getting stranger—today they were paid with IOUs, what about next month?

An IOU for an IOU?

A group of poor folks dressed in tattered clothes walked out of the factory.

Not far away, Kent suddenly squatted down quickly, and just as Spielberg thought he had found some money, he saw him excitedly raise a cigarette butt high, then stash it in his pocket.

"Lucky! Two cigarette butts!"

The short guy walking beside Kent glanced enviously at the cigarette butt in his hand, smacking his lips as he spoke.

"I bet that fell out of Lord Vega’s office, only he would waste like that!"

They were indeed not far from that lord’s office.

Spielberg sighed and muttered.

"Lucky my foot... It’s getting colder by the day, looks like it’s going to snow soon."

Kent looked at him impatiently.

"So what?"

"So... we need to wear something warmer."

"Then go wear something! Can’t you even dress yourself!" Kent glared, the cigarette butt dangling from his mouth, his fierce face resembling Alec, the head of security, who hadn’t eaten for days.

"Yes..."

Not wanting to spoil his mood, Spielberg consciously shrank to one side, his face filled with worry. Half because of the cooling weather, the other half due to the increasingly cold surroundings.

The boss had paid salaries.

But he had given them IOUs.

Spielberg wasn’t sure if this paper would get him dinner, let alone if the cunning Lord Vega would acknowledge this debt if he left his job.

Just two days ago, the respected Mr. Hauser announced yet another victory for Giant Stone City on the radio, the sagacious Director Melvin forced the iron scraps of "North Suburb" to make concessions, allowing Giant Stone City to purchase Alliance bonds.

This time, Mr. Hauser spent even more time explaining the ins and outs of this deal, benevolently unveiling its mysteries for them, the ignorant poor, yet Spielberg couldn’t feel any joy.

After all, he couldn’t afford those things anyway, instead, his boss forced him to buy something else—the operating debt of the Delicious Food Processing Factory.

Such a long name, obviously not something good.

Without a doubt, Alliance bonds weren’t something good either.

Spielberg couldn’t understand, especially why his rich bosses still needed to borrow from them, the poor ones.

Back to his drafty room.

He sat at the table with some resentment, lighting a candle found by his friends with a broken matchstick, picked up a pen bought collectively, and started scribbling on some tattered old newspapers.

"...Awakened Bol got drunk the day he got a Black Card, he beat up his former boss—the one who looks like a giant rat, Stephen. Then, still unsatisfied, he looked toward Stephen’s beautiful wife and daughter, undoing his belt... Of course, this was to fiercely whip Stephen’s backside, humiliating him in front of his wife and daughter. He was as fierce as a wild beast in the jungle, an Awakener with great strength, and of course, he could do it without anyone stopping him."

This made no sense.

Anyway, no one cared about that.

However, while writing, Spielberg frowned and couldn’t help scratching out the latter part and rewriting it, muttering to himself softly.

"...But Bol knew in his heart that beating Stephen wouldn’t solve any problems, nor would peeing on him with his belt undone. Killing a giant rat would just leave another corpse in the streets, attracting more flies. Giant Stone City would remain the same, unchanged. Only he himself would have to roll out from the giant walls, find somewhere else to vent his anger."

"So he found the unemployed editor Bill, child laborer Rudi who had been humiliated by Stephen, and the female worker Casey who had been abused by the security chief and shareholders... He told everyone, one person can’t overcome the Claw of Death, but if it’s a group of people, even the Mother of Dead Claw could be defeated at our feet. We can emulate the Alliance, we can unite! One person is weak alone, but together, we make the Stephens afraid, all the Stephens!"

"To hell with the swindlers and noble grandfathers!"

"Awakener Bol: The story of a poor boy from the slums who accidentally found a tube of Awakened Spirit Medicine and flattened a power armor in the final battle."

He made the title quite long.

Actually, it could have been longer, but there wasn’t enough space left at the beginning.

Since he had no money for printing, Spielberg could only write two copies, one to send to the Survivor’s Daily of the Alliance with a sincere postscript, hoping the original author could review his manuscript... if that author was there.

If they agreed to publish, perhaps they could sponsor some fee for him... he didn’t ask for much, just enough to buy some necessities.

The other copy he kept for himself, he had to read it to the readers of the Worker Report—the folks from the Workers’ Association.

Thinking about those ridiculous and absurd storylines, and the way his colleagues would look at him tomorrow, Spielberg felt his cheeks grow hot.

But inside his heart... it was warm...

—

(Thanks to the Alliance Leader "Xuezong" for the reward!!!)