"City Official, Sir, and you two..." The Tower guard captain, whose face was a mixture of confusion and apprehension, seemed to struggle with his words.
Inside the Tower, the lighting was dim. Although Michael and Mei had removed their facial and hair color disguises, their clothing styles were different from usual. No one would likely connect them to those two individuals... right?
To be safe, both Michael and Mei lowered their heads slightly, maintaining mysterious smiles, leaving the interaction with the military police to Michael [Official Michael].
Michael [Official Michael] understood. Actually, he felt this level of caution was unnecessary. Judging by the insignia on these guys' collars, they were basic, low-level military police. They might know Michael and Mei's names, perhaps seen a photo or two, but recognizing them on sight was practically impossible.
"These two are special commissioners from HQ."
"Uh, how come they..."
Michael [Official Michael] frowned, glanced at the sergeant's badge before him, and retorted, "Sergeant Sali, do you have a question?"
"No, no, no!" Sali quickly shook his head. Although deeply puzzled by the City Official bringing two commissioners here, he was just a bottom-rung military policeman. Even if this action was improper or conflicted with the interests of the majority, it wasn't his place to comment.
He even felt a pang of regret—he shouldn't have eagerly volunteered for this duty shift.
Sali had been a firefighter before the Honkai, participating in numerous disaster relief efforts. He naturally understood that various unexplained omens often precede disasters.
For example, before an earthquake, pigs might run wild, chickens might roost in trees, and compasses could malfunction.
Before a mudslide, an unusual smell might emanate from the upstream river valley.
And now, undoubtedly, he smelled that unusual odor.
He couldn't understand why the City Official would bring two commissioners here, just as he couldn't understand the strange smell in the river valley, why pigs ran wild, why chickens flew into trees, or why compasses... oh, wait, he knew the last one—it was disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field.
But not knowing the specific principles didn't mean he couldn't sense impending disaster. Thinking this, he already felt like backing out. Maybe... just follow standard procedure this time?
As an experienced bureaucrat, Michael [Official Michael] easily saw the sergeant's hesitation. He took two steps forward, leaned close to Sali, and reminded him in a low voice:
"Don't overthink it. The two commissioners are just here for the show. Or think of it as them looking for some fun. Don't be so uptight. Aren't you guys best at this? Just do what you normally do, make them laugh, that's all."
Sergeant Sali's cheek muscles twitched slightly. Instinct told him this wasn't so simple.
But thinking carefully, the "looking for fun" explanation was actually the most logical one for the current situation.
At least, "City Official brought two commissioners to the Tower for fun" sounded far more plausible than "City Official betrayed all his subordinates, colleagues, and superiors, determined to show the two commissioners the dark side of the entire world."
To be absolutely sure, Sergeant Sali asked again, "Just proceed as usual?"
"Of course! Just do as you normally do. Don't you trust my character?"
Uh... Sali didn't really trust him.
After all, within the entire system, making subordinates take the fall was standard operating procedure. You can't hide fire with paper; actions always leave traces. And that annoying Dr. Mei kept launching investigations. While most problems could be glossed over, there were always times when it couldn't be hidden, requiring a subordinate to take the blame.
Although Michael [Official Michael] did have a relatively good reputation among the City Officials, Sali didn't believe any City Official's hands were clean. The fact that he still held his position spoke volumes.
But Michael [Official Michael] had said it. If he was telling the truth, then backing down now would undoubtedly be insubordination, and the two commissioners would also be displeased.
Thinking about it, it was a dilemma.
However, no matter how you sliced it, "City Official brought two commissioners to the Tower for fun" was at least a logically sound explanation. More plausible than "City Official betrayed everyone."
Therefore, Sali rubbed his face, shaking off his hesitation. He saluted Michael [Official Michael] and the two commissioners, then proceeded with his duty.
The work evaders were on the second floor. The five military police officers strode directly up the stairs.
They certainly noticed the blood and gore on the ground, but no one asked a single question from beginning to end.
Michael [Official Michael] silently retreated to Michael's [Duplicate Michael's] side. None of the three seemed inclined to follow.
However, perhaps fearing Michael [Duplicate Michael] and Mei might misunderstand, Michael [Official Michael] offered an explanation:
"Normally, work evaders don't actually flee into the Towers. If they really can't stand the work, they run outside the protective net or towards the upper district—following the paths of the two types of people I mentioned earlier who don't want to enter the Towers.
"After all, running into the Tower means they'll most likely get caught. Everyone understands that. So, this behavior is more like a college student skipping class to go back to the dorm to play games or sleep. I'd even bet my life that this entire dorm collectively skipped work to come back to the Tower either to sleep or play games. For people like this, getting punished is simply what they deserve."
As soon as he finished speaking, heart-wrenching cries echoed through the Tower once again:
"No! Let me finish this round! Just ten more minutes, just ten more minutes! I can't go AFK! Give me one more chance!"
Michael [Duplicate Michael] licked his dry lips. Michael [Official Michael] was right; these guys were indeed playing games in the dorm.
Sali walked confidently at the front. Four military police officers followed, each manhandling an evader. They didn't take the four away, but dragged and pulled them all the way to the first-floor landing.
Several officers handcuffed the evaders facing inwards to the stair railing. Sali, meanwhile, took out his phone, fiddled with it, then held it high, starting a live stream using the front camera.
"Hello, hello! Hahaha, didn't expect to see everyone again so soon... Ah! Heard the noise downstairs and knew there was a good show! Brother, you live in this building!"
The Tower gradually grew livelier. At first, Michael [Duplicate Michael] thought the growing noise was an illusion, but looking up, he saw that many of the people who previously wouldn't come out to see what was happening had now opened their doors, leaning over the railings, chattering noisily as they watched the scene on the first floor.
Although due to overtime, only about four hundred people remained in the entire Tower, and not all came out to watch, the preceding silence served as a backdrop. The noise from these fewer than four hundred people truly sounded like an earthquake, making one's head ache.
Michael [Duplicate Michael] and Mei exchanged glances, then silently retreated into the corridor they came from, observing the unfolding events from the shadows.
"Looks like everyone here is very enthusiastic! You all probably know the procedure. This time, a full four people got caught, enough for everyone to have fun!"
"What is he talking about?" Michael [Duplicate Michael] turned to Michael [Official Michael].
"This... should be considered a form of entertainment for everyone, I suppose?"
"How so?"
"You two... ah, given your status, you probably don't have time to pay attention to the entertainment section of the design software. Simply put, they live stream the flogging of these work evaders for everyone to see. Of course, recordings are also posted online later."
"Is that very entertaining?"
"...I can't say for sure, but at least the audience seems to find it very entertaining." Michael [Duplicate Michael] nodded, seemingly understanding yet not quite.
Right. As Michael [Official Michael] had said earlier, if a work evader, after leaving their post, chose to make a living outside the protective net or in the upper district, that was understandable. The former required courage, the latter required sacrificing freedom.
But fleeing back to the dorm to play games and sleep was different. They did nothing, contributed nothing, yet could still receive a day's wages—if they weren't caught.
This harmed everyone else besides them.
For those who paid the exemption fee to rest in the Tower, for those who dragged their exhausted bodies through a day's work, for those who gripped machetes and tucked pistols before plunging into the perilous wilderness outside the protective net, for those who sold their own freedom and that of their descendants for a life above mere subsistence.
This unearned gain was the ultimate betrayal.
In this regard, they were even worse than the masters in the upper district. After all, those masters also had to pay exemption fees for their families and the people contracted to them. Although you could bet your life they concealed things, often paying less than half their due share, at least they still paid something.
Thus, everyone hated these people, and naturally, everyone wanted to watch them punished.
Besides, in this high-pressure apocalyptic era, everyone had immense stress needing release in various forms. Ignoring other factors, violence is often one of the most effective ways to relieve stress. Employing this method could also channel the violent impulses arising from stress in the majority. The same applied to the violent movies currently being produced; before the Honkai, such levels of gore would never have been approved.
"Come on, come on! The first lash is about to begin! Tell me in the comments, which one first!"
The four men, hands cuffed to the stair railing, could only wriggle their lower bodies in struggle, but it couldn't stop the military police from pulling down their pants, revealing buttocks already covered in scars.
"Yoho! All repeat offenders, I knew this dorm number sounded familiar! Been through this several times, huh? Then let's start with the one with the most scars... Hahaha, thanks to Tower's Light for the Super Rocket! Start with the first one from the right? Okay, okay, gotta satisfy the boss's request!"
The corner of Michael's [Duplicate Michael's] mouth twitched. He asked, "Was this guy a streamer before the Honkai?"
"No." Michael [Official Michael] quickly shook his head. "Because the initial live streams directly used servers from some pre-Honkai streaming platforms. To save costs, the original functional structure was hardly changed, so naturally, there are donations."
"Crack!" As if on cue, just as Michael [Official Michael] finished speaking, the sound of a whip cracked, followed immediately by incoherent screams:
"Ah! I was wrong, Officer Uncle, I'll never do it again, light... lighter, aaah!"
Ignoring the background noise, Michael [Duplicate Michael] continued asking, "Where does the donation money come from?"
"Uh? Right, Captain Michael, you must be used to the absolute rationing system, perhaps haven't noticed some details? For example, you've never checked your own salary card."
"Mmm?" Michael [Duplicate Michael] rubbed the stubble on his chin. The last time he remembered thinking about a salary card was during the merger of Anti-Entropy and the Fire Moth.
Before that, especially when they had just left the Fire Moth, the world hadn't yet regressed to absolute rationing, and currency value was relatively stable. Vill-V nearly tore her hair out transferring the stipends for Michael, Elysia, and Mobius from their salary cards to serve as Anti-Entropy's initial operating funds.
If not for sentimentality, Michael [Duplicate Michael] would have thrown the card away long ago; anyway, since he was with Anti-Entropy, the Fire Moth wouldn't deposit money into it anymore.
Later, after Anti-Entropy and the Fire Moth merged again, Michael [Duplicate Michael] simply gave the card to Elysia for safekeeping and barely thought about it since.
Now that Michael [Official Michael] mentioned it, he actually needed over three seconds to retrieve this memory. Truly shameful.
"Don't look so shocked, makes it seem like I abuse my subordinates." Mei cracked a rare joke.
"The rationing system you're familiar with wasn't initially designed as 'payment,' but as a 'relief measure.' However, currency depreciated so rapidly that buying a jin of toilet paper cost more than two jin worth of banknotes, leading to the joke that toilet paper was more expensive than money."
"So, basically, money is still being distributed? Besides receiving supplies, these people also get a certain amount of money as compensation for their work?"
"Correct. But not physical currency like banknotes. It's deposited into the salary cards issued when the unified identity records were established. Wages are paid according to the minimum hourly wage from before the Honkai. The United Government once promised:
"Once the Honkai is defeated and new currency is issued, the old currency will be converted based on its purchasing power relative to grain in the year the Honkai officially erupted—the year you became a Herrscher. All currency in these salary cards will be exchanged for equivalent value new currency within ten years."
"That... might fool children... oh wait, those who were children that year have indeed grown up now..." After all, it's been twelve years...
Michael [Duplicate Michael] meant it as a joke, but Mei replied seriously, "Yes, redemption is almost impossible. After defeating the Honkai, everything will need rebuilding. Rationing will likely continue for a long time... Sigh, actually, no need to think that far ahead. Let's get past the Honkai first. Whatever happens after that, happens."
"Ahem, ahem!" Michael [Official Michael] felt like he was hearing things he shouldn't. He cleared his throat and continued explaining:
"Although currency is severely devalued now, most internet services were acquired long ago. Recharges for games and live streams are still calculated at the original exchange rate. Simply put... life and work are already so hard, people are encouraged to vent their stress in various ways in the online world.
"Most people understand this. They use the money when they need to; anyway, the Fire Moth won't be able to redeem it in the end. The donation money goes into the military police's own accounts. While they probably don't think the money will ever be redeemed either, why not take advantage of it? Plus, it lets them vent their violent tendencies."
Michael [Duplicate Michael] shook his head. The screams and the military police's neurotic laughter grated on his nerves.
Perhaps these four work evaders deserved this punishment.
Perhaps the people of this era genuinely enjoyed such live streams, and it truly became one of their few forms of entertainment.
But to Michael [Duplicate Michael], it looked more like a farce.
He certainly had no right to stop such a farce. His despair wasn't equivalent to the despair in these ordinary people's hearts; he had no right to destroy others' entertainment.
But he could genuinely detest it.
Flogging restored today, torture tomorrow?
Watching live floggings today, scrambling for pieces of flesh from lingchi [death by slow slicing] tomorrow, or dipping steamed buns in the fresh blood of the executed?
Because the world collapsed, we lost our humanity. Because we lost our humanity, we ourselves, both mentally and physically, will sink into deeper collapse.
It was already an inescapable vicious cycle.
"Let's go." Michael [Duplicate Michael] wasn't going to watch anymore.
But just as he turned, Sergeant Sali wiped the smirk off his face from the live stream and answered a call with a serious expression:
"Wh-what? Understood! Supporting immediately."
"Mmm?" Michael [Duplicate Michael] glanced back. Faint but undeniable sounds of commotion, shouts, seeped through the heavy metal doors into his ears.
Sali also rushed towards Michael [Duplicate Michael] and the others, shouting as he ran, "Esteemed Officials! Something terrible has happened! The workers..."
"Calm down. What exactly happened?"
"They... they're striking and demonstrating."
"Heh..." Michael [Duplicate Michael] let out a long breath, a sense of absurd irony washing over him—
How many times has this happened?
It really is a self-fulfilling prophecy. As long as Anti-Entropy takes a vacation, it's either strikes, riots, or Honkai.