A foreigner's journey

In April 2004, the weather was still a bit cold.

The Qifan Street slums were crowded with people, and among them there was a strange face.

This is a young beauty with an oval face and a high nose. Her long brown hair is tied back into a ponytail. She is wearing a pair of deliberately worn casual clothes. She is observing the environment here with very smart eyes.

Jesse Radsberry has always been a standard activist.

If you want to personally participate in the gathering of [Astrology] and join the organization called [Avalanche], you have to come to this Qifan Street slum. That's what's said in the corners of Uptown.

It is not difficult for Jesse, who has a lively and cheerful nature, to act when he thinks.

After nearly a year of expansion, the terrain of the Qifan Street slum has become complex again. Many new houses have been added out of thin air, making the so-called map in Jesse's hand useless.

Tsk, if I had known better, I would have spent more money to buy the latest version of the map in the old mouse's hand.

Jesse pumped his fist in the air in frustration, then shook his head from side to side to observe the terrain, pursed his graceful lips tightly, and refused to ask anyone.

It's not that I'm embarrassed to ask for directions, but I'm afraid that if I expose my flaws and be seen as a 'fat sheep' from the upper city.

Although everyone said that the Qifan Street slums and the Wufan Street slums were "safe areas" with relatively good atmosphere, Jesse, who had been educated in the upper city, still had a natural fear of the slums.

Jesse is an actor, according to her own words - [second-rate, but at least she has been on the big stage of the Golden Butterfly Playground]. Half a year ago, when her career was just getting started and she was ready to show off her ambitions, a phone call dragged her out of her dream and faced the cruel reality.

Jesse's father became a vegetable due to an accident.

Her parents are both employees of Shinra Corporation, and her father is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the No. 7 Mako Reactor. In an accident half a year ago, Jesse's father was exposed to too much Mako and turned into a vegetative state due to severe Mako poisoning.

He sought treatment from many sources, but all he received was the same - he would only be like this for the rest of his life. Although his body was still alive, his 'heart' was dead.

Because of the compensation and monthly subsidy from Shinra Company, Jesse's family would not be in financial crisis, but Jesse was unwilling to give in. She always felt that her father's thoughts still existed.

A month ago, she came into contact with the strange view of [Astrology] by chance.

According to astrologists, there is a wonderful cycle within the planet beneath our feet.

Once a human being dies, his body will return to the earth, but his spirit will be absorbed by the planet and become the life stream of the planet. The life flow of the planet will continue to circulate inside the planet, enrich the planet, nourish the earth, and eventually return to the surface of the planet in the form of new life.

It often comes back, even if life changes its appearance, it will never die, and the river of life will flow into eternity.

The planet is the eternal carrier of life.

When he first came into contact with this view, it had a huge impact on Jesse's outlook on life. Because she has been educated by Shinra since she was a child, she has always been instilled with the view that "when a person dies, nothing will be left, and nothing will be left behind." It is said that this is a conclusion reached by the Shinra Company through scientific testing and verification.

However, astrology scholars say this is just a scam by Shinra Corporation. Before the emergence of the Shinra Corporation, the Republic used another school of rhetoric, saying that after death, people would be judged by [God] and decide whether to go to heaven or hell. Even before the theology of the Republic, there had been an ethics of astrology.

"Jesse, think about it from another direction. If your father's spirit breaks away from the body and merges into the planet, and then your heart is attached to the planet, is it closely connected with your father's spirit? Your father is always by your side. "

So said the old gentleman who asked Jesse for horoscopes. As he spoke, his eyes seemed to drift into the distance and he saw his wife, who had been dead for many years.

Jesse quickly believed the story. Rather than being convinced, it is better to say that she forced herself to believe this statement.

Then, she came into contact with a fact from the old gentleman that shocked her beyond measure - the Mako extracted by Shinra Company was essentially the life stream of the planet.

In other words, every spray of fluorescent light in the night sky represents countless souls from all ages being thrown into the furnace of the Mako Furnace.

How many souls are wailing mixed with the huge roar of the magic furnace? If Shinra Corporation is allowed to continue to act recklessly, the flow of life will eventually be drained, and the planet carrying countless lives will also die.

[The planet is mourning, but no one can hear it], the old gentleman's voice was trembling when he said this.

Suddenly learning this fact, Jesse hid in the house for two full days without coming out. The truth about Mako is too cruel. How can a young girl who has always relied on Shinra and Mako accept it?

Until the morning of the third day, under the worried eyes of his mother, a pale Jesse walked out of the room, leaving only the words "I'm going to the Golden Butterfly Playground to challenge the big stage again", and then left home with a salute and a small amount of money. .

If Shinra Corporation continues to behave like this, one day my father's soul will be consumed as fuel, right? There are very few organizations or countries in the world that can resist Shinra. Even Wutai has been completely conquered and turned into a docile and harmless tourist area.

Sure enough, the only option was to find the mysterious [Avalanche] organization.

The intelligence was sought from various sources, and the information was either true or false. Once, Jesse was almost tricked into going to the Walled Commercial Street, but in the end she got the exact information - the Qifan Street slums might be able to find clues to the Avalanche.

In this way, Jesse came to the Qifan Street slums with an almost reckless attitude.

But where to start? Jesse was in trouble. After much deliberation, she finally had to risk asking others for clues, asking where the most connected people or the most concentrated information were in the Qifan Street slums.

"Wouldn't it be over if you just asked [Seventh Heaven]?" Passers-by looked at him strangely.

Jesse blinked his big eyes: "Seventh Heaven?"

"If you want to relieve your fatigue and hunger after get off work, the best place to go is the [Seventh Heaven] bar. This is common knowledge in the slums of Qifan Street, a young lady from the uptown area."

"Huh? I, I, I am not..."

"You have such a clean face, and you don't have the faint rotten smell of the slums on your body. The key is that you are wearing brand-name goods that are only sold in the downtown area on Bafan Street. It's okay. Since the opening of Seventh Heaven, in the past year, Qifan Street has There are always strange and unfamiliar faces, and you are not the least of them."

The passerby pointed Jesse in the direction of Seventh Heaven and then walked away.

Jesse was left confused.

PS: Jesse's role in FF7RE is very full, and he teases Claude, but unfortunately his life or death is uncertain in the end... I quite like this character.