The Death Knell

The streets are beautiful, lined with green trees, there are not many private cars flying in the air, and the river in the city is also beautiful blue.

There is a faint fragrance of flowers in the air, and a high-tech holographic interactive billboard stands on the roadside on the spacious grass. The woman in the advertisement is gently blessing pedestrians with good health and promoting the philosophy of her company.

There were not many pedestrians on the road, but everyone was dressed brightly and had a satisfied smile on their face, as if they were high.

If we hadn't known in advance that this era was a dystopia, some people might have thought that this was really a good place.

The answer to why the environment is like this is actually very simple. This is the competition between enterprises, which can also be regarded as a kind of involution.

For example, consider two adjacent pieces of land, one belonging to Company A and the other to Company B. These two companies are engaged in the same industry and are considered competitors.

The former has built a magnificent building on this land. Can the board of directors of the latter tolerate living in the shadow of the other party?

Absolutely not. We are all rich, so who can’t build a building? They will only build taller and grander buildings.

Company A not only built a building on this land, but also built an artificial lake and greening it to imitate the beautiful scenery in history and attract everyone's attention.

What will Company B do? The answer is of course to keep up and be better than the other party.

Competition is always all-round. The most embarrassing thing for rich people is not to see poor people unable to eat, but to see what others have that they don’t have.

Of course, no matter how they compete, the exploitation of workers is the same. At most, they compete to see who can pay less every month, eliminating more waste that has no further exploitation value.

Therefore, the earth in this era looks like a donkey dung egg.

It looks smooth and harmless on the outside, but if you break it with your hands, you will find the essence of feces, which is full of dregs.

As for the pedestrians on the street, there is no doubt that they are all rich people. The real poor people are working on the assembly lines underground and never see the light of day. Who gives them the opportunity to go shopping in broad daylight?

In an era without superheroes, there is naturally no distinction between justice and evil. Basically everyone only cares about money.

This is probably also the life of human beings as carbon-based organisms. Dependence on materials can easily become a handle for others to control.

Food, clothing, housing, transportation, life, old age, illness, and death. Every day when we live here, we have to start spending money when we open our eyes. Without money, it is really difficult to move forward.

However, as long as you have money, you can live a life of superiority in this kind of society. Because the government is basically completely incompetent, so as long as you can negotiate good terms with the companies that govern this area, you can build a country and become an emperor. , you can also buy a building and rename it Constantinople.

Of course, the premise is that you have to buy the trademark 'Constantinople'.

"Here... it looks okay, at least the streets are quite clean." Bobo squatted on the shoulders of Deathstroke. At this time, everyone was on a neat lawn with dew, and a lush big tree The tree blocked everyone from the morning sun.

There are little bits of light falling between the leaves, and the patches between light and dark are slightly swaying on the ground with the wind.

There are not many buildings in the city, and it can even be said that they look much smaller than the era we lived in. But all the buildings that can be seen are astonishingly tall, with the names of various companies hanging on them, like a root. Pillars holding up the sky.

"The untidy places are all under our feet."

Su Ming smiled and said something to the orangutan, and at the same time silently issued instructions through strangulation, letting the adjutant start working.

The first thing is to collect intelligence and see if there is any news about Reverse Lightning on the Internet. Secondly, I wanted to get some electronic money. I haven’t played in the 25th century timeline of the DC Universe yet, so maybe I should buy some souvenirs.

"Underground?" Alberta looked down at the lawn. The green grass was very cute: "Is there a cemetery under our feet?"

It doesn't look like it, because there are no tombstones. There is a skyscraper about two kilometers away, and within a radius of five kilometers of this building, there is a park-like environment, and there is a blue artificial river.

It’s more like… a sunny conservationist’s paradise.

"It's just that the grave of life is not only an unhappy marriage, but also a job exploited by capitalists." The death knell waited for the adjutant's progress. He simply took out a piece of cloth from his pocket and spread it on the lawn for a picnic: "The poor are here In this era, there is no way to live on the ground. They will only live in the dark underground forever, serving as the invisible cornerstone that supports society."

That's it, people can only see the buildings on the ground. Who would look at the foundations buried underground if they have nothing better to do?

In short, the working people are in various underground factories. The above ground is a space for the rich. This operation is to find Dr. Swann. He is a scientist and naturally does not work underground, so there is no need for everyone to go down. .

"Is the social division so serious?" Jesse believed Deathstroke's introduction without any doubt, and she looked a little sad.

But after the orangutan handed her a piece of chocolate pie, her brows widened.

"Monopoly is a phenomenon that will inevitably occur when capital develops to a certain extent. Clean tap water being more expensive than Coke is not a new thing. Haven't you seen it in our time?" While answering the girl, Death Knell motioned to everyone. Sit down, don't be polite.

It just so happened that I didn’t have time to eat hot dishes in Sepulke just now, so this time I got some self-heating hot pot to eat...

Unfortunately, before the lime bags were soaked in water, a large drone equipped with a heavy machine gun flew over. White airflow was sprayed from under its round body, and it floated to the side and asked, but a young female voice came from it. , said very politely:

"Gentlemen and ladies, welcome to the picnic in the green space of Midtown Liberty Water Company. I am the receptionist with job number 9910. The purpose of our company is to provide safe and high-quality water to the people of Midtown, without any pollution. There are no additives and no fragrance. When using tap water, please choose a brand trusted by people in Zhongcheng. Free tap water, we are trustworthy.”

Let’s start with an advertisement. Even if you point a heavy machine gun at customers, you can’t forget to promote it.

"Tsk!" Superboy narrowed his eyes. He didn't like being pointed at a gun. "

"Dear customers, please let me introduce the next process. The lawn stepping fee is 300 universal points, the environmental cleanup fee is 200 universal points, the fresh air breathing fee is 200 universal points, the scenery viewing fee is 200 universal points, and the relaxation fee is 200 universal points. Points, the corkage fee for bringing your own wine is 10 universal points, and the total is 1110 points. Is your payment method facial recognition or mind-feeling interaction?"

How should I put it, it was much gentler than the dystopias Su Ming had seen before. At least we were talking about business here, and the Supreme Mage was never afraid to negotiate terms.

Some restaurants are like this. When placing an order, you have to pay first and then the food will be served. Just get used to it.