death of hope

Chapter 943: "Psychic Storm" (19) Glory and Dream (Part 3)

New Sapporo,
One of the most densely populated colonies in the Terran Human Federation,

Since there are mostly Asian immigrants here, there are few letters on the streets, and most of the neon billboards are in Chinese characters and Katakana names.

New Sapporo's finance, culture, tourism, economy, trade, entertainment, and service industries are extremely developed. It is a metropolis of lights and wine, attracting a large number of tourists every year to spend money, winning praise from travel bloggers. However, it is also notorious for the rampant underworld.

The journey from the restaurant back to the company dormitory was not smooth. It had to pass through a section of the street with poor public security. Even so, Li Ang did not want to take a taxi and decided to walk:

First, to help digestion, second, to relax, and third, he wanted to see the true face of this city hidden under its hypocritical concealer:
A group of people gathered in front of the pachinko parlor, cracking sunflower seeds, telling dirty jokes and making loud noises:

They have topknots, wear samurai robes, have "over-shoulder dragon" tattoos, wear wooden clogs, and carry samurai swords on their waists. They are the henchmen of the Japanese gang and the local bosses of this street.

Locals all know that direct eye contact with these evil stars should be avoided, as a simple "What are you looking at?" could result in a beating.

When encountering this group of evil spirits, one must take a detour. Although Li Ang was not afraid of them, he also did not want to get into trouble, so he followed the advice of the locals and honestly avoided them.

·
As we walked, the surrounding environment became dim and bright. Neighborhoods with poor public security often have insufficient lighting at night; many street lights are used by gang members as targets for shooting practice.

Li Ang keenly noticed that on both sides of the narrow streets and in the dark corners, pairs of malicious eyes were spying on the wallets of passers-by. They were all hooligans without gang affiliation, without organization and discipline, and would never amount to anything.

Unlike the clean and tidy roads in the wealthy areas, this place is littered with garbage, and the mottled walls are covered with spray-painted graffiti by "street artists". Police notices are posted in between: reminding citizens to pay attention to safety when traveling at night and be careful of robbery and theft crimes by car bandits and road bullies.

This is a veritable "no man's land" with no rules or restrictions, and the security environment is worse than that of the underworld. Leon Vilnius is not afraid at all.
He straightened his spine, pulled up his hood, put his hands in his coat pockets, and acted like a ruthless man, as if to say, "Don't mess with me, you will regret it."

Li Ang didn't believe that those corrupt policemen could maintain public order. He reached for the switchblade with his right hand and clenched the pistol handle with his left hand. He felt the weight of the magazine full of bullets and felt much more at ease.
"The enemy's blood is my blade", keep your destiny firmly in your own hands, just like the brave knights of the Vilnius family's ancestors.

With their wild animal instincts, the neighborhood hooligans sensed danger in the eyes of this tall outsider, so they gave up his wallet and quietly retreated to the dark corner, hoping that the next passerby would be a fat sheep.

·
After passing through the most dangerous section of the street, the road suddenly became clear and the street lights became bright again.

The company dormitory is not far away, but still some distance away from the prosperous development zone. In the night, one can catch a glimpse of the poverty and despair lurking beneath the prosperous appearance of this city: beggars in groups of three or four gather around the lit trash cans to warm themselves by the fire, skinned mice are skewered on wooden skewers, and they take out other people's leftover pizza from the box and devour it. The supermarket shopping carts next to them are filled with cans, waiting to be pushed to the recycling station to sell for money.

The scene before him reminded Li Ang of his unbearable past. When he first wandered to this city, he had no identity documents and could not find a job despite his many skills, so he had to live in the open air as a beggar.

Some unspeakable memories came to his mind, and he certainly would not confess those embarrassing past events to his colleagues. He lied to them, saying that he was kicked out of the family because of carelessness and mistakes.

Lies don't hurt, the truth is the sharpest knife...

The memories of those truths...always lingered in Li Ang's mind like ghosts, popping up from time to time to hit him on the head, making him sad.

·
He did not lie about his noble blood.
Leon is indeed of the noble bloodline of the Vilnius family. His superior height, appearance, eyes, and the temperament of an aristocratic education can prove this.

Leon is the Earl's sister; the son of Caria Vilnius.

Kellya's husband was a down-and-out nobleman who married into the Vilnius family. He had nothing except his title, so one can imagine his status. The poor man suffered all kinds of grievances and humiliation, and even his child took his mother's surname.

This is a typical ZZ marriage, one party is for money, the other party is for inheritance of title and land.

Beautiful and wealthy Kaeliya doesn't take her cowardly husband seriously at all:

Whenever there was a noble salon banquet, she would gather all kinds of handsome men, pull them into the secret room to spend happy time together, and put countless green hats on her husband.

However, Caria's brother, Count Dominic Vilnius, the ruler of the Ix colony, turned a deaf ear to the gossips that lingered in his ears, because there were other things that bothered him more:

Doted on by his wife and concubines, the Earl's sons all grew up to be what the Earl hated the most; they were all spoiled rich boys.

As the saying goes, if the top beam is crooked, the bottom beam will be crooked too. This cynical, effeminate and useless atmosphere soon spread from the Earl's Mansion to the entire Ix colony.