Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 353 Back

The "Rusty Bolts" bar fell into a deathly silence.

The workers looked at each other, none of them daring to be the first to respond to this crazy proposal.

Why would they follow this madman and cause trouble? They still have mortgages to pay and children to raise.

They've given up?
Jack glanced around, a mocking smile playing on his lips. He pulled a large bottle of painkillers from his work pants pocket and slammed it down on the bar.

You can keep this one!

He shouldered the fire axe, turned, and left, the rusty blade gleaming blood-red under the kerosene lamp.

If this bar isn't working, then he'll go to the next one! He certainly wouldn't fight the entire city alone; he needed to find his supporters, even followers.

After Jack left, the entire bar was completely silent. The medicine bottle vibrated slightly on the bar counter, and the white pills made a soft crunching sound.

That bottle of painkillers was so glaring that it silenced many people.

Who among them hasn't eaten this stuff? Many people even treat it like candy, eating handfuls at a time, to the point that they've developed a resistance to it.

Next, they will use stronger anesthetics to relieve pain, such as... fentanyl, an opioid.

In the corner, the black mechanic Amari suddenly stood up. He went to the middle of the bar, twisted open the medicine bottle with his rough fingers, poured half a bottle of pills into his mouth, and drank it down with the other half bottle of whiskey.

If this were done in a certain major Eastern country, they would probably call an ambulance.

But he was fine because neither painkillers nor alcohol could numb him.

“I took so many medications.” Amari raised his mangled right hand, where only three twisted fingers remained. “Why does it still hurt so much?”

Five years ago, the workplace injury took away not only his fingers, but also his dignity. A large portion of the huge compensation from the employer went to lawyers and unions, leaving him with only a small amount, not even enough to pay his bills.

The medical bills tightened around his throat like a noose, and it was only through the money pooled together by his coworkers that he survived.

He was very distressed.

It's a feeling of knowing that the world is wrong, knowing that the world is not right, but being powerless to resist, only able to silently endure, or even just silently shed tears alone at home.

Damn it, why did this happen!

Damn it, this shouldn't be like this!
The anger he had been suppressing was ignited by Jack. He had thought about the things Jack said before.

“I only have a worthless life and a body full of work injuries, but I want to give it a try.” He put on his clothes and prepared to leave the bar.

“Amari! Are you really going to do this?” his coworker shouted at him.

"Tomorrow! I have to go to work tomorrow!" another coworker shouted.

His only response was the loud slam of the door shut.

Inside the bar, the remaining people remained silent.

Should I go to work tomorrow, maintain my current lifestyle, and live a humbly existence? Or should I fight to reclaim what is rightfully mine?
Most of them fell silent when they thought of their wives and children at home.

Suddenly, another person among them stood up.

He hesitated for a moment, finished his drink, and said, "Ahem... I'm just like Amari, a man. I'll go check on Amari, lest he do something impulsive!" With that, he hurriedly left the bar.

Just as Jack said, once there's a first, there will be a second; this city won't lack people like that!

In the underground world, Jack went from bar to bar giving speeches. The more he spoke, the more fluent and emotional he became. If, in the "Rusty Bolts" bar, he still seemed a little naive.

Then, he matured more and more. Standing on a table piled high with empty bottles, his voice was hoarse yet full of power:

“Those bastards poison us with painkillers and candy, and then rip us off with exorbitant medical bills! We’re like livestock that create capital for them!” He kicked over a medicine bottle, and white pills spilled into the beer stains.

“The Wayne Corporation is nearing the end of its lifespan. My children and I will be generation after generation without any hope of advancement, becoming lowly slaves! No, not even slaves!”

"Why should they get ahead after all this time! Look at this city! Who built these skyscrapers? Who sweated in front of the furnace? And what have we gotten in return? They're nothing but maggots crawling all over us!"

“You are not Black, not Latino, not white, we are all brothers, we all belong to the people of Gough City.”

"We are the Goughbred Workers' Party, a parliamentary group! We want to form a new SS!"

"We're back! Those capitalists brought us back from the dead! We'll make those vampire capitalists taste the pain of concentration camps! We'll make them feel endless fear, just like they did to us!"

“We would be better off without them! Everyone would have reasonable working hours, no more than eight hours, and even social security!”

"I want every one of you to own a house without property tax, and to own a car without car loans!"

"Everyone should be able to afford medical care, instead of having to take those damn painkillers! I want to ban flour and coloring, and stop them from harming our children and our future!"

The speech also stirred up a restless heart.

Flames broke out in a bar, attracting the Nightingale Gang's security guards to suppress them. But Jack was prepared; with just a good vantage point, a few guns he bought using George's identity, and his own powerful physique, he easily took down the guards.

It should be understood that on this land, there are 300 million people and 700 million guns.

Those gangster security guards who were powerful in the eyes of ordinary people were easily taken down by Jack, which brought Jack great prestige!

"Did you see that clearly?" Jack kicked the unconscious security captain on the ground with the tip of his boot. The captain's sunglasses, worth tens of dollars, had shattered into three pieces.

"Are they powerful? They're weak! They're nothing but the henchmen of evil! We are the violent apparatus that will rise above them!" Jack, gun in hand, casually dispatched the security captain.

"Are you afraid of me, or of him, or of those maggots?" he said to the swarming crowd of followers.

“We respect you!” A man stepped out from the crowd, faced Jack, and raised his right arm.

That was a ceremony from nearly a hundred years ago!

Jack's act of killing the gang's security guards made many people see his value! Jack is not a crazy person who acts impulsively, but a person with a plan and strength!

If this person can truly lead them to victory over the gangsters, over those lords who hog them, and make them a terrifying force in this city.

So why say no?

"And you guys?" Jack looked at the group of people behind him.

The person behind didn't speak, but also raised their right arm.

(End of this chapter)