Life Dungeon Game

He didn't know what kind of scheme the Kegete Group had orchestrated, but he did know that the current mayor, Krot, seemed to have been the speaker of the second council during Snava's administration.

"Yes,"

Sinji looked up at Heo, seemingly surprised by Heo's keen observation, and then slowly continued,

"Unlike us, Krotter came from a political family in St. John's City. In addition to five senators and more than a dozen representatives, his family had countless city councilors. At that time, his faction had many councilors in the city council."

"In the first parliament, he and his faction were not in our ruling coalition; they belonged to the parliamentary neutral faction."

"During the midterm elections, facing pressure from the Kejette Group, Snava had to seek more support, and at that time, Krot's faction became a key force."

"After lengthy negotiations, he finally agreed to support us, but only on the condition that he be given the position of Speaker of the new Parliament. Snawa agreed to his conditions."

"And this became one of the things we regretted the most afterward."

Sinzi looked up at Krot, who was now the mayor, speaking eloquently on television.

"Krot has no stance, or rather, his stance depends on who gives him more benefits."

"Once the Kegete Group decided not to use normal methods to remove us from power, he became a dagger inserted into our ranks."

"Of course, he did not immediately reveal his true nature at the beginning."

"The Kegete Group started its 'war' with 'food,' when our draft food price control bill had just come into effect. The bill stipulated that food prices in St. John's City could not exceed 20% of the federal average food price."

"This bill was calculated by someone we hired. Because there are no transportation costs, normal grain producers can still make a high profit even if the price of grain in St. John's is 20% lower than the federal average grain price.

"Moreover, the 'skill' that made the Keget Group successful is that they have grain synthesis technology with a yield far exceeding that of their peers, and they are willing to pay their employees wages lower than those of normal grain manufacturers."

"This bill is a bit too hasty."

He Ao sighed softly.

Sito was also one of the ordinary witnesses to the events of that year. At that time, almost 95 percent of the food in St. John’s City came from the Kegete Group, and the city government had no right to negotiate with the Kegete Group.

Of course, even without this food price bill, the Kejette Group would still find other reasons to launch an attack.

"Yes, we were all too young back then,"

Sinji also let out a long sigh. In the long years of his solitary seclusion, he had recalled those events countless times.

"In the second week after the food price bill took effect, the Kegett Group announced that because the city government's restrictions on food prices were 'too low,' they were unable to maintain normal operations and therefore had to suspend operations in St. John's."

Most of the city's grain is sold.

"The city's food supply suddenly dropped from normal to less than one-tenth of what it used to be, but the Kegete Group's factories did not stop operating."

At this point, Sienzi gave a wry smile.

“The citizens of St. John work in the grain factories, producing large quantities of grain every day, but they themselves cannot buy any grain.”

"Because that's not Saint John's factory."

He Ao said calmly.

"That's not Saint John's factory..."

Upon hearing this, Sienji was taken aback.

He pondered the words repeatedly, and after a long while, he came to his senses, raised his head, and stared at He Ao, as if trying to see the past that the old man had experienced in his aged face.

What he saw reflected in his eyes were only the wrinkles etched by history and time.

After a brief silence, Sinzi continued,

"Because of the Kegete Group's actions, St. John's City has fallen into an unprecedented food crisis. Initially, we wanted to purchase food from other food conglomerates, but none of them wanted to offend the Kegete Group."

"At the same time, the Kegete Group deployed its mercenary groups to the trade routes of St. John City, ostensibly to protect its grain export caravans, but these mercenaries were actually used to interfere with our caravans that were sent out to purchase grain from other cities."

"In the underground market, a large amount of high-priced grain of unknown origin appeared, and the price of grain suddenly increased two to three times. We tried to crack down on these underground markets and try to control the price of grain, but the effect was not good."

"Because people simply cannot buy food in normal supermarkets and markets."

"The food shortage caused chaos throughout the city. Then, the Kegete Group began to bribe the media. Almost simultaneously, the media throughout St. John began to attack the city government and the mayor, using the food price bill as a breakthrough to completely negate all our policies and bills."

"In this situation, Krotter, as the speaker of the council, launched the first attack on us, manipulating the city council to initiate the impeachment proceedings against the mayor."

"At almost the same time, a large number of cabinet members' 'private morality' issues were exposed, and rumors spread."

"Although we all know these accusations are baseless, it becomes difficult to prove the truth when more and more people believe the rumors."

"But at least,"

He Ao slowly got up and walked to the window. As he approached, the homeless people hidden in the city lights and shadows of buildings slowly came into view.

"The people of St. John have not lost faith in you. At least in my neighborhood, even though people can't afford food, even though my neighbors and I can only afford one and a half meals a day, and we toil in hunger most of the time..."

"But not a single person took to the streets to oppose you."

Sinji raised his head and stared blankly at Heo.

This was the first time he had heard the evaluation of this matter from the perspective of an ordinary person who had experienced those things back then.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but it was as if something was choking him, preventing him from speaking.

"Until then, the Kegete Group's tactics were insufficient to quickly subdue..."

You have caused a devastating impact,”

He Ao turned to look at Si Enji and calmly continued, "Was the last straw that broke the camel's back the city's defenses?"

"Yes,"

Sinji took a deep breath and stood up, standing beside Heo, looking at the homeless people in the shadows of the night. "The incident that caused things to completely spiral out of control was that an assassin broke into the Grain Capital Daily building, attempting to shoot the editor-in-chief of the Grain Capital Daily, but accidentally shot and killed a city defense major who was at the Grain Capital Daily."

"And the assassin was killed in the counterattack of the city defense forces."

"The Grain Capital Daily was the media outlet that published the most 'dirt' on us. Almost overnight, this news was published in all newspapers and news outlets, pointing the finger at us for instructing assassins to kill the editor-in-chief, 'attempting to eliminate dissidents through abnormal and extreme means'."

"The whole incident suddenly escalated into a serious incident. A 'criminal' who ordered a killer to commit murder cannot become the mayor of St. John. Even those who originally supported us began to have doubts amidst the bombardment of propaganda."

"If that's all there is to it, we can still hold on."

"But this incident resulted in the death of a city defense officer, and the city defense force declared its distrust of us almost the next day, sending us a letter of inquiry. It was then that we learned that the city defense force had also been infiltrated by the Kegete Group."

"The announcement issued by the city defense forces almost confirmed our 'hired assassins' affair. At the same time, the city defense forces also announced the lifting of 'protection' for Mayor Snawar and the withdrawal of the mayor's special bodyguard team."

"And with just the mayor's guard, we simply cannot withstand the possible appearance of superhuman assassins."

"Of course, the Kegete Group did not send assassins, because after the city defense forces made their statement, our ruling coalition collapsed, and a large number of members of parliament sided with Krote."

"The impeachment vote that was originally rejected has been reopened for a second time, and it is foreseeable that this time it will succeed."

"That night, Krotter visited us late at night and gave us a 'decent' solution."

"They demanded that Snawa and the deputy mayor resign immediately to avoid the consequences of impeachment."

"If you agree, the Kegete Group can arrange a plane to take us to Dawn City or Wetland so that we can both survive."

"If we do not agree, the Kejette Group cannot guarantee our safety if we are successfully impeached."

"In fact, things have come to this point, and we have almost no room to resist."

That night, several ministers from the city cabinet fled by plane.

"It is foreseeable that after we are ousted from power, Kroth can stigmatize us, justify the rejection of all our bills and policies, and then overturn all our efforts, restoring everything to a state where we never came."

"And this is exactly what the Kegete Group wanted after going through all this trouble."

"If they don't do these things and instead cooperate with the city defense forces to assassinate Snawa, an assassinated mayor will be sympathized with. At the same time, after Snawa's death, our team will still take over the mayor's position, making it very difficult to change the laws we left behind."

That day

That night, the rest of us ate our last meal.

“During that meal, Snawa talked to us a lot about our journey. He encouraged me to run for mayor. I was only 36 years old at the time and the youngest member of the team. He said the future was in my hands.”

Sinzi's tone grew slower and slower.

"After that meal, Snava went back to the mayor's residence to rest. We stayed next to the mayor's residence that night."

"At five o'clock the next morning, I was woken up. The maid heard gunshots and found Snavar lying in a pool of blood. They quickly sent someone to call me."

"When I arrived, he was sitting on a clean white sofa, blood gushing from his chest. He had shot himself in the heart. He was beyond saving. I went to him, trying to prolong his life, but he just held my hand."

"The remaining people came one by one, entering the room. We watched him, and he watched us."

"Then he died."

At this point, Sienzi took a long breath, "He left two handwritten suicide notes, one for the public and one for us."

"The statement he gave to the public described the slander and attacks he had suffered, and expressed his willingness to defend the constitution of St. John's City and the federal government with his life, and to uphold justice."

"We should make appropriate concessions to the expectations we have received and retain as much of the gains as possible."

"Even a mayor who commits suicide can evoke sympathy."

He Ao said slowly.

"yes,"

Sinzi gazed out the window, and also at his own reflection in it.

"Snawa's suicide completely reversed the trend of public opinion and brought the impeachment process to a halt."

"The deputy mayor took over the position of mayor according to procedure. Snavaro's suicide suddenly became a hot topic throughout the Federation. Even Irons sent a letter to inquire about what happened. The FBI even set up a special investigation team."

"Under such immense public pressure, the Kegete Group had no choice but to suspend its original operations."

"Although we ultimately had to halt our investigation into unfair competition against Kegete Group, amend the Food Price Act, and change most of our policies in the food industry, many of the laws and policies we implemented have remained."

“Snawa did his best to preserve these things with his life.”

Sinzi sighed, "Although many of them were removed by Krot during his eight years in office, many others, like the healthcare bill, are now defunct."

"But at least, they're still here."

He Ao calmly replied.

"Yes, at least, this city still retains traces of Snava's presence,"

Sinji turned to look at Heo, "Old man, you're a good listener. This is the first time in all these years that I've told this story in its entirety to anyone else."

He took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and finally whispered, "Thank you."

"Need not,"

He Ao shook his head, "I've also cleared up my doubts."