Life Dungeon Game

He Ao looked up at the young man in the cabinet, then lowered his head, picked up the steaming milk tea cup next to him, and stared at the tea leaves swirling in the milk tea.

"Would you like to come in and have a seat?"

The old man glanced at his hand, which was half covered by his sleeve, and while maneuvering the tractor to the back, he led He Ao toward the inner part of the hall.

He Ao paused for a moment, then followed.

The old man picked up the electric kettle, guided He Ao to sit on the sofa, and then took out a new teacup and poured himself a cup of milk tea.

He took a small sip of milk tea and then sat down on the bamboo chair.

The electric stove emitted a warm light, melting the ice crystals that had not yet completely melted from He Ao's body.

He Ao took a sip of milk tea and looked up at the television on the opposite wall.

The television was showing a grand scene: a cheering crowd escorted a middle-aged man toward the stage.

Is this news?

He Ao asked with some doubt.

"It's news,"

Old Jeko glanced at the television, raised his wristband, and turned on the sound. A deafening roar of cheers instantly filled the somewhat chilly hall. "It's just news from over twenty years ago," he said.

He took another sip of milk tea, watching the scene on the television, "News from when United Industries was first established."

He Ao looked at the crowd on the TV. Most of them were dressed simply, their bright eyes fixed on the camera, their eyes sparkling with a kind of expectation for the future.

"Your generation may not know much about that period of history,"

Old Jeko, holding his milk tea, seemed lost in some distant memory. "Back then, we all thought that the establishment of United Industries could save this city."

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Chapter 773 The Previous Era (Long Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

"Save the city?"

He Ao took a sip of milk tea and looked at Old Jeko with some confusion.

United Industries is the largest employer in Winter City, controlling almost all of the city's mining and industrial sectors, with the entire city under its massive umbrella.

While United Industries' reputation wasn't that bad, it certainly wasn't a savior.

“Our generation has a unique affection for the United Industries,”

Old Jeko brought the stove over and placed it closer to Heo. Holding his teacup, he watched the cheering scene on television with a deep gaze.

"Many young people today feel that Union Industries is a depressing, monstrous monster that devours people without spitting out the bones, but in our time, when it was first established, it embodied the hopes of us and the entire city."

"expect?"

Heo held his teacup, quietly watching old Jeko, waiting for his next words.

"This is a long story,"

Old Jeko glanced at the electric kettle on the stove. "Where should I begin?"

He pressed a button on the stove, turned on the kettle's keep-warm function, then paused, seemingly lost in distant memories, "Do you know why United Industries was established?"

“The scattered small mining companies in Winter City were not competitive enough in the federal market and needed a large company with sufficient bargaining power. So these small companies joined together to form the current United Industries.”

He looked at the old man and answered softly.

After leaving Vili, he also did some research on the history of United Industries, which is the description of its founding background on the United Industries official website.

But that's all there is to it; there's not a single word about what happened during that era, or even about the people who participated in it.

"This is from the United Industries website, right?"

The old man glanced at He Ao in surprise, then turned his gaze back to the television. “Nowadays, very few people care about these things. Actually, I think this sentence sums it up very well. I was right there when this definition was made, and we were all very satisfied with it.”

He paused, his voice tinged with melancholy.

"In the era when I was born, Winter didn't actually have a single 'mega-corporation.' Countless small mining companies were panning for gold around Stormsea, which was considered a 'gold mine.' At that time, there were three largest companies in the entire city."

"One is the Skorn family's Skorn Mining, another is Stormsea Mining, and the last one is Frostsnow Mining."

"Although these three companies claim to be the three largest companies in Winter, their combined output is less than 20% of the total energy and mineral output of Winter."

"There are many reasons for this situation,"

"Winter City is one of the oldest cities in the Federation to mine energy minerals. It has a very developed history of energy mining. Back then, any mining company you randomly picked could be a 'time-honored brand' with hundreds of years of history. At the same time, there were often grudges between the various mining companies, making it difficult to cooperate, and so on."

"However, the core reason for maintaining Winter's disorganized state is not these factors, but rather a powerful external force."

strength."

Old Jeko's gaze fell on the man in the suit sitting in the corner of the television screen, the only one without a smile.

He Ao followed his gaze to the man.

"The one sitting in the corner is a representative from Rockwell Energy Group."

Old Jeko slowly introduced,

"Rockwell Energy Group has always been the largest partner of Winter City's energy and mining industry."

"More than 80% of the energy ore in Winter City is sold to Rockwell Energy Group."

"Previously, because Winter City was located in a relatively remote area and was not within the core sphere of influence of Rockwell Energy Group, they did not try to forcibly control the mining industry in Winter City. Instead, they used the method of 'divide and conquer' to keep the mining companies in Winter City in a state of disarray."

"For nearly a century, due to the interference of Rockwell Energy Group, the number of mining companies in Winter has increased and become more specialized."

"Under the guidance of Rockwell Energy Group, all mining companies started vicious competition and had to sell their ore to Rockwell Energy Group at a price far below the market price."

"On the other hand, because Winter City lacks basic industry and only has mining, a large amount of food, industrial products and daily necessities need to be transported through other cities in the Federation."

"Rockwell Energy Group, along with several other industrial conglomerates, controlled this trade route and most of the shopping malls and wholesale markets in Winter."

"Through control of trade routes and sales channels, Rockwell Energy Corporation significantly increased the prices of these goods, and the prices of industrial products and food in Winter were far higher than the federal average."

"At the same time, Rockwell Energy Group also poured money into city councilors and mayors, supported the pro-them city government and city council, and controlled the media to promote the group. For a long time, we didn't know what was going on."

"But you eventually discovered the problem."

He Ao took a sip of milk tea, then placed the teacup next to the stove to heat it up.

"Yes,"

Old Jeko watched the figures on the television.

"Because we gradually discovered that no matter how hard we tried to mine ore, or how hard we worked and managed the business, we became poorer and poorer, and our debts increased."

"Because we're earning less and spending more."

He Ao replied softly.

Old Jeko looked up and glanced at He Ao with surprise, seemingly astonished by He Ao's keen insight. He smiled and said, "That's a very accurate summary."

He picked up the electric kettle, glanced at He Ao's half-empty cup of milk tea, and asked, "Would you like some more?"

"Thank you."

He Ao nodded slightly.

"Once this principle is explained, it is very simple and clear,"

Old Jieke poured the milk tea into He Ao's teacup and said slowly, "But for us at the time, amidst all the complicated public opinion and propaganda, it was very difficult to make a judgment."

After filling He Ao's teacup, he poured the milk tea into his own teacup.

"In the early days of the federation, in an era of limited information, our main challenge in acquiring information was how to acquire it at all."

"And now, every day when we open our eyes, a flood of information appears before us. How do we navigate this vast sea of ​​information?"

Finding the correct and effective information from a sea of ​​general information has become the real challenge.

Once the teacup was full, he put down the teapot, picked up the teacup, and continued speaking.

“In the era I grew up, the news and newspapers would only tell us that the prices of goods in supermarkets were reasonable because their purchase price was that high, and that the low wages of mining employees were reasonable because mining companies themselves did not make money.”

"The reason why mining companies don't make money is because there are too many mining companies, and the competition is too fierce."

"It's difficult for us to know the prices of daily necessities in other cities. Almost no media outlets pay attention to these prices. Even if there are some scattered news reports, people will just be surprised and then laugh it off."

"The rampant entertainment industry occupies all our free time, preventing us from thinking about complex issues."

"We couldn't make ends meet, so we started borrowing money, and then our debt kept piling up."

"Although Winter City is not nominally under the control of Rockwell Energy Group, it is in fact completely under the control of Rockwell Energy Group."

“All mining companies work for Rockwell Energy, and everyone buys things from Rockwell Energy and its allies.”

“The whole city isn’t making a profit, but Rockwell Energy is making a profit off us.”

"Of course, many people have discovered the problem behind this, but in fact, most people who discover this problem are more distressed than those who do not, because they are powerless to change it."

“However, among all of them, Schorn is a special case,”

Old Jeko held his teacup, his deep eyes seemingly reflecting some distant memory.

"He is an outstanding manager. As the heir to the Scorn Mining Group, he demonstrated remarkable management and interpersonal skills even before inheriting the business."

"When I first met him, he was very young. He showed keen insight and was able to easily discern the deeper truth of things from just a few words."

At this point, he turned around and glanced at He Ao, "Just like you."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Of course, he was much older than you are now back then."

"At that time, I was the owner of a small mining company. When I was still confused and only felt that business was getting harder and harder, he pointed out the key to the problem to me."

He always believed that the reason why Winter was controlled by others and became increasingly poor despite owning mines was simple: the people of the city did not have a voice in the city's affairs.

"Although the city of Winter is nominally owned by the people of Winter, it actually belongs to Rockwell Energy Group. The companies controlled by Rockwell Energy Group control most of the mining industry and suppress Winter's own mining and industrial enterprises."

"He believes that the key to solving the problems in Winter lies in two points: first, uniting the mining industry to give it independent decision-making power; and second, building Winter's own industrial production lines to eliminate dependence on external supply chains."

"So he retaliated against Rockwell Energy?"

He Ao

She picked up her milk tea, took a sip, and asked softly, "Is his method different from others?"

Once the core of the problem is understood, the process of solving it is equally difficult.