Mystery: A Spark

Because star crystal is an extraordinary material, it is very expensive.

Each 50 grams of star crystal costs 150 pounds; if used to make a crystal ball, the price would be unimaginable.

In addition, some crystal balls become collectibles for antique enthusiasts due to their age.

In this situation, with the added value of antiques, crystal balls can fetch outrageous prices.

Seeing Arthur lost in thought, Arthas squatted down and said:

"Crystal balls shouldn't need to be too expensive, right? Just buy a decent one. Does using a better crystal ball really increase the success rate of astrology?"

"Of course. A crystal ball is to an astrologer what a weapon is to a warrior. How can you possibly win a fight with a broken weapon?"

"Moreover, things like divination and astrology are not to be taken lightly; even the slightest ambiguity in the information could cost us our lives," Arthur said, regaining his composure.

In the original work, quite a few people died because of divination problems, with the highest number even reaching Sequence Five.

Using a junk crystal ball is certainly convenient, but neither he nor Arthas can be resurrected, and how many lives do they have to risk?

Arthur couldn't think of a good place to get a crystal ball. He didn't like the ones of average quality, and he couldn't afford the good ones right now. Besides, he didn't know where to get them.

At their peak, the Abraham family probably possessed many exquisite crystal balls, but after a major upheaval, they likely didn't have many left.

Moreover, they have to supply their own family members first.

Even the crystal ball made of star crystal that Fors obtained in the original book was obtained by trading Louis Wayne's head after killing him, a traitor to the Abraham family.

Louis Wayne was one of the Aurora Order's messengers and a recorder; the value of his head to the Abraham family was self-evident.

Sigh, we'll just have to wait and see. I wonder if Edwina and Huang Beibei have any relevant clues... Arthur sighed.

It's not that he couldn't buy a decent crystal ball, but the people in the original story who died because of divination were too exemplary, making Arthur dare not be careless in this regard.

After seeing Arthur go to take a shower, Arthas whispered:

"Mr. Nalzdo, do you have anything in your hands...?"

"No, I don't need this."

“Hmm, that makes sense. You seemed to have said that you could get information directly from the spirit world without needing astrology or anything.” Arthas frowned and lay down.

Apart from Mr. Nalzdo, whose motives are unclear, his channels are basically the same as Arthur's.

Arthur was unwilling to compromise on the crystal ball, and since Mr. Nalzdor didn't have one, Arthas could only wait for Arthur to come up with a solution.

After all, Arthas had no money and nothing of value to trade with others.

……

Silent all night.

Sunday morning in Backlund was still shrouded in mist.

After Arthur woke up, he first washed up and then began to write a letter.

The first letter was addressed to Klein, concerning Leonard's suggestion from the previous night to have Benson join the Church of Mother Earth.

The second and third letters were addressed to Bernadette and Edwina respectively, asking them to keep an eye out for high-quality crystal balls.

After handing the first letter to Arthas, Arthur began preparing breakfast while awaiting Klein's reply.

He planned to send the remaining two letters out for Arthas to run around after Arthas returned and had breakfast, so that Arthas could digest his food.

After breakfast was ready, Klein's reply arrived, along with Benson's response to the matter.

Klein had no objection to Leonard's suggestion, as it would make Benson safer.

So Klein even wrote a letter to Benson, intending to persuade him to join the Church of the Earth Mother, and asked Arthas to help deliver it to him.

Even so, Benson was still somewhat undecided about the matter.

Because his family had always been believers in the goddess of night, the sudden change of faith was something Benson found hard to accept.

Therefore, he said he wanted to think about it some more and did not give a definite answer.

Arthur didn't care. Whether the matter succeeded or not wouldn't have much impact on him anyway; it was up to the person involved to make the decision.

……

Afternoon, Backlund Pier.

A group of people stood quietly waiting on the banks of the Tasok River, led by Arthur and Hugh.

In the morning, while Arthas was delivering a message, he received a message that the rye sent by Frank was about to arrive, which is why Arthur brought people over to receive it.

With this batch of grain as support, the Workers' Mutual Aid Association's work could begin to expand.

In addition, due to the joint experiment proposed by Bonova with the Church of the Earth Mother, several members of the Church of the Earth Mother will also be on board this time, including some bishops.

Of course, this is only the stated purpose.

After a while, several large ships gradually approached along the Tasok River.

On the lead ship, Arthur saw a familiar face.

It was Bishop Raman, whom he had met once before and who had given him a dog.

The ship docked at the pier, and Bishop Raman, dressed in ordinary clothes, led a group of people off the ship.

"Hello, this must be Mr. Heller. He certainly has an extraordinary air about him." Bishop Raman greeted Arthur with a gentle expression.

But he did not use the church's special gestures, nor did he address Arthur as "Your Excellency," as if he did not know Arthur at all.

"Hello, Bishop, you must be tired from your long journey. Shall we proceed to St. Hillan Cathedral now?" Arthur asked in a very unfamiliar tone, as if he had absolutely no connection with the Church of the Earth Mother.

“No rush, we want to go to the Harvest Church first, where one of our colleagues is,” Bishop Raman said with a calm smile.

“Ah, very well. I’ve also heard of Bishop Utravsky’s reputation. In that case, let’s talk about it later.”

Arthur and Bishop Raman exchanged glances, both seeing the deeper meaning in each other's eyes.

Chapter 209 Ace Snake is a son of a bitch

Time flies, and it's already mid-December.

During this period, with the support of Frank's batch of food, the Workers' Mutual Aid Association's work flourished.

Although no strike action has ever been organized.

However, the protections the mutual aid society provides to workers, and the fact that joining it allows them to buy relatively cheap black bread, are enough to entice the workers.

Furthermore, what truly attracts workers is the Workers' Mutual Aid Association's assistance in recovering unpaid wages, which is of paramount importance to them.

Because it can be said that wage arrears is not just a national phenomenon, or even a global phenomenon, but a phenomenon of the multiverse.

As long as workers and capitalists exist in the world, wage arrears will be a widespread problem.

Of course, different worlds may use slightly different names for these two things, but their essence remains the same.

Exploiters and the exploited.

That is the essence of both of them.

Exploiters never feel that they are taking too much profit from the exploited, because human desires are endless.

This means that without sufficient and effective control, wage arrears are likely to occur.

At the beginning, the mutual aid association's efforts to recover unpaid wages were somewhat difficult because there were too many factory owners who owed wages.

Therefore, the security team needs to go door-to-door and reason with each household.

Later, after in-depth exchanges with the security team, these factory owners suddenly realized the truth, understood many principles, and became more tolerant and generous.

As a result, wage arrears have gradually decreased significantly.

At least no one dared to openly and brazenly default on wages; instead, they started using underhanded methods, such as falsifying accounts.

Arthur's attitude toward this behavior is to either ignore it or not correct it.

Because those who are worth dealing with using such methods are basically high-value, highly skilled workers.

These people have enough knowledge and skills to be easily fooled, which is why the factory owners need to use more sophisticated methods to deal with them.

For ordinary workers, wages are only a few pence, not even enough to compensate for the effort spent falsifying accounts.

Arthur's approach of not intervening in such a more sophisticated tactic was because he lacked the manpower to handle it.

It's not that we don't have enough skilled fighters, but rather that we don't have enough knowledgeable people.

These roughnecks are fine with carrying out specific tasks, but if you ask them to play tricks on the factory owners, they'll definitely get completely fooled.

Therefore, at this stage, Arthur did not let the security team waste their energy arguing with those old-timer factory owners.

After all, those skilled workers possess advanced techniques and have a stronger ability to withstand risks than the average person, unlike others who are completely powerless to deal with wage arrears.

Of course, if someone collects relevant evidence and comes to the Confederation of Mutual Aid to ask for justice, Arthur will naturally not ignore it.

However, at this stage, his primary focus remains on ensuring the survival of the lowest-level workers.

Besides the situation with the mutual aid society, another thing worth mentioning is the situation with our Miss Gem.

Since she personally killed Jeston, she has been coming to the East End more often.

Initially, she came to provide follow-up treatment for children suffering from mental illnesses.

After each therapy session with the children, she would play games with them for a while and teach them to read and write.

The books he read were all introductory books, which Audrey provided free of charge.

After teaching the children to read, Audrey would take Vina out to play, eat some delicious food, and show her other parts of the city.

However, Audrey's frequent visits to the East End soon caught the attention of her family, especially Mrs. Hall, who often kept tabs on her.

In fact, Audrey's unusual behavior had already been noticed by her mother. Even though her mother wasn't in the audience, her maternal intuition still made her sense the change in her daughter.

Moreover, Mrs. Hall had long been aware that her daughter had become an extraordinary being. After all, although Audrey thought it was very discreet when she took things from the family vault, it was an obvious abnormality in Mrs. Hall's eyes.

In addition, with her daughter starting to go out more frequently, Mrs. Hall quickly made a decision to have a serious talk with her daughter.

During that conversation, facing Mrs. Hall's gentle and concerned gaze, Audrey finally confessed to killing someone recently, but concealed her deeper inner conflict and doubts about class.

Having learned the whole story, Mrs. Hall was somewhat surprised that her daughter's hands were stained with blood, but she did not have any objection to Audrey's actions.

In her view, killing a gang leader like Jeston who committed such heinous acts was no big deal.

Mrs. Hall felt a pang of sympathy, thinking that her daughter shouldn't feel bad about killing such a scoundrel.