Is it really normal to contain these anomalies?

"Why?" Bai Yu was a little surprised. After all, when he asked the first two questions, he thought he had already guessed the answer to the third question.

"My family needs money," Komini lowered her head and paused briefly, "Well... I need a lot... a lot of money..."

"Money is important, but is it worth your life?"

"..." Komini was silent for a moment, but then spoke as if she had made up her mind.

"Senior, can I tell you a story?"

"Speak..." Bai Yu nodded.

"Senior, do you know? I have a friend who is also an employee of World Wings, but unlike most employees, she was not originally a resident of the nest..."

"Her family used to live in the examination village in the back alley."

"Haha, Senior, a den dweller like you definitely doesn't know what life is like in the back alley..."

Seeing Komini's somewhat awkward smile, Bai Yu just thought silently in his heart.

"....Actually, I'm a little clearer."

The back alley is made up of countless streets and countless people.

It runs like a vein throughout the city, nestled around the nest.

Every street in the back alley is divided into different levels, and the people living in it are also labeled with levels. Not only adults, but even children suffer according to the level. If a child's clothing, words and deeds do not match the level of the street where he was born, he will be treated coldly, or even lose his life at any time.

Therefore, in order to move up the social ladder, people in the back alleys have only three options.

Mouse, tailor, examination village...

Haozi, they are street thugs living in the back alleys, made up of people who can hardly make a living. In this city, they have lost their dreams and thus live a miserable life, often doing things like selling offal...

Finishers are a special profession in the city, ranked from Rank 1 to Rank 9, with special-level finishers above Rank . They rely on their own strength to make their way through the city, their primary job being to handle various commissions, and sometimes also carrying out mandatory orders from their superiors...

The final "Examination Village" refers to those who neither have the ability nor the desire to live a dull life. They hope to pass the recruitment and examination, join World Wings, move out of the back alley, and live a stable life...

It's not impossible, but the probability is extremely small.

And if you succeed, there is a reminder in the back alley.

"If World Wings really sends an invitation to you in the examination village, then you should be careful, they may be interested in other things about you."

"In the eyes of many people, the examination village is the stupidest...but her father, he succeeded," Komini murmured, "When she was a child, her father went from the examination village...No, it should be said that he was invited by K Company..."

"Her family therefore moved into K Nest... She and her brother relied on him to live the life that only people in the nest should live..."

"When she was little, she thought her family was very happy, and she also considered it her dream to join a World Wings... "

Comini's voice was slightly tearful. "But in her last year of college... her father died. At the dinner table, in front of the whole family, he dissolved... his muscles... his blood... his bones... nothing belonged to him anymore."

"Ah...Is that so..."

Bai Yu finally figured out the beginning and end of this tragedy.

K Company.

A company that ostensibly possesses the "Singularity" technology related to nanotechnology, but most of its technology is used in medical fields, such as the "regeneration reactor" and various bullets in the Brain Lobe Corporation, which are produced by them.

But these are not their most famous products. Their most representative medicines are the healing ampoules and dissolving ampoules...

Although the terms "healing" and "dissolving" seem different, they are both obtained by diluting the tears of K Company's singularity technology, the "Thing of Sorrow".

And heal? Dissolve?

The actual effect of tears is actually to make a substance return to its most essential state in its subconscious.

If the concentration is right, you can even grow a broken arm back.

But what if the concentration is too high? Then the person being injected will continue to degenerate until they reach a state of unconsciousness at the cellular level.

Staff?

The child's father is actually just a drug tester at K Company.

Chapter 29 The power of choice

This kind of thing is not uncommon in a city like this.

But there was no time to lament the disgusting way the city was run. At this moment, Bai Yu was more puzzled.

"Then you should know some inside information about World Wings. Why did you join Lobotomy Corporation?"

He interrupted Komini for the first time and looked her in the face seriously. "None of the Wings of the World is good. Shouldn't you know this clearly?"

His voice echoed clearly in the room, but Komini did not stop telling the story.

"Her father died...but the pension from K Company is not enough for the remaining family to purchase permanent residency and property in K Nest..."

"Time is running out... If they don't pay enough, the remaining members of their family will be forcibly driven into the back alley. However, since they have no money and no power, they are still the most hated denizens of the back alley gangs..."

"Having lost all their support and protection, in the back alley, no one would accept them. The family's fate was obvious..."

"And just then... the girl received an interview invitation from L Company, and everyone was very happy..."

In this last sentence, Komini's voice became smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely.

The girl's story ends here.

And obviously, Bai Yu also got the answer she gave.

"So, you came in?" he asked softly.

"Hmm..." Komini nodded gently, "I have no choice... Mom and brother are waiting for me... And the ending will be the same if I go back to the alley anyway..."

No one spoke anymore and the room fell into a brief silence.

Even Bai Yu just looked at the depressed Komini silently, and he didn't know what to say.

In cities, this kind of thing can be seen everywhere.

People can only recognize and accept the occurrence of such things, even if such a tragedy befalls themselves.

This is the ecology and reality of the city. With the permission of the "leader", the upper class obtains the power brought by money and absolute technological strength, while the lower class is just a pure and cheap resource.

The money the people in the back alley earn in their lifetime cannot buy the right to live in the nest, and unless something unexpected happens, the same will be true for their offspring.

What's even more terrifying is that in the minds of urban people, compared to the back alleys where people are murdered at every turn...

This story is already a very qualified transaction. The father gave everything he had to K Company in exchange for the opportunity for his family to live in the nest for a short time.

Company K had already given the other party room for choice.

And this kind of behavior can even be considered quite decent in this ghost city.

but.....

After all, Bai Yu is not a native urbanite.

For some reason, after hearing the story told by Komini, Bai Yu recalled what this stupid junior said to him the first time in the corridor of the training department.

"Senior, my name is Komini. Um...what should I pay attention to after joining the company?"

"I...I really want to stay here! My family is short of money!"

Do you want to stay at Lobotomy Corporation?

And what was my answer to her then?

After recalling it, Bai Yu couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"Oh, I said the wrong thing."

He scratched his head in annoyance, but finally made a decision.

Bai Yu claims he's not a saint and can't sacrifice his own life for the survival of others... But as a traveler from another world, if just giving someone a hand could change their fate...

Well, he didn't mind.

"Humph..."

"What's wrong?"

Komini looked at the senior who suddenly stood up with some surprise.

"But you were still shocked by the reality of Lobotomy Corporation."

Recalling the scene when he first met Komini and she was scared away by Yulia, Bai Yu sighed unconsciously.

"Little girl, you're not aware enough..."

"..."

Komini lowered her head in shame, thinking the senior was talking about the time 049 scared her silly...

Bai Yu also knew that he was the only one who had gone back in time, and Komini here did not remember the conversation with him.

"Can I tell you a story? I once had a junior who, like you, was motivated by money. On her first day at work, she came to me and said she wanted to stay at Lobotomy and asked me how she could get a job..."

"At that time, I told her that only by playing badly can you live longer..."

"But in Lobotomy, facing those strange abnormalities, can you really survive without your own strength?"

"Eh..." Komini felt that the child looked like herself, and couldn't help but ask, "Is she dead?"

Bai Yu stretched his muscles casually and took a few steps forward in the room.

"Who knows? She was transferred later... But later I realized something and I regretted not telling her."

"What's the reason?" Komini asked softly.

Bai Yu turned his back and looked into Komini's eyes so seriously for the first time.

"Lobotomy Corporation is hell, but if someone could crawl out of the depths of true hell and look back at this scene, then that person wouldn't be afraid anymore..."

After saying that, the senior in front of him extended his hand to Komini and made a final invitation to her.

"For the sake of my seniority, I can help you, but I remind you that if you agree, you'll be facing a different world... You should think it over carefully."

"......"

Heaven?hell?

For a moment, Komini did not fully understand what the senior said.

She just felt that the senior in front of her suddenly became serious and gave her the power to choose.

It seems like he really wants to drag himself into hell...

But looking at Bai Yu's expression, she had a hunch that the senior was not joking.

"Hell...?"

Looking at the warm palm in front of her, Komini fell into thought.

"Like my father back then... would you go there even if you knew it was hell?"

The girl didn't know what to do...

Slowly, she closed her eyes.

Bai Yu was not in a hurry. His invitation meant that the other party would not regret it.

But the wait was over sooner than he thought.

A few seconds later.

Komini opened her eyes again, and the confusion she had felt before had disappeared, replaced by a determination that even surprised Bai Yu.

Urban reality never gives people in the back alleys the power to choose.

Instead of trusting the city, Comini would rather trust the senior in front of her who is constantly helping her in the Lobotomy Corporation.

She took her senior's hand and let him pull her up from the bed.

Chapter 30 Opening up wasteland

Um... okay....

Although she accepted the invitation from her senior, Komini was not sure what the senior wanted to do with her.

Just like now, the two of them are standing outside the G-01-05 Abnormality Containment Room.

"Senior... Yulia-senpai, is that really okay?"