People are in Type-Moon, but they practice science

People like Tansho Kazuko were destined to be unaware of this kind of situation, and Padu had no intention of communicating in depth with the store owner, so after chatting for a few words, she took Kiana away.

"Let's go. We haven't reached our destination yet. We promised to give you a place where you can use your abilities to your heart's content," Padu led the way for a distance and spoke to Kiana when there was no one around.

"Okay...By the way, Mr. Cat, have there been any outside residents moving into Academy City recently? Is there something going on outside? I don't think there's much bad news recently."

"If you want to compare it to 'Honkai Impact', of course not," Padu shook her head, "Don't you know? Your teachers in school should always say that Academy City's technology and even the overall living standards are higher than the outside world, so the influx of foreign population has never stopped."

"That's right... the teacher didn't mention the outside world, so I have no idea—"

"Really, the situation outside is not that good," Paddo did not let Kiana continue. The pervasiveness of magicians and the capital exploitation in the post-bubble economy era meant that the people were actually living in a state of calm and despair that they did not know when it would come.

Chapter 338: After so many years, has the salary increased?

Pardo sometimes recalls the days on "Twilight Street", although now it seems like a fantasy that can't even be called a dream.

During that period, she seemed to be just like herself now, busy all day long, not knowing what she was doing. Oh, for the time being... Paddo thought she still had a direction to move forward. While she could take care of herself, she would help others. Although she didn't have any lofty ambitions, it was great to live a good life, wasn't it?

This is why Paddo realized that she was hanging around the streets and doing these little things.

Some kind of signal brought her back to her senses, and Pado then remembered something. Before reaching the destination, she took out a green striped armband and handed it to Kiana.

"——This is a tool that allows you to use your abilities at will outside the school. By the way, if you students use your abilities at will outside the school, you will be immediately noticed (monitored) by the authorities. With this 'Judgment Armband', you don't have to worry."

"Judge..."

The discipline committee armband is actually a green and white striped pattern with a shield logo in the middle. After receiving the armband, Kiana suddenly asked about the past of the owner of the Maruichi food store.

"She is actually a single mother. Three years ago, her husband died unexpectedly, and as a woman, it was difficult for her to find a decent job. She couldn't even afford the daily expenses of herself and her children. In the 15th and 16th school districts, there are many such examples. Such situations... You don't need to go to the outside world, you can know just by listening to their conversations.

"She got the startup capital for the store by selling her house and applying for a loan, but to be honest, the house was worthless. At that time, Academy City was just starting out, and in order to develop private industries and attract businesses to move in, there were rental discounts for the shops. And it took her a lot of determination to come here, which is also a long story."

"......" Kiana fell into a brief silence after hearing this, and then she spoke, "I want to know, what kind of accident did her husband... encounter?"

"Accident...? It's not really an accident. Her husband died of overwork due to working too much overtime."

----------

In Japanese society, overtime work is a common phenomenon and a special culture.

Since the bubble burst in the 90s, Japan's unique lifetime employment system and seniority-based system have collapsed. The Japanese, who are burdened with tremendous pressure to survive, are afraid of losing their jobs, so they are extremely cautious at work and dare not make mistakes. This has become the origin of what later generations call "corporate slaves."

And now in 2003, this situation has not changed significantly. Collectivism and the multiple disciplines left over from the former lifetime employment system have led the Japanese to still abide by unwritten rules such as "subordinates cannot leave their workstations until their boss leaves."

The result was that a large number of Japanese people suffered from severe sleep deprivation and mental depression, and some even died from overwork.

What do we get in return for such hard work? Inflation has been rising for more than a decade, average wages have barely risen, and even income starts to decline after reaching a certain age, making it impossible to survive without a side job.

As a professor said publicly at the opening ceremony of the University of Tokyo: "What awaits you is a society where you will not get fair rewards even if you work hard."

The Japanese people did not realize the reality until they experienced the 08 subprime mortgage crisis and the advent of the loose-leverage generation. In 03, most people were unaware of this hopeless reality.

But Yanagida Nobuhiro's family, who live in the new city area of ​​Tokyo, don't think so. As the main breadwinner of the family and the head of the household who needs to support his wife, children and elders, Yanagida Nobuhiro needs to spend more than two hours commuting to and from work every day, and then work as an engineer for an automobile company, which is actually a beast of burden. It has been almost 2 years now, and his salary still has no intention of increasing. At the same time, he needs to work overtime for hundreds of hours every month.

To use the catchphrase of his department leader: "…has the salary remained the same for so many years (without an increase)? Don't just say that. The company is having a hard time too. Sometimes you should look for your own reasons. Are you working hard?"

In this regard, Yanagida Nobuhiro said that he reflected on it. The result of his reflection was that he had had enough of the suffering day and night, so he decided to resign and decisively change jobs. He had already found a new job before. At this time, he hurried back home, and the house looked messy. It was not because he encountered a thief, but because his family was preparing to move.

Yanagida Nobuhiro asked his wife, "How much stuff is left (unpacked)? I'll take care of the rest too. The movers have already been arranged to come to our house at 6 o'clock tonight, so we can't waste time."

"——I know. You informed me several times on the way back. I remembered it all."

"Yes, yes, yes. The mover is an old hand recommended by my friend. His name is... Lion Robbery? Anyway, finish the work quickly. If you don't have time for dinner, prepare something to fill your stomach first. Don't let the children go hungry."

Why move? This is the requirement of the new company. Yanagida Nobuhiro found a job in none other than Mikoyan Seiko Manufacturing in Academy City. Yanagida Nobuhiro had heard of the science city with a lot of investment, and several of his engineer friends in his social circle went there to work. He just kept hesitating.

But life did not give him the chance to hesitate. His children had reached school age and living expenses had to increase, but the company's salary had not improved. He even heard rumors that the bonus would be cut this year, so his inner thoughts began to change.

Yanagida Nobuhiro began to inquire about his friends' lives there, and felt a deep sense of unfairness: for the same job, his friends working there (in Academy City) earned much more than him, and could have dinner with their families at 6pm every day. But in his old company, he always worked overtime until late at night before going home. He was simply a working machine.

Therefore, he decided to find a suitable company to apply for a job. After two rounds of interviews, he was surprised to find that the interviewer gave him two contracts, one of which was a recruitment advertisement contract.

The second one was an internal employment contract, which clearly stated that the whole family needed to move to xx place (within the control of Academy City), and the household registration files of the whole family would be transferred at the same time.

Chapter 339 Labor Overflow is also a Problem

At the interview, Nobuhiro Yanagida looked at the second contract that the interviewer took out and was a little hesitant about the requirement to relocate the entire family.

Even so, Yanagida Nobuhiro was attracted by the above welfare conditions: overtime is calculated at three times the salary, and subsidies include housing, travel, high temperature, tourism, food, study, medical care, etc. Ancillary benefits also include children's education, parents' retirement, internal employee discounts and other one-stop services for life, old age, illness and death. Of course, the price is a confidentiality agreement, technical assessment, and working for the unit for 20 years.

These requests are not exaggerations, they are all necessary. In addition to preventing the relationship between Academy City and the government from deteriorating, there are also issues such as preventing technology leaks.

When Academy City and the Japanese government first started sharing space, the government obviously didn't expect that Academy City actually had ready-made technological reserves. They were even extremely satisfied to see that Academy City could even handle high-end stuff like superpower research.

However, it was not until the Academy City's rapid development pace produced increasingly large and difficult-to-conceal contradictions with the results reports submitted to the government that the government began to feel that something was wrong, and it has been eagerly demanding technological achievements again and again, and now it has even sent a large number of magicians at all costs.

These technological achievements include everything from military equipment to civilian facilities, and any one of them can cause a storm in the relevant industry if it is made public. For example, if Yanagida Nobuhiro works as an automotive engineer in Academy City, he will be exposed to autonomous driving technology, special new energy materials, new engine structures, etc. There is no doubt that if these technologies are used to produce finished products, they will completely crush similar competing products in the outside world.

At present, the strategy of Academy City is to intentionally control the launch of advanced products and create a small-scale illusion of "technological explosion". But it is different for internal staff, who will inevitably be involved in these undisclosed secrets to varying degrees.

In fact, before the government found out, Academy City would not be so strict when attracting outsiders. After all, at that time, most of them recruited locals and were just starting out, so it was considered a trial period. Now that it has obviously attracted the attention of the government, everything must be handled strictly. Even in the case of a whole family moving here, Academy City will only give initial trust.

In order to guard against the possibility of spies, all employees joining Academy City's industries will now undergo secret background checks by Academy City's dark organization.

This is the situation that Yanagida Nobuhiro faces when applying for a non-core position such as an automotive engineer... If it is a core position, Academy City will directly apply to the chairman for approval of a new batch of "Honkai World Residents" to complete the construction of the core backbone. This is the case with the Luzon region that is currently under construction.

Yanagida Nobuhiro finally agreed to sign the contract. He was simply disappointed with the lack of improvement in life here. As for agreeing to move the whole family, it was a bit of a gamble, but seeing his friends living a happy life, he couldn't help but take a gamble.

There were many people who made the same choice as him. There were also some who were hesitant, not a few. Anyway, Academy City did not force anyone to move here, and if they did not accept, they could give up this opportunity. It was not them who needed the job, but the applicants.

Yanagida Nobuhiro started moving. A strong man in overalls, sunglasses and a work hat came up and helped the family easily pack a lot of furniture and items and load them into the car.

Nobuhiro Yanagida and his wife praised the movers for their competence and efficiency.

"——No, it's nothing. For the time being, this kind of thing is too simple for my previous work content."

The sturdy man in work clothes, Lion Jie, said nonchalantly. He came here in disguise this time, and did not use any hints to this family. Considering the magician forces behind the Academy City, they might conduct a series of tests on magic at the checkpoints. So Lion Jie decided to use ordinary means as much as possible.

Moreover, hints are not omnipotent and have a certain time limit. If Shishi Jie forcibly sets himself as a distant relative of Yanagida Nobuhiro, and the hint magic fails when he leaves, the family will remember that something is wrong and expose Shishi Jie.

As for the precise memory operation, only experienced magicians can do it. Not to mention him, most of the time when magicians are dealing with ordinary people, they just kill them directly, which is easy and has no hidden dangers. This time, Shizi Jie has to rely on this family's channels to sneak into the Academy City, and it will be a long-term operation, so he has to do this roundabout operation.

"Oh, I'm really sorry to trouble you with this work, Mr. Shishijie. After all, we have a family to take care of." Nobuhiro Yanagida handed him a cigarette.

"Hey, it's not a big deal," Shizi Jie took the cigarette as if nothing had happened while thinking about how to deal with the checkpoint at Academy City. "Since an old friend introduced us, I'll just consider it as a friendship. It'll only cost some diesel money if I run a little more to send your family off. I can just treat you to a meal next time."

Shizi Jie was hoping that Yanagida Nobuhiro and his friends would give him a ride so that he could sneak in. It was said that Academy City had its own internal logistics and transportation channels, but no one outside knew the details. Anyway, now it was not certain that a mover could get in. At least he had to establish a relationship with the residents.

In short, Lion Jie first transported the goods to the logistics handover point in Academy City, and then took Yanagida Nobuhiro and his wife, a little daughter, and two old men and women to the resident relocation office designated by Academy City.

Unexpectedly, this office was built underground. Fortunately, the lighting was good, which slightly eased the mood of ordinary people like Nobuhiro Yanagida.

Lion Jie, who was driving, noticed a unique place. There were other residents who applied for relocation here. Although they all had Asian faces, Lion Jie still recognized that there were many foreigners.

This is not uncommon in Japan. Japanese companies have employed a large number of foreign workers since the last century, with the largest number coming from Shenzhou, Annan, Luzon, etc. Moreover, these workers are not treated well in Japanese companies and are often assigned to "3K" (dangerous, dirty, and strenuous) positions that locals are unwilling to do. It is no wonder that these people would want to switch jobs to Academy City.

But according to what Shizijie knows, the government investigation shows that Academy City is mainly based on high-tech, supplemented by some private businesses. This kind of industrial ecology probably doesn't have much demand for ordinary workers? How will they solve the problem of such a large influx of low-end workers?

Chapter 340: Countdown to War... 1 Day

In fact, Academy City does not really need so many low-end workers. This is why Academy City deliberately suppresses the level of public technology. If the ability level of the workers themselves is not improved, some things will make these people lose their living space.

But this does not mean that these foreign workers will be turned away from Academy City. Before the situation between the outside world and Academy City developed to this point, Academy City was also accepting some workers, but now the demand is close to saturation. After their applications are approved, this batch of workers is expected to be secretly transferred to Academy City's industrial sites under the control of the outside world, such as the Luzon region.

But this is all that Shizijie, Yanagida Nobuhiro and others can know. Because compared to paying attention to others, they need to pay more attention to their own arrangements.

At the moment, they passed the inspection of the Academy City transfer checkpoint without any accidents. For example, Yanagida Nobuhiro had already completed the formalities and received his special terminal as an internal employee of xx enterprise in advance, while temporary visitors like Lion Jie got a temporary pass.

"Tsk... are you kidding me?" Shizi Jie was very nervous just now. Not only did he change his clothes this time, he also adjusted the flow of magic power in his body so that things like barriers would not sense that he was a magician. Although this would also make his magic counterattack slower when encountering emergencies, it was still necessary to take this risk in order to pass the level. As a result...

"——Are there no (magical) detections or checks?" Could it be that his previous guess was wrong, and there were no magicians involved? Or were they not worried about the invasion of a large number of magicians? They were pretending to be careless?

"Mr. Lion Robber?" Nobuhiro Yanagida was wondering what his new friend was mumbling to himself. He was just thinking about how to find the employee's residential address displayed on the terminal, and when to make an appointment to have a meal with the moving master?

“Oh, it’s okay.” Shizi Jie felt that since he had entered Academy City, there was no need to continue staying with this family. On the contrary, the chances of being exposed would be even greater. “——Actually, a friend of mine happens to work nearby and was just about to invite me, so I’m sorry to leave…”

"No, no, we should be the ones to be embarrassed. How about this, let's find a time to have dinner together another day..."

Shizijie had a brief exchange with Yanagida Nobuhiro's family, and then left quickly as the family watched him go.

Lion Jie in the cab did not look back. What he noticed was that on a wide road in the distance, in an area surrounded by special fences and cleared of guards, a group of people in suits and leather shoes had just passed through the checkpoint. The "Ju Ryumaru" he had seen before was among them. Obviously, they were personnel from the Japanese government. The magicians would probably take this opportunity to flood into the city.

A group of people also walked over to the opposite side of the government officials. They should be the officials of Academy City. The receptionist leading them was a woman with short gray-blond hair and her left eye covered.

"They just arrived too... It took me nearly a month to investigate and find ways." Shishi Jie didn't know much about the work style of Japanese bureaucrats, so he was surprised why these people were less efficient than a lone magician like himself. "No matter what, we must hurry up to investigate. These (magicians) guys probably don't take Academy City's technology seriously. It would be bad if they can't wait to launch an attack. I have to find more ways before that."

Therefore, he took the opportunity to leave the scene.

In fact, Shizi Jie's judgment was not far off. At this time, it was less than a day away from the "conflict" in the Academy City and even the "war" that would shake the world.

--------

On a tall building in the distance, the Anbu organization led by Sakura was responsible for monitoring the scene to prevent possible accidents.

"Report, a foreign van is seen leaving the scene!"

At the same time, the car driven by Shizijie appeared in the sight of some weapon.

"The data shows that he is a common associate of Yanagida Nobuhiro, an internal reserve employee, and works as a driver and porter. He is currently entering data and recording videos to predict his intentions through the 'chaos control system'."

"...Report, the other party has no obvious intention to disrupt the meeting, and the system confirms that he will leave the scene peacefully without interference."

Voices from the organization team's channel came one after another.

At this time, Sakura's cold voice replied: "Let him go."

At the same time, the sight quietly deviated from the direction of Lion Robbery.

----------

The next day, Nobuhiro Yanagida got up very early. It was not that he was too excited. As a senior worker, he had already adapted to various environments. He was just nervous about this unprecedented new job. As a result, according to his previous habitual thinking, he came to school early without realizing it.

Anyway, it wouldn't be wrong to come early. Just when he was free and planning to go to Mikoyan Precision Manufacturing where he was employed, a large number of factories came into view. Companies that have emerged in recent years, such as Oasis Agriculture, Oasis Animal Husbandry, Shencheng Pharmaceutical, Anti-Entropy Heavy Industry, and ME Society, all seemed to have agreed to move in here. However, Yanagida Nobuhiro didn't know much about it. Many companies specialized in areas far from his expertise, so he didn't pay much attention.

Nobuhiro Yanagida had a strange feeling. This street... No, this town couldn't be filled with all kinds of businesses, right?

"——How is it? How is the environment here?" A sudden male voice made Yanagida Nobuhiro nervous. "In fact, this place has been specially planned. The entire (school) district is full of major companies, including the cafeteria and restaurant, which are also subsidiaries of the Oasis Group. All residents are employees here."

Then, the man introduced himself, "Hello, I'm Raiden Ryoma, a 'little supervisor' at Massive Electric."

Nobuhiro Yanagida didn't know the details of this company called ME Company, and just started chatting with Raiden Ryoma.

As there was still a lot of time before work, the two of them strolled to a place similar to the center of a square, where a huge screen in the center was playing news programs.

It seemed like a press conference, and the words on the screen specifically marked the woman with short gray-blond hair in the center of the screen:

[Academy City Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson: Rita Rossweisse]

Chapter 341: Pingcang Guangliu and the "Chaos Control System"

In the center of the screen, Rita calmly responded to the reporters' guns and cannons without fear. Some of these reporters were from large news agencies such as Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun. However, the questions these reporters asked were usually more "positive", such as:

[Your unit is the first large-scale scientific research center that the government has invested in and built in cooperation with private enterprises. This scale is unprecedented. You have specially named it "Academy City". What is the meaning of this? ]

Rita: Academy City is currently the largest scientific research center in the country, with more than 40% of the country's research institutes. It will be the largest scientific center and knowledge center now and in the future. Therefore, as one of the indispensable links in the "industry-university-research" link, education is also the top priority. Academy City highly links educational institutions and research institutions, allowing students to cultivate scientific awareness and improve their scientific research literacy from an early age, and be able to regard the advancement of science as a lifelong career...

[According to the "Research Academy Campus City Construction Law", "Research Exchange Promotion Law" and "Implementation Order", you have a high degree of autonomy over the scope of the "Academy City", including allowing private enterprises to build key institutes, have independent organizational structures, and have independent planning rights for the construction and use of research facilities, public facilities, and surrounding development. Will this lead to problems such as misuse of funds, unclear regulations, and chaotic management? ]

Rita: This doesn't exist. Every flow of funds in Academy City will be approved by the "General Council" jointly established by major companies. Academy City has established regular administrative departments and AI intelligent assistance to eliminate redundant management problems. Academy City will strictly distinguish between internal corporate management regulations and Academy City-related laws; and in judicial procedures, Academy City also uses AI to assist in evidence collection and judicial trials, and its efficiency and accuracy are unmatched by conventional courts.

[You have been in close contact with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government recently. It is said that the officials dispatched by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have been disappointed many times and left in anger. The relationship between Academy City and the government has deteriorated. Could it be that you have the idea of ​​completely breaking away from the government's jurisdiction and command? ]

——This is obviously a tricky question that tabloids would ask, but this level is not a challenge at all for Rita.

Rita: This is pure nonsense. Since its inception, Academy City has been mainly operated by the government and private enterprises, with the government as the guide and the private industry injecting development momentum into scientific research and diversified industries in various fields. The two complement each other and there is no possibility of any grudge between them...

----------

Yanagida Nobuhiro didn't stay here to watch the news for long. This kind of serious press conference didn't have any interesting revelations for him. If Rita directly announced the independence of Academy City, that would be more exciting. But he was just thinking, does Academy City really have strong military strength?

However, the supervisor named Raiden Ryoma stayed here and watched with great interest. He guessed that the commuting time stipulated by ME Company might be a little different and he was not in a hurry, so he said hello and hurried to his workplace.

In the unit, Nobuhiro Yanagida will have to undergo three months of pre-job training and initial work adaptation as expected. During this period, he needs to clearly understand all product-related information of the transportation manufacturing department of Mikoyan Precision Manufacturing, and clarify all application development directions, etc.

Then Nobuhiro Yanagida opened the first key technical application, and he was speechless at the first glance.

"Automatic Driving System Technology and Applications".