17.Paradise of the Rich

"Solving it is an option, but definitely not right now. You should first have your brother change his workplace. Once we've grown stronger through the cleanup missions, we can go after him to settle the score. By that time, even if we kill him to vent our anger, it won't be a problem for us," Arthur didn't really want Lin to focus all his energy on this matter.

Lin currently doesn't have any good leads.

Wanting to reclaim the reward and avenge Matt, it's not something that can be accomplished within the next few days.

However, the degradation of his brother's worth cannot be delayed.

Arthur was also right in saying that the fewer people who resist, the more remote the possibility of success becomes. At that time, troublemakers like Matt would be specifically targeted, and it wouldn't just be a matter of taking a few punches and kicks. "Hmm." After pondering for a moment, Lin calmed down, "Do you have any work here?"

"If needed, I can arrange something for your brother, though it won't be very good." Arthur himself only managed to get into the security bureau by spending money, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a decent place for Matt.

"Enough, as long as there are no more complications." Lin doesn't expect any good jobs, let alone that he believes the "Sherlock Holmes Detective Stories" will help him earn a considerable amount of money, and Matt won't have to work so hard for much longer.

"Also, there's good news about the newspaper. The largest newspaper in our Zword City is the Zword Daily, which has a section dedicated to serializing novels. The editor in charge of this is named Fan Leng, and it's not difficult to meet him." Arthur mentioned the good news.

Lin also happened to have prepared two stories. He handed the file folder containing the manuscripts to Arthur: "The manuscripts are here."

"Show it to him." "If he thinks it's good, shall I arrange for you to meet and discuss the manuscript fees in detail?" "Sure." Lin thought about it, realizing that he really did need to personally handle these matters. Arthur also gave a reminder: "Also, you'd better be mentally prepared. You're an unknown with a humble background. Even if the editor thinks the story is excellent, they will most likely deliberately offer a very low manuscript fee, then report a high price to the editor-in-chief and earn the difference for themselves. Just bear with it; if the novel can be serialized, there's a chance to"the beginning is the most important part that's not wrong."

"Mm."

"Once we get stronger, these won't be issues anymore. Whoever dares to lord over us will end up like that drunkard from yesterday—did he come to bother you today?"

Lin said, "No."

He quite agreed with Arthur's words and was looking forward to the next cleanup mission with anticipation.

Undoubtedly, the most urgent thing now is to get stronger.

In this world where justice and fairness are absent,In a world where words are powerless, if you want to live well and not be humiliated, there is only this one path. "How come I feel like you know quite a lot?" Lin wondered to himself, becoming curious about Arthur. Not only does he have a high degradation value, but it's likely that he has blood on his hands. This person should have gone through a lot and has his own aces up his sleeve. By leveraging these aces, or strengths, no matter who he deals with or where he lives, he can always seem at ease. Arthur spread his hands: "I've always been "I'm a very free-spirited person. The more I see, the more I naturally come to know." "These past few days have been a hassle for you," Lin didn't disappoint Arthur, "I've had some ideas on finding the patterns of awakening and cleanup missions, but I have to ask you a question first." "Go ahead." "Where was your first cleanup mission, and at what time?" "I'm not sure about the exact time, but it was very late, probably past midnight. I was in an alley, just after teaching a lesson to the troublemakers at my client's place." "Those thugs," Arthur reminisced, "I haven't told you this, but before becoming a security officer, I was a bouncer at a casino."

Combining Arthur's information, Lin made a preliminary inference: "It seems that cleanup missions most likely occur in the deep night, and we have to be on our toes every night. If the next one also happens in the deep night, this hypothesis can be confirmed, and you'd better adjust your schedule in advance."

"That makes sense, so how do we find other awakeners?" Arthur nodded thoughtfully.

"There's only one way to get to know awakeners, and that's when the cleanup mission appears,"We all work together on the mission." "I know that." Lin's answer about getting to know awakeners didn't satisfy Arthur. "But we're not completely passive," Lin deliberately created suspense. Arthur smiled, "I knew you had more ideas than me, come on, tell me." "If the cleanup mission appeared again at the Baizer Brothers' tavern now, do you think the mission would be assigned to us?" Lin continued to use rhetorical questions to help Arthur understand his conjecture."Probably not, it's too far away; the mission might fail before we even get there," Arthur replied.

Lin continued, "I think the same way. So, have you noticed a pattern? The location of the cleanup mission should be related to our location. It will only appear under our feet or nearby, not too far away."

"You mean, wherever we go, the cleanup mission can follow us there?"

"It could also be phrased differently: cleanup missions are everywhere, but we only trigger the ones around us," Lin said very clearly.

"Carefully," Lin said, "if we continue to live in the wealthy district, then the missions we encounter and the people we meet will basically be related to the nobility and the rich."

"Right!" Arthur slapped his thigh excitedly, "Which mission to take, and who to team up with, these are all choices we can make!"

"Speaking of which, do you have any ideas?" Lin, with his arms crossed, awaited Arthur's response.

After a few seconds of excitement, Arthur understood the real meaning behind Lin's words: "There are so few awakeners, everyone should be eager to know more to band together for warmth. You're considering whether to connect with the awakeners among the nobility and the rich."

"Collaborate with the awakened ones among the elite?"

"Yes, objectively speaking, due to different levels of cultivation and education, the awakened among the elite are likely to be stronger than those among the commoners. Even if the difference isn't significant, their backgrounds in reality will also be of considerable help to us. To put it more simply, a wealthy awakened individual and a poor one—everyone would tend to choose the former," Lin revealed his true thoughts.

"Indeed, both the rich and the poor are equally flawed, so it might as well be the former we collaborate with, if only to gain some additional benefits. The question is, would the elite even consider us?" According to Arthur's understanding, the elite The elite stand high and above, and have always regarded people from the slums as less than human.

"Whether they look down on us or not depends on our own performance. As for status and position, they mean nothing in the face of life and death. If we have the ability to save the elite, they will actively seek our cooperation, even if we don't speak up," Lin dismissed the concern.

Under the rules of the ordinary world, people like him and Arthur, who scrape by in the slums, would indeed not even attract a glance from the elite.

But with the intervention of mysterious powers, money and authority have begun to pale in comparison.

He who can consistently complete the cleanup missions is the one who truly deserves respect and support. "You have a point. If you lack ability, even as an awakener, given that our backgrounds are quite similar, I wouldn't seek you out. After all, one more person could potentially increase the difficulty of the cleanup mission. If you're too weak, then cooperation would actually be a hindrance to ourselves," Arthur spoke quite bluntly. Of course, he also had the confidence to speak his mind. He needed Lin, and Lin needed him.

"Once the matters with the newspaper and my brother are settled, we can figure out a way to spend some time in the wealthy district," Lin had planned the events for the coming week.

"That's the best course of action. If the cleanup missions truly occur every four days, we only have half the time left," Arthur realized the urgency of time, "Do you have anything else on your plate? If not, I'm going to find that editor Fan Leng now and show him your manuscript. Afterwards, I'll look for a job for your brother and see where we could settle when we go to the wealthy district."

"These tasks are all quite time-consuming, treating"Is the security bureau not an issue?" Lin felt that Arthur hardly ever took responsibility for the work at the security bureau. "The security bureau is just a bunch of good-for-nothings who eat and sleep. Otherwise, why do you think the security in the slums is so bad? I run around outside every day, and when I go back, I just say I'm investigating a case." Arthur waved his hand and left.