Chapter 46: Happy Birthday

Chapter 46: Happy Birthday

[You were not a child to be fooled around, never believing that parents would embezzle disaster relief funds, nor willing to believe the so-called suicide in guilt.]

[After you had informed the leader of the caravan of your intention to go to the Oasis District, he, recalling the old friendship of the past five years, obtained false identity information for you in the Junkyard and smuggled you into the Oasis District of Punklord. Having gone this far, he had already done his best. The rest depended on you.]

[Upon your first visit to this neon metropolis, you were amazed by its bustling energy, as if two worlds - the vibrancy of the city and the deadness of the wilderness - had been combined. However, as you delved deeper into it, you found that it was only a facade.]

[In the Oasis District, the city sparkled with neon lights, the rich lived in skyscrapers, indulging in drinking and revelry, enjoying the convenience brought by technology. However, shadowy corners were filled with gangsters, hoodlums, and muggers, while the poor seemed to have completely entrusted their emotional value to virtual games that provided emotional value. And the developers behind these electronic games were none other than the "company" that issued ethereal cartridges, of course, this "company" could also be considered the government of Punklord.]

[You carried Brownnie, walking along the bustling streets of the city. After you had personally explored the dark corners of the city, you completely dispelled the last trace of your fantasy about it.]

[You only had 3,000 credits on you, but the price of a bottle of water in Punklord was 200 credits. However, playing the street arcade games only cost 50 credits. The distorted prices made your survival pressure extremely great. At least in the caravan, your basic needs could be met, and the narrow space of the carriage could give you a sense of warmth.]

[But now, as an undocumented person, your activities were limited, and you had to constantly avoid being caught by the inspectors who managed the city. Because of The female owner of the fast food restaurant looked down on these men with disdain and specifically put up a sign at the front door: "Fast food restaurants are for eating, not for you to ogle the girls." And she added, "Girl-worshippers, get lost."

Of course, since you were still too young, the owner would basically only let you work for four hours a day. The rest of the time, you and Silver Wolf would be in the basement operating joysticks, passing the time with the few outdated video game consoles. Sometimes when there were too many customers, there wouldn't be enough machines, and Silver Wolf would curl up on your shoulder and flip through the programming manuals of the Ether cartridges with you.

At night, after the customers had gone, you would play games with Silver Wolf. In the gaming realm, you were a naturally gifted player, but had no interest. Silver Wolf, on the other hand, was the type who was bad at games but loved to play, losing so many times that she would cry and whine like a little baby.

At the age of 12, you had become adept at the kitchen work at the fast food restaurant. In the past year, you had also gathered information on the corruption case of the executive officer in District 86 of the Great Wilderness, seven years prior, through various channels. Unfortunately, most of the information had been sealed, and you had only found a report on the matter from an old bookstore.

Just as you turned 12, Silver Wolf turned 7, reaching the mandatory school age in Punklord. Over the past two years, the female owner of the fast food restaurant had obtained So, the night before her tenth birthday, you prepared her long-awaited Ether tape as a birthday present, left her a note for her tenth birthday wish on the table, along with the previous nine and the future eight, all stacked together on the table. You actually had already talked to the female owner about this, but you didn't tell Silver Wolf.

Before leaving, you folded her school uniform for the next day and placed it on her pillow, otherwise she would forget it again when going to school tomorrow. You also charged all the game consoles that were played until they ran out of power, so she wouldn't cry and complain when she got home. You heated the milk and breakfast and put them in a thermal box, leaving a note saying "Don't always forget to eat breakfast." Finally, you quietly closed the door and said:

"Goodnight, and Happy Birthday."