Chapter 63: The Council

“I declare that the third meeting of the Hope Council in year 52 of the New Era is now in session…”

At this very moment, within the true core building of the inner city, in a room devoid of any high-tech equipment, ten individuals are seated around a round table.

This is the highest decision-making body of Hope City—the Hope Council.

The small building consists of only two floors; the first floor serves as a conference room where council members communicate with the heads of the three major departments, while the second floor houses the roundtable conference hall.

The roundtable meeting room on the second floor is as cramped as a windowless shack, illuminated by incandescent bulbs invented centuries ago, showing no trace of technological advancement.

Above each person’s head hangs a dim incandescent light, which illuminates when it is their turn to speak, while the others fade into darkness, appearing neutral and objective.

Additionally, each member holds a two-way switch to vote on the upcoming proposals.

The leading man stands, opens the folder in his hands, and begins to read:

“Proposal One: The establishment of a separate Department of Food Industry. Here are the specific details…

“…Merge the nutritional paste production line in the outer city with the underground farms and pastures, and add six new production lines…”

“Proposal Two: A 50% reduction in research funding for the Department of Life Technology for the next quarter; the reduced portion may be appropriately allocated to other departments or institutions…”

The meeting progresses, with each proposal either approved or rejected, until it finally reaches the last person.

“Proposal Nine: Suggestions for tightening the gray policies in the outer city.”

The speaker’s tone is emotionless, as if they are merely a machine reading a script:

“…Due to our deliberate indulgence over the past few years, the influence of unemployed individuals in the outer city has grown uncontrollably…”

“…In summary, the intentional leniency toward the outer city over the past five years is one of the root causes of the tragic incident at the research institute a week ago…”

The man finishes reading the final sentence of the proposal, but the other council members remain silent.

After a few minutes, one member finally speaks:

“Do you recall that five years ago, it was you who proposed this policy to alleviate the pressure on the outer city?”

The exposed council member shows no sign of irritation; instead, he responds earnestly:

“Times have changed; there is no unchanging method.

“You and I both know what it was like five years ago. If we hadn’t given those restless individuals something to do, the factories in the outer city wouldn’t have lasted a single day.”

“Do you know how many unregistered residents there are in the outer city now?”

The shadowed figure continues to press.

In Hope City, every individual is assigned a precise role; people with varying education levels and specialties have their duties predetermined.

This means, in theory, there should be no unemployed individuals in Hope City.

But this is merely a theory; another undeniable truth is that the residents of Hope City endure immense survival pressure.

Beyond the city walls, there are ferocious extraordinary beasts, yet the beasts within the walls are equally fearsome.

Today, people can find relief through doctors and clinics like Lin Qingliu’s, but a few years ago, that wasn’t the case.

The factories producing nutritional paste never cease operation; for certain tasks, humans remain more suitable than machines.

After all, when machines break down, they sound alarms, while humans grit their teeth and carry on.

About five years ago, the opposition reached its peak.

At that time, the factories had indeed become too inhumane, causing over twenty production lines in the outer city to nearly collapse.

It was in this dim room that everyone voted to pass another proposal, allowing some workers who wished to leave the factories to choose their own paths.

These unstable elements left the assembly lines and became the so-called unemployed individuals.

Those who remained, unwilling to give up their jobs, naturally lost any intention of striking.

Just like El today, had this Young Man dropped out of school a few years ago, he would have undoubtedly been sent to the factory, but after that, it was no longer mandatory.

The outer city, due to cost reasons, had few surveillance cameras, and after the relaxation of regulations, it began to descend into chaos.

Those who chose to leave the factories found themselves with no options and began to create their own jobs.

This led to the current ecological environment of the outer city.

But if today’s proposal passes, perhaps the outer city will undergo significant changes in the next one to two years.

“Ten thousand.”

The man reading the proposal hesitated.

“Don’t think I don’t know! At least twenty thousand!”

The person across from him coldly refuted him again,

“That’s not counting those who grab sticks and head out right after work; I don’t know where they get all that energy…”

“I’m not saying this to argue with you, I just want to know if you really have a way to solve this issue?

“It’s easy to pass a proposal, but implementing it may be very difficult.”

The man fell silent and after a while tentatively asked:

“How about we pull in a group and take down another?”

Hearing his suggestion, several legislators began to whisper among themselves. In the shadowy room, the man in the light saw nothing and could only hear the quiet discussions.

He felt a slight sweat on his brow and continued to add:

“Recruit those new, more moderate gangs, and suppress the more purely bad ones.

“Finally, catch them all at once, and all the problems will be solved.”

The man’s idea sparked discussion again, and from the darkness, someone asked:

“How many can we expect for the first wave?”

The person under the light thought for a moment and replied:

“Based on the model predictions, at least three thousand.”

The voice in the dark scoffed:

“I’ll vote for you. Remember to let them work on the newly added production lines from Unit One.”

“Ding!”

The green light lit up, and the man received his first vote.

Another voice asked:

“How do we choose whom to recruit?”

The man thought for a moment and said:

“Let the Ministry of Internal Affairs form a small team to investigate; they have little connection with the outer city, so the results will be more objective.”

“I have no objections.”

“Ding.”

The man received his second vote.

“How long is the planned timeframe?”

“Two and a half years.”

“Ding.”

The man received his third vote.

In this way, the people in the shadows asked seven or eight more questions, and finally, Proposal Nine successfully passed with five votes in favor, two against, and two abstentions.

Countless lives were rewritten at this moment, but they remained entirely unaware.

Meanwhile, twenty kilometers away in an unknown mental health clinic in the outer city:

“Welcome to [A Mental Health Clinic]. How may I assist you today?”