Faulty Utopia

The company flew away, and Axie almost thought she was hallucinating again, so she quickly inhaled a couple of breaths to calm herself down.

The result was that the company didn't come back. It wasn't her illusion; it had really flown away.

Soon she got the news from other colleagues—the company was truly gone because, after negotiating a price with Sun Jie, they decided to leave the Himalayas to develop in other cities.

As for them, the people deemed valueless, naturally, they were not qualified to leave together.

When a cold electronic dismissal notice was sent to Axie's system, it felt as though she had plunged into ice water. Gone, the company was gone, and so was her job.

She once hated and loathed her job, that work that treated her like a slave, but only after she lost it did she realize how precious it was.

As she opened a few loan apps and looked at the countdowns inside, her heart filled with despair.

She knew that these loan countdowns were the countdowns to her own life. When they ended, everything she had would be dismantled to pay off the debt.

"Sun Jack! Fuck your mother!!" She roared in despair, and many by the roadside roared just like her, but none of it changed anything.

When her emotions sank to rock bottom and auditory hallucinations started again, Axie's expression became fierce with pain as she clutched her head and pounded her own skull with her fists.

In the past, she had tried hard to suppress these feelings, but now she was willing to follow those amplified self-destructive emotions.

A few minutes later, at a roadside store, she bought a Gravity Interferer with her last money and then looked up at the urban area situated above her head.

She understood that although she had always been standing on the ground, in reality, she had always been hanging upside down. The reason she could still stand was because of the Himalayas' unique internal gravity system.

If she turned on the Gravity Interferer, she would be freed from the Himalayas' gravity and fall directly into the city below.

This was a suicide method unique to the Himalayas; on the death point review leaderboard, it ranked third globally for suicide deaths, with a romance index of three stars and a 100% approval rate, making the Himalayas a sacred suicide spot on the internet.

After seeing that web show, many people made a pilgrimage to the sacred site, coming from other cities especially to check in and commit suicide, supporting many of the Himalayas' suicide area content creators.

In the past, Axie didn't understand why these guys did this; they were already dead, so why maintain a sense of ceremony. But now she finally understood.

"Daughter, farewell." She thought of the female corpse at home that had cost a lot of money, with a hint of bitterness in her heart.

Looking up at the urban area above her head, Axie took a deep breath, reached out for the Gravity Interferer, but just at the moment she was about to start, suddenly a message came into her system.

"According to the new legislation signed by the mayor of Utopia, all loan interest rates will be lowered to 6%, including fertility loans. Since you have already repaid four times the loan amount, congratulations, all your loans are hereby nullified with immediate effect."

Axie stood there stunned, staring as the repayment balances in all the apps quickly turned to zero.

All the loans had disappeared, and the feeling that had always weighed on her vanished in an instant. Axie was so excited she almost jumped up; she felt as if she'd come back to life.

After the excitement, she rushed home, brimming with happiness. "Sun Jack! I love you!"

But as she walked, the initial rush slowly faded away, and a trace of confusion appeared on her face; after the relief came emptiness, and for a moment, she didn't know what to do next.

She had long grown accustomed to debt and work. Without these two elements, her life seemed to lose its meaning. Just then, a holographic reception advertisement by the roadside suddenly caught her eye.

"Life is full of excitement everywhere, Quantum Loans, so that all those who endure and push forward will not miss out on a wonderful life."

Axie's gaze drifted over, but after a while, it returned; encountering such a grand piece of good news, she really wanted to celebrate, to let various stimulations dilute the emptiness in her heart.

"It's okay, the interest rate has dropped to below 6%, I can afford it now, and even if I can't, I can drag it out for a long time. Besides, with such a great opportunity, how could I not celebrate?" The more Axie thought about it, the more excited she became, about to take out another loan against her organs.

Just then, a familiar voice from the square next to her rang in her ear. "Friends, we are sick; we have a heart disease caused by capitalism."

The hand that was about to take out a loan stopped, and she turned her head to see the Priest surrounded by a crowd.

"Now, the fast-paced life driven by capital prevents people from having time to reflect on themselves. People think that apart from making money and indulgence, they should not have other dreams. But our spirit needs more than just desire and money; our souls are alive, they crave novelty. We should not be brainwashed by societal and capitalistic values!"

Axie walked over. When the efficient pace of life came to a halt, no longer crushed by the interest on excessive loans and the breathless work without rest, she finally had the opportunity to calm down and really think about what had been happening to her.

Most of the residents of the Himalayas still ignored the Priest's preaching; they were deeply immersed in virtual networks and their own worlds, not caring what happened outside or who controlled the Himalayas.

But the Priest didn't care; when a life of single trajectory presented an alternative, there were always some who would step out and try a different path.

And these people, armed with thought, became the source of their resistance against oppression, just as the Rat Alliance Battle Line had once been, becoming their new aid.

In a moment of rest, the Priest took a drink of water from the Matrix and tilted his head back. He reached out to Sun Jack, wanting to discuss his next move so he could coordinate, but the display showed that Sun Jack was busy.

"Priest, what did Sun Jack say?" asked the Matrix, curious.

The Priest shook his head, "We do our own work, we don't need to worry about the rest. Since I said I trust him, I won't continue to doubt. Our mission is to awaken more people, to let them see the reasons for their miserable circumstances."

"To free more people from the control of capital so that when they face temptation in the future, they can have a new choice."

The Matrix nodded firmly after hearing this. "Yes! We will be successful! Look, this city is already ours, as long as we keep changing city by city. One day we will create our very own true Utopia!"

The Priest's eyes revealed a touch of worry upon hearing this, but he did not voice his thoughts. "Don't look so far ahead, we just need to do every task at hand well."