How Am I Still Alive?-Chapter 1324 - 1310: Flowers of Hometown

At nine o’clock in the evening, the offices of the Ancient City municipal government remained brightly lit.

Contrary to what most people imagine, the nine-to-five rhythm of life for civil servants is often confined to operational departments. Service organizations and nerve centers like the secretariat, the office, and the mayor’s office often only start their work at nine or ten in the evening, and working until the early hours is common.

At night, there were too many things that could be done; organizing recent meetings, inspecting industrial zones tomorrow, and having private communications with high-level leaders... Work might already be settled in the evening, and the daytime meetings were merely a formality, leaving a written record.

Staff in the offices were also accustomed to stealing a moment of leisure amidst the busyness; when there was no urgent work at hand, their true job was actually "waiting for work that might arise."

At times like this, it was fine to catch a quick nap or attend to some private matters.

But today was different. Not only were all the city’s top leaders in attendance, but also the directors from every district. The secretaries who acted as liaisons were all tense, waiting for news.

"The secretariat of the Development Zone just called. Those who stormed the Airship Factory and caused a disturbance have been subdued, but the masterminds behind it haven’t been identified yet. They hope for support from our side."

"Support? They of the Development Zone are strong and sturdy, teeming with Overstaffed Extraordinary Professionals; they need our support?"

"Support in name, I guess. After all, most of them are from the Exotic Races. If the suspects behind the incitement are found to be Saphire people or other aliens, it’s manageable, but if they turn out to be human..."

The officials in the office felt a bit helpless too; they were aware that the organizer behind the "non-violent protest" sparked by the strike was likely to be local citizens, nine times out of ten.

Whether they were low-end workers who lost their jobs due to the impact of the Exotic Races or private entrepreneurs whose wealth was washed away by the flood of cheap goods from alien businesses, nobody could be sure.

"...That’s the third incident this month, isn’t it? And we’re only a third of the way through."

The extensive introduction of the Desert ethnic groups, the Saphire people, was a development strategy decided by the officialdom of the Ancient City. While it brought considerable economic growth and human resources, it also put the entire city under immense stress in every aspect.

Public facilities, education, healthcare, and social security can be set aside, but when even the "Saphire Development Zone" couldn’t contain the growing number of aliens, the rest of the city began to overflow like a deluge.

Looking at the long term, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it significantly reduced labor costs. However, the consequence was a large volume of low-end jobs with replaceable workers looking dismal, accompanied by numerous severe incidences and cases.

When it comes down to investigations, it’s hard to determine whether the unscrupulous and fraudulent employers driving people to crime are the real villains, or if it’s the black-market workers using extraordinary power to harm mortals who are to blame.

When some incidents occur, they are inherently tragedies affecting both parties and their families. But coupled with the "impact of the times," these events happen every single day.

What the municipal government and its offices could do was to mitigate the impact as much as possible, ensuring that at least on the surface, everything was still moving toward a positive development...

"In the first half of this year, our GDP grew by 31% compared to last year and by 73% compared to the year before. As long as we boost the economy, expand the economic pie, everyone will benefit..."

"We are in a period of growing pains right now; we should endure it. Getting through this is victory..."

"Let’s implement the ’Employment Regulation of the Unregistered Labor Force.’ At the very least, it eases the tension between us."

These words meant giving temporary identity to undocumented workers, nailing down a minimum wage to avoid escalating social conflicts.

"Stop it, if you try to push that through today, the unemployed locals will go to the Capital City to lodge a complaint..."

Meanwhile, at the other end of the building, in that tightly sealed conference room, the leaders of the city government were embroiled in what was destined to be a fruitless "War of Words."

The truth is, from the start, this was not an issue a normal municipal government should face.

Ultimately, it was greed that brought this disaster...

In the race to Transcend Changping and become the new leading State capital, they had brought in an excessive number of Saphire people and other aliens.

Now, the Development Zone had indeed developed, and an industrial chain with the "Airship" as the flagship product had been created... but it still couldn’t satisfy the overflowing human resources.

Too many idle laborers in the market naturally led to a decline in "average wages" and the subsequent social instability and high crime rate... The discontent of the local citizens had become the most vexing problem for city leaders.

Everyone knew this was a transitional pain, with the continuously rising GDP and fiscal revenue heralding a bright future ahead... but those directors in charge of public safety and social security were no longer sure about their own futures.

Clearly, the population of the Exotic Races, now numbering over three hundred thousand, had become somewhat uncontrollable, and yet halting the process was unrealistic...

"Their total strength, probably has already surpassed the city’s official combat power..."

"Definitely, they have multiple Rule-level big shots among them."

Just the presence of the two Rule-level Saphire big shots, doing nothing but idling their days away in the Development Zone, made many "little tricks" utterly meaningless.

The city’s managers could only strive to suppress and lessen the impact, hoping to soon get past this so-called period of growing pains.

"As the hosts, we must issue a warning!"

"Fine, fine, fine, please show us how to hang a bell on a cat’s neck."

Watching the emergency meeting in front of him slip back into a quagmire, Mayor Li Xingwu sighed.

He and his team knew the high-level Saphire people had already tried their best to constrain and even suppress their kin, but people need to eat, and aliens without jobs or food were bound to become a new source of social instability.

Mayor Li took a sip of tea, about to dismiss the meeting in resignation and then to check on the disturbance situation, when a phone call came in.

"It’s me, Li Xingwu. Governor Ruan? Oh, an emergency? Picking up from the airport? You must be joking; I’m in over my head right here..."

Whether it was Mayor Li listening to the call or the other officials in the office, everyone was a bit stupefied.

What super big shot was coming that required them to go to the airport to curry favor?

"Something good? Don’t joke with me, what, you’re serious? Those people... a double-digit number of Rule-level? Our people? This can’t be a dream, can it..."

In the midst of confusion, the phone call finally ended, and just then, the serious-faced old mayor burst into open laughter.

"Let’s go; to the airport! Everyone, let’s all go! There’s a standing committee meeting of the city government tomorrow? Postpone it, everyone follow me to the State to pick up from the airport!"