This Game Is Too Realistic-Chapter 543.3: Collapse

For Boulder Town, the best outcome was naturally to join the New Alliance, or at the very least, to become a subsidiary like the various kingdoms in the Sunset Province.

However, that was not a decision she could make on her own, it needed to be discussed with everyone in the settlement.

Besides, just wanting to join wasn’t enough. Boulder Town's population was larger than all four of the New Alliance’s cities combined. Wanting to join someone else meant considering whether they were even willing to accept them.

It was a massive, unbelievably messy burden...

At that moment, a knock came through the door, and Lorette walked in from outside.

Elisa immediately pressed her hands on the table to stand up to address him. "Mr Lorette, you came at the perfect time. I hope you can represent Boulder Town in negotiating with the New Alliance."

Lorette paused in surprise, then slowly furrowed his brows. "Just... Just ignore that for now. Something big happened in the inner city."

Elisa froze. "Huh?"

Since there were still a slew of unresolved issues in the outer city, the new Boulder Town crisis committee had not forced the residents in the inner city to surrender, nor had they urged them to come out immediately. They had only unilaterally announced the uprising manifesto and the establishment of the new administration.

The great wall was already under the control of the defected soldiers, and power over the militia was basically in the hands of officers like Joey. If before it was the inner city shutting out the outer city, then the outer city had completely surrounded the inner city now. Once the issues in the outer city were settled, they would deal with the residents in the inner city.

Elisa didn’t understand why Lorette brought up the inner city, but after hearing his report, her entire face turned pale. "What?! Boulder Grand Building is about to collapse?!"

Lorette nodded with a complicated expression.

"I feel like Stephan... I mean, the residents in the inner city have no reason to lie about that."

"They hoarded enough resources to last a few months in there. If nothing too serious happens, they would have holed up in there until all of us die or something..."

Elisa bit her lip. Her mother and older siblings were still inside... 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"They... what did they ask for?" she asked.

Lorette remained silent for a moment before speaking. "What they want is no longer important. What matters is how we treat them after they come out from the inner city. Of course, our brothers from the union mentioned they would spare those inside if Spielberg is still alive. However, I believe that it’s more like he’s dead. After all... From the blood that we saw in the cell, no one would have lived. Even if they killed a pig and drained all its blood, there might not be as much as..."

The office fell into complete silence.

Just as the atmosphere became unbearably tense, a light cough suddenly followed the sound of footsteps into the room.

"Ahem... Old friends, are you really so desperate to declare me dead?"

Recognizing that familiar voice, Lorette turned around in delight. There, at the doorway, stood Spielberg with a beaming smile, one arm casually resting on the doorframe.

Lorette hurried over, slapping the rough old man’s face in disbelief, his eyes brimming with tears.

"Great Stag God above..." Lorette ran over and slapped Spielberg’s gruff face twice and tears started to well up in his eyes. "You’re alive! How... How did you do it?"

Spielberg swatted his hand away with a grin. "That’s not my blood! Speaking of which... You might not believe it. Thanks to the respected mayor, I managed to watch a long... Long movie."

"Mayor?! What has this got to do with the mayor?" Lorette seemed to recall something and he quickly grabbed Spielberg by the collar. "Wait! Fuck the movie! What happened after?!"

Spielberg looked at him apologetically and muttered, "You guys already finished the story for me... Moreover, you did it way better."

Staring straight into his eyes, Lorette grumbled, "Fuck that! We want you to finish the story!"

"Fine, fine, fine... Wait till we have some free time, and I’ll finish the rest of the story. But in order to get more materials for the story, I need to head over to the Northern Suburbs." Spielberg quickly calmed the guy who was about to go crazy before turning to the teary-eyed girl in the room. "Right. This is the first time we’re meeting. Are you Elisa? I’m Spielberg, a worker in the canning factory. Haha... A lady like yourself who lives in the inner city probably wouldn’t know a peasant like me."

"Enough with that nonsense. Stop bullying her. She’s one of us now." A large hand rested on Spielberg's shoulder as Joey appeared behind him. He looked at Elisa, and continued, "They released Spielberg. Out of respect for his safe return, the Workers' Union has decided to pardon the inner city residents. They may stay and join us, after all, this is their home too. Of course, they can also choose to leave, but the same rule applies. 20 kilograms of luggage per person..."

Spielberg quickly added, "Wait, wait! You need to add that the value must be under 10,000 silver coins!"

"THANK YOU!" Holding back her tears, Elisa bowed deeply, her head lowered as she interrupted Spielberg. Still, the tears hidden behind her bangs spilled onto the floor.

Of course, those weren’t tears of sorrow... She couldn’t even describe the overwhelming emotions coursing through her at that moment.

Together, they had walked all the way to a seemingly impossible ending. Yet here they stood, all of them, together.

At that moment, a small hand tugged lightly at her sleeve and a soft voice came from beside her.

"Big sister, don’t cry... Everyone’s safe now."

Elisa widened her eyes and looked up slightly, only to see a little girl who was six or seven years old, staring at her with concern.

"You are...?"

"This is my child, Anna." Joey walked over, scooped Anna into his arms, and affectionately tapped the tip of her nose with his finger. "She came back this morning with her siblings and mother, among the refugees from the inner city... I told them everything. The little one wouldn’t stop fussing until we brought her to see her Big Sister Elisa."

Elisa stared blankly at the father and daughter, sniffed instinctively, not wanting to leave a crybaby impression on her little fan.

But Anna didn’t seem to mind.

Perhaps because she herself was a crybaby too, seeing Elisa suddenly stop crying made her eyes sparkle. She raised a thumb with admiration. "Big Sister Elisa, you’re amazing!"

A blush instantly appeared on Elisa’s face. "I... I didn’t do much... Your daddy is more amazing than me!"

"HAHA! Of course!" Joey let out a hearty laugh, his scruffy beard shaking with a proud grin he made no attempt to hide his smugness. "My precious baby said it... I’m her pride and joy!"

...

The cold, desolate Boulder Tower was completely empty.

Wounded and struggling, Rhine finally slipped in at dawn just as the gates to the inner city opened.

He had hidden in the inner city for a while, ensuring no one was tailing him before heading straight to Boulder Grand Building that stood in the center of it.

While everyone else was heading out, he was the only one running into the inner city.

The residents there were like madmen, swarming the exits, fleeing like pigs released from a pen. Their actions played right into his hands.

He didn’t care about the fight between the peasants and aristocrats, Bugra Free State didn’t have such ridiculous messes. Every employee of the Flintstone Group was happy and lived by the principle of putting company interests first.

As a member of Flintstone Group, he had come for one thing... A weapon that could give the Bugra Free State true freedom.

Pushing open the doors to the conference hall, he stepped over wine-stained papers. With his pistol in hand, he surveyed the chaos.

That was where the aristocrats usually held their meetings.

"God damn it! Why didn’t they turn on the lights?!" Rhine mumbled to himself.

Though the sky outside was slowly lighting up, Boulder Grand Building was surrounded by skyscrapers, letting in very little light.

The morning light stretched the shadows of the curtains endlessly long...

"Hehe... Hehehe..."

Suddenly, a creepy laugh drifted through the air, startling Rhine. He immediately pointed his light and gun toward a corner of the room.

There sat a man dressed in a luxurious suit. From the looks of it, he was a noble from the inner city!

Rhine felt a surge of joy and cleared his throat. "Hey friend, let’s make a deal! If you help me find something, I’ll help you escape this damned place!"

"Deal? Escape? Hehe... Haha... HAHAHAHA!" Sid, who had been smiling faintly, suddenly burst into maniacal laughter.

The abrupt laughter and sudden movement startled Rhine again. He thought the man was about to pull something, and his finger nearly pulled the trigger.

"Shut up! Are you fucking crazy?" Furious, Rhine shouted and strode toward him, ready to teach the lunatic a lesson.

Sid ignored him completely, his eyes fixed on the transaction device in his hand, or rather, the motionless line stuck to the bottom of the screen. "It’s over... It collapsed. I actually held it... Heh, it actually collapsed..."

Rhine frowned. "What collapsed?!"

Sid still didn’t respond. It was as if his entire world had shrunk down to just himself. His heartbeat, like the line on the screen soldered to the bottom, had lost all rhythm and fluctuation.

The S coin had collapsed. One S coin couldn’t even exchange for 0.00001 chip.

He didn’t know why it had fallen so hard, just like he didn’t know why it had risen in the first place.

As it turned out... S coin could fall below the issued price!

It was only then Sid realized that could happen.

"It’s over." With an ashen expression, Sid mumbled to himself. He looked like a living corpse as he stared blankly up at the ceiling.

He seemed to see his ancestors waving to him.

"Father... Grandfather... I’m sorry."

"I lost."

"I couldn’t win against them... They all turned against me. They’re all bastards... and I’m no better."

Tears slid from the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, down past his earlobes, and onto the dusty black card beneath him. He suddenly jerked upright like he’d been electrocuted, covering his face with both hands, shoulders trembling like a child who had done something wrong.

"Wuuuuuuuu..."

"I..."

"I’ll apologize to you guys face to face!"

In the end, he didn’t have the courage to face the people outside...