In the town, although it is only past seven o'clock now, many people have already begun to set up stalls.

The apartment still has a lot of money for the residents, so Dong Xie and the others are going to buy bread.

As soon as he came to the door of the bakery, he saw several beggars in ragged gray masks kneeling there, shouting, "Sir, please, give me something to eat!" We're really going to starve to death! ”

"Get out!" The manager of the bakery, who was in a black mask, shouted, "Why can't you get rid of it?" I don't know how much the price of flour has risen now? Why do you want me to give you bread for free? Do you want to eat, and I don't want to eat? ”

"You ......," said one of the beggars, "if you don't wear a black mask......"

The store manager scolded: "What if you don't wear a black mask? But I'm wearing a black mask! You don't look at it, now without wearing a black mask, who would dare to open a store that sells food and daily necessities? I tell you, if you want to blame, blame you for the gray mask when you came out of your mother's womb! Blame your parents for being gray masks! ”

Dong Xie was taken aback when he heard this.

Out of the mother's ...... Time?

Could it be that this mask is the same as Jia Baoyu's psychic jade, which was worn when the fetus was in the womb?

How ridiculous is there?

Then, several clerks rushed out and pulled up the beggars.

"I tell you, you're just too soft-hearted!" The manager of the black mask continued to roar: "Beat the other party who pulls no one and beats it hard!" ”

"Please...... Give me some bread...... I don't want to starve, I don't want to starve......"

Looking at this scene, Dong Xie only felt cold in his heart.

……

After buying bread, everyone ate absent-mindedly.

Dong Xie remembered the scene just now, and at the same time thought of the corpse that starved to death in the alley yesterday.

It is clear that the place is extremely closed to the outside world, and there is no way to rely on imports for food, so the internal agricultural base is extremely important.

"Everyone! Vote for Mr. Tonyd! Vote for Mr. Tonyd! ”

At this time, a square in front of me was crowded with people, and many people gathered there.

"Alas, it's the same for whoever you vote for, anyway, it's all empty talk, and it won't solve the problem of our food and employment."

"Vote for Tonyd, or vote for me."

In the square, it seems that a campaign team is making a speech. The people of the team, mostly in blue masks.

"I thought it was a totalitarian dictatorship." Dong Xie was a little surprised, "It's actually a democratic election system?" ”

At this time, he heard someone next to him say, "Who did you vote for on the day of the election?" Tony or James? ”

"James. But the difference is not much. There are a total of five seats in the Silver Mask Council, and what difference can be made if a new Silver Mask Member is elected. When the candidate for parliament gave a speech, which one was not excited. ”

"Any election is a rich man's game. Without the support of the rich, who can be elected to the legislature? ”

"You say, if the Black Corps found the Golden Mask outside the Black Wall...... What will happen? ”

"Then you don't need to ask, it must be a big luck. Thirty years ago, when the golden mask was just lost outside the black wall, how many people went out to look for it, and a few survived. Now, less than a tenth of the Black Corps have gone out of the wall, and they have come back alive. Those who have money and power do not have the courage to go out again. ”

Golden Mask!

Finally a clue!

"Tonyd! Tonyd! Tonyd! ”

The supporters of the parliamentarian candidate began to shout, and the scene boiled for a while.

"It's all empty talk, we have to eat enough!"

"What have the prices of the black wall been like now?"

"Now those rich people are hoarding grain and selling it on the black market for huge profits, and this campaign team has been talking for a long time, and they don't mention controlling food prices and cracking down on speculative profiteers?"

"You don't understand that." A gray-haired, age-looking man said, "Those rich people who are stockpiling grain are the ones who are behind their campaign funding." How could they possibly touch the interests of these people? ”

Dong Xie studied economics when he was in college, and in China, the price of grain is subject to macroeconomic regulation and control by the state, so with the intervention of the government, it is impossible for businessmen to increase the price of grain as a necessity of life without limit. But it is clear that in this place, the problem of food prices, inflation is an important factor in causing social unrest.

"I'm not going to vote for these people!" One of them gave a middle finger and said, "Unless you vote for one, give out a bag of flour." ”

"You are too naïve, one vote and a bag of flour, who is willing to give so much food for nothing. Now this year, food is almost on the verge of becoming hard currency. ”

The white-haired old man sighed and said, "I'm saying something unpleasant, if it weren't for the fact that the low-level masks couldn't resist the high-level masks, there would have been a large-scale riot long ago. Now no one dares to sell grain without guns. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that it was difficult for a person with a silver mask to give birth to a child with a silver mask, the silver mask would definitely be hereditary in the family, and where would there be any vote. Moreover, it is only after the death of the silver-faced member that there is a vacancy in the silver mask that the vote will be held. ”

"Sir, why don't you just decide on your own heir before you die, and have to vote for who will wear his silver mask?"

"Factional fighting. At the end of the day, we can't decide for ourselves who to vote for, and not all of the candidates we vote for are chosen by the people of the Silver Mask Council. Do you think that after we vote, no one will do fake votes? Everyone wants to push their own people to the top, and of course they have to muddy the waters. ”

In reality, Dong Xie, who had just paid attention to the U.S. election on the other side of the ocean, couldn't help but recall some of the things he learned when he took a history course.

The progress of human beings from a slave society to a feudal society is not because of the improvement of the moral level of the ruling class, but because the political system of slavery will bring higher political costs, so the ruler needs to transfer a certain degree of power to the ruled.

But on the contrary...... If there is a mask, a tool that can exercise absolute rule over the lower classes, the transfer of power to the ruled will cease to exist. Elections still exist only because the supreme totalitarian ruler is needed, and the Golden Mask does not exist. The silver mask looks second only to the golden mask, but there is more than one, so the power has been similar to the separation of powers in modern Europe, America and the West.

There is no doubt that if the Golden Mask were to be obtained by someone and thus become an absolute ruler, the society within the walls would immediately degenerate into a complete slave society, and even such superficial democratic elections would not exist. Here, as long as you wear a high-level mask, you hardly need to worry about the resistance of the slaves. And anyone who takes off the mask will become a so-called face-breaker who cannot be tolerated by the world.

"It's still not a good fate." The white-haired old man sighed, "We were born with a gray mask, and we can only be gray masks until we die. It's so hard to be able to change a mask to wear. ”

At present, the way that Dong Xie knows to change the mask is to take the mask from the person who has died and put it on himself.

Could it be ...... Only the mask of the dead can be put on?

"Please give a sacred vote to the Tonid alternate! Your vote will determine who will be able to wear the Silver Mask a month later! ”

"Please cast a sacred vote!"

At this moment, Dong Xie suddenly found that on the side of the road, there was a beggar in ragged clothes, looking at the clothes, it was one of the people in front of the bakery before.

Dong Xie thought about it, walked quickly to the beggar, and squatted down.

"I have some questions for you. As long as the answer is good, I will treat you to a meal. ”

When the beggar heard this, he quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Dong Xie.

"Good man, you are a good man! It doesn't matter, as long as it can give me a full meal, you can ask anything! ”

"You...... You get up first......"

A person who is extremely hungry and has a status in the gray mask is the lowest beggar...... It should be the most appropriate thing to ask him for information. Even if he doubted the identity of himself and others, no one would believe him when he said it.

There is a small restaurant just nearby.

When he entered the restaurant, the waiter quickly stopped the beggar who was following Dong Xie.

"Sorry, you can't go in."

"I, I came with that gentleman!" The beggar hurriedly pointed at Dong Xie.

Dong Xie also immediately said, "Let him come in." ”

This immediately attracted the attention of many people in the restaurant.

Suddenly, there was a shout from inside the restaurant.

"Manager, out of ...... Something is wrong! ”

A waiter rushed up to a black-masked man, leaned into the manager's ear, and whispered a word.

"You say ......"

The store manager hurriedly said to another waiter on the side, "You help me take a look at the store first." Take me to see it! ”

The back alley of the restaurant.

A corpse wearing a gray mask fell to the ground, and the corpse still had a syringe in its hand.

The deceased's face was yellow and thin, so thin that he almost turned into a skeleton, and both arms were covered with pinholes.

"Another addict." The manager of the black mask raised his hand and tried to take the mask off, and sure enough...... Unable to succeed.

"It actually happened in the back alley of my store......"

The store manager stood up, walked a few steps in place, and said, "These damn addicts! This year's grain harvest is poor, how to grow opium poppy has not been affected? I can't eat enough, and I go to drugs! Don't bother me if you take drugs! No, the most important thing is that the mask can't be taken off......"

"Notify the Black Corps......"

"In that case, maybe I'll just be out of business for rectification! No, the body can't be found here with me......"

"But the store manager, his mask can't be taken off anymore, which means that the mask has become his 'face'. If it continues like this, he will ......"

"Are you the store manager or am I the store manager? I've got the final say! Secretly remove the corpse! I must not let the people of the Black Corps seal my shop! ”