As the summer gets deeper and the weather gets hotter, a group of workers line up in front of the store to buy the necessities of life under the bright and dazzling sun.

Everyone received the 5 ruble coupons funded by the government and issued by the Wisdom God Cult, and the people who received the subsidy took to the streets one after another and began shopping, but what everyone didn't expect was....

"1 ruble? You want 1 ruble for 1 pound of brown bread ?! ”

From inside the bakery, there were exclamations: "Why don't you go and grab it?!" ”

"The price of wheat flour has gone up, and I can't help it." The boss was also a little irritable: "Do you buy it or not?" That's the price now! ”

"A fool will buy 1 ruble of bread!"

The man spat and walked out of the bakery indignantly, thinking carefully under the scorching sun, deciding not to buy bread, but to buy some potatoes.

1 pound of small potatoes costs only 10 kopecks, and 5 rubles can buy 50 pounds of potatoes, enough for their family to eat for many days....

Although I couldn't satisfy my son's desire to eat butter bread, it was very good to have potatoes to eat, and now it is difficult to find a job, and the salary is low, and not being hungry is already the biggest luxury, so why dare you ask for too much?

The man came to the potato stall, picked a few fresh potatoes, and handed them to the boss: "How much?" ”

"Exactly a pound, 30 kopecks."

“.... How much? The man felt he had misheard.

"30 kopecks." The stall owner repeated it again.

The man looked at the inferior potatoes about the size of his thumb on the stall, and felt that his breath was blocked in his throat, and he couldn't go up or down: "The price of potatoes has also risen?!" ”

"I also want to eat, not charity." The stall owner said angrily: "Now the price of everything is rising, one price a day, and tomorrow the potatoes will rise to 40 kopecks, so if you want to buy it now." ”

The man clutched the 5 ruble ticket tightly, obviously under the scorching sun, but his hands and feet were cold.

He didn't know what the consequences of the government's subsidies had been, he only knew that prices had risen, and in just two days, prices had tripled....

This means that with a salary of 6 kopecks a day, he can't even afford potatoes.

The 5 rubles in the hand are not as valuable as they imagined.

And the consequences of soaring prices....

The man thought about it, shuddered, and his face turned much paler.

He ended up buying potatoes, which were already Saratov's cheapest and filling-up food, for 5 rubles, and less than 17 pounds of potatoes.

The man left with the sack, and panic spread through the city, and people feared that the price would be higher tomorrow, so they began to rush to buy, and in the blink of an eye, they swept away the potatoes brought by the stall owner.

"Sold out! Sold out! Sold out today! ”

The stall owner pushed the empty cart and walked slowly out of the city, leaving the long line of people staring wide-eyed.

"Let's go to the store!"

I don't know who shouted, and the crowd began to be chaotic, like a collapsed snow-capped mountain, rushing to the shops not far away, where there were potatoes and corn.... Although it is more expensive, it is undoubtedly the best option at the moment.

Scrambling, insulting, pushing...

Everyone's faces were full of fear and worry, feeling that the 5 ruble ticket in their hands was so hot, and some 'shrewd' shopkeepers, seeing that everyone was so crazy, immediately sat on the ground and raised the price, constantly refreshing the price of the goods.

When the shop was swept away, the crowd rushed to the next one, leaving only a little girl of seven or eight years old sitting on the ground crying, her money had been stolen, her feet had been trampled on, mud mixed with tears flowed, but no one paid any attention.

Goncharov, who was not far away, saw this scene, stepped forward to help the little girl, took out a handkerchief to wipe the dust off her face, and asked: "How much money have you been stolen?" ”

"3...3 rubles....", the little girl still cried.

"I just picked up 3 rubles on the ground, you probably accidentally dropped it." Goncharov took out three tickets with a denomination of 1 ruble and stuffed them into the little girl's hand, and said softly: "Go home quickly, give the money to the adults in the family." ”

"Thank you... Thank you uncle! ”

The little girl stopped sobbing, sniffled, and turned to run towards the end of the street.

Watching her back disappear, Goncharov withdrew his gaze, his chest rising and falling, and his mood was extremely uneasy.

Chaos has emerged.

Saratov is just one of the many cities that have fallen into chaos ....

And he, as the priest in charge of the Saratov region, is extremely pessimistic about the current state of affairs, and at the same time extremely angry.

Before joining the Church of Truth, Goncharov was also a child of a poor family, and he knew what it was like to be hungry, and he knew what it was like to smell the aroma wafting from the bakery when he was hungry....

He is not hungry now, and he can calmly observe this society and this country, but no matter how he looks at it, he can't give a high score.

The country is sick, very sick.

In the afternoon, when the workers stopped working, they left their tools behind and walked out of the factory and returned home.

The wages paid by the factories are no longer enough to maintain their minimum quality of life, and who will continue to work after a day's hard work, which consumes more physical energy than they are paid?

Goods are piled up at the docks and no longer functioning, factories are closed, no longer produce anything, even schools are on vacation because there are no more students, and parents are reluctant to pay for school fees.

There were demonstrations in the streets, people were constantly joining the procession, and the busiest were probably the police, who rushed into the streets with batons and began to 'maintain' law and order.

Veronica hid in her home, and through the cracks in the curtains, she saw the procession of demonstrations in the streets, she grabbed her husband's arm, and said in a trembling voice: "Don't go out... Waison, don't go out to work anymore, the potatoes you bought the other day can last a long time...."

"Father Mavi is right." Seeing the chaos on the street, Waison muttered.

"What? Father Mavi? Fr. Mavi of the Church of Truth? Veronica turned her head and angrily slapped her husband's shoulder: "You joined the Church of Truth?!" ”

"Yes."

"Waison!

！ Veronica shouted, "The secret police have been arresting the believers of the Church of Truth, and you dare to join them knowing about this?!" ”

"Because Father Goncharov is right." Waison looked into his wife's eyes and said in a calm voice, "There are some things that someone has to step up to." ”

"But why does that person have to be you?! I don't want you to be caught by the secret police! Let's just live our lives! ”

"Look, open your eyes, Veronica.... Where is life now? Waison sighed wistfully: "If it weren't for Father Mavi asking us to stock up on food in advance, then we wouldn't have much food at the moment, he's right." ”

"So what?!"

"If he's right, we should support him." Waison spoke in a serious tone and retorted to his wife head-on: "If we don't even dare to support the right thing, how can we keep ourselves safe?" If I join them today, they will have more strength and a better chance of winning, and if I choose to stand by today, then who will help us in the future? ”

"Knowing that something is right, but shrinking back and not daring to express one's inner thoughts, this is cowardice, not wisdom."

"Even if you can live like this, you can live like that.... What's the difference with The Walking Dead? ”

Waison hugged his wife and patted her on the back, "Veronica... Veronica... I don't want our children, like me, to endure the oppression of these exploiters. ”

"Wyson...."Veronica looked up and smiled very reluctantly, "I don't want you to join them, but you're going to... I was really impressed. ”

"You agree?"

"If I don't agree, won't you go?"

"No, I have to go."

"Aren't you afraid of failure?"

"I'm afraid, but we'll succeed."

"Why?" Veronica didn't understand where her husband's faith came from.

"Because...."

Waison put on a gray nylon soft hat, held the doorknob, and said in a deep voice:

"There are many more people like me."