Therefore, Baudrillard believed that "things" and "needs" were false symbols, and he criticized Marx's theory of use value, believing that the latter also fell into the trap of capitalist political economy, and thus proposed his own symbolic political economy. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

Wu Baoren finished his report, clicked on the last slide, nodded to the teacher and a dozen students, and left the podium at the teacher's signal, waiting for the next student's report.

"Tails!"

The next moment, Wu Baoren, a former graduate student, woke up from his dream.

He curled up, lying on his stomach in a cold, old hole in the wall, feeling the cold wind blowing through the gaps in all directions.

Wu Yuren sighed, after five years, he still dreams of his previous life, although the life before the crossing is boring, but it is always better than the miserable situation in front of him.

"Tails, Tails!" a large hand reached out from outside the hole in the wall, grabbed Wu Yuren's ear, and roughly grabbed him out of this small nest.

This is a dilapidated house, through the half-collapsed roof, you can see the bright stars in the night sky, but the arrangement and shape of the galaxy are extremely unfamiliar to Wu Baoren.

Wu couldn't resist the rough hand - what can a seven-year-old child do? He was dragged on the rough brick floor, his knees aching, but he gritted his teeth and kept silent, because the brutal Quaid was especially impatient with the child's crying, and he was said to have crippled the legs of a six-year-old girl who wanted to exchange her tears for food.

"I asked Rick, you've got five coppers less this week than you did last week!" Angry Quaid resembled a red-haired lion, his bulging nose making him even more vicious.

Wu was knocked to the ground, and in his gray eyes he looked at the holes in the walls around him, and the five beggars who lived in the same room with him, ranging from four to ten years old, were all trembling at Quaid's roar.

Among them, in the innermost hole in the wall, the youngest short-haired girl was biting her left hand tightly, her face was red, and she was looking at Wu Yuren on the ground in fear, and in the hole next to her, the six-year-old boy Ned even screamed in fright.

It was Coria, and Wu knew what she was afraid of.

In fact, Wu had good luck this week, and he, the beggar Tails, Wu Baoren's current name, had thirty-seven coppers this week, eighteen more than last week.

But he only handed over fourteen coppers to Quaid, the leader of the Black Street Brotherhood in charge of the beggar business, and took the rest of the copper, along with the money he had worked hard to save for two years, to the Grove Apothecary, where he "bought" a pair of typhoid potions at cost price from the kind helper Yanni.

Tails fed the potion to four-year-old Coria, who had typhoid fever at her age, and without it, it was almost a dead end.

In the past five years, Tails has re-experienced the memory formation period from the age of two to seven, from an ignorant toddler, to gradually retrieving the bits and pieces of memories of his past life, in which the child's memory seems fragmented and scattered. Even so, in the two years of ignorance and sobriety, every time he witnessed the death of others, he was deeply impressed.

From dying of illness, falling, drowning, hanging, to being beaten to death (even once, Tails saw a crying beggar suffocated to death by suffocating ten meters away with his own eyes), the Black Street Brotherhood, which specializes in human traffickers, has never had any bottom line and principles - even if it is a gang, it takes time to precipitate rules and order, and the Brotherhood that originated in Black Street has only been in the early years since its rise to growth.

What's more, even if it is the sworn enemy of the brotherhood, which has a history of 90 years and is known as the "nobleman of the gang", the blood vial gang in his hands is not necessarily less.

Most of the time, Tails, who witnessed death, was powerless, and even himself, with the help of the wisdom and maturity of an adult, avoided more than one murder.

For example, now, Quaid, who is gearing up and in high spirits, has the cruelty and viciousness of a gangster sadist in his eyes.

"I don't have a private collection! It's winter this week, and there are far fewer people passing through the three boroughs of Downtown—" Tails got up from the ground, his mind spinning rapidly, and spat out the excuses he had made up.

"Smack!"

He was greeted with a merciless slap that knocked Tails back to the ground.

"Hand over the money you've hidden, and I'll beat you up, or I'll beat you up and then you hand over the money!"

Obviously, Quaid didn't want to listen to his explanation, and the leader of the Brotherhood might just want to scrape some money for drink, or maybe he just wanted someone to beat him up.

"But you can also be hard-mouthed - I like hard-mouthed children the most. Quaid grinned and raised his fists.

Looking at the punching bag as big as a fist in front of him, Tails knew that even if he didn't say anything, Quaid wouldn't let him go.

And last month, Quaid tortured a beggar in the fifth house to death.

Tails clutched his red and swollen cheeks, thinking quickly.

On weekdays, Quaid doesn't care about accounts, and when he goes to the sunset bar in the underground street at night, or hangs around with a wine bottle, it is difficult for him to tell how many Middlel copper coins can be exchanged for a silver Medis coin, let alone how many cases of money his beggars have paid—it is all his deputy, and Rick, who seems to be down-to-earth, is in charge, and even a shrewd Rick knows that it is too normal for the beggars to fluctuate seven or eight copper dollars a week.

Someone snitched.

This is the only conclusion.

Tails glanced around at the beggars, and after getting the money from the noblewoman, he went straight back to the abandoned house, which must have been seen by the children in the same room, and in the harsh environment, the children's hearts would become even more terrible than the adults imagined.

Quaid kicked again, and Tails covertly covered his abdomen with his elbow, unleashing his strength slightly, and pretending to be in pain, as if he had been hurt by this kick - he couldn't make a sound, and Quaid loved the screams of the children the most.

"I say!" Tails' face showed fear, "don't hit me!"

"That depends on my mood!" Quaid looked around and saw the other five beggars cowering in fear, much to his satisfaction that his authority was respected.

"On Wednesday morning, I met a noble lady who gave me almost ten coppers!" said Tails, hiding in the corner.

"I know!begging?must have been stolen, right?No one can hide it from me, especially you little thief!" Quaid rubbed his palms viciously, preparing for the next round of beating: "Hand over the money!"

Before Quaid's brow could be raised, Tails added, "But I'm on Red Square!"

"Red Street?" Quaid raised his palm and lowered it a little more, "You went to the Bloodbottle Gang's territory?"

"Yes, we can't get any more money from our place. "Aside from the Brotherhood, skilled rangers, and some special purpose guys, who wouldn't be able to patrol the three ruined districts near Black Street without a long sight?

"The first time I got that much money, and the Bloodbottle Gang didn't show up, I thought, maybe there's a chance the next day. ”

"Idiot!" Quaid kicked Tails hard. Tails saw Coria in the distance tremble, only to hear Quaid scold, "I don't want to think about it, the territory of the Blood Vial Gang, is there so much cheap to pick up?"

Tails' body shrank and said tremblingly: "Yes, the next afternoon, the people of the Blood Vial Gang grabbed me, they hung me up, I said I was lost, they didn't believe me, I handed over all the money, and they still didn't let me go." ”

"Waste!, and how did you get out?" Quaid spat hard.

"Then, I said I'm the Quaid boss, and they, and they laughed. ”

"What?" Quaid clenched his fists as he grabbed Tails' tattered burlap collar and lifted him out of the corner, "What are they laughing at?"

Tails shook his head in confusion: "I don't understand much - what they say. “

Quaid stared at him viciously, "Say it!"

Tails pretended to be frightened, shook a little, and said tremblingly: "There is a bald head among them, and he said that since he is Quaid's child, he should leave him a life, because Quaid needs children so much-"

Before Tails could finish speaking, Quaid slammed him against the wall!

He did his best to protect his head, chest and abdomen, withstanding the impact of the wall with his back, and then immediately turned his back to Quaid to meet the blow of his rage, while feeling the force of the blow, changing the angle of his back at all times, cushioning the force of the blow.

"Bitch-bitch--you-bald--Spin-how does he know-kill you-kill you-shit-stupid-"

Quaid screamed in rage and kicked Tails after kick, screaming words that could only be distinguished by a few words.

In the hole in the wall, several children watched in horror as Tails was beaten, but they all covered their mouths tightly and did not dare to speak.

Tails breathed a sigh of relief as he rained down on Quaid.

At least, Quaid doesn't ask where the extra money goes anymore, and Quaid, as scary as it looks at, is far safer in a furious and frenzied way than Quaid when he was happily torturing his children.

There was a half-truth in what he said, Tails did go to Red Street, but he had been hiding in the corner of the alley, cautiously observing the surroundings, and he did meet a noble lady in a goose-down dress, but she was followed by twenty finishing swordsmen, which is why the Blood Bottle Gang did not interrupt him when he ran out of the alley to beg, and in the hands of the goose-down noblewoman, Tails did ask for twelve coppers (of course he would not be stupid enough to steal in front of twenty finishing swordsmen), but he quickly disappeared into the crowd without waiting for the noblewoman's team to go far, and never returned。

As for the bald Spin, Tails had never met him, only that he was the leader of the Blood Vials' gangsters. Quaid used to be a black account collector in the Brotherhood - until one time Quaid provoked the wrong person and broke his lower body, and the news was more secretive, Tails was lying in the corner of the Brotherhood house and laughing at Quaid in private when he listened to the fight between the two goblins in the room, Leyok and Belicia.

By the time Quaid had finished venting his anger and cursing the bald Spin of the Blood Bottles, he pulled the bottle out of his arms and left with a curse, Tails' back was torn and bruised. Because Tails deliberately turned sideways to avoid a frontal blow, blood was scratched in some places, and pain came in bursts.

Blood flowed to the ground, and Tails felt only a hot pain hit him, probably because he hadn't been beaten in a long time, and he felt like his muscles were burning.

Since crossing into this world, beatings and starvation, sickness and cold have been commonplace, but after gradually regaining the memories that belong to graduate student Wu Baoren, with caution and experience, Tails has not been beaten so viciously for a long time.

After Quaid's voice faded away, the other five children in the house crawled out of their holes and expertly carried Quaid to the yard, where the ten-year-old "big man" Sinti grabbed a curved fragment of a broken bowl and scooped water in front of the water tank. Ryan the Cripple and Kellett the Blackface are both eight years old, struggling to gather dead branches and weeds. Try to make a fire with flint and steel. Six-year-old Ned, the yellow-haired man, and the youngest Colia plucked a few oddly shaped wild leaves, chewed them in their mouths, and gently rubbed them on Tails' scarred back.

Tyers struggled through the pain to find something to distract him, and he looked at the weeping Corlia and turned to the dejected yellow-haired Ned, trying to calm his tone.

"It's alright, Ned, I don't blame you. ”

Ned jerked his head up, his face full of horror, and the other four children turned their gazes to him.

"How do you know?" the six-year-old couldn't hide his thoughts, guilt and horror written on his face.

Just now, when Tails was beaten by Quaid, the three older children, although frightened, were all staring at this side, only Coria and Ned, one hiding his face in his hands and not daring to look up, and the other looking into the wall, occasionally turning his head to glance in horror.

Coria's typhoid medicine was the final destination of the coppers, and of course she wouldn't tell the whistle, but Tails was still unsure that it was Ned, and there was no doubt about it now.

He struggled to squeeze out a smile, "It's okay, Quaid won't bother with this anymore." ”

"I, I," Ned blushed uncomfortably, and he looked at Tails' back, tears falling down his cheeks, "I didn't get any money this week, and I didn't dare steal," he sobbed, "Rick didn't say anything, but Quaid was upset, and he said that if he did this again, he would sell me to the desert and feed the bones, and I was so scared, so I told him, Tails, Tails, you got a lot of copper back one day...... I thought they wouldn't ...... me like that Quaid drove me back and said he would come over in the evening......"

Coria's face turned red as well, and her hand smearing the herb trembled, and a few drops of blood dripped from Tails' back. Tails groaned silently, and the burning pain subsided, and now it was stimulated by Coria's movements.

Ryan stared at Ned angrily, lowering his head, and Kellett looked at Ned in surprise and then at Tails, except for Sinti, who remained silent and continued to bring the water.

"It's alright, Ned, Colia," Tails felt that the wound on his back seemed to be much better, and he gently took Ned's hand, "Next time, if any of you can't get any more money, just tell me, and I'll figure it out." ”

Ned cried even harder, his words a little vague with a crying voice: "Ty-Tails, yes-no-sorry-"

"It's okay now, Ned, don't be afraid, I always have a way. Tails smiled and took a sip of water from the broken bowl in Sinti's hand.

He turned his head and took a soft breath, his luck was undoubtedly much worse compared to the countless predecessors who had traveled through countless worlds.

But, even so.

He looked at the five children around him, especially Coria, who was just recovering from typhoid fever, and there was still horror in her sparkling eyes.

Tomorrow we have to find a way to ask for more money, he thought.

――――――――――――――――――

In the Sunset Temple of Eternal Star City, after the sunset prayer was over, an intern priest who was cleaning up the altar stopped what she was doing, and she looked at a sacrificial lamp containing eternal oil under the stone altar in amazement.

This lamp, which she had never lit or used since she began to take care of the altar, suddenly ignited a bright yellow flame in the inconspicuous sacrificial lamp, which had not been lit.

Suddenly the flame turned red and red, like the color of blood, and grew more and more vigorous.

An older priestess noticed the intern's gaffe and scolded him in displeasure, before the intern turned his attention back to the altar. But it wasn't until the priest herself saw the unusual sacrificial lamp that the older one screamed.

"Nia, quick, notify the Priestess!"

The older priest's surprise could not be concealed, and she trembled and threw herself in front of the sacrificial lamp, raising her right palm, and turning her left palm up, ready to pray.

What was going on? It was the first time intern Nia had seen her esteemed priestess so out of shape that she herself was affected.

Am I wrong? But I didn't touch the lamp.

"But, but, what should I tell the priest, someone secretly lit it, lit a lamp next to the altar?" asked Nia in a panic.

"Nope. ”

The older priestess stared at the lamp, the prayer in his hand constantly changing.

"This lamp, even if it exhausts the two continents and countless islands of the entire Errol world, only one person can light it. ”

"That man will determine the future of the kingdom. ”