Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

"Are security guards this cocky now?"

Hachiman Hikigaya was bewildered. He knew that since ancient times, the most well-informed groups were the security guards and drivers.

The former, always watching the gate and patrolling, knew the relationships within the living area. The latter, always in the car, overheard all sorts of gossip.

And since the two groups often interacted, it gave them the impression of being well-informed. Small areas relied on security guards, larger areas on drivers.

Starting as a security guard at such a young age, he's taking a shortcut in life... right? Wait, no! Why isn't he in school at this age? I thought education in Nagazora City was completely free!

Hachiman found it unbelievable, mentally adding the young security guard to his list of suspicious individuals.

Fu Hua had no idea that her "youthful" appearance had made her a suspect.

She hadn't realized that casually giving a security cadet some inside info could be a problem. Maybe it's a cop's instinct, she mused.

But after Fu Hua returned with Bella and Sirin, she heard about Bronya and Noldrei's plans for the security personnel.

What shocked her most was their impulsive idea of making security work voluntary.

While Fu Hua supported the idea of establishing a volunteer security force, it shouldn't be implemented so rashly. That would definitely lead to major problems.

She hadn't expected the usually conservative Bronya to be so radical.

"Six months is too short. It's not enough time to replace the function of paper money. Do you understand? Even digital currency needs time to take root, and even then, it needs to be exchangeable with physical currency."

"You don't need to worry about the exchange rate; that's for the financial experts to figure out. This isn't a math problem you should be agonizing over. The real issue is… people need a replacement for paper money. The people of Nagazora City need to know who they are."

"Are they still Far East citizens? Have they been separated from the Far East, or are they still a part of it?"

Back home, Fu Hua patiently admonished His Majesty the Emperor. These matters of the human heart couldn't be easily changed just by altering the material foundation.

Humans were weak yet cunning creatures. Faced with the difficulties of a new era, they would try to retreat to the comforts of the old.

When Fu Hua saw security cadets like Hachiman Hikigaya running around looking for people, she knew something was wrong. She realized the students were completely driven by policies, running east and west, thoroughly merging with the political forms of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy. This was incredibly dangerous.

So, after returning with Bella and Sirin, she immediately found Bronya and Noldrei to ask what they had done.

It was less an inquiry, more an interrogation.

What have you done to Nagazora City?!

As expected of the immortal who advised emperors in Shenzhou, dared to advise the Overseer in Schicksal, and now dared to advise the modern emperor in the Far East!

Kiana was confused. "But I see most ordinary people living normally. There's no big difference."

"That's because someone is shouldering the responsibility of running the city, someone is working! Did you see any everyday workers strolling around chatting like you?"

Fu Hua's words hit Kiana where it hurt.

"Indeed, people who are working can't go shopping. So theoretically, Kiana wouldn't see any government workers out and about when she's off playing," Raiden Mei realized, instantly understanding who the "invisible" people in Nagazora City were.

"You're managing the hearts of Nagazora City's people, how can you not manage the hearts of the people who are managing Nagazora City?!"

Fu Hua finally got to the core issue, leaving Kiana completely bewildered.

Fu Hua continued seriously, "Many government workers are afraid to even touch the Stigmata battlesuits. They wear white gloves when transporting them, terrified they're bioweapons carrying some special pathogen. If they could afford it, they'd wrap themselves head-to-toe in hazmat suits."

"And now you tell me you're planning a volunteer police system? And you want the police to earn their own living? You fools! Do you want them to extort shop owners to get rich?!"

"If it weren't for the ingrained high-pressure environment of the Far East keeping them in check, there would have been an uproar! You should be thanking the Far East government for supporting this mess!"

Noldrei nodded seriously. "I truly didn't expect you primitives to have such poor character! How despicable! Deceiving me, your trusting Emperor! It's all the fault of my subordinates' poor execution!"

Bronya twitched, feeling like she was being singled out.

She had simply instructed Hachiman Hikigaya to follow the orders of the "black organization" and infiltrate them. Who could have predicted such a massive issue with the volunteer police force?

"So what should we do? Should we increase personnel costs? You know Nagazora City is still using Far East currency. We can't just abandon it, and external exchanges definitely require currency transactions. We need to leverage the global value of the Far East currency."

Bronya wasn't being unreasonable; she was simply out of options. Anti-Entropy couldn't keep bleeding money indefinitely. Even North American headquarters wouldn't support such a long-term investment with no returns.

Hearing Bronya's rebuttal, Fu Hua fell silent, pondering a solution.

With the decreasing external demand for Honkai solutions, all the pressure would shift to Nagazora City.

Otto dared to leave his position as Overseer because he knew how much political pressure Schicksal carried.

Now, the pressure from both Schicksal and Anti-Entropy rested on Noldrei. It wasn't quite shouldering half the world, but he was carrying the weight of humanity under the threat of the Honkai.

His claim of being the human emperor wasn't entirely empty boasting.

It was just that his methods of governing Nagazora City were always… unconventional.

So many people supported him because his actions were undeniably effective.

But that didn't mean the people within Nagazora City understood the situation. They feared the very real threat of the Honkai, but they also didn't want it concentrated right above their heads.

In other words, the biotechnological advancements shared with the residents were essentially compensation for Nagazora City's sacrifice for the world.

If emigration were allowed, most of the population would likely flee.