On the evening of day 70, the reception room on the second floor of the town hall.
Ren Zhong sat by Ma Dafu’s tea table.
Old Ma was in the office hall outside handling affairs.
Ma Xiaoling, with her legs crossed, sat by another table nearby, cracking sunflower seeds while frowning at her tablet.
The back of the tablet was facing Ren Zhong’s tea table, so he couldn’t see what was on the screen, but from Ma Xiaoling’s deeply furrowed brows and the greenish reflection on her face, he knew she was probably watching stocks.
A few days ago, Ren Gushen started advanced teachings, letting her first accumulate experience on her own.
He hadn’t asked recently, so he had no idea how his star student was doing in stock trading. Hopefully, she hadn’t lost all her dowry.
"How’s it going? Is it dropping badly?"
Ren Zhong asked.
Ma Xiaoling let out a long sigh, "Yeah! All the stocks I picked are dropping. That wave from Starship Shipyard a few days ago was too intense; the market’s panic is still ongoing."
Hearing her say it was so bad, Ren Zhong almost felt like paying her back.
If he wasn’t mistaken, he still owed her 400,000.
"Then how about..."
Ma Xiaoling: "But it’s not too bad. I’m learning how to short now, making a profit."
Ren Zhong: "Oh."
"What were you about to say just now?"
"Nothing. I’ve noticed more and more people with weapons in town over the past couple of days. No street fights, right?"
Ma Xiaoling shook her head, "No, everyone is earnestly making money."
After saying that, she gazed intently at the screen, silent and lost in thought, clearly attempting to predict the stock market trend with the nonexistent "Ren’s ditation thod."
At this mont, Ma Dafu walked in from outside the reception room, wiped the sweat off his forehead, sat down to brew a pot of Kung Fu tea, then smiled and said, "If you had co two or three years earlier, Starfire Town wouldn’t have fallen to this point. Alas."
Clearly, the changes that happened in Starfire Town over these few short days left Mayor Ma Dafu greatly impacted.
Old Ma’s feelings were complex.
The better Ren Zhong did, the more inadequate Ma felt about himself. It seed like he was only kind-hearted, but otherwise useless.
Ren Zhong smiled, "There aren’t that many ’what ifs.’
Ma Dafu nodded, "Indeed. Today, quite a few scavengers ca to deregister. It should be the last batch, and tomorrow, ngdu Group’s sampling vehicles may return empty-handed."
"Oh?" Ren Zhong’s eyes lit up. "That’s good news."
Ma Dafu: "In normal past surveys, if the overall performance was good, with high scores in population growth trends, birth rate, average population IQ, ntal outlook, and material output, the temporary scavenger quota for a small town might not be reduced, but instead increased. Since you rebuilt the new Starfire Resources and implented various new policies, the scavengers’ efficiency in hunting Ruined Beasts has increased day by day and will continue to do so. Moreover, more and more people will beco scavengers. Everything is improving. As long as there’s hope for survival, no one is willing to die."
Ren Zhong: "Yes, that’s why I’m also urgently adding production lines and recycling platforms, quickly keeping up with demand."
"Everyone can feel the change. There’s still 20 days until the survey, but the scavengers have already co up with a new slogan."
"What slogan? How co I don’t know about it?"
"I noticed from the lip sync analysis on the central monitoring side. The scavengers are discussing completing the output of the past 60 days in just 20 days, increasing Starfire Town’s average output by at least 10% compared to previous years. So scavengers are even planning to hurry up and get their won pregnant. The proportion of pregnant won represents the trend of population growth. These two major items alone can add quite a few points in the survey. Considering the changes in ntal outlook, so scavengers even hope that after we pass the survey, the quota will straightaway increase by 4,000 people, reaching 24,000 based on the current foundation."
Ren Zhong: "..."
"In a normal survey, the ergence of a Level Five Professional is a variable standard in the professional developnt evaluation index, optional to ntion. So, the scavengers’ plan makes sense. However, this is usually sothing for the town governnt to consider. Scavengers typically wouldn’t think this far. But this ti, the scavengers are also ignited with passion. Alas, but this survey is different. It’s been many years since Starfire Town’s scavengers produced a Level Five Professional, so the county governnt is reasonably raising the standards according to regulations, within the rules. But I believe, with soone like you here, even if the scavengers leave the town and go to the wild, they can still live well. You should start planning early."
Ren Zhong played dumb, "It’s all within the plan, don’t worry."
"Can’t afford not to worry. Take the ngdu Group, for example. I’ve already heard rumors that soone in the Liao Yuan branch of the ngdu Group has noticed the changes in the town and plans to gradually spread the truth about the survey in the town, creating panic, and at the sa ti proposing a one-to-one plan."
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