"Why? What did we do wrong?!"
The unfortunate and desperate boy stared at the wall, at this literal social barrier, and roared hoarsely at the wealthy neighborhood just across the street. The sound squeezed from his throat was like water being forced through a thin tube, and his heart was now filled with rage and hatred—an endless fury and despair for those people!
"Why isn't a single meteorite falling down to crush us and all these rich people?! Just crush them all!"
The impoverished youth of this era can no longer even utter the phrase "Don't underestimate a poor young man," because he no longer believes in the impermanence of fortunes. He only hopes, only desires—that everyone perish together!
So what happened next must have been a miracle.
Suddenly, Frank felt something above his head, as if something was shielding him from the falling raindrops. He quickly looked up and saw that it was a pair of enormous eagle wings.
Why are you crying?
It was a girl with eagle wings, golden lion hands and feet, and a tail. She radiated divine power and majesty, shining like a pearl illuminated by the sun. For a mere instant, little Frank was stunned by her divine might. Fortunately, he had seen some virtual idols online, so he immediately recognized this goddess.
She is none other than the famous "Goddess of Magical Girls," Pania.
271: Miracle Planter
In just ten minutes, young Frank recounted the tragedy and misfortune his family had endured over the past few months to Panya. Though brief, the sheer volume of his story brought tears to the young goddess's eyes.
Seeing the goddess of magical girls blowing her nose with a handkerchief, Franky realized this was an opportunity. A turning point in his destiny might be smiling upon him!
"Goddess Panya! Save me! Help me! At least save my mother!"
So little Frank quickly knelt down with a thud and kowtowed to Panya, begging her. But Panya's lion ears twitched, and her divine power stopped him from kowtowing.
"I'll help you even if you don't kowtow." Strangely enough, Panya's reaction was surprisingly calm. "But there are still some procedures to follow, meow."
Procedures? Helping requires following procedures? Frank was momentarily confused. Did Panya mean she'd only lend money and not give it away for free? But actually, this was for the best. Because of deflation, financial institutions and lending platforms were reluctant to lend money lately. Borrowing money in a deflationary recession was simply too unprofitable. If Panya was willing to lend money to Frank's family, they would at least have a chance to survive…
Of course, that's definitely not the case in reality.
"Did you know that there have been a lot of seagulls on the beach in New Jersey lately?"
Panya said this to Frank Jr.
“Go to the seaside, find a white seagull standing on a green lotus flower, and say to it, ‘Seagull, seagull, please,’ tell it about your difficulties, tell it that you want to save your mother, and it will give you a seed.”
what?
“Take that seed home and plant it in a flowerpot. Water it every night, and after watering it, tell it what you want, such as if you want to help your mother.” Panya said these strange things. “If you get sad while you’re talking, feel free to cry. Collect your tears and use them to water the seed.”
"When that seed sprouts, grows, blossoms, and bears fruit, your wish will come true. Do you understand?"
Panya said something very strange, and then looked at Frank with a serious expression.
Frank's only thought at that moment was—Miss Panya, are you awake? Or is this just another cruel trick played by the gods on mortals?
...That being said, little Frank seemed to have no other choice. So he nodded.
"Very good," Pania said with satisfaction. "Then I'm off. Good luck! May the courage of the lion be with you!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she blew a breath at Frank, releasing a golden gust of wind. Before Frank could even react, he found that Panya had already turned and flown away.
At the same time, the rain on Frank's head stopped. He stared blankly for a while, hesitated for a long time, and finally turned and walked towards the sea. After all, he didn't have many other choices.
Because it had just been raining, there was no one on the beach in New Jersey. Little Frank wandered around the beach a few times and actually found a sandy beach with green lotus flowers blooming in the sea (which was actually quite strange), and a small white seagull sitting on the lotus flower.
Frank walked over, feeling incredibly foolish, and whispered to the little white seagull, "My dad... died. My mom... works from morning till night every day, she's exhausted and miserable, she doesn't even get enough sleep, and last night she was arrested by the company police."
If this were a self-introduction, it would probably be one of the most tragic in the world. As Frank spoke, tears welled up in his eyes. When he wiped his eyes and looked up, he realized that the little white seagull had actually turned to look at him and listen to him.
To call the seagull's actions a miracle would be an understatement; it could very well be just a coincidence. But little Frank suddenly mustered his courage and continued, pleading, "Seagull, seagull, please, help me, save my mother!"
The little white seagull tilted its head, suddenly snatched a seed from the lotus nest, and stuffed it into little Frank's hand. The next instant, with a snap, it turned around, spread its wings, and flew away.
Frank could only watch helplessly as the little bird flew away. He then went home, burying his head in his hands, and found a broken flowerpot in a trash can on the street corner. He planted the strange seeds—he had no idea what kind of seeds they were. Since Goddess Pania said to water them every day, he'd just do it.
Strangely enough, on the morning of the third day, Mrs. Bolton was indeed released from the company's legal department. It turned out that due to recent deflation and economic recession, crimes committed by lower-level employees of the Mitra Group were rampant, and the Mitra Group's legal department detention center in New Seattle was overflowing. Therefore, to reduce costs, minor issues like employees shoving managers' heads into soup pots were simply dealt with by fines, quickly sent home to continue working to pay off the fines, and thus avoiding wasting company resources.
So Mrs. Bolton's release wasn't a miracle brought about by Panya, but just a coincidence, a normal capitalist phenomenon... Is that so?
Or perhaps this is further proof of a miracle, a way of demonstrating the truly incredible through such events?
Frank obviously had no idea, but the fact that his mother was able to come home gave him a lot of confidence.
In fact, Mrs. Burton's predicament hadn't improved. She was simply sent home by the company, but she still had to continue doing those incredibly tiring jobs driven by chips, and now she had an additional penalty debt. So her face grew paler day by day, her bloodless complexion almost heartbreaking.
But Frank, instead of despairing, became less so. This situation, which should have been fatal, instead solidified his belief in the words of the goddess Panya—after all, he and his mother had no other way to survive. So from then on, he watered the seed every day, told it about his daily troubles and worries, and pleaded with the seed to help his mother.
This act is actually quite similar to prayer.
So what happened next can be described as both a miracle and something that was only natural.
On the morning of the fifteenth day after planting the seeds, Frank had just woken up and hadn't even opened his eyes when he heard his sister Evelyn screaming in his ear, "Brother! Brother! Come and see your flowerpot! Come and see!"
Had something happened to the seeds? Frank's heart tightened, and he quickly jumped out of bed and rushed over, then gasped in surprise—because there was a small tree, almost as tall as him, that had clearly sprouted overnight, standing upright in his broken flowerpot!
And that little tree was an apple tree. Its slender branches cast a ray of light, and beneath the leaves, one could vaguely see a few star-like silver apples. Anyone who saw these incredible apples for the first time would immediately realize what they should do.
"mom!"
Mrs. Burton, who had just finished her night shift, dragged her tired body home. Little Frank immediately rushed towards her with the apple in his hand.
"As long as you eat this apple, your health will definitely improve!"
——————————————————————————————
A small miracle happened in Frank's family.
As soon as Mrs. Burton finished eating the apple, she smiled and fell into a deep sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow: a truly natural and gentle sleep that required no medication.
The next day, everyone was amazed by her miraculous recovery. About a week later, her body was noticeably healthier and stronger. Two weeks later, she could not only do the work of ten people, but she also hardly felt tired. A continuous flow of vitality emanated from the depths of her heart.
At this point, it's probably self-evident who the source of Apple's power is.
Similar miracles also occurred in various parts of New Jersey through Panya's hands. These ancient fairytale-like magic were thus brought to life—of course, not everyone needed to ask the white seagull for seeds, as Panya had indeed recently learned a great deal. However, she chose to help the poor who were on the verge of starvation due to the Great Depression. Healthy adults might be better off, but the injured, the elderly, and children truly needed her assistance.
After rescuing a few people each day, she would teleport back to Newbeam City and happily run to Hayden to report her success. Hayden would then smile and praise her—this girl is really easy to please.
Four months have passed since Hayden was ordered to stay in New Bud and not leave his home.
During these four months, he basically became someone like the general manager of a flower magic company... no, I should put it another way.
If we consider Newbeam City as a small country, and Karen as its queen, then Hayden is probably the prime minister. Simply put, he's the head of administration, responsible for handling the daily administrative affairs of Newbeam City.
To put it more bluntly, it's like, "My wife decides all the big decisions in my family, I decide the small ones, and what constitutes a big decision is decided by my wife..." Actually, it's not that exaggerated. Because Hayden can't leave Newbud City recently, Karen is even busier than Hayden. After all, no one dares to really entrust external affairs and public relations to Panya. As a result, after much passing the buck, Panya ended up in this strange role.
So for the next four months, Karen was almost always out there running diplomatic missions, while Hayden was busy in the city as prime minister. They'd been married for almost six months, and due to a lack of decency and time, they were still both virgins… but that's a topic for another time.
The current focus is that Pania is now teleporting to various parts of Evergreen State (mainly New Yatu) every day to find truly impoverished people who are on the verge of death and in dire need of help, and then teaching them how to survive. Over time, the number of people saved by Pania has become quite considerable.
Even so, there was one thing that Pania still found strange: "Uncle, why are we using such indirect and half-baked methods to help those people? Can't we just bring all the poor people from New Asia back to New Sprout City?"
Hayden, behind his desk, immediately shook his head: "No, not at least not now. We really can't handle it right now."
As he said this, he looked up at the sky and couldn't help but sigh: "Just a little longer, we're almost there."
For the past four months, Newbeam City has been recruiting and sheltering workers who lost their jobs due to skills chips, just as it had been doing in New Jersey and throughout Evergreen State. In those four months, Newbeam City's population had even overgrown to a precarious 700,000.
That's 700,000 people! Keep in mind the entire New Asia Metropolitan Area only has a population of 10 million. New Sprouts City has only been built a few years ago and already reaches almost 10% of that population—that's truly alarming.
Similarly, within four months, the population grew from the original 200,000 to 700,000 through continuous external recruitment. No matter how tirelessly Hayden coordinated, he couldn't accommodate any more people in New Sprout City. The current 700,000 people had already been fully committed by Hayden to the most important construction project.
That, of course, is their "Life Network Project".
“Pania, you should know very well that the power of the gods of capital has begun to weaken in recent months.”
After thinking quietly for a while, Hayden spoke.
Pania nodded in agreement: "I know. I've been getting less and less divine power from the Smoke Mirror Company lately. It's because the power of financial and monetary magic is starting to weaken."
Long, long ago, when feudal gods ruled the world, their divine power largely stemmed from humanity's belief in the feudal social order and rituals. This belief of the common people in feudal "rites," in the hierarchical relationships between ruler and subject, father and son, was the source of most of the feudal gods' power.
Modern capitalists don't play by the rules of etiquette, but the source of most of their divine power is actually quite similar—a belief in "money." People all over the world believe in the power of money, believing that this abstract, symbolic thing, just a piece of paper or just data, can do anything. This belief gives the capitalist gods near-omnipotent power.
If the whole world believes a piece of paper is gold, then that piece of paper truly possesses the value of gold. This is true modern alchemy, the most powerful modern magic, the magic of finance and currency!
Unfortunately, with the arrival of the economic crisis, people's faith in money immediately began to waver. The power of all the gods of capital weakened as a result, and even Hayden's friends were no exception. Although Angela and the forces of New Sprout City could make up for some of their losses, everyone's contributions became somewhat unstable.
Furthermore, Newbeam City is currently devoting the vast majority of its resources to the construction of the [Life Network], leaving far less spare capacity. This is why Hayden sighed and said that they couldn't bring all the poor people in the entire state to the city right now; they could only have someone like Panya do some indirect work, saving as many as they could.
In conclusion, don't rush.
Hayden reached out and ruffled Panya's hair.
"Once the Life Network Project in New Sprout City is completed, we will immediately gain the power to solve all the problems in Evergreen Prefecture. The power of the Life Network is that great."
In fact, the miracle of Frank's family is just the tip of the iceberg when the [Life Network] is testing its basic powers. Using birds as messengers and extending from seeds, even a small child can wield life magic—this is the initial result of everyone's recent tireless efforts!
Once everything is completed, the power of this network will be unchallenged!
The problem is, Hayden and his team are currently stuck in the middle of the progress bar.
Everyone's financial and monetary capital powers have all weakened, and their unique Angela and Dream Flower powers are now mainly being used to build the [Life Network]. Hayden and his group are like caterpillars in a pupa; if they can survive this ordeal, they can emerge as butterflies and soar through the heavens... However, all of this depends on the fact that they won't be killed while trapped in the pupa.
At this very moment, perhaps on instinct, Hayden couldn't help but think—if the devil on Adam's side wanted to cause trouble, it would probably be soon.
In the midst of the Great Depression, the monetary power of the capitalist gods is beginning to weaken. If we don't act now, when will we?
This is quite troublesome for Hayden and his group, who are currently stuck inside the pupa.
272: I'm here to negotiate, Professor.
Hayden realized that Adam and the devils might be up to something, but he himself was still trapped in Newbud.
Since things have come to this point, it's difficult to say both sides at once, so we must first address one side and then talk about the other.
The economic crisis arrived, and the Great Depression ravaged everyone. But life went on, and some routines continued. For example—even though vocational education chips greatly devalued academic qualifications, many students still went on to attend university.
Some students have to drop out because their families can no longer afford to support them financially, or because they urgently need someone to help them return home. However, many students at Evergreen State Public Universities come from middle-class families, or were once middle-class. These families are still able to support their continued education.
The devaluation of academic qualifications, coupled with the lack of vocational skills training, has ironically created greater and deeper academic pressure for these students. Simply graduating from a university, even a prestigious one, is no longer sufficient. They must strive for better grades, higher qualifications, or other unique "achievements" to have a better chance in the future job market.
If not, then there's no need to continue studying. Just accept your fate, install the skill chip, and become a laborer.
Don't want to accept your fate? Then study hard and become someone who is more than just a "graduate of a prestigious university"... Sigh, to put it bluntly, it's still a process of involution, and it's getting more and more intense.
As for why I'm bringing up these students from Evergreen State Public University here, it's because I must now mention our dear Professor Albion.
Professor Albion wasn't actually short of money, and Karen and Hayden were both willing to support him. In fact, the old professor could have stayed in Newbud City indefinitely to study the Tree of Life and his beloved magic. Besides, he was over two hundred years old; no one had the right to demand that he continue to sacrifice and dedicate himself.
However, Professor Albion simply prefers to return to teaching. He still schedules one or two courses for himself each semester at Evergreen State University. Not for any other reason than to teach more students, so that more students can acquire knowledge that will help them survive in this difficult time. Every little bit helps.
Fortunately, Kallen provided Professor Albion with enough teleportation magic, allowing him to travel back and forth between Newbud City and Evergreen State University, balancing teaching and research. Although the weakening of the faith in finance and currency had also reduced Kallen's power to some extent, she could still afford to pay for it.
Today is another day that Professor Albion is teaching at the school. It's a large open lecture; the professor stands on the platform in the large lecture hall, surrounded by tiered chairs, but less than half the seats are occupied. This is unavoidable, given that the Great Depression has significantly impacted student attendance.
Good afternoon, my young students.
However, this did not affect Professor Albion's teaching in the slightest.
"As you all know, due to the economic downturn in the past six months, many of the magic spells we usually use are no longer working properly."
"Some of you might be wondering why the magic we use in our daily lives is affected by an economic downturn. We're not capitalists, and our everyday magic doesn't necessarily rely on services provided by companies—unless you rarely cast spells yourself and rely entirely on various apps. I've heard that many inexpensive apps from small companies have recently stopped operating, which probably isn't a good thing for you?"
These words made several students in the classroom fidget uncomfortably.
“I wouldn’t just grab someone off the street and say something like that, but you’re not just anyone. You’re students at Evergreen State University, the last remaining top public university in the American Federation. You’ve all come here to study magic, but you never cast spells yourself and just use magical tools created by others all day long. Isn’t that a bit pointless?”
The old professor said calmly,
"I'm not against you using tools; after all, I'm someone who enjoys creating tools myself. But you shouldn't limit yourselves to tools created by others, especially since you are talented individuals with the opportunity to be educated. So don't become slaves to apps, chips, and other people's magical creations. Since you're still attending classes and haven't dropped out to get a skill chip, I guess that means you want to reach a higher level. And I also believe that there is indeed a spark of creativity within each of you. Don't waste it."
Professor Albion's words, spoken over two centuries of teaching experience and imbued with the aura of a celestial being, carried weight and authority. The students immediately fell silent, and the atmosphere in the lecture hall became more solemn.
But before the silence could last long, Professor Albion suddenly changed the subject, saying in a relaxed tone, "That being said, since life is already full of so much suffering, it would be too tiring to keep teaching so rigidly. Let's get back to the topic of the waning magic of money."
"I know that many of you students regularly cast spells using your own power. You may have noticed that recently, even when you cast spells yourself, your power has become somewhat unstable. Even if this power doesn't come from the company, the structure of your spells has become more chaotic and fragile, like a light bulb with a faulty connection. This is, of course, a manifestation of the impact of capitalist beliefs on Evergreen State. Because when you cast spells using your inner power, the mental strength and willpower you use have been affected and shaken due to the Great Depression."
"Moreover, your living environment, especially this new Metropolis of Seattle, is now filled with people's doubts and wavering faith in finance and currency. When such inner anxiety is released into the external environment, it will naturally affect your magic as a background radiation. So, how to solve this problem is what we will discuss in today's open class."
Professor Albion smiled faintly as he looked at the students, who were initially taken aback but then turned to look at him intently.
"That's right, a wavering faith in finance and money isn't an insurmountable problem. A similar situation occurred four hundred years ago when the old feudal gods were replaced by the new modern gods. Paradigm shifts... this has happened twice in human history. Of course, it's too early to predict and talk about a paradigm shift in society as a whole. I just want to teach you some practical knowledge that will help you with your personal magic. Since your faith in finance and money is starting to waver, you need to start thinking about how to shift the focus of your inner confidence. If in the past you projected your beliefs onto the omnipotence of money, you should now consider how to find a more stable, unwavering object."
Every magician possesses some inner power—the extent varies from person to person—this power is divided into three levels: physical, mental, and spiritual, with mental power stemming from the magician's faith in magic. Modern people believe in money, believe that money can accomplish many things, and this belief naturally becomes the source of power for many magical arts.
Next, Professor Albion was about to introduce some practical techniques on how to adjust one's inner focus. But before he could even begin, the lecture hall door was pushed open. Clearly, someone had arrived halfway through the class. The old professor wasn't angry, but when he turned around, he saw someone no one would have expected.
Because it was actually a sea-blue breeze. And it was Alicia, wearing a blue dress!
To the world, she was the daughter of Dhritarashtra, Mrs. Apsara of Adam, and a noblewoman of the capitalists.