stonecrandall Chapter 97 Abnormal Biological Transaction Tax
Chapter 97 Abnormal Biological Transaction Tax
Those audacious egg thieves not only killed themselves, but also caused the deaths of nearly a thousand people.
Humans, caught in the crossfire, suffered terribly, as did the golden dragon salamander. It was sleeping soundly when its offspring were inexplicably stolen. Having painstakingly completed three evolutions to become a perfect creature, its centuries of cultivation vanished in a single day.
But the most innocent one is sequence 0.
Qi Te felt incredibly guilty. If he hadn't told everyone to flee to the old city and hide in the hospital, Sequence 0 wouldn't have suffered such a devastating disaster.
Two apex predators, two mothers, fought fiercely to protect their respective children, ultimately perishing together.
And the culprit behind all of this is humankind.
Qi Te considered starting a new game to see if there was a better way.
But the little monster, who only wanted to save his mother, unleashed tremendous fighting power and fought recklessly in the beast tide.
The price was that his energy reserves were drained.
The beasts bowed their heads in submission and then scattered and retreated. The little monster seemed to have exhausted its strength from the rampage and entered a dormant state, while Zite collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted.
He can't even stand up, let alone die again.
The backpack's temperature control system was damaged, and the dragon egg, accustomed to high temperatures, certainly wouldn't last long. Zit struggled to put the dragon egg into the collection box, but his whole body ached as if he had been hit by a pickup truck again.
Fortunately, Jiang Luo arrived in time; otherwise, the golden dragon salamander's death would have been a great loss.
"Qi, why are you crying?"
Zhang Xiaodao looked at Qi Te, who was in tears, and felt a little lost. But he quickly remembered that his comrade who had just done the testing for the students at Hai University had mentioned that several students in the collection team had died.
"Don't be too sad. Natural disasters are unpredictable; no one could have imagined something like this would happen."
Zhang Xiaodao quickly comforted you, "You're already very lucky. I heard from the officers that if you had tried to escape towards the buffer zone, things might have been..."
"Well, in short, it's a blessing to be alive. The dead are gone, but the living must live well."
Qi Te was even more bewildered. He raised his hand in surprise to touch his face, but only touched the cold mask.
However, the sensation of tears sliding down my cheeks was very clear.
My entire back felt cool, and the little monster was nestled there, fast asleep.
Just as babies dream while they sleep, perhaps the little monster in its extreme grief also dreamed of its mother, whom it would never see again.
Thinking of this, Qi Te's heart tightened slightly, as if a small hand had squeezed it.
Qi Te nodded: "Thank you, Brother Zhang."
Due to the severity of the incident, a large number of abnormal organisms have awakened, causing the pollution index to skyrocket. Everyone returning to the city from the border area must change clothes and enter a controlled-release chamber for half an hour to remove radioactive materials before undergoing testing.
Due to the large number of people and the limited number of cabins, those who hadn't been called had to queue in the waiting area.
Therefore, all the city defense soldiers on duty wore protective suits and full-face masks to prevent contamination.
"Seize it all! Seize it all!"
"Can't we just pay the back taxes? Please, have mercy..."
"Too late. Who told you to try to escape? This is what happens when you try to sneak away."
Several bounty hunters hid a few insect-like anomalous creatures in a secret compartment at the bottom of the collection box, attempting to slip through undetected.
The Oasis manager, who had been humiliated by Kyogoku Hiko, was now venting his anger on those people.
"Those sons of bitches, ugh!"
Zhang Xiaodao spat in disapproval.
Qi Te couldn't help but ask curiously, "Shouldn't taxes be collected by the government?"
"You students are just too naive, you don't understand anything."
Zhang Xiaodao gave Qi Te a wink, signaling him to come closer.
"The government collects its own taxes, while the city defenses manage the taxes. Everyone who comes in or goes in has to pay taxes."
"Bounty hunters who make a living by trading rare and exotic animals have to pay a tax of 10-25% to the oasis based on the value of the animals they capture."
"25?" Chit looked at the hunter, who was still pleading with the manager, in disbelief, and shook his head, saying, "That's outrageous!"
"Who says otherwise?" Zhang Xiaodao continued, "However, it's not entirely without reason..."
........................
The city defense forces of the Federation consist of three parties: the Federal Army, the County Army, and the private armies of corporations and enterprises.
In reality, the federal army was just a figurehead. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and the establishment of think tanks, the federal government basically took back all the troops stationed in various counties.
Concentrate firepower to suppress and eliminate all rebel forces.
The county army, or city defense army, is the main force for the defense of each city. The private armies stationed there by companies and enterprises are subject to the city defense's command and are equivalent to non-organized auxiliary troops.
The most important reason for this peculiar situation is money.
Building city defenses costs money. Building defensive towers costs money. Consumables like guns and ammunition cost money.
In the early days of the Federation, the country was dirt poor and had to spend money everywhere. Therefore, it had no choice but to cooperate with warlords who had already established themselves in the era of disaster.
Those warlords have long since washed away their dark history of ruthless killing and transformed themselves into powerful families standing at the very top of the wealth pyramid in various cities.
It can be said that 70-80% of the world's most well-known companies and enterprises are backed by these powerful families.
This is also true of Oasis, a world-leading biotechnology company.
The major infrastructure projects for Haicheng, Xingcheng, and Jiangnan City, as well as the neighboring cities, all come from several large companies, including Oasis.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, even if you are in power.
Capital is just that 'fair'.
I'm willing to pay, but you have to let me participate in military management. That's the origin of the auxiliary military.
In addition, there are the costs of exploring and clearing border areas, finding relatively safe locations to use as bases, the annual maintenance costs of defense towers, and even monitoring and communication satellites. In short, at least half of these expected and unexpected expenses come from these large companies.
With the rise of the bounty hunter profession, major corporations have proposed the "Anomalous Creature Transaction Tax Act" and demanded that they collect this tax.
Zhang Xiaodao, a mere soldier, had no idea how the negotiations went; he only knew that the big companies got what they wanted.
The bounty hunters had no complaints, after all, since they often operated in border areas, they needed a place to stay. The secure outposts of major corporations were undoubtedly the best choice.
"Others invest manpower, resources, and money in pioneering and expanding their operations, and regularly monitor the surrounding environment of their bases. You can't expect to reap the benefits of someone else's hard work."
"Let him suck some blood, it's better than starving to death."
Zhang Xiaodao concluded, and what he said is what most bounty hunters think.
Most ordinary people in this era are not much different from the ancients recorded in history books.
The difference is that ancient people faced the loess soil with their backs to the sky, while modern people face keyboards, conference tables, factories, assembly lines... with their backs to the ceiling.
Many of them are modern-day "farmers" who have never left the city where they live and have never seen the outside world.
If you don't go out, you won't come into contact with these things at all.
So what if it's synchronized globally online? There aren't that many relatively private things that nobody cares about that are publicly disclosed online.
Moreover, there are also social circles.
If you're not a bounty hunter, you'd never imagine that you'd have to pay taxes just to go hunting in the wild.
Qi Te listened with great interest, feeling that his eyes had been opened.
........................
The slow-release chamber is semi-circular in shape, like a covered bowl. From the outside, it appears as a single unit, but the interior is divided into eight independent purification chambers.
After entering the cabin, according to the voice prompts, you have to take off all your clothes, down to the last piece.
Qi Te winked at Ji Chenyu and walked to the far corner.
As Cao Yingchong took off his clothes, he observed the two sneaky guys.
"No matter what you see, don't make a sound." Qi Te pointed to his back.
Ji Chenyu glanced at it quickly and asked, puzzled, "There's nothing there. What's wrong?"
"It's alright, you were hit earlier, I was just worried about getting a wound."
"oh oh"
The little monster seemed to have absorbed the remains of his brothers and sisters that had been torn apart by the beasts; he saw with his own eyes the translucent hooked tail turn black.
A chill ran down my back; the little monster was nestled there, dormant. What if it were pitch black? That would give me away; I couldn't exactly say I was born with a giant birthmark.
Who would believe such an outrageous excuse?
"fine"
Qi Te breathed a slight sigh of relief and entered the purification room.
Half an hour later, everyone left the cabin one by one.
Oasis Company provided changes of clothes for the entire collection team. Although they didn't fit perfectly, it was better than being naked.
Qi Te and Ji Chenyu, being two penniless individuals, had no objections whatsoever, since even the cheapest set of constant temperature clothing would cost several thousand yuan.
It's free, so why not?
Next comes the crucial testing.
Qi Te was filled with anxiety, worried that he wouldn't be able to get through this hurdle.
After all, just because you can't see it doesn't mean you can't measure it.
Ji Chenyu, Cao Yingchong, Yue Wanwan, Qiao Yi... passed the test one after another.
Finally, it was Zite's turn.
Oasis staff held the detector and carefully scanned his entire body.
As the detector probed his back, Chit's heart leaped into his throat...