The Fourth Disaster Begins at the Dawn of the Millennium

“No, no, no, but the principal of this school is cooperating with us…”

"I don't see how you can make money in a school like this..." Steve said again.

"Money? We don't need that kind of thing (because we can always rob a bank), what we want is something other than money..."

The player brought Steve into the auditorium of the community middle school, where all the teachers and students of the entire school gathered, and the principal was also in the crowd. Steve chose a seat in the back row and sat down. The seats in the auditorium were already quite old, and the wooden backs were full of traces of time, and occasionally some graffiti carved by students with knives could be seen.

The speaker on the podium was the character controlled by Zhang Xiatian from the Kaihei Five. He had a neatly combed back hair, a meticulous hairstyle, and a pair of thick eyebrow-framed glasses. His red tie was particularly eye-catching in the sun, forming a sharp contrast with his black suit. He didn't look like a company manager at all, he looked like a mafia. His fierce appearance made him look like a ruthless person who took killing as his daily life. People dared not look directly into his piercing eyes.

In addition, what the speaker said on the stage also made Steve feel "eye-opening!"

The man on the stage said, "My children, I want you to swear to me that you will never take drugs or smoke cigarettes...Okay, I know it's not possible to never drink, but you should never be an alcoholic, OK? Children, raise your hands and swear to me!"

"My... children?" Steve in the audience was surprised. "So, the manager of your Universal Group is also the godfather of these young people?"

After the person on the stage led all the students to swear an oath, he also warned those who tried to sell drugs to students or ask for protection fees from students at the end of his speech, "Everyone should be aware of the influence of Universal Group in this community. We said that violence and drugs should be banned on campus, and we mean it. If they dare to come back, we will drive them to death with a car, or push their heads into the toilet to drown them. We also mean it."

Steve in the audience was still in a daze. He suddenly realized what the staff member who brought him here said, what exactly did Universal Group need besides money... At this moment, the staff member sitting next to him said:

"This community middle school used to be one of the worst schools in Los Angeles, with the lowest pass rate for many years. Drugs, violence, prostitution, guns...all the problems you can think of are here. But just this year, the new principal of this school asked for our help. After our intervention, the situation here has changed fundamentally. Of course, I don’t mean that everyone in this school can go to a good university, but at least those who want to study hard can sit down and study without being disturbed."

"This community, like this community middle school, was once one of the worst communities in Los Angeles, a place full of vicious crimes, drug trafficking, and murders. But our group reorganized the 'vigilantes' here (just because I robbed a bank doesn't mean I can't protect community security). Ordinary gangs and criminals are no match for us (just kidding, the LAPD is no match for you either). Now, the community where the 'Los Angeles Modified Car King' is located is at an upper-middle level of security in Los Angeles (we try to get experience from enemies with bright health bars)."

"Student Steve, this is our corporate culture. This is the social responsibility that our Universal Group shoulders. Now, do you know more about us?"

Chapter 26 The Fate of the Rust Belt

Steven not only understands the poor state of the community and community school mentioned by the Universal Group, but also has personally experienced it. In fact, if Steven had not left his drug-addicted mother when he was still in school and lived with his rather irritable grandmother, Steven would never have been able to get out of the "Rust Belt". His grandmother could not provide much help, but only supported his studies and drove away his former friends who were alcoholics and drug addicts with a Winchester M1897 pump-action shotgun.

Supporting children to study hard is not a common thing in the "Rust Belt", because the grandfathers and parents of the workers in the "Rust Belt" can find full-time jobs even if they did not graduate from high school. The working class can buy cars and houses with physical strength and become middle class. You work as a factory girl, and I earn tips in a restaurant. Everyone has a bright future. Teenagers and adults have low expectations for academic studies and go with the flow. Their grandfathers work in factories, and their parents work in factories. It seems that it is a matter of course that those factories will always be there. No one has ever thought that one day the factories will no longer exist.

Then the day came, the industrial structure was upgraded, the manufacturing industry moved out, the economy was in decline, the rich fled, shopping malls closed, drug addiction spread, and crime bred. Families with low education and no ability to work elsewhere were left behind, trapped in rapidly depreciating properties, residential isolation, and class solidification. The golden age was over. As the saying goes, it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. The once proud blue-collar middle class has now been abandoned by the American dream and has become the most cynical group, even more pessimistic than Hispanics and African Americans. They no longer believe that work can bring hope, and hard work is far less than the luck of reincarnation.

Steven himself walked out of the "Rust Belt", but he did not believe that his ability to get out of the "Rust Belt" proved the success of the "American Dream". On the contrary, his ability to get out of the "Rust Belt" was the result of a series of unexpected factors. He was just too lucky. At every critical moment in his life, there was someone who guided him on the right path and helped him to cross the hidden dangers in his life. If he was not careful, he would still fall into the abyss.

However, when Steven entered the big city, he encountered more prejudices of the big city elites against "country people" like him. The elites said that the reason why those "country people" and poor people struggled at the bottom was that they were not self-disciplined and hardworking enough.

They also used the "Stanford Marshmallow Experiment" as an example, which is to give a child a marshmallow and tell the child that if he can wait a while before eating it, he will get another candy. Many years later, those children who were able to delay gratification had much better academic performance and quality of life than those who could not. Then they used this to explain why the "country people" who lack self-discipline will always be poor.

But...if you live in a displaced family, where adults go back on their words and promises are never fulfilled, and you are poor now, the future may be even worse. If you are lucky today and get a piece of candy, why save it for tomorrow? For workers living in the "rust belt", they choose to "drink today and drink today" in the midst of hardships. They will take some drugs, drink some wine, and gamble for pleasure. These are the spice of their lives.

Steve still remembers a neighbor when he was in school. She was a single mother who was friendly and helpful to everyone. But when she encountered a financial crisis, she got carried away and started robbing. Steve went to the court to listen to the verdict, and the judge said to the single mother:

"We all agree that you were poor and scared to commit such a crime. We also agree that if you could keep your job five days a week, we wouldn't have to be standing here staring at each other today. Maybe you have saved enough money, moved to a clean apartment, you don't see drug dealers when you go out, and your school district is safe. Maybe you will survive in society as a nurse, and you can give your children a completely different childhood, without having to endure the life your mother gave you like you did. If this is true, you can walk around this cold city with your head held high, and even feel that you have some value and that you can find a good man. He won't give you a gun and ask you to rob, but at least he won't beat you in front of your children.

If you are lucky, you can book a small church for your wedding, your eldest daughter can wear a tutu and be a flower girl, and your youngest son can grin and stagger and hand you a diamond ring, just like you once dreamed of. Of course, these are just dreams. The reality is that you have lost your job, your family is about to lose electricity, you and your children are about to be kicked out of the house and live in the open air. At this time, you point a gun at someone's face and snatch his wallet. If this is a crime caused by poverty, who can guarantee that the same thing will not happen again? You were poor when the crime happened, but are you not poor now? "

Steve believes that most people simply cannot imagine how motivated or self-disciplined these "rust belt" "country people" must be to have a chance to pick themselves up and get out of poverty. Without external intervention, examples like his will always be rare exceptions.

However, Universal Group seems to want to be this external force. These ruthless people are like the grandmother in my family who drove away the bad friends with a pump-action shotgun. They drive out all kinds of messy people and things that extend to the community and school, bring order back to the poor community, and give those struggling at the bottom a chance to interrupt the vicious cycle in life...

It is hard to imagine that this is something a company would do. Aren’t companies all focused on making money? Or is this boss preparing for his future election as a senator?

On the way out of school, Steve told the Global Group that before leaving school, he had looked up information about Northeast China and visited a businessman who had been to China. Steve found that Northeast China and the "Rust Belt" in the United States have many similarities. Both were important industrial production areas in their own countries, experienced economic recession, and faced serious social problems.

“So, what OneWorld is doing in China is the same thing I’m seeing in Los Angeles?”

"The two countries have different national conditions, so the methods must be different..."

"I really hope that you can expand your business to my hometown someday...Okay, sir, I have decided to join your company. If possible, I would like to go back home first to tell my grandmother the good news, and then I will immediately set off for China to meet with the R&D team there."

Chapter 27: The Most Unsafe City in the United States

Steven boarded a flight leaving Los Angeles. He saw a newspaper on the plane. The most eye-catching headline on the newspaper was "Los Angeles, the most unsafe city in the United States this year": In this city, there have been bank robberies and armored car robberies almost every day for about a month, and most of the robberies were carried out without looting.

There is a law in this world called the "Law of Conservation of Smiles", which states that smiles do not disappear, but only move from one person's face to another. When officials of a local government in Northeast China were smiling happily for an investment of 1500 million US dollars, many officials in Los Angeles, USA, were frowning because far more than 1500 million US dollars were robbed.

In fact, for the city of Los Angeles, tens of millions of dollars are not an astronomical figure. For the banks in Los Angeles, the loss of tens of millions of dollars can be used to settle all the bad debts of previous years. Those robbers are simply "angels". If there is no outside intervention, the banks and robbers should be able to "coexist harmoniously" for a longer period of time...

However, the frequency of players robbing banks and armored trucks was still too high, and the means of robbery were too high-profile, especially the last few times, when players not only broke through the tight net laid by SWAT, but also blew up several armored vehicles sent by the National Guard, causing such a big mess that the Los Angeles City Government became the laughing stock of the United States. Faced with this level of "disaster", the federal government, state government and Los Angeles City Government all treated it as a major enemy, and the National Guard, SWAT and FBI all took action, determined to dig deep into the ground to dig out this criminal gang.

"Local banks in Los Angeles are basically traps now. We might be killed by the National Guard ambushing inside as soon as we enter the vault. Although we can still be resurrected in the game, it's not necessary... We didn't get a penny, and we can't go online for at least 24 hours. You know, if this game can't be online for a day or two, it will be suffocating..."

"What should we do? I think this game will evolve dynamically based on our actions. We rob banks every day, forcing them to upgrade their protection measures, and the money we rob from the banks is getting less and less. We can either open a branch in another city, or we have to find a new way to make money in Los Angeles..."

"I see there are places with lots of cash in Los Angeles, not just banks..."

"Or should we consider a more profitable business? Look at what's being broadcasted on TV. They say we robbed hundreds of millions. Isn't that nonsense? We worked so hard for half a month and couldn't even reach a small goal. Those bastards from the bank took away hundreds of millions of benefits just by doing the accounting. Obviously, we are the ones who robbed the bank! But when I saw the TV news in this game, I felt that we were working for those bank NPCs. They are much better at robbing banks than we are.........."

"By the way, the goal of our game isn't just to make money, right? I think the players who were born in China are quite interesting. Although there's less fighting and killing, there's a lot of other experiences."

When the players were discussing the transformation and upgrade of the "robbery gang" and the iterative play style, the player on duty suddenly sent a screenshot in the chat group and attached a sentence: "Hey, bro, another temporary mission has come. It's a small mission. Two combat players are here to take it."

"OK, I'm coming downstairs to get the takeaway, right away!"

"Count me in, I'm almost done squatting! Damn, no more paper......"

..................

The community where "Los Angeles Car Modification King" is located has been a relatively poor community in Los Angeles for a long time. Fiscal austerity has prevented local governments from providing sufficient funds to the police department. As a result, the budget will be cut accordingly, which will directly affect the number of police officers, equipment maintenance and training, resulting in insufficient police force. Poor communities often have higher crime rates, which puts tremendous pressure on existing police forces. High crime rates and work pressure will make the working environment of police more challenging, further reducing the willingness of police officers to work in these communities, making it more difficult to recruit and retain police officers.

The relevant parties do not intend to end this vicious cycle of "more poverty leads to worse public security, and worse public security leads to more poverty". They still insist on giving priority to increasing police force in non-poor areas to ensure the safety of "rich and middle class" and meet the needs of voters with more political influence. As for poor communities... The Los Angeles City Government has implemented a new public security pilot - "community policing".

The implementation of "community policing" requires each community council to appoint a director, who is directly led by the community council, rather than the police station, and exercises power independently of official agencies. At the same time, "community policing" encourages community members to participate in police activities and improves the community's security capabilities through citizen patrol programs, corporate security assistance projects, etc.

In addition, the Los Angeles Police Department has further decentralized power, delegated responsibility and accountability to community police in each district, and they can independently handle many criminal issues in their respective jurisdictions, thereby enhancing the right of "community policing" members to participate in decision-making. In this way, the autonomy of each community police is improved, and their sense of achievement and satisfaction in work is improved, which greatly improves the enthusiasm and efficiency of members involved in "community policing".

In this community, what place is more suitable to be a "community police station" than "Los Angeles Custom Car King"?

On a quiet night, the occasional cat calls broke the silence. A "vigilante" player on duty in the "crafting department" was modifying firearms in the tool room inside the "community police station". The civilian firearms purchased by players on the market are still too restricted. According to the United States' "Firearms Owners Protection Act", "American civilians are prohibited from owning machine guns (including fully automatic rifles) newly produced after 1986", but how can players accept that their "tool for making money" is not fully automatic? This requires "crafting department" players to perform some simple modifications. For example, add external components to the gun (bump stock), increase the ammunition carrying capacity, change the barrel, etc.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside the door, breaking the silence in the room.

The door was suddenly pushed open, and a little boy stumbled in. He was about ten years old, his clothes were messy from running, and he was trembling and breathing rapidly. The player who was busy in the tool room also came out and asked:

"Kid, what happened?"

The little boy seemed to be still in shock, his lips trembled a few times, and he finally squeezed out a few words: "Sir, there are... bad guys... broke into my house... Mom and Dad... They are screaming... I jumped out of the window on the second floor, but Mom and Dad and my sister are still on the first floor..."

"Child, what is your name?"

"Tommy..."

"Tommy, tell us where your home is and we will go to help you." As the player was speaking, two players holding assault rifles came over from "Los Angeles Car Customization King". It seems that not only the guy who picked up the takeaway has come online, but even the guy who squatted in the toilet without paper has logged into the game.

Tommy pointed out the window. "It's... at the end of that street... the red house..."

"OK, let's go right away. Kid, we will rescue your father, mother and sister. Now stay here and don't move. Here, take this donut and eat it."

Chapter 28: Make some big news

The streets at night seemed particularly quiet, with only their hurried footsteps echoing in the air. The red house soon appeared in their sight, with the door half open, looking like a horror movie about to begin. Two combat players had raised their assault rifles and approached the house quietly. Slowly pushing the door open, the leading player used the tactical flashlight attached to the assault rifle in his hand to quickly shine the tactical flashlight at the dark entrance room on the first floor for a few seconds, then turned it off, and after making sure that there was no Lao Liu hiding in the corner of the room at the door to attack him, he slowly entered the house.

The living room on the first floor was in a mess, with furniture toppled over and a pool of blood on the floor. The flashlight was quickly pointed at the sofa, where a man with his throat cut was seen sitting. A landline phone was next to him, but it seemed that he did not have time to call 911 before the gangsters killed him.

"Fuck, this... is a fucking horror game. This... is too scary. I would rather this game wasn't so realistic..." a player complained.

"Ha, my friend, you must be a new player who just joined the game. This game... is so realistic. Okay, stop staring at that dead man, or you'll have nightmares at night. Let's go upstairs and check..."

The scene upstairs was even more tragic. A woman's body was tied to the bed with a cloth stuffed in her mouth. It looked like she was raped first and then killed, but the order might not be the same. As for the little boy's sister and the gangster who broke into the house, the two combat players searched the house but couldn't find them.

At this moment, the two combat players heard the sound of a car starting outside. It was unusual to suddenly start a car in the middle of the night. Thinking of their missing sister and the gangster, the two players quickly raised their rifles and leaned against the window, pointing their guns at the small van that was starting outside and yelled, "Stop! We are the police! We order you to stop!"

A masked head popped out from the passenger seat of the van, took a look at the players in the room, then quickly shrank back. The car also ignored the players' orders and drove away.

"Chase!" The two players quickly evacuated the house, rode their respective motorcycles, and chased after the van. At the same time, the two players also reported their positions in the group chat, calling for nearby players who could come to support them, and it would be best if a driving player could drive the van to stop.

.................

On Sunset Boulevard, a small van was speeding along the highway, its body swaying unsteadily. The masked man driving the car kept looking through the rearview mirror at the situation behind him, his heart beating like a drum, because the "goods" on the van were not only valuable, but once discovered by others, it would be enough to send everyone in the car to jail for life.

Behind the van, two motorcycles were chasing closely. The combat players riding on the motorcycles were not particularly good at driving, and in order to ensure that they would not flip over, the two combat players could not squeeze out the ultimate performance of the motorcycles under their crotch. For these two people, as long as they could keep following the van without flipping over, they would be victorious.

"Shit, I can't control this motorcycle any faster!"

"How can a van go so fast? Has it been modified?"

"We need to do something to slow it down!"

So, the player tried to have the character in the game hold the handlebars of the motorcycle with one hand, and quickly pull out a pistol from the waist with the other hand, aiming at the wheel of the truck. Then the player was surprised to find that although his game character would be a little out of control if he continued to speed up the motorcycle, he was very stable when aiming the gun on the motorcycle!

What else is there to say? Shoot!

The two players pulled the trigger together, and the bullets cut through the air and headed straight for the target. Many bullets missed, but several bullets also hit the tires of the van. The driver was horrified to find that the body of the van shook violently and the wheels made a harsh friction sound. The driver tried hard to stabilize the steering wheel, but the speed of the car began to slow down uncontrollably.

"What the hell, why are these two fake police officers who came out of nowhere chasing us, and they are even..." the masked man sitting in the passenger seat roared. This bloodthirsty lunatic who killed two people tonight has now been forced into a corner by the two lunatics who are chasing him relentlessly. He doesn't want to have a speed shooting competition with the other party on the main road, which will attract too much attention. Los Angeles is now full of patrol police, SWAT, FBI and National Guard. But in this situation, if he doesn't shoot, he will definitely not be able to get away...

Then, the co-pilot of the van stuck a hand out of the window, holding an Uzi submachine gun...

.....................

"What the fuck! What is this, a gunfight movie? This actor is so dedicated!"

"Um, sir, I don't think this is a movie. We are probably experiencing a real car-and-gun fight!"

"Quick! Hurry and follow me?"

"What? Follow them? They have guns!"

"Damn it, why are you a reporter if you're afraid of death? Can't you see? I dare say this is definitely another breaking news! Think about it, the whole of America is paying attention to the terrible public security in Los Angeles! Those idiots from other places are squatting in the Los Angeles Police Department waiting for news, but we have captured the latest and most explosive news... Drive faster and hold the camera steady, I want it to be on the front page of tomorrow's Los Angeles Times!"

Thus, a third team of crazy people joined the car chase on Sunset Boulevard - the journalists. The journalist driving the car had beads of sweat on his forehead and his heart was beating fast. He had no idea whether the bullet fired from the submachine gun on the passenger seat of the van would hit him. The car the journalist was driving did not have bulletproof glass...

At the same time, the "big brother" in the team still complained that the reporter was driving too slowly, "Faster, faster, we want to shoot close to them! Journalists all know a saying: If the picture is not good enough, it's because you are not close enough."

The motorcycles and vans in front were still shooting at each other in the car race, while the SUV carrying a car full of reporters had to drive carefully in the hail of bullets, trying to get as close as possible for filming, while also ensuring that the SUV always remained in a safe position. It was like dancing on a tightrope and there could not be any mistakes.

The end of all this started with a new car joining the battle. A "driving" player drove a powerful car with an anti-collision beam installed on the front from the Los Angeles Car Modifier. It overtook the reporter's SUV and two motorcycles and quickly closed the distance with the van. When the distance between the two sides was right, the car driven by the player suddenly made a 45° turn and used the anti-collision beam on the front to hit the van from the side and rear. The van was immediately hit and spun uncontrollably, and then crashed into the roadside.

"Bang bang bang-"

The masked robber was knocked unconscious and was about to grab his gun in a trance, but just as his fingers touched the gun, a burst of bullets from an assault rifle hit his chest.

"OK, let's see if the mission objective is in here... open the door."

Chapter 29: Community “Volunteers” Are Also Police

While media outlets across the United States were scrambling to report on the work done by the Los Angeles police to prevent bank robberies and armored car hijackings, or rehashing material from a series of previous bank and armored car robberies, the Los Angeles Times, the largest broadsheet daily in the western United States, whose influence and status are second only to the New York Times and the Washington Post, took a different approach and reported a car-and-gun battle on a Los Angeles highway.

The two elements of car racing and gun fights are eye-catching in themselves. If you add to that the photos of people riding motorcycles and drawing guns and shooting, which are like a stunt performance, taken by reporters from the cars, and the following elements such as "home invasion and murder", "child kidnapping" and "child pornography", then this news basically establishes its position as the front-page headline of the Los Angeles Times that day.

The whole story, in simple terms:

"There is a gang of MS-13 gang members who received an order to kidnap a child to make a pornographic video. They selected a candidate and broke into this house last night. They killed the man and woman of the house in an extremely cruel way and abducted the girl. They then searched the house for a while, trying to find another little boy. They thought the boy was hiding somewhere, but in fact the boy escaped through the window on the second floor and sought help from the community vigilantes. Afterwards, these gang members found that someone with a long gun was approaching the house, so they quickly evacuated the house and drove away from the scene.

At this point, usually, it is the community vigilantes who call the LAPD for support. The gang members believe that by the time the LAPD tracks down their car, they and the kidnapped target will have already moved to the underground den. However, the two community vigilantes actually chased them on motorcycles, even regardless of the risk of death, racing and gunfighting on the road...

In the end, this group of community vigilantes stopped the MS-13 gang members with violent means, rescued the kidnapped girl, and interrogated the gang members who were hit half to death to find out the whole story of the incident...

.................

The morning sun shines through the blinds into the Los Angeles Police Department, shining on the tired faces of the police officers. The whole office is busy, with the ringing of phones, the typing of keyboards and the sound of hurried footsteps interweaving together. The police officers' eyes are full of bloodshot, and it is obvious that they have not slept all night. Since a series of robberies occurred, the accusations from superiors and public opinion have put everyone in the LAPD under tremendous pressure to solve the case.

In the corner of the office, the LAPD chief sat in his seat, with various case files piled in front of him. His brows were furrowed, his eyes were fixed on the files in his hands, and he rubbed his temples with his fingers from time to time. Suddenly his phone rang.

"Director Howard, this is Mayor Johnson," the mayor's deep voice came from the other end of the line, "I need you to come to my office right away. Oh, by the way, remember to buy a copy of the Los Angeles Times on your way here."

Director Howard responded and hung up the phone. He stood up and felt a pain in his back. It seemed that long hours of work at his desk had taken its toll on his body. The director picked up his coat hanging on the wall and prepared to leave. When he reached the door, the deputy director stopped him.

"Director, are you going out? What about this morning's meeting?"

"You take charge," Howard patted his shoulder. "I'm going to meet the mayor. You guys continue to keep an eye on the case and let me know if you find anything. Oh, by the way, bring me a copy of the latest Los Angeles Times."

When the director walked into the mayor's office, the mayor handed him a cup of coffee and asked, "Have you read today's newspaper?"

"I have read it," Howard nodded. "The report is well written, exciting and thrilling. It makes me feel like I have watched a Hollywood blockbuster. It fits the style of Los Angeles very well... I remember that the emergence of these 'community vigilantes' originated from the 'community policing' pilot we carried out before. LAPD provided this community with a batch of vigilante uniforms, funds and crash training."

Then Howard said in an amazed tone:

"I didn't expect that the LAPD only provided such insignificant help, but they did such a great job and stopped the M-13 gang members suspected of first-degree murder and child kidnapping on the highway. I am proud of these community vigilantes! At least their courage is no less than that of the regular police. Speaking of which... these vigilantes did all this in the uniforms we provided. Looking at the photo on the front page, I almost thought they were regular police officers from our LAPD, but... even if they are just non-staff members, this news is still very helpful to the image of our police department."

The mayor smiled with satisfaction. "That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. Director Howard, we need more positive news like this to change the current trend of public opinion. The recent series of bank and armored car robberies have indeed reduced the public, state and federal governments' trust in Los Angeles. Some third-party media have begun to give us the bad name of 'Sin City'. We must take some measures to redeem ourselves. Of course, the best way is for you to successfully solve the bank robbery case..."