Darkstone Code-Chapter 797 - 0795 Eccentricity

Humans are strange creatures.

When Lynch had no scandals, many people claimed he liked men and was a gay, which wasn’t a good statement.

Women are still striving for their rights. Regardless of their success, at least some people acknowledge their efforts, and society becomes more tolerant towards them.

This is undoubtedly the best era for women in history.

But for groups whose sexuality deviates from the norm, this era in the Federation is the worst.

They are labeled with various names, such as heretics and degenerates, which are quite common.

In some scriptural interpretations of unknown origin, there’s a passage—

"The devil uses magic to corrupt people, making them unable to distinguish between male and female, hoping to end the propagation of humanity..."

The main idea is that same-sex couples cannot have children, and humanity will eventually go extinct without descendants—this is the devil’s plot.

Of course, more often than not, it might be due to blind speculation by outsiders on situations within that leads to such views. They believe these people and their love are dirty, ugly, and deformed.

In fact, as long as it’s love, true love is pure by nature; how can it hold so many negative things?

Sometimes people can’t understand that pure love doesn’t only cross gender; it might also cross species and life and death. When faced with pure and clean love, they feel their own insignificance and ugliness.

As a result, they panic and deem these as wrong rather than trying to understand and comprehend.

Mainstream society holds great disdain for such situations, and the more traditional the great families, and the higher up in the Federation’s hierarchy, the more rigid their views on certain issues.

Regardless of whether it’s the Federation, Gafura, or any other country, bloodline and descendants are always one of the most crucial tasks for family continuity.

Even if some of them are less interested in the opposite sex than a thousandth of their interest in the same sex, they will also force themselves to pretend to be normal.

The speculation about Lynch being gay in reports is actually the most vicious attack. If confirmed, high society will shut its doors on him.

They won’t allow someone tempted by the devil to join them, fearing it might lead some young people astray on their foggy life paths.

Fortunately, Lynch timely reversed this perception, and those helping him achieve this were the reporters outside at the moment.

They were holding up various cameras, waiting for Penny to come out of Lynch’s house, and there were even two reporters rummaging through Lynch’s garbage bins.

They found something inside, with some residue left.

Reporter A sniffed it, "It seems to be from yesterday; it still has a strong smell."

Reporter B put it directly into his mouth, gagged a bit, and spat, "It’s definitely something Lynch and Penny used..."

Reporter A looked at Reporter B and remained silent for a while, "I think this is a story in itself."

Reporter B rolled his eyes, "I’ve already made the news about myself once!"

...

Without these reporters, some aspects of Lynch’s private life wouldn’t have been so easily exposed to the public.

This is another strange part of human nature: the more openly something is shown to them, the less interested they are in seeing it.

On the contrary, the more something is hidden and kept from their view, the more interested they become.

It’s like performances on a commercial street; those performers standing in plain sight of everyone performing. Passersby have no interest in them, not even sparing them a glance.

But if there’s a crowd around something that’s hard to see through at a glance, then passing pedestrians might stop, squeeze into the crowd, and want to watch for a while before leaving, even if the performance content is quite boring and dull.

Voyeurism is something deeply ingrained in humanity since its birth. People aren’t really interested in Lynch’s glamorous side; they only want to peek into Lynch’s privacy.

It’s like... if they could discover some moral or personal flaws in Lynch, they would feel less "ugly."

It’s a disease, even a terminal one.

Inside the room, after Lynch finished breakfast, he temporarily had no work to do as he was giving himself a break. Doing business in the Federation wasn’t that easy.

As mentioned before, aside from finance, the physical industry has become saturated, and casually doing something could easily trigger a series of problems, which Lynch wanted to avoid for the moment.

While he was passing time reading the newspaper, the phone rang.

"Boss..."

It was Asir, the head of the Nagariel company, speaking. As a Nagariel native, he had a significant advantage in this regard.

A nation gradually awakening carries a strong resentment towards any happenings associated with the nation and Nagariel, making Asir as the general manager helps reduce unnecessary hatred.

"It’s me, speak..." Lynch put down the newspaper and pointed to the balcony, gesturing to Penny to go outside or go somewhere else because he needed to answer the call.

Penny pursed her lips and walked to the balcony. The weather was already quite cold, and going outside to catch a breeze wasn’t a good choice, but what could she do with so many reporters outside?

There were so many that she could see those reporters even from inside the room, which was a good thing; she needed to increase her exposure.

Watching Penny striking poses on the balcony, Lynch returned his attention to the phone. "Is there anything important?"

"It’s like this, boss, the first batch of third-level employees has appeared. Didn’t the company policy say to send them to the Federation for further training? My question is, should we do this now or later?"

Asir didn’t directly ask Lynch if his words were true; if they weren’t, he’d need to find a way to smooth things over. If they were, it was also a reminder to him that it was about time to fulfill his promise.

"There are already third-level employees?" Lynch found it a bit unbelievable. "This is much faster than our planned schedule, Asir."

Lynch mentioned Asir’s name, which was actually a hint, a vague implication for him to think carefully before speaking.

Asir’s voice was a bit flustered, "Boss, do you remember the technical categories upgrade a bit faster?"

"Our top group of technical workers has reached the standard of third-level employees, and some of them have also mentioned this, so..."

In Lynch’s employee upgrade plan, besides work duration and days, another important reference standard was job type.

A truck driver cannot enjoy the same treatment and promotion standards as someone who can only wield a big hammer.

Truck drivers also can’t enjoy the same standards as those who drive machinery, even though both are drivers.

Now the first batch of machinery drivers has completed the necessary training and reached the upgrade standard; as the company’s first batch of third-level employees, they naturally consider whether the company will fulfill certain promises.

Such as the matter of paid world center training in Bail Federal.

Whether it was learning, training, or just vacationing, as the first batch of beneficiaries of the new Federation reforms in Nagariel, they eagerly wanted to break away from original social class.

Without breaking away, they couldn’t achieve class mobility.

Lynch thought for a moment, "Since they meet the standards, arrange for them to come over. Let me know the date, and I’ll arrange someone to pick them up."

This call ended here. After Asir hung up the call, he breathed a sigh of relief. If Lynch didn’t remember this matter or didn’t want to acknowledge it, it would be quite troublesome.

Fortunately, Lynch was willing to acknowledge it and would also arrange it proactively, which gave Asir a sigh of relief.

He put down the phone and walked out of the office, saying to some gathered employees, "Go pack up; I’ll soon arrange for you to go to the Federation!"

Lynch’s talent training program in Nagariel was quite comprehensive; it wouldn’t lack personnel just because some employees temporarily left their posts.

Even if a few, ten-odd people were missing, there were enough Federation workers to fill the gap.

The current official report stated that nearly one million Federation people were working in Nagariel and the Amelia Region, and this number was still slowly increasing.

Akumal was also one of the first to reach third-level employee status, and he followed Asir’s instructions to go home and pack.

Actually, there wasn’t much to pack—two faded work uniforms (winter wear), two similarly faded pants (winter wear), and some underwear.

Besides these items, he also prepared several notebooks and pens, unlike his other coworkers who were going to the Federation for vacation or to see development there.

He was going to study, to learn how the Federation caught up with Gafura, to learn how to save Nagariel and its people. He believed that in the Federation, he could find answers.

The next day, a group of people took a car to the port and boarded the ship heading to Bail Federal—this would be a journey that changed their lives.

They might find some kind of enlightenment during this journey, thereby reaching the peak of life and witnessing the most real face of the world.

But, there was also a possibility of sinking into Hell’s deepest depths, becoming manipulated by desires, becoming slaves to those desires.

The ship sailed on the sea for five days before arriving at Bail Federal.

The moment the ship docked, the ship’s whistle sounded, and Akumal, in his cabin, felt a sudden indescribable feeling.

He didn’t know how to describe it, but at that moment, something became different, became strange.

If he had to say what was different, perhaps it was... the air?!

The air was filled with the sweet fragrance of freedom, making him feel relaxed as though some burden that had always rested on his shoulders suddenly disappeared; he felt reborn!

Energized, he followed the crew’s guidance out of the cabin, standing on the deck.

He held onto the ship’s railing, the icy sea breeze swiftly dispersing his exhaled white mist into the air, and he saw the sign not far away—

"Welcome to Bail Federal!"