Chapter 415: Decline Almost Suddenly

Chapter 415: Decline Almost Suddenly

Ichiro Kobayashi is the editor-in-chief of the left-wing media Red Flag.

The Red Flag is a small media outlet and previously had only a small number of subscribers, just over 10,000 copies.

There are more than 10,000 copies of the media, but there are almost no advertisements.

You can't make much money from selling newspapers.

Therefore, this media outlet has always had difficulty paying the salaries of its editors and reporters.

Especially in the past one or two years, the circulation of this newspaper has shrunk further and further, leaving only more than 5,000 copies.

Ichiro Kobayashi's life became increasingly difficult.

But even so, he could only grit his teeth and persevere.

What worries Kobayashi Ichiro even more is that the future of the foot basin is likely to be very miserable.

Because, as a left-wing media person, he is quite forward-looking.

He could see that Wang Erxiao's New Year was getting worse every year.

The Eagle is on the decline and it will certainly no longer be able to maintain its global hegemony.

Especially the bases around the giant dragon have suffered heavy blows in the past two years, with frequent accidents. More than 40 fighter planes crashed in one year, nuclear submarines hit underwater reefs, warships repeatedly collided with merchant ships, and even large ships inexplicably caught fire and burned. Such strange things happened.

All this indicates that the Eagle has encountered serious problems.

If it continues to stay here, it will probably encounter more troubles.

Of course, the foot basin is not much better.

Ichiro Kobayashi discovered that the foot basin's advantageous industrial fields were also declining one by one.

The dragon took away most of the shipbuilding industry's market share, and the electronics industry was first dismantled by the giant eagle, and then the dragon rose up strongly and defeated its electronics industry in one fell swoop.

Even their powerful automobile industry has encountered strong competition from the dragon.

Julong has produced better engines, better clutches and intelligent car systems, which have severely suppressed the fuel-efficient foot basin cars.

It was nothing at the beginning, but as Julong continued to expand its circle of friends and expand its global market, the market share of Jiaoben Automobile became smaller and smaller.

It turns out that Jiaoben Automobile has several major markets: the first is the Giant Eagle market, the second is its own country's market, the third is the Asia-Pacific market, and the fourth is the European market.

Now, its overseas markets have basically been lost except for Giant Eagle.

This also dealt a heavy blow to Footbasin Automobile.

Jiaoben is a country dominated by foreign trade, with both ends abroad, importing raw materials and exporting products.

Only in this way can they obtain huge foreign exchange profits.

If the export market suffers a severe blow, the economic development of the country will suffer a devastating blow.

The sharp decline in exports has caused a sharp drop in corporate profits, and naturally, they have to lay off employees and cut wages.

In the past one or two years, the foot basin industry has been in widespread distress.

The actual income of ordinary people is actually decreasing because prices are rising higher and higher.

With high prices and declining actual purchasing power, naturally, the quality of life of the people in the foot basin will decline significantly.

Although Ichiro Kobayashi claims to be the editor-in-chief of a newspaper, to be honest, he is living a life worse than a dog's now.

He can only earn more than 70 yuan a month now.

But this is to support a family.

Nowadays, rice is sold for two thousand yuan per kilogram.

His monthly income is only enough to buy more than 700 kilograms of rice.

It is true that his family of five cannot finish more than 700 kilograms of rice in a month.

But don't forget, there are other expenses as well.

Nowadays, everything is expensive. A haircut costs 10,000 yuan, and any piece of clothing starts at 20,000 yuan. There are other living costs and travel costs. A family can't live well with just him.

He also has to try his best to maintain a decent life.

You must have some decent clothes and shoes when you go out, right? You must have a decent car, right?
Anyway, his life became more and more difficult.

Nowadays, Ichiro Kobayashi basically doesn't dare to eat out.

He could only bring the cheapest lunch box.

His lunch box only contained a few mouthfuls of rice and vegetables, which was not enough to fill him up.

Ichiro Kobayashi is now in a state of hunger almost every day.

He couldn't understand why his life had become such a mess.

Ichiro Kobayashi didn't have breakfast that day. He just drank a few sips of water and went out with his bag.

His newspaper's offices were several blocks away.

Ichiro Kobayashi used to go to work by bus.

But now, the bus fares in Jiaoben have increased sharply, and a bus ride costs at least 200 Jiaoben yuan.

too expensive.

He decided to walk to work.

It’s only about two or three kilometers away.

Taking a walk is also a form of exercise.

Ichiro Kobayashi walked slowly on the road, enduring his hunger.

The streets seemed dull and deserted. Even if there were pedestrians, they walked by in silence, making almost no sound.

As Ichiro Kobayashi walked, he heard his stomach rumbling.

So hungry.

My stomach is protesting.

Moreover, he now felt a little dizzy.

This is a sign of low blood sugar.

Although hypoglycemia is not a serious problem, it can actually be fatal.

Because hypoglycemia means that the body's nutritional needs are completely inadequate.

That could lead to various functional disorders.

At this time, if you don't hurry up to eat something and replenish your sugar intake, the possibility of fainting will be very high.

Ichiro Kobayashi stopped, took a deep breath, sighed and thought, I'll just eat a bite of the rice in the lunch box I brought with me.

I really can't do without eating.

He took out his lunch box from his briefcase.

A very small one.

There's basically nothing in there.

Ichiro Kobayashi opened his lunch box.

He took out a rice ball, put it in his mouth, chewed it twice and swallowed it.

A very small mouthful of rice.

However, blood sugar rises quite quickly.

Soon, he felt that the dizzy and uncomfortable feeling was gone.

Ichiro Kobayashi put away the lunch box and carefully placed it in his briefcase.

He smiled bitterly: It's so miserable...

As an editor-in-chief, I am considered a marginal elite, right?

But now I'm hungry.

After eating the rice balls, he felt noticeably more energetic.

Then he began to walk forward.

The streets are littered with garbage everywhere.

There was even shit and patches of urine against the corner.

Kobayashi Ichiro shook his head again.

Just two years ago, this place was clean and tidy...

Has it become so dilapidated and dirty now?
This is the capital of the foot basin! This is the most prosperous place.

However, it has gradually become decadent.

Ichiro Kobayashi felt increasingly depressed as he walked.

Walking down a block, he saw a man in a suit lying on the ground with his briefcase beside him.

How is this going?

Ichiro Kobayashi hesitated for a moment, but still walked over.

However, before he approached the man lying on the ground, a man rushed over from behind him.

The man grabbed the briefcase from the floor, opened it and looked inside.

There were a few Japanese yen coins and a small lunch box in the briefcase.

The man picked up the money and lunch box and threw the briefcase back to the ground.

"What are you doing? Otherwise I'm going to call the police!" Ichiro Kobayashi shouted harshly.

However, the man ignored her and opened the lunch box and ate everything inside in just a few bites.

Ichiro Kobayashi also came over.

"Bastard! You are robbing people in the street!" Ichiro Kobayashi shouted harshly.

The man swallowed the last bite of rice, squinted at Kobayashi Ichiro and said, "Why don't you call the police! I'm unemployed, and going to jail might be the best outcome for me. As long as I can have enough food to eat, I don't care!"

Ichiro Kobayashi was stunned.

The man was obviously a homeless person on the street, his clothes were torn and his face was covered in dirt.

In this state, he has completely sunk to the scraps. Therefore, this person is naturally not afraid of anything.

Kobayashi Ichiro had no choice but to wave his hand and said, "Go away."

The man grinned, with two large teeth missing from his mouth.

Instead of running away, he turned around, took off his pants, and urinated on the head of the man in the suit lying on the ground.

Kobayashi Ichiro was completely speechless.

He took out his cell phone and called the police.

The call couldn't be connected.

He tried a few more times, but he really couldn't get through.

Holy shit! No way? Even the police line is not working?

He didn't know what to say.

Ichiro Kobayashi let out a sigh and suddenly felt a little weak all over.

Because he felt that the foot basin was collapsing.

This collapse even made him feel helpless.

"Baga! You, what are you doing?"

The man in the suit who had fainted on the ground finally woke up.

I happened to see a stream of water rushing over his face and even splashing into his mouth.

The homeless man grinned: "I'm saving you. You fell to the ground, and I thought you might need some water."

The man in the suit on the ground tried to get up in frustration, but he obviously didn't have that much strength.

He struggled for a moment and fell to the ground again.

"Asshole! You took the food and money from my bag?"

The homeless man grinned and said, "I'm hungry. So, what's wrong with lending you some food?"

"How about you call the police?"

The man on the ground struggled to sit up.

He found that his originally straight suit had become dirty.

He is an employee of a nearby company.

He also chooses to walk to work in order to save money.

But because I didn’t eat breakfast, I fainted on the ground due to hypoglycemia while walking.

Unexpectedly, when I woke up, I found someone had urinated on my head.

Moreover, the lunch box was gone, and the money in the bag was gone.

This is really kind of miserable.

So, the man collapsed on the spot.

Kobayashi Ichiro sighed.

He didn't know what to say.

Damn, why did the foot basin suddenly become like this?
He took a step and walked forward.

After walking for a while, we suddenly found a corpse transport truck outside a single-family building not far away.

There were already at least three bodies in the car.

Two men in white protective clothing walked out of the yard, carrying a stretcher.

There was obviously also a dead body on the stretcher.

However, the body was obviously a little small.

It looks like it should be a child.

Kobayashi Ichiro's heart tightened again.

He came closer and watched the two men put the body into the car.

"What's going on?" asked Ichiro Kobayashi.

A corpse collector took one look at him and said, "This family is all dead."

Kobayashi Ichiro was stunned for a moment.

"Ah?! How come they are all dead?"

The corpse collector said, "He can't survive anymore."

"The man killed his wife and children, and then killed himself."

Kobayashi Ichiro frowned.

He is a journalist, of course he has to interview.

Because this matter seems too tragic.

"What is the reason?" Kobayashi Ichiro murmured.

"Need I say more? I just said it, I can't live anymore!"

The other party's tone was a bit aggressive. He didn't want to pay any more attention to Kobayashi Ichiro and planned to leave.

Ichiro Kobayashi quickly took out his press card.

He said, "Sir, I'm a journalist. I want to do an interview, is that okay?"

The corpse collector waved his hand and said, "Stop the interview."

"The point is: this kind of thing is no longer newsworthy."

"Even if you post it, what's the use? No one wants to read this kind of thing."

"Moreover, this kind of thing has been happening more and more recently."

"People are having a hard time! They are unemployed, bankrupt, and can't even make a living. What should they do?"

"Then you can only choose to kill yourself and stop suffering."

This answer shocked Ichiro Kobayashi.

Holy shit! Is this becoming a common phenomenon?
But when he thought about himself, his current situation wasn't much better...

So, he suddenly felt the pain.

He thought that Watma was actually struggling on the brink of death.

The body truck leaves.

Ichiro Kobayashi felt heavy-hearted.

He walked away slowly with heavy steps.

After walking for a long time, he finally arrived at the office.

This office building is now much quieter, as many companies have gone bankrupt.

But just over two years ago, this place was very prosperous and lively.

Ichiro Kobayashi took a deep breath, he was so tired.

It took him nearly an hour to walk a distance of more than two kilometers.

It's just too slow.

Ichiro Kobayashi climbed the stairs to the floor where his office was.

He was already panting like a gas pump.

What the hell!

Is climbing stairs like this?

This is so useless.

Ichiro Kobayashi opened the office door.

Now, he is the only one who owns this newspaper.

Ichiro Kobayashi turned on his computer.

In fact, the cost of operating this media is not low.

He had to write the manuscript himself, typeset it himself, and send it to the printing factory himself.

After the newspaper is printed, he has to entrust the post office to deliver it to the subscribers' homes.

He also has to personally coordinate the retail market.

It's really tiring for one person to do so much work.

Two or three months ago, there were still six or seven people in this media.

The efficiency is not good, so we can only streamline it.

Otherwise, his media outlet would lose money, and his own livelihood would be even more difficult to protect.

He felt very painful when he fired others.

Because, at the beginning, he was full of ambition and claimed that he would make Red Flag a national newspaper and would never lay off employees.

But now, I can only break my promise.

After Ichiro Kobayashi turned on his computer, he planned to write the manuscript immediately.

However, my mind was in a mess and I had no idea what to write.

This newspaper is not a news newspaper at all, but a commentary that focuses on the attitude and solutions to major domestic and international affairs.

He is a current affairs commentator.

Ichiro Kobayashi couldn't write the manuscript for the time being, so he opened the browser and opened Weibo out of habit.

He saw a Weibo activity with a prize for posting on Weibo, and the prize money was quite large... (End of this chapter)