The Great Thief

After selling all of his equipment and the Skill Book, Lu Li sent a message to Azure Sea Breeze to see how things were going on his end. After confirming that all was well, Lu Li logged off and went to sleep.

The next day was Sunday. Lu Li and his little sister ate some breakfast, then left to look for a new home.

From a sociological standpoint, once private ownership was established, people were bound to be divided into the ‘rich’ and the ‘poor’. Despite how advanced technology was, this was something that could not be changed.

The wealth gap between the rich and the poor was still as present as ever in the 23rd century. There were 3 main Districts: The Slum District, Commoner District and the Rich District. Although these weren’t their official names, that was how reality was.

The people who lived in the Slum District were mostly unemployed and barely scraped by on government handouts. Most of them didn’t have the right to education or healthcare. The reason why the Lu family lived in such poverty was because Lu Li wanted his sister to go to school, so that one day she might be able to find a good job and marry into a good family.

Those who lived in the Common District were mostly the working class who earned low incomes. Although they didn’t have much money, they were handed more rights than those in the Slum Districts and lived in much better conditions because they could at least contribute to society.

As for the Rich District, they were the minority who controlled the majority of society’s wealth, and enjoyed much more in terms of rights and power.

Lu Li now had more than $40,000 in his bank account. It was impossible for him to buy a house even in the Commoner District, but renting a house would be no problem.

Currently, they were looking for a house in the Commoner District with a nice and safe environment, that was close to a school and wasn’t too expensive…

“Big brother, look, there are police here even though it’s still daytime,” pointed out Lu Xin in curiosity.

Lu Xin was a little beauty but had always lacked a feeling of security since she was young. Luckily, her big brother was good at fighting, so she was able to safely grow up in the Slum District.

“It’s because this side of the Commoner District is close to the Slum District,” Lu Li explained. This was quite ironic - Lu Xin was excited to see the police, but the people they were here to guard against were people like Lu Li and Lu Xin.

“Big brother, if we find a house to live in over here, we won’t count as poor anymore, right?” The little girl asked with a look of hope on her face.

“Xin Xin, we weren’t poor because we lived in the Slum District, but because we didn’t have any money. Now that we have money, we aren’t poor anymore.” Lu Li swore to himself that he would never let his little sister feel inferior because of her social status ever again.

“Oh! Big brother’s so awesome; you earnt that much money in just 2 days!” To Lu Xin, her big brother was always the strongest and the most awesome person. A certain bro-con’s eyes were filled with little stars.

“Xin Xin, let’s not look for a house here.” A certain sis-con’s heart started racing as he proudly said, “Let’s go to the Rich District!”

“Big brother, are you sure?!” Lu Xin burst into excitement, but then became doubtful. “Big brother, will we really have enough for that? If… if one day we don’t have enough money, what will we do?”

It was normal for the little girl to worry about this.

However, what she didn’t know, was that sis-cons hated being doubted by their little sisters. What? Not being able to earn enough money? Impossible!

The more Lu Li thought about it, the more he wanted to move to the Rich District. The living conditions there were simply too good. The Slum District was a crappy area that should have been demolished 200 years ago, while the Commoner District was equivalent to the normal suburbs. Only the Rich District could match the 200 years of advancement in technology.

Lu Li and Lu Xin sat in a hover car as they set out for the Rich District.

The Rich District was quite large, but there were not many people. Apart from some special regions, the residential area was filled with trees and some rare plants that had become extinct 200 years ago.

Plant DNA that had been preserved for 200 years had finally been reconstructed using technology. It was very fitting for them to be growing in the gardens of the Rich District.

“You want to rent a house here?” Most of the receptionists came from the Commoner District, so they didn’t have the same condescending attitude that most people of the Rich District had. The receptionist kindly said, “The government regulations require that your account needs to have at least $1,000,000 in order to live here.”

“$1,000,000…” Lu Li’s hopes were instantly dashed.

“Big brother, let’s forget about it then,” Lu Xin softly said as she pulled Lu Li’s arm.

“You could try out the region near the Higher Education Mega Centre,” the receptionist suggested.

“Right!” Lu Li suddenly realised that it wasn’t just the Rich District that had a good living environment.

Seventy years ago, when the location for the Higher Education Mega Centre was being chosen, there had been some complications.

The government had wanted to put all of the universities in the same location to save money and space.

They had originally been planning to build the Higher Education Mega Centre in the Rich District, as all the members of the committee were from the Rich District. After all, who wouldn’t want universities to be close to where they lived?

However, no one thought that those from the Commoner District and Slum District would be so outraged. Factory workers went on strikes, teachers went on strikes, electricity and water was cut, transportation was blocked, and even the military fell into chaos. Soon, members of the committee began to be assassinated.

As such, someone suggested that the Higher Education Mega Centre should be built between the Rich District and Commoner District.

Although some people were still unhappy, most of the chaos ceased, and the Higher Education Mega Centre became a buffer between the Commoner District and the Rich District. While it was affordable for most people of the working class, the conditions there were almost as good as those in the Rich District.

By the time the Lu brother and sister arrived at the Higher Education Mega Centre, it was already 11am. Lu Li decided to go to the Villa District where the Star Moon Union was, since he was familiar with its surroundings.

This was a Garden Villa District. In the front, there were 4 office buildings, and behind them was the residential area.

Lu Li held Lu Xin’s hand as they walked past a Real Estate Agent’s office and into the residential area.

“Big brother, I heard that Real Estate Agents can show you around and give you some information. Why didn’t we go in there?” Lu Xin turned around, wanting to look back at the office.

“Silly girl, Real Estate Agents are all swindlers. They always start with the worst house and work their way up from there. If you meet a really bad one, they sometimes even collude with the landlord to cheat you of your money. So remember, never, ever find a Real Estate Agent,” Lu Li said, as he passed on essential knowledge to his little sister.

Lu Xin completely trusted Lu Li, and she looked at the office with wariness.

“Then how will we know which houses are for rent?”

“There are 2 ways: we can either look online, or look at the District’s bulletin board.” In his ‘previous life’, Lu Li had also moved out of the Slum District with his little sister. However, they had only been able to move to the Commoner District, and the living conditions still weren’t that great.

“Are we going to look online?”

“Most of the photos online are fake. It’s better if we go and take a look in person. We’ll have a look at the bulletin board first,” Lu Li replied. Even after hundreds of years, some things had never changed. Beside the digital bulletin board were some empty spaces for people to put up their own ads.

There were those wanting to buy second hand game helmets, clinics advertising their medicine, as well as advertisements for renting rooms.

The brother and sister pair squeezed in front of the bulletin board together, looking for an ad that caught their eye. Just as they were about to choose one to call, they heard someone impatiently saying, “Are you guys done or not? Can you let me stick something on?”