Darkstone Code

As the prison guard read out a string of numbers, Gap bid farewell to everyone and welcomed long-awaited freedom!

The air of Federation freedom was still so sweet, but breathing the fresh air outside the prison and the air inside felt completely different!

Only outside the prison did the air truly smell sweet.

He looked around; today he was the only one being released, and there were no cars waiting to pick him up at the gate.

He walked to the bus stop opposite the prison, taking out two coins.

In prison, labor is rewarded, whether it’s in government-owned prisons or those privately operated, it’s the same.

As long as you work, they have to pay you, though most of this money gets consumed internally.

For example, toothpaste that costs only one dollar ninety-nine outside costs nine dollars ninety-nine here. You could choose not to buy it, but then a prison guard might beat you up, claiming your bad breath made him feel uncomfortable.

Most people earn money but it’s not enough to afford things here, so they leave with little more than some coins.

Gap carried relatively more money; he helped the Prison Director and the guards with their taxes, earning their friendship, so his wages weren’t deducted but were actually more than others.

Moreover, he didn’t need to spend money on various living necessities; the guards would gift them to him for free as thanks for taking time to handle their taxes.

In the Federation, knowing how to correctly file taxes is also very important to people.

This doesn’t mean that if you’ve mastered some tax skills, you can claim you know how to file taxes.

No, the vast majority of people know how to fill out that form to file taxes for themselves, but can’t truly save on their taxes.

For example, some local policies; if you have two children, you can pay at least twelve dollars less and at most thirty dollars less in taxes per month.

If you’re a special category worker—a police officer, or road maintenance worker, essentially belonging to public service—you can also pay a certain amount less in taxes.

The correct way to file taxes is to use all possible exemptions to maximize deductions and ultimately report less tax.

Normal people... find it difficult to figure out which state and city programs can help them pay less, these are very specialized matters; even if the government announces them publicly, you still don’t know where to look them up.

Only professionals know how to find this information and how to correctly fill out that damned personal tax form.

Now, with the Federation Society imposing heavy taxes for war, filing taxes has become even more important.

Gap was grateful he chose the right profession; even having been in prison, he wouldn’t worry about the issue of food.

Riding the dilapidated bus back into the city, the modernized society left him a bit dazed.

The TVs in the shop windows seemed bigger and clearer than before.

The small appliances on the screen piqued his curiosity.

He also had the chance to watch TV in prison, but being a smart person, he never demanded to spend all day in a place a convict shouldn’t be; he always stayed with others.

This way, the guards and the Prison Director wouldn’t get annoyed with unreasonable demands, and the inmates wouldn’t isolate him for constantly standing out.

Now, those moments were already in the past.

He had a lavish steak meal and felt a bit surprised at the four dollars and ninety-nine cents for a standard steak.

Even though he would never have given such a low-grade steak a second glance before, he knew it was a dollar more expensive than before.

Then he found a hotel and temporarily settled down.

He spent a few days sorting out recent events; discovering Lynch had become the representative of the Federation’s new generation Consortium could only make him sigh.

Aside from sighing, he didn’t know what else to think; he understood the weight of the word "Consortium" and grasped the difficulty of achieving it.

Yet, the young man had done it all; he felt no jealousy, only amazement.

He bought some new clothes and then a ticket to Bupen; he wanted to see his child.

In prison, the person he missed most was his child.

Gap arrived sooner than Vera had imagined; barely into late October, she saw her ex-husband.

They were already divorced.

Standing outside the gates of the Half Mountain Villa District in Bupen, looking at the golden light shimmering on the gate, he couldn’t help but smile.

When he used to come to Bupen on business trips, he also visited here to meet important guests.

At that time, he always thought that if he worked hard, someday he’d become a company shareholder, eventually having a chance to live here.

By then, he would buy a villa at Half Mountain.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so expensive, costing several million to tens of millions; he might afford a smaller, more remote one for about a million.

Every day, he’d leave here driving his beloved car amidst envy and jealousy from others, returning every evening.

Past memories flashed by, leaving a feeling that he couldn’t tell was painful or beautiful.

Shortly after, the Security Guard let him pass since the residents inside agreed to this visit.

The Half Mountain Villa District is actually divided into two parts. The first part faces the sun, or as they say here, it’s the one that greets the sunlight, mainly facing southeast.

And the other part faces southwest and directly west.

Houses on the sunny side are certainly priced higher. Lynch lives there, while Vera resides on the side with comparatively poorer sunlight exposure.

As he walked into the Half Mountain Villa District, Gap quickly found the house Vera currently lives in. He rang the bell, and the door was opened by a woman he didn’t recognize.

She had a Darkstone Security badge hanging on her chest, likely a security guard.

After he explained his identity and purpose, he was taken into the villa.

Vera was sitting in the living room, watching TV, though her eyes seemed unfocused as she was thinking.

In those past years, she felt like a dependency of Gap, not even worthy of being considered an accessory.

Her whole world revolved around the family, and back then she was indeed very pitiful, also quite naive.

But now...

The sound of approaching footsteps interrupted Vera’s thoughts, and she put down her coffee cup and saucer, standing up.

"Do we need to shake hands?" she asked.

Gap had a strange expression; he shook his head, and then they sat down separately.

There was a brief silence after which Gap said, "You’ve changed a lot!"

This was merely a casual chat. Vera glanced at her outfit and asked, "Do you mean my taste in clothes?"

Gap continued shaking his head, "I mean your attitude, the way you present yourself, it’s completely different from before!"

Previously, Vera... was somewhat weak. Sometimes she didn’t know how to resist, or didn’t even have the thought to resist.

Gap’s work outside was very complicated, as an auditing accountant he would often encounter some gray areas, plus the company’s internal culture of sexual dominance.

Even though he knew that he might be discovered by Vera for cheating, he wasn’t that worried, because he understood that at that time, Vera couldn’t leave him.

She appeared incapable of living independently, weak, but looking at her now, just simply sitting there, one could feel a kind of toughness emanating from her.

She no longer seemed like that clueless "little girl," having become mature and strong.

Gap was quite emotional about it, the changes in Vera were not because of him.

Vera was momentarily stunned, then smiled, "I still have to take care of the child, I have to find a way to become strong. It turns out that whether you’re here or not doesn’t make a big difference for me and the child."

Gap was silent for a while, "Where are you working now?"

"Darkstone Fund." Vera didn’t hide this information. She knew clearly that although Gap had been inside, there would actually be more people willing to use Gap!

Because Gap was the type of "non-compliant" auditor, which still indicated sometimes on certain discordant issues, he could be consistent with enterprises and capitalists in attitude and stance!

He was able to change his stance, which would make people want to use him.

Additionally, his network had not disappeared because of being jailed. For him to find out where she worked was quite easy.

Sneaking around on such minor issues was not Vera’s character.

Gap puckered his lips, "Lynch trusts you a lot."

This statement seemed simple, but actually expressed some of his inner feelings. He didn’t know what that was, but he couldn’t help but say it.

Having served several years in prison had made him much more mature, but on certain issues, he apparently hadn’t made much progress.

Vera was surprisingly like she didn’t hear any other meaning in this sentence; she just laughed twice without responding.

The atmosphere became somewhat awkward, after a while, Gap asked, "Where’s the child?"

"Still at school, he’ll be back in the evening."

"If you don’t have any other plans, you could stay for dinner, maybe he’ll talk to you."

Actually, both Gap and Vera misjudged this point. When evening arrived at six-thirty, and the nanny drove the child back from school, upon seeing Gap, there wasn’t the imagined excitement but rather some fear.

He quickly bypassed the living room and headed upstairs, forcefully closing the door, leaving both Vera and Gap somewhat bewildered by the little boy’s action.

After a while, Gap sighed, a bit dejected, "I suppose he doesn’t welcome me..."

He took a small gift from his pocket and placed it on the table, "I bought this when coming here, please pass it on to him for me."

"As for dinner... I’ll find somewhere else for it."

He looked at Vera, resolutely turned around.

Vera’s current living situation made him feel deeply hurt, and the child’s unfamiliarity, the fear in his eyes when looking at him, also made him feel disappointed.

This was not the reunion he desired!