1 The Strong Can Kill, But the Weak Can Only Curse

"I'm being fired!? Head Manager Wang, what exactly did I do wrong for the company to remove my position?"

Jingdou.

A city just northwest of Fengze District in Quanzhou. By nature, it was a city that had completed its maturation into the modern age, and was ripe aflush with the tantalizing seduction of technology. A city that had submitted itself to the succulent fruit that was the Internet Age, enveloping the modern strata of society without daring to turn back.

The soil in Jingdou was conquered with massive, multi-story corporate empires that reached for the infinite azure sky, grey winding meridians weaving through the catacombic infrastructure whilst ferrying hundreds, thousands of motorized vehicles and pedestrians seeking to fulfill their ordinary days and future dreams. It was a city that dared to advance the human society through technology, and one that stubbornly rejected the anachronism of the past.

Eight million lived in the six thousand square kilometers offered by Jingdou. Eight million individual lives, flickering rapidly across the brightening day and sullen night with an undying will to reveal the glimmering portion of their brilliance amidst the sea of glorious light. Alas, eight million souls flickering with the force of fireflies could neither chase away the eternal gloom of the night, nor could it outshine the sun. Neither did the souls dare to compete against the invincible sun or moon, but rather against themselves.

"Du Lang, why don't you think about it? Your performance over the past few months – should it not reflect the company's decision?"

When students competed against students, their scandals and despicable natures could cause even the most dedicated scholar to blush as they fought to ascend to the pinnacle of the high school, college, and graduate studies. When corporate employees competed against one another to ascend to the next position, the decisiveness to corrupt and disparage the other, even to the extent of crippling the company itself, could make its most bitter rivals hiss with sympathy.

When those who stood at the forefront of modern society struggled against one other, there was war… conflict that bestowed the irrevocable ultimatum of death.

"My performance over the past few months? Head Manager Wang, do I really have to explain this to you? <Tasty Fruits> CEO Li Juren's scandal with a pre-high school student, the underground prostitution circle managed by <Suhuan Ming Industries>, the infamous <Du Tie Nan> event covering Quanzhou's glorified Young Master Fang. Who covered these events, who risked their life to obtain such concrete evidence and information that brought the company to its current peak from a second-tier editorial journal – who was it again? Was it not me?"

Tomorrow, the most glorified student of the school or university could be stripped for their eternal career and social life by a scandal regarding their published thesis, an affair with a minor, or even unsolicited, illegal business. Perhaps even the next day, the most distinguished employee of the company – one projected to inherit a critical position of the company's operations, could be caught harassing a new intern beyond tolerable limits, and be fired.

And yesterday, the company with massive profits and control over a particular aspect of industry had fallen, to give rise to a new domestic hegemon.

"Head Manager Wang, do not think for one second, that I do not know of the truth of what's going on. Fan Ruyan's service with her pretty, soft little mouth – was that far too tempting for your… diligent self to handle? Far too tempting and desirable that you convinced the executives to fire me – the single journalist who had supported the burden of the entire company and delivered it onto its golden platform today?"

Behind every smile, was a sneer of viciousness and betrayal.

They could be a best friend or a soulmate of yesterday, but the magistrate delivering the sentencing of ultimate punishment tomorrow. The more a person smiled during times of crisis or pressure, the more they surrendered their hearts to the devil's whim.

"Fan Ruyan is a spectacular intern with great diligence towards her work, supported by her amiable personality and capability to deduce conclusions from the smallest of details. Du Lang, weren't you the one to say that as a company, we should search for great talents with astonishing potential?"

Men would compromise each other with direct threats and intimidating pressure, or consistent overshadowing of potential and results to force the other to surrender and retreat from the competition. Once the fight had concluded, the surrender was amiably accepted, and they shuffled into their respective roles.

Females, on the other hand, would resort to all means to achieve victory. Their long career of bolstering a public set of morals could instantly be sacrificed within a moment's whim to achieve the slightest of significant benefit, and even after the defeated had departed from the scene, they would continue their barrage until the other's children and utter legacy had been stripped of any resemblance of human life.

"Yes, potential! Is offering private sexual favors to executive management in return for bonuses in wages and seizing credit for operations conducted, managed, and presented by other employees the potential you think I mentioned during the company meeting? She offers you her mouth, Vice Director Tan her chest, and President Lan her chastity instead of performing astounding deeds in the world of journalism, and you call it potential?"

Of the wide assortment of the employment offered to people in a modern society, journalism was vicious in its fundamental nature. Compared to other fields including mathematics, engineering, or social labor, the world of journalism was dedicated to polishing the fine art of massacring a person's career and social life, to bring controlled, self-harm to a society.

A world where competition thrived, journalism thrived. A world where the ingrained nature of competition and limited resources forced people to resort to schemes, deception, and underhanded means, journalists clacked their teeth in appreciation and rubbed their full wallets.

"And so what? What can you offer in regards to that, Du Lang? The company has accomplished its necessary stage of expansion. Any further acts of aggressive journalism will force the corporations of Jingdou, Fengze District, of Quanzhou itself to turn their attention towards us! Our small <Phoenix News> cannot withstand such stress for a long period of time, and we are already pushing at their limits. You indeed have spectacular ability and talent, but it is talent that <Phoenix News> cannot sustain!"

By hook or crook, journalists sought to pry open the last secrets hidden within a person's sanctuary within their mind. The salacious underwear of a certain CEO's wife, the abnormal sexual tendency of a prestigious family's Young Master, or the scrawling, bloodstained battlefield left behind by a brilliant female celebrity and her relationship life.

Anything that could ruin a person's nature was food for hungry journalists, and hungry journalists stopped at nothing to sate their stomachs.

"The top executives and management has finalized this decision. Give up, Du Lang. Your career in this field is over; you should retire soon, ah?"

Of course, ethics was a major topic of concern within the journalist's world.

Many sought to complete their mandatory editorial after editorial, but were pushed harder and harder by their upper management and executives who sought to maximize readership and monthly profits from their press. Humans loved reading and witnessing the plights of other humans, and delivering such news generated profit.

Profit, drove the mechanisms to desire more profit, thus increasing the extent of aggressive journalism that sought to violate the decencies among people.

"Ah, yes; retire. Retire for what? Don't tell me, Head Manager Wang, after I have risked so much for this company, gotten myself onto the blacklist of many corporations after digging up salacious and scandalous news about their Young Masters and Young Misses, directed so many of major influencer's terrible opinion towards me, the company will simply cast me aside after counting all of the acquired money?"

"Well, of course, <Phoenix News> cannot withstand the scrutiny of many corporations even after successfully seizing fame. Here, as compensation, we'll give you a severance package. That should be enough to settle your future life in retirement, no?"

Well, wasn't it expected that once you've been milked dry, you would be tossed aside? Since when did the world of brutal competition have a concept called sympathy?

Standing tall with his prized suit drenched in the rain, his hair soaked by the condescension of those who had once pleaded for his support, and his notice of severance grasped in his hand, Du Lang stood before the doors of the editorial he had dedicated a significant portion of his life. The small yet cheerful gates of <Phoenix News> that he had energetically ran towards each morning as a youth now had shut him out, never to allow him to enter again.

His career by nature as a journalist centered in the art of aggressive, invasive journalism had resulted in his status as a blacklisted individual of the potential employment roster in many of Jingdou's corporations, and he had risen into the blacklist of his own company – the company that had been a second home for many years.

To think that a single use of a woman's sexual charms and youth had managed to topple him, a veteran whose reputation in finding information had caused many CEO's to quake and strictly control their nightlife…

"In the end, all I was an employee, and thus disposable to the company in the perspective of management and executives, huh?" Du Lang sighed with emotion.

"The strong can kill with a single flick of their hand, whereas the weak can only curse and bemoan at their fates, hoping for some sympathy from the powerful to alleviate their burdens in survival. This world truly is wicked, ah?"

The advance of technology had allowed the human race to develop and conquer the surface of the earth. Advances in communication, heavy industrial power, and scientific knowledge and thinking had resulted in the direct advancement of human capability in molding the physical world to their desires.

The cost of such astronomical progression and speed excelling beyond any other species on the planet, it seemed, was that the overall social nature of humans had seemed to regress back into its primitive stage.

An increase in intelligence often results in a regression of intellect – the ancient philosophers and their cautionary words turned out to be startlingly true.

"This world truly is cursed."

Du Lang shook his head at the words that slipped from his lips, and chuckled at the clumsy thought. He snorted as he delivered a final glance towards the notice of termination in his hand, crumpled it into a tight ball, and lobbed his single, only perfect shot into the trash can even amidst a heavy and chilling rain. Then, with a final sigh, Du Lang, the defeated veteran in the world of journalism, departed from his career with the setting sun shrouded behind the impenetrable veil of rainfall as his only company.

As he walked, a single thought continued to echo in his mind, with increasing persistence.

This world is cursed.