"What are the authorities doing?"
When Albion asked this question, Klein Seymour smiled helplessly.
"Probably drowning in their dirty money, I would say. Ever since the Apocalypse started, the whole has gone to sh*t. Corruption and crime are everywhere. You will not find a city with perfect order anywhere in this age. If you did, it just means that the underworld is just too well hidden." Klein Seymour said.
"Money is the root of all evil, huh?" Albion said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
So much money had been stored inside the Ashura Ring that even the Dark Emperor did not know how much was stored there. If there was a chance, he certainly would like to get the Ashura Ring back.
Klein Seymour shook his head and said, "Money is not the root of all evil, but the desire to collect and amass it, certainly is. Evil existed before the concept of money was introduced."
"The concept of money was introduced later, but before that, you can say that money existed in other forms of value. It was only later that people put that value into coins and papers. In other words, evil stems from the desire to possess these things of value—it stems from greed. But greed is part of human nature, so then would you say that human is inherently evil, Mr. Klein?" Albion asked sophisticatedly.
"That's an interesting outlook on money, but no, I do not believe humans are inherently evil. In fact, I believe humans are inherently good. Would you say a baby is evil when it is just born? No, it is pure and innocent—still untainted by the filth and ugliness of the world."
"Babies don't know anything, nor can they do anything, so how are we to quickly judge if it is good? Let's say a merciless killer who has slaughter millions of innocent lives reincarnated into a new life, reborn as a baby with his memories intact. Would you still say the baby is good?" Albion questioned.
Klein Seymour smiled wryly and said, "You must be joking, Young Master Albion. How can there be something like reincarnation? If it existed, people would know about it already."
"You see people claiming they have memories of their past life or that they were reincarnated all the time on the internet, but no one can confirm this." Albion shrugged and said, "The smart ones will keep silent and work their way to success in life while the outspoken ones might just have disappeared into a lab to be researched on. You still have not answered the question, by the way."
"Well…" Klein Seymour hesitated for a moment before he gathered his thoughts and said, "I still think the baby is good. Even though it has an evil mind, it has not done anything evil. You're only considered evil after you committed an evil act, no?"
"But the baby is bound to grow up and do something evil, so it cannot be said to be entirely good either, don't you think so? The concept of good and evil was introduced by humans to begin with. As society grows increasingly sophisticated, the line that divides good and evil become vague. What is good? And what is evil? In the end, it's hard to say who is right and who is wrong."
"We seemed to have derailed into a pretty profound topic of discussion, haven't we? This seems to be hardly the time right time for us to sit down and chat, considering our situation." Klein Seymour scratched his head and said.
Albion shrugged again.
"All I asked was, what are the authorities were doing. I can understand if this was happening in the slums outside the city. But right now, it is happening in the central district. Even if the Bloodmoon Gang gives the corrupted authorities some benefits, they must show some restraint, no? You cannot just blow up a store and expect no retaliation. That's like slapping the mayor in the face."
"Well, you're right about that. This usually does not happen in the city, so we can assume that the culprit really wants me dead. The cops will surely not stay quietly since someone is needed to control and calm down the mass. I am sure it's all over the local news by now, so they should be arriving soon." Klein Seymour said.
"Ah, yes, the coppers. They're always late to the scene when you need them, and always there when you don't." Albion stated after reminiscing some experience with the coppers.
Klein Seymour looked at Albion with confusion and doubt before he asked, "It seems like Young Master Albion does not have a good opinion of the cops."
Albion nodded, but he did not proceed to explain.
In his past life, his family lived in a suburb with relatively high burglary and robbery rates. The number of times he has been robbed even exceeded a dozen times within the first year his family moved into the new home.
Suspicious young people can be seen scouting houses at night all the time—some were stupid enough to talk on the phone, loud enough for him to hear them say they found some good targets to rob on the night.
But when he calls the coppers and inform them of these suspicious people—guess what do these coppers do? Of course, they come cruising into the area in their police car with bright white high beams that practically screams, "The police are coming!"
They would have scared away the suspects and catch no one. Not a very bright bunch of cops, they are. There were more details, but that is a story for him to reminisce another time.
Sometime later, the police sirens could be heard drawing into the area.
"About time these coppers arrive. I doubt anyone going after your life will still be around now that they are here. Let us head out, grab our stuff, and leave quickly." Albion got up and said. All the stuff they bought from the shops were still left outside.
"Alright."
Klein Seymour stood up and patted the dust off his clothes, getting ready to leave the store.
At the same time, a frightened store clerk also bobbed her head over the store counter and asked, "Is it safe now?"
"Probably. I wouldn't count on it, though."
Albion grinned at the pretty store clerk with his pearly-white teeth before leaving the store with Klein Seymour trailing behind.
The store clerk gulped and hid her head shrank and hid behind the counter once more.
While they made it outside, Klein Seymour shook his head disapprovingly and said, "Did you need to scare her like that, Young Master Albion? Couldn't you see how frightened she was?"
"If you care so much, why didn't you say something? At least, she will be too scared to come out and check the situation. I am actually saving her in case something happens."
Albion shrugged.
Klein Seymour was speechless.
After picking up the shopping bags, Albion glanced inside and wondered aloud, "Is this everything? Hm? Some stuff seems to be missing—wait, where are all my pants? Who would take all my pants?"
"You two over there! Stop what you are doing!"
Suddenly, a female voice shouted at them.