Chapter 140, The appearance of all living things in the dark age (Part 2)
January 18, 1949, New York, USA
Late at night in the cold winter, New York has long lost the feasting and dazzling lights it used to have as a city that never sleeps.
At this time, there were almost no lights on the empty and deep streets of New York. The road was littered with piles of garbage, as well as mud and dirt mixed with residual snow. A few scrawny wild dogs at the corner of the alley were still searching for food. Apart from the closed doors on both sides of the street, there was not even an open shop in sight. The lively scenes of the past with bright lights all night have long since disappeared without a trace, like a passing dream.
——As the war situation worsens, even the United States, which claims to be the world's largest industrial power, has gritted its teeth and launched several waves of "warship seas", "aircraft seas" and "tank seas", but it is still being defeated one after another. After lighting it up, I finally began to feel a little exhausted.
Since the war began, the living standards of all ordinary Americans have declined rapidly. As time goes by, and news of various defeats continue to come, it is now almost difficult for many people to even eat. Especially this year, the eruption of the Icelandic volcano resulted in more than two consecutive years of irregular and abnormally low temperatures, which almost caused a devastating blow to North American agriculture. What's even worse is that as the disaster shows no sign of ending, the atmosphere of panic in the market is getting stronger day by day. Ordinary people without special connections and connections may not be able to sell even if they have ration cards and tickets issued by the government. Food in quotas, because official stores often There is nothing but to let the citizens go back and wait, and then wait for weeks or even months until the ration certificate expires... In the underground black market that does not require ration cards, flour, fruits, meat and vegetables are all available. The price has skyrocketed, and one steak can cost an average person a month's salary.
In fact, as a "Chosen Country" with a unique natural environment, the U.S. government reserves a huge amount of food and other supplies on the mainland, enough for all citizens to consume without any problems for a year or two. However, the real problem is that the government cannot guarantee that supplies will be distributed fairly to everyone in need - various incidents of official-business collusion, illegal reselling, embezzlement, and hoarding are common. In official ration stores, there are always There is a shortage of supplies every three days, but in the black market that eats people without spitting out bones, there is a dazzling array of goods, but the prices have also soared to unimaginable levels, causing countless civilians to lose their money and live worse than death. At the same time, the security situation has extremely deteriorated: You must know that the United States has never banned guns. Moreover, it is still a war period, and many people have ways to obtain firearms. When these people armed with sharp weapons found that they could not even eat, it became a matter of course for them to rob with guns in order to survive.
In addition to the daily food needs, heating, electricity, fuel, cloth and a series of other daily necessities are also becoming increasingly scarce. Due to the comprehensive rationing of gasoline, the streets were becoming increasingly sparse with cars. Moreover, even if some resourceful guys can get gasoline, they can't get new cars - since the outbreak of the Pacific War, all automobile factories in the United States have stopped the production lines of civilian vehicles and focused on producing military vehicles. In the private sector, old cars from seven or eight years ago or even more are being driven now, and they are almost at the end of their lifespan... In New York City, a considerable number of bus and tram routes have been discontinued, and people can only Able to bike or walk to work.
Although the Soviet Red Army aircraft have not visited the East Coast so far, even if it is just for the sake of saving electricity and creating a tense atmosphere, the entire city of New York has implemented extremely strict light blackouts in order to squeeze out enough electricity to turn on the lights. The power-hungry centrifuges at the Oak Ridge plant create more weapons-grade uranium metal fuel. Therefore, the lights in New York gradually went out. In order to ensure the implementation of the light control, the municipal authorities initially adopted the measure of district power outages. After six or seven o'clock every night, except for some key security units and upper-class communities, the rest of the blocks All power outages will be initiated. But the problem is that many people secretly light kerosene lamps or candles for lighting, which results in a sharp increase in the number of fires.
As a result, the government had no choice but to promulgate martial law and prohibit citizens from going out at night to maintain public order; at the same time, it sent a large number of military police and police to conduct night patrols in New York City to arrest any residents who dared to violate the light control or martial law orders. For the gendarmes and policemen on night patrol, this is a rather disgusting chore: New York on a winter night, the cold wind blows Well, after several hours of patrolling in the dirty snow, the calories from the rations in their stomachs have long been exhausted. Everyone is eager to catch a few unlucky ones, find some dirt, and give them a hysterical beating. and seizures, not to say how dedicated they are to their duties, but to get out of the cold and loneliness for a while...
As a result, many unlucky guys were beaten to death every night, and then packed into trucks and transported to concentration camps to work as hard workers. Many of them were homeless homeless people who were kicked out by their landlords because they were unemployed and could not pay the rent. Chinese. Also arrested were some disobedient bad boys.
——The never-ending darkness, cold, deprivation, hunger and fear have become the main theme of New York citizens’ life this winter.
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However, even though the New York market was so bleak during the war, the wealthy and powerful people in the upper class, who were never short of money, still enjoyed their wonderful nightlife leisurely - in the marble luxury hotels with gold and silver decorations, Full heating makes the wool-carpeted hall feel as warm as spring. The luxurious crystal chandeliers are still as bright as before, the cheerful black band still plays as wonderfully as before, the beautiful actress with exposed thighs dances as enthusiastically, and the coloratura soprano seems to sing more softly and beautifully than before. The extra-thick special curtains covering the floor-to-ceiling windows effectively blocked the bright lights and melodious music in the room... In fact, even if some leaked out, no fool would dare to harass them.
——In wartime New York, wealth and poverty, prosperity and depression, joy and decadence, enjoyment and suffering were often separated by only one street...
Long tables covered with snow-white linen were already filled with fine wines and tempting delicacies. Just looking at them was mouth-watering. Sizzling salt and pepper lamb chops and roasted pigeon, fragrant cream of mushroom soup and baked apples, greasy pork sausage and fried cod, as well as a variety of cakes, desserts and cheese... plus the various shapes The intoxicating wines of various colors in unique glass bottles are definitely exquisite and rich.
And in this era when everyone is starving and the poor are willing to fight for a piece of steak, this is even more shocking luxury.
However, all the dignitaries, rich celebrities, and ladies who were qualified to attend this dinner party did not have much appetite when faced with the sumptuous food and wine on the table. And when facing the dancers and female singers on the stage, they were somewhat absent-minded.
Most of the men and women in the entire hall, whether they were eating, drinking, or chatting, secretly turned their eyes from the corner of their eyes from time to time to look at the only protagonist of this party in the center of the venue, a tall and arrogant person. A dignified and dignified old man with a corncob pipe in his mouth... Although he was wearing a suit and tailcoat, he still showed the tough demeanor of a professional soldier.
——He is the former Marshal of the Republic of the Philippines and the five-star general of the U.S. Army, as well as Douglas MacArthur, who has just been elected as the 34th President of the United States and is about to enter the White House... At this moment, a fat man with a oily head and a pink face is filling the room. He toasted and congratulated him with a smile on his face:
"...Congratulations on your election! Mr. President MacArthur! I am very much looking forward to your presidential inauguration speech in two days..."
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PS: Today there is even more incredible news. Hawking in a wheelchair seems to have gone to Loli Island with Hillary - but what can he do there? At most, I can only look at it. You can just watch a romantic action movie at home, so why do you have to go to see it live? Well, some people speculated that Loli could lick him... In addition, there were a lot of sanctimonious scientists and writers accompanying him - it seems that scientists may not have high moral integrity.
It can be imagined that many senior figures in the American scientific community overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton in the general election. Could it be because they went to the island to play lolita together? Alas, this year the political world is even more outrageous than the entertainment industry. Reality is more imaginative than fiction! If any online article author wrote about Hawking playing a lolita, he would probably be criticized by readers for being unreasonable, right?