Another month passed, and the new blood donation system had already been in effect for an entire month.
Due to the physical weakness of the people of the Dregs, they would be the last ones to donate their blood.
The Inner City would be the first ones to donate, and they donated their blood during this month.
The next month, the Extractors would donate their blood.
And in the last month, the Outer City, including the Dregs, would donate their blood.
After that, it would cycle from the beginning again.
Naturally, the people of the Inner City and also the Extractors were not happy about having to donate blood at all, but there wasn't anything they could do about it.
The government was in full control, and the citizens could only comply.
However, Kugelblitz was the angriest about all of this.
Naturally, they also used the blood of their Extractors to feed the Crimson Fungus.
Yet, with the new system, they had to give their Extractors a pause so that they could donate their blood, lowering their profits.
The Specialists of Kugelblitz mostly didn't care.
They had to donate blood almost daily to the Crimson Fungus.
This wasn't anything new to them.
But the two Heroes from Kugelblitz were not happy at all.
They felt suppressed by the city, which was a new thing for them.
As soon as the new blood donation system took effect, four Experts from the city guards were sent to stand guard over the entrance to the Crimson Fungus' Containment Unit.
Kugelblitz hated that!
Guards were stationed inside their building!
This was their building!
Naturally, due to the high risk of having to stand guard in front of the Crimson Fungus, the four Experts were appropriately reimbursed, and they also received offers to guarantee their survival and that of their families if Kugelblitz ever tried anything.
And one month later, when the blood of the Extractors was collected and delivered, all of this paid off.
Jornis tried to subtly intimidate the guards so that he could stand near the Crimson Fungus while the first batch of blood was being poured in.
Naturally, the Experts were scared, and they allowed him to go inside and do just that.
However, as soon as their shifts ended, one of them filed a report with the city about what had happened.
Aria immediately ordered a protective order on the four guards and their families.
They wouldn't allow loyal guards to suffer under the hands of Kugelblitz.
"It was 30 liters," Aria told Nick. "Apparently, there was a small… mistake… in the numbers for the collected blood, and these 30 liters wouldn't have been noticed without the reports from the Experts. Without the guards, Jornis would have gotten away."
Nick furrowed his brows. "They want to test the boundaries. If they can get away with this bit of blood, they will become more and more daring."
"We can't allow them to do that," Nick said as he stood up from his chair. "I'm going to deal with this."
"No," Aria said.
Nick looked at Aria with furrowed brows.
"I'm going to deal with this," Aria added with narrowed eyes.
Nick raised an eyebrow.
"I know that you are very powerful," Aria said. "You even managed to overwhelm the gate guardian."
"However, I also know that you most likely can't directly fight someone like that. You probably have to use many things to your advantage."
"But as long as you are inside Kugelblitz, you don't have access to these advantages."
Aria took a deep breath.
"I can't risk your death, and I think it's high time for me to do my job. I am going to talk to Vanessa. I'm going to deal with this," Aria said with conviction.
Nick remained silent for a couple of seconds as he weighed his options.
"Are you sure you can do this alone?" Nick asked.
Aria frowned. "Nick, I'm several times your age and several times more powerful. Your worry is appreciated but not necessary."
"Well," Nick answered, "Markus was also as strong as you, and he couldn't contend with Kugelblitz."
At that moment, the atmosphere became tense.
"Don't compare me to that coward!" Aria spoke loudly, her annoyance very apparent. "I'm not like him. Have you already forgotten? We share a life now. I'm willing to risk my life for the city. Markus was not."
Nick was reminded of his blunder in his conversation with Aria.
However, he understood what Aria meant and nodded. "Fine. I trust you."
Then, he sat back down.
Aria smiled with confidence and a bit of arrogance. "No worries. I'm going to make sure this is not going to happen again."
"You dealt with the upper layer, the middle layer, the criminals, the taxes, the Dregs, and the smaller Manufacturers. All of this was your doing, and I was just along for the ride."
Aria narrowed her eyes, and her tone became darker. "Let Kugelblitz be my problem. I'm going to deal with them."
Nick nodded. "Okay. I'll leave it up to you."
Aria nodded back and left the office.
After Aria left, Nick sighed.
'I'm not used to getting this much help. I usually have to do everything myself if I want it to work out.'
As he thought about Aria, Nick started to feel much calmer.
Nick felt like, if he were to fall, there would be somebody there to catch him.
He didn't have to shoulder all the responsibility by himself any longer.
A very powerful person was there to support him.
'I should trust her and give her the same support she's been giving me.'
After finally realizing that he had some support, Nick's chest began to feel heavy and tense.
It was like his body finally dared to relax after years of stress, and all the accumulated stress and damage came to the front.
Humans, even Extractors, were not built to deal with this much stress for an entire lifetime.
Humans were not meant to work alone.
Humans could live on their own, but they needed support during the darkest times.
'I don't have time for this right now,' Nick thought as he suppressed all the negative feelings back into their cages.
'I have to be strong. If I'm not strong, the city won't improve any longer.'
So, Nick went back to work.
Meanwhile, Aria made her way to Kugelblitz.
As soon as she reached the entrance, she saw a couple of normal citizens guarding the entrance.
Naturally, the city would no longer guard Kugelblitz's entrance, and since Kugelblitz had gotten rid of every Extractor weaker than a Specialist, they were now stuck with normal people when it came to guarding their building.
Technically, they didn't need to guard their building.
No sane person would break into this place.
The guards were more for appearance.
When the guards saw the Governor, they became nervous.
"Greetings, Governor. How can we help you?" the leader of the guards asked.
"I need to talk to the CEO. It's urgent," Aria spoke evenly.
"Of course," the leader of the guards said. "I'm going to contact her right away. Please, wait here."
Aria did just that, and the leader of the guards ran inside to contact the CEO.
A couple minutes later, the leader came back out. "Miss Korint is ready to see you in her office. Please, follow me."
"Thank you," Aria said.
The two of them walked into the building, and the leader of the guards led her to the highest floor.
The leader stopped beside the door and gestured for Aria to enter.
"I'm going to wait here," the leader said politely.
Naturally, if Aria decided to cause some chaos, this man would be helpless to do anything.
But that wasn't the point.
The point was to demonstrate that Aria was an outsider.
This was to show that she couldn't walk into Kugelblitz just like that.
Aria immediately opened the door and stepped inside before closing the door behind her.
"Greetings, Governor," Vanessa spoke with a distant and cold tone. "In the future, I would prefer if you could knock."
Vanessa seemed confident and apathetic towards Aria.
It was like she was talking to a stranger.
Aria didn't answer and just looked at Vanessa.
The next moment, rage appeared inside Aria's chest.
Kugelblitz!
Under Nick's rule, the lives of the people in the city were improving!
He was dealing with crime!
He was dealing with the poor people!
He dealt with the upper layer!
He dealt with the False News!
The city was improving!
It was growing!
And most importantly, its affluence no longer relied on the misery of its weakest citizens.
Now, everyone had an opportunity to grow!
The Dregs were no longer preoccupied with having to get this ridiculous sum of money every month.
They finally had the time to actually work through their issues and to look for better opportunities.
They were no longer stuck in an endless cycle of misery.
They got a chance to improve their lives!
But Kugelblitz!
This greedy fucking company!
Kugelblitz tried to stop the city from improving just so that they could have another bar of gold on their golden mountain!
Aria was done!
She was fucking done!