Chapter 830 - 849: Big Sister Tells You the Unspoken Rules of Society

Since it was an online column, the requirements weren’t as formal as a satellite broadcast.

There were two lines of editing. One was the main feature, covering the background and interviews with important figures. This required a somewhat serious tone. The other was the side story, serving as behind-the-scenes footage and extra context. These clips were great for drawing in fans and attracting a wider audience. Sometimes, the cameramen would add emojis or special effects to make it look cuter.

They were a veteran team. Even though the video footage was a messy mix of everything, everyone worked extremely fast. Once the main feature was done, they would chat while working on the side stories. Ting Mo rarely spoke, sitting off to the side and focusing on her own tasks.

Listening to the seniors talk, her impression of Xiao Xiao improved a bit. Initially, she thought Xiao Xiao was the type to arbitrarily fabricate conflicts and set traps for others. However, she turned out to be quite normal. She had her own little calculations occasionally—neither an absolute saint nor a bad person. Moreover, once Sister Xiao Xiao entered work mode, she seemed highly professional.

Ting Mo thought to herself.

Just as this thought crossed her mind, the five of them reached the section where they asked about the consultation fees at public hospitals, specifically the local guide’s response.

"Two hundred Star Coins per visit shouldn’t be expensive. Why is the line so long?" Xiao Xiao wondered aloud.

"I think the guide was vaguely implying that those people are just reluctant to spend money?" the copywriter suggested.

No! Ting Mo looked up, her eyes practically spewing fire. That clearly wasn’t the case!

But before she could speak, Xiao Xiao completely shot down the idea. "How is that possible? Those people aren’t stupid. Looking roughly at that massive line, there’s at least a hundred thousand people. The weather right now isn’t exactly great. There’s no way they’re lining up out in the open just to save money.

"In other words, if they have to scrimp and save a mere two hundred Star Coins..."

That meant these two hundred Star Coins were incredibly important to the people outside, right?

"Q3 is also a famous Mine Star. There must be a lot of miners on this planet, right? Miners make decent money. It shouldn’t be to the point where they can’t even afford two hundred Star Coins."

Everyone chimed in, one after another. They were constantly poking at the truth, yet no one stated it outright. Assuming they simply didn’t know, Ting Mo interjected, "I know why they can’t afford two hundred Star Coins!"

Only then did Xiao Xiao turn her head to look at the girl in the corner.

"It’s because the government of the Q3 Planet hasn’t been paying the miners in Star Coins according to the minimum wage standards set by the Federation Act. On top of that, they collect extremely high taxes..."

Mining was manual labor; the required base hourly wage had to be greater than thirty. But on Q3—they paid less than a quarter of that, all while levying harsh taxes.

Not only that.

"As far as I know, even though the public hospitals here seem to charge the national standard of two hundred, they don’t turn on their medical machines during the actual consultation. They only prescribe some medications.

"And the medications are charged separately."

Low income, high taxes, and on top of that, the hospitals were extorting dirty money. This was the most important reason why these refugees would travel hundreds of miles, even if it meant waiting in a line of a hundred thousand or even hundreds of thousands of people. Even knowing it was practically impossible, they still wanted to cling to that tiny sliver of hope.

The more Ting Mo spoke, the more agitated she became, and the firmer her voice grew. She was like a sharp blade slicing through rotting flesh, pressing forward with indomitable will—

"Sister Xiao Xiao, I think this could be a massive scoop for us!

"I believe that once this video of the long queue is released, a lot of people will definitely be curious. If we dig out the real reason behind it, it will surely attract a massive audience.

"When the time comes and people start following our column, our show will become a hit!" She used the prospect of a bright future to tempt the slightly experienced on-camera reporter and head of their small team.

Ting Mo thought to herself that she didn’t seek any fame; she only hoped that these matters could be broadcast to the public. However, after her passionate speech, Xiao Xiao just looked at her as if she were some naive, rare animal and burst out laughing.

"PFFT."

"Is your name Ting Mo? You’re too adorable."

It wasn’t just Xiao Xiao; the others in the room also broke into smiles. Such a serious matter... why were so many people laughing? Ting Mo tried to maintain her stern expression, but amidst the sea of smiling faces, she felt exactly like a clown.

Xiao Xiao patted the empty seat beside her. "Little friend, come sit down.

"Seeing as you haven’t said a word throughout this entire interview trip, I thought you were just the quiet type. I never expected you to be so adorable."

"Ado... rable?"

"It’s a good thing you’re well-behaved, and it’s a good thing you ran into me. Otherwise, if you had said those things out loud, you’d lose your job the moment you returned to the Federation." Hidden beneath her exquisite face were the sharp swords of the adult world. "Who doesn’t know that being unable to afford medical care is a, *ahem*, structural problem?"

"It’s obvious," the copywriter chimed in. "This is how things generally are on Low-level Stars. Among the Numbered Planets, there isn’t a single place that pays wages according to labor standards."

"We were only surprised because the situation here on Q3 is a bit more severe," Xiao Xiao added. "Generally speaking, many people can still afford to treat minor ailments. There are very few Numbered Stars that take things to such absolute extremes."

The director was a veteran and had seen a lot. "It’s probably because the population scale here on Q3 is large enough." A planet with a massive population wouldn’t place much value on human life. After all, if one died, there were still plenty more.

Their lips opened and closed, speaking of the cruelest things in the most ordinary of tones. Ting Mo’s eyes were filled with disbelief. "Seniors, you... you all knew about this?"

"What? Are you that surprised? Once you’ve worked on a Federation Star long enough, you’ll more or less learn about these things too. In the media circles, this isn’t a secret at all."

"..."

It wasn’t a secret? She had assumed that no one had ever reported on it because no one knew. So it turned out that everyone already knew?!

"With such a huge amount of potential traffic, and with everyone knowing about it, does no one report it?"

"Are you stupid?" Xiao Xiao pulled her closer with an expression that said she was doing this for her own good. "Do you think the planet is doing this in secret?

"An endless supply of ore, countless tax revenues, the most cost-effective laborers in the entire interstellar space...

"Let me tell you, sis, not everything can be reported so casually. There are some things you simply cannot touch, understand?"

She was extremely solemn, her expression completely serious. But Ting Mo’s heart crumbled all over again. So it wasn’t just her own planet’s government that was unreliable; was the Federation’s interstellar government also completely untrustworthy?

Seeing that Ting Mo’s expression was off, Xiao Xiao patted her on the shoulder. "Don’t overthink it."

Ting Mo thought a lot. Since the higher-ups didn’t allow this news to be exposed, then she just had to work hard to expose it herself. She refused to believe that there was absolutely no way.

Having reestablished her goal, the young girl sorted out her emotions. "I understand. Thank you for enlightening me, Sister Xiao Xiao.

"By the way, Sister Xiao Xiao, are you guys going to cover the competition here tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Depending on the feedback from the promo videos we uploaded, we’ll shoot the main feature first and then adjust the side stories based on public interest. What’s up? Do you want to be on camera?"

"No, I was just asking if you’ll need me for anything tomorrow?" Ting Mo asked. "If not, I’d like to go help a classmate collect some materials for their graduation."

Oh, so that was it. She had originally wanted to give the young girl some screen time. Since she had her own matters to attend to, they would just drop it. Nobody would complain about having too much camera time for themselves, anyway.

"You go ahead, then.

"Stay safe."

"Okay, I will."