Chaos Town | The Underclass · Chat

At 5:00 AM, the town's rating system alarm rings right on time, its piercing electronic screech tearing through the night sky. The neon signs on both sides of the street flicker with an ambiguous pink glow, illuminating the peeling body-rating billboards on the walls— "This month's latest ratings are about to be revealed! Your value determines your survival!" In the center of the square, the colossal LED screen begins warming up, looping promotional clips for the Special Recording Studio's services. Early-rising residents steadily trickle in from every corner—some look numb, some anxious, while others harbor a gleam of desperate anticipation in their eyes. A long queue has already formed before the Rating Exchange Counter. Staff members dressed in white lab coats expressionlessly calibrate the testing equipment. The air is thick with the mingled stench of disinfectant and sweat. Traces of last night's overtime work still linger deep in the alleyways. A few actresses emerge from the narrow lanes, exhausted, raising tired hands to tidy their disheveled hair. A black stretch limousine glides slowly into the square. The window rolls down, revealing the cold, austere profile of Zhu Jingzhi. With a cigarette dangling from his lips, he narrows his eyes, scanning the assembled crowd as if inspecting his own personal property. A ripple of commotion stirs through the crowd, followed by hushed murmurs: "I heard the rating standards went up again this time..." "I was barely C-rank last week. If I drop any lower, what am I gonna do..." "That Xia Mengying, the chairman's mistress—she's definitely getting an S-rank again, isn't she?"