#traffic survey company | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

45622211111 · 4 months ago

Text

the description fits this sukuna drawn by @cuviz . i'll commission (they're open!) a fitting piece to this story, so stay tuned.

"…field worker of food enterprise »yūjiocha« has collapsed on the 24th of this august. health officials have shared that the 52-year-old suffered from breathing difficulties up to a heat stroke. following this shocking incident, the company has been under fire due to its low payment of field and indoor workers in rural sendai. the company's domicile in tokyo has been blocked by strikers as we speak, demanding fair working conditions. what makes citizens worry is the CEO-"

"anotha day with the same ol' stories," the taxi-driver mumbles, his head cowering under the windshield to examine the billboards.

you follow his direction and are greeted with the shiny exterior of ads over ads, raging from fashion brands to promotional thumbnails for upcoming movies. they contrast wonderfully with the grey and damp weather, the vividness too intense for this early traffic jam.

orange plus green letters of the said brand appear with a 3d animation of a rotating matcha tea packet. the name alone makes you swallow, your shoulders knotted as rain drops glide down the window. "hm, unfortunately."

"headin' there, aren't ya? ya're with dose devils?" you are quick to pick out his sarcasm but don't hold back from covering your chest with sweaty hands. "no, no! i'm here for the press conference! have to step in for my colleague, that's why."

"ya nervous?" from the backseat you hear the lightness in his tone. if he can sense it, than what's the point of trying to make excuses? really, it was a mixture of both excitement and nauseau. if it weren't for your co-worker telling you last minute, you would've had to wait for the next blue moon. it couldn't be compared to the never-ending online researches at home - this was a once in a life time opportunity for your career.

your thoughts come to an abrupt stop when the car pulls over. "kick their asses, yeah?"

"… queries are only allowed within your designated time. please refrain from shouting out," after half an hour of a protracted introduction with the help of a slide-show, the lady in glasses puts the microphone down - especially painful when your view is blocked by loads of technical equipment and tall backs of men in suits.

"good morning, shibuya network speaking here. we're interested in hearing the opinion of the CEO himself." the reporter sits down and the action builds anticipation in you with how swift this already works. nothing like what's shown on edited broadcasts or 30 pages of transcript for homework.

you raise your chin from the back of the spacious room. the two men at the podium exchange expressions. at first you don't understand their worrisome looks, until a screeching vibration echoes in the hall, as if an object is being dragged along something sharp. you squeeze your eyes open to the third person in the middle.

"you wanna hear my opinion?" your gaze dances across the room, trying to search for a reaction in the several women and men around you. have they just heard the exact same thing as you or are you caught in the sketch of some sadistic comedian?

"yes sir, your opinion."

the silence doesn't drag on for long, "of what?"

"sir, one of your worker-"

"i'm aware of that."

"after he collapsed-"

"yeah?"

"what exactly are you-"

"what are you aiming at?" a quasy feeling settles in your stomach.

"sir, what measures are you going to take?" the man finally snaps with rushed words, as anyone else would naturally do so.

"doin' as always." his face is cold, his movements solid.

"next question please," the spokesperson on the left side states.

you mouth goes dry. you recall why you've been hesitant when you got the call from your fever-plagued office partner, nobara kugisaki.

a few journalists and news outlets survey general questions relating to the company itself which makes your legs bounce with thin patience. can't they postpone these for another public gathering? at this state you weren't even sure if everyone would get a turn.

"in the last five years ryomen sukuna has held back from providing the public with clarifications on the many rumors he has been involved in… mr ryomen, would you be so kind and enlighten us?" a tall, white-haired woman sits down. some part of your brain tells you that she is grinning, although her voice has been stagnant despite some alarmed countenances on the stage.

the addressed man leans back - not without a chuckle though.

the next participant takes the mic. you are confused.

you reread your notes. is it worth asking when this conference has either denied or made fun of the press inquiries this far? you aren't one to defend gossip magazines who survive off his or anyone's questionable past, but this was too out-of-place for your own liking. simply put: it is disrespectful.

"good stories osaka, mr ryomen, please tell us about your alco-"

"we don't entertain this type of output from here on. please focus on recent activities or refrain from speaking."

you follow the white bow. "good morning, kyoto today here. sir, have you already been in contact with the victim's family? and how will you compensate your workers in the future? thank you for your cooperation." your ears perk up and you immediately cross out one scribbled line.

"that man is out of the hospital. i don't see a need to compensate anyone."

gasps and whispers spread throughout the tense air. right now, you can observe the only positive: the reporter's stance - how she confidently protrudes among the hushed outbreak, her grip on the microphone unwavering.

"so i'll take you don't intend on raising the standard of your worker's conditions anytime soon?"

"never planned to."

honestly, you aren't sure what to do when the room errupts with audible complaints and writers violently pressing down on their keyboards. "is this legal?" a reporter with a green notepad wants to know. others demand their camera men to "get everything on camera! no, zoom in!" and give them a slap on the back to get closer.

"please keep it quiet for the last contendors - if not, we are obligated to cancel this session."

your heart picks up at an uncomfortable frequency. you take deep breaths.

"from the daily press - mr ryomen, how will you deal with the recent protest in front of this very building?"

the men around him have long ago loosened their ties, sitting back in their chairs, handkerchiefs pressed against their red temples. by reading them you understand their missing courage to talk some sense into the CEO. even if, is this man capable of seeing his own faults?

"i'd like to see how long they'll drag this out - prolly not long."

the lady's arm points upward, "but sir! you are aware the people outside are your employees, right?!" it wasn't the first time during this knot garden that an interviewer has sounded like they are on the edge of insanity.

"so? there are enough volunteers who will take their places."

the woman near you sinks down without another word. your wrinkly page has ended up as a muddy ball of paper. you could theoratically get up and leave at any given time but with the cramped up space around you, you'd have to sit through this until the end.

thanks to your inner monologue you almost miss the black object pocking into your panorama.

now or never.

when you take the mic into your hand, you wince at the short self-noise. "kanagawa news… sir, i'll be brief: what's your purpose at yūjiocha?"

you can't unsee the way his knuckles push against the side of his cheek with the most uninterested glare - pierced brow not moving an ounce while you are mentally fluctuating for his answer.

"you tell me what my purpose is. you journalists love to pretend to know everything. isn't that so…"

you raise your brows. his derisive layer of throwing you and other hard-working writers into the same pot with gossipers leaves a bitter taste on your tongue.

"sir, i didn't assume anything. my question is: what's your personal ambition - you don't give the impression of having a goal as the chairman of your own company." you're at loss for words by none other than your own self. from the edges of your vista you find heads sticking together. the camera directed at you doesn't go unnoticed either.

that was the harmless part - not when his eyelids drop at your comment. in a flash, you question your own professionality. are you wrong?

"oh, so now you're telling me what to do?"

you huff. "that is not my intention, sir. i'm wondering why this - when you're acting reckless with the company of your-"

"a nobody from the gutter press is seriously teaching me about my business? tch."

"next one," the spokesperson moves on.

you remember the prominent throb in your throat, blurring out the last back-and-forths until everyone, one by one, started to exit the hall. his team is the first one to do so and you fear that this belittling memory will never fully dissolve.

the next day doesn't reward you for your rookie service either. the brown-haired woman walks up and down, prior to sitting down and repeating the same pattern anew.

"…means i can't use it?"

nobara, your senior of two years with more experience in the world of critical writing supports her head with her right palm. "hold on," the corner of her mouth twists in annoyance as she analyzes the screen of her pink tablet.

"these sons of bitches have not only imposed a copyright restriction because of a goddamn power point presentation but also threaten us with cutting our money!?" it was only a question of time when she would go berserk. you weren't going to risk calming her down when she had all the right in the world - unfortunately copyrights excluded - to complain about the supergiant's legal terms.

as you found out - just hours ago after terrible five hours of sleep - the press is not allowed to share the conference recording on any platform. on top of that, the financial pressure of withdrawing advertising money is pushed down your throats in case companies release a - as quoted - smear campaign against their precious CEO.

"i don't get it… why attempt hiding it? the media already knows," you chew on your lip at the thought of having to let your very first citation go to waste. you weren't going to allow your own sweat and (almost) tears go down the drain. not when they are the ones in the wrong on so many levels.

"i'll tell you why… these pigs can't risk more damage! knuckles-deep in the mud and they still have the audacity to stop journalism! over my dead body!" the aroma of berries floats your nostrils when she raises her steamy mug.

"what's the plan?"

"(name). see this as your first main quest from your kugisaki girl herself, 'kay? WE'RE GOING TO FINISH THIS NO MATTER WHAT! EVEN IF THEY WERE TO FLOAT THIS OFFICE! those recordings aren't going anywhere!" her arm cramps up when the coughing fit returns.

you immediately begin your text, fueled with fire from her motivational speech. as your job requires, you are here in the first place because you've promised to reveal the shady side of the business world. you wouldn't want to let your partner in crime down - not when you were entrusted with this important task.

"thank you, nobara-san."

"that's the spirit, rookie. let's end those wretched capitalists! they better be grateful that i had a fever… i would've jumped them all!"

the yellowish light of your overly bright display blinds you in the shades. the blue logo of the daily press dissapears. your thumb enters the key words and urgently scrolls down the black on white.

user8653346

another nepo baby who gets away with THEIR usual egotistic IDIOCITY. we live in a rich man's world everyone!

anonymous

I'm dissapointed with the amount televison and CO publicize. Why do they downplay the traumatizing event of a victim and make traces of the protest dissapear.... inhumane. Thank you and anyone else who has covered this evil crime for us.

z.9999

Why act surprised? He has a bunch of illegal acts held against him yet he gets away!!? I'm more concerned for the people who've lost their jobs!

anonymous

threathening journalists shocks me the least... what has daddy’s company become? ヾ(´∀｀)

a notification from nobara pops up, showing screenshots of hilarious responses under other tokyo-based publications over the last days. it's quite a relief they haven't held back either.

but the happiness wouldn't last long of course.

"utahime-senpai just emailed me. (name), you can't imagine how enraged i am. meet me at the office." the green and red symbols dissapear along her name.

your heart pounds as you run down the busy streets. no time to take a bite or look in the mirror. at the crosswalk, you weigh if you should get a quick meal and later hop into a taxi or train.

the neon green window display of the convenience store finds you at the right time. after paying for food and a bottle of water you're about to run to the next station, however, the magazine stand catches your attention instead. you should sprint to your office as soon as possible yet you're curious about one thing.

you turn the pages and eventually find your own article. you quiver at the touch of the physical copy. it hasn't vanished. you let out a relieved groan and with the satisfied exploration, you flee through the automatic doors.

"i would like to have a word with the manager regarding the supply of non-updated newspaper in here."

"nobara…"

the said woman is leaning her arms against the top of her cluttered desk. without any remark you place your bag down.

her lids are shut.

minutes pass.

"these fuckers have taken down utahime-senpai's entry," striking back this early? "legal protection for copyright violation! copyright violation?! - they can't be serious!" her skin slams against the wood, twice. she lets out another yell, "gahhh!"

"she hasn't inserted the entire video material on her website," you can't find a reason why on god's green earth there should be any dilemma with her senior's article. it's not like writers aren't familiar with the rules in connection to giving credits, likewise with how and when to use correct quotations and other sources.

"ah you see, three minutes out of 2 hours crisis communication is too long! hah! how dare we forget about proprietary visuals! that half-assed presentation and ugly logo are allegedly commercialization!" she clears her throat in a dramatic manner, "now they limit distributions unless certain parts are changed. exploitation of underlying speech my ass!"

you curse under your breath. "what about us? have we exploited proprietary materials?" you cringe at the terms.

she shares the same sentiment, although now more wearisome. "that's why i've invited you over. just got a message from the pitiful sons themselves," she rolls the computer mouse with her index. "i'm not surprised anymore," she lets out. "we consider filing for legal action regarding the article written and published by your media press journalist (fn) (name) in case it is not taken offline within the next 12 hours,"

you bump into her side and continue to read out loud, "the content of the article titled »fair payment for hard labour: executive ryomen sukuna's biggest income or greatest weakness?« on the 28th of this month includes reputation-damaging conspiracy on behalf of CEO ryomen sukuna's private and professional credibility. our chief executive officer has suffered great harm to his public image in recent days through burgeoning cyber harassment and thus financial destabilization.

the usage of »[…] he's shamelessly open about his lacking empathy for his own work force.«, »[...] getting his position handed (and maintained) on a silver platter […]« and the last paragraph in your text, »what does mr ryomen intend to achieve? one can only look at the priviliged offspring with the empathy he seems to miss whenever he makes an appearance on national TV […]« are missleading accusations without official proof. throughout his career as an executive chief, ryomen sukuna has worked hard for his responsibilities no matter what grand force he is facing.

we must also remind you that mr ryomen has fairly earned his position as the heir of the late wasuke itadori. his accomplishments as a widely-accepted humanitarian representative can be reached via the links provided below. we request you take your article offline or we are duty-bound to take legal proceedings against your company »kanagawa news« and journalist (fn). we are looking forward to a quick response."

you are torn between laughing and touching grass outside. "isn't that funny?" the brunette turns to you but you shake your head in disbelief. "this must be a sick joke."

"not gonna lie, i was a click away from sharing this on my socials. should've send it to every single media channel in this damn prefecture. hah… what a circus… humanitarian? pff…"

your fingers poke at your forehead. you never had to deal with this before, not when you had already covered big names once or twice without any backlash on how angelic their respective nepo babies are. a brat disguised as a grown man… making his minions do the dirty job while he is getting payed millions for exploiting farmers and factory workers.

you can't believe it.

the difficultty of trying to swallow is suffocating. besides just giving up and doing as they preach, this is surrendering - falling down on your knees to get spared by his hierarchic superiority. is this how the rest gets treated behind the scenes? - getting their own principals deranged by some power-hungry maniacs? oh, you have truly underestimated them.

another pause befalls the small office. you see colleagues from the other department pass by the huge pane. the broken light bulb above is twitching. you huff in exhaustion. nobara should tell you what to do since any decisison today will be regretted in one way or another.

"we can't give those bastards the satisfaction," she finally breaks the silence, "let's make them shake longer and solve this pile of shit in the evening, i'm too tired for this freak show. also… we can't delete your oscar-worthy exposure just yet, can we?"

purples and oranges bleed between the mild blue patches. when you step out, the town is dipped in a desaturated shade. at least the sun isn't fully up so you can escape the heat in the confinement of your four walls.

with every step you fall deeper into a spiral: a dark abyss of humiliation and utter disgust in the face of your new reality. what wong-doing outside of wanting to serve justice have you commited? you want to scream to your heart's content but even that is prohibited to you.

damned be that disgusting man.

what makes his horrible soul deserving of power when he's shamelessly spitting at workers? just because he doesn't consider them worth his while?

your skin burns with anger whenever you revisit his responses. a nobody. you shouldn't let it get to you but experiencing it first hand leaves you with wishing him the absolute worst. your article could only express one-sixth of your honest opinion on a self-centered bitch like him. you can't wrap your head around the fact that he still stands proud as the official CEO. no consequences for him.

"ahh!"

the numbness is abruptly replaced by a mild ache in your nose.

"oh i'm sorry!" you are still busy holding your face when you catch a glimpse of your opposite. the novelty of the stranger's face feels weirdly soothing the exact moment you meet his blue orbs.

"my bad! hey, are you hurt?" his limbs spread out with a respectful distance, his concern tangible.

"it's okay!" you wave your hand, "should've looked where i go and not space out, hih," you try to lighten the situation with a chuckle. it does its wonder as he drops his long arms to his sides.

"you're from here?" you are taken back by the asudden quizzing. "uh, yes," you manage to respond back after just starting to slip by him. you are not in the mood to start a conversation with a male stranger so you stride with the same heaviness again.

"(fn) (name). i quite enjoyed reading your article. what was it again? - big executive who doesn't pay his employees?"

you throw a glance over your shoulder. should you be on high alert in his presence? who is this white-haired man and how does he know it's you? you don't have any official pictures- oh. the press conference. don't tell me he's one of his men? as expected, a pinch of fear gets in your way, yet you can't let that stop you.

"yeah, that's me. want to enlighten me to whom i owe the pleasure of speaking?" your arms stick to your body like magnets. as much as you want to appear strong, on the inside you try your best to not freak out.

white teeth manifest as he lets out a playful laugh at your irony. "huh, if you insist this early - gojo satoru," he does a slight bow which you accept with rolling eyes. what a player. "hope your majesty is in a joyful mood," he goes on. shouldn't you feel threatened like you've preached seconds ago?

"oh, don't escape me!" he launches forward and you pick up your pace. "what?!"

"but you didn't let me finish!" he puffs his cheeks out and you don't know how to reply to that. is he being serious? are you trapped in a money laundering scheme from nearby, perhaps?

"nuh uh, i don't need your money! on the contrary, give me a minute to introduce myself!" you try your best to stand your ground despite his childish antics. "you have to trust me for that though…" his index beckons you, "would you do a favour for me? - with recompensation, of course," he grins.

commissions, support: ko-fi 🍥

#proshippers dni #WARNING !!#sukuna ryomen x female reader #ceo!sukuna x journalist!reader #tw corrupt ceo . cursing . mysoginy . power imbalance .#ryomen sukuna #sukuna ryomen #jjk ff #and slow burn #b word lol #ryomen x reader #sukuna ryoumen x reader #sukuna x reader #gojo satoru #mention of alcohol consumption

30 notes · View notes

odinsblog · 1 year ago

Text

“All this happening at once is really startling,” said Joseph Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor who researches intercity bus travel and directs the university’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development. “You’re taking mobility away from disproportionately low-income and mobility-challenged citizens who don’t have other options.”

Roughly three-quarters of intercity bus riders have annual incomes of less than $40,000. More than a quarter would not make their trip if bus service was not available, according to surveys by Midwestern governments reviewed by DePaul University.

Intercity bus riders are also disproportionately minorities, people with disabilities, and unemployed travelers.

A spokesperson for Greyhound, which is now owned by German company FlixMobility, said it strives to offer customers the most options for connections, but has ��encountered challenges in some instances.” The spokesperson also said they “actively engage with local stakeholders to emphasize the importance of supporting affordable and equitable intercity bus travel.”

The terminal closures have been accelerating as Greyhound, the largest carrier, sells its valuable terminals to investors, including investment firm Alden Global Capital.

Last year, Alden subsidiary Twenty Lake Holdings purchased 33 Greyhound stations for $140 million. Alden is best known for buying up local newspapers like The Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and The Baltimore Sun, cutting staff, and selling some of the iconic downtown buildings.

Alden has started to sell the Greyhound depots to real estate developers, speeding up the timetable for closures.

“I don’t know the specific details of each building, but it is clear what is happening here: an important piece of transit infrastructure is being sacrificed in the name of higher profits,” said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate at Columbia Business School.

“The public sector has turned a cold shoulder to buses,” DePaul’s Schwieterman said. “We subsidize public transit abundantly, but we don’t see this as an extension of our transit system. Few governments view it as their mandate.”

Bus terminals are costly for companies to operate, maintain and pay property taxes on. Many have deteriorated over the years, becoming blighted properties struggling with homelessness, crime and other issues.

But terminal closures cause a ripple effect of problems.

Travelers can’t use the bathroom, stay out of the harsh weather or get something to eat while they wait. People transferring late at night or early in the morning, sometimes with long layovers, have no place to safely wait or sleep. It’s worse in the cold, rain, snow or extreme heat.

Bus carriers often try to switch to curbside service when a terminal closes, but curbside bus service can clog up city streets with passengers and their luggage, snarl traffic, increase pollution, and frustrate local business owners. In Philadelphia, a Greyhound terminal closure and switch to curbside service after its lease ended turned into a “humanitarian disaster” and “municipal disgrace” with people waiting on street corners.

(continue reading)

#politics #infrastructure #bussing #public transportation #mass transit #mass transportation #capitalism #economic racism #the commons #greyhound #flixmobility #greyhound bus #greyhound bus lines #bus stops

71 notes · View notes

fodlansbestmom · 6 months ago

Text

@weapon-turned-jack

The small boy would watch the woman from the shadows. He had snuck into Garred Mach and was careful with his every action to avoid detection. Still something about the woman caught the child's attention. Eyes narrowed a bit as he wanted to approach to study her better but there were too many people. He was without a uniform like other children were and without any armor to attempt to bluff as a soldier. Slowly he would pull the hood of his cloak up, tucked his rusty knife into his belt and went to find a better vantage point.

Sothis was quite the social butterfly. She liked interacting with both students and staff at the monastery. To know them better, to figure out who’s actually trustworthy and who’s not (some staff is very sketchy). But regardless she liked company. Which is why she’s currently in the middle of the busy market. Classes were in session so she couldn’t really bother Byleth, and her children were busy as well. So the market folk were the next best thing.

However, due to the lot of foot traffic, Sothis hadn’t really noticed the child. Which could be better or for worse. She was at a stall that specifically sold teas and nothing but. She surveyed the goods with a hum, and having made her decision of two blends, she decided to retreat into the mostly dining hall to make some. Away from the crowd, and into her own little world. If anything she’ll make enough tea for her kids as a break.

#weaponturnedjack #answered prayers;#time bending in progress: ic

50 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 4 months ago

Text

Less than three months after Apple quietly debuted a tool for publishers to opt out of its AI training, a number of prominent news outlets and social platforms have taken the company up on it.

WIRED can confirm that Facebook, Instagram, Craigslist, Tumblr, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, Vox Media, the USA Today network, and WIRED’s parent company, Condé Nast, are among the many organizations opting to exclude their data from Apple’s AI training. The cold reception reflects a significant shift in both the perception and use of the robotic crawlers that have trawled the web for decades. Now that these bots play a key role in collecting AI training data, they’ve become a conflict zone over intellectual property and the future of the web.

This new tool, Applebot-Extended, is an extension to Apple’s web-crawling bot that specifically lets website owners tell Apple not to use their data for AI training. (Apple calls this “controlling data usage” in a blog post explaining how it works.) The original Applebot, announced in 2015, initially crawled the internet to power Apple’s search products like Siri and Spotlight. Recently, though, Applebot’s purpose has expanded: The data it collects can also be used to train the foundational models Apple created for its AI efforts.

Applebot-Extended is a way to respect publishers' rights, says Apple spokesperson Nadine Haija. It doesn’t actually stop the original Applebot from crawling the website—which would then impact how that website’s content appeared in Apple search products—but instead prevents that data from being used to train Apple's large language models and other generative AI projects. It is, in essence, a bot to customize how another bot works.

Publishers can block Applebot-Extended by updating a text file on their websites known as the Robots Exclusion Protocol, or robots.txt. This file has governed how bots go about scraping the web for decades—and like the bots themselves, it is now at the center of a larger fight over how AI gets trained. Many publishers have already updated their robots.txt files to block AI bots from OpenAI, Anthropic, and other major AI players.

Robots.txt allows website owners to block or permit bots on a case-by-case basis. While there’s no legal obligation for bots to adhere to what the text file says, compliance is a long-standing norm. (A norm that is sometimes ignored: Earlier this year, a WIRED investigation revealed that the AI startup Perplexity was ignoring robots.txt and surreptitiously scraping websites.)

Applebot-Extended is so new that relatively few websites block it yet. Ontario, Canada–based AI-detection startup Originality AI analyzed a sampling of 1,000 high-traffic websites last week and found that approximately 7 percent—predominantly news and media outlets—were blocking Applebot-Extended. This week, the AI agent watchdog service Dark Visitors ran its own analysis of another sampling of 1,000 high-traffic websites, finding that approximately 6 percent had the bot blocked. Taken together, these efforts suggest that the vast majority of website owners either don’t object to Apple’s AI training practices are simply unaware of the option to block Applebot-Extended.

In a separate analysis conducted this week, data journalist Ben Welsh found that just over a quarter of the news websites he surveyed (294 of 1,167 primarily English-language, US-based publications) are blocking Applebot-Extended. In comparison, Welsh found that 53 percent of the news websites in his sample block OpenAI’s bot. Google introduced its own AI-specific bot, Google-Extended, last September; it’s blocked by nearly 43 percent of those sites, a sign that Applebot-Extended may still be under the radar. As Welsh tells WIRED, though, the number has been “gradually moving” upward since he started looking.

Welsh has an ongoing project monitoring how news outlets approach major AI agents. “A bit of a divide has emerged among news publishers about whether or not they want to block these bots,” he says. “I don't have the answer to why every news organization made its decision. Obviously, we can read about many of them making licensing deals, where they're being paid in exchange for letting the bots in—maybe that's a factor.”

Last year, The New York Times reported that Apple was attempting to strike AI deals with publishers. Since then, competitors like OpenAI and Perplexity have announced partnerships with a variety of news outlets, social platforms, and other popular websites. “A lot of the largest publishers in the world are clearly taking a strategic approach,” says Originality AI founder Jon Gillham. “I think in some cases, there's a business strategy involved—like, withholding the data until a partnership agreement is in place.”

There is some evidence supporting Gillham’s theory. For example, Condé Nast websites used to block OpenAI’s web crawlers. After the company announced a partnership with OpenAI last week, it unblocked the company’s bots. (Condé Nast declined to comment on the record for this story.) Meanwhile, Buzzfeed spokesperson Juliana Clifton told WIRED that the company, which currently blocks Applebot-Extended, puts every AI web-crawling bot it can identify on its block list unless its owner has entered into a partnership—typically paid—with the company, which also owns the Huffington Post.

Because robots.txt needs to be edited manually, and there are so many new AI agents debuting, it can be difficult to keep an up-to-date block list. “People just don’t know what to block,” says Dark Visitors founder Gavin King. Dark Visitors offers a freemium service that automatically updates a client site’s robots.txt, and King says publishers make up a big portion of his clients because of copyright concerns.

Robots.txt might seem like the arcane territory of webmasters—but given its outsize importance to digital publishers in the AI age, it is now the domain of media executives. WIRED has learned that two CEOs from major media companies directly decide which bots to block.

Some outlets have explicitly noted that they block AI scraping tools because they do not currently have partnerships with their owners. “We’re blocking Applebot-Extended across all of Vox Media’s properties, as we have done with many other AI scraping tools when we don’t have a commercial agreement with the other party,” says Lauren Starke, Vox Media’s senior vice president of communications. “We believe in protecting the value of our published work.”

Others will only describe their reasoning in vague—but blunt!—terms. “The team determined, at this point in time, there was no value in allowing Applebot-Extended access to our content,” says Gannett chief communications officer Lark-Marie Antón.

Meanwhile, The New York Times, which is suing OpenAI over copyright infringement, is critical of the opt-out nature of Applebot-Extended and its ilk. “As the law and The Times' own terms of service make clear, scraping or using our content for commercial purposes is prohibited without our prior written permission,” says NYT director of external communications Charlie Stadtlander, noting that the Times will keep adding unauthorized bots to its block list as it finds them. “Importantly, copyright law still applies whether or not technical blocking measures are in place. Theft of copyrighted material is not something content owners need to opt out of.”

It’s unclear whether Apple is any closer to closing deals with publishers. If or when it does, though, the consequences of any data licensing or sharing arrangements may be visible in robots.txt files even before they are publicly announced.

“I find it fascinating that one of the most consequential technologies of our era is being developed, and the battle for its training data is playing out on this really obscure text file, in public for us all to see,” says Gillham.

11 notes · View notes

dracarialove · 6 months ago

Text

📄 F it, I'm posting my finished fics here, too 📄

Buried Desires

A mishap during one of their missions forces Shadow to confess the feelings he's been hiding from Rouge.

Ship: Shadow/Rouge

*Originally published Feb. 10th, 2023

[Chapter 1: Early-Morning Company]

Dark eyelids rose as the black hedgehog stirred from his slumber. In the dimness of a small wooden room, he looked up at the slanted ceiling and let his eyes adjust until a yawn escaped him.

Once again, Shadow was waking up in the hidden attic of Club Rouge, lying flat on the extra twin mattress his partner always offered.

It seemed she even kept it out permanently, as frequently as he decided to crash there after admitting it was a better sleep than snoozing on the grass or on a rooftop.

"Maybe you wouldn't be so grumpy if you got a proper rest every night," she'd said, finally coaxing him to ditch his loner tendencies.

And she was right, he realized. The days after he slept at Rouge's place always seemed more pleasant. This one was no exception, the Ultimate Lifeform already feeling lighter of heart as he sat himself up; but since it was still dark in the room, he had to wonder what time it was.

He looked to his right, where the bed sat against the wall, and pushed aside the curtain that covered a little window. It was completely dark out, the midnight blue color of the sky only brightened by a few dots of light coming from other buildings' windows.

It was so quiet at this hour – more enjoyable than the interrupting traffic or wildlife he would hear while sleeping outdoors. And as Shadow's gaze trailed the other way to survey the room, he twisted his torso to release the tension that had built in his back during the night.

One of the only flaws in his design was that his form stayed still while sleeping, something he hadn't realized caused a lingering stiffness until he started caring more about his comfort. A couple of pleasing cracks sounded out from the base of his spine, making the speedster sigh in relief.

At the same time, his crimson eyes dragged over to his friend's side of the room, where her bed sat against the opposite wall and closer to the hatch that led into the club.

He expected to see the hostess sleeping peacefully, but instead, her mattress was empty. There was an open space between the blanket and pillow where she'd gotten out of bed.

It wasn't unheard of for Rouge to wake up so early – as her sleep schedule was constantly shifting – but he couldn't help but wonder where she was, nonetheless.

Unhindered by the darkness, he turned to place his feet on the floor, then stood and took a few steps towards the skinny door on his left. It led outside, and when he nudged a sheer white curtain aside, he saw the jewel hunter through the single-pane window, her back to the entrance while she stood looking out from the tiny balcony. She was leaned forward a bit, seemingly placing her weight on her elbows and resting against the banister of the white platform.

She wasn't dressed for the day yet, wrapped up in a mulberry robe with heart-shaped slippers on her feet. But she looked to be in a place of tranquility, soaking up the sight of the dark sky above the city and the even darker plains past the outskirts; visible thanks to the short buildings whose roofs sat lower than hers.

Shadow smiled to himself, content at the prospect of early-morning company, and opened the door to join her. Pretty white curls drifted to the right side of her back as the woman turned to watch him exit the attic, and a friendly smile grew from her unglossed lips.

"Morning," she greeted, her voice warm already – she must've been awake for a while.

"Good morning," replied Shadow as he approached the balcony to occupy the space on her left. "You're up quite early. Did you sleep well enough?"

She cocked her head and nodded, answering, "Yeah, I did. How about you?"

He mirrored her nod and rested his left hand on the banister. "It was nice. Thank you for letting me stay."

"Of course." Rouge let one brow lower in a cheeky expression. "But you don't have to thank me. It's not like it's a bother or anything."

"Right. I know that. I just want to express gratitude, considering it's technically unnecessary."

She then rolled her eyes, her smile pulling into a smirk, and shook her head. "I accept your appreciation, Shadow. But it's been long enough that I think you can drop that now. I mean, I practically had to beg you to stop sleeping outside so much, right?"

"Hah," the stoic man huffed. "You're exaggerating. It didn't take that much convincing."

"Well, regardless, this arrangement is leagues better than what you had going on before. And you deserve better! Besides... I like having you around here, anyway."

With that, her head cocked towards him, leaving little space between them on the small gazebo-shaped balcony. Her turquoise eyes stuck to his and Shadow could see a charming twinkle within them when she added, "So, my reasonings for offering a bed aren't completely selfless."

'I like being around you, too,' the lifeform thought to himself.

He wished he had the gumption to say it outright, but it felt so personal. So... intimate. They'd known each other a long time, but he certainly didn't feel they were on that level. Adventure after adventure, their relationship was mostly friendly with a huge helping of business.

And until their team vowed undying loyalty – after a tricky mission filled with shortsighted planning and reckless decisions – the business had outweighed anything else. But with their deepening bond had come an emotion stronger than care, one Shadow hadn't been able to place for a while.

Though Rouge recognized how much she liked him at a steady pace, the realization of his own feelings didn't happen until much later in their friendship. And as the bat hadn't taken the reins to tell him anything about it herself, he assumed she didn't feel the same way.

Through his nature of taking things far too seriously, the hedgehog was overanalyzing their dynamic and holding himself back, while she was going about things more casually. He didn't know she was working towards the same step he was afraid to take.

'You're pathetic,' his conscience echoed. 'Saying out loud that you have more affection for her than she realizes? That should be effortless. You've accomplished more difficult things in a single afternoon. It should be easy.'

It should've been – but it wasn't. Shadow still didn't like all the complex emotions he was capable of feeling. Most of them were uncomfortable, some of them painful, and there weren't enough that made up for it.

He didn't even know what he would feel if she turned him down. Surely, she wouldn't be harsh in doing so, but it would still hurt, wouldn't it?

Being friends didn't hurt. Being partners didn't hurt. But trying to push for more than that? He had no way of knowing how it would turn out, so it was actually easier to say nothing.

There was no way Rouge would act the same way around him if a confession ruined their bond. And the unsettling possibility of that was stronger than the appeal of the alternative.

Shadow just didn't know how wrong he was, or how much he was psyching himself out for no real reason. Smiling at him and leaning a little closer than she was before, the ivory treasure hunter expected his confession at any moment.

She could've said something herself, but that was less romantic; although, if he took much longer to spit it out, she thought she might have to.

Did he like her back as she did him? Probably. And she wasn't so worried about tainting their partnership, because their connection was unbreakable. But she also had no idea how much importance he was putting behind his emotions.

Rouge couldn't read his expression beyond the content smile he still held, so when he didn't respond, she broke eye contact to look back out into the distance.

A faint layer of orange was peeking from the horizon to coat the bottom of the dark blue sky. The sun was starting to rise, and the sight made her lips stretch from a smirk to a more genuine smile of enchantment.

Shadow copied her action, trying to find the same joy; but his grip tightened around the banister as he fought with himself inside his head.

"You know," Rouge started, "as invasive as the sun can be, it sure is beautiful when it rises."

"... Yeah. I wish Maria could've seen it. She would've loved this."

The bat's brows upturned, switching her expression to one of solemn endearment as she looked over at him. "I bet. But you know what she would've loved more?"

Shadow turned his gaze to her, as well, silently waiting for the follow-up. Her pretty lips answered, "Seeing you enjoying it, too. I know, because it warms my heart to see you appreciating things like a sunrise; you wouldn't have done that before."

He couldn't meet her gaze anymore as the words overtook him. Ruby eyes, tinted orange by the ascending brightness, dragged downwards in contrast to his mouth, which curled instinctively. "A lot has changed, hasn't it?"

She nodded slowly, still softly staring at the hedgehog while he repositioned his weight to lean against the banister instead of holding it. His arms crossed and he was able to look at her again, causing a flutter in Rouge's heart, and she couldn't help but let out a slightly nervous chuckle.

But before she could say anything else, their conversation was interrupted by a mechanical beep sounding out from beneath the sleeve of her robe. She pulled it up to reveal the communicator she wore around her wrist, and they both saw the small screen flashing from green to blue.

"Oh, the Commander's calling," Rouge said.

The faintest tinge of annoyance entered Shadow's voice. "This early?"

She gave him a glance that showed her vague irritation, as well. "Good thing we were already up, eh?"

Her ungloved finger tapped the screen and the human man's digitized voice came through the solid blue glow. "Rouge, come in, Rouge-"

"Yes, Commander, I can hear you," she replied, rolling her eyes and making Shadow smile. "To what do I owe the interruption of my morning?"

"Your next assignment. And Shadow's, if he's willing-"

"I'm here, Tower," spoke the lifeform, leaning closer.

"Ah, good to know you stick together. This mission is rather pressing, I couldn't very well wait. We were recently informed that an experimental and dangerous piece of technology was illegally acquired from overseas."

The Mobians shared an intrigued glance while he continued, "Now, thanks to our informant, we've been able to track it; and now that it's stopped moving, we know where it is. So, I need the two of you to infiltrate an establishment belonging to Doctor Golvin."

"Golvin?" Rouge cut in. "Isn't he a scientist, or something? I think you've mentioned him before."

"That's right, he is. But apparently, he isn't as adherent to the laws as we thought when we worked with him previously. This item he's essentially stolen is a weapon, one we haven't given clearance to obtain outside of guarded military bases. And Doctor Golvin has it stashed in one of his private homes, away from the public. I don't need to tell the two of you how risky it is to let him keep it, so you see why we need your skills immediately."

"Hmm," mused Rouge, pursing her lips and tapping her chin with her finger. Shadow smirked as he knew he hardly had to speak, as capable as she was of carrying the conversation. "Sounds like you want us to break-and-enter someone's house, Commander. You know, that's a crime we'd be committing."

"Consider yourselves preemptively pardoned for an act of bravery in service of the people's safety," he responded in a calculated manner. "And I assume your next comment will be about payment."

She teased, "You know me so well, boss."

"I'm prepared to offer five thousand, untraceable – you can split it how you like."

The jewel thief's eyes widened and her smug smile dropped. She looked at Shadow again and he raised his eyebrows to mirror her surprise. He verbalized the thought he knew was going through her head. "That much for a retrieval, sir?"

"I'm not complaining, just to be clear," his partner quickly added. "I love that you recognize the worth of our services."

They heard the man snicker through the screen, and his calm timbre followed. "It's an important assignment, and I have no way of knowing what setbacks you might encounter. So, I think it's only fair to compensate you on that basis."

"Hey, I'll take it," Rouge accepted, her smile returning, and she turned her attention to the hedgehog. "For all we know, this guy could have security bots around every corner!"

"Fair enough," Shadow conceded, shrugging and nodding at her.

Tower spoke again, "It's pressing, so you'll be doing this the minute he vacates his property. Report to my office ASAP and I'll give you what you need to finish the job."

"Yessir!" Rouge chimed, visibly eager at the promise of a huge payout.

The screen turned green as the human ended their connection, then the watch was hidden again as she slid the mulberry sleeve of her robe back down. Instantly, her bright eyes locked onto Shadow as she turned to face him, leaning forward and planting her hand on the banister.

"Five thousand, can you believe it?" Her face was closer to his than he'd been prepared for, illuminated on one side by the ever-lightening sky as the top edge of the sun became visible. He tightened his grip on both of his arms, still crossed over his chest, and held his breath while she beamed. "For a simple grab-n-go! I knew working for the government would be my ticket to fortune."

She pulled away and he let his breath out in a reserved chuckle, his heart rate higher than he liked. "What happened to 'security bots around every corner'?"

"Oh, p'shaw!" she scoffed, dramatically swatting the air. "We can handle any guards, you know that. I just didn't want Tower to think it would be easy and lower the payment."

She walked over to the thin door and opened it, talking over her shoulder at him as she went through. "Let's get a move on, handsome – duty calls!"

Shadow followed, holding onto the warmth he felt when she complimented him. It was nice, but he also kept his mind grounded by reminding himself that flattery was customary with her. He tried not to also think that it was all those words would ever be.

#sonic fanfiction #ship fanfic #buried desires #buried desires chapter 1 #dracaria fics #shadouge #shadrouge #rouge the bat #shadow the hedgehog #writing

19 notes · View notes

allthebrazilianpolitics · 15 days ago

Text

Christmas campaign hits Brazilian streets to get closer to consumers

Companies in beauty, beverages, food, and retail invest in outdoor, TV, and social media campaigns, anticipating sales growth

With just over a week until Christmas, Brazilians have entered the festive spirit and are preparing financially to celebrate. A Google survey shared with Valor indicates that the average consumer spending will be R$374 on clothing, gifts, food, and other holiday-related items. Brands are ramping up investments in TV advertising and street presence to get closer to consumers.

Conducted in November with over a thousand participants, the survey reveals there is room for increased sales following a positive Black Friday for companies. The study indicates that eight in ten Brazilians will participate in an average of five gatherings throughout December. The tradition of buying clothes and shoes remains strong among 45% of respondents; 30% plan to invest in traditional foods like turkey and panettone (an Italian type of sweet bread very popular in Brazil); 21% intend to bring beverages to gatherings, 17% focus on Christmas decorations, and 11% on serving items like tablecloths and glasses.

The research emphasized the importance of brands’ physical presence, with 50% of people expected to choose brick-and-mortar stores this Christmas. Companies are seizing the increased foot traffic in streets and shopping malls by investing in in-person marketing initiatives.

At Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, Natura has set up a Christmas Village, featuring a gift factory, interactive games, and visits to Santa’s house. A reinterpretation of the “Nutcracker” spectacle had a free session attended by 6,000 people.

#brazil #brazilian politics #politics #economy #image description in alt #mod nise da silveira

2 notes · View notes

tektronixtechnology · 1 year ago

Text

Road traffic counting surveys are essential tools for gathering data on vehicle movement patterns and traffic density. They provide valuable insights that aid in making informed decisions related to transportation infrastructure and urban planning.

Road Traffic Counting Surveys

Traffic Counting Surveys in UAE

Traffic Counting Surveys Abu Dhabi

Road Traffic Counting Surveys in Abu Dhabi

0 notes

lawlormediagroup · 1 month ago

Text

How Companies Can Improve in Content Marketing?

Content marketing helps businesses connect with their audience effectively. A strong strategy builds trust, drives traffic, and boosts sales. Companies can grow their brand by using smart approaches. Below are tips to improve content marketing.

Understand Your Audience

Knowing your audience is essential. Identify their needs, preferences, and challenges. This helps you create valuable content. Use surveys, social media polls, and website analytics to gather insights. Lawlor Media Group, a trusted Brand Strategy Agency New York, can assist with audience research.

Focus on creating tailored content for different audience segments. Personalization strengthens engagement and builds loyalty. Always keep your audience in mind during content creation.

Set Clear Goals

Define clear content marketing goals. These could include increasing traffic, boosting sales, or improving brand awareness. Having goals makes your strategy more focused.

Break your goals into smaller, actionable steps. For example, plan to publish blogs, videos, or social media posts weekly. PR Agencies NYC like Lawlor Media Group can help align your content goals with broader business objectives.

Create High-Quality Content

High-quality content stands out. Ensure your content is relevant, accurate, and valuable. Always check for grammar and spelling errors.

Add visuals, such as infographics or videos, to improve engagement. Use storytelling techniques to make your message memorable. For businesses in competitive markets like New York, Online Reputation Management New York services can ensure content enhances your online image.

Be Consistent

Consistency is key in content marketing. Stick to a schedule for posting content. Whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly, consistency builds trust.

Develop a content calendar to stay organized. This ensures your brand stays active and visible. A reliable PR Agencies NYC partner, such as Lawlor Media Group, can help manage schedules effectively.

Optimize for SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) improves your content’s visibility. Use relevant keywords in your blogs, articles, and videos. Include keywords naturally without overstuffing.

Optimize meta descriptions, headers, and images for better rankings. A strong SEO strategy drives organic traffic to your website. Work with a Brand Strategy Agency New York for expert guidance.

Leverage Social Media

Social media is crucial for content marketing. Platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter expand your reach. Post engaging content regularly to keep followers interested.

Use hashtags to improve visibility. Share behind-the-scenes updates or customer stories for a personal touch. For brands facing challenges, Crisis Management New York can help maintain a positive image on social media.

Measure Performance

Track your content marketing performance regularly. Use tools like Google Analytics or social media insights. These platforms show how well your content performs.

Pay attention to metrics like engagement, clicks, and conversions. Adjust your strategy based on the data. Agencies like Lawlor Media Group can analyze performance and refine your plan for success.

Engage with Your Audience

Responding to comments, messages, and feedback is vital. Engagement makes your audience feel valued. It builds stronger relationships and boosts loyalty.

Encourage user-generated content, such as reviews or testimonials. Respond promptly to any complaints to show your commitment. For public relations help, turn to PR Agencies NYC for expert support.

Experiment with Content Formats

Try different content formats to keep your audience interested. Mix blogs, videos, podcasts, and infographics. Diverse formats attract different audience types.

Stay updated with trends, like short-form videos or live streaming. Experimenting ensures your content remains fresh and engaging. For professional content guidance, contact a trusted Brand Strategy Agency New York like Lawlor Media Group.

Focus on Online Reputation

Your online reputation affects your content’s impact. Negative reviews or comments can harm your efforts. Invest in Online Reputation Management New York to maintain a positive brand image.

Respond to negative feedback professionally. Highlight positive reviews and testimonials in your content. A strong reputation strengthens your marketing strategy.

Prepare for Crisis Management

Crisis situations can affect your brand’s content marketing. Be prepared with a crisis management plan. Quick action protects your brand's reputation during challenges.

Work with Crisis Management New York experts to handle difficult situations effectively. A professional team ensures your messaging remains consistent and credible.

Collaborate with Experts

Collaborating with experienced agencies improves your content marketing. Professionals bring expertise, resources, and strategies to your campaigns.

Lawlor Media Group, a leading PR Agencies NYC firm, provides comprehensive services. Their expertise ensures your content marketing aligns with your business goals.

Conclusion

Improving content marketing requires clear goals, high-quality content, and consistent effort. Social media, SEO, and audience engagement are vital. Managing reputation and preparing for crises are also essential.

Partnering with a reliable agency like Lawlor Media Group ensures success. Their expertise in PR Agencies NYC, Brand Strategy Agency New York, and Online Reputation Management New York makes them a top choice. Follow these tips to strengthen your content marketing strategy.

#Lawlor Media Group #PR Agencies NYC #Brand Strategy Agency New York #Online Reputation Management New York #Crisis Management New York

2 notes · View notes

furiousstarfishphilosopher · 2 years ago

Link

https://futuresmartsurveys.com/traffic-survey-companies/

https://futuresmartsurveys.com/anpr-camera-system-uae/

traffic count survey report

traffic count survey report uae

traffic count survey report abu dhabi

road traffic monitoring devices

road traffic monitoring devices abu dhabi

road traffic monitoring devices uae

road traffic monitoring devices dubai

road traffic counting surveys

road traffic counting surveys Abu Dhabi

TRAFFIC COUNTING ROAD SURVEYS - AI BASED VEHICLE CLASSIFICATION AND TRAFFIC COUNTING

#traffic data collection abu dhabi #traffic counting surveys #traffic counting software #traffic counting companies in uae #traffic counting companies in abu dhabi #traffic count surveys #traffic counting devices #traffic counting surveys uae #traffic counting solutions in uae #road traffic count surveys #road traffic count surveys in abu dhabi #road traffic count surveys in saudi arabia #road traffic counting #traffic count survey report

0 notes

gracecpy · 3 months ago

Text

Is Blogging Still Relevant?

In a world dominated by quick social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, some may doubt the relevance of traditional blogging, but it continues to play a significant and influential role in communication. Here’s why.

Blogs are the original form of content marketing on the Internet, having been a fundamental content type since its beginning, and they dominated the landscape before social media, covering a wide range of topics from art to business.

According to an article, a recent survey found that over 60% of internet users interact with blogs, while another study showed that 77% read them daily. So, we can say that blogs are popular partly due to human behavior.

Although videos are enjoyable for their visuals and storytelling, they can be frustrating when we need quick information; blogs allow for faster reading and easy navigation with subheadings, enabling readers to quickly find and explore topics of interest without having to rewatch anything.

The Good Stuff About Blogging 📝

A key benefit of blogging is its ability to enhance product visibility on Google, where most online activities begin; with blogs ranking in the top five Google search results 23% of the time, effective blogging can ensure that great products are recognized, ultimately supporting a business's profitability.

Online Visibility 👤

A strong search engine presence boosts organic traffic to your website, helping you attract new customers and, by consistently creating high-quality content, you can enhance visibility for various topics, making blogging a profitable strategy in 2024.

Credibility

Blogging helps you establish expertise in your industry, building trust with customers and serving as a valuable resource for new employees by providing information that can enhance interest in your products or services.

Networking & Collaboration 📱

Successful industry blogs are visible and credible, attracting attention and fostering connections with like-minded individuals, influencers, and experts, which enhances your brand's authority and collaboration opportunities through guest posts and joint ventures.

How Do I Stand Out? 🤔

To add on from a business perspective, blogging focuses on building relationships and taking a long-term approach, much like engaging a customer in meaningful conversation rather than simply pushing a product on them. To effectively connect with your audience, invest time in crafting valuable content that addresses their interests and questions. While the methods consumers use to discover content may change, their fundamental information needs remain consistent. Therefore, producing high-quality, original content is essential for achieving success in blogging.

Simplicity Is The Key!

So, to effectively convey your message and engage readers, organize your content with clear headers, use short sentences, avoid long paragraphs, and consider using lists to enhance skimmability.

Be Unique ✨

Avoid irritating your customers by repeating information; instead, create unique content that showcases your expertise and addresses the needs of an information-hungry audience.

Read widely—blogs, social media, and books—to stimulate your creativity; if you're out of ideas, listen to conversations around you for insights into common challenges people face.

Talk More 🗣️

It’s frustrating when companies post valuable content but fail to respond to comments, as this is like ignoring a customer who shows interest; engaging with their audience is essential for fostering conversations that can lead to conversions.

Let’s Connect! 🤝🏼

Make it easy for readers to subscribe to your blog by using a scroll-triggered opt-in box to collect emails, allowing engaged readers to receive your content directly in their inbox and helping to strengthen your audience relationships.

Link It! 🔗

Many companies hesitate to link to other blogs, fearing they will lose readers, but doing so can provide valuable information, enhance your blog's credibility, and foster relationships within the industry.

Keep It Focus

Creating in-depth content can significantly improve your search engine rankings, as sites that offer comprehensive, high-quality coverage tend to perform better than those with less depth, highlighting the importance of quality over merely focusing on keywords.

To create in-depth content, write long-form posts that explore topics from multiple perspectives, consider creating guides to cover details thoroughly, and refer to examples from writings about creative content strategies for inspiration.

So.. to conclude

Yes, blogs can be profitable in 2024, but success requires a deep understanding of your subject and audience, creativity in producing original content, and the ability to stand out from competitors and AI-generated material; if you want to build a profitable blog for your brand, reach out to us for guidance on creating impactful digital content that attracts search engines, customers, and journalists.

Today, things that involve content creation are constantly evolving, and claims that blogging is "dead" are often misguided; instead, we should focus on adapting to changes rather than declaring any strategy irrelevant.

References

Beyond The Panorama. (2022, August 5). 6 Reasons That Make Blogs Remain Relevant In The Age Of Reels And TikTok

https://beyondthepanorama.com/6-reasons-that-make-blogs-remain-relevant-in-the-age-of-reels-and-tiktok/

We Are Bottle. (2024, January 12). Is Blogging Dead? Here's the blogging landscape in 2024

https://www.wearebottle.com/blog/is-blogging-dead

Konrad Sanders. (2024, September 12). Are Blogs Still Relevant in 2024?

https://nealschaffer.com/are-blogs-still-relevant-in-2019/

#mda20009 #week 4

2 notes · View notes

aishangotome · 4 months ago

Text

Main Story Chapter 18-09: Among All of Nature (在萬物之中) | Light and Night 光與夜之戀

Chapter 18-07

♡———♡

Who would have guessed that Spider II is actually a spider, and its mount - also its favorite spot - is an electric scooter parked in the landlord's granny's woodshed.

I sat on the back seat, hugging Charlie's back, the wind whistling in my ears. Electric scooters have many advantages, they're discreet and can avoid rush hour traffic.

You: Charlie, when did you learn to drive an electric scooter?!

Charlie: Charlie is omnipotent, how many more times do I have to prove it to you?

The wind tears our voices into shreds. We drive on the electric vehicle lane, the main road next to us is blocked, the traffic is at a standstill, and the endless lights illuminate the entire street.

As we pass by them, the bored people in the car windows turn their heads to look, as if giving us a salute.

Charlie: Fiancée, do you feel like we're surveying our territory?

You: Yes!

Charlie: I'm the king of the world!

He shouted, and I was also infected, shouting along with him, which really attracted everyone's attention.

The spider is Spider II, the electric scooter is the king's mount, the whole city is our territory, and with Charlie, no matter what kind of day it is, it will become wonderful.

Suddenly, I felt a little relieved. I should trust him more, he knows how to adjust himself, and how to turn this difficult time into a part of a magnificent imagination.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. The electric scooter stopped in front of a somewhat dilapidated two-story building. The building was quiet, and it seemed that no one was there anymore.

You: Are you sure this is the place?

Charlie: I'm sure.

Charlie parked the scooter, took off his helmet, walked closer, and couldn't help but frown when his eyes fell on the building.

Charlie: Lao He said that this organization has been silent for quite some time, and it seems to be true.

A man walked out of the dim doorway, wearing a common shirt and trousers, looking about forty years old, with a serious and tired expression. He stopped in front of us.

???: Mr. Chen?

Charlie: Yes, that's me.

The man extended his hand and shook hands with Charlie.

???: I am the president of the Drug Safety Assurance Association, my surname is Shen. And this is?

He looked at me, and I quickly prepared to speak, afraid that Charlie would say "This is my fiancée," which would completely expose us.

As if guessing what I was thinking, Charlie turned his head slightly, with a half-true, half-false reproach in his eyes, meaning something like "Am I that stupid?".

Charlie: This is my... like-minded partner.

President Shen maintained his scrutinizing gaze, slowly nodding and leading us into a corridor filled with various objects. At the end of the corridor was a heavy fire door. President Shen pushed it open and spoke again.

President Shen: Mr. Chen, when you contacted me, I suspected you were sent by a pharmaceutical company.

Charlie: And now you don't?

President Shen: You must be a doctor, or at least you were once.

Charlie didn't deny it.

Charlie: How did you figure that out?

President Shen: Intuition.

Charlie: I think it's because you were also a doctor once, so you recognize your own kind.

Charlie: Just now when you pushed the door, you used your elbow.

Your elbow? I was a little confused. Charlie seemed to be explaining to me as he continued.

Charlie: Long-term aseptic procedures can lead some doctors to develop this habit, not touching things with their hands if they can avoid it.

Charlie: President Shen, your habit remains, but the calluses from the scalpel have faded.

Charlie: I'm a little curious, why did you give up being a doctor to establish the Drug Safety Assurance Association?

Charlie asked very seriously. President Shen looked at Charlie with a new expression, then turned his head away.

President Shen: The reason for establishing it... is the same as the current goal. I hope NOVATEN Pharmaceuticals will be punished.

President Shen: If possible, all pharmaceutical companies that conceal side effects should be punished.

President Shen: Nineteen years ago, NOVATEN killed a girl.

President Shen: They sent the father who insisted on appealing to a mental hospital.

President Shen: The young doctor who prescribed the medicine at the time became the scapegoat and was forever expelled from the medical field.

This young doctor is probably President Shen, I thought. Charlie's arm was very close to mine, and I felt his body tense for a moment, as if he had heard this story before.

President Shen: I took a lot of detours in the process of exposing NOVATEN. Now DEA is my biggest opportunity.

President Shen's originally lifeless eyes lit up. At this moment, he looked at Charlie as if he was looking at a lifesaver.

President Shen: I can tell from the phone that you know NOVATEN very well.

President Shen: If you're willing, please be sure to cooperate with me.

President Shen: We've arrived.

President Shen took a deep breath, his tone calming down. He stopped in front of an office door. In the small space, several people were sitting in front of computer screens, probably also association members.

We followed President Shen to his seat, receiving several wary glances along the way. President Shen took a photo out of a drawer and handed it to us. The picture showed a hedgehog nestled in a blanket.

You: A hedgehog?

President Shen: I know what I'm about to say will be unbelievable, but please hear me out.

President Shen: Mr. Chen, you mentioned that there was a patient at the First People's Hospital who experienced bradycardia after taking DEA.

President Shen: This is him.

You: He's a Spirit? *from spirit clan

President Shen looked surprised, but then relaxed.

President Shen: So you know, that's even better. I went to great lengths to contact him.

President Shen: He told me that he was suffering from a disease, and DEA seemed to accelerate its progression.

President Shen: The dizziness caused by bradycardia is only part of the symptoms.

President Shen: After using DEA, it's difficult for him to maintain his "human" form.

President Shen: Of course, people like him... are not common, and he didn't dare to confess his condition to the hospital.

You: This symptom should be the degradation of Spirits, right?

President Shen: You know about this disease?

Charlie: Being knowledgeable is the least of my partner's virtues.

Charlie: President Shen, as far as you know, is this situation after taking the medicine an isolated case?

President Shen: I haven't heard of any other cases.

President Shen: But I have a feeling that they must exist, I just haven't been able to grasp them yet.

If what President Shen said is true, that DEA accelerates the degradation process... I hesitated.

You: Degradation is a common problem faced by Spirits, logically speaking...

Charlie: Logically speaking, all Spirits who take DEA should experience bradycardia and accelerated degradation.

Charlie paused, his gaze falling on President Shen's face. That touch of purple was sharp, making it impossible to lie.

Charlie: Tell me, if this drug is only harmful to those uncommon people you mentioned, would you continue your investigation?

President Shen closed his eyes, as if recalling something. After a moment, he nodded.

President Shen: They also suffer from the side effects and want justice. That's no different from ordinary people.

Charlie smiled.

Charlie: To thank you for the information you provided, I'll also provide you with one.

He took something out of his pocket and lightly weighed it in his palm. I recognized it as the pillbox the landlady gave him.

His other hand, holding my wrist, gave it a gentle squeeze. His voice was soft, almost a whisper.

Charlie: If I can't maintain an elegant standing posture later, remember to support me.

Before I could react, Charlie had already torn open the aluminum foil with one hand, poured out a small pill, crushed a quarter of it with his thumb, and swallowed it.

I hurriedly grabbed his sleeve, but it was too late to stop him.

You: Why are you taking medicine randomly?!

Charlie: Don't worry, I'm just tasting a little bit--

Before he finished speaking, his face suddenly turned pale, and his forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat.

I felt a downward force from the hand he was holding, and I struggled to support his arm, feeling him leaning heavily on me.

For a moment, I seemed to hear the sound of wings spreading.

You: Cha-- Are you okay?!

After a few short but long seconds, Charlie Su seemed to recover. He raised his head, steadied his breathing, and looked at President Shen's shocked face with unusually bright eyes.

Charlie: I'm fine.

Charlie: It seems we've confirmed that DEA can indeed affect all Spirits.

President Shen was silent, and an expression of admiration and gratitude gradually appeared on his face.

President Shen: Thank you, Mr. Chen. I will continue to investigate the effects of DEA on humans.

President Shen: After all, before Spirits and this so-called degradation disease are widely recognized, human cases are easier to use as evidence.

After saying goodbye to President Shen, Charlie and I left the association. I tried to start the electric scooter, but failed several times. It was probably low on battery, so I had to push it.

Charlie's steps were still a bit unsteady. I couldn't bear to let him push the scooter, so I took it from him. We walked along the moat, one behind the other. I was still thinking about what he had done earlier, feeling a bit upset.

Charlie: Fiancée, my head is so dizzy, can I sit on the scooter?

You: It's a borrowed scooter, sit wherever you want.

He swung his long legs over and sat down unceremoniously, making it so heavy that I couldn't push it at all.

Charlie: If my fiancée isn't happy, I won't go.

I turned around angrily. He effortlessly kicked down the kickstand with his foot, looking like he was being unreasonable, but the smile on his face was gentle.

Charlie: My father is human. I'm not fully Spirit, so degradation won't hurt me.

You: But you didn't have to just take the medicine like that. Who knows if this President Shen can be trusted? This is gambling.

Charlie: I believe what he said, including his hatred for NOVATEN, is true.

Charlie: At that moment, I even felt like I should have done something, but I didn't.

He let out a sigh of relief, as if he had found something he had lost many years ago. This was probably a piece of history that I didn't know about.

Charlie: Whether I believe him or not is not important. What's important is that he must believe me and think that I have information he doesn't know.

Charlie: That way, he will share information with me without reservation.

Charlie explained slowly. When he was thinking, there was a depth between his brows that reminded me that he had been struggling in this world for several years longer than me.

Charlie: Besides, I'm really curious if DEA is effective on other Spirits.

Charlie: Fiancée, is this a reasonable explanation?

When he said that, the last bit of urgency I had dissipated. I could only sigh and look away embarrassedly.

You: Well, I hope you can always be so thoughtful.

Charlie: If there's one thing about me you don't need to doubt, it's my abilities.

You: I thought it would be your dazzling looks.

But with all his gear on, he did cover up his dazzling looks.

I made a joke in my mind and was about to push the scooter to continue walking when Charlie's phone rang. He smiled when he saw the sender's name.

Charlie: Just in time, the information Uncle Ji found has also arrived.

You: You're still in contact with Uncle Ji?

Charlie: I ran into Uncle Ji before I left home.

Charlie: Maybe my father anticipated that I would go and sent him to stop me.

You: But Uncle Ji let you go?

Charlie: Yes, he even said, "Master, please be careful on your journey." He's really a rigid old butler.

Charlie's tone was light. He clicked on the message, which contained a document.

It was a document, not very long, about five or six pages, with the words "NOVATEN Confidential Clearance" printed on the margins. Uncle Ji helped Charlie get a confidential document?

Many thoughts flashed through my mind. I knew it wasn't good to think this way, just like I shouldn't suspect President Shen for no reason, but these days, every second was nerve-wracking.

You: Charlie... Have you ever thought about what Uncle Ji will say to your father?

After much hesitation, I finally said it, feeling very uncomfortable, like I was being the bad guy. Charlie might have already considered this, but I couldn't help but ask.

Charlie's fingertips, which were tapping on the screen, paused. He looked up at me, cupped my face, and his knuckles brushed against my eyelids.

Charlie: Don't worry. Just by looking at Uncle Ji's face, you know he's at most stubborn, not two-faced.

Charlie: I did a lot of things my father didn't allow when I was young, and he always covered for me.

Charlie: He told me bedtime stories, waited for me after school when I had classes, and took me for walks. Back then, he was more like a father than my father.

Charlie: I choose to trust him. Besides you, he's one of the few trustworthy people worth taking a risk for.

His fingers were warm, as if saying, "Don't torture yourself over these things." I closed my eyes, feeling a sense of peace in my chest.

You: So what did Uncle Ji send?

Charlie: It's the truth about the ingredients in DEA.

I looked at the document with him, and I couldn't hide my surprise when I saw the first line.

The report said that NOVATEN had successfully isolated the root cause of Spirit degradation through experiments. There is a factor within Spirit power that inhibits Spirit power production and consumes Spirit power, named the D factor.

Under normal circumstances, this inhibitory factor and the A factor that promotes Spirit power growth are in balance, ensuring that Spirits don't experience Spirit power outbursts. In recent years, the degradation of Spirits is due to the uncontrolled growth of the D factor.

The D factor extracted from various Spirits has the same structure and can therefore be transferred and used, while the A factor is specialized and related to each Spirit's own genes.

Experiments have shown that the extracted D factor can also quickly suppress some physical symptoms in humans, and current drug component tests cannot detect it.

The report ended there, and I couldn't recover for a long time.

You: This is... degradation? Are these results reliable?

Isn't Spirit power supposed to be something invisible and intangible? How can there be factors within it that can even be extracted?

Charlie was silent for a moment.

Charlie: If it's reliable, it means my judgment was also wrong.

Charlie: Director Qi's fainting earlier wasn't necessarily due to the lethal effect of DEA's anesthesia.

Charlie: It was accelerated degradation.

Sariel's coma, accelerated degradation... Yes, that explains everything. The patient with bradycardia, Charlie's symptoms after taking the medicine, it all makes sense now.

We walked slowly, each needing time to digest this information. Charlie seemed to have fully recovered and took the electric scooter from my hands.

You: Making this ingredient public would cause a huge uproar, wouldn't it?

Charlie: Yup.

You: Besides suppressing symptoms, does it have any other effects on humans?

Charlie: It doesn't seem so at the moment.

A hint of purple eyes peeked out from above his sunglasses, the color heavy and stagnant.

You: Charlie, what are you thinking?

Charlie: I'm thinking about whether I should send that WeChat article to my landlady.

Charlie held the opened pillbox in his hand, turning it over and over. I understood. There was no such ready-made article online. He was considering whether to advise the grandmother to stop using DEA.

Charlie: NOVATEN is promoting DEA in a charitable way. This isn't normal.

Charlie: They didn't label the new ingredient. Are they unwilling to expose the existence of Spirits, or is there another reason?

You: It doesn't make much difference, does it? Since your father's actions are suspicious...

Of course, we should advise others against using the medicine. It's natural to think that way, isn't it?

But Charlie looked conflicted.

Charlie: The old lady's arthritis is already very severe. She has taken many kinds of painkillers, and the effects are all very weak.

Charlie: DEA allows her to briefly feel no pain and get a good night's sleep.

Charlie: But if it causes her serious side effects, I will not hesitate to advise her against it, advise everyone against it.

Charlie: Right now, I can't be sure if this side effect actually exists.

Charlie: Besides telling Spirits not to use DEA...

Charlie: What I should do now seems to be to complain to the drug regulatory authority that NOVATEN has concealed the drug's ingredients and contraindications.

Charlie: And then, wait for a result. It seems that the worst that can happen is that the company will be ordered to relabel.

Charlie: Fiancée, there's a difference between methods. The difference lies in whether I choose to abide by the rules or not.

My heart trembled. I thought of Sun Tai Zhong, of that night when Charlie said the world would be better off without him, and of him saying he could no longer be a doctor.

Doctors shouldn't use scalpels to kill, just as they shouldn't discourage patients from using medication based on some unfounded suspicions. Ultimately, we just don't trust his father, we don't trust NOVATEN.

Should NOVATEN conceal the ingredient, even if it's not understood by humans? Of course not. But how should we fight back?

Suddenly, a terrifying possibility that had repeatedly played out around us came to mind.

You: What if there's actually nothing wrong with this medicine...

What if his father was just exploiting Charlie's rebellious and questioning nature?

Charlie: I would be causing pain to people who shouldn't be suffering.

Charlie: But if there's something wrong with it, I'll also save people who might be victimized.

What harm would those who might be victimized suffer? What pain would those who shouldn't be suffering endure? Can these be compared, weighed, and then an optimal solution found?

The answer is no, this is just...

Charlie: This is gambling.

☼ Light: Ask him what will happen if he loses.

☾ Night: Tell him that you'll always be his bargaining chip.

☼ Light: Ask him what will happen if he loses.

You: What will happen if you lose this time?

Charlie: I don't know.

Charlie: I've always preferred having everything under control rather than gambling.

Charlie: Maybe it's because I met you.

He opened his palm, his gaze becoming distant, as if remembering something. I remembered this gesture; back then, he had two capsules, one red and one blue, in his palm.

Charlie: Those two pills on the plane, I thought you wouldn't take them. That was the first time I lost.

Charlie: It seems that losing isn't so scary after all.

His expression was strange, somewhat relaxed, as if he was joking, yet also resolute, as if he was using a joke to express some kind of determination.

☾ Night: Tell him that you'll always be his bargaining chip.

I held his hand.

You: Charlie Su, if the world is a casino and everything is a chip, there's at least one thing I guarantee you won't lose.

Charlie Su held my hand back, his calloused fingertips brushing against my palm.

Charlie: What if?

You: Then she'll grow legs and run back on her own.

Charlie: When did my fiancée become so good at sweet talk?

I felt his grip tighten on my hand, and Charlie Su shook his head.

Charlie: But the premise isn't quite right. You're not a chip, and I won't treat you as one.

Charlie: A genius gambler like me can win everything even without any chips.

His expression was strange, somewhat relaxed, as if he was joking, yet also resolute, as if he was using a joke to express some kind of determination.

You: So...

Charlie: So I'm going to write a WeChat article and send it to the old lady. The title will be "Dangerous DEA and its mysterious ingredient."

Charlie: Contact Lao He and tell him not to prescribe DEA unless absolutely necessary.

Charlie: Also, write a letter to the drug regulatory authority, informing them about the issue of DEA concealing its ingredients.

Charlie: As long as they accept it, even if they can't investigate it thoroughly, it will at least delay the drug's launch.

You: You plan to do this first... then what?

It was completely dark, and the first star appeared in the night sky. Charlie looked at the horizon.

Charlie: Then, although it will take some time, I will reveal their hand.

In an instant, many things flashed through my mind. The blood-stained scalpel, the narrow alley, the wonton stall, the headaches, the WeChat articles, his thinner silhouette, and the words "not a doctor."

He overturned 28 years of his life, took the risk of trusting Uncle Ji, and experimented with DEA on his own body. Charlie was so resolute when gambling with himself, yet he hesitated when it came to gambling with others.

How to deal with this hesitation? We had proven many times that on the road to pursuing the truth, through twists and turns, we would always stray further and further away from our original lives and principles.

I felt a bit scared and confused, and suddenly wanted to ask him.

You: Charlie, do you still want to go back to being a doctor?

Charlie's gaze shifted from the horizon to the river. The night river wasn't pure black; ripples on the water shimmered with light, but he didn't look at me.

Charlie: Fiancée, I've been thinking.

Charlie: Maybe I don't want to be a firefighter, or a journalist, or even...

He paused, as if the next word was difficult to say.

Charlie: ...a doctor.

Charlie: I just want to save people.

The evening rush hour we saw on our way here was over, and the kingdom of Charlie and I was no longer there. I wondered if what he said was really true.

The early autumn wind swept through every corner of the city indiscriminately, then disappeared beyond the city limits.

In the past, the candlelight on Ling Island always went out early. Nowadays, perhaps the island's residents are unwilling to let go of even a moment, keeping the lights on all night, making one dark house stand out in stark contrast.

Sariel woke from his dream, the sounds of wind, howling, and the clash of weapons echoing in his ears. He had dreamt this dream thousands of times, so it was easy to notice the changes within it.

He saw clouds appear in the sky, the fluttering banners torn, the sound of hooves approaching, no longer monotonous. The smell of smoke and flames followed closely.

The figure in the red robe was no longer standing with her back to him. She was riding a horse, galloping towards him, her hairband blown away, her messy hair flying in all directions.

She reached him, and with a proud air, circled him before reining in her horse. Her face was blurry, but her posture was vivid and lively, much like someone he knew well.

The dream became more and more vivid, less and less like a dream, but more like... an actual memory.

Sariel gazed at the beams above, belatedly realizing that a peculiar aura surrounded him. This wasn't Guangqi City.

A massive dragon head poked in through the doorway. Seeing him awake, its whiskers instantly bristled.

Qi She: Lao Qi, you're awake?! You, you... how are you feeling?

Sariel sat up, swaying slightly. His arms were weak, and a dull ache throbbed in his head.

Sariel: I'd feel better if you asked fewer obvious questions.

Qi She: That's good, that's good. Still the same Lao Qi, your head isn't damaged.

Sariel: What do you mean? Explain clearly.

Qi She looked at him in surprise, then a worried expression crossed his face.

Qi She: You don't remember anything? Oh dear, I know this is also an obvious question.

Qi She: Well, last night, you were still fiddling with that bird of paradise in the courtyard.

Qi She: Suddenly, I heard a "thump" outside the door. I called you, but you didn't answer.

Qi She: When I went out to check, I saw you lying on the ground. I was so scared that I quickly carried you and came to Ling Island.

Bird of paradise... Sariel rubbed his temples. There was such a thing.

He had been trying to save that bird of paradise with its broken stems and leaves, but with little success. At most, he could keep it alive, but new leaves wouldn't grow.

He tried to activate his talent again, and this time, there seemed to be a surge of Spirit power within his body. However, in the next second, his consciousness faded.

His golden eyes lowered slightly, and Sariel's face was expressionless.

Sariel: Why did you bring me to Ling Island?

Qi She: Do you even need to ask? You fainted on stage before and were sent to the hospital. Your face looked exactly the same as it does now.

Qi She: I figured this must be related to degradation again. You're always reluctant to let me find that bird doctor to treat you.

His hands and feet regained some strength, and Sariel got out of bed.

Sariel: This place isn't much better.

???: Making bold claims as soon as you wake up, Sariel. It's definitely you.

An aged voice came. Qi She moved his massive body aside slightly, revealing two figures standing at the door: Mr. Kui and the Grand Elder.

Their expressions were unclear in the shadows, but their shoulders relaxed slightly for a moment.

Mr. Kui: Seeing how energetic you are, you must have rested well.

Sariel: Did you treat me?

Mr. Kui: Not really. We hadn't gotten around to it yet. We just let you lie in bed for a day, and you woke up on your own.

Sariel nodded at him, smoothed out the wrinkles on his clothes, stood up, and walked towards the door.

Sariel: Qi She, let's go.

Qi She: Hey, don't rush. Let them take a look first--

Before Qi She could finish, a cane blocked Sariel's path. It was the Grand Elder's cane, but Sariel didn't remember him needing it before.

Mr. Kui: Where are you going?

Sariel: Where I should be.

Mr. Kui: The place you should be right now is here.

Sariel frowned, a hint of coldness in his eyes.

Sariel: I'm awake, and I didn't rely on your help. I should still have the freedom to come and go.

Mr. Kui snorted softly and placed a few herbs on the table.

Mr. Kui: You're speaking too soon. I only said we hadn't gotten around to treating you, not that you don't need treatment.

Mr. Kui: But then again, with your degradation to this extent, there's not much difference whether you're treated or not.

Mr. Kui: Your Spirit power is long gone, isn't it?

His golden eyes turned to Qi She, as if he already knew that he had spilled the beans. The white dragon looked a bit guilty, shrinking his head and pretending he didn't exist.

After a glance, Sariel looked back at Mr. Kui, his expression calm.

Sariel: So what? I'm still alive.

Sariel: And without Spirit power, there's no further room for degradation. It's simpler this way.

The Spirit healers and the Grand Elder exchanged glances, both falling silent for a moment.

Grand Elder: Spirit power is the lifeblood of Spirits. Degradation for Spirits is like draining their blood. When the blood is gone, there's naturally no further room for decline.

Grand Elder: Qi She said there was a time when you suffered greatly from degradation, and soon after, you lost all your Spirit power and couldn't use your talent.

Grand Elder: But the discomfort of degradation lessened, and you became like an ordinary human. Is that true?

Sariel: I never knew you were such a chatterbox, telling everyone everything.

Qi She: I was just worried about you...

Qi She's voice was small, and although there was a hint of guilt in his tone, there was no remorse. He knew that Sariel wasn't really blaming him, even if he was, it was just a little bit.

Grand Elder: But you're both wrong.

Grand Elder: Sariel, you're still standing here because another source of Spirit power appeared within you at some point.

Grand Elder: It just happened to offset the Spirit power you lost, allowing the symptoms of degradation on your body to disappear.

Grand Elder: However, this kind of perfectly balanced equilibrium won't last long. Yesterday was the limit.

As he spoke, the Grand Elder observed the expression of the person in front of him. Those golden eyes only showed a momentary fluctuation at the beginning, then became as still as a deep well.

Suddenly, the old man understood something.

Grand Elder: Are you truly unaware of this, or are you deceiving yourself?

Sariel didn't answer his question directly and looked away.

Sariel: You're speaking so definitively. Have you already figured out the source of this Spirit power?

Grand Elder: Haven't you thought about it?

Of course, he had. Ever since he became an "ordinary person," new content had appeared in that dream, as if something was surfacing from the depths of his heart.

It reminded him of that war, that war that ended unclearly but was exceptionally tragic. He had lost his power, lost his memories, and lived on like a wandering soul.

Sariel: It's the seal.

Grand Elder: Indeed. Mr. Kui just examined you. The seal within your body has loosened, and a slight amount of Spirit power is leaking out.

Sariel: So, it started yesterday?

Grand Elder: Yes, you fainted again due to degradation, indicating that the balance has been broken.

Grand Elder: You don't have much time left.

The Grand Elder was surprised to find that upon hearing this, Sariel actually curled his lips into a smile.

Grand Elder: What are you smiling about?

Sariel: Nothing. It's not the first time someone has said this to me.

The Grand Elder's cane struck the ground heavily.

Grand Elder: But it could be the last time!

Grand Elder: If you want to survive, you must break the seal and release the Spirit power within. This is the only way.

The only way. Sariel had heard similar words from the Grand Elder many times, and it was getting tiresome. He asked a different question.

Sariel: Why did the seal loosen?

Mr. Kui: I can't see any signs of human intervention. Perhaps it has deteriorated on its own.

Mr. Kui: The seal was formed by the caster's power. Over time, the power inevitably weakens, especially after thousands of years.

Mr. Kui paused, as if he had already anticipated Sariel's next question.

Mr. Kui: But precisely because it's been thousands of years...

Mr. Kui: It's not easy for the crack to widen again and release enough Spirit power to counteract your degradation.

Sariel: Have you already mastered the method to break the seal?

Mr. Kui: Two days ago, a spell appeared on the stone wall. Now you're here. Its meaning is self-evident.

Grand Elder: As long as you agree, we will try it for you immediately.

"Try it for you," "agree"... These words were new. Sariel's gaze swept across the Grand Elder's face.

Sariel: I was unconscious for a day. With your unscrupulous style, shouldn't you have seized the opportunity?

Sariel: But you're only now seeking my consent. Why?

Grand Elder: There are two reasons. First, this method cannot succeed without your cooperation. Second...

A complex expression flashed across the Grand Elder's face, then it became stern again.

Grand Elder: For the sake of the Spirit race, I hope you will live and regain your former power.

Grand Elder: But beneath the seal lie your memories and talents. No one knows what the consequences will be once it's unsealed.

He coughed a few times, his hand tightening on the cane, revealing prominent veins.

Grand Elder: The stone wall hasn't given further instructions. Before that, think carefully.

With that, the two elders turned and left, and Qi She turned his head to see them off.

Sariel walked to the door and saw that the courtyard looked like a typhoon had passed through, with broken wood and debris everywhere. The huge dragon body coiled there was covered in wounds, and there were even a few withered leaves embedded between its scales.

Since the degradation last year, it had been a long time since Qi She had shown such severe symptoms.

Sariel: You just degraded again?

The dragon head nodded, looking somewhat tired.

Qi She: Whether you're a lizard or a human, I couldn't lift you, so I had to transform into this.

Qi She: Maybe I used up too much Spirit power at once.

Qi She: You gave me a hard time yesterday. In the future, please try to worry me less.

Qi She drawled out his words, and Sariel paused, wanting to retort but ultimately swallowing his words.

He looked at the receding figures of Mr. Kui and the Grand Elder, his voice not loud but carrying through the night.

Sariel: Wait a moment.

Grand Elder: What is it?

Sariel: I don't need the medicine that suppresses degradation, but Qi She does.

Sariel: There's never been any animosity between him and Ling Island. You don't need to make things difficult for him.

Mr. Kui and the Grand Elder stood there for a while. Mr. Kui let out a few laughs, but they seemed forced, somewhat desolate.

Mr. Kui: There's no medicine left. There hasn't been any for a long time.

Mr. Kui: Didn't you hear what the Grand Elder said? There's no other way to treat your degradation, only that one path.

Mr. Kui: And for others, there isn't even that path.

The figures of the elders disappeared into the lush forest, leaving only Sariel and Qi She in the courtyard. The moonlight spread like water, covering the ground.

Sariel: How long has it been since you took the medicine?

Qi She: I can't remember clearly, it's been quite a while.

Qi She: When I came to Ling Island a few months ago, Mr. Kui said the same thing, that there would be no more medicine.

Qi She: Do you think it's because everyone's degradation is too severe, and the medicine's effect isn't good anymore?

Sariel: I don't know.

Sariel seemed to be pondering something. After a moment, he reached out and plucked a broken scale from Qi She's body.

Qi She remembered that during the thousand years of companionship with this taciturn fellow, when boredom struck, they would pass the time by picking at the scales that were about to shed from his body. He raised his head and sniffed his slightly sore nose.

Qi She: If there's no medicine, then there's no medicine. At worst, it's just death. At this point, who's afraid of dying?

Sariel: You're not afraid? Every time you degrade, you eat a bunch of supplements. I don't even know if they work.

Qi She: I do have some beautiful expectations for life. But after being afraid for so long, you get used to it.

Qi She: This degradation thing is like that sword humans talk about... what's it called?

Sariel: The Sword of Damocles.

Qi She: Yes, that's it. I know it's hanging over all Spirits' heads, and one day it will fall.

Qi She: It's just that sometimes, while living, you forget it's still there.

Sariel let out a soft snort, but even he didn't know if it was agreement or disagreement.

How could he forget this sword? He shouldn't forget it either. But late at night, there was a silly bird staying up in his studio, drawing, and falling asleep on the desk.

He casually draped a blanket over her, counting her breaths under the dim light. At least at that moment, he was used to not thinking about death.

Qi She: Lao Qi, when you turned into an ordinary person, I was really happy, truly.

Qi She: Your sword disappeared. I thought your fate would be different from ours from then on.

Qi She: You were always a standout... no, a fox standing out among the Spirits.

Sariel: That's what you thought. I was never any different from you all.

Qi She: So you knew very early on that becoming an ordinary person didn't mean the degradation had stopped?

Sariel shook his head.

Sariel: Not that early.

Back then, the girl squatted beside him, eagerly waiting for him to heal that significant bird of paradise, but he was powerless, and unexpectedly, a sense of helplessness arose within him.

But they ate together, and the girl looked so happy when he ate more, no matter what he ate, she would also take a portion of the same.

Bandaging wounds, sweating from the heat, this kind of thing should have been annoying, but with someone else there, it suddenly became somewhat interesting.

When the night-blooming cereus didn't bloom, she would only say, "It seems my luck hasn't turned around today, but it's not bad to have Sariel being unlucky with me. Besides, the buds are also beautiful."

The haze of degradation was gradually lifted from his life, so he deliberately ignored all the unreasonable things, until...

Sariel: On Kunlun Mountain, I absorbed some of the Spirit power from the Ganoderma tree and was able to use my talent again.

Sariel: After I used it up, I returned to the so-called ordinary human state.

Sariel: I haven't changed. I'm still a Spirit, I can't escape it.

Qi She seemed to have finally exhausted his energy, his form shrinking into a small lizard lying on the broken stone table.

Qi She: But you still have a way out, to break the seal, don't you?

Sariel: Why do you think I would do that?

Qi She listened carefully and realized that Sariel's tone wasn't rhetorical; he genuinely wanted to know the answer.

Qi She: Why... You used to be so lifeless, but now you're much better.

Qi She: I'm not saying you're smiling radiantly or anything, it's just a feeling.

Qi She: Don't you want to keep living this kind of life?

Sariel didn't speak, and Qi She seemed to have thought of something.

Qi She: Oh, I get it. You're afraid that if you break the seal and regain your memories, things will change again?

Sariel: No.

Qi She: No?

Sariel: If one day the seal breaks on its own, then it's time for it to break. I won't stop it.

Sariel: As for what I'll become after regaining my memories, it doesn't matter.

Qi She sighed. After spending so many years with Lao Qi, sometimes he felt he was really easy to understand. For example, when he saw something he liked, his expression would soften; when he saw something he didn't like, he wouldn't even bother.

But sometimes, he couldn't see through him at all, like now.

Qi She: Then what other reason is there not to take a gamble, to exchange for a chance to live?

Sariel looked at the moon, the moonlight washing over his pupils, making their color appear lighter. His voice was soft, almost a murmur.

Sariel: Why should I live?

Qi She: Isn't that simple? Just think about how heartbroken the girl would be if you were gone.

Sariel: She'd cry for a few days, maybe a week, maybe half a month, but she'll eventually get better.

Qi She: You underestimate yourself too much. Even I, an outsider, know better than you.

Qi She curled his lips. He knew that Sariel wasn't actually unclear; he was probably just being stubborn.

Sariel: She's not as fragile as you think. She's strong and brave.

Qi She: But she'd definitely be happier if you were by her side.

Qi She's tone became excited. This was obviously something so obvious, why couldn't this person see it or admit it?

Sariel raised his hand, gently brushing across his chest, as if to smooth out the remaining wrinkles on his clothes, or as if something was weighing on his heart.

He thought of that dream again, but there was more. A hundred-year-old manuscript brought plagiarism disputes, a thousand-year-old war brought shadow-like enemies, and a stone wall left two people's memories incomplete.

Sariel: I would bring heavy burdens to her. There's nothing good about that.

Sariel: The longer it goes on, the more she'll feel it.

His words were still so negative, but unlike before, he didn't seem indifferent. Instead, it was as if he had considered it, making it even more frustrating.

Qi She: Are you saying that it would be better for her if you left sooner rather than later?

Sariel: No.

Sariel thought about Kunlun Mountain and the feeling of unwillingness he had experienced for the first time. Sometimes he felt this unwillingness was good, and sometimes he felt it shouldn't exist.

He lowered his eyes, and the breeze in the courtyard ruffled his hair, making him look somewhat lost.

Sariel: Because death also has no meaning.

If it weren't for the lingering aftereffects, the lizard would have wanted to jump up and knock on Sariel's head. What kind of talk was that? How could someone neither want to live nor want to die?

But he remembered that for a period of time, Sariel was indeed half-dead, and even he was driven away in frustration.

When he returned, a long time had passed. Sariel was sick and alone in his room, which was dark and suffocating, just as he had described, heavy.

He had talent, so why was he sick? He could open the curtains, so why didn't he? These questions remained unanswered even now. Qi She only knew that it was somehow related to certain chapters in his long life.

Later on, Sariel changed, becoming more distant and indifferent. He concealed it well, and this heaviness gradually became less apparent to others.

But it was always there, only perceptible to those who were closest to him. Qi She rested his head on his paws, feeling that the road ahead was uncertain. What would happen after they discovered it?

Chapter 18-11

If you’d like to support my translations, feel free to buy me a coffee here! :)

#light and night #light and night translations #evan #sariel #osborn #jesse #charlie #light and night chapter 18 translation #light and night main story translation #lu chen #xiao yi #qi si li #xia ming xing #zha li su

4 notes · View notes