Candidates (continued)

(End of Volume Two)

Parallel World Traveler

(This future side quest will be unlocked if the protagonist has not awakened any talents.)

"My bag is missing! Thief!"

As a middle-aged woman screamed, the man who had stolen the bag, feeling guilty, took off running. He Movement Method quite agile, moving swiftly even in the crowded commercial street. With a quick dart and a slip, he disappeared into the crowd, leaving the owner far behind.

The man ran towards the corner, confident that once he was out of the victim's sight, he could completely evade capture by changing his clothes.

However, just as he turned the corner, a huge travel bag came hurtling towards him, rapidly growing larger in his field of vision. Fortunately, he was quick-witted and immediately ducked his neck to pass underneath it.

However, the travel bag also suddenly sank downwards, making a sharp 90-degree turn, and slammed into the man's neck, knocking him to the ground.

"Do not move."

Si Ming, dressed as a tourist, stepped on the man's back, making it difficult for him to move.

The man quickly raised his hands and said, "I won't resist, don't hit me! According to the law, once a thief has given up resisting, any beating by a third party is considered intentional injury."

It might be strange in other countries for a thief to know how to protect himself with the law, but it's commonplace in France, where Legalist School was founded. Even elementary school students can recite hundreds of legal articles, and law classes have replaced language arts classes as a fundamental subject.

Soon after, the owner ran over, retrieved his wallet, and thanked the young man repeatedly. Local police also arrived quickly, arrested the thief, and before taking him back to the police station, they made sure to tell Si Ming something.

"Thank you for your act of bravery. According to regulations, you will receive 3 Law and Discipline Points, which will be credited to your account within five days. Please check your account."

Having already spent two months in France, Si Ming knew that it was best not to be polite at this point and to answer according to protocol.

"Okay, I'll look it up."

"Thank you for your cooperation." Only then did the police escort the thief away.

Si Ming let out a long sigh, "Although I've been here for two months, I still can't get used to the France people's rigid and impersonal style."

Legalists strive to be precise and clear in their actions, and have no habit of avoiding taboos, so they directly use "" as the country's title. They think this is concise and clear, allowing others to know who founded the country at a glance. This approach is unique among hundreds of schools of thought.

Si Ming walked along the commercial street. Although there were many people, everyone followed the rule of keeping to the left and moved forward at a steady pace. The street was divided in the middle, and people on both sides moved in opposite directions. If someone wanted to turn around, they would voluntarily enter the other side of the street, so it seemed orderly.

The street is lined with trees, each tree spaced equidistant from the next. This is not unusual. What is unusual is that the outlines of each tree are basically symmetrical, and even the branches are artificially pruned into the same shape.

In addition, the houses on every street in France are always in the same style, and the exterior coatings also present a symmetrical aesthetic, including the decoration style of the shops.

The common layout of placing a display counter at the entrance with only one entrance/exit on the right is nowhere to be seen here. Merchant School prefer to open an opening in the middle and place a small counter on both sides of the entrance, or place the counter in the middle and leave entrance/exit space on both sides. Although the former wastes material costs and the latter wastes space, they insist on doing it this way.

According to the survey, 70% of the disciples of Legalist School suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and 30% suffer from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Legalist School aesthetics emphasizes unity and symmetry.

The Legalist School's ideal is a society of absolute order.

When Legalist School disciples dueled, if the opponent was worthy of respect, the victor would arrange the enemy's corpse in a symmetrical manner.

The greatest contribution of the Legalist School to medicine was that they found a way to significantly adjust the position of internal organs, so some France people asked their doctors to move their hearts to the center.

When Si Ming first arrived in France, he was greatly impressed by the unified and symmetrical scenery, which was full of a sense of macroscopic order. However, after a while, he gradually felt a bit tired of it and even vaguely felt an indescribable sense of oppression.

In the past, he would always stay in a country for at least three months to experience the unique customs and traditions. For example, he stayed in Germany for six months, enjoying the atmosphere of harmony between man and nature and the non-competitive spirit of everyone. When he left, he had the illusion that time had flown by and he hadn't done anything.

But in France, two months was the limit. He could feel his emotions gradually becoming more and more anxious, and he couldn't wait to leave the country to do things like destroying the sand sculptures he had painstakingly built, scribbling paint on a white wall, and circling the names of criminals in borrowed detective books.

"No wonder the travel agency suggested I bring some bubble wrap to release stress by popping the bubbles."

Filled with emotion, Si Ming arrived at a hotel and inquired whether there were any vacancies.

"We still have plenty of vacant rooms. Please show your Law and Discipline Certificate," the hotel owner said.

France does not have Law and Discipline Card; instead, it uses a French national identity card. All France citizens are born with a Law and Discipline Card, and tourists entering France also need to obtain Law and Discipline Card.

Each Law and Discipline Card starts with 100 Law and Discipline Points. If you commit a crime, you will lose the corresponding Law and Discipline Points. This ranges from spitting in public to murder and drug trafficking. Every France person must learn to respect and abide by the law from birth. The country will not make exceptions for you just because you are a minor. If your Law and Discipline Points go into negative territory, you will be deported.

The same applies to tourists; if your Law and Discipline Points is below 60, France will no longer welcome you into the country.

Conversely, if you do good deeds, such as making charitable donations, cleaning up the community, or acting bravely, you will gain more Law and Discipline Points.

France companies always include a Law and Discipline Points score when hiring employees. If a candidate does not meet the Law and Discipline Points score, they will be rejected regardless of their abilities, because the Law and Discipline Points is related to whether a person can abide by company rules.

A person with low Law and Discipline Points, regardless of other aspects, at the very least proves that this person is unsociable and will disrupt the normal order of the company.

"Your Law and Discipline Points are 156, that's amazing. I rarely see foreigners get more than 150 Law and Discipline Points." The hotel owner exclaimed in amazement after swiping his card and seeing the displayed number.

"As a hiker, being helpful is a universal passport; if I help others, they will be willing to help me in return."

"Then you must have traveled to many countries, right?"

"So far, I've only traveled to Germany, Russia, and the Su Kingdom. Including France and my native Su State, that makes five countries."

"That's quite an achievement, especially considering your age. Judging from your appearance, you're not even thirty yet, are you?"

I'm twenty-one this year.

"Oh, you look much more mature than your actual age. Traveling more definitely broadens one's horizons. You've traveled to so many countries by the age of twenty-one. Does that mean you were already abroad before you were even an adult?"

"Yes, I stopped studying after graduating from junior high school. I originally wanted to write novels to earn some royalties, but then I felt that the world is so big, it would be a waste not to see it. So I had the idea of traveling all over the world. I first traveled around China, and after three years of traveling all over the country, I went abroad."

"That's amazing. So young and so opinionated. Unlike my kid, who just stays home all day. He's eighteen and hasn't even held a girl's hand. If this continues, he probably won't have a girlfriend by twenty-five, and by thirty he'll never have kissed a woman. It's pathetic. I should have arranged a marriage for him when he was little, so at least he'd have a close childhood sweetheart. Unlike now, all his friends are single. Once he gets used to this kind of atmosphere, it'll be hard for him to find a partner in the future..."

The hotel owner talked on and on, though it was all mundane family gossip. But Si Ming had traveled extensively and interacted with all sorts of different people, knew how to be a good listener.