The companies that took them in saddled them with debts on their wristbands that they could never repay. They set repayment deadlines and required fixed payments within a certain period, but the interest multiplied over time.
The first and second payments might have been manageable, but by the third or fourth, the interest had long since exceeded the principal. If they failed to pay then, the interest would double. Once the debt reached astronomical proportions and became impossible to repay, the company would come to collect the full amount. By "collecting the full amount," they meant taking the debtor away.
According to the residents, no one taken away by a company had ever come back.
As for those who had connections and left the cabins early on, the residents generally didn't know what happened to them afterward. After all, once someone left the cabins, no one wanted to come back.
Players had come through, too, though they were usually disabled or had suffered severe degeneration. Even so, there weren't many of them.
"Players have it good," one resident said enviously. "As long as they've contributed to the Sub-district, someone will look after them even if they can't move. Players who are left with no one to care for them have probably broken the Sub-district's laws."
"Where do players usually spend their retirement?" Xu Huo asked.
Another resident pulled a folded, worn paper pamphlet from beneath her bed. Judging by its date, it was ten years old, and it had been handmade rather than professionally printed.
She smoothed out the creases in the pamphlet. "My son went to Player's Home. His health was poor after he degenerated, and he needed expensive potions to ease his pain. I couldn't take care of him, so he had to go to Player's Home on