Zack keeps asking clerks in the slums to help him catch the boy who stole his wallet.

No one lifts a finger.

Is it because Zack is a SOLDIER working for Shinra, a major energy conglomerate that is bleeding the world dry of its lifeforce and probably responsible for the poverty of most of these people?

Zack, let the kid have your wallet. It's not like you carry your materia in there, right?