Chapter 909: Chapter 909: The Alliance Is Not a Wishing Machine
Chu Guang stayed in Weifu City for three whole days.
Other than listening to Li Jinrong’s work report on the first day, the remaining two days he mostly wandered around this settlement following the "strategies" posted by players on the forum.
Unlike the monotonous Singular Point City, every district and even every street of this settlement was full of stories.
Take Kun Town, for instance.
This work, put together on a whim by the players, has now become the most prosperous neighborhood in Weifu City.
Especially after the young men of the 100th Mountain Division of the Company brought back the Kun cards created by Mosquito Brother to Ideal City, this street became crowded with "players" from Ideal City.
Nobody expected things to develop to this extent, including Mosquito Brother himself.
Although his original intention was just to make a quick buck while having fun, he didn’t expect that the complex game rules and story-rich cards would surprisingly become popular all over Ideal City—at least attracting some Otaku.
Delving deeper into the reasons, it may have an inseparable relationship with the vast and barren digital desert of Ideal City.
The rapid speed of information exchange makes every fragmented piece of information lose its original meaning, like a kaleidoscope that is colorful yet hollow.
Precisely because of this, when they detached from the information service provided by Endpoint Cloud, slowing down the speed of information exchange, they instead felt the fun of returning to the basics.
In short, Kun Town in Weifu City, now just like the Singular Point City next door, has become the spiritual homeland of another wave of Ideal City residents.
A good number of backpackers fly over from the East Coast to "make a pilgrimage" around the small town.
And thanks to the arrival of these folks, this small town situated on the Wasteland unexpectedly saw the budding of a "postmodern-style cultural renaissance," with many imaginative cultural works emerging.
For example, derivative works on the Kun card game, as well as some independent works merging the players’ strange ideas.
Ideal City’s residents brought not only the wild ideas from Endpoint Cloud but also relevant technologies.
Such as holographic projection technology that can perfectly mimic reality and virtual reality technology that can fully immerse someone into dreams.
Although these art forms are somewhat ahead of their time for the Waste Land Wanderers, they unexpectedly resonate with the wavelength of players from another world.
Not only that.
Chu Guang heard that the lifestyle professional players active locally, along with engineers from Ideal City, developed a unique system called "Beyond Dreams."
This system can connect to the retinal nerves, storing the collected visual signals in a chip, and reproduce them through special reading devices.
This system greatly reduced the development cost of immersive virtual reality system visual works and games, and enhanced the realism of the images, its significance comparable to people of the old era equipping phones with cameras.
Producing virtual reality games and films used to be the domain of professional directors, but now anyone can become a director, as long as they install a set of prosthetic devices and insert a chip to create their own works.
Impacted by this invention, "Wasteland OL" has also further strengthened the "death replay" and "real-time screen recording" function.
Previously, these two functions mainly relied on the headset camera on the action recorder, far less convenient than the "Beyond Dreams" system.
As for the relevant laws and regulations, the representative council will naturally discuss as needed by reality.
And meanwhile, the players who developed this device have also made some restrictions based on clauses in the "Player’s Handbook," such as circulation limits on restricted images, and grading review standards.
In addition to progress in literary and technological fields, the surviving residents of Weifu City have also made considerable advancements in economic and industrial areas.
Clean and orderly buildings sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, extending along the straight streets, whereas just two years ago this place was an uninhabited barren land.
According to Li Jinrong’s report, there are already 170,000 Waste Land Wanderers settled here.
Among them, there are pioneers from Giant Stone City and City of Dawn, Waste Land Wanderers roaming Brocade River Province and Yue Ma Province, and even people from the distant Province of Yúnjiānxíng, and Weilante People from the West Coast, as well as settlers from the Wandering Swamp.
Especially those swamp dwellers, they brought with them resource exploration and extraction technologies inherited from the Committee of Science, and scrap recycling techniques learned from scavenger groups in the Promice Northern Part.
Using these technologies, they obtained loans from the Alliance bank, established resource extraction companies, extracting nutrients buried for two centuries from the ruins of pre-war cities and converting them into the lifeblood of industry, transporting it to various industrial zones of the Alliance through the railroad.
Apart from resource utilization, local survivors have also utilized wind resources from Ten Peaks Mountain according to local conditions, building drum-shaped wind turbines on the cloud-piercing mountains.
It is worth mentioning that this was accomplished by South Sea Union North Island Heavy Industries, whose survivors are best at utilizing sustainable renewable energy, and have developed this ability to the extreme over more than a century.
The electricity converted from wind energy, although not as massive and inexpensive as that provided by fusion reactors, is completely sufficient for Weifu City, which has only 170,000 people.
Moreover, they can even export excess electricity to Singular Point City in exchange for agricultural products and light industrial consumer goods produced there.
Compared to pulling an electric wire all the way from Dawn City, this is a more economical approach.
Although controlled fusion is efficient, using helium-3 resources diminishes the supply. Before resuming the Earth-Moon flight, the Alliance’s energy is not yet abundant enough to be squandered at will.
Furthermore, notable are the farms extending along the Wei River, and the peripheral areas expanding around the highways and railroads.
A good number of the Expeditionary Army from Poluo Province chose to stay here, and their extraordinary enthusiasm for the land also accelerated Weifu City’s expansion to some extent.
In contrast, pioneers from Giant Stone City are more willing to live in the crowded city.
Except for those with a mercenary background.
In summary, the locals found a development method suitable for themselves, both internally and externally, combining the strengths of all ethnic groups.
And in Chu Guang’s view, this is the most precious aspect.
If time allows, he plans to stay here a while longer, seeing those things that interest him before leaving.
However, there are still ten other settlements waiting for his visit, and places he cannot visit in time will have to be closely monitored by the players on his behalf.
The train station in Weifu City.
Bidding farewell to Li Jinrong and his group, Chu Guang sat in the waiting room by the platform.
Looking at the bustling crowd outside the window, and the thriving settlement behind them, Chu Guang wore a satisfied smile.
"Weifu City will become a great role model."
Lu Bei questioned.
"Role model?"
"Yes."
Chu Guang smiled and nodded, casually continuing to speak.
"I’ve told you a long time ago, barbarism won’t simply be eradicated by force; it will, like wild grasses after a spring breeze, grow anew after a fire. However, like outdated production methods, they will eventually be replaced by more advanced means of production. Our civilization was born in this process."
"What is worth being proud of is that we have already nurtured the flame of civilization, and the only challenge is how to let it spread spontaneously to even farther places."
"Weifu City has set a good example in this matter. Waste Land Wanderers from all around come here, witnessing our order and prosperity, then being attracted by it, and consequently carrying it away to all directions... Meanwhile, our ideals will also extend along the highways and railways they traveled on, injecting new blood into this barren land and awakening the civilization sleeping beneath the soil."
Lu Bei scratched the back of his head.
Chu Guang knew he didn’t understand, but he didn’t mind; he just smiled amiably and ended the topic.
"The next stop is No.1 Settlement... By the way, we’ll pass by the Eastern Legion’s camp, won’t we?"
Finally, they talked about a field he could engage in, so Lu Bei quickly answered seriously.
"I’ve prepared the security work."
Looking at the young man’s serious expression, Chu Guang smiled and said.
"I’m not worried about safety; I’m just wondering if there’s a chance to go and see it."
On the Forum official site, he constantly hears players talk about how the big noses there have already been ’corrupted’ into the shape of the Alliance, and he’s always been curious about what this so-called shape of the Alliance really is like.
Hearing this, Lu Bei was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly said.
"Are you referring to the control area of the 370,000th Legion? But... after all, that’s not our territory."
"Hmm... you’re right," Chu Guang nodded thoughtfully, "after all, it might still be better to have Cheng Yan send a formal diplomatic letter to Centurion Bennott."
While the two were exchanging words, the station’s broadcast suddenly rang out.
"Dear passengers, we apologize as there’s been an unexpected situation on the Haiye Province railway section, train D97 had to make an emergency stop near the old site of Haibei City due to an accident. This rail line is currently suspended, and the trips to No.1 Settlement are temporarily frozen; resumption time is undetermined..."
"Patrol staff near the current accident area has urgently gone to the site to investigate. Please be patient; we will inform you as soon as the fault is resolved..."
At the same time as the announcement, the passengers on the station platform were in an uproar.
Especially those preparing to head to No.1 Settlement; their expressions went from bewilderment to anger.
People swarmed toward the duty kiosk, clogging the small window completely and erupted into a noisy crowd.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"What’s happened exactly? Try to calm me down... at least tell us when the service will resume!"
"Damn it! I have a reservation for a passenger ship to North Island tonight, and now you’re telling me the train isn’t running, and the resumption time is undetermined?! Who’s going to compensate for my loss?"
"Refunds!!!"
Faced with the endless questions, the staff at the duty kiosk were overwhelmed.
It was clear the young girl sitting at the window didn’t know what happened either, having received the notification not much earlier than the passengers did here.
Actually, not only her, but Lu Bei standing in the waiting room was also bewildered until a soldier of the Guards Corps jogged into the waiting room, saluted, and anxiously stopped beside him and Chu Guang.
"Report! A train accident occurred 110 kilometers north of No.1 Settlement... According to reports from nearby outposts, the cause of the accident was 120 survivors from No.1 Settlement attempting to intercept a passenger train. The conductor initiated the emergency braking procedure, but due to the short distance, the train still crashed into the crowd... resulting in two deaths and one severe injury."
Lu Bei glared at him, saying.
"What exactly are the people at the branch over there doing, to find out about such a big issue only now!"
With his head bowed, the soldier nervously explained.
"...The incident happened on the wasteland, and it happened too suddenly."
Lu Bei criticized, disappointedly.
"At least the people came from the settlement, right? Didn’t anyone over there have any information?"
As the soldier stammered an explanation, Chu Guang raised his hand to interrupt their conversation.
"Alright, don’t make it hard on him. Even I couldn’t possibly know everything that happens in the settlement."
The Guards Corps branch at No.1 Settlement had been established for less than half a year; it’s understandable if intelligence gathering work isn’t proficient yet.
Moreover, in that kind of settlement completely established by immigrants, the population mobility is too large, and the boundary between settlement and wilderness is less clear, making it almost impossible to entirely prevent unforeseen events, especially since the incident’s location was on the wasteland.
It’s already commendable that they could understand the situation promptly, and there’s no need to be excessively critical.
Looking at the soldier standing with his head down, Chu Guang continued in a gentle tone.
"Lift your head, stand upright, and tell me what exactly happened there. Including whether the situation has been controlled, why those people blocked the train, and what their purpose or demands really are."
Hearing Chu Guang’s words, the soldier was touched, straightened up, and continued reporting.
"The accident site is within the control zone of the Eastern Legion’s 370,000th Legion. A Centurion named Anthony has controlled the situation and handed over the arrested individuals to the guards at the scene..."
"According to the guards’ investigation, those people are survivors from the Poluo Province. Most of them have already obtained Alliance citizen status, while the remaining others are under supervision. When they saw the guards, they made a demand... saying they want to meet you."
Chu Guang was momentarily stunned.
"...Meet me?"
The soldier from the Guards Corps nodded with a subtle expression.
"Yes... they kept shouting that they want to meet the Manager of the Alliance."
...
At the outpost near the old site of Haibei City, Anthony, leaning by an open-air jeep, had just finished the boxed meal a fellow Alliance brother gave him and burped loudly with the beer.
The Centurion sitting on the hood looked at him with a rather helpless expression and asked.
"Are we going to stay here even longer?"
After handing over the ’culprit’ to the Alliance guards, theoretically, this matter wasn’t their responsibility anymore.
However, his officer seemingly got addicted to watching the show, stubbornly staying here without going, and even shamelessly mooched a meal.
Hearing his subordinate’s voice, Anthony smiled nonchalantly.
"Why so eager to go back? We might as well wait here and take a look, maybe we’ll get to see the Manager of the Alliance."
They say that guy killed a Pioneer of the Torch Church wearing biological power armor with a single strike.
And it was amidst an attack by a group of Batwing People.
He’s always been curious about what that guy looks like, how many arms and heads he has.
Of course, he’s more curious about how that guy plans to handle this situation.
These people are all Alliance citizens.
And they are his most "loyal" supporters.
Just as he was curious, somewhere in the distant dusk-filled sky, two pale blue arcs flashed.
Anthony tossed the beer bottle aside, took the binoculars hanging inside the car door, and glanced in the direction that seemed to be a plasma plume.
It took only a moment for excitement to light up his face.
"It’s here!"
Shortly after his words fell, a "Viper" transport plane flew over from the direction of Ten Peaks Mountain, then slowly landed on the weed-infested wasteland.
Anthony wasn’t the only one who noticed the two arcs; the Alliance guards at the sentry post noticed the incoming transport plane from afar, including the Poluo people held at the sentry post entrance.
Seeing the Guards Corps soldiers jumping off the transport, Jeremy, squatting on the ground, recognized their exoskeletons, and his previously drooping face instantly revived with excitement and a rosy glow.
They are people from the Manager’s side!
Sure enough, that lord cares about them!
Ignoring the guards’ shouts, Jeremy sprang up from the ground like a rabbit and ran eagerly towards those few guardsmen, then fell to his knees with a thud.
"Manager Lord... You’ve finally come... We... We are innocent."
The air was unnaturally quiet.
The Guard soldiers in exoskeletons watched him coldly.
Through the dark-lensed face shields, Jeremy couldn’t see their facial expressions, but he could sense the coldness in their gaze.
Unconsciously swallowing hard, he tried to find the azure power armor but only saw a man in civilian clothes.
That man emitted a special aura.
However, unlike what he imagined, it was not the majesty he had fantasized but a kind of comforting or convincing power.
"Tell me, what is this innocence you speak of?"
Jeremy pressed his forehead firmly against the ground, speaking in a choked voice.
"We only wanted to see you, but were brought here like criminals by those Weilante people... and these rude guards."
While speaking, he glared disdainfully at the open-top offroader not far behind, especially eyeing the man standing beside the vehicle.
Standing motionless, Chu Guang watched the old man kneeling on the ground, not reprimanding him to stand up as he did with others.
He knew.
The others might bow their heads out of fear of power and authority, but this guy did it out of sincere longing.
Even if he personally helped him up, it would have no meaning; it would merely fulfill his humble wish.
In the past, Chu Guang didn’t quite understand these feelings; even in Singular Point City, he was puzzled by why some people preferred to live like animals.
Now, seeing someone vividly demonstrate, he suddenly understood.
These guys sincerely wish for a sacred emperor to resolve all their real-world conflicts, even if that awe-inspiring power defying physical laws is merely their imagination.
Their understanding of equality is equally being able to do whatever they want, and if the person promising equality fails to fulfill their wishes, they blame the shortcomings of equality, believing that if equality isn’t absolute, it is absolute inequality.
This cannot be entirely blamed on them either.
Part of the reason is that those who’ve brought them here deceived them with benevolent lies, misleading them to believe the Alliance is a wish-granting machine, and themselves as the Santa Claus delivering gifts on a reindeer.
Perhaps what they’re lacking isn’t equality, but they haven’t yet tasted enough of the bitterness of inequality.
Chu Guang paused for a while, then continued looking at him.
"You’ve seen me now, what do you want to say?"
Breathless with excitement, tears of gratitude streamed down Jeremy’s face, his forehead almost scraped bloody on the ground.
Not just him, but also the other Poluo people squatting at the sentry post entrance.
They resembled true pilgrims!
After a journey filled with hardships, they have finally met the god they hold dear in their hearts!
The revered Manager Lord!
"The survivors of No.1 Settlement were blindsided by the representatives; those representatives, for their own profit, consorted with beasts disguised as humans... They, with selfish desires, cunningly argued, disregarding the Alliance’s interests!"
"But it’s not too late; as long as you make a call, we’ll rally around you—all the Poluo people you’ve saved will! I can swear by my surname, I’ll always be loyal to you, including my children, my grandchildren... all generations of us!"
"Only by dissolving that swarm of insects! Throwing them into prison, sentencing them to death, can we end the Wasteland Era, achieving true equality! This is for all alliance compatriots, while it’s not too late..."
The old man spoke tearfully, his forehead pressed to the ground, like a loyal minister ready to sacrifice his life.
The Poluo people accompanying him were no different.
To follow this guy here, it’s unlikely any of them are normal.
"To meet me, you intercept a train that can’t stop, causing two unworthy deaths and leaving one with a broken leg... You say this is for the Alliance compatriots; I won’t discuss how much truth is in your words, but have you ever shed a tear for your compatriots?"
"Don’t bother talking to me about those guys thousands of kilometers away whose names you can’t even remember; look at the railroad behind you, the people who were alive just a few hours ago."
Hearing the voice drifting over slowly.
Jeremy froze, raising his head to meet a pair of sympathetic eyes.
This should have been something that moved him.
Yet for some reason, that sympathy carried a trace of unease.
The sympathy was not aimed at him but at something on him.
It was like watching something valuable falling into a mud pit.
As if apart from that one thing, the rest of his life was insignificant.
He tried to argue something, opened his mouth, but couldn’t say a word.
Chu Guang’s patience slowly waned while waiting, even less interested in listening to the excuses Jeremy had initially made up.
"It seems like you have successfully moved yourself, while I increasingly don’t understand what you’re saying."
"According to the laws of the Alliance, the organizer bears the main responsibility, and the participants bear secondary responsibility. I shouldn’t have to repeat this, but now I’m telling you as an exception."
"Even if you don’t care about the two dead compatriots and everyone else’s safety on the train, nor have you ever cared about the law, since you stand on the land of the Alliance, you must follow the rules here and pay the price for your stupidity."
"Whatever you have to say, save it for the Judge, and if you want to kneel, then keep kneeling."
As the words fell, Chu Guang’s outline gradually blurred and then dissolved into tiny points of light scattered in the wind.
It was a holographic image.
Until the very end, that lord never responded to their prayers, not even condescending to see them.
Jeremy’s eyes sank into despair, his face ashen, as if drained of his soul, truly lifeless.
The guards standing not far away looked at each other, momentarily unsure of what to do.
This farce should be over, but the follow-up effects may be far from ended.
The Guards Corps finished their task and returned to the plane.
With two streams of plasma jetting out, the Viper transport plane returned in the direction it came from.
"Get up now, you’ve seen the Manager, even if what that gentleman said was unpleasant to hear, I want to say he actually does care about you... Unlike that other bunch with their big noses, who wouldn’t treat you so nicely."
Walking to Jeremy’s side, the head of the post tapped him with his leg.
The tap jolted Jeremy back to his senses, and his wrinkled old face gradually changed from a look of false ferocity to panic, like a rooster defeated in battle.
The Manager didn’t need his loyalty.
He thought he was doing it for everyone’s good, yet he didn’t realize in that gentleman’s eyes he was merely a madman disrupting order and an incorrigible burden.
He stood on the wrong side.
And his persistence became a joke.
He seemed to realize the problem, yet also seemed not to realize it at all.
Though ultimately, he was truly scared.
Just a few minutes ago, he treated the law like waste paper, yet he took the initiative to inquire about the Alliance’s criminal law.
"...What will happen to us?"
Looking at the old man trembling and shrinking as if he had shrunk a whole size, the head of the post sighed.
"I don’t know, such an absurd situation has never happened before..."
Looters intercepting trains were typically sent to labor reform, and the death penalty or life imprisonment could be handed down based on the severity of the case... However, human life here usually referred to harm to train security or passenger casualties.
Killing oneself...
He had never seen this before, and it might be a first in the Alliance since the railway existed.
After a pause, the head of the post said again,
"But ultimately, because someone’s life was lost and caused economic damage, there will certainly be a sentence, maybe a decade in prison, or maybe exile... Anyway, it still depends on what the Judge decides."
If even the Judge couldn’t decide, it might have to be handed over to the legislative body for discussion, after all, this matter is indeed quite bizarre.
On the other hand, dissolving the representation of No.1 Settlement...
What on earth was this guy thinking?
Those people at least spoke up for them, right, and said quite a bit.
Leaning on the off-road vehicle, Anthony put down the binoculars in his hand and muttered to himself.
"So that’s what that guy looks like..."
Other than looking quite handsome, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly special.
However, for a leader of such a group of people, what one looks like isn’t important originally.
What’s important is, the Manager’s way of speaking aligned surprisingly with his own tastes.
Perhaps, as a Vellante, what he really despised wasn’t the mud-blood smell of those people, but those guys who loudly proclaimed they were for their compatriots, yet had hands stained with compatriots’ blood.
Come to think of it, such people aren’t solely a monopoly of the people of Poluo, there are some in the Vellante ranks too... and those Blue Ground Mice had a bit of foresight.
Thinking of this, Anthony suddenly envied those Blue Ground Mice a little.
Their Manager was still actively jumping around, occasionally giving a couple of speeches, exhibiting some presence.
Yet the Marshal he respected the most had not been active like this for a very, very long time...