Chapter 873 A Completely Different Fate
Chapter 873 Completely Different Destinies
The magnificent gantry cranes stand on the port, and the concrete pier connects the land and the sea.
Cargo ships of various models are moored at the pier, and some are salvage ships, and workers wearing lightweight exoskeletons come and go beside them.
This is the No. 1 settlement on the Death Coast.
It is also the place where the Burning Legion of the Alliance landed during the Torch War.
Although the war happened only last year, it seems like a long time ago.
There are no traces of the war on the entire coastline, and most of the people active on the shore are survivors who make a living, not soldiers with guns.
These people have different identities.
Some of them are wastelanders from the eastern provinces, some are refugees from the Borneo Province, some are islanders from the southern seas, and some of the Willants from the west of the continent or believers of the Sand Sea Spirit from the Luoxia Province. It’s
not just their identities that are different, but also their purpose for coming here.
Some of them were trying to escape the pursuit of aliens, predators and farmers in the wasteland, some were trying to avoid distant wars, plagues and hunger, or they wanted to seize the opportunity of rebuilding the space elevator to get rich and fly to the stars with the alliance.
Every face walking here is full of stories, just like himself who lost a lot of money not long ago.
Henk couldn’t help but feel moved.
Before coming here, he was worried that the situation here might be very bad, but the result was beyond his expectations.
This may be a new beginning…
if there are no accidents.
Standing next to Henk, Alman also looked at the thriving urban area in the distance and narrowed his eyes slightly.
”…I remember that the last time I came here, the urban area connected to the port was still a container, but now it has become a concrete prefabricated house.”
The outline of the settlement is expanding outward along the port, and those containers may have been moved to a place closer to the inland.
After all, it is not safe to leave those “empty boxes” on the seashore, and a strong wind may blow them away.
Maybe when he comes next time, these prefabricated houses will be dismantled and moved to other places to make room for taller and more beautiful houses.
Just like what happened in Boulder City.
After hearing what Alman said, Henk’s face was surprised.
”Containers? They actually let those wastelanders live in containers?”
Alman grinned: “A kind of emergency housing in a special period… The wastelanders in the East Continent have a special ability. They can convert any material they see into a house. For example, the container, cut out a door and a window to live in.” ”
Well, I… just think it’s a bit wasteful,” Henk said with emotion, “It’s metal after all, even if it’s not used, it can be recycled.”
Alman’s expression was a little subtle.
He thought this guy was feeling sorry for the wastelanders, but it turned out that he was feeling sorry for the boxes.
”… Maybe, but the local philosophy is to make the best use of everything.”
Henk asked immediately.
”The shipping company just gave them the boxes?”
This is the question he cares about most.
The authorities’ care for the wastelanders is admirable, but if they adopt the method of compulsory expropriation or indulge the wastelanders’ forced occupation, then even if this place looks prosperous, it will not be a good investment target.
After all, prosperity is something that can be packaged, just like the financial statements of his winery.
It is enough to borrow money.
Alman said with a smile.
”Of course not, the local authorities will give the shipping company a sum of money… and more than that, the local import demand is strong and the storage resources are tight. If they are not disposed of quickly, they will have to pay a large amount of rent for those empty boxes and occupied berths. It just so happens that those shipping companies are also in a hurry to make the next trip, and the local authorities are willing to buy those empty boxes, so why not?”
Of course, the main reason is that the containers in Silver Moon Bay and Golden Gallon Port are cheap enough.
Most of the light industrial products and food needed by the local area come from these two places.
Another is the raw materials provided by French Fries Port and the heavy industrial facilities in North Island.
The alliance’s overseas investment is feeding back to the development of the local area.
Even from the perspective of the Weyland people, he had to sigh that the manager’s layout in Luoxia Province, Boro Province and the southern seas was indeed a good move.
If it weren’t for the wastelanders’ sincere desire to join the Alliance and bring their wealth and knowledge here, the ten settlements distributed along the coast of the eastern provinces would never have developed so rapidly.
You know, just a few months ago, this was still the territory of aquatic mutants and torches.
Just as Alman was thinking about this, an acquaintance came over from the dock and greeted him from a distance.
”Long time no see! Friend, you are finally back!”
Looking at Alman standing on the deck, Zhang Ze had an excited expression on his face.
The reason why he was so excited was not because he missed this big nose so much, but because of the gold mines loaded on this big nose’s ship!
Thousands of young laborers!
For the No. 1 settlement, which is in the development stage, isn’t it a gold mine? !
In the past few months, he not only found the survivors of the Xifan Port Massacre through evidence from many sources, but also found a way to get the video footage of the Lion City Massacre. Finally, he silenced the local representatives at the hearing and opened a fast track for the refugees in the Borneo Province to quickly apply for the “supervised identity”.
Although the identity of the supervised person is not difficult to obtain, as long as you swear that you are not a plunderer, you can enter the “probation period” and obtain a temporary certificate.
However, the situation in the eastern provinces is special after all. It is impossible to exclude the plunderers hidden among the refugees by swearing alone. The settlements in the Seaside Province are not like the River Valley Province, which has a complete set of methods and mature institutions to complete this supervision work.
Therefore, the local authorities have added some restrictions to the temporary identity according to their own needs, such as not being able to handle loan business, not being able to engage in specific industries, etc.
In this way, the possible risks in the settlement in the process of digesting this group of immigrants are minimized, at least it can reduce the probability of letting ogres become attending physicians and arsonists become firefighters.
These regulations are mainly for survivors with a completely blank identity.
If they are survivors from Ideal City, Yunjian Province, South Sea Alliance or Luoxia Province, they are not subject to this restriction. This
also applies to French Fries Port and Golden Gallon Port, and even the Willant people from the west of the continent.
They can skip the temporary status and directly obtain the status of “supervised person”, and even shorten the supervision period to a few days according to their own ability, which is almost equivalent to directly issuing the alliance ID card.
Zhang Ze did not strive for the same rights and interests as the residents of the ideal city for those Borneo people. After all, that is not realistic, and it is impossible to get anyone’s support.
However, in order to facilitate his business, he still tried his best to help those refugees get the same rights and interests as “survivors with status”.
As we all know, there are no predators in the Borneo province in a broad sense.
The local survivors are hardworking, and using the rules of screening predators against them is obviously bullying honest people.
After fully listening to the opinions of all parties, the representative council finally made concessions and signed Bill No. 10.
The bill stipulates that private institutions are allowed to provide guarantees for survivors without status after paying a full deposit, and directly spend the probation period of temporary status as supervised persons.
If these survivors commit criminal crimes during the probation period, they will not only face criminal prosecution, but the authorities will also confiscate the deposit paid by the private institutions and compensate the victims.
In this way, it is equivalent to transferring the risk originally borne by the whole society to the private individuals who “want to make this money”, and the local authorities naturally have no objection.
After solving the legal problems, Zhang Ze immediately registered the “Guabi Labor Agency” according to the plan previously discussed with his partners, and waited for the cattle and horses – oh no, the refugees to get off the boat.
Looking at the young man waving excitedly on the shore, Henk looked at Alman on the side and asked in confusion.
”Who is this?”
Alman waved at the dock and said to his compatriots on the side.
”Zhang Ze, one of the shareholders of Guabi Labor Agency, my partner in the Death Coast… I will introduce you later.”
Alman and Henk briefly introduced the situation of the next settlement, as well as the nature of this Guabi Labor Agency, including the profit model, etc.
Although he himself had just docked, he had been communicating with Zhang Ze through telegrams on the way here, so he was more familiar with the situation here.
Henk was stunned and said in his heart, “This is also possible.” However, in order to get more information, he did not interrupt to express his opinion, but just listened carefully.
While Alman briefly introduced his company’s business, Zhang Ze had already climbed up the gangway to the deck, squeezed past the group of passengers who were eager to get off the ship, and walked to the bow.
In addition to himself, he was followed by a staff member of the settlement residents’ office, with a thin tablet under his elbow.
”This is Mr. Alman, another partner of our company!”
The staff member shook hands with Alman, and then said in a businesslike tone.
”Hello, Mr. Alman, I am the person in charge here… Please provide a list of passengers. We need to register the people before we can issue them certificates.”
”No problem, I have prepared the list, please take a look.”
As he said, Alman took a list from his assistant and handed it to the staff member of the residents’ office.
Henk’s eyes were fixed on the list. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that this job was familiar.
Like!
It was so similar!
He could do this job too!
Although Alman explained to him along the way that this was fundamentally different from the slave trade, in his opinion, there was not much difference, it was just a slave contract replaced by a debt contract.
However, Henk did not intend to compete with his savior for business, and picking up other people’s leftovers was not his style.
Looking at the crowds of people and pairs of eager eyes, he soon saw another huge business opportunity.
After completing the handover procedures, Zhang Ze took the group of Poros on the ship ashore and made an appointment with Alman to meet at the bar in a while.
After seeing that everyone was busy, Henk immediately pulled Alman aside, looked at him with a sharp look and said.
”I want to stay here.”
Looking at the stunned Alman, Henk did not wait for him to speak, and continued without stopping.
”… Of course, I won’t let you guarantee me for nothing. I can pay for the ticket from Xifan Port to here like those people.”
Looking at Henk with an eager face, Alman calmed down and said.
”The Alliance and the Legion have established diplomatic relations, so you don’t need to guarantee it, or the Triumph City Embassy in Dawn City has already guaranteed it for you… But, you don’t plan to go back to Xifan Port with me?”
Henk made a helpless expression.
”What’s the point of going back? My winery has probably been auctioned off by now, and I bet the insurance company will definitely not compensate me for that batch of goods, unless the South Sea Alliance publicly admits that the cargo ship was blown up by them.”
This will become a protracted lawsuit. He will not give up the right to pursue the premium, but it does not mean that he intends to put his life on it. He
got up from where he fell, and this is his life creed.
Armando looked at him twice, and his eyes could not help but show some admiration.
”You are open-minded.”
Henk grinned.
”What else can I do? Wipe tears in the direction of the sunken ship? That’s not my style.”
Armando reached out and patted his shoulder, as an encouragement to him.
”I’ll take you to the office later to solve the identity problem. By the way, have you decided what to do?”
Henk smiled confidently.
”I’m not quite sure yet, but I have a general direction.”
Yarman raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise and asked curiously.
”Would you like to tell me?”
”It’s not inconvenient, it’s almost obvious.” Henk shrugged his shoulders lightly, looked back at the anxious and eager faces on the deck, grinned and said, “You also said that these guys won’t live in containers forever.”
”I bet that when they get rich, the first thing they will do is to buy themselves a big house.”
Yarman looked at this man who had cheered up again in surprise. He didn’t expect that this guy didn’t even have a place to live, but he was already thinking about helping others solve their housing problems.
”This is a big deal…”
”That’s right, so I have to find a job to repair my credit first, and then go to the bank to borrow some money to start my plan.”
Looking at Yarman with a surprised face, Henk smiled confidently and continued.
”Just wait and see, I will make back all the money I lost… maybe we will have the opportunity to cooperate in the future.”
In fact, Alman was not very optimistic about this guy who was too ambitious, but he did not hit his compatriots. He just smiled and said politely.
”Then I will wait for your good news.”
Knowing that this benefactor did not take his words seriously, Henk did not care and just smiled and said.
”When you come back next time, you will know that I am not joking.”
…
With the help of the Hanging Wall Labor Agency, 2,700 new immigrants from Xifan Port successfully completed the registration procedures at the office of Settlement No. 1 and obtained the status of “supervised persons”.
From now on, they will serve as “quasi-citizens” of the Alliance to fight for the end of the wasteland era and the liberation of all the suffering survivors.
Of course, this does not conflict with the loan they have to repay.
Even if they plan to liberate the aliens, they have to live a good life first.
The Alliance is not a utopia, it only saves those who save themselves.
If you regard this place as an ideal city, you will definitely regret it, but if you just want fairness, you will not be too disappointed.
However, with the hard work of these rat people and snake people, it is only a matter of time before they can live a good life. Rather than worrying about their unhappy lives, it is better to worry that they have worked too hard and killed the wastelanders in the eastern provinces.
Just as these “newbies” followed the labor agencies to the construction site and the dock with trepidation and excitement, their hometowns were in a completely different situation. In
the province of Borneo, Akal County in the west of Niuzhou, at the bend of the Yongliu River, the soldiers on the eastern position were chewing nutrient paste.
Although I wanted to share some instant noodles with my friendly brothers, the reality did not allow it.
From time to time, planes flew over the sky, sometimes from the Legion, sometimes from the Alliance, and no one could completely take over the air supremacy.
In such a situation, not to mention that they dared not to make a fire to cook and boil water, the opposite Willant people did not dare to do so either.
After all, it is different now than before.
The 110,000th Bolo Kingdom team seized 52 “Fire Crossbow” self-propelled artillery and nearly a thousand-man team of artillery shells.
The psychological pressure brought to the Willant people by the 200mm gun far exceeded that of the 155mm gun.
Even in actual combat, the latter killed and wounded a whole order of magnitude more people than the former…
The war fell into a stalemate.
After waiting for the reinforcements from the airship, the people of Willant did not launch an attack in a hurry, but changed their previous aggressive strategy and widened the width of the battle line from a short distance of tens of kilometers to hundreds of kilometers, turning the sharp cone into a wide-bladed axe.
This is very tricky for the country of Borneo, which lacks logistical equipment.
Although Borneo has an absolute advantage in numbers, it is difficult for positions to support each other.
If they are not careful, they may repeat the mistakes they made in Lion State.
That is, they were broken at one point by the legion that relied on mobility to concentrate their strength, and then the entire battle line could not take care of each other, and they were in chaos during the retreat and defense, and finally collapsed without attacking. However
, even though the battle line of both sides has been widened to hundreds of kilometers, Akale County is still a checkpoint that neither side can ignore.
Whether it is the geographical strategic significance or the spiritual strategic significance, the Southern Legion is determined to win this place.
That is why both the players of the Death Corps and the soldiers of the Borneo Kingdom stationed here are ready to fight to the death with the Legion.
In order not to be dragged down by the captives when fighting, they also deliberately sent the captives they had captured to the rear.
According to the agreement reached between the Alliance and the Ambassador of Triumph City, the Willant people will go to Jingalon Port after arriving in Tiandu.
Only there is a place to accommodate these people and the spare capacity to accommodate them.
When talking about the whereabouts of the captives, Yisher couldn’t help but tease with the edge paddling water, saying that the survivors of Borneo Kingdom dreamed of going to the shore, but they might not be able to go there in their lifetime, while those big noses could go there just by raising their hands and surrendering.
”…So I always feel that Janusz is sometimes right and sometimes wrong, and maybe there is really no such thing as fairness in this world. I can save those innocent civilians in the church, but I can’t save myself or my compatriots.”
Bianbian Pashui was speechless for a while.
It was difficult for him to explain to someone who had never left the land under his feet what the outside world was like, and what logic and rules it operated on.
Although the war between the Legion and the Alliance had in fact begun, the relationship between the Alliance and Triumph City was not bad.
Bennott had been trying to cool down the fire, and the administrators did not want to turn this anti-Imperial ZY war into a war against all Willant people.
After all, if that were the case, it would be like going back to the old path of the War Construction Committee.
However, everyone has their own limitations.
Whether it is the person sitting in front of him or himself.
”…I don’t think they have reached the shore by going to Golden Gallon Port. Their shore is in Triumph City. If they don’t bring back what they see, they will never reach the shore.”
After a pause, Bianbian Paishui continued, “Including you…I don’t think you have reached the shore by going to Golden Gallon Port or anywhere else.”
Yisheer smiled and said in a casual tone.
”Then where is our shore?”
Bianbian Paishui whispered.
”Actually, it’s right under your feet…but I think, even if I say so, you will definitely think I’m talking nonsense.”
”I don’t think so, brother, I’m not such a petty person,” Yisheer sighed, looked at the stars in the sky, and then looked at the mud on his shoes, “I just think…this road is too damn long, I don’t know if my grandson’s grandson can see it for me.”
Looking at that pessimistic face, Bianbian Paishui put his hand on his shoulder.
”It will definitely be…and I believe you don’t have to wait for your grandson’s grandson, you can do it yourself.”
Yisheer laughed.
”Then I’ll take your good words!”
It’s not that easy.
But he didn’t tell his good brother on the other side, he just kept this sentence in his heart.
At this moment, an officer came over, stood still and saluted.
”Report! Telegram from Tiandu!”
Yisher stood up quickly, patted the dirt on his pants, took the telegram from the officer’s hand, unfolded it and read it from beginning to end, with a grin on his face.
”This Abusek… hehe.”
Seeing Yisher’s half-smile, Bianbianhuashui also patted his trouser legs and stood up, walked to his side and asked.
”What’s written on it?”
”Nothing, just a transfer order.” Seeing that the brother of the alliance was interested, Isher handed over the telegram in his hand, “Our commander-in-chief wants to set up a field army to support the three northern states of Mammoth Country… After all, Narashi has helped us a lot, and we have to return the favor.”
The expression of Edgewater was a little strange.
”…Do you still have the spare energy to support others?”
The army of Mammoth Country has at least undergone a comprehensive replacement and reform. Although it is still not a match for the Legion on the front battlefield, it does not cause too much trouble to the alliance.
It is precisely for this reason that the alliance’s assistance to Mammoth Country is mainly in terms of money, and most of the volunteers came to the country of Borneo.
He really didn’t understand what this operation was.
Isher grinned.
”You don’t understand this. The philosophy of Borneo people is not the art of speaking, but the art of not speaking.”
Edgewater was stunned.
”The art of not speaking?”
Isher nodded.
”Nothing was said, but everything was said. For example, this transfer order, on the surface, is for us to go to the north for reinforcement, but in fact it is for us to seek refuge.”
As for where to seek refuge, Isher did not say it clearly. But this is not because of the art of not speaking, but because of emotional intelligence.
Edgewater was silent for a while, sighed and said with emotion.
”…It’s really fucking shallow water and there are so many turtles.”
”Tzeentch! It’s Tzeentch!” The debt-ridden big-eyed and the construction site guy who were watching the excitement on the side whispered to each other, their eyes full of excitement.
Khorne, Nurgle and Tzeentch are all here!
How far can Slaanesh be?
He is already looking forward to the next expansion pack!
Isher smiled bitterly, shrugged his shoulders and said.
”In short… in your words, every family has its own problems. Abusek also has his own difficulties. “Horse King” Shah Rukh is staring at him, and he himself has his own demons that he can’t escape. But on the other hand, this is actually a good thing. If there was no Shah Rukh, he might have become this sly guy.”
Bianbian Huashui was speechless for a while when he heard this.
He thought that the most cunning people in the wasteland were the academy, but he didn’t expect that there was a “Phoenix Cub” hidden in the south of the Zhuobar Mountains.
However, the conspiracy of the academy is mainly for external and self-protection, while the people here seem to be using their minds for internal consumption, and even evolved a unique philosophical theory from this.
The marginals from civilized society could not understand, but were greatly shocked.
Looking at the confused expressions of the brothers in the alliance, Yishel coughed lightly and said.
”By the way, don’t worry, we won’t leave you to defend here alone… There will be two teams of 10,000 people coming to replace us later. I just trouble you to tell them what you taught us before.”
Bianbian Huashui calmed down and looked at him and said.
”I’m not worried about that. Whether there are people with us or not, we will do our best to defend… as long as you haven’t given up resistance.”
Ishel said with a smile.
”You don’t have to worry about that. Abusek is a bastard, but not a fool. If he dares to surrender, I bet he won’t see the sun tomorrow.”
Bianbian Pashui smiled along with him, then restrained his smile and clasped his fists.
”Take care, brother.”
Ishel also clasped his fists in return, and his expression became serious.
”Take care of yourself too!”
(End of this chapter)
