CHAPTER 872: CHAPTER 872: VASTLY DIFFERENT FATES

The magnificent gantry crane stands tall at the port, with the concrete docks connecting the earth and the sea.

Various types of cargo ships are docked at the pier, and there are also some salvage ships, with workers in lightweight exoskeletons moving back and forth beside them.

This is No.1 Settlement at the Death Coast.

It’s also where the Alliance’s Burning Corps landed during the Torch War.

Although that war happened just last year, it seems like a long time has passed.

There are no longer any traces of the war visible along the entire coastline, and most people bustling on the shore are survivors making a living, rather than soldiers carrying guns.

The identities of these people vary greatly.

Some are Waste Land Wanderers from the Eastern Provinces, others are refugees from the Poluo Province, and there are islanders from the Southern sea area, as well as Weilante People from the west of the mainland or Spirit of the Sand Sea devotees from Luo Xia Province.

They differ not only in identity but also in their reasons for coming here.

Some came to escape the pursuit of Variants, Looters, and Farm owners in the Wasteland, while others came to avoid distant wars, plagues, and famines, or to seize the opportunity to rebuild the space elevator and get rich, traveling to the stars with the Alliance.

Every face moving here is filled with stories, just like himself who recently lost a large sum of money.

Hank couldn’t help but feel a faint stir in his heart.

Before coming here, he worried that things might be terrible, but it turned out quite unexpectedly.

This place might become a new beginning...

If nothing unexpected happens.

Standing beside Hank, Yarman also gazed at the thriving urban area in the distance, slightly squinting his eyes.

"...I remember the last time I was here, the area connected to the port was still filled with containers, and now it’s all pre-fabricated concrete houses."

The outline of the settlement is expanding outward along the port, and those containers might have been moved to areas closer to the inland.

After all, it’s not safe to have those "empty boxes" near the sea; a strong wind might just blow them away.

Perhaps next time he comes, these pre-fabricated houses might also be dismantled and moved to other places, making room for higher, prettier buildings.

Just like what once happened in Giant Stone City.

After hearing Yarman’s words, Hank’s face showed a surprised expression.

"Containers? They actually let those Waste Land Wanderers live in containers?"

Yarman grinned: "A form of emergency housing during special times... Waste Land Wanderers from the Eastern continent have a unique skill; they can modify any material they see into a house. For example, these containers, cut out a door and window, and it can be lived in."

"Alright, I...just thought it was somewhat wasteful," Hank remarked with emotion, "after all, they’re made of metal, and even if you can’t use them, they can be recycled."

Yarman’s expression became mildly subtle.

He had thought this guy was feeling pity for the Waste Land Wanderers, only to find out he was actually concerned about those containers.

"...Maybe, but the local philosophy is to make full use of everything."

Hank then asked.

"Does the shipping company just give them the containers?"

This was his most pressing concern.

The attention given to Waste Land Wanderers by the authorities is admirable, but if their method involves compulsory acquisition, or allowing Waste Land Wanderers to seize them forcibly, then this place, no matter how prosperous it appears, wouldn’t be a good investment target.

After all, prosperity can be fabricated, just like his brewery’s financial report.

Just borrow more, and it’s enough.

Yarman replied with a smile.

"Of course not, the local authorities pay the shipping company...and not only that, local import demand is booming, storage resources are tight. If they don’t handle it quickly, they have to pay a large rent for those empty containers and occupied berths. Just in time, those shipping companies are in a hurry to set sail again, so if the local authorities are willing to buy those empty containers, why wouldn’t they have it?"

Of course, the main reason is that containers at Silver Moon Bay and Jin Galun Harbor are sufficiently cheap.

The light industrial goods and food needed locally mostly come from these two places.

Additionally, raw materials from Potato Harbor and heavy industrial facilities from North Island also contribute.

Alliance’s overseas investments are promoting native development.

Even from the perspective of Weilante People, he couldn’t help but admire the Manager’s strategic layout in places like Luo Xia Province, Poluo Province, and the Southern sea area.

If not for those Waste Land Wanderers’ heartfelt yearning for the Alliance, bringing their wealth and knowledge here, the ten settlements distributed along the coast of Eastern Provinces couldn’t have developed this rapidly.

Keep in mind, just a few months ago, this place was still the territory of Aquatic Variant Humans and the Torch.

While Yarman was pondering this, an acquaintance approached from the docks, greeting him from afar.

"Long time no see! My friend, you finally returned!"

Looking at Yarman standing on the deck, Zhang Ze’s face was filled with excitement.

He’s so excited not because he misses this guy with a big nose, but because there’s a treasure trove on that guy’s ship!

Thousands of young laborers!

For No.1 Settlement which is in the development phase, what could be more precious than a gold mine?!

Over the past few months, through multiple testimonies, he not only found survivors of the West Sail Port tragedy but also obtained video evidence of the Lion City tragedy. Finally, at the hearing, he left the local representatives speechless, paving a fast track for the refugees in the Poluo Province area to quickly obtain "Regulated Identity" status.

Although getting the Regulated Identity isn’t very difficult, one only needs to swear they’re not a Looter to enter the "assessment period" and receive a temporary ID.

However, given the special circumstances of the Eastern Provinces, merely swearing is insufficient to eliminate Looters hiding among the refugees, and unlike the River Valley Province, with its established methods and developed agencies to complete this regulatory task, Haiya Province’s settlement lacks such a system.

Thus, according to local needs, some restrictions were placed on the temporary identities, such as not being able to conduct loan transactions, or engage in certain industries, etc.

This way, the potential risks that the settlement might encounter in the process of assimilating this batch of immigrants are minimized. At least it reduces the chances of an ogre becoming the attending physician, or an arsonist becoming a firefighter.

These regulations mainly target survivors with entirely blank identities.

Survivors from the Ideal City, Province of Yúnjiānxíng, South Sea Union, or Luo Xia Province are not subject to these restrictions.

This includes sailors from Potato Harbor and Jin Galun Harbor, even the Weilante people from the west of the continent.

They can skip the temporary identity phase and directly obtain a "supervised" identity. Depending on their abilities, they can even shorten the supervision period to just a few days, almost like receiving a direct Alliance ID card.

Zhang Ze did not secure equal rights for the Poluo people as those of the Ideal City residents, as that was unrealistic and would never gain support from anyone.

However, to facilitate his business operations, he still made every effort to secure equal rights for those refugees with the "identified survivors."

It is well known that Poluo Province does not have looters in the broad sense.

The local survivors are hardworking, so applying rules meant to filter out looters against them is evidently bullying honest people.

After fully soliciting opinions from all parties, the representative council finally compromised and signed Act No. 10.

The Act allows private institutions to provide guarantees for unidentified survivors after paying full deposits, allowing them to bypass the temporary identity evaluation period as supervised individuals.

If these survivors commit criminal acts during the evaluation period, they will not only face criminal prosecution but also have the deposit paid by the private institution forfeited to compensate the victims.

This effectively shifts the risk originally borne by society as a whole onto those "who wish to earn this money." The local authorities naturally have no objections.

Having resolved the legal issues, Zhang Ze immediately registered the "Hanging Wall Labor Intermediary Company" according to the plan previously discussed with his partners, waiting for the refugees—oh no, migrants to disembark.

Watching the young man excitedly waving his hand on the shore, Hank looked puzzledly at Yarman beside him and asked.

"Who is this?"

Yarman waved towards the dock and simultaneously said to his compatriots beside him.

"Zhang Ze, one of the shareholders of Hanging Wall Labor Intermediary, my partner on the Death Coast... I’ll introduce you later."

Yarman provided Hank with a brief overview of the situation at No.1 Settlement and the nature of the Hanging Wall Labor Intermediary Company, including its profit model, among other things.

Even though he had just arrived, he had been communicating with Zhang Ze via telegram throughout the journey, so he was relatively familiar with the situation here.

Hank listened in a daze, inwardly thinking, "This damn well works too." But to gather more information, he refrained from voicing his opinion and just listened carefully.

Just as Yarman finished briefly introducing his company’s business, Zhang Ze had already climbed onto the deck via the gangway, squeezing past the passengers eager to disembark, and walked to the bow.

Apart from himself, he was accompanied by a staff member from the Settlement Resident Office, with a thin tablet computer tucked under his elbow.

"This is Mr. Yarman, another partner in our company!"

The staff member shook hands with Yarman and then said in an official tone.

"Hello, Mr. Yarman, I am the person in charge here... Could you please provide the passenger list? We need to register the personnel before issuing them their IDs."

"No problem, I’ve prepared the list. Please have a look."

As he spoke, Yarman took a roster from his assistant and handed it to the settlement office staff.

Hank’s eyes were fixed on the roster, feeling a sense of déjà vu.

It looks familiar!

Very familiar!

This is something he could do too!

Although Yarman had been explaining along the way that this was fundamentally different from the slave trade, in Hank’s view, the difference wasn’t significant; it was just replacing slave contracts with debt contracts.

Yet, Hank did not intend to compete with his savior for business, nor was it his style to pick up leftovers from others.

Looking at the heads of people bustling about and the eyes full of yearning, he quickly spotted another huge business opportunity.

After completing the handover procedures, Zhang Ze led the group of Poluo people from the ship ashore and arranged to meet Yarman at the bar afterwards.

Once everyone was done, Hank immediately pulled Yarman aside, looking at him intently.

"I want to stay here."

Seeing Yarman’s surprised expression, Hank continued before he could speak.

"...Of course, I won’t make you guarantee me for free. I can pay my fare from West Sail Port, just like everyone else."

Seeing Hank’s eager expression, Yarman composed himself and said.

"The Alliance and the Army have established diplomatic relations, so you don’t need a guarantee, or rather, the embassy of Triumph City in the City of Dawn has already guaranteed for you... But you don’t plan on returning to West Sail Port with me?"

Hank made a helpless expression.

"What’s the use of going back? My brewery has probably already been auctioned off by now, and I bet the insurance company will certainly not compensate me for that batch of goods unless the South Sea Union publicly admits that their freighter was the one that got blown up."

This will become a prolonged legal battle. He won’t give up the right to claim insurance, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to stake his life on it.

Wherever you fall, that’s where you rise again; that’s his motto for life.

Yarman sized him up a few times, his eyes unable to hide a glint of admiration.

"You do seem open-minded."

Hank grinned.

"What else can I do? Shed tears in the direction of the sunken ship? That’s not my style."

Yarman patted him on the shoulder as a sign of encouragement.

"I’ll take you to the office to handle the identity issues later. By the way, have you decided what to do yet?"

Hank smiled confidently.

"Not entirely sure yet, but I have a general direction."

Yarman raised an eyebrow slightly surprised, and curiously asked a question.

"Care to share it with me?"

"There’s no reason not to, it’s practically an open secret," Hank shrugged lightly, glanced back at the faces on the deck that were both anxious and eager, grinned and said, "You also mentioned, these folks won’t be living in containers forever."

"I bet the first thing they’ll do when they get rich is definitely to buy themselves a big house."

Yarman looked surprisingly at this man who had picked himself back up, not expecting that this guy, without even a set place of his own yet, was already considering solving others’ housing issues.

"That’s quite the big business..."

"That’s right, so I need to find a job first to repair my credit, then go borrow some money from the bank to start my plan."

Seeing Yarman’s surprised face, Hank confidently smiled and continued.

"Just wait and see, I’ll earn back all the money I lost... We might even have opportunities to work together in the future."

Yarman didn’t really believe in this ambitious guy, but he didn’t want to discourage his compatriot, so he just smiled politely and said.

"I’ll wait for your good news then."

Knowing that his benefactor didn’t take his words seriously, Hank didn’t mind and simply smiled and said,

"When you come back next time, you’ll know I’m not joking."

...

With the help of the Hanging Wall Labor Intermediary Company, 2,700 new immigrants from West Sail Port successfully completed their registration procedures at the No.1 Settlement’s office and obtained the status of "supervised person."

From now on, they will strive as the Alliance’s "quasi-citizens," to end the Wasteland Era and liberate all the suffering survivors.

Of course, this doesn’t conflict with the loans they need to repay.

Even if they plan to liberate aliens, they’d better get their current life in order first.

The Alliance is not a Utopia, it only saves those who save themselves.

If you consider this an Ideal City, you will regret it, but if all you want is fairness, you won’t be too disappointed.

However, with the diligence of these Mouse Tribe and Snake Race members, having a good life should only be a matter of time. Rather than worrying about their dissatisfaction, it’s better to worry about them working too hard and outcompeting the Wasteland Wanderers of the Eastern Provinces.

Just as these "newbies" with anxious yet excited hearts were following labor intermediaries to construction sites and docks, their hometown had a different scene.

In Poluo Province, Akale County in the western Bull State, at the bend of the Everflow River, soldiers on the eastern front were chewing on nutritional paste.

Although Edge Shoveling also wanted to share some instant noodles with the brothers of the allied forces, the harsh reality didn’t allow it.

Planes occasionally flew overhead, sometimes belonging to the Army, sometimes the Alliance, and neither could fully secure air supremacy.

Given the situation, they didn’t dare to start a fire to cook or boil water, and neither did the Vellante people across the line.

After all, now is different from before.

The 110,000th Squad of Poluo captured 52 "fire crossbow" self-propelled guns and nearly a thousand-team’s worth of shells.

The psychological pressure of the 200mm artillery on the Vellante people far exceeded that of the 155mm ones.

Even though in combat, the latter caused casualties to the Vellante people at a tenfold higher rate than the former...

The war thus fell into a stalemate.

With the reinforcement of airships, the Vellante people did not hastily launch an offensive but changed their previous aggressive strategy. They extended the battlefront from just tens of kilometers to several hundred kilometers, turning that sharp wedge into a wide-bladed axe.

This was a tricky situation for Poluo Country, which lacked logistical equipment.

Although Poluo had a numerical advantage, the inability to provide mutual support between different positions was a major vulnerability.

If not careful, they might repeat the disaster encountered in Lion State.

That is, getting punctured by the corps that could concentrate forces with mobility, causing the entire line to fall into chaos in retreat and defense and ultimately collapsing without being attacked.

However, even though both sides’ front lines had expanded to several hundred kilometers, Akale County remained a checkpoint neither side could ignore.

Whether in terms of geographical strategic importance or psychological strategy, the Southern Legion was determined to take it.

That’s why both the Death Legion players and Poluo Country soldiers stationed here were prepared to fight the corps for every inch of land.

To avoid being dragged by prisoners when the fight began, they had specially sent previously captured prisoners to the rear.

According to the agreement reached between the Alliance and the Triumphant City’s ambassador, the Vellante people would head to Jinjaron Harbor once they reached Tiandu.

Only there was the capacity and resources to settle these people.

When it came to the prisoners’ destinations, Yishel couldn’t help but banter with Edge Shoveling, saying that the dream of Poluo Country’s survivors was to get ashore, something unattainable in a lifetime, while those big-nosed people could reach it by merely surrendering.

"...So I always feel that sometimes Anush was wrong yet not wrong. Perhaps fairness doesn’t really exist in this world. I could save those innocent civilians in the church, but I couldn’t save myself or my compatriots."

Edge Shoveling was momentarily at a loss for words.

It’s hard to explain the outside world’s nature, logic, and rules to someone who has never left the land beneath their feet.

Although the war between the corps and the Alliance had practically started, the relationship between the Alliance and Triumphant City wasn’t bad.

Bennott had been trying to cool the flames of this fire, and the Manager also didn’t want this anti-Empire ZY war to become a war against all Vellante people.

After all, if that were the case, it would mean repeating the path of the War Construction Committee.

However, everyone has their limitations.

Whether it’s the person sitting in front of him or himself.

"...I don’t think going to Jinjaron Harbor means they have landed, their shore is in Triumphant City. If they don’t bring back what they saw, they’ll never truly make it ashore."

After a pause, Edge Shoveling continued, "Including you guys... I don’t think just because you went to Jinjaron Harbor or somewhere else means you’ve landed ashore."

Yishel smiled and spoke in a casual tone.

"So where is our shore?"

Edge Shoveling said softly.

"Actually, it’s right under your feet... but I think, even if I say so, you’ll still think I’m just talking easy from a standing position."

"I don’t think that way, brother, I’m not such a petty person," Yishel sighed, glanced at the starry sky, and then at the mud on his shoes, "I just think... this road is so damn long, I wonder if my grandson’s grandson will see it for me."

Looking at that gloomy face, Edge Shoveling placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He definitely will... and I believe you don’t have to wait until your grandson’s grandson, you yourself can see it."

Yishel laughed heartily.

"I’ll take your kind words then!"

It’s not that easy.

But he didn’t say this to his good brother across from him, he just kept the thought in his heart.

At this moment, an officer walked over, stood firm, and saluted.

"Report! A telegram from Tiandu!"

Yishel quickly stood up, patted the dirt off his pants, took the telegram from the officer’s hands and read it from start to finish, grinning slightly.

"That Absek... hah."

Seeing Yishel’s half-smiling expression, Edge Shoveling also patted his pants and stood up, walking over to ask.

"What’s written on it?"

"Nothing much, just a transfer order," seeing the alliance brother’s interest, Yishel handed the telegram over, "Our leader wants to form a field army to support the Northern Three States of the Mammoth Nation... after all, Laxi has helped us a lot, we must reciprocate."

Edge Shoveling’s expression was a bit odd.

"... Do you still have the capacity to support others?"

The Mammoth Nation’s army had undergone comprehensive re-equipment and restructuring, though it still couldn’t match the legion on the front battlefield, at least it wouldn’t cause too much trouble for the Alliance.

Because of this, the Alliance’s aid to the Mammoth Nation was mainly financial, while most volunteers came to Poluo Country.

He really couldn’t figure out what this was about.

Yishel grinned.

"This you don’t understand, Poluo people’s philosophy isn’t the art of speaking, but the art of not speaking."

Edge Shoveling was taken aback.

"The art of not speaking?"

Yishel nodded.

"Saying nothing, yet saying everything. Like this transfer order, on the surface it’s to reinforce the north, but in reality, it’s for us to seek refuge."

As for what to avoid, Yishel didn’t explicitly say. But it wasn’t because of any art of not speaking, it was due to emotional intelligence.

Edge Shoveling was silent for a while, then sighed deeply.

"... Truly, shallow water has many turtles."

"Treachery! It’s treachery!" Debt Giant Eye and the foreman nearby whispered to each other excitedly.

We’ve got treachery, plague, and trickery! Is desire far off?

He was already looking forward to the next expansion!

Yishel chuckled bitterly, shrugged, and said.

"In any case... as you guys say, every family has its struggles. Absek has his own difficulties, "Horse King" Shaluk keeps an eye on him, and he has inner demons he can’t escape. But on the flip side, it’s not all bad. Without a slippery one like Shaluk, he might’ve become one himself."

Edge Shoveling was suddenly speechless.

He thought the most scheming minds on the wasteland were in the Academy, but he didn’t expect there to be a "Phoenix Chick" hidden south of the Jubar Mountains.

However, the Academy’s intrigues were mainly external and for self-preservation, while here, people’s minds seemed focused on internal conflicts, even evolving a unique philosophical theory from this.

Coming from a civilized society, Edge Shoveling couldn’t understand, but was greatly shocked.

Seeing the alliance brother’s bewildered expression, Yishel cleared his throat and said.

"By the way, don’t worry, we won’t leave you alone to defend here... afterwards, two ten thousand troops will come to replace us, just trouble you to teach them what you taught us."

Edge Shoveling collected himself and said to him.

"I’m not worried about that, whether or not there’s anyone with us, we’ll do our best to defend... as long as you haven’t given up resistance."

Yishel laughed and said.

"You don’t need to worry about that, Absek is an ass, but not an idiot. If he dares to surrender, I’ll bet he won’t see the sun tomorrow."

Edge Shoveling laughed with him, then restrained his smile, saluting with a clasped fist.

"Take care, brother."

Yishel returned the gesture with a respectful expression.

"You too, take care!"