Chapter 780.1: Should I Lend You More?

On North Island in the South Sea, seagulls flapped happily above the construction sites, cooing as they scattered droppings everywhere.

It wasn’t only the residents of North Island who were being well fed. With the landing operation in Ocean Edge Province about to begin, large numbers of players had flooded into North Island, and every kind of bird on the island had been fattened up by all the food they were being given. Some had gotten so fat they could barely fly.

Looking over the many unfamiliar faces at the construction site, Fighter Wolf rested both hands on his shovel and said with a strange expression, “Is it just me?”

Pipe Doggy, who was pouring concrete nearby, looked up at him. “Huh?”

Fighter Wolf rubbed his chin and muttered, “Why do I feel like there are more people competing with us for work?”

Originally there had only been around 30 people on this construction site. Excluding him and his three civil-engineering buddies, there hadn’t even been 30 NPCs. But for some reason, over the past few days, the number of workers on the site had shot up again and again. Before they knew it, it had doubled, then doubled again, and was now pushing past 200!

That number would have been perfectly normal in real life. The problem was that this was the South Sea in Wasteland Online, where the total population was barely over a million... Where the hell had all these people come from?!

“It’s not your imagination,” Far Eagle said calmly, narrowing his eyes. “The war ended. Rational analysis suggests there was a baby boom. The baby boom caused the population to increase... it’s perfectly logical.”

Pipe Doggy raised an eyebrow and gasped, “What the hell?! Babies in your family grow up that fast?!”

Shit Stirring Stick stared at the bunch of them like he was looking at idiots.

The players couldn’t figure out the reason, but one thing was undeniable. There really had been a lot more people on North Island lately.

Not just at the construction sites, either. The docks, supermarkets, restaurants, and other places were all busier. Those people seemed to have spawned out of thin air, and most of them were unfamiliar faces. Ignoring their skinny builds and timid eyes, they looked somewhat like the residents around Sunset Province.

According to the veteran players who had joined the game early and liked to brag, many survivors in Sunset Province had migrated out of the Great Desert during the early years of the Wasteland Era.

Of course, back then the Great Desert hadn’t been called the Great Desert yet. It should have been known as the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern Industrial Zones.

Far too curious about where these NPCs had come from, Fighter Wolf, encouraged by his lousy friends, walked over and stopped one of them. “Hey, where are you guys from?”

The man clearly didn’t want to talk to him, but seemed equally afraid of offending him. After stammering for a while, he muttered, “Mammoth State.”

Fighter Wolf froze before finally asking, “Where’s Mammoth State?”

The man explained, “It’s in the Poro Province.”

Fighter Wolf nodded blankly. “Ohhh, that place... Damn, that’s far.”

The man said nothing. Eager to get back to carrying bricks, he asked to pass and hurried away.

Fighter Wolf didn’t stop him. Instead, his gaze followed the stooped man toward the group in the distance. Their appearances varied greatly. Some were young, some old, some handsome, others ugly. However, their bearing was strangely identical.

He couldn’t think of a good way to describe them.

For some reason, the first thing that came to mind was cattle, and that was the strangest part.

He remembered that the Ox Clan were supposed to be nobles in the Poro Province, yet those people around him looked more like divine oxen carrying the sun on their backs than the Ox Clan ever did.

It was as though an invisible rope had been looped around their necks. Their backs faced the blazing sun. No one was pulling them, yet every one of them seemed to be led by the nose.

Shit Stirring Stick, standing not far away, sighed. He took off his mining Exoskeleton and walked over to stop a man who looked rather too old for this kind of work. “Old... sir, carrying bricks like this is too exhausting. Use my equipment.”

He hadn’t come to the construction site for the money. He was there to grind regional reputation and contribution points, gain some experience as a strength type player, and do a little social work on the side.

That was part of Wasteland Online’s game mechanics and had been established a long time ago. If players wanted to use their VM and its attached functions to operate in a particular region, they first had to start with grassroots-level tasks and raise their regional reputation above 1,000, reaching a Friendly status.

The man, suddenly spoken to, looked completely at a loss and hurriedly waved him off.

“I-I don’t know how to use it.”

Thinking he might as well see the good deed through to the end, Shit Stirring Stick enthusiastically said, “It’s fine, I’ll teach you!”

“No, no, no, sir. I’m afraid I’ll break it. I... I really can’t afford to compensate you.” The man looked terrified, desperately waving his hands and refusing to take it.

“It’s fine! This thing isn’t expensive, only 2,000 Silver. If you break it, whatever. I was planning to replace it anyway.” Shit Stirring Stick activated his VM’s translation function and repeated the sentence in clumsy Federation language with a grin.

The man only gave a bitter smile and said nothing.

2,000 Silver.

He earned only a little over 100 in an entire month!

Even so, that much Silver was already far better than what he had gotten farming in Mammoth State. On a noble lord’s estate, they only got beans when there was so much grain it couldn’t all be sold. Normally, they had to eat dirt at least once every three days.

Here, food and accommodation were provided, and they only had to work eight hours a day.

He could save his entire paycheck and send them home! He had even heard that some hardworking young men who carried more could earn five to eight Silver a day, perhaps more than 200 a month!

200 Silver was 2,000 Gallons. Even in Port Gallon, that counted as a high wage, never mind here, where they didn’t even have to pay for food or lodging.

Thinking of all the mouths waiting for him back home, he stopped wasting time with this suspicious stranger who clearly looked like he was up to no good. He hurriedly asked to pass and went off to carry the next load...

...

Sometimes fate was simply that strange.

A problem that seemed completely unsolvable, no matter how hard you racked your brain, could suddenly find a perfect solution in the most unexpected place.

Mammoth State, huh? What a wonderful place.

Once trade relations between Mammoth State and the Southern Sea New Alliance were established, perhaps the Southern Sea New Alliance really could consider investing there.

Li Minghui had never imagined that just when he had decided to give up and coast through the rest of his term, someone would hand him a pillow before he had even started getting sleepy.

Not to mention the fact that they had handed him hundreds of thousands of them at once!

Those young and able-bodied workers from Mammoth State were all between 18 and 30 years old. Every one of them was already married, with at least two children at home, and some also had elderly relatives to support.

The Mammoth State authorities guaranteed that these workers, sent over through labor-dispatch companies, absolutely would not wander off or commit crimes. Once their work was done and they had earned their money, they would leave immediately and would not consume even the slightest bit of the Southern Sea New Alliance’s public resources or social welfare.

Their only request was that the Southern Sea New Alliance provide ships to transport them and take responsibility for training them.

In other words, Mammoth State would provide the people and manage them!

The moment Li Minghui heard there was such a good deal, he agreed without hesitation. He even diverted the newly launched nuclear-powered cargo submarines to transport workers.

As of now, 50,000 workers from Mammoth State were already employed in the Southern Sea New Alliance, and construction progress across the northern islands had shot upward like a rocket.

Although Li Minghui didn’t want to do too many unnecessary things during the little time he had left in office, if he refused to pick up a deal that offered nothing but benefits, he would be letting down the people of the South Sea who supported him.

What Li Minghui had not expected, however, was that even this gave the Council of the South Sea something to criticize him over.

...

It was a bright afternoon with pleasant weather. He was sitting in his office drinking tea and reading the newspaper when footsteps suddenly thundered down the corridor outside. He had only just put the newspaper down when Siwen, secretary-general of the Council, pushed open the door and glared at him while asking, “What’s going on with those people at the North Island construction sites?”

The Southern Sea New Alliance’s Council was similar to that of the New Alliance. In addition to ordinary representatives, there was also a committee elected by those representatives, and the secretary-general generally represented the committee’s collective position.

Li Minghui might dislike these noisy fellows, but since they were the ones who decided the laws, he still had to take them seriously. He couldn’t help but explain, “They’re refugees from Mammoth State.”

“Why are refugees from Mammoth State appearing in the South Sea?” Siwen stared directly into his eyes and pressed aggressively. “The Council never passed any relevant resolution. How could you make this decision on your own?!”

Li Minghui didn’t answer the question. Instead, he asked, “Has the Council prohibited labor dispatch?”

Siwen frowned, unsure what kind of trick Li Minghui was playing, but he still answered according to procedure. “No.”

Li Minghui continued, “Has the Council prohibited New Alliance companies from coming to North Island to work?”

Siwen said impatiently, “No. What exactly are you trying to say? Are you telling me those people are all from the New Alliance?”

“Then what’s wrong with a labor-dispatch company registered in French Fry Harbor sending workers to North Island?”

A smile finally spread across Li Minghui’s face as he revealed the dagger hidden behind the map. Looking at the dumbstruck Siwen, he spread his hands. “This violates no law whatsoever. If I rejected their goodwill, then you people would turn around and accuse me of abusing my authority... Sorry, but I’m not that stupid. Or you can go back, hold another discussion, and redefine what kind of employees labor companies are allowed to dispatch. But that’s your problem.”

A president who couldn’t run for reelection and had no interest in doing so was invincible!

Seeing Siwen choke on his frustration, unable to produce a reply, Li Minghui felt absolutely delighted.

Those fucking bastards had gotten used to acting lawlessly because they had the New Alliance behind them, always finding excuses to cause him trouble. Back when he wanted to become another Chalas, they had guarded against him every day. Now that he had no interest in becoming one anymore, they still came over every few days to yap at him. This time, he had finally gotten his revenge and made them suffer a defeat on his own home ground.

“Anything else?” Li Minghui lifted his teacup and took a sip, leisurely looking at the speechless secretary-general before teasing, “Why don’t you go back and hold a meeting about it?”

Siwen glared at him fiercely and was just about to turn and leave when someone else suddenly appeared outside the office.

This time, however, it wasn’t anyone from the Council. It was a secretary from the presidential office.

Seeing that the door was open, the secretary walked directly inside and spoke rapidly to Li Minghui behind his desk. “Mr. President, Duke Nihark of the Xilande Empire requests an audience! Representing the royal family, he says they are willing to provide the Southern Sea New Alliance with a postwar reconstruction loan totaling 10,000,000,000 Xilande currency, interest-free, with 20 years to repay it.”

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