Good Men Don't Last Long in Troubled Times

Just as Miss Bella had said, conditions inside Mammoth City proper were entirely different from the believers' "concession" belonging to the Silver Moon Church—the two were starkly divided worlds. The latter boasted handsome marble buildings and clean, orderly streets, and most of the pedestrians bustling along were decently dressed, hardly any different from nearby Silver Moon Bay. The former, however, was a sprawling mess. Far from having stone buildings, there was scarcely anything that could even be called a street. Most of the dirt tracks had simply been trodden out by footprints, flanked only by a pair of open-air drainage ditches. Lining both sides of those tracks were shacks hastily thrown together from lumber, tree branches, or sheets of plastic. The locals called them row huts. A single hut often crammed in two or three households, packed so tightly there wasn't even room to set down a foot, yet people still had to squeeze inside. After all, many families here were just like those in Port Golden Gallon's slums during Nihak's rule—an entire household couldn't scrape together two changes of clothes, and they couldn't very well stand naked in the street. As for privacy between different families, the best they could do was put up flimsy partitions inside the huts and make do. What was more, hardly any young men were to be seen here. The local able-bodied men had either joined the army, gone to help out at nearby factories or the concession, or boarded labor-export ships bound for North Island, which was currently being rebuilt. As for the elderly, the weak, women, and children left behind, those with clothes sat by the doorways working, while those without stared blankly inside their homes, waiting for the soup kitchen relief stations to open. If one spoke of hardship, the people here were certainly suffering. Even so, the authorities hadn't left them to eat dirt, distributing some of their scarce remaining grain to them. After all, the authorities still needed their men to work with all their might. Sisi did not walk in to take a closer look. Rou Rou's massive bulk made it terribly inconvenient, and she also feared frightening the people here, so she merely gazed from afar at the seemingly endless slum. Beside the relief stations stood rows of propped-up wooden boards bearing scrawled slogans such as: "One worker from every family, full bellies for every home." "...They're practically treating people like cargo," Rou Rou muttered, touched by a pang of sadness. She was an outspoken person who always said what was on her mind, never one to bottle things up. Just a moment ago she had thought Laxi might be a good man, but now she felt he wasn't anything decent after all. Sisi thought for a moment before speaking. "...Going from livestock to cargo—it's hard to say whether that's good or bad, but at least they have food to eat." Bella seemed equally reluctant for them to linger here—no one liked having their scars peeled open—so she spoke up quickly: "There's no road ahead. Let me take you to see other places." Sisi nodded. "Alright, thank you." The group returned to the main road and headed toward an industrial zone by the sea. This was probably one of the places in all of Mammoth City where reconstruction had progressed most smoothly, aside from the leased parish. In particular, around the Lister Group's factory and its surrounding area, virtually no traces of past disaster remained. Tall factory buildings sat on high ground overlooking the sea in Mammoth City. A wide concrete road connected directly to the port area, flanked by an operational rail transport line. Processing plants and workshops of all sizes encircled the central factory buildings, extending continually along the lone highway toward the train station. Most of these were Lister's enterprises, though some had been set up by locals jumping on the bandwagon—especially hardware tools, machinery repairs, and even munitions manufacturing. Tail and Rou Rou were astonished to discover a scrapped Conqueror 10 tank parked right there! "*Holy crap!* A Legion tank!" "Good grief... Is that a trophy?" Watching Tail and Rou Rou holler in excitement, Sisi pondered and said, "Ninety percent chance it was captured. The Legion wouldn't go so far as to sell arms here... and I doubt the authorities have many dinars in foreign exchange reserves anyway. These things don't come cheap." The overall hull of the tank was largely intact; only its two tracks were broken. Evidently, its tracks had been blown off on the front line, the Empire's crew had abandoned the vehicle and fled, and then the guerrillas had towed it back from the front. Two mechanics wearing exoskeletons were clustered around the tank, while an officer of considerable rank stood nearby, all of them seemingly trying to figure out how to repair the contraption. Though the layout of this area was somewhat crude, it already showed the budding framework of an industrial zone. And along the perimeter of that industrial zone sat rows of "corncob towers," brimming with Alliance flavor. These residences, assembled from prefabricated concrete slabs, could be considered the most "luxurious" buildings in the area. What impressed the locals wasn't just the sturdy roofs, but the supporting amenities that bordered on "extravagant." Aside from the smoothly paved concrete roads, every few buildings had a boiler room, communal baths, a public canteen, and a literacy school that taught children by day and adults by night. The configuration here was cloned directly from the dormitories of Boulder City's industrial zone, with a few practical modifications tailored to local conditions. For example, winters in Mammoth State were not as frigid as in River Valley Province; December weather only required throwing on an extra coat. As such, the dormitories had no radiators installed, and the boiler room only heated bathwater. The workers living here were the "nouveaux riches" of Mammoth City. Landing a job at Lister's factory—even just chopping vegetables in the staff cafeteria or working as a sorter on the assembly line—made one a respectable figure throughout Mammoth City. Although the authorities had spent money building a batch of subsidized housing in the city, its amenities paled in comparison to the Lister factory dormitories. Without exaggeration, the quarters where these workers lived were even slightly better than those of the Resistance officers, to say nothing of the vast majority of commoners in town still crammed into row huts and surviving on relief porridge. Lister himself probably never imagined that, after being treated like a monster by the Workers' Association in the Alliance, he would become a great benefactor in the eyes of the locals here. The locals were unstinting in their praise of him. Rumor in the streets even had it that if any family managed to send a worker to Lister's factory, green smoke was rising from their ancestral graves! For precisely that reason, when Bella brought Tail's party here and explained the situation, the envy between her brows was impossible to hide. "...This entire industrial area belongs to Mr. Lister's factories. Over ten thousand people work for him directly or indirectly. He brought production lines for steel, aluminum, and solid-state hydrogen batteries to our settlement, though at present, the only presentable finished products we produce are hydrogen injectors, high-pressure storage tanks, and fuel electrodes." Sisi gazed at the towering factory building and remarked with sincere appreciation, "Considering you had zero industrial infrastructure to begin with, being able to produce these is already quite impressive." Lately, the Alliance's electrification process had progressed from home appliances like televisions, refrigerators, and air conditioners to the private vehicle sector, while the South Sea Alliance planned to rebuild large-scale ocean current power stations. Both small and large energy-storage equipment enjoyed voracious demand. Hydrogen injectors, high-pressure storage tanks, and fuel electrodes were all key components of solid-state hydrogen batteries, which held strong markets in both the Alliance and the South Sea Alliance. Moreover, the Lister Group itself operated businesses in exoskeletons and new-energy vehicles; so long as the products met quality standards, there was never any worry about finding buyers. It was clear Lister genuinely held great faith in this market—otherwise, he wouldn't have placed the manufacture of such crucial components here. "Indeed. Our foundation was so poor. We only managed to reach this point thanks to that gentleman's help," Bella nodded, genuine gratitude in her eyes as she reeled off the details. "Before he arrived, there wasn't a single factory in all of Mammoth City. Now, not only do we have a coal-fired power station, a railway, roads, a steel mill, and an aluminum plant, but we can also process goods for export." "I heard the monthly output value of this industrial complex has already reached ten million silver coins, and production capacity is still growing!" "If things keep developing at this rate, it might reach thirty million next year—three hundred million in our own currency! Mammoth State's escape from poverty and path to prosperity depend entirely on it!" Looking at the radiant young woman, Sisi couldn't help a gentle smile. "Don't sell yourselves short either. At most, what we can do is bring some sparks; whether the fire catches ultimately depends on you. If one day you truly become prosperous, it won't just be because of our help, but above all your own hard work." In this process, the Alliance naturally profited as well. After all, prosperity was something mutually reinforcing. Take the Alliance and the South Sea Alliance. Before entering Baiyue Province, the Alliance's "Turtle-type" engineering armor could only handle projects on dry land. But after absorbing underwater construction techniques from the Southern Sea and contracting the subsea freshwater pipeline project, it swiftly evolved into a whole series of models like the "Crab-type" and "King Crab." Now, both along the shores of the Baiyue Strait and across the islands of the Southern Sea, development soared as if strapped to a rocket. To say nothing of Sunset Province before that, where the Alliance's fertilizers, seeds, and agricultural machinery had more than doubled grain output. Not only did the residents of Sunset Province enjoy a better life, but the people of River Valley Province ate their fill as well. If Mammoth State—and indeed the entire Bolo Province—joined the camp of the civilized world just like Port Golden Gallon, it would be an immense boon to both the locals and the Alliance itself. If all the survivors across the wasteland united, this wasteland era full of suffering and death would surely come to an end. May that day not be far off... ... For the entire day, Sisi, Tail, and their companions conducted inspections around Mammoth State's industrial zone. On the whole, it was a burgeoning market. Many factories possessed the potential to expand, lacking only technology and capital—the latter of which happened to be what the Alliance had in greatest abundance. Without exaggeration, even just buying up a few plots of land here, developing them into properties, and waiting for them to appreciate would guarantee a profit. The group toured until sunset before returning to their inn in the parish. The trip had been fruitful indeed. The only pity was that, to the very end, Tail and Rou Rou never caught sight of the mammoths they had been yearning to see... As night deepened, the parish was the only place along the entire coastline that remained brightly lit. One of those lights belonged to the General Administration of Customs office. Though working hours were long over, Yaxi had not departed. Instead, he paced back and forth before his desk. After an agonizing wait, the telephone on the desk finally rang. He rushed over, snatched up the receiver, and blurted out impatiently before the other side could speak: "How did it go? Were the distinguished guests from the Alliance satisfied?" All day long, he had been fretting over this matter, terrified that something might go awry. A voice responded quickly from the other end. Standing in the post office telephone booth, Bella reported meticulously, "...Overall, they were quite pleased. Their evaluation of us was better than neutral, and they were very interested in the local development potential. According to the lady named Sisi, they plan to invest in opening a branch here to assist us with financial reform." Hearing this, Yaxi's face flushed with wild joy, his fist clenching in excitement. "Excellent!" Although the White Bear Knights' influence was far below that of the Baiyue Corporation, it was still a bank of considerable scale. It had gotten its start at Petra Fortress during the war in Sunset Province, later establishing a foothold in Silver Moon Bay and expanding overseas along the Alliance's trade routes. Its operations spanned the coast of the Bolo Sea and the Southern Sea, incubating many promising enterprises and merchant groups. If they could attract the White Bear Knights Bank here, its significance would be no less than successfully wooing another Lister Group! Listening to the jubilant tone from the other end of the line, Bella paused for a moment before continuing her report. "Also, there's one more thing. Although I urged them to stay within the parish as much as possible, they insisted on visiting the nearby urban districts. I couldn't refuse, so I took them on a tour of the industrial zone and the neighboring residential areas... However, on the way, they ended up seeing the state of the slums." Mammoth City's slums were like an ugly scar; no one who saw them could form a favorable impression of the authorities. Although the government had made some efforts, it was not an issue that could be resolved overnight. Hearing that the Alliance's honored guests had gone there, Yaxi immediately grew tense, asking cautiously, "Did they say anything?" Bella carefully recalled what had happened, then shook her head and said, "Not really, no." In truth, she couldn't say there had been nothing at all; it was just that they had spoken in a language she couldn't understand, so she hadn't caught a word of it. Standing before the desk, Yaxi fell silent, ultimately letting out a long sigh. "...We can only hope they understand our difficulties." He could sense that these distinguished guests had come to Mammoth City for more than just a business survey; they might well be carrying assignments handed down by the Alliance's Administrator, such as assessing whether the Mammoth State authorities were worthy of Alliance investment. Though difficult to admit, the Alliance's backing was simply too vital to them. He would have preferred a clear assessment—even a negative review would do, allowing him to offer explanations on one hand and implement changes based on feedback on the other. Total silence was what unsettled him most. "Was there anything they were dissatisfied with? Any complaints or the like... Tell me everything, no matter what it was!" Bella blinked, hesitating for a moment before replying in an uncertain tone, "Uh... that lady named Tail seemed disappointed that she didn't see any mammoths. That seemed to be the only thing." Could that even count as a complaint? While she was still bewildered, Yaxi slammed his hand hard against the desk. "Quick! Contact the Mammoth City Militia immediately! Tell them to head to the north bank of the Tasang River and catch one—no, catch two to gift them! One male, one female!" Hearing this preposterous order, Bella went completely dumbfounded, her mouth agape in disbelief. "G-Gift two mammoths?" Did this man have any idea how huge those beasts were? Yet Yaxi brushed her reaction aside, declaring with absolute conviction, "This is a necessary investment! It's for Mammoth City's future! Do as I say—under no circumstances can our honored guests from the Alliance leave with regrets!" Seeing that the man wasn't joking, Bella wiped the stunned look from her face, gathered herself, and accepted the order: "Yes, sir!" ... At that same moment, on the border of Mammoth State, inside the command tent of the Empire's Gray Wolf Army: General Alaiyang, commander-in-chief of the Gray Wolf Army, was scrutinizing the manifest delivered by the logistics officer, his bushy eyebrows furrowing like a pair of writhing centipedes. Standing before him, the logistics officer hardly dared to breathe, trembling where he stood. Even so, what was bound to come would come. A piercing gaze shot toward him. With a sharp smack, Alaiyang slammed the manifest onto the command table, glaring aggressively at the logistics officer. "Where are the tanks? Why haven't the Conqueror 10 tanks I demanded arrived? Why is this shipment of supplies filled with nothing but light arms and dry rations?!" The logistics officer groaned inwardly, his face crumpling as he hurriedly explained, "My Lord, you don't know the full story... The Alliance and the Legion suddenly had a dispute, so the Alliance impounded the munitions they had originally promised to help transport to the Falcon Kingdom for the Legion." Alaiyang was struck dumb, his mouth hanging open for a long moment. "The Legion's weapons... impounded by the Alliance?" There was simply too much information to unpack; his head couldn't wrap around it all at once. How had the Legion's weapons ended up with the Alliance? And why did they have to pass through the Alliance to reach his hands? Such were the pitfalls of an information blackout. Stationed at the front, he knew neither what agreements the Empire had reached with the Legion nor what arguments the Legion and the Alliance had engaged in at the Mutual Aid Committee conference. A creeping sensation took root in his heart that he was a pawn caught between two clenched fists. In fact, it wasn't just him; Laxi, standing on the opposite side of the battlefield, was in the same predicament. From an unresolved contest of victory and defeat, they had been dragged into a brand-new game of chess. Intuition told him this war would not end easily... The logistics officer sighed, helpless. "That's all I know... Not just you, General; His Majesty is frantic as well, but we can't push them on this. Word from the Legion is that if the Alliance finds out the munitions took a detour to be shipped here, things will become very complicated." Originally, there had been no need for him to be so deferential toward Alaiyang. In the past, it was Alaiyang who would have had to curry favor with him. Yet as fate would have it, regional powers were growing increasingly disobedient, leaving Tiandu with only this central army suppressing bandits on the border to rely upon. Nowadays, Alaiyang was at the height of his influence in the Xilan court. The Emperor and the ducal and marquessate nobility alike viewed him as their life-saving straw. Looking at the helpless logistics officer, Alaiyang drew a deep breath and said in a heavy voice, "Then what do we do now? Those rebels have Alliance equipment and have turned their defensive lines into an iron fortress. Without heavy support, we can't break through! A frontal assault would only send our soldiers to their deaths!" The logistics officer's eyes flickered evasively. After stammering for a moment, he offered, "If worse comes to worst... slowing down the frontline offensive isn't out of the question. Word from the Legion is that they'll find a way to resolve the problem and asked us to remain patient." If the Alliance failed to turn up the evidence they were looking for, they would eventually have no choice but to honor the contract and release the impounded weapons. And even if they did find evidence, they couldn't just confiscate the munitions; at most, they would ship them back to the Weifu Wasteland for the Legion to deal with. The Legion had ships of its own. Those weapons would make it here sooner or later—it was just a matter of delays... At least, that was how the Wilante had explained it to them. "Slow down..." Alaiyang scoffed coldly. "If we slow down any longer, the rebels' railway will reach the front lines!" God only knew where those paupers had gotten so much steel and cement. The scouts he had dispatched into Mammoth City to gather intelligence hadn't turned up anything definitive to this day, hearing only that the ships hauling construction materials came partly from Port Golden Gallon and partly from the Southern Sea. "If that won't do... there is another option," the logistics officer gritted his teeth, finally laying down his last card. "Before my departure, His Majesty instructed me that if the battle situation proved too dire, the General could recruit troops and horses at your own discretion in the areas of Horse State and Bird State." Hearing this, Alaiyang's eyes narrowed into slits, fixing a deadly stare upon the officer. "Did His Majesty truly say that?" Beads of cold sweat broke out under that stare as the logistics officer quavered, "It is absolutely true! How could I dare deceive you on such a matter?" Alaiyang stared at him expressionlessly. "Is there written documentation?" The logistics officer shook his head frantically. "No... His Majesty gave only verbal instructions." Alaiyang gave him a pointed look, then glanced down at the manifest in his hand. No wonder they had sent so many rifles. That was the idea... "I understand. You may leave." "Yes, General!" Relieved at last, the officer bowed respectfully and withdrew. Watching the logistics officer depart, the staff officer Gopal, who had remained silent all along, turned to Alaiyang. "His Majesty permits you to raise troops locally. Isn't that a good thing? Why the long face, General?" "A good thing?" A complex flicker of emotion surfaced in Alaiyang's eyes. After a moment, he said flatly, "Can't you see it... Once this war is over, we will be cast aside." With no written decree—only verbal instructions—whether His Majesty recognized it later would be a matter of a single word. If he acknowledged it, all well and good. If he did not, at the very least Alaiyang would be charged with driving civilians to the front as cannon fodder. And should His Majesty wish to press the matter, it was capital treason. It might even bring ruin upon his entire clan. Discerning the apprehension in Alaiyang's eyes, Gopal offered only a faint smile. "Pawn or not, the soldiers will be in our hands." Alaiyang narrowed his eyes, his gaze toward Gopal taking on a dangerous glint. "What are you getting at?" Gopal continued without batting an eye, "The Wolf Clan won't follow you; their families are back in Wolf State. But the Horse Clan and Bird Clan might be a different story. In my view, not only should you obey the decree, you should obey it to the letter—not by turning those Horse and Bird Clan folk into cannon fodder, but by forging them into a personal force loyal solely to you—" "Enough! Not another word!" Alaiyang snapped in fury, cutting him short. Interrupted, Gopal showed no anger. He merely bowed respectfully. "I am only offering a suggestion..." "The Empire is heading into chaos. Good men don't last long in troubled times." With that, he left Alaiyang standing there with an unreadable expression, turned, and strode out of the command tent alone. Just as the Empire's Gray Wolves ground to a halt for lack of heavy equipment support, their adversaries, the Moon Clan Resistance, were busy sending people across the river overnight to catch mammoths. Evidently, every household had its own skeletons; the Mammoth State authorities, glamorous as they seemed on the surface, were not having an easy time either. Meanwhile, a new shift was brewing across the wasteland. Just as the morning sun of the next day rose over the horizon of the Southern Sea, the Alliance's submarine carrier *Conch* surfaced in the waters near Coral City. A small transport plane hailing from Ideal City flew in from the distance, slowly touching down on the helipad on the *Conch*'s deck. It was a model Chu Guang had never seen before. It looked somewhat similar to the Alliance's Viper; no doubt it was a new toy rolled out by Enterprise, and likely copied from the Alliance at that. Still, it hardly mattered; Chu Guang took an open-minded view of it. After all, the Alliance had plucked plenty of wool from Enterprise over time—the Overlord transport's engines were practically salvaged straight off the Orca transport, so a little reciprocal borrowing was no big deal. Moreover, what brought Chu Guang considerable satisfaction was that the shut-ins of Ideal City had finally seen the light of late. Enterprise's council had probably realized at last that they, too, were part of the wasteland. If some lunatic made an apocalyptic mess, they would be the ones forced to clean it up in the end. The trouble with the Church of the Torch was a prime example. Had they intervened early during the Singularity City crisis, matters never would have escalated to such an uncontrollable state. Reflecting on their own shortcomings, they had grown increasingly proactive in participating in wasteland affairs recently, with all manner of long-range, ultra-high-speed aircraft springing up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Before long, a middle-aged man in a formal suit and leather shoes stepped out from the hatch. Wearing a radiant smile, he extended his right hand toward Chu Guang standing beside the helipad from a long way off. "Respected Administrator, what a pleasure to meet again!"