This Game Is Too Real-Chapter 779: People’s Joys and Sorrows Are Not Shared

"Mr. Lister, please consider it once more! I can assure you that the things you’re worried about definitely won’t happen in White Elephant City."

City of Dawn, Embassy Street, the Embassy of the West Wind Empire. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Duke Garava personally poured a cup of tea for Lister, speaking earnestly—and even eagerly.

But after hearing what he had to say, Lister could only sigh lightly.

"How can you guarantee that what you’re saying now is true?"

Duke Garava’s eyes shone as he spoke.

"I can swear upon the God of White Elephant as well as my coat of arms and title!"

Lister’s lips couldn’t help but twitch into a smirk, but he ultimately maintained his outward courtesy and did not laugh aloud.

"Forgive my frankness, but that is the least sincere promise."

Duke Garava was taken aback, his face gradually showing signs of displeasure.

"You... you actually say it’s not enough! Then, please tell me, what would be a sufficiently sincere promise?"

Lister sighed softly and said,

"Let me give you a simple example. In the Alliance, abiding by the law is enough for doing business, and the law is something that can be discussed. The Workers’ Association can negotiate, the Consumers Association can negotiate, and of course, we can too..."

Before Lister could finish, Duke Garava’s face lit up, and he eagerly interjected.

"We don’t have all those complications!"

Watching the smugness on this man’s face, Lister spread his hands.

"That’s exactly the problem."

Not only did this fellow lack those "safeguards," but he also considered them a nuisance.

He didn’t even realize that the more he boasted about his supreme authority there, the more Lister would dread that he might act capriciously.

Some of the newly rich in the Alliance might not have experienced it, but Lister, who had done sizable business even during the Giant Stone City era, knew all too well what it felt like to be a dog.

So when the Manager invited him to be someone, he didn’t hesitate to throw away the hard-earned Black Card.

As it turned out, he hadn’t misjudged the Manager, who indeed did everything he said he would and didn’t do anything beyond that.

The latter was priceless—Lister even wanted to add "forever follow that great person" to his newly compiled family tree.

This guy thought he could lure Lister in with a seemingly good bone to become a dog, clearly underestimating him.

From the first glimpse of Duke Garava, Lister saw that he and the nobles of the Inner City were cut from the same cloth, even somewhat worse since at least Elder Sid was a bit reserved in how he used his power, like "not personally getting involved in garnering chips."

But this fellow’s face nearly spelled out "I am the heavens," now as humble as can be, but would soon become shamelessly overbearing.

With such a character, there wasn’t a chance to bring a single penny home from the business.

To retract a step of ten thousand, for an emerging market in its infancy, he was more inclined to invest in a capable person rather than the market itself.

And clearly, this fellow wasn’t the kind of person worth his investment, just someone who happened to hold a substantial resource.

For such a precarious person, he’d rather discuss a short-term deal than a long-term one.

However, Duke Garava completely misunderstood Lister’s unmoved attitude, thinking that the other man was interfering.

His face showed a hint of annoyance as he spoke in a low voice,

"Did that person say something to you?"

Lister was stunned, and after a good long while, he gathered the gist from his expression, this time unable to hold back a chuckle.

"Duke Garava, I hope you understand that our Manager isn’t very concerned about how we manage our business; he’s busier than you think. If there is profit to be made by doing business in White Elephant City, we will naturally go there... but let alone profit, I can’t even find that settlement on a map."

Indeed, his only impression of White Elephant City came from a column in an issue of Survivor’s Daily, which included an anthology called "Red Soil."

All signs indicated that it was still a poor place dominated by manor economics. And as everyone knows, selling goods to livestock is pointless.

As for turning livestock into people, that’s the job of someone like the Manager—it couldn’t be expected that a profit-driven merchant like him would do such a thing.

He was not a Residents of the refuge nor interested in charity.

Speaking of which, Jingalon Port had been doing well lately, and the educational level there had increased; he had considered opening a branch there, perhaps producing batteries, engines, inverters, and such that were urgently needed in the Southern sea area—but these were just plans.

There were too many uncertain risks for him to make a hasty decision.

Duke Garava’s face fell with disappointment, but he didn’t give up just yet.

He comforted himself, thinking perhaps the chips on the table weren’t enough yet, and that he needed to press on a little harder...

In the latter half of their meeting, both tactfully avoided talking about business and simply enjoyed their tea and conversation to build rapport.

Although Lister knew what the Duke was thinking, he didn’t mind forming a relationship with him, as it helped him understand the situation in the Poluo Province.

After their meeting, Duke Garava politely escorted him all the way to the embassy doors, only returning after Lister’s car had disappeared around the corner.

Meanwhile, sitting in the back seat of his private car, Lister had already put the matter of Duke Garava behind him and casually picked up the latest issue of Survivor’s Daily that his secretary had purchased ahead of time.

The headline was about Coral City.

This pearl of the Southern sea area had recently been the hottest topic in the City of Dawn, with many people booking flights to Potato Harbor just to take a submarine there for a visit.

Although most people treated it as a vacation zone or a sacred travel destination, Lister knew the real value of that place.

Coral City’s construction utilized a great deal of technology in materials science and engineering recovered from the Sky Court, and the settlement located at the bottom of the sea would become the bridgehead for the Alliance to develop the space heritage of the Era of Prosperity.

The Alliance’s scientific research team and the Biological Institute had already taken action, and some powerful private enterprises were also following up in succession.

If he could excavate something from it and develop it into something needed by Alliance society, his career would no doubt be able to rise to a new level.

As Lister was thinking this, he suddenly noticed a small piece of news at the bottom of the third page of the newspaper.

"...The Moon Clan Resistance Army has entered Mammoth City and has declared the occupation of Mammoth State. At the same time, the spokesperson for the new authorities of Mammoth State contacted the editors of Jingalon Port ’Survivor’s Daily’ to declare publicly that Mammoth State would be the first slave-free state in the Poluo Province. The Resistance leader Laxi stated that he would adhere to the policies advocated by the United Federation and called upon knowledgeable individuals everywhere to unite and resist the imperial tyranny."

Mammoth State?

What place was that?

Lister was stunned for a moment and then went to fetch his tablet, opened the world map, and found the land in the top-right corner of the "Zoo Province."

A Tasang River much shorter than the Everflow River joined the Poluo Sea from Mammoth State, while on the other side of the Jubar Mountains lay the jewel of Luo Province -- Silver Moon Bay.

"The location really isn’t bad," chuckled Lister, shaking his head slightly, "what a pity that a group of natives is occupying it."

If Baiyue Corporation could advance a bit further, that would be great.

Thinking this to himself, he flipped to the next page of the newspaper only to see that the following page was still news from Mammoth State reprinted from ’Survivor’s Daily (Jinjaron Port).’

According to what the Resistance Army said in the telegram, because the Empire Army had destroyed the Tasang River Levee, Mammoth State had suffered severe disasters, leaving a large number of survivors homeless.

The Resistance leader Laxi stated that the Resistance Army would not abandon the survivors of Mammoth State and would make every effort to provide disaster relief. He also hoped that the distinguished individuals of Jinjaron Port could help them with reconstruction efforts and assist the Resistance Army in resettling a portion of the displaced survivors.

Meanwhile, Duke Bamut, the former governor of Mammoth State, was publicly tried in the square of the Mammoth City dock area and admitted to all charges in court, acknowledging that the destruction of the levee was his own idea, resulting in millions of survivors becoming displaced.

Influenced by the boiling public discontent, the temporary military court of the Resistance Army approved the execution by firing squad of Duke Bamut on the day the trial ended. In addition, 8 soldiers who committed robbery and 6 who committed rape were executed by firing squad.

In an interview, Roger, the Secretary-General of the Jinjaron Port United Federation, stated that he believed this reflected Laxi’s determination to enforce military discipline.

There is currently some debate within the United Federation of Jinjaron Port over whether Laxi is a qualified leader, but most of the high echelons of the Federation are optimistic.

It is understood that before, Laxi, a former slave, had also executed soldiers involved in abducting local women when he overtook Lowell Camp.

Some Alliance individuals had criticized his methods as too rough, but subsequently, he clearly learned from the criticism, establishing courts and disaster relief offices, etc. This was one of the reasons why the high echelons of the Federation were optimistic about him.

According to the editors of this newspaper, during the past two hundred years in Poluo Province, there have been countless internal wars, and after conquering settlements, it was customary for soldiers to engage in looting, much like the Looter imitating the practice of cannibalism by the Mutants in River Valley, Brocade River, and Jump Horse Provinces. Forbidding soldiers from looting and pillaging after conquering settlements was extremely rare...

"This guy’s got something," Lister said with a trace of interest on his face after reading the story to the end, and he read the news again from start to finish, finding the man more and more impressive.

His actions were filled with clumsy imitation and some rough improvement, but setting aside these clumsy methods, this person was much stronger than the one he had just seen.

And as a man of the Moon Clan, having conquered a state of the Empire, he could be said to have hit a nerve – Tiandu would certainly not let him go.

To maintain the balance with the Army, the Alliance is unlikely to intervene in the situation in Poluo Province and the chance of them directly sending troops is extremely slim.

And this Laxi, if he wants to secure a foothold under the nose of the Empire, will have to cling tightly to the Alliance’s coattails.

"Han Long, the chance to make a fortune has come."

As he watched his boss’s face light up with joy, Han Long, who sat in the co-pilot’s seat, was slightly stunned and asked in confusion,

"Boss, didn’t you say that Poluo Province holds no value for investment?"

Shaking the newspaper in his hand, List replied with a faint smile.

"It means you haven’t understood what I’ve told you. In emerging markets, it’s the people, not the market itself, that are worth investing in, because people usually play the leading role in such places. A fool, of course, isn’t worth the investment, but a strong person still deserves a bit of investment."

He paused for a moment, then continued.

"In a few days, you will accompany Qian Duo on a trip there."

Qian Duo and Qian Lai were his subordinates, and had been with him for a long time. He thought it was about time to send them out for some training.

Han Long hesitated slightly upon hearing this.

"But... what about your safety?"

List laughed heartily.

"What safety issues could there be in the City of Dawn? You need to change your way of thinking; this place is no longer some ’emerging market.’"

...

Unlike the civil war in the southern sea area, the entry of the Moon Clan Resistance Army into Mammoth City was far less glorious and sensational than the South Sea Union’s entry into North Island, nor did it stir the nerves of anyone in the Wasteland, even though the latter’s area is not even half the size of the former.

Dawn City TV Station covered the incident with a small amount of reporting, and when Bennott, the Corps’ ambassador to the Alliance, saw the situation in Mammoth City, his first reaction was not to call his allies but instead to pick up a map and take a look.

When he realized that godforsaken place was on the east coast of Poluo Province, many states away from West Sail Port on the west coast and far outside the influence of the Corps Civilian Group, he immediately pushed the matter aside and couldn’t be bothered with it.

The Camel Hump Kingdom, adjacent to Mammoth State, did tense up briefly, mainly concerned about the influx of a large number of migrants into the kingdom.

The royal court of the Camel Hump Kingdom is an enlightened theocratic monarchy, but an enlightened monarchy is ultimately a theocracy still.

They could tolerate new interpretations of Silver Moon Church’s original doctrines, they could endure some heretic merchants bringing in their desired treasures, and they could even allow the Alliance troops to be stationed in Silver Moon Bay... after all, that was at their own request. But under no circumstances would they tolerate heretics begging on the land of the Spirit of the Sand Sea.

On this stance, the merchants and nobility of Silver Moon Bay were surprisingly unanimous with the royal family, after all, if those beggars entered Camel Hump Kingdom’s territory, Silver Moon Bay would be their first stop.

Multiple local Business Associations immediately took action, proactively contacting the leader of the Resistance, Laxi, expressing their gratitude for his protection of the church and offering to provide him with a no-interest humanitarian aid loan of 10 million silver coins.

Hearing such good news, Laxi agreed to it promptly and even delineated a "church district" outside Mammoth City for that bunch of religious zealots.

Aside from abiding by local laws, no taxes were required in the church district, and residents of Silver Moon Bay were free to do as they pleased there using their own methods.

The place was already barren land to begin with, so rather than leaving it idle, it was more practical to hand it over to the colony-enthusiastic believers of Silver Moon Bay to develop.

Anyway, the residents of Silver Moon Bay and those of Poluo Province have been living together for so long that the locals don’t have much aversion to those cat slaves who know how to do business.

Once they have developed the area well, he would ponder whether to take it back or set a price to continue renting it to them. At least in his eyes, these were negotiable matters.

Just as the Laxi authorities were exploiting the disaster in Mammoth State to expand their army, simultaneously soliciting for funds in the wake of the flood disaster and boldly implementing the "new policies," the Empire suddenly realized that there was a huge gap in their four-million-square-kilometer map.

Within the Palace of Tiandu, Witch Gu hastily summoned his ministers and confidants for a closed-door discussion in the Deliberative Hall.

The officials were desperately scratching their heads and arguing with each other, but not one could come up with a solution.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Prince Dilip stepped forward and tentatively asked.

"Shall we order the local armies of Bird State and Horse State to assemble from the west and south towards Mammoth State? The Moon Clan Resistance Army’s foundation in Mammoth State is not stable, and with the severity of the disaster there, I fear our army will cause them to collapse on their own once they press forward."

Duke Nihak was alarmed by these words. Without waiting for Witch Gu to speak, he promptly stepped forward to advise.

"Your Majesty! Absolutely not! The Tiger army and Black Panther Army have already become inextricable troubles! It’s easy to assemble the armies of Bird State and Horse State, but it will be difficult to disband them!"

Initially considering Prince Dilip’s suggestion, Witch Gu thought about nodding in agreement, but upon hearing Duke Nihak’s admonition, he was suddenly drenched in a cold sweat, inwardly sighing at the close call.

Seeing the change in Witch Gu’s expression, Duke Nihak involuntarily squeezed a handful of cold sweat in the palm of his hand and silently praised his own timely intervention, realizing that if he had been any slower, there would have been no room for maneuver.

After pausing, Duke Nihak, ignoring Prince Dilip’s displeased expression, continued to speak, lowering his head.

"Your Majesty, Mammoth State is a minor matter, we must not disrupt our own formation. If the thirteen states of Poluo Province follow the example of Tiger State and Leopard State to amass military strength independently, the regions along both banks of the Everflow River might erupt into smoke of war, and Poluo Province is likely to fall into the chaos seen a century ago!"

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Prince Dilip looked at him with displeasure and continued, "Are we to just ignore Mammoth State?"

"We must intervene!" Duke Nihak raised his head, his gaze intense as he stared at Witch Gu and spoke, "But under the current circumstances, only the Central Army can take action! We need a victorious battle to show the local powers our strength."

After pausing, he added.

"Send Arai Yang!"

The main hall erupted into commotion, and expressions of astonishment spread across the faces of the officials as they looked at this fool who had been outwitted by the Alliance.

Asking Arai Yang to take action?

Wasn’t that just repeating the mistakes made at Jin Jialun Port?!

Even Witch Gu, sitting at his high seat, furrowed his brows upon hearing this.

Without waiting for the nobles and officials to protest, it was Prince Dilip who stood out first, glaring at Duke Nihak who was voicing a dissenting opinion.

"That man was nothing but a loser of the Alliance; how could he possibly be a match for Laxi!"

Duke Nihak declared with a grave voice.

"It is precisely because he has crossed swords with the Alliance people that he knows how to deal with the Alliance!"

Prince Dilip wanted to retort with "He too had lost, so why not let himself go," yet he soon realized that it would be like admitting his own defeat, so instead, he blushed and changed tack, finding fault from another angle.

"But if we pull the Grey Wolf Army away from the border at Jin Galun Port, wouldn’t we be letting the Tiger army and Black Panther Army take control of the entire border line!"

Duke Nihak spoke with heartfelt distress.

"What difference does it make to leave them there now or pull them away? All the officers trained by the Corps for us have been corrupted by those backstabbers! It’s better to take this opportunity to move those still loyal to us up north, at least to suppress the restless Horse State and Bird State!"

Wolf Clan people are the Empire’s most loyal warriors, and as part of the Central Army, the Grey Wolf Army is the only non-imperial army absolutely loyal to Tiandu.

As for the local army, they had already successfully proved their unreliability through actions.

Unless the Empire could spare the effort to handle the two military factions, the Tiger army and Black Panther Army, using any regional power now would only fuel the fire!

After hearing Duke Nihak’s words, Witch Gu also fell into contemplation.

Although he was a layman in foreign warfare, he still had some insight into the internal affairs of the Empire.

"...Let’s do as Duke Nihak suggests. Relocate the Grey Wolf Army to Mammoth State to suppress the bandits. In addition, Dilip, make a trip to the provincial capitals of Horse State and Bird State, and tell the local nobles not to panic, just to be responsible for the supplies of the Grey Wolf Army."

Though Prince Dilip was reluctant, the Emperor’s command had been issued, and he could only nod in agreement.

"As commanded."

Seeing that the Emperor had not assigned him a task, Duke Nihak could not help but speak up.

"Your Majesty, I too can share your burdens!"

He had been idle for quite some time since returning from Jin Galun Port.

As a duke with a title but no land, if he remained idle any longer, he was afraid that there would soon be no place for him in the court.

Seeing Duke Nihak’s eager appearance, Witch Gu was not in a hurry, instead speaking deliberately and slowly.

"You have a more important task. I need you to take a ship to the Southern sea area and finalize that loan matter I mentioned before."

Duke Nihak was stunned for a moment, unexpectedly brought up the matter of the Southern sea area by the Emperor. It didn’t immediately click in his mind, especially considering the severity of recent events; he had assumed that the Emperor had already forgotten about that matter, but to his surprise, the Emperor was still contemplating it.

"But Your Majesty... with the rebel at hand, is it appropriate for us to do this now?"

Witch Gu said unconcernedly.

"The bandit trouble is in the Tasang River, far from the Everflow River. Moreover, a bunch of thieves is just a minor irritation and not a concern. The urgent matter is to deal with that economic issue."

Mammoth State was not a state with a majority of Moon Clan people, and moreover, he had purged all the Moon people in Poluo Province, with the survivors either living on farms or in slave encampments. Though he was anxious, deep down, he did not believe that a resistance army formed by slaves could create any significant turmoil.

Moreover, lately, he had also come to appreciate the benefits of having wealth.

Especially after he saw the photos of the Ideal Grand Hotel taken by that fellow Garava, his heart turned green with envy.

His palace, although floating, still paled in height compared to the Ideal Grand Hotel, so it was no wonder the Weilante People looked down upon his palace.

Once the Empire had the funds, he would have the people of Ideal City come here to build him a palace that could touch the clouds.

But meals had to be eaten one bite at a time, walls excavated bit by bit.

He could take advantage of the fact that the "Battle of Heaven" in Haiya Province wasn’t yet finished, starting from the Southern sea area which the Alliance was temporarily ignoring.

That was the safest place.

The Alliance wasn’t the Corps, and that Manager had once spoken of ending the Wasteland, so of course, he wouldn’t send soldiers over just because he was doing a little "business" there, right?

Once the Empire became the biggest creditor of the Southern sea area, that South Sea Union would be Witch Gu’s dog, and it would be too late for the Alliance to regret anything.

After laying out his plans, a smug smile spread across Witch Gu’s face, and the court officials all had looks of sudden realization, and they praised His Majesty’s wisdom.

Only the Minister of Finance had a smile that was somewhat more thought-provoking, or rather, carried a hint of grievances too bitter to be spoken.

Although Poluo Province was vast, it had many mouths to feed.

He pondered that lending West Winds currency to the Southern sea area was indeed a good way to resolve cement stockpiles, but this method of lending was somewhat like drawing a scoop based on the pot’s shape.

What if the other party defaulted on the debt?

Could the Empire send the Fleet over to knock on their door to collect the debt, or did they have significant investments in the South Sea Union that could be used to settle the debt?

Handling this likely bad debt would become a big problem later on.

If they were willing to make nice, passing off those zeroes on the string of coral as debt repayment would let both parties save face.

If they weren’t willing to deal, it would seem that the creditor side would have to be "magnanimous"...

At the same time that the Empire was mobilizing to suppress the Moon Clan Rebel Army, Lin Minghui, the acting president far away in the South Sea Union, was worried about a labor shortage.

It was already the end of October.

The reconstruction work of the Northern Islands had been underway for almost a month, but because of the lack of manpower, progress had been difficult.

The construction teams from Baiyue Corporation were in charge of projects such as the North Island Navy base and the ocean current power station, but there were far more places that needed rebuilding.

This was the awkward problem that the South Sea Union faced.

Although they had a staggering amount of technical reserves and no shortage of highly educated talents, they were severely lacking in laborers who could actually do the work.

Even if automation could solve part of the problem, that had to wait until the ocean current power station and the advanced productivity of each island was fully restored.

To put it simply, distant water couldn’t extinguish the fire close at hand; what they needed now were not doctors and engineers, but a large number of gray workers and brick movers.

They didn’t even need these people to be literate; they just needed to understand United Human language.

Recently, Potato Harbor had opened the immigration channel from Jin Jialun Port to Baiyue Strait, and he was wondering if the South Sea Union should also attract some immigrants.

But there were many issues involved.

The delegation of the South Sea Union was much more xenophobic than the Alliance’s delegation, and distrust of outsiders was somewhat natural for the island residents.

Even Ring Island, which was most pro-Alliance, had always opposed the immigration of outsiders, and cared little about the emigration of native survivors.

If he forcibly passed a bill to relax immigration requirements now, although it would be beneficial for the post-war recovery of the South Sea Union in the long run, he would definitely stand opposite the survivors of the South Sea Union and be against the delegation.

Why bother?

He counted on his fingers and realized that his term as acting president was only a few months away, just waiting for this "Battle of Heaven" to end someday.

Having just won a magnificent victory, Lin Minghui now just wanted to ensure no mistakes during the rest of his term, and to hand over his powers as a hero at the end, completing the last and most glorious page of the heroic epic, then peacefully serve as his navy commander until he reached his full retirement age.

Later, when there were battles to be fought, he would fight; when there weren’t, he would feed seagulls and fry fish, and when bored, he would go to a bar in Potato Harbor to have a little drink and boast.

His life had been exciting enough.

And that grandson Charles would never in his life hear the drunks praise his "achievements"; if that guy was still alive, he would surely be maddened with jealousy.

Lin Minghui thought back and forth and finally realized that he really didn’t need to frown toward the end of his term.

However, just as he finally figured everything out and was about to toss the report in his hands aside, leaving all the thorny issues for his successor, there was a knock at the door of his office.

He took a sip of black tea, straightened up, and cleared his throat.

"Come in."

The door opened.

It was his political secretary.

"Mr. President, someone is looking for you."

Lin Minghui made a concerned expression, interlacing his fingers on the desk.

"Who is looking for me? Is there an issue?"

Seeing the president who diligently dealt with the minutiae of the Southern sea area, the secretary spoke respectfully.

"It’s a representative from Mammoth City, he says he can resolve your urgent issue..."

Mammoth City?

Lin Minghui paused, reaching instinctively for the map of Baiyue Province to see when the Alliance had added a new item on his doorstep.

However, the secretary at the desk saw this and coughed awkwardly, reminding him softly.

"It’s another map..."