Chapter 531.3: Beta 0.5 Version Update!

On the day after the celebration ended, things in the south of the River Valley Province had seemingly returned to normal.

Aside from a few representatives lingering in Dawn City, enchanted by its prosperity and the New Alliance’s prestige, most had already departed on the final day, bringing the New Alliance’s gifts back to their homelands.

The New Alliance's standard return gift included a set of 12 Champion-brand stimulants and a set of 12 Induction Serums. The former temporarily boosted all stats by 4% to 20%, while the latter had nearly a 45% chance to trigger an awakening after four doses.

To the New Alliance, those were commonplace black-box products. But to small and medium sized survivor factions, they were invaluable both in terms of utility and symbolism.

Of course, for important allies, or factions that gave especially valuable gifts, Chu Guang also offered a Deathclaw hatchling.

As an envoy of the Bugra Free State and a representative of the Flintstone Group, Xavier delivered the gifts promptly.

Though the two sides had clashed over the Bonechewer Clan, tariffs, and arms trading, tensions hadn’t escalated to the point of total breakdown.

After reporting to the Flintstone Group’s president about the festivities and what he observed at the banquet, Xavier cautiously shared his impression. "... The New Alliance’s administrator is not lacking in ambition. I can clearly sense he won’t settle for just a slice of the River Valley Province. In a short conversation, I couldn't gauge the full extent of his abilities, but his words definitely had a persuasive, almost hypnotic power. He’s nothing like the man I first met in West Continent Municipality!"

"Also, I observed the other representatives. Even those from far-off lands or those serving feudal monarchs... They seemed captivated by his rhetoric on equality and unity. Some even talked about renaming their factions to align with the New Alliance."

With his legs propped up on his desk, dressed to the nines, Sigma swirled the glass in his hand and replied casually, "Nothing strange about that. What would be strange is if he were satisfied with just a small patch of the River Valley Province. Haven’t they already pushed their reach into the Great Desert?"

"... The Free State’s leadership thinks that’s just a ruse to divert attention from the main force," Xavier replied in a low voice.

"Doesn’t matter what the pigs in the pen think." Sigma snorted.

Xavier smiled bitterly at the dismissive tone, but comforted himself with the fact that he was merely an envoy, not part of the Free State's leadership. The insult didn’t apply to him.

And to be fair, his boss had a point. He too often felt that whenever the Great Rift Valley interfered in affairs of the Bugra Free State, their already dimwitted leadership only got worse.

Meanwhile, Flintstone’s prestige and grip over the Bugra Free State only strengthened after each reshuffle orchestrated by the Great Rift Valley.

Xavier cleared his throat and continued, "... There’s one more thing. At the banquet, the administrator specifically cold-shouldered the representative from Boulder Town. Based on what I observed afterward... I have a strong hunch..."

"Boulder Town might be finished."

It sounded absurd.

Boulder Town had once ruled the south of the River Valley Province. It was one of the few heirs of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee’s legacy.

Xavier hesitated slightly as he voiced his prediction.

To his surprise, Sigma merely gave a soft scoff. "That’s expected."

Xavier blinked as he was slightly taken aback. He didn’t doubt his boss’s judgment.

He was just a representative of the Flintstone Group. There were clearly layers of information he wasn’t privy to.

After a pause, he mumbled with uncertainty, "But I still don’t get one thing... Didn’t the New Alliance claim it wouldn’t interfere with outside affairs? Striking Boulder Town, who invested in them, doesn’t that seem a little too premature?"

"Non-interference?" Sigma sneered. "That doesn’t mean they’re running a charity. Those naive blue coats are nearly extinct. They have learned how to adapt."

"For example, in the Sunset Province, even though the Golden Lizard Kingdom technically belongs to the Academy, the Falcon Kingdom still run the place. Who doubts the New Alliance is really in charge there?"

Rumor had it the Golden Lizard Kingdom even built a statue of the Administrator out of melted Dinar. Gold might be worthless in the wasteland, but it symbolized wealth.

The statue was presented during the celebration, so the Academy couldn’t object.

And when the war ended, the Sunset Province was fully aligned with the New Alliance. To boost silver coin reserves, the kingdoms had even slashed grain prices to the bone.

"The New Alliance doesn’t grip the Levee tight because indirect control brings more profit than violent conquest."

"In contrast, the Army was just dumb. They stormed the Honey Badger Kingdom, spun up some fairy tale about a desert-unifying Spirit of the Desert prophecy, and what happened? Not even their allies bought it. The Honey Badger Kingdom grew more united than ever, guerrilla fighters in the mountains, snipers in the cities... They even burned their own fields. The Army took it in seven days while the New Alliance reclaimed it in three."

If the New Alliance had chosen to conquer the Sunset Province, even under a flag of equality, people would’ve resisted endlessly.

No matter how flawed, their king was still blessed by the Spirit of the Desert.

To Sigma, the New Alliance had done the smart thing, taking a page from the Academy’s playbook.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"In regional governance, the Academy is far ahead. They hand out patents and technology, let the wastelanders manufacture, take the lion’s share of the profits, and no one complains. But those Wislander idiots? They conquered huge land and turned into bloated weaklings. The moment they look away, their slaves slack off or revolt."

"That’s why the business world’s judgment of the Army is justified. Aside from playing coloring games on maps, they’ve done nothing to solve any real wasteland problems."

Still, despite his high regard for the Academy, Sigma didn’t like them. He couldn’t do business with those ivory-tower types. His branches couldn’t even physically enter their swamp.

The Army, though... At least he could deal with them. As long as he had enough dinars, even mutant trafficking could slide under the radar.

Even if the Marshal didn’t allow it, his underlings would.

Sigma had nothing but contempt for the Bugra Free State’s analytical reports on the New Alliance. To him, only fools used binary good vs evil logic to define collective will. What kind of organization entrusted its future to morality?

Even the Enterprise had a dirty history. Their way of apologizing for it was chasing mutants up and down the coastlines of the Among Cloud Province.

"I don’t get it... doesn’t Boulder Town’s City Lord see what the New Alliance is doing?" Xavier asked with a frown.

Leaning back lazily, Sigma replied, "Of course you don’t get it. You don’t know what kind of creature their City Lord is."

"If I’m being honest, the Enlightenment Society got one thing right. The Post-War Reconstruction Committee was the most corrupt, most worthless organization on this whole blasted wasteland. They thought they were preserving civilization by building shelters, but up close, they were just pigsties turning people into pigs."

Take the Bugra Free State for example... It was the perfect example.

That undead old man couldn’t accept the committee’s failure, but still pretended to follow their no interference vow. So he built another pigsty at his doorstep and called it the Bugra Free State.

They naively hoped their guidance could balance the pigsty and eventually replace the splintered production, defense, and technological departments.

What a joke.

Thankfully, the survivors had minds of their own. Most refused to stay pigs in a pen, constantly revising and reshaping under a bunch of deaf old fossils.

Through generations of effort, they created a new rule beneath the Great Rift Valley’s rule and planned to use the Flintstone Group to hollow out the Bugra Free State!

The latter ruled by day as a puppet sovereign. The former ruled the night as the true power.

To achieve it, they used extortion, bribery, kidnapping, whatever it took to turn the officials into their pawns.

So no matter how many times the Great Rift Valley interfered, the Bugra Free State stayed free.

Sigma smirked coldly. He knew exactly who he was.

He was a merchant, a traveling trader. He worshiped the Enterprise, but unlike the moral posturers of the East Coast, he wasn’t pretending.

He was just himself, a profit-seeking scoundrel.

That legal cover he wore? It existed precisely so he could do whatever he wanted within the rules. If he still had to obey rules others made, wouldn’t that defeat the whole purpose?

They were living in the wasteland! He would make his own rules!

Lowering his legs from the desk, he looked at Xavier, his trusted southern operative. "Make sure all our people near Boulder Town stay sharp."

"If the New Alliance wants to slaughter the pig early, we’ll help them speed it up. But we’re taking a slice too."

Xavier nodded solemnly. "Understood!"