Chapter 533.2: Twisted Fate Chu Guang

The first was the loan agreement. He gave them a taste of trade surplus by issuing a 200 million chip loan.

That allowed the nobles and merchants to profit, while ordinary survivors got jobs to feed their families. Then the New Alliance’s debt grew to 510 million chips, a result of both lobbying from vested interests like Malvern and Chu Guang’s calculated approval.

Then came the second card.

As debt mounted, the few smart people in Boulder Town would start to grow wary. They would realize risk was a cost, and would try to use their debt holdings to pressure the New Alliance into trade concessions.

At that point, all the New Alliance had to do was show that its financial health was sound and the outlook better than ever. The party could go on and the game could continue.

Malvern was no fool. He might’ve wanted to hit the brakes, but he also knew the truth. There was no brakes on the car Chu Guang built for him.

From the start, the system had no way to stop. They could either let it coast gently forward, or crash in a spectacular wreck.

As bank president, all Malvern could do was install a spring under the gas pedal and call it a regenerative braking system, and hope it made the nobles go a little lighter on the gas.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

So when Chu Guang offered the second card, suggesting the New Alliance help build a pool for surplus currency from surplus debt, and that within five years the chip-silver coin exchange rate would be fully liberalized, Malvern agreed almost instantly.

He had a lot of cards in hand, but not many he could actually use.

And the spring offered by the New Alliance was much better than his own half-baked nonsense.

Ultimately, every one of the New Alliance’s active debt maneuvers, plus the third card he hadn’t yet played, had one goal. It was to force Boulder Town Bank to turn on the liquidity tap and hook its money printer to a fusion reactor.

In the best-case scenario, Boulder Town would collapse gently. It would take three to five years to lose the wealth it had built over 150 years. Most people’s lives would change, but not too painfully, and not for too long.

What Chu Guang hadn’t expected was that the nobles went off script. At a moment when caution was needed, they were bolder and crazier than ever.

He had only just played the second card, and those idiots already pulled the third from his pocket, burning through Boulder Town’s century-old foundation in exchange for the illusion of frothy beer bubbles.

Debt had already reached the production sector, and that was terrifying.

Under normal circumstances, Boulder Town’s economy should’ve gone through two more acceleration phases and one final frenzy before collapse.

But their greed had sped everything up.

The gap between circulating speculative cash and actual capital used in production now spanned multiple zeroes.

The survivors of Boulder Town were one spark away from needing 50,000 chips to buy a loaf of bread.

Tens of thousands of refugees were still manageable. But with over 500,000 permanent residents, and an outer ring of scavengers living off city trash, once the wall fell, a careless move could bring down the whole New Alliance.

Seeing the concern on Chu Guang’s face, Luca asked with uncertainty, "... I don’t get it. We’ve defeated enemies 10 times our number on the battlefield. How could this be a real problem?"

Chu Guang wasn’t surprised by Luca’s confusion. He turned to him and asked, "You ever heard of a whale explosion?"

Luca blinked. "... A what? A whale?"

"Yes." Chu Guang nodded. "A beached whale corpse, filled with rotting gas, eventually explodes. The chunks can fly a kilometer, and the smell lingers for months. Disposing of one on land is harder than killing a healthy one at sea."

Luca imagined it. He could think of some massive creature, harder to handle than a mutant, and after a pause, frowned. "So you mean... Boulder Town is the whale. When it falls, it’ll make a huge mess."

Chu Guang nodded again. "Last year, the River Valley Province had one such explosion. The Army’s expeditionary force collapsed in retreat, triggering the attack of the Bonechewer Clan. the central region of the River Valley Province was reduced to ash, most survivor settlements were destroyed, and over 90% of the New Alliance’s current population are survivors of that disaster. You must remember it."

Luca’s expression turned solemn. "What do you plan to do?"

"If something is bound to happen, then all we can do is prepare." Chu Guang sighed, "Use the loan we got from Boulder Town Bank and place more orders for blankets and winter clothes from their factories."

He couldn’t let a tumor spread unchecked, but he also couldn’t avoid cutting it out.

They were simply too close to the New Alliance’s heart.

Even if he didn’t want to clean up after the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, he had to think ahead.

The truth was, if Boulder Town had done everything the New Alliance had done, if they had united the survivors around Clearspring City, then Baker Street, Brown Farm, the Bloodhand Clan, and even the New Alliance itself wouldn’t exist.

The Bonechewer Clan would’ve flooded the outer city with new blood. Even those who had grudges against the Post-War Reconstruction Committee’s production department, those were old feuds. The opportunity for a new era had been within reach.

If that had happened, Shelter 404 wouldn’t have even mattered. Chu Guang might’ve returned to his original profession.

Doing business with civilized people wouldn’t have been hard for him. He had been quite good at it before he transmigrated.

But standing in the wasteland, he only had to look up to see the face of the old leech. Everywhere he turned were hyenas and vultures.

If nothing was done, they would all end up as prey for the mutants. And if someone had to lose everything, it might as well be those who never deserved anything to begin with.

Still, they were all children of the Federation. Even if Boulder Town had once turned away most River Valley Province’s survivors, he wouldn’t abandon them the way the Army had.

Guessing what Chu Guang was thinking, Luca spoke sincerely. "I’ll have someone prepare everything immediately."

Chu Guang nodded. "Go."

When it came to settling refugees, Luca was probably the most experienced man in the entire New Alliance.

...

It was the morning of the fourth day after the celebration.

Outside, the sky was still a soft gray. Dori stretched and yawned before climbing out of bed. After freshening up, she placed breakfast on the table.

Just like always, a certain scheming rascal was still snoring away. Until his alarm went off, not even the meanest prank would stir a reaction. But kind-hearted Miss Dori had no intention of arresting the villain while he was still asleep.

She gazed for a while at his peaceful, sleeping face, then quietly leaned down to kiss him on the cheek. Blushing, she tiptoed out the front door.

Two days ago, the New Alliance’s Survivor’s Daily really did accept her submission. Not only did they dedicate an entire page to her column, they even included a job offer in their reply letter.

According to the editor who wrote back, the editor-in-chief greatly admired her detailed investigative work, and even instructed the other reporters to learn from her example.

He wanted them to open their eyes wide when it was required.

Honestly, Dori felt a little embarrassed. While the column was indeed her writing, much of the material hadn't come from her alone.

As for the job offer from the Survivor’s Daily, she had happily accepted it.

It was her first day on the job. Not wanting to give her new colleagues the impression that she was the type to be late, she left early.

The newspaper office was located on a street near Embassy Street on the east of Dawn City. The area’s architecture was an eclectic mix of styles, and it took her a while to locate the building using the address on the envelope.

However, the New Alliance's working hours were different than she’d expected. She waited quite some time before a yawning gatekeeper finally arrived to open the doors.

“Good morning, miss reporter. You’re awfully early. Our director’s probably just getting out of bed.”

“Good morning... Isn’t work supposed to start at 6:00?” Dori asked softly, glancing at the sleepy guard.

He blinked, then chuckled and said, “That used to be the case. After the celebration, office hours were moved to 8:00 in the morning. Just don’t be more than half an hour late and you’re fine.”

Dori nodded politely, thanked him, and slipped inside the office building, heading for the human resources department with her letter in hand.

The onboarding process had been completed the day before. Only her work badge hadn’t been ready. They told her to collect it on her first day.

Once Dori received her badge, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. The anxious weight in her chest melted away, and she walked to her desk, brimming with joy.

She had expected a ton of red tape, but everything had gone smoother than she imagined.

Truthfully, she had been a little nervous up to that point.

She had never stayed outside the great wall for so long, and certainly never imagined she would one day work and live beyond it.

Until the year before, the world beyond the great wall had been synonymous with chaos and desolation. She had even tried persuading Ample Time to stay in the walls with her.

But the time she had spent there had changed her perspective. Things in the New Alliance weren’t nearly as hard as she’d feared. People were kind, the food was delicious, and while many aspects of the city still needed improvement, it was getting better every day. And that wasn’t just due to having a wise administrator, it was because people truly wanted to contribute to something greater.

At least, that was how she felt.

"From now on, this is a new beginning..."