Chapter 522.2: There's Only One Thing I Want To Do

"When the people of the New Alliance have both time and money, they gain spending power and greater needs. As long as we keep inflation within a reasonable range, this will become a booming market full of opportunity."

"In order to earn more interest, the nobles of Boulder Town won’t urge us to repay the debt, in fact, they’ll scramble to hand us more chips, because they know we’ll soon use those chips to buy their goods, allowing them to earn the money back. With that circulation, even if Boulder Town Bank doesn’t print a single new chip, the chips in their pockets will effectively double, or it might grow even more."

Sun Ruicai didn’t dare to breathe as he heard Chu Guang’s vision.

Charlie looked at Chu Guang in astonishment. After hearing his idea, he had essentially understood Chu Guang’s intentions.

Not only did the dude have no plans to reduce the debt, he intended to borrow even more!

He would use that borrowed capital to develop the economy, invest in infrastructure, and improve people’s lives. This, in turn, would grow the New Alliance’s economic scale and attract more money into the system.

But Charlie still saw a flaw and he cautiously raised the issue. "But eventually, we’ll have to repay Boulder Town with the very chips we earned from them. We can’t exactly pay them back with silver coins."

Sun Ruicai nodded in agreement. "That’s true... Their citizens used to have spending power, but now, they’re even cutting back on nutrient paste."

Seeing the two of them worried, Chu Guang nodded in approval. "Good, that means you’ve been paying attention. It also shows that our plan has entered phase two. A large concentration of chips has flowed into the hands of Boulder Town’s nobles, pushing up inflation there. Now, if you were a noble and saw everyone getting richer around you with more chips in circulation, but each chip worth less and less, what would you do?"

Sun thought for a moment and his eyes widened in realization. "I’ll try to preserve their value! I’d try to buy something that could appreciate, assets, or industries, before my chips devalue!"

Chu Guang smiled and nodded. "Correct. Though not quite complete."

Blind investment was one of the classic symptoms of economic overheating. In a frenzy, people would lose their rationality, blindly investing to outpace inflation.

That was because money came too easily.

It was as if one could earn profits with their eyes closed. Compared to losing money, people were more afraid of missing the train.

"There’s no market more investment-worthy than the New Alliance in the south of the River Valley Province. They certainly won’t waste their chips on the impoverished masses who can’t even afford nutrient paste. I don’t expect to profit off those people."

"Besides investment, the nobles in the inner city will also become more extravagant in their spending habits. All we need to do is give them a little encouragement, nudge them toward a bigger vision, and they’ll bring the money themselves. For instance... We develop our tourism and entertainment industry, let them compete with Ideal City to see who can waste money faster. Or we issue more debt, attracting the idle capital in their hands that can’t find investment opportunities."

"As for Boulder Town’s residents... As unfortunate as they are, that’s for their government to worry about. If they can’t even afford nutrient paste, they’ll eventually come here to chew corn."

Chu Guang did feel sympathy for their plight. Those survivors were also victims of the wasteland.

But he had said before... The interests of the New Alliance came first. He wouldn’t sacrifice his people for others.

If they were willing to come to the New Alliance, however, he didn’t mind sharing the leeks he harvested from the nobles of Boulder Town, helping them start a new life.

After all, it was originally their labor that produced that value.

"... To standardize the management of our New Alliance’s foreign debt, and to let our creditors exercise their claims more conveniently and efficiently, I’m planning to have the New Alliance Central Bank cooperate with Boulder Town Bank to issue a new debt instrument denominated in chips. It will be called a 'bond’ and it will partly replace chips in circulation. Whether or not Boulder Town Bank accepts it as legal tender, we’ll honor it at face value and interest upon maturity. If the nobles don’t mind, they’re welcome to treat it like cash."

Charlie asked in disbelief, "Would Boulder Town Bank agree to that? This clearly looks like a trap..."

Chu Guang chuckled, "Believe me, even if I didn’t suggest it, they’d eventually come to me with a similar proposal. They want their debt holdings to circulate like currency too."

Charlie fell silent for a moment, then sighed softly and said, "I really am getting old."

Chu Guang shook his head. "Nope. No you’re not. I can provide macro-level strategy, but the details still depend on you all to study, debate, and improve on."[1]

"I’ll do my best to keep up with your pace," said Charlie. He glanced at Sun Ruicai, then added, "As for today’s meeting... I recommend keeping it confidential."

Because in essence, they weren’t really discussing how to repay debt. Those fools present were discussing how to scalp more profit from their neighbors.

If word got out, it would not strengthen creditor confidence, it would make them all start plotting their own nasty schemes.

Sun Ruicai nodded solemnly, clutching his meeting notes tightly. "Understood!"

Chu Guang didn’t respond but tacitly approved of Charlie’s suggestion, even though he felt that secrecy wasn’t that important.

A lot of it was already obvious.

Someone would eventually notice that Boulder Town’s asset bubble was inflating, and the risks hidden within it were rising.

Like, say, the president of Boulder Town Bank...

All it would take was a little effort, and they would realize that the number of chips circulating in the city exceeded the total amount officially issued.

However, those who spotted the problem wouldn’t dare to burst the bubble. That was because there was no benefit in doing so. It would only bring trouble.

The smart thing to do was to ride the bubble just long enough to cash out before it burst.

If the last stop was a cliff, smart people would get off at the last second.

The closed-door meeting ended after just an hour.

Though many had heard the Administrator was holding a high-level meeting on debt repayment, only the three attendees knew what was actually discussed. No one else knew what kind of instructions the New Alliance’s leader had issued to the Merchant Guild and the Finance Department.

While traders from Boulder Town speculated that perhaps the New Alliance had run out of money, the very next day, a city hall announcement from Dawn City slapped everyone in the face.

The announcement was thousands of words long, but it boiled down to two things. There were tenders and tenders of multi-sector public bids.

First was transportation.

Dawn City Hall was offering a 500,000 silver coin tender for 50 electric buses, to serve the six existing public lines and four new ones. Those buses would replace the cargo trucks and troop carriers currently being used, with the goal of reducing commuting costs for residents to under 1 silver coin, and to let them ride seated, without getting their pants dirty.

Not just buses. The plan included supporting infrastructure.

The city also opened tenders for 50 kilometers of concrete roadways, plus four new charging stations.

But the most eye-catching item?

It was one that made the frontpage of Survivor’s Daily.

...

In the morning, in a private cottage inside Linghu Wetland Park.

Ample Time sat at the dining table, holding the latest issue of Survivor’s Daily, face full of disbelief.

"Good grief... That adds up to a lot of silver."

Dawn City's Mayor Luca had announced that, to accommodate the ever-growing influx of survivors, and improve housing conditions, the city would tender the construction of 1,000 apartment buildings on the wasteland northeast of Clearspring City. Each unit had to be over 40 square meters. Each building should house at least 48 and no more than 60 households.

As per tradition, players could also participate in the design process and bidding for the construction rights.

He was willing to bet that with how obsessed Lifestyle Profession players were with making money, the project would dethrone level B6 as the top trending forum topic by the end of the day.

The newspaper even had a map marking out the vacant lot east of Embassy Street. Two of the new public lines would pass through it.

But come to think of it, roads and buildings cost money. Where the hell was all their money coming from?

Wasn’t it supposed to be a nearly fully realistic economic system? Why did it feel like those NPCs never played by the rules?

Wait a second...

Ample Time paused and realized he had been thinking with real-world logic. The wasteland was a completely different place.

Here, the most valuable resource wasn’t some black-box technology...

It was the people.

People did the research. People did the design. People screwed in bolts and planted crops. People explored mines and scavenged ruins.

Only with people could they recover the treasures of pre-war civilization. Without manpower, one couldn’t even profit from selling hyena meat. Someone else would skin them first.

As long as the New Alliance continued siphoning manpower and wealth from surrounding survivor settlements, this quantitative easing approach would absolutely work.

If one wanted a real-world parallel, they wouldn’t find it in the 21st century.

They would have to go back to the 19th century.

...

As Ample Time thought of the implications of the news, Dori quietly walked up beside him, kissed his cheek, and placed a steaming hot bun on the table. After she was done, she spoke. "Someone’s here to see you."

Folding up the newspaper, Ample Time looked up and smiled. "Who is it?"

Dori scrunched her nose. "He said his name is Kishur. He claims to be the son of Boulder Town Bank’s president... But I don’t think he’s a good guy. He feels... shady."

She really didn’t like the way that guy’s eyes wandered, but she still politely asked him to wait at the door.

Kishur.

The moment Ample Time heard the name, his eyes lit up. He pushed back his chair and stood with a grin. "You’re right darling, he’s not a good person at all."

"But... That doesn’t mean he can’t be useful."

"Useful?" Dori tilted her head, puzzled.

She couldn’t imagine that arrogant guy being capable of doing any good.

"Exactly. Everyone has to do at least one good deed in their life, or it’s just too pitiful." Ample Time smiled as he gently patted her head. "And it just so happens... I’m here to help him do it."

1. WORK FOR ME ☜