Chapter 806: Chapter 806: Mammoth City Under the Morning Sun
"Whoa! Is this the legendary Mammoth State?"
On the deck of the Meat Meat, a short-haired girl was excitedly peering through binoculars, lying on the back of a big white bear, gazing towards the distant land.
The ridden Meat Meat was equally thrilled, looking at the shore and shouting aloud.
"What a big port... and there’s a Sesame Paste’s church!"
"What’s that got to do with me..." The cat ears on her head swayed side to side as Sesame Paste said with a wry smile.
Every time she felt embarrassed, the ears on her head would feel like they weren’t hers anymore.
Tails looked curiously at the port that was coming closer, excitedly babbling non-stop.
"Giao! This place looks just like Silver Moon Bay! It’s as if they were carved from the same mold!"
"Even the statue at the dock is the same!"
"Isn’t that actually Sesame Paste?"
"No way..."
Listening to the hubbub, Si Si came down from the cockpit ladder to the deck and smiled as she spoke.
"Well, it’s just a little cleverness of the locals."
Just now from above, she had seen the entire view of the Mammoth City Port, almost identical to the most bustling area of Silver Moon Bay, even more beautifully built than the latter.
After all, the latter was pieced together bit by bit by the believers at Silver Moon Bay, like a stack of blocks placed wherever they thought of.
The former, however, absorbed the latter’s experiences and lessons, a work redrawn on a blank canvas.
With the support of the Mammoth State Authority, they not only absorbed Silver Moon Bay’s advantages but also made up for its shortcomings.
Meat Meat tilted her head to look at Si Si, curiously asking.
"A little cleverness?"
Si Si nodded and explained.
"Silver Moon Bay’s merchant ships, whether going to Jinjaron Harbor or the west of the Central Continent, will pass by the East Coast of Poluo Province. No one will refuse an extra supply point on this route, especially since Mammoth State itself has a large population, and population itself is a resource."
"The authority gained the trust of Silver Moon Bay’s believers through a series of measures and then rented land to them. The believers then built churches, banks, and ports here... Essentially, the Mammoth State Authority got a port for free without spending a penny."
Before this, it was nothing but a wasteland, and no matter how you calculate, this trade was a big win for the Mammoth State Authority.
Si Si guessed the Mammoth State Authority probably learned from Jinjaron Harbor’s experience, after all, those "lone ranger" officers came from Jinjaron Harbor, they may not have eaten pork, but they’ve seen pigs run.
"I see... So this is the legendary win-win situation."
Meat Meat nodded in sudden understanding, while Tails on her back was thinking of something else.
"Will there be mammoths?"
Hearing the thoughtless remark, Meat Meat couldn’t help but laugh.
"How could there possibly be such a thing!"
Tails: "Eeek! Then why is it called Mammoth State?"
Listening to their conversation, Si Si showed a subtle expression, lightly coughed, and said.
"Actually... there are."
"Ah???"
Hearing this unexpected statement, both Meat Meat and Sesame Paste looked at her in shock.
Especially Tails, almost pouncing on her with excitement, eyes gleaming, asking.
"Really?!"
Seeing the look of anticipation, Si Si nodded slightly, recalling the clues she had seen in documents, and began to speak.
"I heard that because they were very popular, the research institutions of the Human Alliance revived prehistoric mammoths through genetic engineering during the Prosperity Epoch, and helped them adapt to the environment of the new century... They usually live on the plateau below the Jubar Mountains in the northernmost part of Mammoth State, and reportedly only come down to live around the Tasang River during the winter."
"They actually revived them just because they were popular," Sesame Paste showed a helpless expression, unsure how to respond, "... The residents of the Human Alliance really do as they please."
Meat Meat scratched her head, puzzled, and asked.
"Won’t this affect Earth’s ecological environment?"
Si Si thought for a while and casually said.
"Poluo Province during the Human Alliance Era was a large zoo... Putting some odd things in there doesn’t seem to have much impact."
Moreover, the Wasteland Era has fully demonstrated that the adaptive ability of ecological environments is stronger than humans imagine.
Not to mention prehistoric creatures like mammoths that once existed on Earth, even stuff like the Claw of Death, monsters, and multilegged beasts, which are deadly from head to toe, ended up just becoming parts of the food chain.
Meat Meat couldn’t help but sigh.
"... What a crazy era."
Tails pondered for a long time, suddenly coming out with a question.
"Since they’ve brought back mammoths, why not bring back dinosaurs?"
Si Si: "Uh... maybe they haven’t gotten around to it yet?"
As they were talking, the long foghorn of the Meat Meat sounded.
The broad cargo ship slowly approached the edge of the dock.
With the efforts of the crew and sailors, the ship finally docked properly.
The actual situation here was completely different from the rumors.
The Survivor Daily of Jinjaron Harbor said this place had been flooded into ruins, but what they saw were smooth brick roads and marble-carved Silver Moon Bay architecture.
The nearby urban area indeed suffered a disaster, some building debris and shanties could be seen from a distance, but some concrete houses had been built on those ruins.
The meat meat in the eyes quickly noticed that those houses seemed to be pieced together with concrete prefabricated panels, and those panels were exactly the same shape as those in Giant Stone City.
In the distance, some cranes could be seen at the construction site, and these engineering devices further confirmed meat meat’s suspicion.
Meat meat estimated that the authorities must have used some foreign exchange reserves to import production equipment for concrete prefabricated panels and hoisting technology from the Alliance, and then used cement and steel bought from other places to complete these "corn buildings."
It’s said that the state of Mammoth has a population of tens of millions, and most of them lived lives worse than livestock before, even suffering a flood that affected a third of the state not long ago.
Expecting them to move straight from the cattle shed into large houses is unrealistic; even the Alliance back then expended considerable effort to just solve the food and shelter for a hundred thousand people.
However, the comforting thing is that the situation here seems to be improving little by little.
Just like the City of Dawn once did.
Originally not very optimistic about Laxi, meat meat suddenly found a slight change in thought.
Perhaps these tough-styled officers are actually not as bad as she imagined?
Here, talking about equality is still too early; they first have to get the people here full...
After completing a series of procedures like the goods delivery order, the group was planning to stroll around the pier and take a look at this emerging settlement, when they unexpectedly bumped into a familiar face.
It was a man dressed in a flamboyant robe, blushing and arguing with several uniformed officials about something.
Or rather, he was quibbling —
"I’m clearly selling frozen livestock! On what grounds are you charging me fur tax!"
"Don’t talk nonsense," said the uniformed official with a sneer, "Is mink fur growing on a pig? Go find me a pig with mink fur!"
Mogavi’s face turned red.
"You just haven’t seen one! How dare you say there’s none in the Wasteland? In Baiyue Province... there are plenty of these strange things!"
The uniformed man rolled his eyes, as if to say "you’re insulting my intelligence."
At that moment, a sweet voice chimed in from the side.
"Oh! Really? Why hasn’t tail seen one after staying there for so long?"
"!!!"
"Do you have anything else to quibble about?" The uniformed man looked at Mogavi mockingly, but the latter gasped in disbelief at the strange group of three humans and a bear.
"...Si Si? Tail?"
Tail stared at him for a while, feeling somewhat familiar.
And in that instant, a distant memory suddenly clicked, she exclaimed in surprise.
"Oh oh oh! You’re the fur seller!"
Blown away by the remark, Mogavi nearly choked on his own spit, coughing several times to regain his composure.
"What do you mean by fur seller! I have a name, you know!"
"Hehe, sorry forgot!" Tail apologized, scratching the back of her head awkwardly.
The uniformed officials immediately looked over in Mogavi’s line of sight, and seeing the big white bear, they tensed up momentarily, but only momentarily.
Especially when they realized the white bear could talk, they even relaxed their nerves.
In the Wasteland, what weirder thing isn’t there?
Another talking bear doesn’t make a difference.
As long as communication is possible.
"You are... customs officers?" Si Si asked with curiosity, glancing at their uniforms as he approached them, "What are you arguing about? Can you let us know?"
The leading customs officer looked at Mogavi beside him and sneered.
"This guy wrapped pork with mink fur, declared them as livestock products, and tried to exploit the grain import tax exemption loophole!"
Mammoth State is currently in dire need of foreign exchange, yet these unscrupulous merchants are trying to steal the silver coins that overseas workers earned through frugality!
If not for their superiors requiring them to "appeal with emotion and reason" to these foreign merchants, they wouldn’t have wasted words here, they’d have dealt with it with gunstocks long ago!
Meat meat looked surprised at Mogavi, who had a defeated expression, and couldn’t help but comment.
"Wow, you really outdid yourself here."
Mogavi, knowing he was at fault, still defended himself.
"What’s it got to do with me... It’s the loopholes in their own design of the rules."
Si Si subtly averted his gaze.
"...Even so, I think you’re a bit over the line here."
Isn’t this the kind of scenario where you’re supposed to slip them some money?
But judging by the guy’s troubled look, he probably tried and got rejected.
The commotion near the pier quickly caught the attention of others, and within minutes, a large crowd gathered on the street.
At that moment, an old man appearing to be in his forties or fifties, accompanied by two young people, came over and was about to inquire about what happened, but noticed some familiar faces among the crowd.
"What’s going on — Si Si?!"
Seeing the astonished old man, Si Si and her group also showed surprise on their faces.
"...Ashi?"
"You still remember me!" The old man excitedly stepped forward, tightly holding her hands, "Long time no see!"
Si Si smiled and returned the handshake, shaking vigorously.
"Yes, long time no see."
He was one of the elders of the Moon Clan Resistance Army.
Back when the White Bear Knights caused a commotion at Jinjaron Harbor, it was this elderly man named Ashi and the other Moon people who resolutely stayed behind, giving the chance to escape by ship to the rescued women and children, which led to the formation of the Moon Clan Resistance Army.
Although this resistance fought many foolish battles and was later deemed an "experience pack" repeatedly farmed by the military faction, objectively speaking, the mere fact that they dared to stay behind and confront the regular army was an extraordinary feat.
The elderly man was moved to tears and nasal mucus, leaving the new young men beside him speechless.
"Everyone really misses you... By the way, is Grandma Sang Ru in good health?"
"Oh! She’s doing great! I even saw her drink a whole bottle of beer last time!" replied Tail energetically.
The elderly man grinned with relief upon hearing this.
"That’s good... It seems they’re living well, and I can be at ease."
With this, he looked toward Mogavi standing to one side, then turned to Si Si to ask.
"This person... is he your friend?"
Si Si showed a subtle expression, ignoring Mogavi’s pleading eyes, she said.
"You could say that... But even so, I hope you won’t go easy on him just because of our relationship. Just handle it according to your set rules."
No matter what, it’s too much to steal money from the poor.
Seeing that this old friend wasn’t helping him, Mogavi became anxious and began to play on emotions.
"Oh! How can you do this... I helped you back then! Have you forgotten?"
Si Si looked at him indifferently and said.
"That’s irrelevant... Besides, even back then, it was a fair business deal, cash for goods, did we ever make you suffer a loss?"
Upon hearing this, Mogavi wore a defeated expression and finally couldn’t find any more excuses.
Feeling the eyes on him, he raised both hands in a surrender gesture, despairing, he said.
"Fine, I surrender, I’ll pay... I’ll make up the taxes, alright!"
The customs lad cast his eyes to his superior Ashi, who nodded seriously with authority.
"Issue him a ticket, in view of it being a first offense, the fine will be waived, but the owed tax must be compensated!"
"Yes!" The lad nodded, then tore off a paper, smirking as he handed it to Mogavi, "Thank our director, and remember not to play such cheap tricks next time."
Mogavi glared at him fiercely, said nothing, took the paper, and hurriedly walked away.
Seeing there was no more excitement to watch, the crowd dispersed.
Looking at his long unseen benefactors, Ashi’s serious expression instantly vanished, warmly he said.
"Do you have any plans next?"
Si Si glanced around.
"We were planning to wander around here to see if there are any investment opportunities... Ah, right, we just happen to also plan to visit customs."
Ashi’s eyes lit up, promptly suggesting.
"That’s perfect, you can just come with me! Mammoth City exempts taxes on imports related to production machines, improved crop seeds, food, and medicine projects, and I’m the one in charge of this area, I can introduce you."
"Then it’s no courtesy needed."
Si Si gladly accepted the old man’s goodwill, as she also wished to gather pertinent information about this settlement.
On one hand, it’s her travel habit, and on the other, it’s the task assigned by Manager Mr. Lister.
Reliable intelligence suggests the army intends to use this powder keg in Mammoth State to pressure the Alliance, interfering with the advancement of the space elevator agenda at Sticky Community meetings.
Of course, the Alliance wouldn’t sit idly by while the Weilante People performed tricks under their noses.
However, before developing specific countermeasures, the Alliance must first understand the situation in Mammoth State.
And this glorious yet relaxed task naturally fell on the ladies engaged in commercial activities near Mammoth State.
Accompanied by Ashi, the group headed to the customs office’s lounge at Mammoth City Port.
Not until the group was seated in the lounge did they learn that the kindly smiling old man was actually the head of Mammoth State Authority’s customs administration!
Tail widened his eyes in surprise, astonished, he looked at the old man and said.
"Goodness, you’ve become such a big official!"
Staring intently, Ashi felt somewhat embarrassed too, quickly explaining.
"Can’t call it a big official, my position isn’t as grand as you think... Mammoth City’s port opened to trade not too long ago, with monthly import-export amounts only around a million silver coins, and the entire customs administration only has about forty people, not even enough for a platoon."
Saying this, Ashi showed a look of melancholy, shaking his head, he said.
"I was at least commanding a battalion before, if it wasn’t for being ostracized by Laxi’s party members, I wouldn’t be sent here to retire."
Hearing this sentence, Tail, Meat Meat, and Sesame Paste exchanged looks with Big Eyes and Gray Wolf.
Being ostracized into becoming the head of customs wasn’t bad...
Can this truly be called ostracism?
Apart from commanding fewer people, in any view this counts as a promotion!
Si Si’s expression turned subtle too as she coughed softly to change the subject.
"I heard this place had floods before, we specially brought some food and medications this time... How’s the disaster situation here?"
"Floods happened in the fall, Empire indulged in scorched earth tactics in Mammoth State, blasting the Tasang River’s levees... Fortunately, those levees weren’t built high anyway, didn’t cause great damage, we plan to build a broader irrigation capable of power generation."
When discussing floods, Ashi’s eyes flickered, seemingly hesitant to delve into the subject, choosing instead to emphasize the smooth disaster recovery efforts while glossing over the damage caused.
It should have been an excellent opportunity to gain sympathy.
While Si Si felt a little puzzled, she didn’t dwell on it too much, merely asked further.
"And the plague? There hasn’t been an outbreak, has it?"
After the disaster, a major epidemic is inevitable, and that’s what she’s most concerned about.
But Ashi shook his head, dispelling her worries.
"No, we quickly got the situation under control... Although there were some patients at the beginning, we isolated them, and most of them have recovered."
This was a bit different from what was reported in Survivor’s Daily, but such discrepancies are understandable.
After all, most residents of Jinjaron Harbor are sympathetic to the Moon Clan Resistance Army and harbor hatred towards the Empire that oppresses all peoples, even organizing donations for the Resistance Army.
A regional media outlet, besides fulfilling its obligation to report the truth, also becomes a projection of the audience’s mindset.
After all, objectivity is always a relative concept. Even the Survivor’s Daily of City of Dawn can’t achieve absolute objectivity.
Upon hearing local conditions were stable, Si Si finally nodded in relief.
"That’s good... It seems our worries were unnecessary."
"How can they be unnecessary? It’s just that things may not be as exaggerated as you thought."
Ashi chuckled to lighten the mood and continued.
"And thanks to your help, we were able to recover quickly. Lately, many Alliance merchants have come here to set up factories, especially Mr. Lister. I’m envious of the houses he built for the workers! Don’t laugh at me, but my place still leaks, while the workers at Lister’s factory are already living in apartments!"
Sesame Paste had a surprised expression on her face.
"The houses we saw at the port were built by him?"
Meat Meat was equally surprised and muttered.
"That guy is so kind-hearted."
Si Si wasn’t surprised at all, saying softly.
"Merchants who have fully experienced the upheaval of Giant Stone City tend to follow the rules, so it’s not surprising."
Tail nodded earnestly.
"After all, those who don’t follow the rules either went bankrupt or are no longer around."
Watching the three people and a bear communicate in a language she didn’t understand, Ashi cleared his throat and continued.
"Although I can’t represent the Mammoth State Authority, as someone who has been helped by you, I sincerely hope you can stay here a bit longer to give us a chance to host you."
"However, during your stay, I suggest it’s best to stay within the Silver Moon Church district, and if you must leave, try to avoid heading southwest... especially near the front lines. Recently, the Gray Wolf Army acquired some weapons from somewhere, and their attacks are increasingly fierce. We’ve suffered quite a bit at the front lines."
Meat Meat looked at him worriedly and asked.
"Are you really okay?"
Ashi smiled kindly and said.
"Don’t worry, we’ve made it through the toughest days! Now we finally have our own base, and no matter what, it won’t be harder than before."
When he said this, his eyes showed obvious hope and pride.
It was clear.
Even if he was unhappy with Laxi for "sidelining" him from the army system, he couldn’t find any faults with the development of Mammoth State itself, even offering words of praise in his speech.
And although Laxi looked down on the Resistance Army elders, after gaining power, he didn’t completely crush them but instead appointed them to the "Cabinet."
No matter if this was a promotion or suppression, nor if it was to put on a show for the stakeholders in Jinjaron Harbor and Potato Harbor and the Alliance behind them, at least he was relatively tolerant of dissenting voices.
On this point alone, this military faction is much better than those in Tiger State and Leopard State, who don’t even bother to pretend.
After thinking about it for a long time, Si Si also felt that bringing in someone else might not necessarily be better than what they’re doing.
That evening, the three and a bear stayed at a hotel near the Customs Office.
Ashi not only warmly hosted them but also solved all their accommodation and meal needs during their stay in the Mammoth State, even courteously arranging four female soldiers as their bodyguards and guides.
After logging off.
Having just feasted online, Si Si didn’t feel hungry at all, but felt a bit hypoglycemic, so she went to the fridge, opened a can of soda, then returned to the living room to pick up the laptop she left on the sofa yesterday.
Sitting cross-legged in front of the coffee table, she bit on a straw, contemplating, and tapped the keyboard to complete the 2000-word "investigation report" required by the Manager.
It included her observations of the local development potential and cultural landscape, as well as her first impressions of the Laxi Authority and more.
[... It’s hard for me to judge whether the Mammoth State Authority is a qualified governing authority, after all, they’ve only been here for a few months. Although locals don’t have a bad opinion of Laxi, it’s hard to say if this is because their lives couldn’t get any worse.
But objectively speaking, they are indeed doing some things and are willing to allocate limited resources to improve the lives of the people here.
My report does not constitute an investment opinion, but I am indeed considering expanding the business of the White Bear Knights Bank here.
]
Unknowingly, the 2000-word report turned into a ten-thousand-word essay.
Realizing this, it was too late to revise.
Si Si read the report over and over, couldn’t figure out which lines to cut, so she simply gave up on making changes and copied the entire ten-thousand-word report as it was.
Soon she would share this report on the forum with those interested.
"All done..."
A job well done, Si Si stretched lazily and leaned comfortably on the sofa, only then noticing her stomach was empty, and she rubbed her now flattened belly.
This game is annoying in this aspect.
Even though she’s eaten in the game, she has to eat again after logging off.
Especially when she’s too full in the game, and offline she doesn’t have any appetite at all, this feeling of being hungry yet not hungry is so torturous!
Even though she knew the Dog plan would probably never see this, and that guy never replied to her emails, she couldn’t help but sit back up and sneak two lines of "personal comments" underneath the report sent to the npc.
[... If the honorable designer could see this, could you please design a game pod for Wasteland OL with a life support function? I believe it shouldn’t be too difficult for your company, and most players would definitely be willing to pay for it.]
[After all, eating two meals in a row is too much, at this rate I feel like I’ll starve to death in bed sooner or later...]