"… The friendship between our two species goes back to ancient times. Everything begins with our common Mother Goddess, Aishi, who created the world …"
The leaders on stage were speaking generously, while the audience below was drowsy.
The secretaries and clerks had the hardest time. They had to record all this seemingly meaningless … well, actually meaningless nonsense. And the reporters in the audience had it even harder. They had to squeeze out some interesting news from all this nonsense.
"Can you be any more ridiculous? At the very least, tell me something practical. The price of the train tickets, how often is the train, whether or not it's possible to transport goods, what kind of escorts are hired, and so on. Just tell me a few things so that I can write more. If I knew it would be so boring, I would have sent Hemet and the others to take over."
A young man wearing sunglasses sat in the reporter's seat closest to the stage. He was expressionless, but inwardly, he was complaining.
Rorschach really didn't want to come if he knew that this chatterbox would be hosting the train's opening ceremony again.
City Lord Zephylos on stage was getting more and more excited as he spoke. He was already going off script, as if he felt that his theology and history major was finally being put to good use. He was even discussing the origin of life.
Finally, when the audience couldn't take it anymore, the other higher-ups on stage couldn't take it anymore. A bald man wearing a black suit coughed behind Zephylos, and he finally reacted.
Zephylos didn't even need to hide the dissatisfaction in his peers' eyes, so he hurriedly ended his speech.
Next, he cut the ribbon on the train's engine, which was wrapped in red ribbons, amidst a round of enthusiastic applause.
Rorschach also snapped two photos of the train's engine during the gun salute, completing his mission for the day. It was already noon, and he had wasted yet another day.
"Don't ask me to come for such things next time."
[Alright, you can come to the stage next time. It's not good to always be absent from board meetings.]
He was complaining about how boring his job was, but in the end, he was given an even more annoying task. Roxia pursed his lips and didn't say anything.
Two years was neither short nor long. There were only two seasons of thunder and one summer. Many things had changed, but most things hadn't changed at all.
It had already been three years since the establishment of Vila Nova Dônia. The habit of making quick decisions could also become a law, and the grassroots could also form a stable mechanism. The political and social structure of Vila Nova Dônia had already stabilized.
The core of the city was still the same as it had been in the past. At first, the church chose to use a shareholding system because it was protected by the "Ansorenne Development Law." Naturally, as the city developed and became more prosperous, the city's board of directors appeared.
The city lord would be elected by the board of directors. The minimum requirement for the city lord to be elected was 5% of the city lord's shares. At least 30% of the city lord's shares would be needed to vote for the city lord. The city lord's term of office would be two years … Although that was the case, this position wasn't easy to hold. Due to the influence of many external and internal factors, nobody had ever successfully completed their first term of office.
They would either die abruptly midway or resign due to a scandal. Now, there were already rumors — "Becoming the mayor of Vila Nova Dônia is equivalent to tightening the noose on one's political career."
The previous city lord had only been in office for six months, which was quite long. In the past two years, the seventh city lord had been the current chatterbox Xipilos.
However, the church behind him was a Level 6 leader with decent power. Perhaps he would be able to stay in office for a while longer … Of course, the prerequisite was that he didn't act so insensibly as to be the leader of the city lord's faction. He would often give long speeches or suddenly inspect the city.
Two days ago, he had been overly excited after taking office, and had gone to the gray areas in the western district to investigate smugglers. He had also investigated tax evasion, which instantly offended more than half of the members of the board of directors … Yep, the truth was that everyone was smuggling goods. Back then, he had even investigated his own church's members. The situation had been quite awkward, and because of this, he had received the honorary title of "the fastest city lord to die."
Currently, the city's casinos were offering gambling odds of 1 to 300 for a full term of office. However, from this jokingly low odds, it was obvious that nobody thought highly of him.
Even the odds of him being forced to resign within two weeks were 1 to 5. This was a new record in history.
Rorschach had also placed a bet on him being forced to resign within three months with two months of salary. It was quite normal for the odds to be 1 to 3.
"Hmph, how can I possibly lose? If I lose, I'll have to eat salted fish … If he really works for two months, I'll impeach him at the board meeting! In any case, I'll just use 'he's too ugly, has bad breath, and likes to give loud speeches' as an excuse. It'll probably pass. "
Vila Nova Dônia had developed far too quickly over the past few years, and there were far too many internal factions. No matter who took office, it would be difficult to stabilize the situation. Basically, they would only end up being the scapegoat for a short period of time.
The current Rorschach, or rather, the Game Church, was also a member of Vila Nova Dônia's board of directors. However, his ranking wasn't very high, only around 3.7%.
After the Titan incident two years ago, Vila Nova Dônia received world-class attention. Many powerful figures invested in the city, and the original stock was naturally diluted after the reorganization.
At that time, the value of the original stock also skyrocketed. The Game Church seized the opportunity to make a few transactions. Not only did they pay off the devils' debts, but they also made a huge profit.
Just how huge was that … The monthly expenses of the Game Church's headquarters were more than enough to cover the interest from their savings.
There was no need to repeat the principle of "treasuring a treasure is a crime". Huge amounts of wealth also required a powerful faction as a guarantee.
Even though 3.7% of the shares was small, considering the Game Church's size, the complicated situation in the city, and the increasingly fierce competition between powerful figures, Lori and Rorschach both intended to release a bit more of their shares.
"It's safer to stay away from the 5% benchmark. Around 3% is enough for us to sit in on the board of directors. That's about the limit for small and medium-sized Churches like us."
Rorschach hated the tedious and complicated political games. When the number of people sitting in on the board of directors reached 20 and the chairman (castellan) was just a decoration, there was nothing the board of directors could do apart from wasting time and wrangling with each other. Rorschach really didn't want to go to the rostrum at all.
The invitation to the event was placed on the third floor of the Victory Building, the headquarters of the Church. Still, no one was willing to go.
However, Rorschach still came today as the chief editor and ace reporter of Absolute Truth. It was because this was indeed a piece of news, a piece of big news that everyone in the city and even the entire Wasteland had been waiting for.
"It's finally been completed after two years!"
In front of him was a three-track station that could only be considered a small rural station in Aishi. There was also a heavy train covered with heavy armor that connected the railway to the Mist District outside the city.
However, this railway, which was less than 800 kilometers long, bore the weight of two years of astronomical investment and the sacrifice of 3000 lives.
Every kilometer was filled with human lives and gold.
"When the Level 7 Church, Eagle Crown, said that he wanted to build the railway, the board of directors thought that his brain was damaged. I didn't expect him to actually succeed."
Due to the complicated terrain and the harsh environment, the speed of the train couldn't be fast. However, with this road, it would take less than two days to travel from Cape Town to Vila Nova Dônia. It was also relatively safe and comfortable.
The expensive airship wasn't something that commoners could enjoy. The cost of transporting goods was equivalent to the cost of fuel, which made the merchants crazily raise the prices. This train route allowed commoners to travel between the two cities freely. The merchants also had cheaper options for transporting goods.
And this was only the most unimportant benefit of the Cape Winter Line.
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