"The total number of casualties is sixty-three thousand. The confirmed death toll is more than twelve thousand, and the missing number is more than one hundred and ten thousand. Considering the current natural environment and the opponents we are facing, the missing people who have not been contacted can basically be considered dead. And this is only the loss within Vila Nova Dônia's sphere of influence. The loss in Cape Town is definitely not less than ours. "
War was always the cruelest and harshest disaster. A war that lasted for a month could bring down a small country. A bitter war that lasted for about a week still caused indelible huge losses.
At the first internal meeting of the Game Church after the disaster, Rorschach couldn't accept the shocking number of casualties as he listened to the report and looked at it.
"This is more than two times higher than expected. How can there be so many casualties? The rescue work should be going smoothly … Oh, I understand. So it's that 'grey list.' "
Frowning, Rorschach, who felt more and more tired, also became more and more annoyed by the report in front of him.
He had just returned from the twenty-person board of directors. To be precise, it was the first collective meeting of the new 14 + 2 board of directors. However, not only was there no good news at the meeting, but it was also full of accusations and shirking of responsibility.
Rorschach and the Game Church were a part of this city, so naturally, they couldn't stay out of it.
On the contrary, there was an unusually heavy burden on Rorschach's shoulders.
The next step was to start the news. Most people were eager to know what had happened. As the leading enterprise in the media, 'Absolute Truth', could they really report this number of casualties? Would there be a large-scale refugee wave and panic after the report?
"Nearly a hundred thousand casualties and missing people in a city with a population of one million? Are you kidding me? Do we really have to announce this? "
Most people would think that this number was exaggerated. After all, their lives wouldn't change in a short period of time.
However, the news that Rorschach heard from the board of directors was that this was only a conservative estimate. To be precise, this was still a bit of a gray area hidden in the night.
Vila Nova Dônia's current sphere of influence was too large. The mines and factories in the wasteland were very wide. Even though the lightning season had caused people to return to the city, there were still many underground mines and factories that had lightning protection facilities that were still in operation. Most of them weren't listed in the official asset registry.
This way, the church would be able to reduce taxes and use incredibly cheap labor … To put it bluntly, the church would use slaves, war criminals, and other species without any human rights. It would be impossible for every single church to be righteous. Since there was a lack of supervision, there were plenty of churches that had degenerated into slave owners.
Right now, the wastelands were an ownerless treasure trove. The Aishi People were the nominal owners of the wastelands. Although the Aishi People still didn't have the right to mine as they pleased after Sydeon's fall, as long as they weren't discovered, they could treat it as if nothing had happened … Sydeon was the boss of the wastelands. Who could control him?
Enough benefits could make people go crazy. Operators without supervision and supervision would naturally go crazy to show their bottom line, especially when the railway network and surveillance network were not complete yet. Remote mining areas were basically uninhabited.
"If we're too slow, we won't have a chance anymore. Now, we'll get as much as we can!"
The Game Church hadn't touched this area before (they had the large mining area of Mount Sainte), so they didn't know that there were at least three to four hundred mining areas in the wastelands, as well as the corresponding illegal processing plants and illegal factories … Some of the people who went overboard had long gone from raw materials to further processing to finished products. Only finished products existed in the market.
As long as there were enough benefits, expensive lightning protection facilities were nothing. The lightning season in the forbidden zone of the living was nothing. For some mining areas, the lightning season was actually a good time to work overtime.
In a way, the current chaotic situation in Cape Town and the fall of those ambitious city lords caused Vila Nova Dônia to enter the fast lane of strange, chaotic, crazy, opportunity, and wealth.
Although the Game Church wasn't involved in these matters and didn't specifically collect information, Rorschach, as the head of intelligence and the superior of countless paparazzi, was still aware of these matters.
However, in the past few years, the gray area had long become the gray industry of the entire city. In the face of the complicated chain of benefits, the Game Church was nothing. Rorschach wasn't stupid enough to block everyone's path … In the current chaotic situation that hadn't been completely unified, even big bosses like the Eagle Crown and the Radiant Scroll didn't dare to court death.
"You're the boss in the city. You still want to control things outside the city? Why?! "
The twenty-person board of directors was only the city's management organization. Although everyone knew that the operators of the gray area were the city's churches and factions, if they gritted their teeth and refused to admit it, what could they do?
"Vila Nova Dônia's system is too loose. There's a limit to how much money they can make together."
It was normal for someone to cross the bottom line. Capitalists were creatures that pursued profits. The problem was who would supervise them, and who had the qualifications to supervise them? At the very least, in the written contract of New Donia, every church was equal … Yep, equal. Equality in writing, equality in words, equality in words. Equality in words, equality in words, equality in words, and equality in words.
Cough, this was the end of it. This was how the situation developed. Individuals could only choose to accept or leave.
Not only that, Rorschach didn't have a completely negative opinion of the gray industry. After all, not all gray factories were sweatshops that used slaves. There were also gray factories that had a bit of conscience that hired highly paid workers (the main ones were the large churches that still cared about their reputation).
Since there was a population in the gray area, there was also a need for living and security. They needed adventurers, security guards, and mercenaries. This also stimulated the consumption and labor market.
Moreover, there were many industries that weren't suitable for public consumption. For example, there were various daily necessities such as coats and tools made of magical materials. There was also the military industry that every family stored but pretended to be peaceful doves. There were also various high-pollution and high-risk manufacturing industries. There were also the biological and medical industries that were cruel to the experimenters but had positive meaning. There were also the taboo studies of local physics, magic, and natural laws.
In reality, Vila Nova Dônia was developing too quickly. There were too many opportunities for people to take advantage of. There were very few churches like the Game Church that didn't involve themselves in gray areas and put everything on the table … This was also related to the distribution of industries. Other churches didn't have the city's strongest media and entertainment industries.
Looking at it from another perspective, if the Game Church didn't have such a good entertainment and news industry, but wanted to catch up with the tide of development … Rorschach wasn't confident that he wouldn't touch these industries at all. It was just that he would be more conscientious in doing so.
In the past few years, the scale and production value of the gray areas were impossible to calculate. However, there were indeed tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people living in those gray areas.
If there were no problems, everyone would be fine. Everyone would be fine. Everyone would be fine. Everyone would be rich together. If there were problems … Heh heh.
This time, no matter how one looked at it, it could be considered a "major event".
The Evil God's corrosion, contamination, crazy magical creatures, and elemental evil creatures danced wildly on that night. The resulting shockwaves lasted for more than half a month.
Due to the existence of the Evil God's domain, the Thunder Season, which was nearing its end, quickly entered a period of decline. The result was the worst development.
For ordinary people in the mines, there was no difference between the tyrannical ancient evil dragons and the distorted magical creatures infected by the Evil God's aura. They would all die anyway.
As a mature system and organization, Novodonia's twenty-member board of directors didn't even think about the effects of the shockwaves in the wild. Their advisors and helpers would remind them of it.
In fact, even during wartime, rescue and evacuation work in the wild was still going on. Seven unbranded transport ships and two battleships that were finally pulled out from the battlefield formed two rescue and evacuation teams. They carried out a dragnet rescue and evacuation of all the officially registered areas outside the city.
Note that it was "official" and "written".
In the chaos at that time, it was impossible for the rescue teams to obtain all the information about the gray factories. Some churches even insisted on hiding the information. Therefore, it was reasonable that the black areas where even the owners didn't acknowledge their existence suffered the most losses.
According to the official information, the black mines and black factories were "non-existent". However, they accounted for more than half of the casualties, and this was only the portion that had been reported.
Those black-hearted bastards who had already decided to pretend that nothing had happened would definitely continue to pretend that nothing had happened.
"Everyone can see that there's something fishy going on here. Some people didn't die in the war, but died due to unknown communications and 'deserters' during the war. Director Rorschach just informed us that the board of directors has reached a consensus. Some people must pay the price. "
Su Nanna, who supported the meeting, looked at Rorschach. Rorschach only nodded silently in agreement.
This was also why Rorschach was currently so mentally exhausted. He should have been the one to host this internal meeting, but after a nine-hour marathon of insulting and arguing, he really didn't want to say anything.
Yes, insulting and blaming each other was too much of a scapegoat. Nobody was willing to take the blame … Whoever was foolish enough to take the blame would be done for.
But the scapegoat was there. It didn't matter if you took the blame or not, if you didn't come or go … no one would take the blame. In the end, everyone would take the blame.
How to solve the problem? This was probably the least important thing in the meeting. Let's first shift the blame and blame.
"The rescue was organized by the Radiant Scroll, but the Eagle Crest organization accused them of not doing enough. They also accused us of not doing enough intelligence work … We're obviously a news organization. How did we become an intelligence department? This is truly an undeserved calamity. "
The calamity had already happened, but naturally, it developed into a political struggle. The Game Church, which was close to the Radiant Scroll during this incident, was probably viewed as a traitor by the Eagle Crest organization.
Roxia sighed as he sat up and finished the refreshing drink in front of him in one gulp. This was to boost his tired mind that had been bombarded repeatedly.
"Those bastards. This is clearly a board of directors meeting, but they're still insulting each other with magic. Time is so precious, yet they're still wasting it. How boring."
He was only annoyed by the huge number of casualties. He really didn't care about the other churches' provocations and provocations. This was within his expectations from the very beginning.
On the contrary, Rorschach felt that not only were there many troubles, there were also many opportunities in the impact of this incident. There was also a trend that was gradually becoming reality.
The rise of new cities was often accompanied by ruins and suburbs. Without destruction, there would be no construction. This was a lesson that people had learned from their painful experiences. Since a new era was destined to arrive, then how the Game Church and himself should welcome this new era was the biggest problem.
"Since there's a problem, we have to solve it. If there's no end to the trouble, then it's likely that there's a problem at the root. To put it bluntly, there's a problem with the system. This chaotic gray area brought about tremendous losses …"
Rorschach fell silent. He still wasn't sure how to report such tremendous losses. However, there was an even more important trend in front of him.
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