Chapter 233: The Healthy Development of the Terra Empire
Terra's development was proceeding in an orderly, methodical way. The capital, Novi Grad, along with the three secondary cities—Velitsa, Zagora, and Morava—was changing visibly with each passing day.
The world's top engineering teams had replanned Terra's four main cities.
Roads, underground infrastructure, housing construction, and every other aspect of the cities were included.
Equipment, transport trucks, excavators, and other machinery were brought into Terra through various channels. Using this equipment, old houses were demolished, and all outdated buildings and makeshift facilities were cleared away.
With approval from the higher-ups, the cities' areas were also expanded.
In fact, if they wanted to, with the three Warbands, magic, and other methods, rebuilding could have been even faster.
After all, ordinary people still needed equipment to move materials and do similar work.
But for the monsters of the three Warbands, whose bodies each had strength exceeding a hundred tons, those things were nothing.
Their construction efficiency alone was far beyond anything ordinary people could match.
Especially the Grey Knights.
After learning magic and focusing on it, they first gained a clear advantage in controlling matter.
When lifting and moving heavy objects, the Grey Knights only needed to use their minds, and their accuracy was even higher.
Their efficiency was pushed to the limit.
But many things could not be judged simply by efficiency.
The former Sokovia had suffered badly from war. Prices had risen without limit, and during those years of fighting, the economy had fallen. Most industries had completely stopped.
That also meant ordinary Sokovians had lost their jobs.
The number of people who died from hunger and illness was no smaller than those who died in the war.
The Terra government truly did not lack money. With government funding, it could hand out free food, water, and other supplies to Terrans every day.
But that would not help the Empire's development.
The founding of an empire did not only require a united top-level government that could work together as one.
It also required the people of the Empire to see hope and see a goal worth fighting for.
Terra did not want to see people being fed for free until they developed a lazy way of life. It needed a healthier, more energetic spirit.
That was why, even though the three Warbands could clearly complete the rebuilding work quickly, Terra still chose not to do it that way.
Terra wanted these renamed Terrans to use their own hands, step by step, to witness and rebuild their homeland with their own eyes.
This would not only deepen their sense of belonging to Terra, but also make them value the rebuilt homeland even more.
It was a result where both sides won.
And reality proved this true.
Terra changed day by day. Wide, neat road networks were laid down, while houses, commercial buildings, parks, and more gradually took shape on both sides.
Every morning, Terrans woke up full of energy and spirit. Amid the laughter and cheerful farewells of their children and wives, they stepped out of their homes with hope in their hearts, joining neighbors, companions, and friends to begin the day's work.
After a long day of work, everyone returned home together, tired and covered in sweat and dust, going back to the temporary shelters that had been built for them.
They ate the delicious food their wives had bought and cooked. Every meal carried the effort of their families and soothed their hearts.
At the same time, the ingredients they bought contained diluted serum. After a night's sleep, the serum would take effect, filling their bodies with energy again while making them healthier and stronger.
Yes, Terrans now had to spend money to buy food.
Aside from the first few days, when the Terra government provided free food, clothes, water, and temporary housing, they would need to buy things with their own money afterward.
Where did the money come from? Of course, from working.
What they received was Terra's own printed currency.
In terms of exchange rate, it was far healthier than Sokovia's had been.
After all, prices in Sokovia had risen far too badly. A whole day of hard work back then was not even enough to buy four pieces of bread.
But now, one day's wages could buy more than ten days' worth of meat, vegetables, and fruit, with some money left over for snacks for the children.
At the same time, the Sokovian currency people still held could be exchanged at banks established by Terra.
This prevented Sokovian citizens and wealthy merchants who had once held quite a bit of money from being wiped out in one stroke. These careful choices warmed their hearts as well.
In many cases, the details were what showed whether a government was good or bad.
…
Inside an old secret base in Minnesota.
A slightly overweight middle-aged man in a sweater and glasses took a sip of instant coffee in the base office.
He looked at the document on the desk, unable to suppress the anger in his eyes.
In the end, he slammed the coffee cup onto the table.
Coffee splashed across the desk.
He didn't even glance at it. Instead, he stood up and walked out of the office.
Two fully armed soldiers stood guard outside the door.
"Sir."
The man ignored the guards and continued down the corridor. The yellowed walls and exposed air ducts made it obvious that the base was old.
Before long, he arrived at a spacious room.
It was almost completely empty.
There was only one person inside.
An Asian woman wearing a gray tank top and shorts. She had black hair, hollow, cold eyes, and stood motionless like a robot.
After entering the room, the man somehow produced a whip studded with iron spikes.
He walked up to the woman, raised the whip, and lashed her across the face and body.
Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!
The sharp cracks of the whip echoed through the room.
The two soldiers standing guard outside the door couldn't help exchanging glances.
He's at it again.
The spiked iron whip lashed across the woman's face and body again and again. Every strike tore her flesh open, blood pouring from the wounds.
It was a gruesome sight.
But before long, the torn flesh healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The woman seemed incapable of feeling pain. She simply stood there in silence, enduring it all.
Only after the man had exhausted himself did he begin gasping for breath. "Get out. Get out of here. Go back to where you belong."
At his command, the woman immediately turned and walked across the blood-covered floor. As the iron door slid open, she left the room.
Only after venting his anger did the man calm down a little.
Much of his earlier rage had subsided.
"Professor X, Magneto... Mutants... I'll kill every last one of you."
His chest heaved as he growled through clenched teeth, his face twisted with hatred.
His name was William Stryker.
A colonel in the U.S. Army.
Because of what he had experienced, he came to hate mutants. His own son was a mutant with the ability to create illusions, but because he couldn't control his powers, he accidentally caused Stryker's wife to be tormented by them.
In the end, she couldn't endure it and took her own life.
From that day on, Stryker believed mutants had no place in this world. To that end, he did not hesitate to capture large numbers of mutants and subject them to inhuman experiments.
...
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