Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Page 627

Ilancia stood not far away.

She suddenly remembered some of the lower tribes of Saim-Han.

Not everyone inside the Ark is a rider from a high-ranking clan.

There are also ordinary Eldar responsible for maintaining the skeletal structures, clearing old waterways, tending to low-level workshops, and serving the temples.

They wouldn't be exploited to death like the common people of the empire.

However, the Ark society also has hierarchical structures.

Children from high-ranking clans can learn the best riding skills, access the finest spirit bikes, and join the most prestigious hunting parties.

For a lower-ranking tribe to move up in rank, it often requires generations of accumulation or the bloodshed of war to gain recognition.

Ilancia has always thought this was reasonable.

The Eldar society is sophisticated, ancient, and orderly.

Human beings are crude, chaotic, and short-lived.

But now, she sees a lower-class worker in the empire being forced to rest.

This small thing made her uncomfortable.

She would rather see the common people under Lawson's rule continue to suffer.

That way she can continue to be contemptuous.

She could tell herself that no matter how powerful human warlords were, they could only arrange slaves in a more orderly fashion.

But the neighborhood before me is shaking that judgment.

She bypassed the maintenance area and went to the middle residential floor.

A population reshuffle has just been completed here.

Some families whose genetically modified organisms had been severely affected were taken away for screening.

Some survivors from other nesting areas were placed in the vacated floors.

Ilancia looks down from a suspended walkway.

The residential area, which was originally so crowded it resembled an insect nest, has now had several rows of illegally constructed shacks demolished.

The ventilation ducts were reconnected.

The lighting strips on the ceiling emit a steady white light.

The children lined up in a designated open space.

They are learning to read.

A cornerstone sequencer stands in front, projecting Imperial low-gothic basic characters.

The children repeated after them.

The reading was uneven.

A little girl mispronounced a word, and the boy next to her immediately imitated her, deliberately drawing out the sound.

The little girl got so angry that she kicked him.

The cornerstone sequence looked at them.

The two immediately stood up straight.

Ilancia thought there would be punishment.

As a result, the cornerstone sequence only allowed them to repeat the same word ten times.

The little girl muttered to herself as she wrote.

"Why does the Lord of the Seal have to concern himself with our literacy?"

The boy next to him whispered, "My dad said that if I can read, I can get a job at a water purification station. The working hours at the water purification station are short and the pay is high."

The little girl immediately became serious.

Upon hearing this, Ilancia felt an even stronger sense of unease.

The Eldar of the Ark certainly received an education.

Memory, path, battle, art, history, myth—each is woven into the river of life.

But those were things they already possessed.

For ordinary people in the empire, literacy could actually be a path to upward mobility.

Humanity's starting point was pitifully low.

Lawson lifted them only a small step, and they felt as if they could see the sky.

Ilancia wanted to mock.

But she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Because she knew what this small step meant for these people.

There is a small chapel in the third area of Zhongchao.

When Ilancia went in, the room was full of people.

These people had just finished work, and their clothes were still covered in dust.

The priest stood at the front, reciting the imperial prayer.

After the prayer, the crowd added another sentence in unison.

"May Your Excellency enjoy good health."

Ilancia frowned.

Humans really love turning the strong into idols.

She instinctively rejected this fanaticism.

The Ark also has prophets, heroes, and ancient dead and spirits, but the Eldar rarely use such crude methods to pray to a living ruler.

As she walked out of the chapel, she heard two women talking at the door.

"Your husband was transferred to the outer ring turret?"

"Yes, they left yesterday. The Cornerstone officer said they'd be back every six days."

"That's right. In the past, when people were drafted, they would just disappear without a trace."

“I was scared too. But he signed up himself this time.”

"Crazy?"

"He said the outer ring turrets would pay military salaries, and the kids could get into technical classes. Besides, the enemy has been driven away now, which is better than going down into the mines."

The other woman remained silent for a moment.

"Too."

Yilancia suddenly realized that these people were still very tired.

They remain poor.

They must still obey orders.

They still have to work, pay taxes, wait in line, undergo screening, and be transferred.

What Lawson gave them was not freedom either.

It is at least not freedom in the Eldar sense.

But they are safe.

For ordinary people in Chaodu, safety is a luxury.

They don't have to worry about gangsters breaking into their homes at night.

There's no need to worry about a nobleman needing slave laborers and dragging the entire building to the mine.