Doctor, I'm really strong!

"Relax, we're not here to hurt you, we're here to save you!"

"Liar! None of you in white coats are any good! You're all the same kind of bastards as Rhine Lab!"

Lappland frowned. He recognized the voice; it belonged to Victor, a Sarkaz infected. He had heard that Victor had worked at Rhine Labs for a period of time, but judging from his description, he was probably studied as a research subject for a while.

"The patient's resistance is too strong, what should we do?"

"There's no other way. Use an inhibitor combined with an anesthetic injection. Everyone else, get the stretcher and oxygen ready. Be careful not to hit their faces. We're here to save lives, not to kill them."

With a soft sound, Victor's voice came to an abrupt end, and then a group of medical personnel in white coats placed him on a stretcher and carried him away.

This was an emergency rescue, but it caused unexpected negative consequences.

Because everyone believed that Victor had been captured and used as a test subject. He believed that the test subjects who came out of Rhine Lab must be very valuable, and that the Red Guards were different from others, essentially all birds of a feather.

The atmosphere in the POW camp became very delicate. Many people began to resist treatment, and rumors started to circulate that Viktor's acute infection was caused by the medication he was taking, that the medication was problematic, and that the instructors were taking the same medication as him...

They definitely tampered with it, using methods we don't know about!

Conspiracy theories always find a market, especially in this tense environment where everyone is on high alert. Some have already started plotting how to escape the POW camp. The camp's defenses are quite lax, so escape should be possible.

But before these people could come up with a plan, a week later, Victor returned, looking much more energetic and as if he had been resurrected.

"Victor? Is it really you?"

"Of course it's me. What, don't you recognize your brother who fought alongside you?"

"But... weren't you taken away? Weren't you taken away to do experiments or something?"

"Who told you that?"

Next, Victor recounted his experiences over the past week.

He was first taken to the emergency room, but the POW camp's emergency room was helpless with his condition and could only alleviate his symptoms. So he was later taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he received the best treatment.

"I was tortured like a guinea pig at Rhine Life, but here I received the best treatment!"

As one of the lucky survivors of Rhine Labs, Victor knew how valuable those medical devices were and how expensive it was to use them. Back in the lab, Rhine Labs researchers used these devices to prolong the lives of their experimental subjects, but here, medical devices were truly medical devices, meant to give patients hope for life.

During his subsequent hospitalization, Victor received meticulous care, which caused a slight change in his mindset.

What surprised him most was that he met his long-lost sister.

As luck would have it, his sister was one of Rhodes Island's operators, but was later recruited by Future Tech and is now a nurse at the Red Guard Kazdel Hospital. It was under these circumstances that the two met unexpectedly.

Viktor's new life instantly rekindled his determination to start a new life. He entered a state of hope, actively accepted treatment, and his trust in the Red Guards continued to grow. Ultimately, through the joint efforts of both sides, Viktor's acute infection was cured, and his Oripathy condition stabilized.

When he stepped out of the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, the feeling of being reborn brought tears to Viktor's eyes.

Now that he's back, filled with gratitude and trust for the Red Guards, the POW camp hopes he can recount his experiences so that more prisoners of war will actively accept reform and strive for their freedom as soon as possible.

Victor's story is legendary; it used to be just something from storybooks, but today, the story has become the truth of reality, happening in detail. Even if you want to refute it, the living, breathing person standing in front of you is real.

Could it be that the Red Guards really treated prisoners of war well, as they claimed?

Why? On what grounds? What are they trying to do?

Section 162: Yansk, a coastal city

(Comrades, let's have some comments, the more the better, (?ω?))

The ideological reform of prisoners of war was only a minor part of the Red Guard's overall reform system. In contrast, the new ideological education in Kazdel was of paramount importance.

Liu Jiuli remembers clearly that when he was in junior high school, his teacher said that "productive forces determine the relations of production." So he naturally assumed that as long as the productive forces were in place, everything would be fine.

But the reality is that people are very complex. Even when productivity is high enough, there is a possibility of creating a situation where people become lazy and everyone becomes complacent. And this is considered the most stable state. The complexity of human beings lies in the fact that if life loses its purpose, even if one is well-fed and clothed, one can still do something earth-shattering.

The worst thing is raising a socially disruptive personality from a wealthy family.

Therefore, people need goals and a direction to move forward. This direction can be something they come up with themselves or something given to them by others. If possible, Liu Jiuli hopes that everyone will live with their brains.

But consuming brain cells is obviously a very painful thing. Many people just want to live without using their brains. They have absolutely no talent for living, otherwise there would be no saying "strong limbs, simple mind".

So let's give everyone a goal, a grand goal, and then pair it with phased achievements, moving forward step by step, giving people hope, expectations, and challenges. Ordinary people can find their ordinariness, challengers can find goals to surpass, and idealists have a direction to strive for.

The first step in ideological reform is to make them understand why their lives are so painful and where the root of all this lies. However, before the real ideological reform begins, they must first regain their dignity as human beings.

This is very important. When a person doesn't even believe that he is human, he is capable of anything. Morals and principles that are human are meaningless to him.

I'm starving, and you're telling me to be a good person? Screw you!

Starting like this is a classic case of "Why don't they eat meat porridge?"

Sometimes, a person turns bad not because they were born a jerk, but because they had no other choice.

It's like asking Mexicans to ban drugs, Afghans to eat their fill, and Iraqis to stop selling oil, and then coming up with a whole bunch of reasons why they're doing it wrong, harmful to their health, and polluting the environment. But they'll just look at you like you're an idiot.

If you don't want mushrooms to grow on wood, the first thing you need to do is change the environment of the wood, rather than simply scraping off the mushrooms and considering it a success.

Here's a joke: America's fight against terrorism.

You yourself are the source of disaster, the spreader of plague, the instigator of war, the mastermind of conspiracy, and the propagator of desire. What the hell are you talking about?

Got it. GW is actually an anti-American company. Their game is just a veiled attack on the US.

See that? That's the brilliance of the British. I insulted you, but you still have to buy my pieces at a high price and you're having a great time, not even realizing you've been insulted. The Anglo-Saxons truly understand the Anglo-Saxons. GW is awesome! (voice cracks)

So how do we get a group of people who have become numb or even given up on themselves to be willing to be human again?

At times like these, the importance of political commissars and instructors becomes apparent.

Thanks to our great invention, these steadfast proletarian fighters are truly a treasure of human civilization, worthy of the praise, "the shining stars of humanity."

Then there's the experience of those who came before us.

For example, educators would use simple and easy-to-understand math problems to tell those serfs what their lives would be like without the exploitation of feudal lords, how much they were exploited, what the Red Guards would do, the essence of taxation, and how they were different from those feudal scum.

When something involves one's own interests, even the most foolish person will have a glint of wisdom in their eyes, and their enthusiasm will naturally rise.

Now that everyone is starting to be willing to learn and understand, let's move on to the next step—complaining.

As times progress, to help these people understand why they are suffering, let them watch movies and stage plays, especially those that are close to their lives and reflect their hardships. Art originates from life and, like a mirror, reflects all aspects of human life. Everyone can see their own shadow or part of their own shadow in these works. Once the collective resonance begins, it is impossible to stop.

Once this stage is reached, the political commissar and instructors can have a heart-to-heart talk with everyone.

At first, some people were probably embarrassed, but that embarrassment was quickly overwhelmed by everyone's empathy. As one Sarkaz person put it, "I know they didn't empathize, but at that moment we felt the same way."

Numbness is a way for humans to protect themselves in despair; behind it lies a fragile inner world. Once this dam breaks, a person's inner self is exposed, revealing their true human nature, and that person is considered saved.

This is why Lappland has been hearing people wailing and crying next door lately; they're having a venting session.

From the military to civilians, from new recruits to ordinary people, the scope is very large. Combined with the Red Guards' education and training system, the effect is so good that even Liu Jiuli himself can hardly believe it.

To give a simple example, the eight-hour workday has actually become difficult to implement.

Because the workers truly treated the factory as their own home, the workers' committee was highly responsible and had so much power that they could vote on the speed of the assembly line and the factory's daily production targets. Of course, these targets were determined in consultation with the tasks assigned by their superiors and varied depending on the circumstances, since the needs during wartime were certainly different from those during peacetime.

With adequate overtime pay and sufficient recognition for outstanding employees, the workers are highly motivated, believing it to be the best way to demonstrate their value through hard work.

Rest after eight hours of work? No, no, no, I'm not tired yet, I can work overtime.

Local officials expressed their helplessness in response and suggested that the workers' enthusiasm for their work should not be dampened.

"They have passion, but who will take responsibility when someone takes advantage of their passion?"

Liu Jiuli knows all too well what it means to outwardly comply while inwardly resisting; there are always countermeasures to policies from above. He came from a factory background, and when it comes to shouting slogans, he's as good as two people, but when it comes to doing practical things, the benefits will come later. People just wish there were more decorations on the streetlights.

Therefore, the eight-hour workday must be strictly enforced. Companies without overtime assignments are not allowed to complain. Have a problem with that? This is the country's requirement for you. You should use your rest time to consume, learn, and have fun, and to create value for the country's economy. This is also an important task of the proletariat. If you work overtime, you are taking away the interests of other companies and occupying time, the most precious resource. You can't be so selfish!

So overtime is necessary, of course, but! It must be based on actual needs and an application must be submitted. Only those with the most proficient skills, the best abilities, and the most outstanding performance can work overtime. Furthermore, if there are tasks required during overtime, the compensation should be doubled. If anyone has any objections, they should talk to the internal affairs department, and they will give you good advice.

After some effort, overtime work has now become a star culture within the Red Guards. Only capable and competent people can work overtime; ordinary people are not qualified to do so. Moreover, overtime work that does not follow labor discipline and is paid according to regulations is called illegal overtime work. The boss will be imprisoned for at least six months, and at most five years. It will also leave a criminal record, making it impossible to get low-interest corporate loans in the future, and you can only apply for ordinary commercial loans.

In addition, there is a corporate deposit system, where a certain amount of the company's annual net profit is held by the tax bureau. If the company goes bankrupt, this money becomes the employees' wages. It can also be used to apply for loans when the company is in dire straits, but then relevant government agencies will need to conduct an internal investigation to see if the company is still worth saving.

If state capital is like putting capital in a cage, then Liu Jiuli has put barbs inside the cage, dug trenches outside, buried landmines, and set up machine guns and cannons. If you dare to come out, I dare to kill you. If you don't want to be a capitalist, there are plenty of people who want to be. As long as human desires don't die, the leeks called capitalists will never be finished being harvested.

Compared to bullying the poor, Liu Jiuli is more interested in the money of the rich, and it has to be split 20/80: I get 80%, you get 20%.

In this way, the economic base will have a supporting superstructure, and the superstructure can truly create a positive feedback loop on the economic base. This is what we call a perfect match.

That morning, Liu Jiuli received another piece of good news.

Following Kharkiv, another Far Eastern city of the Ursus Empire has been completely taken over by the Red Guards. Surprisingly, the revolutionary leader of this city is the newly appointed Lord of Yansk. This lord has sympathized with the common people since childhood and is also a hidden anti-Tsarist. He initially insisted on the republic, but after being exposed to the Red Guards' ideology, his thinking underwent a complete transformation. He took the initiative to contact the Red Guards and showed a very positive revolutionary attitude.

He even proposed to hand over all his family property and become a full-fledged proletarian revolutionary.

Such a comrade should certainly be developed. Like the bearded man from Cuba, Yansk went into hiding and used his count status to continuously report a large amount of valuable intelligence. After he succeeded his deceased father as the new city lord of Yansk, he completely dropped his pretense and allowed the Red Guards to take control of the entire city of Yansk in a very short time.

Try to win over those you can, and let those you can't disappear. In any case, on the surface, Yansk is still the same as before. The dead nobles are all disguised as if they wanted to seize power and were then executed by the Lord of Yansk.

This is normal; there's always this kind of infighting among the nobles within the Ursus Empire, and it's perfectly normal for the losers to be eliminated.

The authorities at Saint-Germain didn't see anything wrong with it, and the matter was dropped. The Red Guards effectively took control of Yansk.

It's even more thorough than Kharkiv's control, because the city lords are all their own people. Are you scared yet?

Most importantly, Yansk is a coastal city near the sea, which means that from now on, the Red Guards can march towards the sea.

Chapter 163: Shocking! The Red Guards are actually a secret force of the Yan Kingdom.

(Update delivered, everyone (|3[▓▓] Goodnight)

As a person from the lower class in the eastern country, Yazaki is serious and cautious.

The reason he was able to escape from the Eastern Kingdom all the way to Syracuse and live a relatively peaceful and prosperous life there was because of his caution and carefulness; he never did anything beyond his capabilities.

Admittedly, such a personality makes it difficult to achieve anything earth-shattering. However, in his more than thirty years of life, Yazaki has seen many people more outstanding than him who, due to a moment of impulsiveness, became silent corpses, or even left no trace of their bodies. Yet, he is still alive and has climbed step by step to his current position.

Yazaki is a white glove in the intelligence organization directly under Ms. Sicily. He is the leader of an action team here. For a lowly commoner born in the East who has always been at risk of being used as a testing ground by samurai (you can search on Baidu how rampant Japanese samurai were in ancient Japan if you are interested), this position is a breakthrough in his life. He has gone from being an untouchable to a Kshatriya. He cherishes his current job, but he cherishes his life even more.

After all, you can only enjoy everything while you're alive; once you're dead, you have nothing left.

Loyalty? Yes, the Eastern warrior was loyal, but he wasn't a warrior, nor did he have any sense of honor. His purpose in living was to live a better life and strive for a decent end, rather than leaving this world for various reasons like his companions in the village.

The mission was simple: to gather intelligence on Kazdel's development, which basically meant reporting on the population, prices, working conditions, and public support.

The simplest way is to look directly at the official work report. However, Yazaki believes that official work reports are just for fooling the public. Real information must be seen with one's own eyes. So he disguised himself as a reporter and obtained interview qualifications through formal channels. After entering Kazdel, he took the initiative to register his reporter identity and then entered Kazdel openly.

For intelligence personnel, the identity of a journalist is one of the most advantageous disguises, especially for foreign intelligence agents. As a complete outsider, it is essential to have a reasonable and legal identity cover. Furthermore, Yazaki's press card was genuine, and he had even undergone professional training in this area, making him appear quite professional.

This setup is enough for him to get a good look at Kazdel's true appearance now, starting with the simplest street interviews.

After all, I'm a journalist, so I need to have basic professional ethics. Otherwise, if I come here and don't even have a normal interview report, wouldn't that obviously arouse suspicion? Since I've decided to pretend, I should make good use of my professional ethics and pretend to be exactly like a professional.