At the Highway Town Hotel, the main hall was in chaos. Dishes, glasses, and laughter were everywhere as people toasted this historic night.

“Cheers to the New Alliance!”

“Cheers to the administrator!”

“Let’s hope the next time the city gets this lively, it’s for the administrator’s baby shower!”

“Hahaha! That’ll be a long while yet!”

“To his health and long life!”

Not everyone was interested in the fireworks outside. Old White, Sideline Slacking, and the other single dogs preferred to stay inside the tavern, drinking and talking nonsense.

In one corner of the packed hall, Sun Shiqi, already slightly drunk, raised his glass and sighed to his drinking companions. “This place changes by the day. You know, my proudest deal wasn’t buying Mighty Steelworks from Fred, but using the first fortune I made as a trader to buy a plot next to Dawn City’s central square, and build a building and a warehouse there. Shame the warehouse’s a bit far from the Trade Station. I’m thinking of turning it into a shop.”

Across from him, Zhou Nan rolled his eyes. “Quit showing off! If you’re not happy with it, sell it to me!”

Sun Shiqi laughed. “Hah! Dream on!”

Everyone around knew he was bragging, but apart from envy, there was little they could say.

His eye for opportunity, and his guts, were beyond question.

Two years ago, any merchant who made some quick money would’ve rushed to Boulder Town to buy property with it. No one would’ve thought of building anything in the barren northern outskirts, even if those blue coats did seem different from the others.

The inner city nobles might have lacked morals, but their fists were hard, and compared to the slave owners and marauders out in the wasteland, they at least followed some rules.

But no one had imagined that in just two short years, the settlement would become what it was now, a place that even Ideal City citizens couldn’t help but stare at in astonishment.

At that same moment, in a quiet corner of the tavern, Sun Yuechi was flipping through the latest edition of the newspaper, thoughtful. He had once believed the New Alliance would follow Boulder Town’s old path, but it turned out they weren’t what he had imagined.

They had chosen the authority of law over the authority of man, and what surprised him even more was not just their cohesion, but their astonishing ability to repair themselves.

After learning of Shelter 117’s fate, he had studied Boulder Town’s society in depth.

That settlement too had once gathered countless brilliant minds under the banner of a few heroes, achieving miracles through sheer unity. But in the end, those survivors had still lost to time.

“They’re like Slime Mold...” he mused. “Even when pierced by bullets, they heal the wound and evolve armor to resist the next shot... Their real strength isn’t just cohesion, it’s self-correction. They keep evolving.”

A smile tugged at Sun Yuechi’s lips. He folded the newspaper, left payment on the table, and rose to leave the inn.

This place wasn’t as chaotic as he had imagined. And that administrator, he wasn’t the puffed-up warlord Sun Yuechi had expected.

Compared to the Prosperity Era, the New Alliance still had plenty of shortcomings, but they wanted to change, and more importantly, they let people see that change.

Perhaps, Shelter 70 could lend him a hand.

He certainly didn’t have a better candidate in mind.

...

After watching Little Seven’s fireworks show, Chu Guang headed to the New Alliance’s grand banquet hall, where he represented the New Alliance in receiving congratulations from other survivor settlements across the wasteland.

Personally, he had little interest in pomp and ceremony, meeting delegations was a job Luca could easily handle, but it was too good an opportunity to secure diplomatic support to pass up.

After all, someone had to pay for his grand construction projects and military campaigns.

Soon the New Alliance would march south again to cleanse the tumor festering across the Brocade River Province and Ocean Edge Province, a campaign that would not come cheap.

Good deeds for the benefit of all mankind shouldn’t be funded by him alone!

In his view, it was way better to spend other people’s money, and make it loud and glorious while doing so.

Once the Slime Mold Research Committee was formally established, his first move would be to assign each member state its role, and secure the New Alliance’s dominant position in all affairs related to Slime Mold.

Then would come the second step, declaring the Torch Church, with their Mutant Slime Mold bioweapons, the scourge of civilization, a blight upon humanity, the natural disaster of this world.

Their call to arms might not unite the rag-tag wastelander settlements like Red River Alliance, Garbage City, or the kingdoms of the Sunset Province, but it would strike a powerful moral chord with the old survivor factions.

Even if the Academy and the Enterprise didn’t commit fully, the moral high ground alone would mobilize parts of their power, and through those, rally the small and medium settlements surrounding the River Valley Province.

Then the New Alliance’s diplomats could boast to everyone else: “Look, even the powerful fallen empires have joined in, how can you not lend a hand?”

The coming war against the Torch Church would no longer be the New Alliance’s war alone, it would be civilization itself versus what was working against it.

Those with money would give money, those without would have to work hard for it. The New Alliance’s enormous war budget would be secured, and the war machine would gain a new ally with technical expertise once the Academy joined.

To unlock the full potential of Shelter 404’s level B7, the Academy’s technology would be indispensable.

Just as Chu Guang expected, the moment he entered the banquet hall in his exoframe, every eye turned toward him.

Among the attendees were not only representatives of the Academy and Enterprise, but also many delegates from settlements he’d never even heard of before.

And to his surprise, Little Seven whispered to him that envoys from the Bugra Free State had arrived as well.

If true, that would be their first visit to the New Alliance.

Because neither side had established embassies, the so-called envoy of the Bugra Free State, like the other first-time visitors, was issued only a temporary ID badge granting access to the banquet.

The New Alliance’s entry requirements were deliberately relaxed. Players who had earned medals in the expansion could enter; long-time diplomatic partners could enter; even first-time representatives from newly contacted settlements could enter.

As long as the settlement’s name appeared in the New Alliance Trade Station’s import-export records, the envoy could point to it on a map, give its population, and present a token gift. With that, they were welcome to eat, drink, and socialize.

There had been cases of fake envoys, and tiny communities of a few dozen claiming to represent settlements of tens of thousands, but no one cared.

Dawn City’s visitors were countless. They could impersonate all they liked.

As Chu Guang liked to say...

“Guests are guests. I can afford to feed them. If they bring a gift for the museum, that’s a fair trade.”

Besides, they were still in the wasteland. Order existed only in limited pockets; most of the world remained wild. A settlement that existed the day before might be gone the next, and one that didn’t exist might appear overnight.

So he had instructed the Foreign Affairs Department that if anyone claimed to represent a settlement to assume it existed, whether they heard of it or not.

Recognition was one thing, of course. Formal relations would only be extended to survivor powers that conducted substantial trade with the New Alliance’s territories.

Under these circumstances, the Bugra Free State’s envoy, wearing a temporary badge, was an odd sight indeed.

Their monthly trade with the New Alliance totaled tens of millions of silver coins, yet since they had never officially established relations, no one could verify his identity. Issuing a temporary badge was the polite compromise.

In truth, not only Chu Guang, but even the delegates from the smaller settlements doubted he was really from the Bugra Free State.

Seeing the lonely figure standing by himself, a well-dressed, half-drunk man approached with a smirk. “Bold move, friend. Most folks just invent some backwater settlement to score a free meal, but you went with the Bugra Free State? Won’t it be awkward when you get caught?”

Noregg scowled at the insolence, but remembering Mayor Odo’s instructions, he forced himself to stay calm and extended his hand politely.

“I’m Noregg, envoy of the Bugra Free State. And you are?”

The man’s drunken look made Noregg sneer to himself. If anyone looked like they had crashed the party for free drinks, it was this clown.

“Pleasure’s mine! I’m Luo Hua, Director-General from Ideal City’s Highest Council,” the man said, grinning as he shook Noregg’s hand.

Noregg rolled his eyes, yanking his hand back as if he’d touched something filthy.

He was the Bugra Free State’s appointed foreign minister, a staunch pro-Enterprise official who’d been to Ideal City more times than most locals.

He’d heard of their Highest Council, sure, but his title of Director-General? That title didn’t exist.

Did this guy take him for a fool?

Luo Hua only laughed. He had been joking, after all, he really was there just to freeload.

Just then, Noregg spotted Chu Guang entering the hall. His eyes lit up instantly, and he put on his most diplomatic smile. “Honored Administrator! A pleasure to finally meet you, I’m Noregg, Foreign Minister of the Bugra Free State. Your reputation precedes you!”

Chu Guang wasn’t sure if the man was genuine or not, but still extended his steel-clad hand for a shake.

“Welcome to the New Alliance, Minister Noregg. I’ve heard of the Free State’s prosperity and the commercial miracle of the Northern Corridor. We welcome all law-abiding merchants and travelers to visit us.”

It was just a polite greeting, but in Noregg’s ears, it carried a different weight.

His expression froze for an instant as his mind flashed to the Sindison Case, the scandal that had rocked the Bugra Free State.

Remembering the Great Rift Valley’s directives and Mayor Odo’s orders, he forced a strained yet courteous smile. “Of course... Our merchants are always law-abiding.”

Chu Guang gave him a puzzled glance, unsure why the man had stressed that point, but before he could dwell on it, he caught sight of a familiar face nearby.

“Luo Hua?!”

“Chu Guang! Hahaha, my old friend, I knew you’d show up here! It’s been far too long! And I’ve got good news for you, by the way, you have to share a drink with me!” Luo Hua strode over with a glass in hand and a wide smile.

Noregg stared, dumbfounded.

Wait... this guy’s name really is Luo Hua?

Hold on, did that mean the Director-General title was real too?!

Watching the smiling administrator clink glasses and drink with the man he had just mocked, Noregg stood there completely stupefied...