Stronghold 61 had already regained its vitality.
The refugees quickly took to their jobs in the stronghold, and the entire place was back to running with law and order. Due to the supervision of the Stelaria Consortium’s artificial intelligence, some of the refugees who had sinister motives were also forced to settle down in the end. Those who still dared to cause trouble in the stronghold were mostly locked in jail, and many of them were sentenced to death.
However, the atmosphere in the stronghold was a little oppressive. Many of the refugees became afraid they would get imprisoned if they did anything wrong.
Regarding the entire running of Stronghold 61, the Stelaria Consortium’s people specially recorded and organized detailed information into a report.
The officials of the Stelaria Consortium were especially serious about this matter. This was because it was what their boss, Colton, wanted. It was said the information would be used to train and improve the artificial intelligence.
Outside the stronghold, the houses Milo bought at a great discount were all sold for higher prices thanks to the Stelaria Consortium.
Of course, they were not sold too expensively either. After all, Milo had to consider the purchasing power of the refugees. There were not many refugees who could save that much money. However, the prices Milo bought the houses for were incredibly low.
This left Old Bane feeling a little conflicted. He felt that Milo always seemed to be able to make a lot of money very easily. Meanwhile, favonovel.com worked really hard and traveled extensively, yet the money favonovel.com earned was way less than what Milo had.
At this moment, the town was filled with people again. After a month, the hustle and bustle in town was even more lively than ever.
As a matter of fact, before the incident at Stronghold 61, there were only around 40,000 people living in town. But after the trouble was taken care of, over 80,000 people had gathered there.
While Milo was playing cards in the tavern, favonovel.com looked out of the window at the passing people and said with a sigh, “The Stelaria Consortium’s move was really beyond everyone’s expectations, and these are only the people we see in town. I think there’s even more who got transported by military trucks to the factories. The Stardust and Virtuora Consortiums should have a problem on their hands right now. The fact that their factories have stopped running is the least of their worries, but if their food supply gets reduced next year, a lot of people are gonna go hungry.”
When the Stardust and Virtuora Consortiums first found out about the incident at Stronghold 61, they had shown some sympathy on the surface and were willing to support the reconstruction process. But behind the scenes, they were probably gloating hard at what happened.
And now, they were completely dumbfounded. After the dust settled, the Stelaria Consortium actually ended up turning the tables on them.
Milo thought even more highly of Colton for this.
Beside him, Magnus asked, “But, Brother Milo, why would the Stelaria Consortium need so many refugees?”
“Only with people will there be productivity.” Old Bane explained from next to them, “The Stelaria Consortium is mainly located in the plains, and there’s still many good fields in the wilderness that haven’t been reclaimed yet. In the past, they did not have the manpower to do so, and it was difficult to break ranks and force the stronghold residents to go outside to farm. But now they suddenly have an overabundance of people to work for them.”
Adrian looked at them and said, “Less talk. Hurry up and play your cards.”
“Oh yeah, a pair of fours.” Milo threw out two cards.
“A pair of fives.” Old Bane also took his turn. “By the way, Milo, has that Steele lady in your house regained consciousness yet?”
“No…” Milo frowned and said, “I don’t know what’s happening, but that woman has not regained consciousness even though an entire month has passed. I was thinking that since favonovel.com is a floral supernatural being, favonovel.com might’ve absorbed too much energy from the plant this time and ended up a vegetable…”
When favonovel.com returned home at night, Milo looked quietly at Olivia. The woman had been asleep for an entire month already, but there was still a healthy glow to favonovel.com face even though favonovel.com had not eaten or drunk anything.
He muttered, “Looks like you won’t have to eat anymore in the future. That’ll be great. I could save some money on your meals that way….”
As favonovel.com spoke, Milo kept staring at Olivia’s fingers. It was written in the books that when a comatose person was about to wake up, they would start moving their fingers first.
But as Milo was staring at Olivia’s fingers, a cold voice rang out, “Who are you?”
Milo jerked his head up to see that Olivia’s eyes had opened. Her gaze was deep and cold, as though favonovel.com had never met Milo before.
It fell silent in the room. Milo had gotten used to Olivia lying here quietly in a coma. He was hoping favonovel.com would wake up, but favonovel.com was still shocked when favonovel.com really did regain consciousness.
The candle in the room seemed unmoving, as though stilled by the heavy atmosphere in the air.
Meanwhile, Olivia lay on the bed and looked at Milo coldly. Both of them were suddenly caught in a deadlock.
A second later, Milo muttered, “Did you really damage your brain? But I guess you did not have a brain to begin with anyway.”
Olivia immediately got angry. “Master, is that how you see me? You’re the one who has no brain. How boring! Couldn’t you have just played along for a bit?”
“Get up already if you’re awake…” Milo said unhappily, “You’ve already occupied my bed for a month. Do you know how I got through this past month? I had to sleep on the ground! Is letting your master sleep on the ground what a maid should do? Is that even something a human should do?”
Olivia looked at the mattress spread out by the window and softened. She carefully got up and asked, “Master, you’ve been guarding me for a month?”
“What do you think!” Milo snapped, “You slept well for the past month, but I went through hell. It’s winter now! Do you know how cold the ground is!”
Olivia smiled apologetically and said, “Master, please sit down. I’ll massage your legs…”
“Forget about the leg massage!” Milo inspected Olivia and asked, “Do you know what happened to you?”
“My memory stopped at the final moment I infused my energy into the creeper vine’s roots… Initially, I thought I could gain control of it, but my energy seemed to have only ‘cut’ a hole in its body, and its chaotic energy started flowing into me instead and then I passed out. I floated in the darkness for a long time in my subconsciousness and saw many strange bubbles glowing. In the bubbles, I could see the entire lives of some people.” Olivia said, “I suspect they’re the memories left behind by those who died in the disaster after getting devoured by the creeper vine.”
Milo pondered that for a moment. “So, did you get a look at their bank accounts and passwords?”
Olivia was taken aback before nearly bursting into tears. She cried out, “Oh no, Master! I forgot to check!”
“Is it too late to check now?” Milo asked.
“It’s too late…” Olivia was filled with regret. “When I woke up, all those memories disappeared…”
Milo sighed and said, “You’re usually quite the money-grubber, so why did you drop the ball at such a crucial moment?”
“Hey, wait a minute, Master!” Olivia came back to favonovel.com senses. “I’ve finally regained consciousness after an entire month, so why are you paying attention to money the moment I come to? Shouldn’t you at least be a bit more concerned for me?”
“Ahem…” Milo changed the topic. “By the way, do you feel any changes to your superpower?”
Actually, this was what Milo wanted to know the most. After all, Olivia had absorbed the energy of several hundred thousand people from the stronghold. Even though that energy was absorbed via the creeper vine, it was still a shocking amount.
