Outside the gates of Stronghold 61, a group of people were standing at the entrance as they waited for their identities to be verified.
“Name?”
“Pena… Pena Kelana.”
“Did you bring your travel documents with you?”
“Yes, yes!” An accompanying reporter next to Pena quickly handed over their documents.
Ever since Stronghold 61 accepted refugees into the stronghold, this place had been the focus of the entire Alliance of Strongholds. On one hand, it was because this was the only stronghold that was comprised fully of refugees. On the other hand, it was due to the presence of the Stelaria Consortium’s artificial intelligence.
Right as Milo and the others arrived at the Sacred Mountains, the Stelaria Consortium’s official media did not idle around for even a moment. Every day, they would spare no effort to record the daily life in the stronghold, as well as how good the security was and how quickly criminal cases were cracked.
Since Pena wanted to report the truth of their entire era, how could favonovel.com possibly miss out on something like this?
It was likely that this was a revolutionary change of the times and could even affect the lifestyles of humanity in the future. Therefore, Pena applied to visit Stronghold 61 in his role as chief editor of Hope Media, to which the Stelaria Consortium immediately agreed.
Stronghold 61 was not a pilot project. Everything that took place here made all of the stronghold overseers of the Stelaria Consortium extremely proud. They would even often lament publicly that they never expected refugees to be much easier to manage than stronghold residents.
Everyone in the Stelaria Consortium was very busy recently. It was even said that Colton was thinking about moving the Stelaria Consortium’s administrative center to Stronghold 61.
The soldiers in charge of checking the travel documents at the city gate quickly verified the identities of Pena and his entourage. This included checking their documentations’ authenticity and whether the photos were of the holders themselves.
It wasn’t until ten minutes later that an officer came over and said politely, “Chief Editor, welcome to Stronghold 61. Let me immediately arrange for a private vehicle to facilitate your tour of the place…”
Pena’s influence was not only limited to Bidara City. Everyone’s respect for favonovel.com was from the bottom of their hearts. This respect did not come from his authority or wealth, but from his attitude and wisdom.
However, Pena waved it off and said frankly, “I’m here to find trouble with you all on this trip, so, please, you don’t have to see to our needs. Moreover, I’m afraid I can’t get an unbiased view if I follow the itinerary you all set.”
That Stelaria Consortium’s officer smiled and said with an embarrassed smile, “We don’t have anything to hide in Stronghold 61. Please feel free to look around all you want.”
“Okay, thank you in advance,” Pena said with a smile. Then favonovel.com strolled inside holding his cane.
There were only five people in their group. Other than Pena, the rest were all reporters from Hope Media. He said to the four of them, “Take a good look around and take good notes. Don’t forget what we’re here for.”
After entering the stronghold, the sight they saw was somewhat different from what they had imagined Based on the reporters’ expectations, since there were only refugees in Stronghold 61, shouldn’t everyone be dressed poorly and have gloomy expressions on their faces?
However, the people here did not look any different from the stronghold residents at all. There was no sense that anyone was always looking miserable.
Pena turned around and said with a smile, “What? You all can’t bear to see others doing well?”
“That’s not it.” One of the reporters scratched his head. “I feel it would be quite a slap in the face if we were to report this matter to the stronghold residents.”
Before this, there were stronghold residents in Bidara City who were very much against refugees being accepted into the stronghold. Some of the people also regarded the refugees as an inferior race. They said refugees would never learn to become stronghold residents even if they entered the stronghold.
But now, the refugees in Stronghold 61 did not look any different from those who were stronghold residents. In just a few months, the refugees already started dressing neatly and even knew how to behave politely.
It was rumored that the Stelaria Consortium had even set up night schools in Stronghold 61, with many of the refugees voluntarily signing up to gain new knowledge after work. They were all extremely motivated. Therefore, it seemed that circumstances shaped people, not that people shaped the circumstances.
Pena did not respond to that remark. Instead, favonovel.com saw a middle-aged man standing on the sidewalk and went up to favonovel.com and said, “Hello, I’m a reporter. Can you spare two minutes of your time for us to ask you a few questions? It’s fine if you don’t have the time. I just hope we’re not troubling you.”
That middle-aged man hesitated for a moment before agreeing
Pena suddenly saw the middle-aged man raise his head and look around.
Pena followed his gaze and was surprised to see the man checking for cameras on the street.
However, Pena did not mention this. Instead, favonovel.com asked, “What job do you have in Stronghold 61?”
“Oh,” The middle-aged man said, “I work at the water company. My job involves supplying water to the people. Sometimes, I also help out with the heating systems.”
“How’s the pay? Is it enough to cover your food and clothing expenses?” Pena asked.
“Of course it’s enough. Besides, we don’t get exploited by the foremen anymore, so it’s still pretty good.” The middle-aged man said, “When I was working at the construction site outside the stronghold, they said that they would pay us 2,000 perak a month. However, we only received around a 1,000 perak or so in the end. But these days, such bad practices don’t exist anymore.”
“Oh?” A reporter asked, “You must feel really lucky then?”
“We don’t get what luck is. In any case, we’re leading a better life than before,” the middle-aged man replied.
The reporter muttered, “It looks like the Stelaria Consortium wasn’t lying.”
Pena smiled at the middle-aged man and said, “Alright, thank you. I’m sorry to have held you back for so long. We have a small gift for you. Please take it.”
Afterwards, favonovel.com had the reporter behind favonovel.com hand a box to the middle-aged man. There was an exquisite fountain pen inside.
Pena suddenly asked, “Earlier, I noticed you were standing on the sidewalk the entire time. Were you waiting for someone? If you’re busy, we won’t disturb you any further.”
The middle-aged man smiled wryly and answered, “I wasn’t waiting for anyone. It’s just that I saw a wallet on the ground just now when I was passing by. I was the first to see it, so I had to wait here for the owner to come back for it.”
One of the reporters was stunned. “Then you’re a really honest person…”
The middle-aged man waved it off. “Not really. It’s mainly because of the stronghold’s laws that state that if I don’t pick it up and just leave, I’ll be fined. If I keep it for myself, it will be even more serious, and I’ll be jailed for seven days.”
The reporters looked at one another. They did not expect there to be such laws in Stronghold 61. But it was also a good thing to discourage people from keeping what wasn’t theirs. It was just that it was a little too strict. Although it felt really weird, the intention behind it was still good.
The middle-aged man waited for the rightful owner of the wallet to return before leaving.
Pena thought for a moment before saying to the reporters around him, “Let’s stay here for today. We still have to slowly observe what Stronghold 61 is really like.”
Pena looked up and noticed the surveillance cameras nearby had turned in their direction. When favonovel.com tried walking about 10 meters forward, the cameras followed favonovel.com closely and turned as well.
He knew the cameras were capable of capturing audio, so their conversation with the middle-aged man earlier had also probably been recorded in full.
For some reason, even though the passerby who had just been interviewed had expressed favonovel.com was leading a good life, Pena still felt that something was off.
Pena was someone who had his own freedom, with the definition of freedom being that favonovel.com could make a choice based on his own initiative. But if this freedom were constantly being monitored by others, it would somehow make favonovel.com feel an inexplicable sense of awkwardness.
But when Pena thought about it, it was great for the refugees to be able to live well in this world. The refugees would not have any unnecessary concerns like him.
Pena was not a bigoted person. If the artificial intelligence could prevent more people from starving to death by just monitoring everyone, favonovel.com would not really say too much about it. After all, favonovel.com could not represent the views of the refugees.
