Resurrection Empire-Chapter 1031 - 399: Clone Corpse Sea

Although Ren Zhong seized control of the team, a real problem still stood before him: the mandatory 50% elimination rate that he had to achieve.

If Ren Zhong followed his previous line of thinking, then Brown Jonathan would be the one responsible.

Ren Zhong just needed to go with the flow and follow along.

Now, although he had successfully taken over, he actually put himself on the spot.

However, after pondering for a moment, Ren Zhong found a breakthrough in the Association's census officer review act, potentially turning the difficulty into an opportunity.

According to Source Star's legislation, in the event of a typical town abandonment, usually, the first step is the confiscation of the weapons of the wastelanders, followed by the evacuation of citizens, dismantling of key structures, factories, removal of automated weapons from town walls, and the closure of institutions like the military weapon store and cafeteria that keep the town operating.

Subsequently, the temporarily abandoned wastelanders wouldn't immediately meet their demise but would instead become tribesmen living on the surface.

Typically, these tribal wastelanders would first experience a degree of chaos before forming groups to migrate to nearby towns willing to accept them, or to seek asylum at some wilderness tribe capable of modest defenses against nighttime Ruined Beasts to make a living. During this process, many would die, but some could successfully reach their destination.

But this is already the best outcome, like the previous case in Starfire Town, where a small number of citizens collude to turn the wastelanders into commodities through voting. Alternatively, some citizens who advance knowledge of the town's imminent abolition secretly lend small amounts to wastelanders, creating debt relationships. Once the town is abolished and the wastelanders' weapons and wealth are confiscated, they can naturally utilize these debt relationships to turn the wastelanders, who have just a bit of human rights and freedom, into their sovereign slaves on-site and legally take them away to serve as laborers in their enterprises in other regions.

Ren Zhong thought he could implement the latter operation, and the detailed implementation should naturally be handed over to professionals like Brown Jonathan.

In the Alson Group system, Brown himself controlled several small commodity production enterprises, holding a considerable number of wastelander slaves.

Back then, this was the trick Brown used to acquire his primitive labor force.

Thus, monopolizing the small conference room, Ren Zhong called in Brown with a smile, "Honorable mentor Mr. Jonathan, I have a little favor to ask of you."

Brown inwardly cursed this damned student playing the fool while taking advantage of both sides, but outwardly he put on a flattering expression, "Ren Zhong, go ahead."

Ren Zhong leaned in, asking, "I've studied your numerous census operations over the years and noticed you, on average, manage to acquire tens of thousands of slaves annually during the census. Quite professional."

Brown Jonathan gave an awkward smile, "I mainly do it to find a way out for these homeless poor souls."

Before taking Ren Zhong, this intern, Brown, of course, reviewed the material in advance and started using polite phrases to cater to his preferences.

Ren Zhong widened his eyes, staring at Brown with shock.

After a long while, Ren Zhong gave a thumbs up, "Impressive."

Brown: "Huh?"

"In your factory, on average, over ten thousand people die each year from overwork and malnutrition, making it necessary for you to frequently recruit more laborers, yet here you've turned it into finding a way out for people. Admirable, truly admirable. You are indeed the best I've know at saying one thing and doing another with a straight face."

Having his true intentions exposed by Ren Zhong, Brown wasn't embarrassed but instead showed a pained expression, "It's really not my fault. There are many complex reasons for such a death rate, but at least they live longer and better than as wilderness wastelanders. Moreover, there are wastelanders in my factory who have worked for over ten years."

Ren Zhong was tired of his shamelessness, and impatiently waved his hand, "Never mind, that's not important. What's important is, this time, I need your help getting people. Consider it your closure."

Brown Jonathan was stunned, "Get them for what?"

Ren Zhong grinned, "To be slaves, what else?"

Brown: "How many?"

Ren Zhong: "All of them."

"Huh?"

"All the wastelanders from the five abolished towns, I want them all."

Brown Jonathan exclaimed, "That would be at least four hundred thousand people!"

Ren Zhong nodded, "I know."

In the past, Brown Jonathan might have been overjoyed because Ren Zhong finally showed his true colors, even arrogantly wanting to save every wastelander. But after witnessing Ren Zhong's deep association with the Mengdu Group, Brown became uncertain again.

Everyone knows the Mengdu Group is full of ruthless people who devour everything, and Ren Zhong is probably not a good guy either, having only been constructing and disguising a good person image before.

But now, with the truth revealed, his appetite expanded even beyond his capacity.

Seeing Brown Jonathan's troubled expression, Ren Zhong chuckled, "What? Afraid you can't do it?"

Brown honestly nodded, "Yes."

Ren Zhong stood up, put on an old-fashioned demeanor, and patted Brown's shoulder, "Solutions are made by people. Do you know the biggest difference between you and me?"

"What?"

"Besides money, I have an army. When the time comes, clearly inform those in power in the towns selected for abolition that should anyone dare to refuse, my Expeditionary Army will arrive promptly, leaving them with nothing."

Brown suddenly understood, "That makes sense."

"Then go prepare," Ren Zhong waved him away.

Later, Ren Zhong contacted Li Yang and candidly shared his plan to take away all the temporary wastelanders.

Ren Zhong stated that he wanted to maintain his consistent image of the past, so these people should still be sent to the Ren Group, not the Mengdu Group, to avoid arousing suspicion.

Li Yang had no doubts and readily agreed, also informing Ren Zhong that since now the support from companies like Source Star Military Industry had arrived at the Ren Group, his Starfire Army could consider accelerating external expansion and launching a general attack to quickly take over neighboring cities.

Ren Zhong gladly accepted Li Yang's kind offer.

But after hanging up the phone, Ren Zhong's expression became somber again.

Li Yang instructed Ren Zhong to execute an even more brutal "three scorched earth policy" against external forces with his Starfire Army.

Li Yang's aim was straightforward, to gather more human bodies for the Mengdu Group justifiably, and also to help the Association gain more human brains in this meat grinder battlefield, further accelerating the decline of the wastelander population.

Ren Zhong argued against it again, asserting it was inconsistent with his image, and after much persuasion, he let Li Yang somewhat lower the standard, who then rephrased, "According to the plan, your company will take over a total of five cities. According to their population ratios, you must provide the Mengdu Group with at least ten to twenty percent of the bodies, which is a million people, no less. As for the brains, there can be fewer since they are more likely to be damaged during warfare. With respect to the Association, we just need to put on a show."

Ren Zhong had no desire to do this, but if he didn't, Li Yang would surely see through him.

Soon after, Ren Zhong informed Sun Miao of his troubles through the "Dream Network."

Sun Miao had a delightful surprise.

He said, "The progress of the Tree Plan and the Legion Beast Plan is promising, and we might see some results within half a month. The Group will obtain a slightly smaller new 'network,' and with the computing power of this network as a support, by combining the Molecular Regeneration Device with Clone Catalytic Technology, we can mass-produce brainless corpses, which just so happen to meet Li Yang's requirements."

Ren Zhong was overjoyed, "Indeed, have Qingmeng and Wang Zhaofu immediately start building the Underground City, hide the captives there, and use the new network to create corpses to cover for us. That way, not only can we seize the population, but we can also continue leveraging the Mengdu Group."

The more resources at hand, the naturally more solutions arise to resolve crises.

…

Time flew by, and three years passed in the blink of an eye.

Through the continuous efforts of Ren Zhong and his team, Source Star's landscape was silently rewritten.