Chapter 2308: Territory Changes, Steam Engine

Having been away for these days, Laidun's efficiency is quite remarkable; almost every visible road has had wooden poles erected, upon which are fixed the simplified Magic Lamps that the Tower of Time has already begun mass-producing.

At this moment, Xia Duo feels that he might have returned at a rather inopportune time; if he had returned at night, he might have been able to see the true scene of ten thousand lights.

A Magic Lamp costing 10 Gold Coins is not an unattainable luxury for the current residents of Daxia Territory; not to mention the official residents who have already been allocated land, they have at least several hundred Gold Coins in savings.

As for those official residents and even prospective residents who are still participating in the development of the Territory, they can also use the method of advance withdrawal to obtain some Gold Coins for daily expenses.

The current Daxia Territory is no longer as destitute as it was at the beginning of its development; many official residents who were allocated land have used the Gold Coins they earned through meritorious service during the development period to open many taverns and restaurants within the Territory.

Those still involved in development cannot resist such temptation; if they don't come for a few drinks after work, they can't sleep when they get home. As for restaurants, the Territory Canteen still provides free meals to Pioneers, but the problem is that communal meals are never as comfortable as a private kitchen.

A rather strange situation has now appeared in the Territory: those who have been allocated land envy those who are still developing, as they can accumulate more merit. After all, the number of residents is limited, and the competition for taverns, restaurants, and the like is also very fierce.

And those who are still developing envy those who have already been allocated land, wanting to get their first startup capital as soon as possible to begin their own magnificent commercial journey.

However, according to Xia Duo's guiding spirit, the land-grant ceremony is conducted in order of the time one joined the Territory, rather than based on the specific amount of merit. Of course, this is under the condition that everyone's service to the Territory's development is qualified, meaning they have reached a certain level of merit.

The study on the top floor of the Tower of Time.

As his perspective shifted, Xia Duo quickly focused his attention on a group of people in Code Plaza; they were a group of people wearing orange clothes, which is the mark of the Territory's security officers.

It looks like they are setting up the venue for the upcoming Snow Melting Recruitment.

Starting this year, the Tower of Time will conduct recruitment twice a year, once on the first day of the Melting Snow Month, and the other on the traditional Midsummer Festival.

It is just that Laidun seems to have misunderstood Xia Duo's intention, wanting to turn the Snow Melting Recruitment into a festive celebration similar to the Midsummer Festival. Regarding this, Xia Duo pondered for a while and did not intervene too much.

It can be said that this should be the first spontaneous festival in the Territory, and it should be encouraged. As for how much this actually has to do with the Snow Melting Recruitment he mentioned, that is secondary.

As the development area of the Territory stabilizes, a large number of residents have been allocated land, either managing their own fields or turning to develop commerce, and life is generally getting better and better.

Even those residents who are still participating in development can share in the dividends of the Territory's development, such as the Literacy and Legal Night School, magic enlightenment, Art Appreciation, community villages, unified roads, civilian use of magic, and many other aspects.

This so-called "when the granaries are full, people learn etiquette"—once the most basic survival needs are met, the residents naturally develop higher-level pursuits.

Literacy, learning the law, practicing magic, watching plays, listening to music, and appreciating art are not things only the so-called Nobles are qualified to do; in fact, Netheril itself did not develop a strictly ordered Noble system.

The current Daxia Territory is closer to the life of citizens in the early industrial era on Earth.

Xia Duo sees risks in this, but he also sees hope. After thinking for a moment, he picked up a pen and wrote on the paper—"Snow-Melting Festival"!

However, he is not prepared to hand this paper to Laidun immediately; instead, he plans to wait until the Snow Melting Recruitment is over and decide whether to turn this day into a real festival based on the results of that day's celebration.

Judging from the current situation of Laidun's arrangements, if nothing unexpected happens, the Snow-Melting Festival will become a new festival for Daxia Territory.

"Right!"

As if Xia Duo thought of something, he immediately controlled the Projection Window to shift his perspective to the Savile Territory in the north; there is also a group of security officers in orange coats busy in the Central Square in front of the Town Hall.

The work efficiency and mental state of these people are far inferior to the security officers in Code Plaza. They also appear to be setting up the upcoming ceremony venue, but with the people in Code Plaza as a comparison, these people now look as lazy as can be.

And this scene seems quite familiar!

"Sure enough!"

Xia Duo thought of the time when Savile Territory celebrated the Midsummer Festival previously; it seemed to be this same group of people setting up the venue. Although it might not be the same batch of people, it is clearly the people of Savile Territory, no mistake.

Just as he was hesitating whether to remind Laidun, another security officer in an orange coat walked out of the Town Hall north of the Central Square. After the others saw this person appear, they immediately changed as if they were different people, becoming spirited at once.

The movements of their hands also became very nimble.

"Heh!"

Xia Duo understands that the situation is not the worst-case scenario he imagined; it should be that in the early stages of the integration of the two places, in order to ensure a smooth transition, those "old masters" from the north were included in the ranks of public servants.

But those "old masters" seem to be a bit unaccustomed to it.

Almost instantly, words like "performance appraisal" and "dismissal" popped into Xia Duo's mind, but after thinking about it, he decided to trust Laidun's ability and see how his Executive would handle it next.

If the popularization of street lamps and the budding of a new festival were enough to surprise Xia Duo, then the Steam Car running on the 【Daxia-Saville Passage】 truly made him feel inexplicably shocked!

After a spell check, there are no traces of magic on this Steam Car; it is just a chugging Steam Engine and a vehicle body pushed by a Crankshaft.

"This—"

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo is truly dumbfounded; he doesn't even know when this thing popped up in the Territory! How on earth did they think of it? And who exactly came up with this Steam Engine?

To know the answers to these questions is actually very simple; on the Steam Car currently moving slowly on the brick road, there are two new Mages who still look quite immature!

"Boli, Pide, and who is that?"

Xia Duo thought and thought, only recalling the names of the two new Mages; as for the third person on the car, he had absolutely no impression of them. He can be certain he has never seen the other party.

It seems that the appearance of this Steam Engine should be attributed to this person!

Subsequently, Xia Duo sent a Sending to Boli and Pide, telling them that he had something to ask them. Afterward, Xia Duo directly cast a spell to teleport the Steam Car along with the three people on it to the Floating City.

……

Hengchun Square.

Boli and Pide pulled the still-dazed Xiluo and hurriedly ran off the Steam Car. They had already recognized this as Hengchun Square; it looks like the President should be coming over very soon.

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Boli and Pide were very excited in their hearts; the two of them looked at the third person on the side almost simultaneously, and a thought popped into their minds—

Lucky guy!