Chapter 1066: The Nobles Give Us Lies and Half-Full Bellies, the Luna Wolves Give Us Rules and Full Bellies

Low murmurs arose among those who had surrendered.

Fear remained, but a new emotion began to sprout.

Twenty-five carts is more than twenty, but one can eat one's fill... there are rewards for exceeding the quota... the rules are clear, and there will be no arbitrary deductions...

To miners who had long lived under the arbitrary oppression of the nobles, this was already a "better" promise.

Sajisi turned toward the area for the severely wounded.

"Medics, treat those who can still be saved. Let them live to continue working."

Four Luna Wolves Space Marines walked toward the area for the severely wounded and began using field medical kits to treat those miners who still had a chance of survival.

This further reinforced the message: those who submit, those who have value, will be spared.

Then, Sajisi turned toward the direction of the observation room.

"As for those instigators..."

Ten minutes later, Weilakesi and eleven other nobles were dragged out of the observation room.

They were forced to kneel before the mountain of miner corpses.

Weilakesi knelt on the ground, begging for mercy incessantly.

"Please! Spare my life! We can help you manage the miners! We can teach them to mine more efficiently! We are far more useful than these stupid miners!"

Sajisi did not even look at him; he simply nodded to the Luna Wolves Space Marine in charge of the execution.

Twelve chainswords started up simultaneously and swung down.

The nobles' heads rolled, and blue blood sprayed onto the corpses of the miners they had incited, completing this cycle of betrayal and punishment.

Sajisi finally said to those who had surrendered:

"Now, return to your mining levels.

Today's work begins from this moment.

Those who complete today's quota will receive an extra food reward tonight."

"Remember: your choice saved yourselves. Every time you want to resist in the future, think of today, think of those who died, and then think of submission—at least you can stay alive, and perhaps even live better."

Three days later, all noble residential areas on Ninghuaxing had been cleared.

Over eight hundred nobles and their core retinues were executed.

The "lesson" of the Deep Gold Vein Mine spread throughout the entire planet, through the oral accounts of surviving miners and through the battlefield recording footage that the Luna Wolves allowed to be disseminated.

The effect was immediate.

Miners in other mines who had originally been restless completely extinguished any thoughts of resistance after hearing the story of the Deep Gold Vein.

More importantly, what they heard was not just the slaughter, but also that promise: those who submit live, and those who work hard may live better.

The Luna Wolves fleet's overseers moved into every major mining area and breeding ground.

They brought a new production management system, exactly the same as the one spoken of at the Deep Gold Vein.

Daily quotas were clearly carved onto the crystal tablets at the entrances; completing the quota earned standard rations, exceeding it earned extra rewards, failing to complete it resulted in reduced rations, and continuous failure resulted in elimination.

Cruel, but clear.

No middleman exploitation by nobles, no arbitrary punishments, only cold rules.

The old miner Basuo, one of the eight thousand who survived the Deep Gold Vein massacre, now worked on the seventh mining level with a new identification number.

His quota was five carts higher than before, and the work was harder.

But on the first day, when he completed the quota of twenty-five carts, he truly received a full portion of nutrient paste.

That night, he ate his fill for the first time since he was born.

"At least..."

Basuo said to a young miner apprentice during a break.

"At least now I know that as long as I dig twenty-five carts of crystal ore, I can eat my fill today. When the nobles ruled? I could dig thirty carts and still only be half-full, with the rest taken by them."

"But Uncle Basuo, they killed so many of our kin..." the apprentice said in a low voice.

Basuo fell into silence.

The scene from that day appeared before his eyes again: bolters, melta, chainswords, the mountain of corpses, and... those who knelt and surrendered survived.

"Those nobles lied to us. They tricked us into going to our deaths while they hid behind. The Luna Wolves... at least they don't lie. Resistance means death, submission means living, and hard work means living even better. It's very simple."

Basuo picked up his pickaxe and walked toward the depths of the mine.

"Get to work, kid. If you want to live, want to eat your fill, and want to live a little better, you have to work."

On the bridge of the *Loyal Soul* in orbit, Horus looked at the report sent from Ninghuaxing: the nobles had been cleared, the resistance had been suppressed, and crystal core production had increased by twenty percent after the event.

Sajisi's supplementary report read.

"Adopted a selective elimination strategy; resisters were annihilated, and those who submitted were retained and given a clear promise of survival. The low-level miners have no general loyalty to the nobles and have responded positively to clear rules and survival guarantees. Compliance is expected to be maintained long-term."

Horus said to his commanders.

"Fear is the foundation, but after fear, one must provide a way out. A clear, achievable way out."

Horus pulled up the labor data and ration records of the Ninghuaxing miners.

"Look, they are adapting to the new rules. Because they have discovered that following the rules truly allows them to survive, and it is even more 'predictable' than living under noble rule. And predictable survival, for a long-oppressed workforce, is in itself a form of progress."

"Warmaster, those executed miners..."

A young commander hesitated to speak.

"A necessary lesson."

Horus's voice had no inflection.

"Thirty-eight thousand alien lives in exchange for the total submission of millions of laborers on the entire planet, as well as stable crystal core output for the next few decades. More importantly, they have learned the rules: resisters die, those who submit live, and those who work hard may live better."

Horus closed the report and gazed at the star map.

"The crystal cores of Ninghuaxing, the ore of Bingsuixing, the agricultural output of Shuangyuxing... all these resources will now flow smoothly into the arteries of the Star Alliance. What we paid was merely some ammunition and a carefully designed lesson."

"This is the art of conquest. Kill those who must be killed, tame those who can be used. Use iron and blood to establish order, use fear to define the bottom line, and use clear promises of survival as the driving force."

"Now, Ninghuaxing will be quiet for at least a generation. Because they all understand..."

Horus turned around, the light of a conqueror flashing in his eyes:

"The rules of the Xiuluo Holy Star Alliance: those who resist die, those who submit live, and those who work hard may live better."

"And survival, along with the tiny hope of improving that survival, is forever the strongest force driving life."

Under the pale golden sky of Ninghuaxing, the roar of the Crystal Core mines never ceased day or night.

The miners worked with their heads down, occasionally glancing at the crystal stele at the pit entrance where the rules were carved.

They no longer fantasized about freedom or resistance; they simply calculated their daily quotas and the extra rewards they could earn by exceeding them.

The nobility had become a forgotten past.

The Luna Wolves had become an irresistible present, but also a present that provided clear rules.

And the future... the future was merely the twenty-five carts of crystal ore to be dug today, and the fact that if they could dig thirty carts, they could receive extra supplies tonight; that was all.

On the rock wall deep in the mine, some unknown miner had carved a small line of Psych-script with a Crystal Core fragment; this time, the overseer did not erase it, because this sentence did not constitute a threat.

"The nobility gave us lies and half-full bellies; the Luna Wolves give us rules and full bellies. We choose full bellies."

This sentence spread quietly among the miners, becoming the underlying fable of the new era on Ninghuaxing.