lcionline Chapter 376 What do you want? What else can you do?
Chapter 376 What do you want? What else can you do?
Rod angrily called the Veterans Affairs Office, but no one answered.
Undeterred, he called several other relevant departments from different numbers and finally got through to one of them.
Hello, how can I help you?
"I want to inquire about the resettlement of veterans."
"Okay, please wait a moment. We'll connect you to the relevant person in charge and put you in the queue..."
Then Rod just stood there holding the phone, waiting dumbly for almost fifteen minutes, until finally the other party answered.
"Please state your military unit number and the squadron you belong to."
"The specific squadron of the Yukikaze destroyer should no longer exist. Just search for the number 0."
After waiting for a while, Rod thought the matter was over, but to his surprise, the other party said...
"Sorry, we couldn't find your number. Our system indicates your data is abnormal. Please come in person to resolve this."
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
"Grass!"
Rhodes was so angry he wanted to curse, but he suppressed his anger, packed his things, and went to handle the matter offline.
As it turned out, he was surprised to find that a long line had already formed when he arrived at the office, seemingly consisting of soldiers whose resettlement issues were waiting to be resolved.
Among them were several familiar faces who came up to him and struck up a conversation.
"Rhodes? No, even you got placed in a similar situation? I thought only lower-ranking officers like us got this treatment!"
"Ka placement?" Rod asked, puzzled.
"Yes, it's the monthly payment for our resettlement housing. It's said that it's been embezzled."
After chatting with a few old buddies for a while, Rod finally understood the gist of what had happened.
In Mechanical Earth, there is no concept of buying or selling houses, because all land and housing usage rights belong to the ultimate owner, so everyone only has temporary usage rights.
The monthly expenses for the resettlement housing provided to veterans are borne by their respective units, which pay Huoling Heavy Industry, one of the three major conglomerates, and then distribute the housing to its affiliated real estate developers.
The problem lies in the distributor环节 (distributor/agent).
In the past, the monthly resettlement allowance for the military was a fixed amount of money, so Huoling Heavy Industry came up with a trick: to use this money for investment first, and then use the investment money to pay the resettlement fee later.
But they never expected that the explosion of the HMS Lord Avent would trigger a series of butterfly effects.
A large number of squadrons were held accountable and their formations were cancelled. At the same time, the death benefits were gradually distributed, which suddenly strained the previously sufficient funds.
Then Fire Spirit Heavy Industry pulled some shady moves. To avoid being held accountable, it directly stopped the resettlement subsidies for dismissed soldiers like Rhodes and added layers of bureaucratic hurdles under various pretexts.
The sole purpose is to delay.
By delaying until their own funds are recovered, they can effectively rob Peter to pay Paul.
But this was going to be tough on Rhodes and his family. Not only were their housing fees inexplicably cut off, but their whole families also had to move out. Ironically, some veterans had their military service records blacked out by Fire Spirit Heavy Industries because their units were disbanded.
If you don't have a military service record, then there's no need to issue the subsidy. I'll add it back for you when I have the money, and then I'll say that it was caused by a clerk's mistake, so no one will be held accountable.
"So, we're just going to let them bully us like this?" Rhodes was still somewhat unwilling to give up. He found it absurd that he had spent most of his life in the military fighting for the mechanical Earth, only to end up like this.
"What do you want? What else can you do?"
“Brother, we’re old news. He dares to bully us because he knows we can’t cause much trouble.”
"At first, a few people started a disturbance, and Fire Spirit Heavy Industry quickly gave them subsidies. Everyone thought that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so they all joined in the disturbance. But guess what happened?"
The man couldn't help but sigh as he said this.
"All those who cause trouble have their subsidies revoked as treason. That's exactly what they're after. They want us to cause trouble so they can have a reason to convict us."
"Then there's even more reason not to issue subsidies."
Upon hearing this, Rod's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. He looked at the people in line and saw that there were many disabled officers whose arms or legs had been amputated.
Given the current level of technology on Mechanical Earth, physical disabilities are no longer a big deal. With the installation of suitable prosthetics, one can still use their limbs as easily as before.
However, these prosthetic bodies are not cheap. There are some cheaper ones on the black market, but they are still at least the price of an ordinary soldier's annual salary.
These people are still dragging their injured bodies around, and they probably don't even have the money to buy these cheap goods.
"Waiting like this isn't a solution. You all probably still have connections in the military, why don't you try contacting them?"
Rhodes was most puzzled by this: Fire Spirit Heavy Industry was indeed one of the three giant enterprises, but it shouldn't be able to bear such a huge burden of blame!
Which of these people is a pushover? Everyone has connections in the military. To put it bluntly, a word from each of them would be enough to settle this matter. How could they have fallen to this point?
How much vested interest must be involved behind this?
No...maybe it's not about interests, but about a deficit!
Rhodes quickly figured out the key point: the resettlement fee for the army was a hot potato. Even if Fire Spirit Heavy Industries had the guts, they would only dare to use this money to plug the hole, not to line their own pockets.
The only possibility that this money cannot be disbursed now is that there is another huge economic shortfall.
Expeditionary Force!
The only economic shortfall Rhodes could think of was forming an expeditionary force to attack Earth-4.
He already held a high position in the army, and rumors about the expeditionary force had actually been circulating for several months.
The fourth Earth has appeared and is slowly moving toward the Elbato Cluster, which is the last piece of the map of the six Earths.
With their addition, this three-way stalemate will soon be broken, but whether it will be for the better or the worse is hard to say.
Therefore, the Mechanical Earth Military and Political Committee formulated an expedition plan.
They nipped the fourth Earth in the bud before it even reached the Elbato Cluster.
Whether the plan was ultimately implemented remains unknown to Rhodes, but if it is true, then Fire Spirit Heavy Industries' questionable actions seem to make sense.
It's likely that this money was invested in the expeditionary force, which is why the resettlement allowances for these people were temporarily suspended.
Rhodes took a deep breath. If he could think of this, others could probably guess it too. So now, they were faced with a dilemma.
Which is more important, the nation or the family?
Given the current situation, the military definitely won't be able to pay the resettlement fees. If this money was embezzled, they will definitely not hesitate to bring people to his door and beat the bastard to a pulp.
But now, this resettlement fee is likely to have been used for something more important.
Moreover, this matter is beneficial to the future safety of the entire mechanical Earth, so these people are somewhat unsure of what to do.
After a moment of silence, Rod could only sigh and turn away.
That evening, he arranged to meet Lin Xuan at the same tavern.
Rod downed the last bottle of beer, pouring out his pent-up frustrations.
"You mean to say that the current finances of Mechanical Earth are likely being used to secretly build an expeditionary force for an expedition against Earth Four?"
This was the first time Lin Xuan had heard of this. Xinghuo's intelligence network was still too closed off. Hope might know about it, but he certainly wouldn't tell Simothers and the others.
Ron nodded.
"It's pretty close to the truth, but don't spread this around. This is just my speculation. We'll have to go to war with this so-called Earth Four sooner or later. Whether it's friend or foe is another matter. The most important thing is to send an expeditionary force to test the waters first."
"The other party should have just reached the level 2 civilization. Some of their corresponding technological systems are not yet perfect. If we can nip them in the bud now, it will solve a lot of big problems in the future."
Lin Xuan nodded.
"That makes sense, so none of you are planning to accept this resettlement fee?"
"Just not for now." Rod downed the drink in his glass.
"Others may not understand, but we are very clear about the significance of concentrating resources to build an expeditionary force. Time is tight and the task is heavy. If we wait until we alert the enemy before we take action, they will be on guard."
Lin Xuan thought that Rhodes and the others' ideas were absurd. They seemed to have been brainwashed by something from Mechanical Earth, showing an almost fanatical loyalty to it.
Even matters like resettlement fees were voluntarily shelved after hearing about the tight budget.
"Alright, let's leave it at that for now. I believe in Mechanical Earth; it will definitely give us an explanation in the future."
Seemingly still worried, Rod reminded him again.
"Please don't go around telling anyone. I'm only telling you this because I trust you."
“Bai Bing, you need to know that we know nothing about Earth-4. Although they are still on their way, if they have the ability to monitor our conversations, it could cause a lot of trouble.”
Lin Xuan pouted.
"Don't worry, they probably don't have that technology yet."
Rhodes shook his head.
"You've never been to Earth-4, how do you know they haven't?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Xuan could only manage a wry smile.
"They really don't have that."
Rod waved his hand, abandoning his desire to continue arguing with the other party, and instead turned his gaze to Lin Xuan.
"Bai Bing, I hope Xinghuo will stop causing trouble during this period."
"Perhaps we should unite and face this common enemy together!"