Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 685 - 573: Ten Thousand Taels of Gold

Chapter 685: Chapter 573: Ten Thousand Taels of Gold

Xu Yang felt that Aledy was having a good time in Anda Port, but indeed she was, as she had the army and a space mothership backing her.

After he relayed some matters to her, he ended the communication and turned around. Xu Yang then took an off-road vehicle to the gold mining town.

The new leader of the independent armed forces, Ai Song, followed him. Ai Song looked at the dense jungle on both sides, where huge banana leaves swayed in the wind like thousands of green fans, and he couldn’t be more familiar with this land.

There was a school nearby, and Xu Yang saw at least 300 indigenous children frolicking on the playground. There were school buildings around, still under renovation, with dust billowing.

"This school is run by us. It’s for teaching children from six villages," Ai Song said with pride.

"What do you teach?" Xu Yang thought about the undesirable ideologies that the Black Fire Renewal Association might be instilling in the children.

"Literacy and math. Those are the only two subjects for which we have teachers," Ai Song explained.

"When you are fighting, do the villagers study here?"

"Yes—there are tens of thousands of armed soldiers fighting against Blackfire Innovation on the front lines, and in the rear, hundreds of teachers are instructing tens of thousands of students. Education, like bullets, helps us resist the influence of Blackfire Innovation," Ai Song nodded earnestly.

At the school’s entrance on the dirt road, some independent armed forces soldiers waved and saluted the off-road vehicle.

Xu Yang noticed that most of them bore various scars that didn’t look like they were from cuts or stabs, but rather from extremely harsh working conditions, including whip marks, slashes, and scrapes.

Before joining the independent armed forces, they might have been miners, carpenters, or simply corporate slaves under Black Fire Innovation.

"You can organize exams and select talented children every year to go study in the Northern Archipelago. Nestor Corporation will sponsor them," Xu Yang said.

"Yes!" Ai Song was immediately excited.

The educational environment offered from afar was far better than here, where the children didn’t even have sufficient teaching materials. If truly talented children were sent to the Northern Archipelago for schooling, it would indeed change their destinies!

"Are the people of Charo Island eager to be independent from corporate rule?" Xu Yang inquired.

Although Ai Song was supported by Xu Yang, the prospect of independence for Charo Island filled him with an even greater zeal.

"This is the land where we grew up. People of Charo Island have lived here for at least 2,000 years. The companies, including Black Fire Innovation, have set foot on Charo Island soil only in the last 100 years. What are they? Charo Island belongs to us. The mines, coconuts, rubber, and coffee here were all planted by our people. Why should their benefits go to the companies and not us?" Ai Song spoke with gravitas.

"It seems that this is the greatest foundation for uniting you," Xu Yang thought of how fragmented this force had been, only haphazardly glued together by the brash actions of A40.

"Our goal is to reclaim all the mines and plantations from the hands of the company, and to use the money to invest in our own education, roads, and clean water," Ai Song’s tone carried a hint of nobility.

"You seek freedom with swords and guns," Xu Yang understood.

"We must be free. Because Charo Island is rich in resources, should we be colonized by the company? That’s nonsense. The bullets and robots of Blackfire Innovation only make us angrier. They treat the entire Taiya Archipelago as fuel, just to ignite their shameless ventures. And the excessively indulgent merchants of Anda Port, as well as that stamp-peddling traitor Halsan—they organize troops to attack us even more eagerly than Blackfire Innovation, truly the lapdogs of the big companies. We are at our breaking point, and that’s why we dare to take up arms to confront Blackfire Innovation," Ai Song couldn’t help but say, his tone becoming increasingly intense.

Approaching the gold mine, the entire pit was surrounded by dense forests. Miners pushed carts filled with gold ore out, dizzy with exhaustion. These ores would be gathered and transported to a smelting plant to be turned into gold bars.

"Such a large gold mine," Xu Yang’s heart stirred, Charo Island truly was a treasure trove, and it was indeed a windfall to seize this island.

"It’s with this gold mine that our independent armed forces have sufficient funds to operate," Ai Song explained.

According to Ai Song, it was always hidden within the mountains and forests of Charo Island and was newly discovered three years ago. Black Fire Innovation cleared the area and conscripted labor to mine for gold, leading to the current production levels.

Xu Yang assessed the situation of the Charo Island gold mine; currently, the ore body had an average gold content of 10 grams per ton, and they could refine 100 kilograms of gold per month, roughly equivalent to 30 million in funds. Based on previous exploratory data, reserves were estimated to be around 850 tons, worth a total of over 300 billion!

With Nestor Corporation’s full construction and development, the mining capacity of Charo Island’s gold mine could increase more than tenfold, reaching an annual output of around 10 tons of gold.

Pure gold is the ultimate hard currency, especially when the future economic crisis worsens, and various places might launch their own currencies.

If Nestor Corporation had to issue some currency, it would also need gold and oil reserves for support.

He saw that only a small road led to the nearest town, then connected to the factory, severely hindering the throughput of the gold mine.

"It seems that the road conditions are not good," Xu Yang observed.

"There’s a river over there, and we’ve always wanted to build a bridge over it to facilitate the transport of goods and connect the villagers from several mountains, but we have never been able to complete it," Ai Song led Xu Yang to the riverside.

Seeing this, Xu Yang arranged for six survey drones to come and investigate the situation, thoroughly surveying the river’s course, bank positions, and topography, then sending the information back to the Northern Archipelago.

Ai Song was completely baffled by what he saw.

It wasn’t until three days later, when he came back, that he found two large transport planes roaring in, dropping a hanging steel bridge directly from the sky, landing it atop the riverbanks on both sides!

Four construction robots were also airdropped to assist in installing and securing the bridge, which instantly became sturdy and stable, able to bear up to 25 tons of weight.

A bridge dropped from the sky instantly connected roads on both sides of the river.

Ai Song was utterly astonished and only after a long while did he coordinate with the miners to reroute their transport of goods.

Aerial deployment of pre-fabricated structures! To him, it was like witnessing the science and technology of an alien civilization...

The disparity between super corporations, small companies, and Indigenous people truly made Ai Song ashamed, but he also secretly swore to himself to build up Charo Island, transform its backward state, and let the people truly enjoy the fruits of technological advancement.

Several more days passed, Manager Ramali and Chief Ai Song met on the outskirts of Anda Port, under the coordination of Nestor Corporation.

"Eldest Uncle! Please, this way!" Ramali greeted Ai Song warmly.

"Ramali!" Ai Song, seeing his sister’s husband, also nodded.

After a few days of unrest, Ramali had resigned from the municipal company and had become, in a turn of fate, a spokesperson for Nestor’s local interests.

Ai Song had already rallied the independent armed forces and had seized half of Charo Island’s territory, preventing other companies from infiltrating the interior of Charo Island, effectively securing 50% of the interests of Charo Island for collaborative development with Nestor Corporation and consolidating the results of their independent uprising.

Xu Yang handed them a document on the side.

"This is the startup draft for Nestor Charo Development Company," said Xu Yang, "You will maintain peace and prosperity in Charo Island together with Nestor Corporation, according to the three principles of Nestor: fairness, union, and progress, to rebuild the local industrial system here."

They were familiar with the cooperative system and had no objections.

The cooperative system would greatly increase the wages of workers, attracting a large population to enter the mountains and jungles for development, which would help prosper the area quickly and drastically improve the living standards of laborers in Charo Island.

What Nestor Corporation organized was "cooperative production," meaning that they would replace the employment labor system with a system of equal producers united.

That is to say, the owners of the mines and plantations would no longer be the large and small entrepreneurs, but the associations consisting of miners, engineers, plantation workers, and agricultural experts. All the slaves previously subjugated by Black Fire Innovation were also unconditionally released.

After signing their names, they were filled with a myriad of emotions.

In the time to come, Nestor Charo Development Company would exploit coal, gold, copper, timber, and plant rubber, coffee, pepper, rice, etc. They would invest in and construct numerous hospitals, schools, and roads, develop public communities, and introduce technological and cultural endeavors.

Black Fire Innovation had exploited the resources of Charo Island in a predatory manner, using all the funds for manufacturing weapons. What they needed to do now was to let the residents of Charo Island develop these resources through labor, trade them out, and make everyone prosperous.

In return, Nestor Corporation benefitted immensely.

In the future, they would be able to use and purchase resources directly from Charo Island, significantly reducing the production costs of Nestor Corporation’s various industries.

The Northern Archipelago had no means to produce these tropical resources; now with the construction in Charo Island, they had secured a source of resources.

"As long as Nestor Corporation can withstand the retaliatory counterattack from Black Fire Innovation after the 24-month ceasefire period, Charo Island will definitely become a land of prosperity," Ai Song couldn’t help saying.

"Withstand the counterattack... of course, that’s no problem," nodded Xu Yang.

He didn’t mention that, in fact, after 24 months, Nestor Corporation would take the initiative to strike back and crush Black Fire Innovation completely.

"Keep your troops and morale," Xu Yang encouraged with a nod, "In the future, we will raise our flag in places all around the world, and Charo Island will also be the bridgehead of our righteous cause."

Ramali and Ai Song nodded vigorously, and at that moment, they couldn’t help but deeply miss the one who had sparked everything, the brave A40 warrior.