Chapter 136: You Have No Choice
Garbage Town was now facing an existential disaster, something many people knew about.
Swan was waiting for Henry’s “expert opinion.”
Of course, he could guess that Henry was saying these things as groundwork to secure complete allegiance to the Governor.
He waited for Henry to reveal the Governor’s conditions.
Henry understood this, yet he chuckled and said something that nearly made Swan lose his composure:
“The Governor is coming to Garbage Town, and he’s bringing his army along.”
Swan fell silent for a moment and asked, “He… is coming in person?”
“Yes.” At this moment, Henry was very frank. “The Governor is determined to take over Garbage Town. We… simply can’t resist. Even without military action, if he just blocks trade routes, stops buying raw materials from Garbage Town, or selling food here, Garbage Town would fall on its own.”
“Phew…” Swan let out a long breath, his face already grim. “Does that Governor really need to do this?”
Henry shrugged: “What’s so surprising about it? He’s the Governor of this planet, striving to bring the entire world under his control. It’s the most natural thing.”
After a pause, he continued, “Besides, to be honest, Mr. Swan, I don’t understand why you’re so reluctant.”
“Hmph,” Swan replied. “Who would willingly become a dog if given a choice?”
“Hahaha!” Henry laughed heartily. “That’s not quite right. Offering loyalty to the Governor and the Empire—how can that be like becoming a dog?”
After laughing, he grew serious and said, “Mr. Swan, I used to have similar foolish thoughts myself. When the Governor told me he wanted complete control over Garbage Town, my first thought was—here I am, finally becoming an agent, finally reaching the upper echelons of Garbage Town. Yet barely half a month into my role, Garbage Town would be the Governor’s? Wouldn’t that make my position meaningless?”
“But such foolish thoughts lasted only ten seconds in my mind before I realized how ridiculous they were.”
“Who is the Governor? He’s the one who, realizing Revival City couldn’t hold, started from scratch and, within two months, seized it back, fully establishing control over the entire city.”
“He thwarted the cult’s conspiracy, saving the city. If you were to visit Revival City now, you’d see that the disaster not only failed to destroy people’s confidence, it was almost like a forced clean-up crew. Now, the entire city is rapidly rebuilding and visibly more orderly.”
“If you visit the ruins area of Revival City, you’d find close to 100,000 heavy industrial workers there, producing high-quality alloy daily, manufacturing armored vehicles, heavy artillery, and individual equipment on a large scale.”
“If you saw these things, you’d have no doubt that this Governor could indeed expand his rule over the entire world. Just give him time, and after integrating enough population, meeting the Empire’s taxes in two years wouldn’t be too difficult.”
“I’m immensely honored that I followed the Governor early on. In the future, when he extends his influence across the planet, perhaps I, too, can perform on a planetary stage, maybe even becoming a space-faring merchant. To be honest, I never dared dream of this. My biggest ambition was merely to become an agent. Looking back now, my vision was too narrow.”
“And you, Mr. Swan, unlike me, you’ve long been at the center of Garbage Town’s stage. All these years, you’ve struggled endlessly, fighting for profit, just to maintain a firm footing in Garbage Town. Now, a chance is in front of you—aren’t you even a bit tempted?”
Swan chuckled bitterly after hearing Henry’s words: “Heh… you’re actually using such a laughable reason to persuade me?”
He sneered, too dismissive even to voice his rebuttal.
It sounded so grand, but if passing the Empire’s tax threshold were that easy, five Governors wouldn’t have died. Gaining control over just Revival City and a hollow Alliance, and claiming future global domination—wasn’t that a bit too arrogant?
Indeed, as Henry said, he’d reached the pinnacle by becoming the ruler of Garbage Town. No further step was possible.
But so what? In this wasteland of starvation and death, wasn’t becoming a leader enough?
Swan felt he was content.
However, Henry’s words did not deter him. Henry responded, “You may have no interest in the stars, but isn’t it unfortunate? Even so, you still have no choice. The Governor can destroy Garbage Town. I already told you—he only needs to think it, and you’re no longer its master. With a flip of his hand, he could annihilate you, but if he chooses, he can save you as well.”
“Once Garbage Town fully surrenders to the Governor, the army he’s bringing won’t be our enemy. They’ll be our protectors, aiming their guns at the orcs attacking us, not Garbage Town. Your biggest problem—the one that’s been causing you sleepless nights—will be resolved.”
To Henry’s statement, Swan still had his doubts: “Just those 800 men? Just the seven or eight thousand troops with him? We’re dealing with a battle that 100,000 armed adventurers here can’t handle, and they’ll solve it?”
Henry laughed again, saying nothing, only pointing upward.
Swan understood instantly and then fell silent.
He was still unwilling but had to admit Henry’s words were true.
For survival, only the Governor could save Garbage Town; no one else had the power.
For death, the Governor had endless ways to kill them, even without acting directly.
In this situation, how did he have any right to negotiate?
But not negotiating at all?
Was he to hand over everything he’d built in the past 35 years?
It seemed that Henry saw his concern, for a tempting voice sounded in his ear, like a devil’s whisper:
“Even without ideals and future dreams, consider this one point: the Governor suddenly controls such a vast area. When Garbage Town is integrated, the population will exceed 1.3 million. Yet, with this expansion, the Governor lacks enough talent. A female refugee from the Qing Valley Region became the head of Revival City’s Civil Administration. I, once an insignificant merchant in Garbage Town, am now speaking with you about its life and death. Now, if someone like you, with experience and ability, wholeheartedly supports the Governor, what kind of status might you achieve?”
…
Henry believed he had finally persuaded Swan.
Although Swan hadn’t given a definite answer, and even his request to speak with the Governor directly had been deflected by Henry saying he needed to report to the Governor first, Henry felt Swan would kneel before the Governor without question upon his arrival.
After all, he had no choice.
Furthermore, he had no authority to promise Swan any specific conditions. Nor did he think the Governor would offer anything, except perhaps letting Swan earn what he wanted through his future performance.
It reminded him of when he’d asked the Governor for the exclusive right to the alloy, only to be sternly warned off, leaving him fearful. That incident made Henry well aware of the Governor’s nature.
Even when he had little to nothing, Governor Gu had held a purely commanding mindset—let alone now.
He firmly believed that even if the Governor promised nothing, this Mr. Swan would still end up prostrate before the Governor.
Comfortable in the room Swan had prepared, Henry awaited Swan’s final answer or the Governor’s arrival before the deadline.
On the third day, a servant came to invite him to meet with Swan.
Despite his expectations, Henry couldn’t hide his delight.
He was confident Swan had finally yielded.
Following the servant, he entered Swan’s office.
“You’ve come to your senses…”
Henry hadn’t finished speaking before Swan interrupted,
“I agree, and I’ll make sure all other agents do as well. If any resist, I’ll ensure they can’t.”
Henry was momentarily stunned.
An attitude shift of 180 degrees.
Why are you in more of a rush than me?
He sensed something was seriously wrong.
“When will the Governor’s army arrive?”
“At the earliest, in two days; at the latest, five…”
“Can it be any sooner?”
“Hold on. Tell me what’s happened first.” Henry’s unease grew. “Those Greenskin Beasts?”
“…Yes.”
There was no point in hiding it. Delayed information could lead to strategic misjudgments.
Swan then gave Henry a quick rundown of the situation.
Originally, Garbage Town had no form of governance. It was a settlement formed by scavenging adventurers, gradually evolving into a town as adventurers multiplied, creating industries centered around scavenged items.
But as it evolved into a town with a complete industrial chain, some degree of management became essential.
The agents roughly divided the ruins of the pre-war metropolis—known as the High Tower Ruins—into four zones: low-value safe zones, valuable safe zones, high-value dangerous zones, and unknown zones.
Low-value safe zones were areas long explored, with few remaining mutated creatures but depleted resources. The only resource here was hot ash stone, produced after each Waste Energy Storm.
Valuable safe zones were areas heavily searched but not entirely stripped of resources, yielding abundant metal scraps and occasionally rare pre-war artifacts.
High-value dangerous zones teemed with creatures but offered rich rewards; unknown zones were either unvisited or places few survived.
These zones were organized by distance from Garbage Town.
During the battles with the orcs, the defense zones mirrored these divisions. Or, to be precise, as the Greenskin Beasts grew active in the High Tower Ruins over the last few years, eventually becoming the main enemy, these zones increasingly correlated with the frequency of orc activity.
Since the Greenskin Beast surge a month ago, the high-risk zones had become inaccessible, with only large adventure groups daring
to enter. Following a month of this Greenskin catastrophe, a significant part of the lower-risk zone had become high-risk. Now, scavenging required adventurers to form groups and create battle lines to fight the orcs.
This was evolving into warfare, not just sporadic encounters between small groups and roaming creatures.
For this reason, adventurers were on the verge of giving up.
They came here for profit, not to fight a war.
The latest news was grim: Zone 18, an essential defense point where adventurers had set up formations and fortifications against the Greenskin onslaught, had fallen.
Nearly 20,000 adventurers had been defending against 3,000 orcs there for a week, under immense pressure.
This morning, three adventurer groups, without notifying anyone, withdrew, taking 6,000 people with them.
During a routine orc assault, the defensive line collapsed due to the loss of a third of their manpower, forcing the remaining adventurers to retreat or scatter.
By noon, the orcs had broken through three zones, finally being stopped in Zone 5—traditionally a low-value safe zone.
In fact, Swan had even sent his most valued adventurer group, the “Iron Clock Blade,” to the front line. Well-equipped and well-trained, they were a rare elite force. Their presence barely held the line.
But casualties were high.
Most critically, orcs continued emerging from the ruins, putting immense pressure on the line.
If Zone 5 fell, the parallel defense lines would also collapse, and Garbage Town might truly fall to the orcs.
That was why Swan was so desperate.
“Damn!”
Henry couldn’t help but curse.