Chapter 287: Immigrants (3)
"Captain… Are you sure about this?" one of the crews said after they left the Marianna port. It came as a shock to them because they had no idea of Zhang Qin Feng's influence.
Their ship left the port under the disguise of importing local fruits from Panem and exporting goods such as canned food, grains, and other sundries from Marianna. Furthermore, under Zhang Qin Feng's order, they provided free maintenance on the ship, likely because Zhang Qin Feng hated if an accident happened on their way back.
The hint that they were smuggling refugees out from the country was also eradicated. And to make sure that the next batch of refugees doesn't starve on their way to Marianna, Zhang Qin Feng ordered his men to move a few boxes of rations into the ship.
These rations would be more than enough to support a hundred people for a month if they eat them sparingly. Because it was produced through the Food Processor in the post-apocalypse, the packaging, conveniences, and everything was considered.
Zhang Qin Feng was thinking about introducing the soybean plant from the post-apocalypse to his world to increase the production rate significantly. But it seems that was not necessary because the plant thrived when it was cultivated using the post-apocalypse technology.
Instead, Zhang Qin Feng brought a few seedlings over to let the researcher develop a better breed that could be harvest using the shortest time and tiniest resources.
Keeping himself quiet while facing the question, the captain gave what Zhang Qin Feng mentioned another thought. He initially had a few hesitations, but the more he thought about it, the more he believed this could be done.
Although Panem had double the landmass compared to Marianna, the population only reached between 95 to 100,000 people. Part of the reason their numbers were decreasing is that this island had little to no natural resources.
To keep this country running, they had to export workers out from the country to help maintain its economy. Even the international airport in this country was managed by a private company, which promised a fraction of income from all the flights in exchange for paying no rent to Panem's government.
It was a big turn-off to the locals because the agreement did not include non-commercial flights. This allowed the private company to move a large number of equipment and troops to be based here and registered their visit under the disguise of self-protection.
Things got worst when the locals were influenced by the outsiders. They brought more income into the country as visitors, but at the same time, negative influences like prostitution, smuggling, drugs, and firearms.
The crime rate started to soar after a while and crippled the initial local enforcement troops. This further increases the cost to maintain the country. With each year getting worse than before, this escalated into a power struggle. The government and the rebel army had something to fight for.
Based on the attitude of the Panem government, they seem to be swaying more to the Continent of Southern States. At the same time, the rebel forces are more favorable to the Oceana Alliance. Choosing either one of the big four would bring them no benefit, in fact. But they couldn't help it because to get into war, they needed funds.
And the funds do not come naturally, and it was often accompanied by many agreements and requests. Furthermore, they don't come cheap. And when both sides were getting restless and in a hurry to conclude, they could no longer reason with one another.
Even if they knew that the entire plot spells a scheme from behind, they couldn't help but get pulled into the scam and dropped further, to the point they could no longer escape.
Perhaps the only lucky part here is the rebel forces were only about one-tenth of the population. The majority of the people were still on the side of the government. But the passiveness of the government also started to make the people lost confidence in the government.
Hence, people like the captain appeared.
But not everyone has a hint of conscience like he does. Since people were flocking to get out of this country, it was only natural that people would try to profit from this. And the problem only gets worst as more and more people are either scammed or forcefully smuggled out of Panem to be treated like slaves and prostitutes.
That wasn't the worst. There's been a rumor where a few captains were openly smuggling people out of Panem just for the sake of selling them to the organ dealers in the black market. The people that went with them almost had no way to make it back, let aside keeping their life intact before death.
"All of you seen his methods. I can only blame myself if this man turned out to be an animal." the captain said as he controlled the ship back to the Panem's water.
The moment they docked on a port, the captain immediately paid the workers he's familiar with to spread some rumors. He had his crew unload almost everything, from the grains to sundries, to make space for people to board his ship.
The rumors frighten the locals at first. But the closer the time to midnight, more and more people secretly made their way to the meeting point and asked to be brought out from this country. Because there's a limit on the number he can bring, the captain and his crews simply scanned through the people they're going to take.
As long they don't behave aggressively or be problematic, they'll be allowed to board the ship. For anything else, that would be Zhang Qin Feng's own responsibility.
Precisely at midnight, the ship finally disembarked and left the port secretly. The overall time the cargo ship stopped here was less than 24 hours. By the time more people arrived, it was already too late.
"Captain, what are we going to do next?" the crew asked.
"Distributes the rations to the people and tells them to rest appropriately. While we're on our way, they should start thinking about what they know and what kind of work they're good at. If they want to live well in another country, they can't be taking life as easy as they had all this while." the captain replied.
"Go to this coordinate. If the person is trustworthy, the people he sent to meet us should be on their way soon," he added.
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