Chapter 1474: Chapter 1472: Procedures
Philip and his son Little Jimmy followed the Soldier into Redstone City.
Looking around, he saw that upon entering the city, what greeted him was a huge square, both its length and width exceeding two hundred meters, very spacious.
Beyond the square was a cluster of buildings divided into numerous areas, with Stone Buildings of three or five stories tightly packed together. People constantly moved in and out of the Stone Buildings, all looking hurried, as if busy with something.
On the streets and the square, there were many Soldiers patrolling and stationed, with strict vigilance.
The Soldier who brought him into the city led him and his son to a corner of the square, where several tables were set up, with people sitting behind them.
In front of the tables, nearly a hundred people were in line. Following the Soldier’s instructions, he and his son joined at the end of the line. After about half an hour, they finally reached the tables.
By this time, he understood that the people behind the tables were responsible for registration, recording some information about him and his son.
The person asked thoroughly about him and his son’s names, ages, addresses, experiences, and some other details. After questioning, they pointed to the side, indicating for him to take his son to another corner to queue, this time for a health check.
Most of the day, Philip and his son spent in various queues, undergoing information registration, health checks, receiving items, and so on.
By near evening, the entire process was finally completed, and they returned to the starting point. By this time, they had been forcibly bathed, changed into new clothes, carried a backpack stuffed with various items, and were instructed to form a line and wait.
The Soldier who brought him previously reappeared after a long absence, glanced at him and the others in line, and said, "Follow me."
Then he, his son, and the others were taken to a designated area inside the city, entering a huge Stone Building where they were assigned accommodation.
Each accommodation room was arranged for eight people, each with a separate bed. To his surprise, his son Little Jimmy was also entitled to a bed—seemingly, in Redstone City, even a child is treated equally.
In fact, during the day’s processes, he somewhat realized that Redstone City did not show any disrespect, even though Little Jimmy was a child; he felt as if Redstone City valued Little Jimmy more than him.
Why is that?
With confusion, Philip fell asleep—because during the day’s processes, there were two gatherings for meals, filling his stomach with food, allowing him to quickly fall asleep.
...
This sleep was very deep, and it wasn’t until he heard the urgent "beep, beep" that Philip was startled awake.
The new day arrived, and the strange bell sound came from outside the door. Then a designated Soldier came in to wake them, instructing them to queue again. After queuing, they were led to the cafeteria to start breakfast.
Breakfast was simple, similar to what they ate during the day yesterday; it was a kind of light green thick porridge, bland in flavor but filling. To Philip, this was much more delicious than dried mushrooms or dried worms; he drank three bowls continuously before stopping. Little Jimmy drank one and a half bowls.
After the meal, they were again taken back to their room, ordered not to go out casually, nor to converse freely with each other.
Considering they were in an unfamiliar environment and had food, no one dared to violate the rule.
Thus, the morning was spent in boredom.
Occasionally, some waves arose when people were intermittently called out of the room to another room for questioning.
Most people returned safely after interrogation, but a very few disappeared.
Later, Philip learned that those missing were people whose espionage identity was exposed during the review—they had long tried to infiltrate cities under the Shalin System for sabotage, under the control of forces behind them.
But Shalin had long prepared for this, with an extremely complete review process, making it almost impossible for those with ulterior motives to be allowed in.
Upon hearing this, Philip curiously asked what happened to those exposed individuals afterward.
The person providing the information smiled slightly, indicating they were of course dealt with, without further explanation.
Philip: "..."
...
As the boring morning finally dragged on, it was time for the delightful lunch.
After lunch, a mandatory nap was enforced.
Then followed the boring and long afternoon.
After the afternoon passed, it was time for the delightful dinner.
Shortly after that, it was time to sleep.
...
In the days that followed, there wasn’t much difference from this day, as if describing imprisonment.
However, Philip was very satisfied, after all, in these times, to do nothing and have a warm place to sleep, with three meals a day, what more could one ask for?
Notably, the people here seemed genuinely attentive to his son Little Jimmy. Besides being called out for questioning more times than him, sometimes Little Jimmy was asked to do some tests. For example, finding patterns among many strange symbols or guessing what the next symbol in a string of strange symbols would be.
Philip was perplexed, but seeing that Little Jimmy wasn’t very resistant, he did not ask further questions.
And so, a week passed.
...
One week later, around noon, after another long morning, footsteps were heard outside the door.
Those who lived with Philip all perked up, looking toward the door, thinking it was the person bringing them to lunch.
Philip felt the same, but amid the anticipation, a thought flashed through his mind: today’s lunch seemed a bit earlier than usual.
Just as he thought about it, a figure appeared at the door, but it wasn’t the familiar Soldier; it was a middle-aged man. He was wearing a gray officer’s uniform, looked around forty, stern-faced, with two small, dark mustaches above his mouth.
The man glanced at the people in the room and said, "Let me introduce myself, I am Norton Vant. I am here to tell you two pieces of news—one good news, one bad news.
First, the bad news: your lunch today is canceled, so you might go hungry. Then the good news: although your lunch is canceled, congratulations, you all passed the review. Next, I will take you to Redstone City."
Hmm?
Hearing Norton Vant’s words, Philip couldn’t help but be stunned... to Redstone City? Isn’t this place where he is now, Redstone City? Could it be that he went to the wrong place?
Norton didn’t give him or the others time to ask questions. After speaking, he turned and walked out, with Philip hastily following with his son Little Jimmy.
Following Norton and walking all the way, they exited the Stone Building they lived in, joining hundreds already waiting there, forming a line, and then were instructed to head deeper into the city.
