Chapter 1220 - The Grand Occasion

When the army equipped in power armors and kinetic skeleton paraded through the main road in the Sixth Street, the survivors paid the highest respect and applause to the soldiers who returned from the expedition.

Flowers, cheers, applause…

Jiang Chen, inside the brand-new X-1 power armor, waved his hands at the excited crowd. He could feel people’s enthusiasm as a smile appeared on his face.

People’s worship of heroes is eternal and lasted from ancient times to the present.

From time to time, a young girl came forward with a blush, and handed the bouquet in Jiang Chen’s hand, offered a hug, and then quickly ran back into the crowd. The guards and NAC Knights who followed Jiang Chen also enjoyed the same treatment, just not as frequently as Jiang Chen who was at the very front.

Because of this glory, many people specially came to participate in this triumphant ceremony. After the expeditionary army’s dissolvement the second day, they must take an airship back to Shangjing to report to the Fourth Division.

There were still people who could not make this trip, because NAC must maintain a minimum sense of military presence in Pingan Street. Many like Lu Fan were the ones who stayed behind.

In the very front, Jiang Chen smiled and waved as he led the army forward. They slowly advanced towards the central square of the Sixth Street.

“Look, look! The general seemed to have glanced at me just now,” A girl said as she pulled on her best friend.

“No. He was obviously looking at me!” The beautiful woman in the fallout shelter’s winter clothes straightened her chest and said, overjoyed.

Just as the two girls argued over who the general’s sight stopped on just now, a mercenary at the entrance of the nearby tavern patted his thigh and sighed with regret.

“Fu*k! if I knew there was such prestige, I would have gone when they recruited! I would never have went to that merchant fleet for just one hundred credits, and I almost got castrated by the mutated humans.” The mercenary-looking man looked enviously at the power armors that walked by as he couldn’t stop sighing.

“Come on, can you even survive for two seconds with your accuracy?” His colleague, who leaned on the side with a wine bottle, mocked while he burped, “I heard that our expeditionary force and the Russian Border Guards fought in the subway tunnel. Do you understand the concept of border guards? They are actual military troops! And we have won! If you can’t even win against mutated humans, aren’t you just going to be a deadweight?”

“Fu*k! How would you know if you didn’t try!” The mercenary argued with his face completely red.

As the mercenaries were causing a ruckus, the bank beside the central square was packed at this moment.

In the war mobilization stage, NAC issued war bonds as usual, and now it was finally time to cash them out. However, what really ignited people’s enthusiasm was not the two percent profit, but the auction of trophies and loots!

The assets that belonged to Ding Liwei, Wan Peng and other council members on Pingan Street would be auctioned at the Sixth Street Bank hundreds of kilometers away. Factories, real estate, resources, and even the franchise rights of a certain industry were all the darlings these merchants chased after!

It was an undeveloped virgin land. Although the weather was colder in the north, its development potential was much better than Hongcheng and Wu City!

Merchants in suits and leather shoes crowded inside the trading floor of the bank as they eagerly looked up at the information flashing on the big screen. Their fingers were placed right above their EP screens and bid through the external “credit chip” on the EP.

“What the! Who bid 1 million credits already! Who is this rich!” A merchant exclaimed when he saw the auction price that jumped up ten times compared to the starting price.

“It’s probably someone from Zhao Group. They are determined to win the food trading rights. But NAC is really generous. It’s so good to keep this in their own hands. It’s a gold mine…”A another merchant sighed.

“Maybe the general hasother plans. However, having said that, the credit points were originally issued by the military government. No matter how much money they make, it is just a number after all.”

“You are right… By the way, I heard that there is a high density of mutant species in the subway stations in Shangjing, and there are many high-quality hunting grounds. Do you want to buy a hunting group? Winter is coming soon; the crystal market seems to have potential!”

“Forget it. If even you could think of this idea, I think the crystal is going to fall again…”

“What do you mean?!”

The entire Sixth Street was unprecedentedly lively.

Of course, the liveliest place was the central square.

Jiang Chen stood in front of the square, just like the last time he returned form the expedition. He read the victory declaration in front of all the survivors and then awarded medals to the soldiers who returned.

The award ceremony was also the most awaited part of the entire celebration.

In the NAC’s pyramidal citizenship hierarchy, the benefits and political rights enjoyed by citizens of different ranks were completely different.

In this expedition, a total of 170 high-class citizens were newly promoted to NAC Knights. They could have their own T-3 power armor (although they could only be stored in the warehouse under unified management), and could serve as officers in the military government above the rank of captain.

In addition, there were a total of 510 newly promoted upper-class citizens, 1,520 middle-class citizens, and 3,000 lower-class citizens. Obtaining citizenship was equivalent to naturalization in the NAC military government system, which allowed the citizen to receive at least one ration and be allowed to settle in “military zones” such as the Fishbone Base.

Although it was possible to apply for abandonment of citizenship, no one in their right mind would ever do so.

Any one with citizenship was highly sought-after by unmarried girls and single women. If they couldn’t gain achievements through war, marriage was the only way for them to become a citizen.

Especially the newly promoted knights, they were considered a rare resource in the eyes of the unmarried girls in Sixth Street. Being a knight lady was not only an honor, but it also meant a plentiful life.

They could enjoy delicious white rice every meal, and meat raised from the beef cattle from the Garden of Eden. It was an enviable life that even factory owners and wealthy merchant dreamed of.

It was precisely because of this that many people also jokingly referred to this ceremony as husband selection ceremony. And the facts have also proved this. According to statistics after the end of the last expedition, in the month after the ceremony, the number of marriages registered almost tripled compared to last month.

Even Chu Nan discussed this issue with Jiang Chen. Proper foreign war could help eliminate poverty and decrease the number of singles…

Of course, in addition to the knights, there was the most popular individual, and he was the one standing in the middle of the stage.

Young, handsome, chic, and suave…at least in the eyes of all unmarried girls. But because of this, this one seemed a bit out-of-the-reach in everyone’s eyes.

Success could conceal many shortcomings of a man, and even turn many shortcomings into advantages. To give a very popular example – because Jiang Chen is Jiang Chen, the fact that many love affairs were related to him could only be love affairs, and nothing else.

Even those pre-war actresses, business elites, and women of high-ranking officials who have high self-esteem that recently exited the hibernation chamber, who strongly believed in women’s rights from the pre-war era looked at the tall figure on stage and felt their hearts pounding.

It had nothing to do with power or wealth.

The worship of heroes was human nature.