Candy Pastries

Will swallowed as he looked at the exquisitely shaped, colorful candies and pastries on the plate.

He had only heard of such things in legends and stories.

Will had once been a miner in the Lower Hive.

During the Horus Heresy, to keep his entire family from starving to death, he had resolutely taken his pregnant wife and elderly mother to the Upper Hive.

Amid the tide of refugees, his mother had starved herself to death, leaving the food for his pregnant wife, while he had endured through sheer physical strength.

Fortunately, after the rebellion ended, the Governor had taken in refugees like them.

Will became a miner again, and through his extensive experience and good fortune—his previous supervisors had unfortunately died in mutant attacks—

he had eventually risen to the position of supervisor.

His family usually survived on Corpse Starch, only daring to buy a piece of bread mixed with sawdust every few days.

That was already an exceedingly rare delicacy, something ordinary families could not afford.

But the food before him was a hundred, a thousand times more delicious than Sawdust Bread!

He had secretly taken a sniff just now, and the scent still lingered in his mind.

It was an immensely precious experience and memory. He had even planned to go home and brag about it to his children.

Will did not dare imagine how delicious these cookies and candies would taste in his mouth!

But the Governor had said he would bestow such delicious food upon him?

What an honor!

Meeting Will's expectant gaze, Ron nodded. "Yes, these are for you."

Ron summoned a maid and had her fetch a fresh serving of candies and pastries, then carefully pack them in an exquisite gift bag.

"Consider them a gift from me to the children."

He personally handed the gift bag to Will.

"Th-thank you so, so much! Governor, may the God-Emperor bless you forever!"

The man ecstatically accepted the bag of candies and pastries, nearly bursting into tears.

Seeing a perfectly ordinary serving of candies and pastries from his previous life make the man so emotional, Ron could not help but sigh.

He secretly swore that one day, everyone on Earth Planet would be able to eat food like this!

That was the responsibility of a leader!

Coming back to himself, Ron raised a hand and patted Will on the shoulder. "Work hard. The Palatine District will never forget your contributions..."

"Governor, I will offer you all my loyalty!"

After a moment of silence, Will spoke solemnly.

He hugged the gift bag tightly and turned to leave at a brisk pace.

Power of Hope +100!

Ron was deeply shocked. One person could actually generate so much Power of Hope!

At that moment, he understood. It was useless to merely make empty promises to his subordinates; he also had to offer tangible benefits and sincerity!

Yet those were precisely what he lacked most right now!

Ron fell into thought again, continuing to ponder how to achieve the greatest motivational effect with the fewest supplies.

Unfortunately, he still had no ideas.

This was difficult!

Meanwhile, Will left Spire Mansion carrying the gift bestowed upon him by the Governor.

"Boss Will, how did it go?"

"What did the Governor say?"

"Can the people who went home come back to work in the mines?"

The moment he emerged, the captains under Will's command crowded around him, chattering anxiously as they asked about the situation.

Each of these captains had several hundred miners under them.

If something happened to the mining teams, they truly had no way to answer to their men.

When that happened, who knew how many families would fall apart!

A bearded captain pointed at Will's face and cried out, "Look! Boss is crying! The mining teams aren't going to be shut down, are they?"

"Could that bastard in the Spire really be trying to put us all out of work?"

Hearing that, Will's expression immediately changed, and he rebuked them, "Shut the hell up! What nonsense are you talking about?"

Seeing their boss get angry, everyone fell silent, their faces filled with unease.

Will wiped away his tears, then smiled at them. "The mining teams are fine. Go back and work without worry."

"They won't cut our pay?"

"They won't lay anyone off?"

"The Governor said everything will remain as it was."

"Boss, what about the people who went home..."

Will looked invigorated. "Tell those lads to come back to work. Work hard, and the Governor will not forget us!"

The news thrilled everyone, and they could not help cheering.

Suddenly, someone caught a scent. "Boss, what smells so good on you?"

"It smells amazing!"

"God-Emperor, I've never smelled anything this fragrant in my life!"

"It smells even better than a woman!"

Will rather proudly patted the gift bag in his arms. "This was given to me by the Governor. They're called candy cookies...

Anyway, they're food that only the Governor gets to eat!"

Everyone stared at the gift bag in Will's arms, swallowing hard. Food that only the Governor could eat—how delicious must it be?

The best thing they had ever eaten in their lives was Sawdust Bread!

Compared to Corpse Starch, all manner of sour, foul-smelling bugs, mutated rats, and the like, Sawdust Bread's one virtue of not making people vomit was enough to make it a delicacy.

Without some miracle, these people would not get to taste such expensive food in eight lifetimes.

Faced with everyone's longing gazes, Will hesitated for a while, but ultimately softened.

As the boss, he could not forget his brothers when he had something good. That was a lesson Will had learned.

It was also an important reason his brothers supported him as supervisor.

As someone from the Lower Hive, he could not have become a supervisor without his brothers' support.

Will carefully opened the gift bag and reached in for the cookies.

He cursed as he said, "You damned bastards, wipe your hands clean! Don't profane such precious food!"

Everyone desperately wiped their hands clean. They lined up and tremblingly held out their hands to Will, terrified they might not catch the treasure properly and let it fall to the ground.

Everyone received a cookie.

The cookies were still warm, so beautiful, and gave off an enticing fragrance that seemed to reach into their very souls!

Their genes held no memory of anything so delicious that they could not even describe what it tasted like.

Some impatiently stuffed the cookies into their mouths, nearly licking their hands clean as well.

But others restrained themselves. They fought down their desires and tremblingly, carefully wrapped up their cookies.

Perhaps they wanted to wait and share them with their families at home, or perhaps they intended to sell them on the black market.

But no matter what, they would not waste such precious delicacies.

Will carefully gathered the crumbs back into the bag. More than half the cookies remained, and he would take them home to share with his children!

That would become the happiest, most wonderful memory of his children's childhood.

Surrounded by the others, Will rode a steam car toward the residential district, all the way to Black Coal Street where he lived.

As its name suggested, Black Coal Street was inhabited almost entirely by mining families.

They depended on the mines to survive.

Any disturbance at the mines—whether cave-ins, mutant attacks, pay cuts, or layoffs—could send some families tumbling into a bottomless Abyss.

On the streets, people were grimy and listless, with no light left in their eyes.

That was the result of prolonged hunger.

The moment people saw Will, they gathered around him.