Compared to most settlements in the wasteland that brimmed with the warmth of everyday life, Plot 721 was more like a true survivor settlement.
And the survivors living here were more like true survivors as well.
That was not to say they were poor.
Though their patched-up cold-weather clothes looked somewhat worn, they were still far better off than the survivors of the Brahma Province, where an entire family could not scrape together even two sets of clothing. The locals did not need to eat dirt, either. Even in the harshest times, they had nutrient paste to fill their stomachs. And when things were less difficult, they could get bread and sausage.
In fact, the researcher scrolling through papers on the train had not lied. The Science Committee had provided the locals with all the nutrition necessary for survival, as well as the basic necessities needed to sustain life.
For example, there were concrete houses, fuel for heating and lighting, and schools built as beautifully as churches.
The right to education was basically guaranteed. As long as local survivors completed the not-too-demanding production tasks required by the Science Committee, they could stay fed and clothed, though they would not live too well.
Most of the suffering endured by the locals came from the climate itself, and there seemed to be little to complain about there. Wandering Swamp had not been a livable place even before the war.
The only thing they could complain about seemed to be the extreme inequality in treatment. The resources enjoyed by one researcher could exceed the total resources consumed by a thousand ordinary survivors.
And that was only their personal standard of living, without counting work-related expenses. If laboratory expenditures were included, the figure became impossible to calculate.
Still, even that did not seem worth