"Collaborators?" Yu Lian looked at Major General Watt Rall thoughtfully, feeling that the setup sounded oddly familiar.
Major General Watt Rall continued, "We mine, farm, and produce supplies, and we have to hand them over to the planet's administration. They don't mistreat us, and they don't withhold our necessities, but if we want to skim a little off the top, we still have to put in some effort."
"Right. If you've already started skimming off the top, then you're definitely close collaborators," Yu Lian said with a smile.
General Rall nodded. "Indeed. My past experience tells me that good collaborators are those who can keep working together even while cheating and stabbing each other in the back."
That was certainly a counterintuitive way of putting it. But given the general's past experience serving as chief (spy) of staff (gangster) at an embassy, it somehow sounded quite reasonable.
He then gave Yu Lian a detailed account of how loosely Prisoner Camp No. 1 was run. It couldn't be said that orders were strictly enforced; at best, the camp's administration was better than nothing.
After the people of Earth had been transported from the New World, they were simply assigned to live in a town that had already been built on this planet.
The barracks, canteens, restrooms, and showers were all in place. Even the rooms had been decorated, so they could move right in with nothing more than the bags they carried.
The Imperial authorities told them that four soldiers would share a room, while senior NCOs and junior and mid-ranking officers would share two to a room. Senior officers got a room to themselves and could even bring orderlies. The town—no, the large prisoner camp—had enough room for all of them.
After that, they were left to manage themselves.
The