Lord of Winter: Beginning with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 685: Chapter 390: The Terrifying Red Tide City (Part 2)

In Sorel’s view, this is not merely urban convenience, but a completely different level of technological capability.

He stared at the road that didn’t freeze: "They can maintain the main roads of the entire city at a constant temperature? To sustain transport, commerce, and public order during a blizzard... completely unaffected by the weather."

His inner assessment of Red Tide’s technological prowess improved significantly.

Then he headed towards the refugee area near the city gate.

Theoretically, this should be the dirtiest and most chaotic place, as every big city in the Empire has such an area to some extent.

They are not native residents but foreign parasites, and since they can’t be entirely eradicated, a designated area is allocated for them to live.

In any case, they dissipate like weeds only to continuously re-emerge, serving as the most unwanted shadow in every city of the Empire.

Yet as he approached, his first reaction was not to cover his nose, but rather surprise.

The air was devoid of any foul smell, absent of the sour odor of excrement, filled only with the fresh scent of limewater and sulfur soap.

"...Something’s off," Sorel muttered quietly.

The attendant assumed he was complaining, "Sir, let me..."

"It’s not dirty; it’s too clean," Sorel gently raised his hand, signaling him not to move.

Outside the refugee area, steam pipes emitted white mist, and several workers in thick aprons guided new arrivals into a large public bathhouse in line.

The bathhouse’s outer wall was engraved with Red Tide’s sun motif, with two medical women standing at the entrance.

A worker noticed them, briefly assessed before approaching: "Are you visitors from out of town? This is the containment line. If you’d like to observe, you’ll need to stand outside the yellow marked line."

Sorel glanced at the yellow line on the ground and couldn’t help but ask: "Do you clean this many people daily?"

The worker nodded: "It’s the rule. New migrants must first be treated for lice and mildew, otherwise, they may bring epidemics."

Hearing this, Sorel was taken aback.

As the refugees entered, they were unkempt and covered in lice.

As they exited, their hair was cut short, their clothes replaced with uniform old cotton garments, and each held a bowl of steaming porridge.

At that moment, a middle-aged man who was pushed out suddenly halted, his hands shaking slightly as he held the porridge.

Upon seeing the sun motif of Red Tide on the wall, his eyes inexplicably moistened.

He spoke to no one, yet suddenly knelt in the snow, bowing firmly and choked up: "Thank you... thank you... I thought I wouldn’t survive this winter..."

The foreman quickly lifted him up: "Don’t kneel; register after eating, then you need to work."

Not far off, a frail woman holding a child softly asked the medical woman: "Can we really... really stay? We won’t be driven away?"

The medical woman draped a clean shawl over her shoulders: "As long as you’re willing to register and work, you can stay."

Holding her child, the woman couldn’t help but break into tears on the spot: "Thank you... Red Tide saved us..."

Sorel watched this scene and found it somewhat difficult to comprehend.

These people were grateful to the point of tears, but he didn’t understand, for refugees were not wealth; they only brought risk.

Why would Louis invest such effort into handling these people?

By the standards of the Imperial Nobility, this act was meaningless — laborious, uneconomical, with low return.

Yet in Red Tide, everyone seemed accustomed, as if following an incredibly mature procedure.

Sorel couldn’t grasp it, nor was he likely to fathom the real reason.

The increase in the refugee population indicated a larger demographic base, representing a surge in mobilizable labor, trainable soldiers, and cultivable craftsmen.

Refugees cleansed wouldn’t be immediately useful, but they would survive.

As long as they survived, they would be incorporated into Red Tide’s food distribution, work points, and evaluation systems, not necessarily remaining in the city but distributed to surrounding Red Tide territories.

Once within the system, they were not burdens but resources — a human mine capable of being continuously processed.

Louis wasn’t extending charity; he was preparing manpower for future industrial expansion.

As for discovering new industries, for Louis, a transmigrator from Earth and a Lord with the daily intelligence as a cheat, this posed no challenge.

Sorel naturally couldn’t realize this.

From his perspective, this process was money-burning and labor-intensive, downright foolish.

He failed to comprehend the logic of this system due to his limited vision.

On the afternoon of the third day, Sorel walked to the plaza of the residential area.

It was the area where citizens gathered, and observing the city’s demeanor there was direct and straightforward.

He happened upon an elderly man pushing a wheelbarrow who slipped, spilling a whole bag of flour onto the ground.

Sorel instinctively assumed the Knight would whip the obstruction out of the way.

After all, in the Imperial Capital, this was the norm.

But in Red Tide City, the patrolling Knight immediately halted his horse, dismounted, helped the elderly man up first, and then repacked the scattered flour into the bag, ensuring no harm before continuing the patrol.

The surrounding citizens did not retreat; instead, several children’s eyes gleamed like stars: "I want to become a Knight too!"

Sorel stood frozen, realizing that Knights were no longer a privileged class but protectors.

The commoners were no longer inferior beings who had to avoid eye contact but citizens who directly faced the Knights, even taking pride in them.

If it were only one individual, it might just represent the noble character of a solitary Knight, but given his experiences over these days, it was evident that Red Tide’s Knights were invariably friendly and patient with the civilians.

This signified that this was a rule deliberately established by Louis.

This was not merely management but a reshaping of class consciousness.