Chapter 424 Rock Sparrow? Wind Sparrow√
"Social survey?" Xiweier frowned slightly: "What does that mean?"
"Uh..." The deputy also looked confused.
He thought for a moment and said, "It is said that it means walking around Shurima, seeing the sights, and chatting with the locals."
This is more or less what the Zaun guys conveyed through the middleman.
"Isn't this just sightseeing?" Xiweier curled her lips.
"It's different." The deputy felt that he understood: "Tourism is paid for by oneself. But this social survey seems to be paid for by Zaun's Leaders Association."
"Oh." Xiweier also understood.
It's just like those Noxian officers.
When they were eating, drinking, and having fun in Shurima, most of the money they spent was public funds from the imperial colonies.
"Tsk." She smiled disdainfully: "It is true."
Shurima, especially the coastal city-states on the northern shore of Shurima, actually has very close trade and cultural exchanges with the Twin Cities.
At least 70% of the goods shipped from the northern coast of Shurima would converge on the Sungate Canal in the Twin Cities. There was no shortage of desert merchants from Shurima on the streets of Zaun and Piltover.
Therefore, Sivir has also heard various legends about the Leader Association.
However, these legends had already changed a lot due to rumors when they spread from the Twin Cities to the northern coast of Shurima, and then from the coastal city-states on the northern coast of Shurima, through word of mouth of desert caravans, and finally to the vast desert where Sivir had been active for a long time.
In the version that Sivir heard:
Leaders are saints chosen by God and are saviors of the suffering people all over the world.
It was as if each of the leaders were angels who had descended to earth or saints who had been reincarnated, with Buddha’s light overflowing from their bodies, and any mortal could be saved with just one look at them.
…
Many desert tribesmen believed this. Anyway, as long as it could bring a little more hope to their bitter lives, they were willing to believe in anything.
But Sivir scoffed at this.
Based on her experience gained from years of working in the desert, she knew that those folk religious groups that always regarded themselves as "saviors" were most likely not serious sects.
This Leaders Association is probably the same. The Goddess Janna they worship is probably not a good god either.
That's what Sivir thought.
The commission she received this time made her even more convinced of this.
Saint? Savior?
"Haha." Xiweier couldn't help but joked to his deputy: "Let's go and meet these saviors."
…
Sivir led her mercenary group into Beljum and followed the meeting address given by the middleman.
But when she found the hotel where they had agreed to meet, there were only a few hotel clerks in the hotel who had been informed in advance.
They told Sivir that the Leader's investigation team had left the city in the morning and were said to have gone to the oasis river outside the city.
So Xiweier searched all the way out of the city.
She had thought that she would see a group of wealthy men from the Twin Cities dressed in suits and leather shoes, riding tall horses, accompanied by servants and entourage, enjoying a leisurely stroll along the oasis river.
As a result, she saw a group of "mud legs".
Those who claimed to be leaders were busy at the riverside with all kinds of strange instruments.
Their clothing and appearance looked similar to those of the most ordinary Shurima desert tribesmen.
Their dark skin glistening with sweat under the scorching sun and their rolled-up trouser legs stained with turbid yellow mud made their image infinitely similar to that of a Shurima farmer working hard on the banks of an oasis river.
"You... are the leaders?" Sivir confirmed with a little disbelief.
"Yes." A girl who looked like a team leader gave her an affirmative answer.
The little girl has a simple appearance, clear eyes, and her skin has the roughness unique to desert people.
“You look like a Shuriman,” Sivir couldn’t help but say.
“You read that right, Miss Sivir.” The girl told her, “I am from Shurima. Most of the members of our social investigation team are also Shurimans living in the Twin Cities.”
"Let me introduce myself," the girl said, extending her hand. "My name is Taliyah, and I come from the weaver tribe in southern Shurima."
"The Weaver Tribe?" Sivir frowned slightly.
She is well-informed and knows almost every desert tribe in this vast desert.
She knew that the weaver tribe that Miss Taliyah came from had been nomadic in the southernmost hilly area of Shurima all year round - a little further south of this place was the barren Icathia.
"That's really far away." Sivir couldn't help but sigh: "Why did you go to Zaun? And what kind of leader did you become?"
"Well, it's a long story..." Talia was happy to tell her own story.
Born in the rocky foothills of Shurima, bordering the sinister shadow of Icathia, she spent her childhood herding sheep among a tribe of wandering weavers.
Talia thought she would live an ordinary life like this.
But at the age of 16, she suddenly awakened powerful earth magic, and possessed the terrifying talent of controlling huge rocks and shaking the earth.
She was ignorant and unable to control such a powerful talent. In this isolated wandering tribe, no one could teach her the mysterious and noble magic knowledge.
Helplessly, for the safety of her fellow tribesmen and to prevent her own magic from getting out of control, Taliyah had to leave her hometown alone and embark on a long journey in search of magical knowledge.
"I wandered all the way from the south to the northern coast of Shurima, and met a Noxian colonial officer on the northern coast of Shurima."
"Those Noxians thought my magic could be used by the Empire, so they lured me aboard a ship to the Immortal Bastion."
If nothing goes wrong, Taliyah will be taken to the Immortal Fortress to receive inspection and training from the Noxian magic group.
After that, she might be thrown into the Ionian battlefield as a human weapon to shine.
There, Taliyah will also meet a man who controls the wind, and learn from him the true method of controlling the power of the elements.
But that didn't happen.
Because the journey from Shurima to the Immortal Bastion has to pass through Zaun, and when Taliyah was passing through Zaun, she happened to encounter the shocking scene of the goddess Janna descending to the world.
"I knew then that those leaders would be able to teach me the secrets of controlling the elements and help me harness my talents."
"So I easily got rid of those Noxian officers who were frightened by the goddess Janna, and went to Zaun to join the Wind Leader."
“Later…” Taliyah’s clear eyes seemed to be gleaming with light: “Not only did I learn the method of controlling the elements from the Wind Leader as I wished, I also learned some more precious knowledge from here.”
She also became a trendsetter.
Over the past six months, she has worked as a grassroots cadre in Zaun, supported Ionia's anti-Nord war, and worked with her comrades at the grassroots level in Ionia, gaining some practical experience in social transformation.
Later...
"I took the initiative to apply to the organization and return to Shurima to do social survey work." Taliyah said seriously.
Although the Leader has no plans to fully intervene in Shurima for the time being, Levi also plans to let Azir clean up this mess first.
But the connection between Shurima and the Twin Cities is so close that there are many Shurima expatriates in Zaun's Windward Society are in a similar situation to Taliyah.
After their successive successes in the Twin Cities, Bilgewater, and Ionia, they couldn't wait to bring the Windleader's successful experience back to their hometown so that Shurima could be liberated as soon as possible.
Of course, Levi couldn't stop this.
He couldn't use the tone of Big Brother to tell his Shurima comrades that you Shurima don't have , you should wait and let those warlords and desert bandits continue to do whatever they want...
So Levi agreed to the plan to conduct a social survey in the Shurima region.
And this does not conflict with his strategic planning.
Anyway, even if the Leader does not intervene in the situation in Shurima now, he will definitely intervene fully when his strength grows in the future.
By then, whether it is liberation or the subsequent social transformation and industrial construction, a series of comprehensive social surveys will be needed to lay the foundation.
It is necessary to start conducting social surveys now to prepare for a rainy day.
“So, here we are.”
"We plan to conduct a comprehensive social survey of the entire Shurima region, and to achieve this plan we must cross the vast desert where warlords are rampant and bandits are rampant."
"So we need a guide who is more familiar with the road than us amateurs, and we also need a group of experienced bodyguards."
Taliyah explained clearly why she came and also explained the purpose of hiring Sivir and his group.
Next, Taliyah prepared to tell Sivir about the general route of the journey and some specific requirements for cooperation.
But instead of talking about that boring work, Sivir was more interested in the "social survey" mentioned by Taliyah.
Anyway, the commission package was already decided in advance, so she didn't care much about the rest of the content.
"It seems that you are not here for tourism." Shiver looked at her thoughtfully.
Taliyah's skin as rough as sand and her eyes as firm as rock have already shown that she is a pure Shurima girl.
The Shurimans have had enough of the sand. They won't come all the way back to travel.
"So what exactly is this 'social survey' you're talking about?" Xiweier was a little confused.
She looked at the endlessly flowing oasis river in front of her and asked curiously, "What are you doing now?
“We’re measuring the river flow,” Taliyah said.
"River flow?" Sivir's brain froze a little.
Her family was brutally killed by desert bandits when she was a child, and she became an orphan at a very young age.
Therefore, her educational level is just that of a prenatal education graduate, and she cannot understand many professional terms at all.
What's more, there aren't many rivers in Shurima, and no one would bother to measure the flow of any river. This word is even more unfamiliar to the people of Shurima.
“To put it simply…” Taliyah knew that Sivir didn’t quite understand, so she explained in a more understandable way: “We want to find out how many cubic meters of water this river can transport to Beljur downstream every day in this season.”
"If we continue to observe, we can also roughly calculate the annual runoff of this river... that is, how many cubic meters of water it can bring to Bergen in a year."
"Why do you calculate this?" Xiweier looked confused: "Is this also a social survey?"
Although she didn't quite understand what social surveys were, she understood surveys and understood "society."
Shouldn't society be a matter for people? What's the point of investigating the river?
“Water is the source of life.” Taliyah sighed, “Miss Sivir, we are all Shurimans. Is there anything more important to Shurimans than water?”
“Where there is no water, there can be no life, let alone development.”
"This is a natural law that even we, the leaders, cannot change."
As she spoke, Taliyah looked at the river in front of her.
She talked about her experience of investigating in Bergun these days: "Compared to the central region covered by the vast desert, the northern coast of Shurima is undoubtedly fortunate."
"The coastal geographical conditions bring relatively humid climate conditions here, so that there are constant rivers with stable runoff."
"As a result, a developed agriculture and animal husbandry industry has developed here, which is completely different from the central desert area."
"Among the exports of Bergün, crops such as barley, wheat, potatoes, olives, citrus, apples, watermelons, dates, cotton, and vegetables account for 70%..."
"Because it is only 200 nautical miles away from Zaun and Piltover, Beljuin has become an important fruit and vegetable supply base for the two cities. Last year, the bilateral trade volume between the two sides reached..."
"This..." Xiweier's brows frowned more and more.
She felt like she was taking a cultural class. Although she could understand everything, she didn't know what the point of learning it was.
So she asked directly: "What is the point of investigating these things?"
"How good would it be for you, the Leader, to know how much water there is in the river of Beljum and what kind of food and fruits are grown there?"
"Of course there are benefits!" Taliyah introduced to Sivir enthusiastically: "Berjuen's agriculture is based on the utilization of this limited water resource."
"Knowing how much water there is in the river each year, we can plan water conservancy construction, planting area and crop types for Bergun more scientifically in the future..."
"Ultimately, by making the most of this limited water resource, Bergjun can scientifically and rationally cultivate more fields, grow more food and vegetables, and earn more foreign exchange for exports."
“Moreover, it is not only agriculture that consumes water, but industry as well.”
"Industry needs cooling water, process water, boiler water, raw material water for the food industry and a few chemical industries, flushing water, air conditioning water, hydraulic water, and fire fighting water..."
"Steel, electricity, coal mining, papermaking, printing and dyeing, leather, sugar, metallurgy, alchemy... these industries are all big water consumers."
"Only by knowing how much water is available here can we better plan industrial development for Bergun in the future, and avoid blindly launching projects that will cause ecological collapse and environmental degradation, and affect everyone's production and life."
Taliyah spoke a lot with great interest.
Sivir was confused by what she heard, but she still vaguely understood the main point of the conversation: "In other words, Taliyah..."
"You leaders are conducting social surveys to help Beljum develop better."
"Yes." Taliya nodded: "We will definitely liberate Beljuen from the hands of the imperial colonists and comprador estate owners, and then build it into a better place."
"And not just in Berghun, but across the northern coast of Shurima, and even across Shurima."
"In short..." The Leader's goal is: "We want to make life better for everyone in Shurima!"
Taliyah's words were powerful.
Sivir looked at the light in her eyes, but felt uncomfortable.
She was used to the life of a mercenary, a life of life and death and deception, dealing with the most vicious warlord tribes and desert bandits in Shurima every day.
She had never seen a "living saint" like Talia, or the Leader of the Wind, let alone accept one.
These leaders... do they really think of themselves as saviors?
Are they really saints? Are they angels?
"Heh." Sivir thought that this group of people must have other purposes: "What do you mean by liberation and construction? I think you just want to come and occupy the land of Shurima like those Noxians."
She gave a blunt, nasty review.
Then look forward to Taliyah's reaction.
And Taliyah...
"Sivir." The girl actually looked at her with her big watery eyes and said, "Your suspicion is correct!"
"Huh?" Shiver was slightly stunned.
"The colonists have been wreaking havoc on the northern coast of Shurima for hundreds of years, and today, everyone seems to have become accustomed to their existence." Taliyah clenched her fists and said, "People have become numb. But you are different, Sivir—"
"You still have a rebellious spirit and a heart that questions injustice."
"This is exactly what we leaders want to see!"
Sivir: “…”
She felt like this girl was a lunatic.
Although Taliyah's eyes were clear and her consciousness was lucid, the innocent words she spoke sounded like those of a madman in the land of Shurima.
“I know you don’t believe me, Sivir.” Taliyah seemed to understand her thoughts. “But I believe that you will understand us on our journey.”
As she spoke, Taliyah extended her hand to her.
Sivir thought about it...
"You said so many nice things, are you trying to trick me into working for you for free?" She looked at me suspiciously.
"Of course not." Taliyah said sincerely, "We will not reduce the commission by a cent. I just hope that more people can understand the beliefs of us leaders."
"..." Sivir was silent for a while.
Then, she solemnly shook the hand and said, "Okay. I'll take your commission."
