Cohen Puliya finally decided to return to his hometown, taking his own money, his civilian grade, and his medal allowance.
After completing the formalities, he boarded the train home.
The just-repaired railway tracks carried him swiftly from Xiongya City back to Beigu City.
Here, he first handled his demobilization procedures and transferred his identity to the Beiqing Valley Province. Comrades at the Demobilization Security Bureau would continue to pay attention to the situation of all veterans within the province, making sure they received what they were entitled to.
Next, he went to the Provincial Civil Affairs Bureau, and there he found out about his family’s whereabouts. His family had been relocated to a place called ‘Microthermal Farmstead,’ where they were designated as agricultural workers.
Having determined the location of Microthermal Farmstead, he followed the guidance of the staff, made his way to the suburbs, and found a canvas-covered truck.
This type of canvas-covered truck, modified from an iron ox, could carry more than twenty people at a time. They were connected to Beigu City by a network of newly built highways and reached almost every registered farmstead via numerous transportation towns that served as hubs.
He waited two days in Beigu City, and once the driver had gathered twenty passengers, he boarded the vehicle; after a two-day journey, he was almost there.
The driver was still boasting, the passengers were still chatting away, but he could already see his hometown from afar.
“Microthermal Farmstead, we are here! If I remember correctly, we have an old soldier among us who needs to get off here?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“Alright, then get ready to disembark. Soldiers with your kind of combat honors are people our old Bre admires the most. Without you folks, where would we get the great situation of the Alliance today! Hope to see you again!”
“Yes, hope to see you again.”
Outside the gates of the farmstead, he disembarked from the truck, dragging his luggage with his remaining left hand.
During this process, the enthusiastic passengers all offered a helping hand, assisting him in getting his belongings down.
After giving thanks, he bade goodbye to everyone and entered the farmstead.
This was his hometown, he was a Beiqing Valley native. At least since his grandfather’s generation, they had worked as hired laborers at Microthermal Farmstead. The plantation owner provided food and drink, but nothing else.
In the past, he hadn’t thought much of it, even believing the farm’s lord to be quite benevolent since neither his grandparents nor his parents had starved to death.
But now he saw things differently.
Having heard many principles and stories from his instructors, he realized that his family’s past way of life was wrong.
If that was what home was like, then he had no attachment to it.
But the Alliance had changed all that.
So he had come back.
He observed the scene before him, both familiar and somewhat strange.
The defensive walls that had been built to protect against the Aberrant Beasts and marauders had been partly dismantled, leaving only a symbolic gate emblazoned with the name ‘Microthermal Farmstead.’
In their place, tall wooden watchtowers had been erected, with people on duty.
The function of this watchtower, he guessed, was to monitor the surroundings in advance.
Of course, the person on duty in the watchtower saw him.
It seemed he said something, and soon someone came hurrying over.
“Cohen, is that really you? You’re back!” The newcomer approached quickly with a warm smile, but upon seeing his hand, eyes, and ears, his expression changed.
“Momo, hello. These are scars from the war.”
“You’ve suffered, Cohen… Do your uncle and aunt know you’re back?”
“I wrote them a letter, so they should know, maybe? But it might also have gotten lost. Anyway, I’m back now, and they’ll find out soon enough.”
“Then come with me, I’ll take you home!” Momo insisted, taking many of his belongings without further ado and leading him to his family’s house.
Along the way, Momo told him about the enormous changes that had taken place in his hometown during the several months he was away.
Many people had left, at least 80% of them. It was said that there was still plenty of undeveloped land in the province, and with the introduction of large machinery, the planting industry at Microthermal Farmstead didn’t require as many people.
His parents were originally supposed to be relocated as well, but they insisted on staying there to wait for Cohen to return. According to policy, they negotiated and did not move.
Now, they no longer lived in the communal dormitories for farm serfs; instead, they had their own small house.
As part of the plan to clear the jungles, there was an abundance of timber resources with no place to use them, all of which went to the synthetic starch factory. Of course, there was a lot left over, so a lumber mill was established, which could be used for building houses or for wood exports.
In fact, using the timber in this way was more economical and sensible than crushing it directly into synthetic starch. Now, only the wood that was left over from the lumber and paper mills, and which was of lower quality, would be sent to the synthetic starch factory.
His father and mother built a new wooden house not far from the farm, where they lived with his sister and brother.
Their family had been allotted one thousand acres of farmland, an unimaginable amount in the past. First, it was impossible to cultivate that much land, and second, it was unthinkable for one family to be given so much.
But now it was possible.
Farm machinery had changed the production model, and efficiency had become extremely high. Ploughing no longer required dragging the old oxen back and forth; tractors with ploughs could do it in one pass. Sowing seeds was the same, with the newly distributed high-yield seeds said to produce much more than before.
Likewise, applying pesticides no longer required manual sprayers or toiling in the fields. Tractors pulling pesticide machines could cover the ground with just a few passes.
In the future, when harvest time came, combine harvesters and agricultural stations would be able to solve big problems.
With Priya’s parents and the help of his brother, now thirteen, things were a bit tough but manageable to take care of those thousand acres.
It wasn’t just their family; most of the families who stayed had similar situations.
The corresponding agricultural machinery had been distributed to the farmstead, and everyone was learning and using it.
His underage siblings were ranked E3 with food rations; his parents were E5, prime working age, with not just enough food but also a stipend to save, whether for buying household items or saving up to purchase their own farm machinery to cultivate more land.
And according to the annual production of agricultural products, citizen ranks would be reassessed every six months. Those who did well and produced high yields would rise quickly in rank. Even the average or even slightly lazy ones, as long as they were working and meeting the minimum production quota, could still rank up over time, just not as quickly and with a cap.
Now, everyone’s life had improved. Not just the basic rank provisions for food and clothing, but there was also extra money to buy novel items from nearby hub towns—a new piece of clothing, a fan, a radio, quality durable furniture…
All of these had truly changed the lives of everyone at Microthermal Farmstead.
Hearing his little brother talk about these things felt as warm to Priya as the wind laced with the scent of fresh grass.
He became more optimistic, and a smile spread across his face.
Although he could no longer stay in the army, returning home seemed to be a very good choice.
With his severance and pension, his parents should be able to buy some farm machinery, avoiding the need to queue and scramble with others, and could even rent them out. Just like what he heard from the truck driver en route, if someone could run a transport fleet, perhaps he could manage a fleet of farm machinery.
Later, he could hire people to help him, further expand the land he could contract, enlarge the production, and if the yield increased, his parents, sister, and brother could advance in ranks even faster in the future.
Despite being handicapped, with a lost hand, an eye, and an ear, and being half-disabled, he could still do his part to ease the family’s burden.
A rank of E9 was considered high in the farmstead, and even though he was partially disabled, maybe Xiaoyuemei would still agree to marry him.
As he walked, he chatted with Momo and imagined the future.
He could see a small wooden house in the distance.
That was his home.
His parents were waiting for him.
He couldn’t help but grab Momo and quicken his pace.
“Hey, Cohen bro, don’t rush like that,” Momo said. “Take it easy, there’s quite a lot of stuff, and your body is also…”
But how could his friend’s advice stop him when his heart was flying home like an arrow?
Yet, as he approached his home, his pace slowed.
He heard his mother’s crying coming from inside the house, mixed with his father’s murmuring voice and some scolding sounds.