Ah, no.
By now, they should have already been Dominion citizens, gathered at the central Grand People's Square.
Zeke personally walked to the microphone and began his speech.
All these Terran Dominion citizens, deemed guilty, were forcibly made to sit on chairs to listen to the Lord Emperor of the Terran Dominion's great speech.
Mechanical armies maintained security around them, while the Custodes maintained overall order from above.
If these guilty Terran Dominion citizens showed any dissatisfaction after hearing the Lord Emperor's speech, the Custodes would intervene to suppress the rebellion.
Powerful psychic energy condensed within their bodies; they were ready for battle, as they felt this treatment was somewhat excessive.
"Your Majesty, everyone has been gathered in the center of the People's Square. You may now address them."
Strauss Yaeger, the commander of the Ten Thousand Strong Custodes Regiment, approached Zeke and reported the situation to him.
After the Terran Dominion's fleet arrived, Zeke, who felt he could become a complete good-for-nothing, finally looked up at Strauss Yaeger beside him.
He was still playing a game on his hand.
Since the arrival of the Dominion's people, he could now be an ordinary little good-for-nothing, so he began to live the rare recluse life he had in his previous life.
Even his speech manuscript, he directly had his subordinates write for him.
After a month of rest, Zeke was still a little slow to react when he heard his subordinate's report.
However, having experienced more than 10 years of elite aristocratic education, he quickly regained his composure after the initial adjustment.
Zeke reached out and took the speech manuscript handed to him, preparing to read it without even looking.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem, can you hear me?"
"Yes, no problem, you should be able to hear clearly. So now, I shall begin to tell you about your upcoming journey of atonement."
"Given that you betrayed humanity and sided with the tau, this is an unforgivable sin. Betrayal is unpardonable, and therefore, you must pay the price for your betrayal."
"From today onwards, you must strictly adhere to an 8-hour workday!"
Huh?
No!?
What did I just read out loud?
An 8-hour workday?
As a noble, I've never had such a good life.
Zeke immediately grew anxious. He wanted to stop reading.
But this was a broadcast to the entire planet. If he stopped now, what about his dignity?
What about the dignity of the Terran Dominion?
Helpless, Zeke could only pray in his heart that the irregular rules his subordinates had come up with wouldn't be too outrageous.
Unfortunately, he was disappointed.
This was bound to happen when he tasked a group of Terran Dominion soldiers, navy personnel, and administrative experts to solve this problem without telling them the true nature of the Warhammer world.
They only knew that the Imperium of Man was a vast nation with a million colonys!
Even the Terran Dominion only had a little over a hundred colonies. How powerful must a nation with a million colonies be?
They naturally treated the other party as a powerful interstellar civilization.
During Zeke's pause, the ordinary human citizens in the square, just like him, widened their eyes upon hearing about the 8-hour workday.
However, seeing the surrounding soldiers and the Custodes standing on the highest platform, they dared not make any noise and continued to listen quietly.
After a long moment of daze, Zeke continued his rambling.
"That's right, you heard correctly. From today onwards, you must strictly adhere to an 8-hour workday!"
Zeke's heart was bleeding; he hadn't experienced many good days with an 8-hour workday.
However, to maintain the Lord Emperor's image, he could only continue reading.
"We have an 8-hour workday! That means starting today, you must work for 8 hours to produce resources, study for 8 hours to improve combat power, and sleep for 8 hours while connected to the power grid."
"From now on, you are only allowed one day off per week, and your salary will only increase only once every three months!"
"As for bonuses, you will only receive a bonus once a year, which will be equivalent to three months of your salary!"
"Annual leave cut in half, only 15 days of annual leave per year!?"
Zeke didn't want to continue reading.
He no longer understood what kind of life this was; was this still basic living security?
Is this how basic living security is provided?
Aren't you directly becoming a Decepticon? Megatron-style rule?
What were his Custodes and administrative personnel doing? Did they even know what these people were?
They were people on probation.
Alright.
Actually, they just wanted to survive, which wasn't really a sin, but he was dirt poor!
Zeke, who had lived in the Warhammer Universe, suddenly faced the Terran Dominion's living standards, and for a moment, he truly wanted to commit suicide.
What kind of miserable life did he live before?
In the original draft, the Terran Dominion's Custodes, navy, and administrative personnel had actually proposed a 24-hour, 365-day work schedule.
But after consideration by the administrative officials, they felt it was too cruel.
Although these people were already criminals and on probation, was treating them this way a bit too cruel?
After all, these people were once citizens of the Imperium of Man, which had a whopping 1 million colonys. Was treating them this way a bit too cruel??
So, after some thought, they decided to give them some holidays.
After all, these people were also human compatriots, so they should be a little more lenient with them.
They adjusted it to only one day off per week, a salary increase only once every three months, and annual leave directly halved to 15 days.
As for the salary increase only once every three months, it was mainly because they were already working so hard, so their wages shouldn't be too harsh; they should still get a raise.
It should be noted that because these people were on probation, after paying their five insurances and one housing fund, they only received 4,000 Dominion Credit Points per month.
Moreover, they lost all kinds of supper subsidies, as well as travel subsidies, electricity subsidies, and fitness subsidies after returning home; all those subsidies were canceled.
Therefore, since they were already so miserable, there was no need to continue abusing them.
Even criminals shouldn't be squandered like this.
To help everyone understand the purchasing power of Dominion Credit Points, we'll use our current currency as a comparison.
It's equivalent to twice the money we use now, meaning their monthly salary is 8,000.
There was nothing they could do; these people had to live such hard lives because the Lord Emperor said they were guilty and had to atone.
The main reason was that their Lord Emperor was currently too poor, so he couldn't squander resources.
As the saying goes, all great achievements require sacrifice as a foundation.
There was no other way.
Then, let's sacrifice these Terran Dominion citizens who just joined the Dominion.
Zeke no longer wanted to continue reading.
And those ordinary former Imperium of Man citizens below, who had once become T'au Empire citizens, were all stunned, and then they simultaneously knelt down.
"Long live, long live!"
After shouting for a bit, they felt it was a bit impolite to shout at the Lord Emperor like that, so they changed it to:
"Lord Emperor eternal, Lord Emperor eternal."
Alright, hearing the cheers from below, Zeke regained some energy and prepared to finish reading this thing.
He continued to read in a soft, weak voice.
"From tonight onwards, because you are guilty, during your period of atonement, you can only eat three meals a day, which are the bento boxes you just ate!"
"The Dominion will never provide you with any supper, so don't even think about it; there will be no supper to eat!"
"For your three meals a day, you don't have many dishes to choose from, only 280 dishes are available to you. From the moment you committed your crimes, until I deem your crimes atoned, you can only eat dishes from these 280 options."
"So, if you want to eat something, you can order it yourself..."
Zeke could no longer read. He weakly finished reading the last of the provisions and then abruptly cut off communication.
Tears flowed from his eyes; what a dog's life he had lived in the knight house before.
As an heir in his family, he used to live worse than these people on probation.
Tears fell from Zeke's eyes.
However, in the eyes of Strauss Yaeger, the commander of the Ten Thousand Strong Custodes Regiment, and Pixis, the Terran Dominion's fleet commander, who were in the distance, it meant something entirely different.
"As expected of the Lord Emperor! The Lord Emperor still loves us humans so much. Old Pixis, don't you think we made this treatment too cruel? The Lord Emperor even cried from heartache for the citizens below after reading this speech."
Pixis pondered for a moment before saying, "Alas, it must be so. The Lord Emperor must be pained for those citizens. If only we had known, we should have made the treatment more lenient, not so excessive."
"We didn't fulfill the Lord Emperor's instructions!"