As the Emperor's punishment was relayed across the colony, the people there, after an initial period of confusion, could hardly believe what they were hearing.
Was this punishment? Was this atonement for the Emperor? How was any of this like punishment or atonement? This was clearly the Emperor's grace!
All the former Imperial citizens, upon hearing Zeke's pronouncements of their penalties, widened their eyes, disbelieving what they heard.
But whether they believed it or not, the surrounding Dominion soldiers and Dominion combat robots were not in the mood to explain in detail. Their Emperor had already been detailed enough; anyone with a brain should understand.
They did not provide detailed explanations to these citizens but instead urged them to return home and rest.
This was their last day of freedom before their atonement began. They should enjoy the pleasure and happiness of being able to arrange their free time while they still had it.
After all, starting tomorrow, they would lose their freedom, needing to work 8 hours a day, sleep 8 hours, and use 8 hours for entertainment and study.
What a cruel life! Only one day of holiday in a week!
The Dominion soldiers thought this way, believing they were merciful enough, especially the Imperial Guard. They urged these people to return to their homes and do whatever they wished.
Under their urging, these former Imperial citizens naturally dared not resist.
They were compelled by the Dominion robots and the Imperial Guard to return to their homes, to homes they could hardly believe were their own.
The houses these people now lived in were no longer the old hive cities or their previous residences; these were newly constructed urban residential areas built by the Dominion's robots.
The houses provided by the Dominion were distributed according to family size, with the smallest houses being at least 400 square meters.
A 400-square-meter house was for a family of three, and for each additional person, another 200 square meters would be added.
The houses were furnished with all sorts of precise home appliances and equipment they could never have imagined, from drinking water to thrones, and even pre-configured fitness equipment—any kind of fitness equipment they desired would be there.
There was also a body scanning room in the house, and everyone was required to go there for a scan after work to prevent any illnesses, allowing for timely treatment if any diseases were found.
Originally, this item should have been phased out by the Dominion, but considering certain factors, the Dominion still brought this technology back and added a body scanning room for them, mainly fearing that these people wouldn't know to go to the hospital for treatment.
The scanning room was not only for scanning; it could also treat various diseases they suffered from. All diseases covered by the Dominion's basic medical insurance could be treated for free. If not, they would be directly transported to a hospital for mandatory treatment.
The Dominion's Department of Affairs officials were already a bit afraid of these people; they truly couldn't figure out what these guys were thinking, fearing they wouldn't be willing to seek treatment.
Besides these,
They also had a smart kitchen. They could order any of the 280 dishes on the menu, and the smart kitchen would immediately prepare and serve them to their dining table.
There was even a dedicated 100-square-meter ecological simulation room for them.
This room could simulate all terrains, climates, and environments ever discovered by the Dominion to date.
These Dominion citizens could, without leaving their homes, still manage to travel and relieve their stress.
In addition, there was a study room specifically for their learning. The electronic devices in the study could provide them with all the knowledge they needed to learn.
The environment in the study was also equipped with an ecological simulation system, which could simulate their favorite environment.
Adding bricks and tiles to their learning, contributing to their diligent study and hard work for the Emperor.
There was even a 50-square-meter e-sports room where they could play all the games the Dominion had invented so far, with all games available for them to enjoy.
Of course, if they wanted to watch videos or anything similar, they could directly project quantum screens while lying in their homes.
It is well known that Dominion communications are generally impossible to delay. Even the Dominion Fleet, which only carried early technology, had communication sufficient to ensure no delay within a certain range.
Due to technological limitations, the current Dominion communication system can only guarantee no delay within a radius of ten thousand light-years.
If one wanted to achieve universe-wide, no-delay communication, a Sentry Array would be needed.
This was their Emperor, pulling out later Dominion technology for infrastructure development.
However, both the former and the latter would cost too much money. Their Emperor was a bit poor now and probably couldn't bear the expense.
In the eyes of these former Imperial citizens, all the decorations in their houses were so magnificent, and the various technologies within made their eyelids twitch.
If it weren't for the Dominion's technology generally adhering to user-friendly, fool-proof operations, they might not even know how to live in their homes.
Of course, this only meant they were overthinking it; there was an intelligent AI system equipped in the house.
However, these former Imperial citizens preferred to call these intelligent AIs machine spirit. Well, let them be; the Dominion didn't care about this appellation anyway.
What citizens liked to call things was their freedom; the Federal Government didn't mind.
If some citizens had any needs, the intelligent AI in the room would basically solve everything for them.
For example, all needs and problems like cleaning, while also teaching them how to live well in the house and reminding them when to go to sleep and connect to the power grid to generate electricity.
The Dominion was no longer the Dominion that needed to capture biological organisms to generate electricity.
These Dominion citizens only needed to lie on their beds when they slept, and their sleep would mean generating energy for the Dominion.
This energy was so efficient that the energy generated by 8 billion people sleeping was even equivalent to producing an additional 200 energy credits per month!
200 energy credits, many people might not know what that means, but it is basically equivalent to the total energy produced by 5 Imperial energy worlds.
All of this made them unable to believe that these were their homes, but these were indeed the houses they lived in, the residential guarantee houses issued to them by the Federal Government.
The fact that they truly enjoyed such good treatment made these former Imperial citizens and new Dominion citizens feel guilt and the profound weight of their sins.
What could they do to repay the Emperor's grace?
They didn't know what they could do. They could only work hard during their shifts, and when they tried to work overtime, they would be forcibly taken away by Dominion robots and made to clock out.
This was their predefined journey of atonement; how could they work overtime?
Wouldn't working overtime be disrespecting the Emperor?
Absolutely not! 8 hours of work; 8 hours means 8 hours!
Any attempt to work overtime was not allowed.
Any attempt to work overtime would result in a salary deduction. Only those who clocked in and out on time were good-natured Dominion citizens. The remaining 8 hours were for studying and playing.
As for why it came directly to salary deductions, it was because these former Imperial citizens were truly too crazy.
Originally, to prevent them from working overtime, the Dominion's Department of Affairs officials had already reduced overtime pay from the original 10 times to only three times, but these people still worked overtime like crazy.
Overtime pay was already only three times, which, in the eyes of the Federal Government officials, was already a very inhumane act, but people still worked overtime like crazy. What else could be done?
They could only challenge their moral bottom line, using anti-human operations to forcibly stipulate threats of salary deductions.
When this decision was made, the Dominion's Department of Affairs personnel felt truly sinful, and they prayed to the Emperor to forgive them.
Before, only three times overtime pay already made them feel deeply sinful, let alone now, where they weren't even paid and had their salaries deducted.
The Department of Affairs officials already felt they were becoming a bit too anthropomorphic; they truly weren't human.
And even at the point of salary deductions, some people still refused to leave.
When their salaries were deducted, they simply said, "Deduct if you want to," and passionately wanted to make sacrifices for the Emperor.
The Terran Dominion provided for their housing, their illnesses, their food, and a whole range of other things they needed to consider.
As a result, they didn't care about so-called Dominion credits. They only wanted to do one thing: work frantically for the Emperor!
Under these circumstances, a large number of government Department of Affairs personnel could only directly dispatch combat robots to enforce mandatory clock-out measures.
However, often, after the Dominion's combat robots forcibly clocked these people out, they would incessantly shout as they were being escorted away.
"Let me go, let me go! I want to atone! I want to atone for the Emperor! I am guilty, I am sinful!"
They gesticulated wildly, trying to escape from the combat robots' grasp, but it was clearly impossible with their small frames. Every time Department of Affairs personnel saw this scene, they would rub their foreheads.
To be honest, they weren't sure what these people were guilty of, and they weren't sure either?
The reason their Emperor lowered the benefits was not because he only had this one colony and not enough resources, was it?
But they never expected these newly joined Dominion citizens to actually believe they were guilty. Alas, it was a bit embarrassing!
Whenever Dominion Department of Affairs personnel saw such a scene, they would feel a bit embarrassed, wondering if they were too good at bluffing to have actually tricked these people.
How could they truly feel guilty? They were actually innocent.
It was in this rhythm that, after these Dominion citizens were unable to work overtime, they turned to spiritual solace.
Being unable to work overtime made them feel a pang of conscience, so they wanted to continue washing away their sins by worshiping the Emperor.
These former Imperial citizens thought of bowing to a statue of the Emperor, but the problem was they searched the entire planet, and besides a small statue of the Emperor they had seen in the Department of Affairs of the planetary Governor, they hadn't seen another one.
Zeke certainly didn't want anyone to worship him, so there was only one symbolic statue placed in the planetary Governor's Department of Affairs as a symbol.
Since it was a symbol, it naturally couldn't be too tall.
The entire statue was only as tall as Zeke himself.
This immediately left all the former Imperial citizens on the entire planet stunned. Surely not everyone would go to the Department of Affairs to pray whenever they wanted to?
Would the Department of Affairs still get any work done then?
A planet with 8 billion people all running to the Department of Affairs to pray—never mind if the Department of Affairs could still function, just the hassle of it, and how long the queues would be, was enough to make one uncomfortable.
These people had not thought of customizing or buying a statue of the Emperor, but the problem was that in the Dominion, statues of the Emperor were not allowed to be sold or carved at will, so they couldn't buy one.
Again, Zeke didn't want anyone to worship him.
As a result, when these Dominion citizens looked around and couldn't find a statue of the Emperor, and couldn't even carve one themselves, they spontaneously organized protests in various sub-Department of Affairs districts of the Department of Affairs.
These people demanded that a statue of Zeke, the Emperor, be built in the People's Square.
"We want a statue of the Emperor! We want a statue of the Emperor!"
The leader shouted this, and those behind him also repeated it loudly and continuously.
"We want a statue of the Emperor! We want a statue of the Emperor!"
The number of people who came to protest was immense, and the clamor was deafening.
Regarding this issue, the local sub-Department of Affairs could not resolve it and had to directly escalate the matter to the planetary Governor's Department of Affairs. Subsequently, the planetary Governor's Department of Affairs also had no solution and had to bring the matter before Zeke.
Building a statue of the Emperor himself required the Emperor's personal permission; otherwise, it was not allowed, as this concerned the Emperor's right of portraiture.