The Completely Insane IPC Management! The Night Before the Bloody Battle!

...

: Absolutely badass. Hanunue doesn't just have immense charisma, capable of uniting people from different backgrounds and beliefs.

: He also immediately grasped the entire social structure of the prison, found the cracks, gradually expanded them, and ultimately succeeded in escaping.

: A born leader! No wonder that even after all this time, Hanunue remains a household name in Penacony.

: It's just a pity… that by the time the main story starts, we already know what his fate will be…

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On the screen, as Hanunue led his fellow inmates out of the prison, they took things a step further.

With their overwhelming manpower and the strategic advice of many "talents," they directly seized a production area.

At the frontier prison, aside from the IPC's supply ships that arrived at fixed intervals, there were also many local factories dedicated to producing basic survival supplies. After taking control of some of these factories, Hanunue and his people finally established a firm foothold.

A fervent period of hard work began.

While the IPC was still slow to react, Hanunue seized the opportunity to lead his people in production. A large number of prisoners became factory workers, but they had no complaints—this time, the things they produced were for their own use.

During this process, many individuals stood out.

For example, Mr. Sousa, a shrewd middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed mustache, oversaw the production of the first batch of "SoulGlad" beverages, designed independently by Hanunue's faction.

Just like that, life seemed to be getting on track.

The base developed step by step, and conditions steadily improved.

On the other hand, the IPC was not to be underestimated.

The prison guards who had stayed behind sent out a distress signal to the IPC branch headquarters.

With their limited manpower, trying to defeat Hanunue was nothing short of a pipe dream.

But before reinforcements could arrive, the IPC's management at the frontier prison chose to remain passive, allowing Hanunue to develop outside while strictly monitoring the still-loyal prison sectors.

Both sides harbored their own schemes, and tensions simmered beneath the surface.

However, small-scale probing never ceased.

Hanunue sent people to contact other prison sectors, providing them with supplies. Meanwhile, the IPC recruited traitors from among the prisoners to interact with Hanunue.

As the situation escalated, Hanunue's methods became more cunning and audacious.

Instead of launching a direct assault on the prison sectors, he formed smuggling teams to secretly distribute their manufactured goods throughout the prison.

SoulGlad, weapons, food, clothing—items that were once in short supply gradually became abundant.

"Boss, why don't we just liberate those prison sectors directly?" After a smuggling operation, a young man approached Hanunue with confusion.

"Hmph." Hanunue let out an explanatory grunt.

"I see, now I understand." The young man suddenly realized and asked no further questions.

"Hmph! Hmph!" Hanunue added two more grunts.

In the world of Honkai: Star Rail, the communication between two like-minded individuals was truly fascinating.

Fortunately, Xia Wen thoughtfully provided subtitles for the audience.

Each grunt was accompanied by a detailed explanation, 

"We need to let them develop their own sense of resistance."

"Besides, other prison sectors have their own leaders. We need to wait—for the right moment to unite all forces."

Then, time sped up.

In a flash, six months passed.

With Hanunue's intervention, the prison sectors became increasingly chaotic.

Once supplies became sufficient, the prisoners naturally became sluggish in their work.

At the same time, the warden lost his patience.

He ordered the guards to conduct strict searches—almost daily inspections.

Large amounts of smuggled goods were confiscated and destroyed, especially SoulGlad.

The syrup in SoulGlad was the cheapest and most accessible source of pleasure.

Whenever the guards found bottles of SoulGlad, they would smash them on the ground in front of the prisoners.

Crack!

As the bottles shattered, golden liquid splattered everywhere.

Under the oppressive gaze of the guards, the prisoners dared not protest.

But in the camera's close-up, the audience could clearly see their trembling faces, desperately trying to suppress their emotions.

Anger. It was spreading throughout the entire prison.

...

: Are these IPC managers idiots? Oppressing them like this is basically helping Hanunue!

: Exactly! How long do they think the prisoners can tolerate this?

: If they just treated the prisoners a little better, they might still be able to win their loyalty and then focus on crushing Hanunue.

: Feels like a major intelligence downgrade...

...

The IPC's approach left the audience bewildered.

Complete oppression, with no room for leniency—weren't they just forcing the prisoners into rebel or rebel?

Surely the IPC couldn't be blind to this?

Just as the audience was wondering, the screen shifted.

The former warden had been dismissed due to Hanunue's rebellion, and the new warden was now holding a meeting in his office with a group of mid-level managers.

This burly, thickset man was furious, harshly reprimanding his subordinates.

"I don't care who this Hanunue is, and I don't care how angry these prisoners are!"

"I only care about one thing! And that is KPI!"

Faced with such a serious rebellion, the words coming from the warden's mouth left everyone— including the audience—stunned.

"Let's be honest. Do you all really want to spend your whole lives stuck in this godforsaken place?" The warden sneered, scanning the room. No one dared to meet his gaze.

He continued slowly, "Let me put it plainly. The headquarters doesn't care whether this place is a prison or something else."

"They only care about one thing—whether we can meet our annual output quotas!"

"If you want to climb the ranks and get out of here, you need to achieve double—no, ten times our previous results!"

"Think about it. If we can increase the annual production that reaches the IPC and the board by tenfold in this kind of environment, every single one of us will be rewarded handsomely!"

His words made every mid-level manager in the room breathe heavily.

Due to the rebellion, they had no achievements to show—in fact, they had only accumulated failures.

Many people are now disheartened, feeling that they will never be able to leave this place in their lifetime.

The frontier prison, under the layers of the district, is a place of deep oppression.

"But, Warden, because of Hanunue's presence, these prisoners are becoming more and more defiant."

"In the past, we could use survival supplies to force them into submission, but now that they have smuggling channels, they care even less about us."

A mid-level manager raised a question.

"Heh, are you an idiot?"

The warden rolled his eyes.

"Do you care whether those people submit to you or not?"

"If they smuggle food, we'll take it."

"If they smuggle SoulGlad, we'll smash it!"

"Anyone who dares to resist will be taken out and executed!"

"We have weapons, we have starships—what are they? Just a bunch of prisoners. There's no need to talk about humanitarianism with them!"

"If you ask me, the people at headquarters are just too soft-hearted, that's why things have come to this!"

"This kind of dirty work can only be done by us, even if it means we have to suffer a little."

Hearing the warden's words, several mid-level managers exchanged glances.

They also wanted to use violence, but company regulations did not allow them to.

The prison only had the right to supervise, not the right to enforce the law.

They could usually beat and humiliate prisoners, or use small tricks like withholding food or denying medical treatment to slowly kill someone.

But direct execution-style shootings? They didn't have that authority.

However, the warden had already prepared for this.

He took out his device and transmitted a document to everyone's terminal.

It was an authorization order from Pier Point.

This order granted the warden the authority to enforce violent law within the prison.

"Warden, I didn't expect your connections to be this powerful!"

"You even managed to get an authorization order from Pier Point!"

The moment they saw the order, the mid-level managers' eyes lit up with excitement.

With this, they could control the prison without fear, without worrying about another rebellion.

They could exploit the prisoners to death without restraint.

If anyone dared to resist, they would just kill them directly!

"This is great! With this, we can safely extend everyone's work hours to fifteen hours a day!"

"Let me do the math. Before Hanunue's rebellion, the prisoner's average work time was barely enough."

"Adding five more hours, this year's yield should not only stay the same but even increase. Given the current declining situation, this would be a major achievement for us!"

The mid-level managers excitedly discussed among themselves.

But the warden sneered, "No, fifteen hours isn't enough. Raise it to eighteen hours!"

"We need to produce ten times the previous results if we want a 100% chance of being transferred out of here."

"Maybe, we can even go further—each of us might reach F1."

The temptation of getting transferred out of the frontier prison with a promotion made everyone's eyes turn red with excitement, their breathing rapid.

As for the prisoners' lives and what future inmates would have to endure—what did that have to do with them?

As long as the explosion didn't happen before they escaped, it wasn't their problem.

"Alright, following this plan, let's tighten the grip on everything."

"The only number that matters to us now is the total production yield! By the time of the year-end handover, we will shock the entire IPC!"

After the warden finished speaking, the meeting came to an end.

Everyone stood up straight, solemnly staring at the warden and the IPC logo behind him.

Because before exercising violent enforcement authority,

According to regulations, the warden had to recite the necessary provisions to all management personnel.

"Due to the emergency situation, the special privilege grants Asdana Frontier Prison the right to violent law enforcement."

"According to Article 670, Clause 3 of the Interasteral Peace Corporation's Peace Charter:"

"We as IPC must ensure that the basic survival needs, dignity, and democratic freedom of inmates are met before any violent enforcement is carried out."

"We as IPC must guarantee fairness in law enforcement."

"We as IPC must establish a reporting mechanism so that when prisoners suffer unfair treatment, they have a channel to report it to Pier Point."

The brilliance of humanitarianism instantly filled the entire conference room.

A stark contrast to the words spoken by the warden and his subordinates just moments ago.

...

: This is just inhuman, absolutely inhuman.

: This isn't even 996 anymore—no slaves were ever treated like this.

: No wonder they exploit the prisoners without hesitation—these people never planned to leave anything for the next warden. They just want to overachieve their KPIs and get transferred.

: So right now, the prison is all about squeezing the prisoners dry—as long as a rebellion doesn't happen during their term, they don't care.

: It's the classic 'After I leave, who cares if the flood comes?'

: And the goodwill I painstakingly built up to 700 points with Aventurine, Topaz? Gone, just like that.

: I'm so furious my head is steaming—this is the ugly face of capitalism.

...

"Damn it, this IPC keeps playing with my emotional threshold." By this point, the audience finally understood why the management didn't care whether the prisoners lived or died.

Coming from the largest capitalist corporation in the universe, this kind of mindset was both absurd and inevitable.

Short-sighted and self-serving.

These traits were on full display in this group of people.

Not only that, but many viewers also noticed something different about this PV.

...

: This time, the Myriad Celestia Trailer is too straightforward, too realistic.

: The IPC's actions, as well as Hanunue's approach of waiting for the right moment, all embody the beauty of writing.

: Previously, Honkai: Star Rail was always subtle when depicting such matters, or at least mixed in some hope. But now, it's laying bare the bloodiest underlying logic without any hesitation.

: The essence of capital is exploitation. Even in Hanunue's rebellion, he has to win over the leaders of other prison sectors and find ways to unite them.

: Why do I feel like Hanunue and the IPC are about to have a real, all-out battle?

...

As the bullet comments flooded the screen, the story in the scene was already accelerating.

Hanunue was still smuggling, supplying materials.

Meanwhile, the prison guards, now granted violent enforcement authority, became even more ruthless upon learning they had a chance to leave this place.

They intensified their oppression of the prisoners, not only increasing their workload but also singling out the troublemakers—executing those who needed to be executed, torturing those who needed to be tortured.

They no longer bothered to hide their true faces.

Bluntly putting it, "Your job or your life—pick one yourself."

Despair and rage began to spread within the prison.

The prisoners, of course, would not sit and wait for death.

Violent incidents started to break out one after another.

But all this violence was within the upper management's expectations.

As long as it didn't interfere with memory mining or affect their KPIs, letting these people cause trouble was not a problem.

After all, in a year, they would all be gone—off to new places, becoming executives in other branches of the IPC.

No matter how much chaos the prisoners caused here, it would no longer be their concern.

That would be a problem for the next management team to deal with.

However— they overlooked one person.

Someone who had been outside all this time, doing nothing but smuggling.

"Hmph! (The time has come!)"

Outside the prison, Hanunue gathered with a large group of warriors.

Weapons in hand, they fixed their gaze on the prison, still brightly lit in the dead of night...