Cthulhu Gonfalon

Though no one could understand Sui Xiong’s worries about the world’s economic order and why he often looked at the mountain—or rather, several mountains of gold, silver and precious stones—in his underground vault with distress, his orders were still well-executed.

Firstly, he was a highly-prominent figure with so much power that he could even make decisions on state affairs, and his decisions would be definite; secondly… they were spending his money anyway. If they did not have to pay out of their own pockets, and could still be able to increase employment, why would they want to oppose him?

All thanks to the efforts of the propagandists who did their best in publicizing, every policy of the Republic of Northwest could be quickly communicated to other places. Even the more remote pioneering villages were able to receive news within a few days, not to mention, the prosperous Void City. As for the implementation, though the Republic of Northwest was short on manpower, it was never stingy with administration. If there was a need to, it would not hesitate to invest in manpower or material resources. This was why there were never situations where there were long delays in implementation of policies.

On this basis alone, it had left the other nations on the Main Plane far behind.

For example, this policy for citizens to choose their surnames, from the announcement of the policy to the commencement of registration, would take at least three to four months if it was implemented in other countries. From the start of the registration to the end of the first phase of registration might take six months. Or maybe registration had begun when the capital made the announcement about the policy, but two to three years later, the first phase of registration at the border areas had yet to end. As for the second, third, or even subsequent phases of registration work, these might not reach completion even after decades.

This was the difference between the administrative efficiencies of countries. It was also the difference between feudal dynasties and modern countries.

Though Sui Xiong’s history knowledge was of a very general level, many systems of the Republic of Northwest had drawn lessons from modern countries. Because of inadequate conditions, the Republic of Northwest was unable to reach the standards of modern countries. However, it was at least much better than the vast majority of modern countries—at the very least, government decrees could be executed at the grass-roots level of the nation and be implemented for every citizen. This alone was simply amazing.

The citizens of the Republic of Northwest were extremely delighted and enthusiastic about being able to select their surnames. No sooner had the propagandists taken to the streets did many people drop what they were doing to rush over to the various sub-district offices of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Soon, there were long lines outside the doors of various sub-district offices. Everyone waited patiently as they deliberated about what surnames they should give themselves.

First of all, the surname should be resounding, but names like “Dog’s Tail” and “Cat’s Ear” were definitely rejects. Otherwise, their future generations would absolutely be subjects of ridicule, and most would even blame their ancestors for being a generation with no culture.

Secondly, the surname should not be a mouthful. If reading it alone was going to be awkward, then the name would be an inconvenience. For example, a surname like Baburpeer would definitely not be a good one. Rumor has it that before Sui Xiong traversed worlds, he had never understood why the names of people in certain countries and nationalities had to be so weird and difficult to pronounce.

Lastly, the surname should not be too long. Names like Totofugelamoolinifuski and such, hello! How long would be enough?

Speaking of which, there was a joke regarding the traditional culture of the elven race. To embody their inheritance, major feats of generations of ancestors had to be listed in their names. So later on, the names simply increased in length and got so long that even the elves themselves found it unbearable.

Take Madam Teague, for instance. She was a descendant of the Moon Elves. According to the names passed down from her family, it would probably take a full piece of paper to write her entire name down in their lingua franca. And the font size could not be too big.

A name as such was a struggle to remember even for Madam Teague herself, much less for any outsider.

There were people stationed at every registry to remind the citizens of such regulations. These people would warn the masses against getting muddle-headed and leaving strange or ridiculous surnames for their future generations.

While waiting in line, the people were also chatting. Of course, the topic of conversation would be about this event.

“George, what surname do you have in mind?”

“My father’s name is Johnny, so I intend to use my father’s name as my family name.”

“That’s a good idea! I’ll do the same.”

“What’s your father’s name?”

“His name is George.”

So the situation became a little awkward. But such awkward silences were inevitable.

“Watson, aren’t you of noble birth? Why are you here to register your surname?”

“I intend to change my name. After all, I have cut off contact with the Edward family for a long, long time. They won’t even acknowledge me as a relative now, so why would I want to join them?”

“Then what name do you have in mind?”

“Holmes sounds good.”

“Why does it sound so familiar? Didn’t we go to watch the opera Watson and Holmes together previously when it was staged…? Seriously! You are going to use the name of a character from an opera as your surname?”

“Is there any reason for me not to do so?”

“Of course not, you’re a genius! You’ve inspired me, and I’ve decided to use ‘Lancelot’ as my surname. This way, my children and grandchildren will feel proud whenever they come across The Adventures of the Perfect Knight.”

“I think maybe they might find it a little embarrassing.”

“If they’re going to feel embarrassed, then let them be. This is also a precious inheritance that I, their ancestor, have left behind for them. Haha!”

There were also names that were more ordinary.

“Ron, what surname do you have in mind?”

“Just Ron, is that alright?”

“So your name becomes Ron Ron?”

“Sounds a little strange… What do you think?”

“Why don’t you take the name House, and I’ll take Ron.”

“Doesn’t that amount to a swap?”

“Yes. We have such a tight friendship that we’re even closer than brothers. It’s more than appropriate for us to exchange names!”

“You’re right. Let’s do it!”

The first phase of surname registration was delayed for almost a month before coming to an end. This was because there were still many illiterates in the pioneer villages. The subsequent finishing touches did not take much time—there would be a clergyman from the Church of the Void Mask at every registry. For every name registered, they would report to Sui Xiong in the form of a prayer. Then Sui Xiong would store this data in the “Central Mainframe” of his God’s Kingdom. After the statistics were out, it would only take an hour or two to sort out the status quo of the renaming process.

There was a computer host that was oddly shaped in the Sanctuary of God’s Kingdom. It was originally a clone of Sui Xiong. As Sui Xiong’s level increased, a few modifications were also made to it. Up till now, it was almost half-independent. Usually, this “host” would be used to provide server-side support for game projects of the Church of the Void Mask, especially for the spiritual experience game “Infinite Terror.” In fact, this was nothing major that would affect its performance. Most of the specifications of its performance were basically left idle as there was nowhere else for them to be put to use.

In the ordinary course of events, Sui Xiong could use it for deductive work. However, Sui Xiong’s programming ability was very tragic, and his inferential ability was also mediocre. He himself did not have the ability to do deductive work, not to mention the ability to design a program that could be used for deductive procedures.

So it was only up until now that the performance specifications of the “host” that had been left idle had truly found a proper place to be put to good use.