338: Chapter 338 Northern Forces: Conditions for Joining?

The day the outer city construction began, Lan Xin stood on the Shelter's ramparts, holding a palm-sized controller.

There were only three buttons on the controller.

She pressed the first one.

A transport vehicle drove out from the Shelter's gate, carrying dozens of silver-gray blocks.

Each block was about half a meter square, with a smooth surface, showing no visible structure.

These were the Intelligent Building Modules.

Lan Xin pressed the second button.

The blocks rolled off the vehicle and landed in their designated positions.

Then, they began to transform.

The metal surfaces flowed, expanded, and joined together like liquid.

The blocks turned into wall panels.

The panels connected into walls.

The walls enclosed a room.

The entire process was completely silent.

No clanging of hammers.

No sizzling of electric welding.

No shouting from workers.

There was only an extremely faint "rustling" sound as the metal flowed.

Like silkworms eating mulberry leaves.

Over two hundred male refugees stood nearby, watching all of this.

Collectively speechless.

Among them were former construction workers, former renovation experts, and former site supervisors.

These men had dealt with construction their entire lives.

How long does it take to build a house?

Laying the foundation, building walls, roofing, finishing—

It takes at least several months.

Yet, these silver-gray blocks before their eyes, from hitting the ground to becoming a complete circle of alloy walls—

Took forty minutes.

Forty minutes.

A former site supervisor opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

But he realized his expertise had been reduced to zero at this moment.

Everything he had learned about construction in his life had become worthless paper in these forty minutes.

Lan Xin pressed the third button.

The interior of the walls began to partition automatically—

Living areas, common areas, storage areas.

Partition walls grew from the ground, as if someone had planted a row of metal saplings underground, which grew into walls after forty minutes.

Throughout the process, Lan Xin only pressed three buttons.

Then she put away the controller and turned back to the Shelter.

She didn't say a word.

She didn't even say "finished."

Because it wasn't necessary.

The walls were there.

The rooms were there.

Facts are more persuasive than words.

The outer city was not large.

A circle of alloy walls enclosed about two thousand square meters of space.

Compared to the Shelter's Core Zone, this was just a tin box.

There were no frost crystal stones for warmth.

That was a privilege of the Core Zone.

The outer city relied on the Origin Ember heating device provided by Lin Yuan—a low-power version.

The temperature could only be maintained at around zero degrees.

Zero degrees.

In the normal world, zero degrees is winter.

A temperature where you need to wear down jackets, turn on the heat, and drink hot water.

But on an ice sheet at minus 170 degrees—

Zero degrees is paradise.

The moment the outer city was completed, over two hundred men walked in.

Then they stopped.

Collectively silent.

For about five seconds.

Then someone cried.

Not wailing.

Silent tears.

A man in his thirties stood in the zero-degree air, tears sliding down his face and dripping onto the alloy floor.

The person next to him was also crying.

And the one next to him too.

Over two hundred men, standing in a tin box, collectively crying in silence.

If this scene were filmed, it would probably become the most tear-jerking moment in an Apocalypse documentary.

But no one filmed it.

Because no one thought there was anything to film.

In the Apocalypse, crying is not news.

Not crying is.

The outer city needed a manager.

Lin Yuan did not manage the internal affairs of the outer city.

He only needed a liaison.

A liaison who could manage over two hundred people, keep them from causing trouble, and execute tasks efficiently.

The refugees spontaneously recommended one person.

Zhou Tiezhu.

Forty-three years old, a former construction worker.

One meter eighty-five tall, weighing two hundred jin.

Built like a wall.

But he wasn't recommended because he was strong.

It was because he was reliable.

During the escape, he carried three children on his back for twenty kilometers alone.

The three children were not his.

They were picked up on the road.

Their parents had already frozen to death.

Zhou Tiezhu stuffed the three children into his clothes, used his body heat to keep them warm, and carried them for twenty kilometers.

By the time they reached the Shelter, the three children were alive.

Zhou Tiezhu's back was severely frostbitten.

When Ye Qingyue treated him, he didn't make a sound.

Ye Qingyue asked him if it hurt.

He said: "It doesn't hurt."

Ye Qingyue looked at the blackened frostbite on his back.

"...Are you sure?"

"I'm used to it."

Ye Qingyue didn't ask again.

She silently gave him an extra portion of medicine.

When Zhou Tiezhu went to see Lin Yuan, his hands were shaking from nervousness.

He had heard of Lin Yuan's name.

The strongest man on the ice sheet.

Holding the life and death of thousands in his hands.

Possessing power that even armies couldn't defeat.

Zhou Tiezhu was an ordinary person.

No Superpower.

No background.

Only brute strength and a reasonably upright heart.

Standing in front of Lin Yuan, he felt like an ant standing before an elephant.

No, smaller than an ant.

An ant could at least bite someone.

He didn't even have the courage to bite.

Lin Yuan sat in a chair, looking at him.

His gaze was calm.

No pressure.

No scrutiny.

Just watching.

But it was this "just watching" gaze that made sweat run from Zhou Tiezhu's back all the way to his heels.

Lin Yuan spoke.

"Can you manage them?"

Zhou Tiezhu's lips moved.

"Yes."

His voice was a bit hoarse.

But very firm.

Lin Yuan: "If you can't manage them, the outer city will be dismantled."

Zhou Tiezhu: "I know."

The conversation ended.

From start to finish, no more than ten seconds.

Two questions and answers.

No small talk.

No formalities.

No "please sit," "have a glass of water," or "I understand your situation."

Nothing at all.

When Zhou Tiezhu walked out of the command room, his clothes on his back were already soaked.

He stood in the corridor for a while, waiting for his heartbeat to return to normal.

Then he took a deep breath.

"Manage them."

He told himself.

"If I can't manage them, it's gone."

He didn't know what "dismantled" meant.

But he had seen the scene where those silver-gray blocks built a city in forty minutes.

If it could be built, it could be dismantled.

And the speed of dismantling would probably be faster than building.

On the first day of the outer city's operation, Su Yuyan's labor point system was officially launched.

The rules were simple.

Simple enough for anyone to understand.

Mining for 1 hour = 10 points.

10 points = 1 hot meal + 1 piece of warm clothing.

There was no room for bargaining.

No "I'm not feeling well today, can I do less?"

No "I had such and such status before, can I get special treatment?"

None.

Rules are rules.

Su Yuyan wrote the rules on an alloy board and nailed it to the bulletin wall of the outer city.

The writing was large.

Large enough to be seen clearly from fifty meters away.

She did this not to make it easy for everyone to read.

It was so that no one would have the excuse of "I didn't see it."

The management mindset of a listed company CEO, applied to a refugee camp of two hundred people, was dimensionality reduction warfare.

On the first day, all two hundred people signed up for mining.

Not a single person was absent.

Zhou Tiezhu led the way into the mine.

Ling Shuanghan's Female Warriors were responsible for leading the team and providing technical guidance.

This scene was a bit marvelous—

Twelve slender women, leading over two hundred burly men, going into the mine to extract frost crystal stone.

The Female Warriors walked in front.

Steady steps, precise movements, expressionless.

The men followed behind.

Messy steps, clumsy movements, nervous expressions.

Like a group of first-grade students following their teacher on a spring outing.

Except the destination of the spring outing was an underground ice cave at minus 200 degrees.

Ling Shuanghan's Female Warriors had no comments on the men's performance.

No praise.

No scolding.

No encouragement.

No mockery.

If you did it right, they nodded.

If you did it wrong, they corrected you.

The way of correction was to directly use their hands to help you straighten your posture.

Like adjusting the parts of a machine.

No emotional color.

Pure efficiency.

Zhou Tiezhu discovered a fact on the first day:

These women were stronger than any worker he had ever seen.

Not stronger in strength.

But in professionalism.

They cut the frost crystal stone with precision down to the millimeter.

They judged the direction of the ore vein just by touching the ice wall with their hands.

Their sense of direction in the underground ice cave was more accurate than GPS.

Zhou Tiezhu had worked in construction for fifteen years.

He thought he was professional enough.

But compared to these women, he was an apprentice.

A hundred-year apprentice.

Because their professionalism was polished over a hundred years.

He needed to live another hundred years to catch up.

After the first day of mining ended, the people in the outer city brought back about 50 kilograms of frost crystal stone.

The efficiency was not high.

It was probably only one-third of what Ling Shuanghan's Female Warriors could do on their own.

But this was the first day.

It would get better and better.

Su Yuyan set up a point exchange point at the entrance of the outer city.

At the end of the first day, over two hundred people lined up to exchange.

Everyone received a hot meal and a piece of warm clothing.

The hot meal was made by Chu Yanran.

It didn't matter what it specifically was.

What mattered was that it was hot.

In the zero-degree outer city, holding a bowl of hot food, wearing a new piece of warm clothing—

This was probably the best day these two hundred people had lived in the Apocalypse.

Zhou Tiezhu held the bowl and sat in the corner of the outer city.

He took a bite.

Then he froze.

Delicious.

Not the "barely edible" kind of delicious.

It was really delicious.

He didn't know what this bowl of stuff was made of.

But it tasted like his mother's braised pork.

His mother was already dead.

Died on the first day of the Apocalypse.

Zhou Tiezhu lowered his head and continued to eat.

Eating very quickly.

Not looking up.

Because he was afraid others would see that his eyes were red.

That night.

Chen Hanyue discovered an anomaly during a routine patrol.

About ten kilometers north of the Shelter.

A large number of traces appeared on the ice sheet.

Not footprints.

Tire tracks.

The width and depth far exceeded ordinary vehicles.

Chen Hanyue squatted down to take a look.

Then her expression changed.

These were traces of military vehicles.

And not one or two.

It was a convoy.

The direction of the traces was from north to south.

Pointing directly to the Shelter.

Chen Hanyue did not hesitate and immediately returned to report.

In the command room.

After Chen Hanyue finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to Luo Qinghan.

Because "North" and "military vehicles," these two keywords, only Luo Qinghan among those present could give an answer.

Luo Qinghan's brows furrowed.

She searched in her memories from her past life.

North.

Military force.

Convoy.

Tanks.

"Northern Border Army."

When she said these two words, her voice was very flat.

But the temperature in the command room seemed to drop by two degrees.

"A militarized force that appeared in the second year of the Apocalypse in my past life. The predecessor was the remnants of the Northern Military District. The leader is called Zhao Tieshan, the former deputy commander of the military district."

Lin Yuan sat in a chair, holding a cup of hot mineral water.

"How many people?"

"About three thousand in my past life. But now the timeline has advanced, it might be fewer, or it might be more."

"Combat power?"

"Mainly ordinary soldiers, with a small number of Ability Users. The strongest in my past life did not exceed A-rank."

Luo Qinghan paused.

"But they have weapons. Real military weapons. Tanks, armored vehicles, heavy artillery."

The command room was quiet for a few seconds.

Tanks.

Armored vehicles.

Heavy artillery.

These words were things in the news before the Apocalypse.

After the Apocalypse, they were things in nightmares.

But Lin Yuan was not nervous.

Nor was he excited.

He asked a question that no one expected.

"How much fuel do they have?"

Luo Qinghan was stunned.

"What?"

"At minus 170 degrees, the fuel consumption of military vehicles is three to five times that of normal temperatures. They drove from the north, at least several hundred kilometers. If their fuel is not enough—"

Lin Yuan took a sip of hot mineral water.

"Those tanks and armored vehicles are just a pile of scrap metal."

Luo Qinghan thought for a moment.

"In my past life, they did have fuel problems. But they had an Ability User who could—"

She stopped.

"Could convert ice into fuel."

Lin Yuan: "Then it's not scrap metal."

He put down the cup and walked to the window.

Outside the window was an endless white ice sheet.

North.

Somewhere.

An army was moving here.

Carrying tanks.

Carrying armored vehicles.

Carrying two or three thousand lives that needed to eat.

"Have Qin Ziyan's Special Operations Team strengthen reconnaissance in the north."

Lin Yuan said. "Do not make contact, only observe."

Ji Wushuang had been listening from the side for a long time.

Finally couldn't help it.

"How many people are coming?"

Lin Yuan: "Luo Qinghan said about two or three thousand."

Ji Wushuang's eyes lit up.

That kind of light, like a cat seeing a particularly fat fish.

"That's it?"

Lin Yuan glanced at her.

"Do not initiate provocation."

Ji Wushuang's expression collapsed instantly.

"...Tch."

She turned and left.

Muttering something as she left.

Probably something like "so boring" or "wasting my time."

Ling Shuanghan sat in the corner from beginning to end, listening quietly.

She was not interested in the games between human forces.

In the Everwinter World, the fighting between human forces ended in the fifth year of the Apocalypse.

Not because of peace.

Because the forces that fought internally all died.

The external threat was too great.

When you were busy fighting with the neighbors, the ice-sealed beasts ate you both from behind.

It was only the first year of the Apocalypse on Blue Star.

Humans hadn't learned this lesson yet.

But they would learn.

Ling Shuanghan thought.

It's just that the tuition would be very expensive.

After the meeting in the command room ended, Lin Yuan stood alone by the window.

Nothing could be seen on the northern ice sheet.

Only white.

Endless white.

But beneath the white, something was moving.

Steel things.

Things with gun barrels and tracks.

Lin Yuan watched for a while.

Then he returned to the table and picked up the cup of mineral water that had already cooled down.

Took a sip.

Cold.

Not tasty.

He put the cup down.

"Ye Qingxue is right." He muttered to himself.

"It's better when it's hot."

Then he turned off the lights.

Tomorrow will be very busy.

The Northern Border Army is coming.

The outer city needs to operate.

frost crystal stone needs to continue to be mined.

The temperature is still dropping.

But these are all things for tomorrow.

There is only one thing left for today—

Sleep.

Lin Yuan closed the door and walked towards his room.

It was quiet in the corridor.

The walls of the Shelter radiated the faint warmth of the frost crystal stone.

22 degrees.

Just right.

Not cold, not hot.

Like a normal spring night.

If you ignore the fact that it's minus 170 degrees outside the window.