Chapter 472: Awakening
Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Of course, even if the situation was worsening, the spaceship had a reserve of food and water which was enough to last the humans for decades. Based on the speed of the rescue spaceship, the transfer could be done in half a day. However, unless it was absolutely critical, Luo Yuan would prefer not to utilize the water supply for the interstellar voyage.
While the spaceship had been under the command of the Glassians, water was used to support life as well as being the fuel for the nuclear fusion furnace. Therefore, it was crucial to store as much water as possible for interstellar voyages.
Even if the water was only for emergency use, it was still unknown whether they could regain control of the ship's resource mining system in one or two years time to make up for the water source depletion. If they prolonged their stay on the Earth, the risk would rise exponentially.
The Glassians were already an interstellar race and the humans knew too little of advanced civilizations. It was 60 years ago since they first stepped on Earth and over the past 60 years, technology had gone through such a tremendous transformation that people shuddered just from the memory of it. In the future, it was possible to invent technology that could help others form a space-time bubble for quick travel.
Perhaps, at this very moment, a stronger spaceship that was faster than the speed of light was traveling with the use of a warp drive after leaving its mothership and was once again on a journey to conquer Earth. There might not be enough time left for humanity if they continued to stay here!
With everything at stake, not even the slightest mistake is allowed and even Luo Yuan would not dare to risk the lives of all the humans.
They should leave the Earth without any further delay.
…
All the executives of Hope City had gathered together at four o’clock in the afternoon as planned.
Aside from Luo Yuan who had just become the mayor and Bi Jianping who was hosting in the spacecraft, there were another three leaders present at today's senior management meeting. The main reason for the meeting was not only due to the sudden rise in population that had increased by one-fold as compared to pre-disaster numbers. Firstly, it was to arrange for the settlement of the extra population and rehousing of a large number of government personnel in the remaining three cities. And secondly, it was to appoint the current district mayors (the mayors of the former three municipalities) - Mayor Ma Lin from the United City, Mayor Zhang Jiwei from Victory City and Mayor Chang Menghao from the Twilight City, to be the head of the secondary cities respectively. In other words, there were not many changes besides the administrative aspect and gathering the people into one city which would allow the four cities to live harmoniously.
…
Luo Yuan once again emphasized the safety issues that were being faced by Hope City during the meeting.
Everyone including Luo Yuan could finally have some mental relief as the necessities like food and clothing were no longer in shortage. The migration plan had been carried out smoothly as well though some of the issues could have been avoided if only people had started paying attention to them earlier when the problem arose.
Luo Yuan was aware that earthquakes and volcano eruption might occur anytime and that the Earth would never be stable again. A swarm of debris was scattered around the Earth’s surface as the moon was damaged by the nuclear antimatter smart orbital ballistic missile. A small amount of the debris flew into space but many larger pieces fell to the Earth due to its gravitational force.
Small meteorites were about a few kilograms in weight while large meteorites weighed millions or even billions of tons. The first wave of meteorites was too small and was not even worth mentioning as they would eventually burn out due to the friction with the ozone layer. The latter on the other hand, were big enough to trigger a new wave of disasters.
Although none of the meteorites had caused any impact on Hope City, there were some meteorite fragments scattered around the surrounding perimeter. Luo Yuan often went into space to crush the potential large meteorites before they could cause any disasters, however, there was always a limit to what he could do alone and even though he was strong and powerful, compared to the vastness of the sky and outer space, he was just a drop of water in the vast ocean and there was always bound to be a slip through the net.
...
Once the meeting was over, all the departments in Hope City had their heads straight and started working quickly and efficiently. Luo Yuan had adjusted to most of his tasks as the mayor for the past three months and was bearing the responsibility and immense pressure from holding this position.
Before nightfall, the next task had already been placed on Luo Yuan's desk.
Luo Yuan quickly skimmed through the contents and retyped it to give his endorsement. The task required many mechanical engineers from the spaceship which would delay its modification and potentially sacrifice one or more important tasks. Besides that, it was not an easy task even though Luo Yuan had hoped that it would possibly help to reduce the unemployment rate.
People were not worried that they got less but were more concerned about the fairness and equality.
Hope City did not implement systems of equal sharing regardless of work performance and this could lead to insecurity and many other social problems as the unemployment rate increases. Besides that, the basic living allowance which had been given to the unemployed would also cause distress and jealousy among others. Similarly, a lot of unemployed people could potentially reduce their motivation to find work which could breed laziness and that was one of the most important issues to be aware of. It was still way too early for humanity to start relaxing and get complacent.
Not long after, a second task was brought to Luo Yuan’s desk.
The entire project would involve nearly 30,000 to 500,000 staff and also 200 construction machinery trucks (those were the only operable machinery that was easy to repair and maintain). The reason why there was a big amount of manpower involved was due to the limited exploration tools and machinery available. The leather factory, glove factory and boot factory that had stopped production would need to re-start and even expand their production to accommodate for this project. Therefore, this would undoubtedly help to increase the employment rate.
Luo Yuan did not see anything unusual and signed the agreement.
The official operation would only be able to commence the very next day despite the efficient team that Luo Yuan had under his command. The weather at night was much colder than during the day and the ordinary humans could not endure it even if they were wearing their sweaters.
Luo Yuan looked at the clock and realized that it was already ten o'clock at night. He tidied up his desk and stood up from his seat, calling it a day.
...
Luo Yuan stopped walking abruptly as soon as he entered the living room of his villa.
Chen Jiayi who had been paralyzed in bed for a long time was unexpectedly sitting in the living room surrounded by plenty of people. She was probably still very weak from staying in bed over a long period of time and looked rather frail and weak when she was lying on the chair.
"When did you wake up?" Luo Yuan asked as he hastened across the living hall.
"Ye Qiuyu is the one who discovered that I had woke up when it was almost time to eat!" Chen Jiayi said as she smiled with a brightened face. Chen Jiayi's situation had left a thorn in everyone's heart and her awakening gave everyone a pleasant surprise.
"Jiayi shouted your name once she woke up. Honestly speaking, when did you both start?" Huang Jiahui teased Luo Yuan.
Hearing the jokes from Huang Jiahui, Chen Jiayi simply turned shy and even her neck turned a little red. Chen Jiayi was free of the parasitic moss and her emotional fluctuations had completely returned to normal. She was no longer in the state of trance she was in earlier.
Luo Yuan's face looked a bit awkward. To cure Chen Jiayi's sickness, he had touched her body quite a number of times and he felt shy as he recalled the memories.
"Don’t simply say things!" Luo Yuan reprimanded with a soft but serious expression.
Fortunately, before Chen Jiayi became parasitic, her character had always been soft and gentle and she easily blushed. Other than Ye Qiuyu who was suspicious, the others had not suspected anything.
"How are you feeling now? Can you walk?" Luo Yuan was sitting beside Chen Jiayi, as he asked with concern.
Chen Jiayi started to blush like a ripe apple as she saw Luo Yuan approaching her and she opened her mouth and said something in an inaudible speech. In the end, Wang Xiaguang helped to lift the mood.
"Not yet, according to Doctor Ye, she had been lying for too long and her muscle had shrunk. She needs to carry out some rehabilitation training before she can walk normally again."
Luo Yuan suddenly looks towards Ye Qiuyu, "Dr. Ye, I understand that it has been tough for you. If there is anything I can do to help speed up her recovery, please do let me know!"
Ye Qiuyu could no longer hide among the crowd and said hurriedly, "There's nothing much that needs to be done. Just perform the regular massage and along with some muscle rehabilitation training."
Besides that, her stomach has shrunk a little and she would still need to take liquid food for a period. She can only resume her normal diet in about one week or so if the situation allows. Add in some high-quality ingredients in her diet as it will greatly speed up her recovery process."
"High-quality food? That's no problem at all." Luo Yuan said. The remaining meat powder had already finished but he had an even better thing - level eight energy crystal!" It was clearly more appropriate for Chen Jiayi who was weak.
He had plenty of energy crystals which had been used to strengthen the human body of the women so that it prevented Luo Yuan from accidentally hurting them in their daily lives. However, what made him speechless was that nearly half a year had passed since then and there were only a few energy crystals left. Specifically, he only had two in his possession so it was quite valuable!
The reason why the consumption of the energy crystals was slow was because every single time the energy crystal was consumed, it caused a serious imbalance in strength for everyone. Ordinary humans would not be able to control that energy as quickly as Luo Yuan could and so they required a long period of time to adjust and adapt. Coupled with the disaster and the fact that they had been busy, the consumption rate of the energy crystals had slowed down.
"I'm going to get the energy crystal!" said Luo Yuan as he got up and walked upstairs.
As the mutated woman who stood not far away from Luo Yuan heard the news regarding the energy crystal, her eyes brightened up. She stood up and followed Luo Yuan upstairs.