Just after the big rat set off with a group of little rats on a motorbike, a wasteland reclamation team made of 500 refugees was transferred from the temporary shelter to Longevity Town.

There were about 1,500 refugees stranded in the temporary shelter.

Now that winter was coming to an end, the snow was slowly melting and seeping into the soil. They couldn’t stay in crowded and dangerous buildings forever. It was neither safe nor hygienic. Especially in spring, it could easily become a breeding ground for germs and bacteria.

Walking in front of the refugee group, Jiu Li found Luca who was waiting at the east gate, and shook hands with him. "It took a while on the road. I’m sorry to keep you waiting."

Luca said softly, "It’s alright, there’s snow everywhere all the way. It’s not easy for you to come here. But I’m relieved to see you arrive safely."

After a brief greeting, Jiu Li got straight to the point. "Where do we start? Here? Or somewhere else?"

Last year, their camp at the east gate was destroyed by a blizzard, and the wreckage left on the ground could still be seen faintly.

Luca looked at Jiu Li and said, "According to the administrator’s instructions, your settlement is at the west gate, and now the top priority is to solve the housing problem. The bricks, cement, and wood have been delivered to the construction site, and there will be special personnel to guide you on how to construct them. After the houses are built, we will assign spring farming tasks to you."

"The land is allocated according to households. Two adults form a household, and they will be given 6,660 square meters of land. For each child in the family, an additional 666 square meters will be given. Unmarried people who are 16 years old and over will be allocated 1,900 square meters per person. After they get married, they will be considered a new household, and their land will be re-allocated."

"The ownership of the land is collectively owned by Longevity Town, and it cannot be transferred or leased. It will be checked every season. The offenders will be expelled from their household registration, and their land will be confiscated."

"In the first three years, we will provide you with seeds and fertilizers, and you only need to hand over half of the harvest to us in return. At the end of the three-year period, if the land isn’t abandoned, the land allocated to you will be handed over to you completely. At that time, only 20% of the harvest needs to be given as tribute, and you can decide yourself whether you want to keep the rest of the grain or sell it to the granary.”

The refugees were whispering, and everyone had excited expressions on their faces.

"Provide seeds?"

"And fertilizer!"

"And only turn in half of the harvest… Is it really true?"

Not to mention them, even Luca found the terms hard to believe.

In the wasteland, it was already generous to allow farmers to keep 20% of the harvest.

However, the administrator not only allowed them to keep half of the crops but even generously said that they would provide them with seeds, fertilizers, and professional guidance for the first three years.

"The reason why refugees are refugees is that they are rootless. Yes, we need them to grow food, but what we need more is to use the land and work to bind them with us. Don’t just think about profits all the time."

"According to the statistics we’ve collected, there are roughly 500 households amongst the refugees. If each household can get 6,660 square meters of land, they can farm at least 666,000 square meters of land. This can not only allow more than 500 families to live well, but also provide food for thousands of people. Moreover, it can fill the stomachs of the remaining refugees and develop production.”

"In terms of the remaining 1,600,000 square meters of land, it will be partly run by the shelter, mainly farmed by prisoners of war, and partly contracted and managed by the shelter residents. The grains they produced will all be purchased by the granary."

That was what Chu Guang told him in the past.

Luca didn’t fully understand it, but he had a new understanding of the administrator’s kindness. Such a kind heart was too rare in the wasteland.

He wished from the bottom of his heart that those poor people would have a good life.

After settling Jiu Li’s matter and handing over the tools and building materials, Luca handed over the rest of the work to the foreman and guards, and returned to Longevity Town alone. 𝔯Äℕ∅ＢĘⱾ

Inside the office, the captain of the guard, Wrench, was waiting for him.

Longevity Town was currently understaffed, especially in the logistics department.

In addition to standing guard, the guards occasionally had to undertake the work of communicating with refugees.

That was also the instructions of the administrator. However, those were just temporary measures, and they would be gradually improved in the future.

After all, for the refugees, a straight black uniform and a large-caliber rifle were far more convincing than a piece of paper full of words at any time.

To put it bluntly, literacy education had only reached its primary stage, and most people still didn’t even know that many words, so they couldn’t remember the rules for a long time.

For them, things like the law were far inferior to the words of the administrator who was wearing an exoframe. The powerful monster strolling about in a blue exoframe gave them a much stronger sense of security than anything.

At least in Clearspring City, strength was all that mattered.

"The transportation route to Elm District has been restored. At present, the transportation capacity and human resources are very tight. Only 500 to 800 logs can be supplied to the town every day... This is on the premise of not affecting the land reclamation work."

"The administrator has said that land reclamation is the first priority. I will arrange for someone to handle the wood, so hand them over to me after they are transported to the farm." Luca paused for a moment, then continued in a serious tone, "In addition, the brick factory has given priority to the allocation of production capacity to Longevity Town. We need to build at least 500 houses before the end of the month and ensure that the three collective dormitories in the town are completed, and the refugees in temporary shelters will be completely transferred here."

Wrench hesitated for a moment. "Can we complete everything on such short notice?”

They also needed to prepare for spring farming, so it would probably be difficult to free up so many people.

However, Luca’s answer was beyond his expectations. "Initially, I also thought that the mission might be difficult to complete, but the diligence of those shelter residents exceeded our expectations... At present, one-fifth of the wasteland reclamation mission undertaken by them has been completed, and the rest will probably be completed within a week at most."

"The administrator said that if the situation is optimistic, they can plow another 6,660,000 square meters of wasteland before the 20th."

"Including the 6,660,000 square meters of wasteland reclamation mission undertaken by the prisoners of war, there is absolutely no problem in completing the 19,000,000 square meters of wasteland reclamation mission before the spring farming."

"In this way, the saved labor can be fully involved in the construction of the houses, and the resettlement of refugees can be accelerated."

After saying that, Luca unfolded a map.

On it was painted a house made with a brick and wood structure. The overall shape was square, and it looked unremarkable, but it had everything a house needed.

"This is the terraced house designed by the shelter residents. It is a 36-square-meter house made with a mix of brick and wood. It requires a small number of building materials, and its thermal performance and safety are quite good."

Wrench stared at the drawing for a while. Although he didn’t quite understand it, he intuitively felt that the bricks and cement used in this kind of house were indeed much less than those in Longevity Town.

After a long time, he couldn’t help but sigh. "Give my highest respect and gratitude to these amazing people."

Luca also nodded with a sigh as well. "We do have to thank them, they gave so much."

War, natural disaster, famine, disease...

Even compared to the toughest days of the past, this year’s winter had certainly been hell mode.

Without those blue coats, let alone those refugees from other places, few people in the entire northern suburbs would’ve been able to survive this winter.

But no one died of starvation this winter, and they even had a New Year’s party.

That was almost unimaginable in the past.

Of course, for Luca himself, his gratitude was much simpler.

If it wasn’t for that chip from the administrator, he would have already died under the gun of a certain guard.

He didn’t understand many big truths, and he didn’t even understand when Chu Guang told him to stand up and not kneel.

He only knew one thing, the administrator saved his life.

From that moment on, his life belonged to the administrator.

...

Night.

The caravan heading for Boulder Town settled in an abandoned office building.

They cleared the Crunchers from the lobby to the corridor and came to the second floor of the office building.

A trip rope was tied to the exit of the safe passage, and the caravan escort who was in charge of escorting Qian Lai and others back to Boulder Town walked to Xu Shun and Ample Time and said to them. "This is our safe house on the edge of the fourth ring. We will rest here for the night and continue our journey after dawn."

His name was Luo Guang, and he had been working for Liszt for around six years. He was an old employee of the caravan.

The other two guards worked for two years respectively. The one with a submachine gun on his chest was called Wang Zhong, and the one with a bandage on his right arm was named Kaeya. Those were all the information Ample Time got from Xu Shun.

Before the group arrived, they were ambushed by a group of marauders. The unlucky guy named Kaeya was unfortunately shot in the right arm.

Those goblins hidden in the ruins would always emerge unexpectedly and open fire immediately, not concealing their heinous desire in the slightest.

Except for one person who looked as calm as usual, all the people present had lingering fear on their faces.

That person was Ample Time.

Isn’t it common sense in RPG games to encounter bandits when escorting a caravan?

Since the mission asks the player to bring a gun, the game will naturally give the player a chance to use it.

It’s just basic routine, no need to panic at all.

Ample Time didn’t find it strange. Instead, he only felt that those NPCs were very weak.

"Safe house?" Xu Shun glanced around and noticed molds and the creep formed by the Mutant Slime Mold in the corners of the room. He did not feel that the place was safe in the slightest.

Qian Lai, who was standing beside him, grinned. "Don’t be nervous, those Crunchers won’t pop out of the ground. Even if there is a small incubation hive on the top of the building, they won’t suddenly appear. As long as they are used properly, the Crunchers wandering in the corridors will become our cover instead."

There were at least hundreds of Crunchers in the lobby on the first floor, but when they came up, they only killed a dozen of them, and there were still a bunch of them left.

If a group of marauders were going to attack them, they would have to clear the Crunchers from the lobby to the safe passage like what they just did.

Even if those marauders took out the Crunchers in close combat without firing a single shot, the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground would still be heard by the people on the second floor.

As long as they kept someone on guard near the exit of the safe passage, it would basically guarantee their safety.

Qian Lai patiently said to the two rookies who had never traveled far. "It’s dangerous to set up a campfire here. I’m afraid we have to spend the night in the dark. Did you bring dry rations?"

Xu Shun nodded. "Mhm."

Qian Lai smiled. "That’s good. There’s no place for you to make a fire."

The dry rations for the people in the caravan was nutritional paste. Although there were also wheat cakes, they were frozen so hard that no one wanted to eat them.

Xu Shun took out the warmed bun that didn’t have any fillings from his arms, then reached into his backpack and took out the pickles in the jar. Using a knife to cut open the bun, he poured some pickles on it, then stuffed it into his mouth and took a bite.