novelraw Chapter 691: Digging Tunnels and Building Roads
Chapter 691: Digging Tunnels and Building Roads
This dramatic twist... It made Jing Shu think Jun Bao was heeding his life-saving benefactor’s advice, inspired to become a good person, and thus wanted to allow more people to survive.
That’s right; one doesn’t have to be a good person to have other motives for letting more people live. If it were someone else, I might believe they were kind-hearted, doing their duty, or taking responsibility. But someone like him...
It offered no benefit and was a thankless task; Jun Bao would absolutely never do such a thing. This kind of person, who claims he wants to let more people live—who knows what he truly intends to do?
"Isn’t that right?" Jun Bao said. "I just want to show her that sometimes dying is a release, while living is the real suffering. Since she believes that, I’m determined to find ways to let more people live, no matter what. As for how they live, or whether they want to continue living, that’s no longer my concern. If it were you, what would you choose?"
"As long as one is alive, there’s hope. No matter what I experience, I want to live," Jing Shu stated.
"As expected." Jun Bao seemed somewhat reassured and continued, "So, to let more people survive, I’m planning to dig tunnels and build roads. Don’t worry, I’m truly not after your food supplies."
Jing Shu frowned. "But if a large group of people, even freeloaders from the surrounding areas, mix in, what about rations for so many people?"
"Digging tunnels and building roads are huge projects, subject to weather, road conditions, tools, and various emergencies; many will die," Jun Bao explained. "If they go to work on the roads, the Township Government will provide two meals a day. If they’re lucky enough to survive until the road is completed, they can join Wu City. If they’re unlucky and die along the way, at least they lived a little longer. If they don’t want to work on the roads... then they can wait to die. We don’t support idlers. Wu City will also conscript some people for the construction and search for pre-apocalypse transfer stations along the way."
In ancient times, countless people died from forced corvée labor constructing roads. Now, in the apocalypse, the technology and materials are certainly not as advanced as before. While professional tunneling tools might exist, they would undoubtedly be largely superseded by manual labor due to scarcity or limitations.
According to this logic, there would indeed be no need for additional food levies. Perhaps many, many people will die. The previous migration already killed half the people en route; what about digging tunnels?
However, once the tunnels are completed, migration wouldn’t be as deadly. It wouldn’t be so tragic then. Jun Bao... he’s killing three birds with one stone while also preserving his own people.
But there’s no alternative. More and more people are starving to death in other places; they would die anyway if they didn’t work on the road.
Jing Shu frowned, feeling something was amiss. In her past life, there was no mention of road construction, was there? They had traveled step by step, encountering many unexpected situations and suffering heavy casualties along the way.
"Digging tunnels to build roads?"
"Want to get rich? Build roads first," Jun Bao laughed. Seeing Jing Shu’s serious face, he spoke earnestly, "I’ve received inside information. The weather in our region will get progressively colder, possibly dropping below minus 70 degrees Celsius, while the south will begin to warm up. The global climate is in chaos, so we need to be prepared."
"Should we continue to defend Wu City, or should everyone migrate to the south? Will there be other natural disasters along the way, or will temperatures rise again?"
"Qian Duoduo’s West Mountain is a successful example. We began to replicate it early on, intending to establish an Underground City. Wu City is rich in natural gas and has abundant minerals and oil. Even if we burn resources to keep the Artificial Sun running and secure some food and materials, guarding Wu City means guarding the richest resource area in the Northwest Three Provinces."
"The ’West-East Gas Pipeline’ project is a case in point. Before the apocalypse, the Wu City region supplied natural gas to other parts of Huaxia. You can imagine how rich the resources were. Unfortunately, due to post-apocalyptic natural disasters and the constant demand from the Artificial Sun, Wu City can no longer keep up with supplies."
"But if that plan fails, we might as well start digging the tunnel early and prepare to relocate everyone to ensure their survival. Once we’ve opened up trade routes, we can at least transport some goods from the outside world."
It truly was different from her past life; they had started making such preparations already!
Indeed. At this point in her previous life, Wu City had no food, and many people starved to death. Jingshu’s house even had to be traded away—they were literally sitting on a treasure trove of energy they couldn’t exploit. In this life, due to the butterfly effect Jing Shu initiated, Wu City had managed to avoid mass starvation. Consequently, Jun Bao’s ambitions had grown, and he was now planning for even bigger things.
Digging tunnels and constructing roads well in advance—this coincided perfectly with Jing Shu’s own ideas! However, she was also facing challenges. The tunnels she had painstakingly dug kept collapsing, making them unsuitable for migration. Only after some research did she learn that tunnel construction required various technical and material supports. Steel and concrete pillars were indispensable; her method of simply digging was prone to collapse.
"Currently, resources and materials are scarce, and the roads are long," Jun Bao continued. "So, for every half-kilometer we dig, we’ll create a buffer. This way, reinforcement won’t be necessary."
"We’ll follow this railway line south, passing through Xinlan, Shanggan, and Sichuan... If we encounter any uncharted areas, we’ll have people report the information to correct the map, and then we’ll dig around that area. It will cause some delay, but it can’t be helped." Jun Bao’s eyes sparkled. He wasn’t sure if Jing Shu understood the implications of his words. Well, if they encountered a new landmass, they would deal with it then. Yes, he would talk to Yang Yang about the energy matter; he was still only in the research phase regarding it.
Jing Shu nodded repeatedly. Digging along the railway was exactly her plan. Did that mean their routes might overlap?
Jing Shu suddenly looked up at Jun Bao intently. He hadn’t come to ask for grain, so it was...
Jun Bao then said, "There’s a ’wild man’ leader in the south named Zhang Lang who established an independent base. Initially, he had only a dozen or so people, but in just two short years, his group has grown to several thousand. Your friend Zhen Nantian took people to investigate the details. They later discovered that when Zhang Lang was a wild man, hunger drove him to eat flying cockroaches, which then laid eggs inside his body. Somehow, he can now spit out cockroaches from his mouth and control them, but he has also started to grow antennae and is beginning to resemble a cockroach."
"After research, they found he possessed energy from the newly discovered landmasses in his body and was categorized as one of the New Humans, an important protected individual."
"Now Zhang Lang has joined Zhen Nantian’s team, providing food for the Imperial Capital’s grain and oil supplies, and he’s doing quite well. If you have the chance, you can meet him."
"I know you also know one of the New Humans—the one who regularly provides you with large insects. I have no intention of reporting this or interfering in your transactions. In the future, if any issues arise, you will always be the mediator. You are a Wu City person, and the connections and resources you possess are also beneficial for Wu City."
"The favor I want to ask of you today is to hire you as one of the road construction leaders. Your responsibility would be to have the insects act as pioneers in digging the tunnel."
Jing Shu pondered for a moment. This was something she hadn’t expected.
She had originally planned for the insect woman Xiao Wei and her kind to follow far behind the main group during the migration, avoiding contact with people. However, it was also very possible she wouldn’t be able to keep them hidden. Besides, given her ability to gather so many large insects, she had never intended to hide this fact from those in power.
What she truly wanted to hide was Xiao Wei’s insect form. At the time, she had been too shocked, worrying what would happen if Xiao Wei were discovered and captured for study as an anomaly.