The Blue Sea Civilization could now be summed up in three words: orderly, yet chaotic.
In battle, everyone charged forward fearlessly.
When it came to construction, everyone worked like tireless oxen, doing whatever they were told without complaint.
But aside from those two things, everything else was in complete disarray.
The Safe City was simply too crowded.
People were packed shoulder to shoulder. Even lining up to collect food took forever. With so many people crammed into one city, the air had grown stuffy and oppressive, leaving people dizzy and giving them headaches. The lack of living space only made everyone more irritable.
Every day, the stairwells were jammed when people went downstairs. Food distribution points were jammed. Even going to the bathroom meant squeezing through crowds.
Most Blue Sea citizens spent their days doing little more than getting stuck in human traffic.
By nature, they had strong combat instincts and preferred open spaces. Forcing them into such cramped, noisy, crowded conditions was like locking wild beasts in cages—their agitation was impossible to suppress.
It was no exaggeration to say that no matter where you went in the Safe City, if you walked for two minutes, you were bound to see someone fighting.
And the reasons for those fights were rarely serious—most of the time, it was something like, “What are you looking at?” “What’s it to you?”
In just 24 hours, the air was already filled with all kinds of foul odors and the stench of urine.
There was no helping it—the toilets were nowhere near enough.
At the time, the only priority had been making sure everyone had somewhere they could survive. Moving an entire world in nine days and nights was already a miracle. There had been no time to worry about details like toilets.
The government had no choice but to rely on forceful suppression.
To put it bluntly, when people got into fights, there wasn’t even anywhere to detain them.
All government personnel were already overwhelmed. Just like the President herself, they started working the moment they opened their eyes. Everyone’s throat was sore and hoarse, yet they still had to keep shouting.
There were simply too many people. If they didn’t shout loudly enough, no one could hear them.
During the relocation, only essential supplies had been moved. Things like loudspeakers had barely been brought over at all, and there weren’t nearly enough to go around. So everyone had no choice but to keep yelling at the top of their lungs.
The technology still existed—but where was there space to build factories?
When the Safe City upgraded and its area doubled, not only did the residents cry with gratitude, many government workers were moved to tears as well.
However, just because the city’s area had increased didn’t mean all its problems had suddenly disappeared.
Even with 1,600 square kilometers of land, squeezing in so many buildings and 360 million people still made the city unbearably crowded.
Under the current circumstances, the Blue Sea Civilization would need at least half a year, if not longer, before society could begin functioning smoothly again.
The upper levels of government remained optimistic about this.
After all, no one was going to die anytime soon.
Once they secured territory in the God-Forsaken Land, they could simply relocate part of the population there.
Then the great Creator God delivered a divine oracle: the God-Forsaken Land would also perish, and the Blue Sea Civilization would have to live inside the temple indefinitely.
Blue Sea Civilization: “…”
They were distressed—but quickly accepted the oracle.
There was no reaction like, “The outside world doesn’t look like it’s ending anytime soon. It’s just zombies, right? Why don’t we go outside, build a new home, and once we deal with the zombies, we’ll have nothing to worry about?”
Yes, the outside world was vast, and the temple was crowded.
But since the great Creator God had said that His people must live in the temple, then every citizen of Blue Sea would obey.
So what if it was crowded?
No matter how cramped it was, could it possibly be worse than being inside the womb before birth?
If unborn babies could endure such a tiny space, then so could they!
Sometimes, Cheng Qisheng even admired Lao Ba’s way of thinking.
They might be able to endure it, but she couldn’t.
If this continued, their efficiency would be far too low.
Compared to the other City Lords, her advantages were obvious:
— A huge population, plenty of combat personnel, and complete obedience.
But her disadvantages were equally obvious:
— A huge population, which meant an equally enormous demand for food.
The moment food became scarce, that advantage would immediately turn into a disadvantage.
You only had to look at Coriander running around begging for food to know that not every disaster world had local supplies that could be scavenged.
The Safe City wasn’t large enough. Even if they developed agricultural zones, there still wouldn’t be enough space to support 360 million people.
She had to take advantage of this world, where food could still be gathered, to stockpile as much grain as possible and secure more resources.
At least for now, however, the Safe City wasn’t short on food.
If anything, they had plenty.
What they needed was to reorganize the population.
Aether quickly proposed a solution:
“Aether will arrange for mobile phones to be distributed, record the facial features and iris data of every resident, and assign each person a unique ID number.”
“Aether has already planned every route within the Safe City. Starting today, residents will follow dynamically assigned routes based on their ID numbers, creating a citywide one-way flow system.”
“The residents’ dynamic route map has been deployed. Please review it, City Lord.”
Cheng Qisheng looked at the route map on the virtual screen.
Good lord.
It was so densely packed that it looked like the vascular network in a human anatomy diagram.
“How many dynamic routes did you create in total?”
Aether replied, “One million.”
Cheng Qisheng raised an eyebrow.
“And how long did it take you to generate those one million routes?”
“Ten minutes.”
Wow.
So this was the power of a Tier-5 AI?
That computational capacity was insane.
“Aether has activated real-time citywide monitoring. Traffic-control measures will now be adjusted automatically according to population flow throughout the city.”
“According to calculations, all adjustments will be completed within two hours at the latest.”
Aether was extremely capable, but its strength lay in computation.
And even computation couldn’t solve everything.
“Regarding the excessive population and the severe shortage of oxygen within the Safe City, Aether cannot resolve the issue through population control alone. No matter how population flow is adjusted, it cannot change the fact that 360 million people currently live inside the city.”
“Based on the Safe City’s current number of ventilation systems and air purification ducts, calculations indicate that residents will begin experiencing severe dizziness and discomfort around day 14. By day 17, widespread loss of consciousness will occur. By day 20, oxygen levels will fall below the threshold required for survival, resulting in mass casualties.”
This really was a serious problem.
At present, the only apparent solution was to relocate part of the population outside the city.
But moving ordinary residents outside would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.
Because when it was time to leave this world, they would have to move everyone back in again.
They might be able to relocate people in this world—but what if the next world didn’t allow residents to leave the Safe City?
Cheng Qisheng didn’t bother wasting time thinking it through herself and simply asked Aether:
“Do you have a permanent solution?”
Aether replied, “According to calculations, the optimal solution is to expel at least 200 million residents. Once the population is reduced, the problem will be resolved.”
Cheng Qisheng: “?”
Aether detected her frown and became confused.
It believed its solution was perfect.
Why was the City Lord dissatisfied?
“City Lord, are you dissatisfied with Aether’s proposal?”
Cheng Qisheng said, “Isn’t Safe City supposed to ensure the survival of civilization? How did you calculate a solution that involves throwing residents out?”
Aether saw no contradiction at all.
“Yes. That is precisely why Aether proposed this plan. By expelling 200 million residents, you will still retain 160 million. This provides a permanent solution while allowing your civilization to continue surviving.”
The logic… wasn’t exactly wrong.
But Cheng Qisheng decided to hear the other options.
“That’s your optimal plan. What’s the second-best option?”
“Spend 10,000 nuclear crystals to purchase an Air Tower from the store. One Air Tower can support up to 500 million humans and has a service life of 50 years.”
Cheng Qisheng was quite interested in the Air Tower, so she asked:
“Will the Air Tower deteriorate over time? Does it require maintenance? What kind of energy does it use?”
“It requires none of those. Once constructed, the Air Tower will automatically purify the environment within the Safe City. It requires no external energy. After 50 years, it will collapse on its own. However, during those 50 years, you may spend nuclear crystals to extend its service life or upgrade it to a higher level.”
Cheng Qisheng understood.
So basically, it came with a 50-year subscription plan.
You could even pay extra to upgrade like some kind of VIP membership.
She was already leaning toward choosing the Air Tower anyway.
Who knew what kind of worlds they might encounter in the future?
What had happened to the interstellar civilization, Old Seventh—encountering that deadly airborne virus—had genuinely left a psychological shadow over her.
Having the Safe City generate its own air was the safest option.
Ten thousand nuclear crystals was a huge amount, but at Blue Sea’s current rate of progress, it wasn’t impossible to obtain.
“Alright. We’ll tentatively go with that. For now, while we’re in this world, relocate some of the residents outside the city until we can purchase the Air Tower. Move on to the next issue.”
“Understood, City Lord.”
“Aether has designed the most suitable building plans for the current residents of the Safe City. However, building materials are severely insufficient. Would you like Aether to downgrade the designs?”
“Not enough building materials…”
Cheng Qisheng glanced at the chat group.
“Would wood work?”
Aether replied, “Yes. The priority right now is ensuring that residents have their own personal space. According to Aether’s calculations, wooden partitions would be sufficient to achieve this.”
“Alright, got it.”
Aether then proactively suggested, “Timber in the store is expensive. The City Lord may purchase wood from other City Lords. Additionally, Aether recommends purchasing information related to Safe City from other City Lords. Doing so can greatly improve survival rates.”
Cheng Qisheng smiled.
“Didn’t you say civilizations need to find their own path?”
Aether’s tone remained unchanged.
“Yes. Purchasing information from other City Lords is also a way of finding your own path.”
Cheng Qisheng: It’s obvious Aether is really afraid of ‘dying.’
Since it couldn’t say things outright, it took the long way around and hinted at how she should obtain information instead.
But that was a good thing.
Aether feared “death,” and so did she.
When a person who feared death teamed up with an AI that feared death, at least they shared one common goal: keeping Safe City alive—and staying alive themselves.
“No need to worry about information. It’ll come knocking on our door for free.”
The jellyfish swayed its head.
“Aether does not understand.”
Cheng Qisheng glanced at the group chat.
“You’ll understand soon enough.”
She first renamed the Safe City to Blue Sea Safe City, then accepted the one ton of hardwood sent by Coriander Safe City.
The hardwood was delivered to the location she designated.
One ton became 950 kilograms.
Looks like teleportation really does charge a fee.
A 5% handling charge—acceptable.
Using her privileges as a Tier-2 City Lord, Cheng Qisheng then spent 10 nuclear crystals to open a private chat channel with Coriander Safe City.
Then she sent a message.
Hmm… how had she used to chat with people before she got sick?
[Thanks for the wood, I saw that you’re looking to buy food. My residents gathered some food in this world—you can use it to get through the emergency =v=]
—Blue Sea Safe City has sent 3 tons of rice to Coriander Safe City—
Coriander Safe City replied almost instantly:
[Ahhh thank you, thank you!! Oh my god! Big boss, you’ve already reached Tier 2 so fast! I bow in admiration!!]
[Thank you, thank you! I’m so grateful! This is truly help in our time of need! My residents were so hungry they were about to turn on me! Wuwuwu, really, really, thank you so much!!]
[I really don’t have anything good to repay you with, I can only send you some wood. Kowtowing to the boss, sob sob sob!!]
—Coriander Safe City has sent 100 tons of hardwood to Blue Sea Safe City—
After sending the wood, the City Lord of Coriander Safe City, Wen Huahua, finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Although, theoretically, 3 tons of rice was only enough to feed 10,000 people for about a day and a half, if he rationed it carefully, it could still last three or four days—maybe even five or six.
Wen Huahua had never expected that the person who would ultimately help him with food would be this newcomer who had never spoken before.
This newbie was fierce.
It had only been a day and a night, right?
And she had already upgraded directly to Tier 2.
And in such a dangerous world, her residents had somehow managed to gather food.
Could her Safe City have happened to descend near some kind of grain warehouse?
But that didn’t make sense either.
Upgrading required nuclear crystals, and in this world, nuclear crystals came from zombie brains.
Wen Huahua did the math.
Upgrading from Tier 1 to Tier 2 required 3,000 nuclear crystals.
That meant Blue Sea Safe City must have killed at least 12,000 zombies within 24 hours.
Day and night—
More than 12,000 kills!
So the reason this big boss had never spoken…
Was because she had been killing zombies nonstop?!
Oh my god!!
What kind of terrifying powerhouse was this?!
I have to cling to this leg!
At that moment, Wen Huahua felt incredibly fortunate that he had sent wood to Blue Sea earlier.
At first, he had only been casting a wide net.
His main goal had been to establish an image among the other City Lords as someone easygoing and generous, so that when he eventually asked for help, people would be more willing to respond.
And now, he had received 3 tons of rice.
After deducting the handling fee, that still left 2,850 kilograms!
In theory, 100 tons of hardwood was worth more than 3 tons of rice.
But this was Safe City.
Wen Huahua wanted to show that he repaid kindness, while also seizing this newcomer as a lifeline.
He stared nervously at the screen.
As long as the other party accepted this shipment of wood, it would prove that Blue Sea Safe City needed timber.
Even if the demand was small—
A need was still a need!
Blue Sea was a newcomer and didn’t yet understand how important food was.
That was his opportunity.
If that was the case, then there was room to negotiate.
Wen Huahua was 80% confident that he could grow closer to her, then use wood—his only available resource—to trade for more food.
But to his disappointment, Blue Sea Safe City refused the shipment.
[Blue Sea Safe City: No need, I just wanted to thank you. This isn’t a trade =v=]
Blue Sea Safe City doesn’t need wood?