No one was willing to easily provoke Su Wu, who possessed such immense industrial production capabilities.
Moreover, they were quite envious of the electronic products in Su Wu's hands.
Products like mobile phones, which require high standards for production equipment and raw materials, are industrial products that are difficult to produce in-house.
Now, half a year into the apocalypse, their scarcity had gradually become apparent.
Numerous shelters wanted to purchase some from Su Wu to replenish their supplies.
Taking advantage of this friendly atmosphere, Su Wu even successfully reached accommodation agreements with several regional powers.
He offered some newly produced mobile phones and other precision components as compensation.
In exchange, those regions would temporarily accept refugees entering their territory on behalf of Su Wu.
Once Su Wu had the capacity to transport them, he would send a fleet to bring those refugees back.
"Although it cost some resources, the industrial products paid as compensation are not too high in cost themselves."
"Using them to expedite the accommodation of refugees is still acceptable."
Su Wu was quite open-minded about this win-win agreement and did not feel it was a loss.
However, this alone was still not enough for security.
Merely having interests was insufficient.
For some people, only absolute military power could truly deter them.
Considering this, Su Wu naturally thought of the last battle that erupted near Shelter No. 4 with the Snow Wind Mercenary Group.
Given the brutality of that battle, along with the various top-tier military equipment displayed during the conflict, such as Power Armor and Electromagnetic Cannons (Railguns), and ultimately the nuclear bomb, it was surely the best demonstration of military might.
"The reconnaissance drones recorded the entire engagement."
"Just a little editing."
"I'll treat it as a documentary and have it aired on television a few times."
With Su Wu and the local forces in the southeastern region reaching a basic agreement, the process of the fleet accepting refugees became simpler and faster.
Basically, they could make five to six round trips daily between Jianghe City and other locations.
As a result, over the next half month, they gradually transferred more than 4 million refugees.
This doubled the total population of Jianghe City, bringing it closer to the threshold of ten million.
During this period, due to Su Wu's plan to prioritize the accommodation of refugees and focus on increasing the population scale, the local development of Jianghe City slowed significantly.
Most efforts revolved around accommodating the newly added millions of people, increasing housing and activity areas, and basic food production.
The Fast-Growing Plantation, which had been paused by Su Wu, was once again extensively deployed in all shelters except for the farmers' courtyards.
The massive influx of population and the expansion of plantations also brought about a much greater demand for electricity.
If it weren't for the small nuclear power station designed by Su Wu, which had been successfully built and put into operation over the past half month, relying solely on the professional thermal power station owned by the farmers' courtyards and Shelter No. 1, along with the generators of other shelters, would have been completely insufficient to meet the surging electricity demand.
On November 9th, the surface temperature, which had been hovering between 1 to 4 degrees, officially slid to zero degrees.
As the first mixture of ice and water fell from the clouds, it splashed a faint droplet on the water's surface.
The long rain night thus came to an end.
In the sky, the incessant heavy rain began to gradually cease.
Some thick dark clouds dispersed, revealing a faint grayish-white light.
"The water level is starting to drop."
Su Wu looked at the vast urban ruins of Jianghe City, gradually revealing themselves bit by bit from the flood, feeling a complex mix of emotions.
Perhaps to ordinary people, this situation was a good thing.
With the heavy rain and floods gone, they could confidently step out of the shelters, and even if the outside temperature was slightly lower, it wouldn't affect their activities.
But Su Wu, who had learned the inside story from the official shelters, could not be as optimistic as they were.
With the temperature reaching zero, the future temperatures would only continue to drop infinitely.
No one could be certain where it would eventually stop.
Perhaps it would be minus 100 degrees, or perhaps close to absolute zero.
But at the very least, it would definitely not just halt at the levels of the poles before the apocalypse.
"If it really reaches the kind of environment we speculate, the atmosphere will probably no longer exist."
"I just wonder what the sun will be like at that time."
Facing the deliberately concealed insider information from the federation, Su Wu had countless questions in his heart.
But unfortunately, no one could answer them.
All he could do was prepare in advance according to these messages, aiming for the worst-case scenario.
He opened the map.
The light representing the Garden fleet was currently flickering 400 kilometers away from Jianghe City, receiving refugees temporarily sheltered there.
After days of effort, the number of refugees in the southeastern direction, near the fleet's route, had significantly decreased.
Each trip of the fleet often required visiting multiple locations, taking nearly half a day to barely fill the space.
Nevertheless, it was roughly estimated that the number of refugees still not accommodated along the way might still exceed a million.
"I can't worry about them for now."
"I can only hope for the best."
With a gentle sigh, Su Wu's gaze calmed down as he issued the final command to both the Garden fleet and Fleet No. 2.
Distribute the excess supplies on the ships to the refugees who didn't make it on board in time.
Then, all ships would return.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this would be their last appearance outside Jianghe City.
As the temperature continued to drop in the future, their fate would be to be dismantled into raw materials and remade.
That night, the channel of what was renamed Jianghe City Television announced to an audience that had reached tens of millions that this round of refugee rescue operations had officially concluded.
"This rescue operation started from Tumen City and extended to the mouth of the Kuanjiang River."
"A total of 5.02 million refugees have been accommodated."
"The standard dormitories being built for the last batch of refugees have been completely finished."
"The corresponding Fast-Growing Plantations will also be completed in the next three to five days."
"At that time, it will ensure the basic food supply for all refugees."
"Jianghe City will continue to accept refugees from other areas."
"However, due to the freezing of waterways, the fleet cannot operate normally."
"In the short term, the scale of rescue is expected to be quite limited."
"Therefore, the Jianghe City authorities will initiate a new round of subsidy plans."
"Subsidies will be provided to all eligible local shelters south of Tumen City."
"To encourage these regional shelters to temporarily accommodate refugees—"
(End of Chapter)