Chapter 236 - 137: Construction and Daily Life

Chapter 236: Chapter 137: Construction and Daily Life

’This thick and strong? Just to hold back zombies?’ Xu Mo was highly skeptical.

Leaving that section of the wall, Xu Mo ambled along the area inside the ramparts that had undergone preliminary clearing. This place might have once been farmland, wilderness, or scattered ruins, but it had now been leveled on a massive scale. Closer to the Inner City was a residential construction site, bustling with activity.

Unlike the gradual renovations replacing structures in the Inner City, the construction here was more like a blueprint on a blank slate rapidly becoming reality. Next to vast swaths of simple workers’ sheds, multi-story residential buildings were already springing up, revealing their gray concrete skeletons. The buildings looked boxy and utterly devoid of aesthetic appeal, but their structure was very clear. With uniform floor plans and compact layouts, they were obviously the product of standardized design.

Xu Mo walked over to a few buildings that were nearing completion and observed them closely. The distance between the buildings was much wider than in pre-apocalypse residential complexes, clearly to ensure necessary sunlight and ventilation, as well as to facilitate evacuation and defensive deployment in an emergency. The load-bearing columns and wall thickness also significantly exceeded the standards for typical residential buildings. The window openings were smaller, and they were designed with structures in place for installing reinforced grilles or defensive panels.

’It’s not for comfort, but for survival and defense.’ Xu Mo understood the logic. These future "Second Ring" residential buildings had been designed from the outset with the harshness of the apocalyptic environment in mind. They weren’t just shelters; they were small fortress-nodes that formed the city’s defense system. The sturdy walls could withstand stray bullets and small-scale impacts. The rational layout facilitated management and resource distribution. The wide spacing reduced the risk of fire and epidemics spreading, while also providing clear fields of fire for ground defense.

It was undoubtedly an extremely pragmatic, even somewhat cold, architectural philosophy. But it was effective.

In a post-apocalyptic world with limited resources and surrounded by powerful enemies, simply being able to provide a relatively safe, standardized living space that could accommodate a large population was an incredible achievement in itself.

Xu Mo also noticed that, besides the large number of ordinary residents and survivors performing manual labor, there were many technicians in uniform and hard hats on-site, directing and taking measurements. Although there wasn’t much heavy machinery, the key stages of lifting, mixing, and transportation were all covered. The entire construction process, though noisy and chaotic, was subtly orderly, revealing a powerful organizational capacity and the support of a gradually recovering industrial base.

Watching the busy figures on the scaffolding and the simple yet sturdy "fortresses" springing up all around, Xu Mo felt a complex mix of emotions.

On one hand, he was shocked, even awed, by the tenacious vitality, powerful mobilization capabilities, and clear logic for survival that Jiang City was demonstrating.

This wasn’t merely eking out a meager existence. This was rewriting the prologue of human civilization upon the ruins, with steel and cement as the pen. Satellites in the sky, giant walls standing tall, skyscrapers rising one after another—every step was heavy but firm.

On the other hand, Xu Mo was also keenly aware of the immense demand for resources, the internal administrative pressure, and... the potential attention, covetousness, and even hostility from the wider outside world that could follow such rapid expansion and construction.

Jiang City was like a bonfire lit in the dark forest, growing ever brighter. It could provide warmth and light, but it would also attract all the eyes lurking in the darkness.

The sun set in the west, stretching the shadows of the city wall and the new buildings long. Temporary lights flickered on at the construction site as the night shift workers began to take over. The clamor of construction did not cease.

Xu Mo turned and started on the path back to his residence. Behind him was the massive, developing silhouette being gradually swallowed by the twilight; ahead were the relatively warm lights of the Inner City.

He recalled something he’d said while chatting with Zhang Yun: "More and more bad things have been showing up."

Thinking back on it now, Xu Mo felt that perhaps it wasn’t that more things were appearing, but rather that when your fire burns bright enough, everything that was originally hidden in the depths of the darkness begins to stir.

Jiang City was desperately building walls, desperately expanding, desperately making itself brighter. But were these walls meant to keep the danger out, or to provide a firm enough foothold when a greater storm arrived?

Xu Mo didn’t know the answer.

By the time he returned to his small courtyard, the night was deep. He frowned and stared at the moonlit, sparsely-starred sky for a long while before heading back to his room to rest.

...

The daily patrols in District F-6 gradually solidified into a routine. Aside from the silent standoff with the shadow in the middle of the river, life seemed to proceed in an orderly fashion.

While waiting at the assembly point to be assigned or to return equipment, Xu Mo and Zhang Yun would occasionally exchange a few words with other squads that had completed their patrol missions. The content was nothing more than asking about the situation in each other’s sectors, chatting about the weather, and complaining about the tediousness of the mission or the meager Contribution Points.

Most people’s answers were surprisingly consistent: "It’s fine, nothing special." "Same as always. Did a lap, didn’t run into anything." "Nothing but the heat."

"Heat" became the most frequently mentioned word. Almost everyone mentioned that the water they brought on patrol was never enough to drink. The intense summer heat seemed to suck all the moisture out of their bodies, making even breathing feel like it was scorching them.

Someone lifted their sweat-soaked shirt to fan themselves, revealing a sunburnt chest. More people were constantly raising their canteens, taking small but frequent sips.

Listening to these complaints and looking at the people before him, drenched in sweat and tormented by the midsummer heat, something suddenly stirred in Xu Mo’s mind.