Chapter 5.1: Coincidentally, she had also set her sights on him
The Blue Sea Civilization can now be described in three words: orderly, yet chaotic.
In battle, everyone charges forward bravely.
In construction, everyone works like tireless oxen, doing whatever is assigned without complaint.
But aside from these two things, everything else is in complete disorder.
The Safe City is far too crowded.
People are packed shoulder to shoulder. Just lining up to receive food takes a very long time. With so many people crammed into a single city, the air is stuffy and oppressive, leaving people dizzy and with headaches. The lack of living space only makes tempers worse.
Every day, when people go downstairs, the stairways are jammed. When food is distributed, the lines are jammed. Even going to the bathroom means dealing with crowds.
Most Blue Sea citizens spend their days doing nothing but being stuck in congestion.
By nature, they have strong combat instincts and prefer open environments. Forcing them into such cramped, noisy, and crowded conditions is like locking wild beasts in cages—their agitation is impossible to suppress.
It’s no exaggeration to say that anywhere you go in the Safe City, if you walk for just two minutes, you’re bound to see someone fighting.
The reasons for these fights aren’t even serious—often it’s just “What are you looking at?” “What’s it to you?”
In just 24 hours, the air is already filled with all kinds of foul smells and the stench of urine.
There’s no helping it—the toilets are insufficient.
At the time, the only concern was making sure everyone had somewhere to survive. Moving the entire world in nine days and nights was already a miracle—there was no time to worry about details like toilets.
The government has no choice but to resort to forceful suppression.
To put it bluntly, when people get into fights, there isn’t even anywhere to detain them.
All government personnel are already overwhelmed. Like the President herself, the moment they open their eyes, they’re working. Everyone’s throat is sore and hoarse, yet they still have to keep shouting.
There are simply too many people—if they don’t shout loudly, no one can hear them.
During the relocation, only essential supplies were moved. Items like loudspeakers were barely brought over, and there aren’t enough for everyone. So people have no choice but to keep shouting at the top of their lungs.
The technology still exists—but where is 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 so moved they cried as well.
However, just because the land area increased doesn’t mean all problems are suddenly solved.
Even with an area of 1,600 square kilometers, accommodating so many buildings and 360 million people is still extremely crowded.
Under the current circumstances, the Blue Sea Civilization will need at least half a year, if not longer, for society to run smoothly again.
The top levels of government remain optimistic about this. After all, no one’s going to die anytime soon.
Once they secure territory in the God-Forsaken Land, they can just relocate the population there to live.
Then the great Creator God delivered a divine oracle: the God-Forsaken Land will also perish, and the Blue Sea Civilization must live in the temple indefinitely.
Blue Sea Civilization: “…”
They felt 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 out, build a new home, and once we deal with the zombies, we’ll be worry-free?”
Yes, the outside world is vast, and the temple is crowded.
But since the great Creator God has said that His people must live in the temple, then all Blue Sea citizens will obey.
So what if it’s crowded? No matter how cramped it is, can it be worse than being in the womb before birth?
If unborn babies can endure such a small space, then so can they!
Sometimes, Cheng Qisheng even admires Lao Ba’s way of thinking—but they may be able to endure it, she cannot.
If this continues, efficiency will be far too low.
Compared to other city lords, her advantages are obvious:
— A large population, with plenty of combat personnel, and they are obedient.
But her disadvantages are just as clear:
— A large population, which means a massive demand for food.
Once food becomes insufficient, that advantage will quickly turn into a disadvantage.
You can tell from Coriander running around begging for food that not every disaster world has local supplies that can be scavenged.
The Safe City isn’t large enough—even if farming zones are developed, it still wouldn’t be able to support 360 million people.
She must take advantage of this world, where food can still be gathered, to stockpile as much grain as possible and obtain more resources.
At least for now, however, the Safe City isn’t short on food—in fact, it’s quite abundant.
What’s needed is to reorganize the population.
Aether quickly provided a solution:
“Aether will arrange for mobile phones to be distributed, recording the facial features and iris data of every resident, and assigning each person a unique ID number.”
“Aether has already planned all routes within the Safe City. Starting today, residents will follow dynamically assigned routes based on their ID numbers, allowing for citywide one-way flow.”
“The dynamic routing map for residents has been deployed. Please review it, City Lord.”
Cheng Qisheng looked at the route map on the virtual screen.
Good lord—so densely packed, it looked like the network of blood vessels 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.
Is this the power of a fifth-tier AI? The computational capacity is insane.
“Aether has activated real-time citywide monitoring. Based on population flow across the city, traffic control measures will be adjusted automatically.”
“According to calculations, these adjustments will be completed within two hours at the latest.”
Aether was highly professional—but its strength lay in computation, and even then, some problems couldn’t be solved.
“Regarding the excessive population and the severe shortage of oxygen supply within the Safe City, Aether cannot resolve this issue through population control. No matter how the flow is adjusted, it cannot change the fact that the city contains 360 million people.”
“Based on the current number of ventilation systems and air purification ducts in the Safe City, calculations show that residents will begin to experience severe dizziness and discomfort around day 14. By day 17, there will be widespread conditions of unconsciousness, and by day 20, oxygen levels will fall below the survival threshold, leading to mass casualties.”
This was indeed a serious problem.
At present, the only apparent solution was to relocate some of the residents outside the city. However, moving out ordinary residents would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause—because when it’s time to leave this world, they would have to move back anyway.
They might be able to relocate people in this world—but what if the next world doesn’t allow residents to move out?
Cheng Qisheng didn’t bother overthinking it herself and directly asked Aether:
“Do you have a permanent solution?”
Aether replied, “According to calculations, the optimal solution is to expel at least 200 million residents. With the population reduced, the problem will be resolved.”
Cheng Qisheng: “?”
Aether detected her frown and was confused.
It believed its solution was perfect—why would the City Lord be dissatisfied?
“City Lord, are you not satisfied with Aether’s proposal?”
Cheng Qisheng said, “Isn’t the Safe City meant to ensure the survival of civilization? How did you calculate a solution that involves driving residents out?”
Aether didn’t see any contradiction:
“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, and your civilization will continue to survive.”
The logic… wasn’t exactly wrong.
But Cheng Qisheng decided to hear other options:
“That’s your optimal plan—what’s the second-best option?”
“Use 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 this Air Tower, so she asked:
“Will the Air Tower deteriorate on its own? Does it require maintenance? What kind of energy does it need to operate?”
“It doesn’t need any of that. Once constructed, the Air Tower will automatically purify the environment within the Safe City. It requires no energy. After 50 years, it will collapse on its own—but during those 50 years, you can spend nuclear crystals to extend its service life or upgrade it to a higher level.”
Cheng Qisheng understood.
So it’s basically a 50-year renewal plan—you can even pay to upgrade like a VIP.
She was already leaning toward choosing the Air Tower anyway. Who knows what kind of worlds they might encounter in the future?
What happened to the interstellar civilization, Old Seventh—encountering that deadly airborne virus—had really left a psychological shadow on her.
Having the Safe City produce its own air was the safest option.
Ten thousand nuclear crystals was a lot, but with Blue Sea’s current rate of progress, it wasn’t unattainable.
“Alright, we’ll tentatively go with that. For now, in this world, relocate some residents outside the city until we can purchase the Air Tower. Go 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 key right now is to ensure that residents have their own personal space. According to Aether’s calculations, wooden partitions can achieve this goal.”
“Alright, got it.”
Aether then made a proactive suggestion: “Timber in the store is expensive. The City Lord may purchase wood from other city lords. Additionally, Aether recommends purchasing Safe City-related information from other city lords, which 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 can’t say things directly, it goes the long way around to hint at how she should obtain information.
But that’s a good thing.
Aether feared “death,” and so did she. When a person who fears death teams up with an AI that fears death, at least they share a common goal: keeping the 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 her designated location—one ton became 950 kilograms.
Looks like teleportation really does take a fee. A 5% handling charge—acceptable.
Using her privileges as a second-tier city lord, Cheng Qisheng then spent 10 nuclear crystals to open a private chat channel with Coriander’s Safe City.
Then, she sent a message.
Hmm… how did 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 have 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, let out a long sigh of relief.
Although, in theory, 3 tons of rice is only enough to feed 10,000 people for about a day and a half, if distributed in small portions, it could still last three, four, maybe even five or six days.
Wen Huahua hadn’t expected that the one who would ultimately step in to help him with food would be this newcomer who had never spoken before.
This newbie is fierce. It’s only been a day and a night, right? And she already upgraded directly.
And in such a dangerous world, her residents were actually able to gather food.
Could it be that her Safe City just happened to land near some kind of grain warehouse?
But that didn’t quite add up either—upgrading requires nuclear crystals, and in this world, those come from zombie brains.
Wen Huahua did the math. To go from Tier 1 to Tier 2 requires 3,000 nuclear crystals. That means Blue Sea Safe City must have killed at least 12,000 zombies within 24 hours.
Day and night—over 12,000 kills!
So the reason this big boss never spoke… was because she’s been nonstop killing zombies?
Oh my god!!
What kind of super powerhouse is this?!
I have to cling to this leg!
At this moment, Wen Huahua felt incredibly lucky that he had previously sent wood to Blue Sea.
At first, he had only intended to cast a wide net. His main goal was to build an image in front of the other city lords as someone easy to talk to and generous—so that when he asked for help, people would be more likely to respond.
And now, he had received 3 tons of rice.
After deducting the handling fee, that still left him with 2,850 kilograms!
Theoretically, 100 tons of hardwood is worth more than 3 tons of rice.
But this is the Safe City.
Wen Huahua wanted to show that he repays kindness and to seize this newcomer as a lifeline.
He stared nervously at the screen. As long as the other party accepted this batch of wood, it would mean Blue Sea Safe City needed wood.
Even if the demand was small—it was still a need!
Blue Sea is a newcomer and doesn’t understand the importance of food—this is his opportunity.
If so, then there’s room to negotiate. He was 80% confident he could grow closer to her and then use wood—his only resource—to exchange for more food from her.
But to his disappointment, Blue Sea Safe City refused to accept 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?
