Safe City Ch.88

Chapter 88: Upgrade

Cheng Qisheng watched with great interest as Blue Sea finalized its guild system.

Under normal circumstances, introducing an entirely new system of regulations into Blue Sea required numerous government officials to spend quite some time working through the details.

The guild system, however, hadn’t kept the government particularly busy.

That was because it had been copied almost wholesale from the most popular combat game in Blue Sea before the Dark Star apocalypse.

At first, Cheng Qisheng had wondered whether that was a little too frivolous.

But then she remembered it was something Old Eighth had come up with.

Somehow, that made it seem perfectly unsurprising.

Even so, the relevant government departments still carefully reviewed every aspect of the guild rules. They compiled a detailed report outlining the advantages and disadvantages of introducing the guild system, held more than a dozen rounds of meetings, and repeatedly revised the regulations before arriving at the version Cheng Qisheng was now reading.

As Blue Sea’s great Creator God, she naturally possessed the highest level of authority. With a single command, Aether projected before her the complete record of every meeting leading up to the government’s decision to implement the guild system.

After reading through it, she concluded that the government’s decision had indeed been the right one.

To a certain extent, introducing the guild system did weaken the government’s own authority.

The government was granting large guilds limited law enforcement powers, the right to maintain armed forces, and authority over leasing and trading land.

Previously, all resources acquired by Blue Sea had been centralized under government management. Once guilds were established, however, many of them would inevitably retain resources for their own growth and development instead of turning everything over to the government.

Given enough time, a sufficiently powerful guild might even come to resemble a small nation.

But that was only from the perspective of the Blue Sea government.

Viewed from the perspective of the Blue Sea Civilization as a whole, the guild model was exceptionally well suited to the current apocalyptic environment.

And so, the leaders of Blue Sea had naturally chosen the path that would make the entire civilization stronger.

A Blue Sea Safe City was essentially the equivalent of a nation’s territory.

In peacetime, the government stationed the regular military to defend the territory, oversee infrastructure development, and ensure the normal functioning of Blue Sea society. When wars between Safe Cities broke out, the military would be deployed.

Whenever residents needed to venture out to gather resources, however, guilds could organize their own expedition teams. Since guilds were also categorized by profession—currently, at this early stage, only Adventurer Guilds existed—they would become far more flexible than the government’s top-down chain of command as the system matured. As a result, both the speed of exploring apocalyptic worlds and the efficiency of resource collection would increase dramatically.

The government would levy taxes on guilds while granting them greater authority, opening access to more armories and resource depots. In the future, it also planned to issue some large-scale missions directly as guild commissions.

That was the government’s perspective.

From the viewpoint of ordinary Blue Sea residents, though…

It was simply awesome.

There was a reason combat and adventure games had remained popular in Blue Sea for so many years.

Blue Sea people absolutely loved that kind of thing.

Now that the game had become reality, they could not only explore unknown worlds but also join guilds. Psychologically, this would inspire residents with an even greater passion for exploration. While traveling the wastelands, they would feel a sense of purpose, making the hardships they faced seem easier to endure.

That point had actually been written into the meeting minutes in all seriousness.

After giving it some thought, Cheng Qisheng felt it made perfect sense.

At the very least, the excitement among Blue Sea’s residents was obvious.

Moreover, most people capable of founding guilds already possessed large amounts of points. Aside from buying houses, vehicles, and weapons, they had very few ways to spend them.

But once they established guilds, they would naturally start buying all kinds of equipment and supplies in order to make their organizations bigger and stronger.

Meanwhile, ordinary Blue Sea residents with fewer savings would also be able to enjoy the benefits and welfare provided by the guilds after joining them.

Take this ocean expedition, for example.

Many residents were already carrying loans. The government couldn’t simply pile on another “ship loan,” or the entire economic system would be at risk of collapsing.

But if those same residents joined a guild, and the guild purchased a large vessel instead, wouldn’t the problem solve itself?

The points held by these “wealthy” individuals would flow back into Blue Sea’s economy. Many residents would also be able to travel safely aboard well-equipped ships. By organizing themselves into guilds, people could look after one another, allowing the government to worry less about casualties during expeditions.

And once the guilds became established, the lives of large numbers of guild members would improve as well.

Wouldn’t that ultimately make Blue Sea as a whole better off?

Reading through all this, Cheng Qisheng almost felt like joining a guild and going on an adventure herself.

The thought vanished as quickly as it came.

Forget it. Watching her followers go on adventures was enough.

Cheng Qisheng still had standards when it came to quality of life. She couldn’t be like Old Eighth, who regarded being battered by the wind and sun as “getting close to nature,” life-threatening battles as “relaxing,” and struggling to find food in the wilderness as “survival camping.”

Recently, after the scorching heat had finally ended, Blue Star had been hit by torrential rains.

Even carrying an umbrella barely helped. The streets were flooded everywhere.

Cheng Qisheng used to take the occasional walk downstairs, “picking up” little creatures to bring back with her. Ever since the relentless downpours began, however, she hadn’t stepped outside even once.

The good news was that the rain wasn’t acidic.

For the moment, while it seriously disrupted daily life, it still fell within what was considered the Dormant Phase of the apocalypse.

Cheng Qisheng went to the planting area, picked a few vegetables, searched around for some mushrooms, then randomly selected one unlucky chicken.

Today’s menu would be chicken stewed with mushrooms.

Leaving the planting area, she walked into the kitchen and pulled back the curtains.

Watching the rain pour down in sheets outside, she couldn’t shake the growing sense of unease. Even knowing that Blue Star’s apocalypse was still in its dormant phase, the feeling of impending danger kept intensifying.

A planting area of only 1,100 square meters was still too small.

When the Safe City advanced to its next tier, she’d use the additional space granted for the City Lord’s Mansion to expand the planting area instead.

…

Cheng Anjing held Sylvia’s hand as the two proudly boarded the Little Blue Sea.

Originally, she had been supposed to stay at school with the other children while the adults went out exploring.

But—

She had received the blessing of their God and become an ability user.

A Mind Domain ability!

What an amazing power.

It was precisely because of this ability that Cheng Anjing had been granted a special exception, allowing her to accompany her older sister on the expedition.

Moreover, since her supernatural ability had already been made public to all official Blue Sea residents—and because a Mind Domain ability was exceptionally valuable for exploration—every major guild had fought fiercely to recruit her. The offers they made became increasingly generous, and in the end, Cheng Anjing chose the Little Blue Sea, whose ship looked more luxurious and boasted the greatest number of cannons on its deck.

According to Blue Sea’s newly enacted regulations, any underage ability user leaving the Temple had to be accompanied by an adult guardian.

As a result, Cheng Anjing’s older sister, Cheng Huopo, and Sylvia’s older brother, Liam, were allowed to come aboard as well, attached to the well-funded Little Blue Sea, which had multiple cabins to spare.

Liam was immensely grateful.

He carefully checked all of his equipment and practically floated as he walked, his steps so light they seemed weightless.

Cheng Huopo, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be aboard the Little Blue Sea. Quite the contrary—she was thrilled to be sailing on such a magnificent ship.

She loved her little sister.

But having to look after her all the time…

That was exhausting.

The only way Cheng Huopo could console herself was by remembering that ever since Cheng Anjing had become friends with Sylvia—and their bond had been officially confirmed through their God’s divine oracle—most of her sister’s attention had shifted to Sylvia instead.

And for some reason, Sylvia absolutely adored Cheng Anjing.

Even when Cheng Anjing rattled off an endless stream of words at machine-gun speed, Sylvia would listen attentively, enthusiastically responding to every single sentence.

Perhaps because Cheng Anjing had finally found a friend who was always willing to play with her, Cheng Huopo no longer heard the faint rustling sounds of her little sister hanging ropes from the ceiling and swinging around her room at night.

Cheng Anjing had loved talking ever since she was little.

Even back when she was just a baby who couldn’t speak, she cried more often—and much louder—than most infants.

Her name, however, wasn’t given because she had always been so talkative.

According to their parents, when they had their first child—her older sister—they had still been very young. Their image of children was based entirely on their own wonderful childhood memories.

Every Blue Sea resident remembered childhood fondly. They had been so small and light that whether at home or outdoors, almost any tree could become a playground.

What Cheng Anjing’s parents had failed to consider was that while they remembered their own childhoods fondly…

Their parents probably remembered things very differently.

So, when their first daughter was born, they gave her a name that reflected all their hopes for their child:

Cheng Huopo—except, originally, her name had been Cheng Huopo (活泼), with huópo meaning “lively” or “energetic.”

And she lived up to it perfectly.

The moment she learned to crawl, she unleashed such boundless energy that her exhausted parents changed her name overnight, replacing the character 活 (“lively”) with the similarly pronounced 火 (“fire”), giving her the name Cheng Huopo (火魄) instead.

By the time Cheng Anjing was born, they had learned their lesson.

So they named their younger daughter Anjing—

“Quiet.”

Reality proved that Cheng Huopo’s excessive liveliness had simply been a natural Blue Sea child’s talent.

It had absolutely nothing to do with her name.

As for the girl named “Quiet”…

Cheng Anjing turned out to be even livelier than her sister.

Walking behind them, Cheng Huopo watched the two little girls chatter away nonstop, one talking, the other eagerly responding, while they dashed around the ship together.

Beside her, Liam looked at them with an expression overflowing with affection and happiness.

When he noticed Cheng Huopo looking his way, he beamed and said cheerfully,

“Ever since Sylvia met Anjing, she’s become so much healthier than before.”

Cheng Huopo looked at the two children, who had somehow climbed onto one of the flags lining the walkway.

“…Healthier? Well… I suppose that’s true.”

Liam’s smile only grew brighter.

On Dazzling Star, children had to grow up being careful at every turn.

In a way, having a child like Cheng Anjing—one who loved to run, jump, and make a racket—was itself proof of the sense of security Blue Sea provided.

Just look at Sylvia.

She hadn’t known Anjing for very long, and she’d already learned how to climb poles.

Carrying two water bottles, Liam hurried over as the girls climbed back down.

“You must be tired from playing. Here, have some water. Wipe off your sweat… Hmm? Anjing, your clothes are torn? That’s okay. Come sit here for a second and wait for me… There! All stitched up. Off you go—have fun!”

Cheng Huopo watched Liam bustle around after the two girls.

As he looked after Sylvia, he naturally took care of her little sister as well, and he even seemed genuinely happy doing it.

At first, Cheng Huopo was surprised.

Then her face lit up.

Hahahahahaha!

That’s right!

Liam likes looking after kids, and Anjing likes being looked after by him. So why on earth have I been worrying about this?!

Cheng Huopo immediately decided that, while they could still connect to the Central AI’s network, she would submit a suggestion on Blue Sea’s intranet proposing that the Dazzling Star people become teachers.

…

“Wonderful! We’ve finally gotten a huge influx of logistics personnel!”

Inside the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the director looked at the densely packed list of newly recruited support staff, smiling so broadly that flowers might as well have bloomed on his face.

“Excellent! So many Dazzling Star residents have signed up to become teachers. Good, good! As soon as they pass the combat capability assessment, we’ll put them to work!”

Now then…

Where should he assign all these new logistics personnel?

The director was happily organizing their broad assignments when his phone suddenly chimed.

He picked it up, glanced at the message—

And the smile on his face instantly froze.

Blue Sea…

…was about to begin another massive round of infrastructure construction.

And whenever Blue Sea embarked on a massive infrastructure campaign, every government department became swamped with work.

The logistics department was no exception.

Which meant…

They were about to become short on logistics personnel all over again.

The director: “…”

He decided that after work tonight, he was going to spend an hour hauling bricks to clear his head.

At the same time, Cheng Qisheng looked down over the Blue Sea Safe City and gave Aether a simple command.

“All right.”

“Advance it.”

Blue Sea Safe City advanced to Tier 4.

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