Chapter 1146: Who Is in Charge of Building the Perimeter Wall

During the Calamity years, social order was in chaos and resources were scarce — educational resources, of course, were extremely scarce as well.

Basic education is a right every citizen of Hua Nation is entitled to; it lays the cultural foundation for an individual's lifelong development.

To guarantee fairness and universality at the foundational level, the National Education Bureau took the lead in assembling a high-quality teaching team, compiling new basic-education textbooks, syllabi, exam outlines, and lesson plans, and recording a complete set of instructional videos, so that children inside bases — where educational resources, especially teaching staff, were lacking — as well as young people whose basic education had been cut short by the sudden Calamity, could complete their foundational studies through video learning.

These full sets of instructional videos, textbooks, and other materials were posted online, free for anyone to view or download.

Zhu Li, Shi Du, and Huo Zhun, all within the Northern Zone One territory, completed the ten years of basic-education courses that had been interrupted by the Calamity through online study. Zhu Li passed the offline exam smoothly and obtained her basic-education graduation certificate.

But this "free" only meant the website charged nothing; watching online or downloading videos still required paying for data usage.

To save on data, Xia Qing decided to make an inspection trip to Center Nine, and stop by the school along the way. The school's computers held the complete set of instructional materials, so she only needed to copy them onto a USB drive.

After handing the territory over to Er Yong, Xia Qing drove into Center Nine and first inspected the progress of the perimeter wall's construction.

After more than two months of delay, the Housing and Construction Bureau finally began shipping building materials for the perimeter wall to Center Nine after the third Calamity Rain, and in increased quantities at that.

Because Center Nine's area had doubled! Those people at the Housing and Construction Bureau who had previously tried to pressure Xia Qing with material shortages were now regretting it to the bone.

After making a round of inspection and checking the sprouting of potatoes in Shelters 3 through 6, as well as the growth of crops like spinach, corn, and rice in the greenhouses, Xia Qing went into her office, called Yue Haiying over, and asked, "Who is currently in charge of the perimeter wall's construction?"

The perimeter wall is a safety barrier for Center Nine, and its quality must meet standards. During her inspection Xia Qing found the construction site somewhat chaotic; estimating from the number of workers on site, Xia Qing — who had spent several years on a construction crew — immediately figured their progress was below standard, which meant the person in charge of the wall's construction wasn't capable enough and needed to be replaced.

"It's Maintenance Department head Zhang Xiandong, but now we have a more suitable candidate." Yue Haiying handed Xia Qing a printed job application form.

"Wu Yunlin?" Seeing the photo and name on the application, Xia Qing was a little surprised. "Reason for discharge: physical disability?"

Wu Yunlin, female, 28, a Tier-4 Strength Evolver, former squad leader of an Engineering Platoon in Hui-3, was mainly responsible for the construction and maintenance of the inner-city perimeter wall in the Safe Zone. When Xia Qing was a construction squad leader in the Safe Zone, she had dealt with Wu Yunlin a few times; Wu Yunlin had once approached Xia Qing on her own initiative and asked if she wanted to enlist.

Xia Qing was a Strength Evolver, and joining the Engineering Corps would have earned her allowances more than double those of an ordinary soldier. But Xia Qing had too many secrets to be suitable for military service, so she declined on the grounds that she preferred freedom.

Yue Haiying gave a detailed account: "During this year's second Calamity Rain, Wu Yunlin was on a mission and was hit by a high-speed jet of Calamity-element particle stream. Her leg protective suit was breached, causing damage to the bones and muscles of her legs, and she was discharged. She was assigned to work at the Housing and Construction Bureau, but resigned on her own less than two months after joining. Our background check confirmed her reasons for leaving: first, her mother's health was poor and needed someone to look after her; second, she couldn't fit into the Housing and Construction Bureau's work team."

Xia Qing nodded — the work atmosphere at the Housing and Construction Bureau was indeed poor, so it was perfectly normal that Wu Yunlin couldn't fit in.

"This time when our center expanded, I took the initiative to call and invite her, but she refused on the grounds that her mother was seriously ill." Yue Haiying paused before continuing, "Yesterday, her mother passed away in the hospital. This morning she called to ask if we were still hiring. I had her fill out this form, so I didn't have time to report the situation to you."

Xia Qing nodded. "Brother Yue, how is her physical condition?"

Yue Haiying replied, "She can still walk but can't do heavy physical labor anymore, though overseeing the wall's construction would certainly be no problem."

"Then hand this matter over to her." Xia Qing signed her name on the application, stamped the idol's seal in the last column, and handed the form back to Yue Haiying, telling him to process Wu Yunlin's onboarding as soon as possible.

Physical damage caused by Calamity-blast attacks is indeed hard to treat at present, but by next year the situation will improve. Because the Calamity-Reduction Agent, which can alleviate or even cure such conditions, is about to be scaled up in production.

Although the nation has not made any public announcement, according to information from the idol's side, the artificial cultivation research on the three special enzymes extracted by the idol from Tang Huai's body — officially named "β-group Active Evolution Proteases" — has already achieved a breakthrough.

Twelve top-tier domestic research teams working in concert have, within half a year, used directed-evolution and artificial-enzyme-design techniques to achieve the evolution of similar enzymes in pigs. They are now working to overcome the screening and extraction technology for these three active evolution proteases; once extraction succeeds, the output of Calamity-Reduction Agent will increase by at least several dozen times.

As for the exact output, it depends on how much pollution-free spring water and Gao Yi-element Spinach X-2 seeds each base plans to invest in producing Calamity-Reduction Agent, for cultivating cordyceps fungus — the other main raw material for the agent.

Because both the Calamity-Reduction Agent and its preparation process are in the hands of Hui-3 Pharmaceutical's chief researcher Professor Fu Tianfeng, Hui-3 Pharmaceutical is currently procuring production equipment for the agent and building a cordyceps-fungus hydroponics room — twice the size of the experimental lab that Xia Qing and Yang Jin co-founded.

The hydroponics room will be completed and put into use by the end of this month. The spinach seeds and pollution-free spring water needed to produce cordyceps fungus are purchased from the base's official channels, and the first three batches of Calamity-Reduction Agent produced will all be sold to Hui-3 official at the agreed price, to be released by the authorities.

Wu Yunlin served in the military for so many years that her contribution points must be considerable, so she will definitely be able to receive Calamity-Reduction Agent next year, reducing or curing her physical damage.

By then, the number of fully able-bodied Evolvers in Center Nine will increase by at least 3. Because within Center Nine, there are no fewer than 3 Evolvers in situations similar to Wu Yunlin's whose physical condition will greatly improve after taking the Calamity-Reduction Agent.

Xia Qing left the office with an expressionless face but a heart full of sweetness. After passing the school gate guard's strict inspection, she entered the school's office area, intending to find Wang Laoshi, Zhao Ze's mother, to copy the materials.

As it happened, her timing was off — Wang Laoshi was in class — so Xia Qing was invited by Principal Yang Runian into his office instead.

Yang Runian is 38 this year, a former company political instructor from a certain unit of the Hui-3 Military Region. Shortly after being discharged and joining Center Nine, he was transferred by Xia Qing to serve as principal of Center Nine Elementary School.

In Yue Haiying's words, Yang Runian took to the job like a duck to water. Looking at the very military-style office and campus of Center Nine Elementary School, Xia Qing felt he had indeed gotten quite skilled at it.

While the computer was copying the data, Yang Runian handed Xia Qing a document and discussed with her, "Director Xia, please take a look at this document."