Chapter 128: Separation and Reorganization

Xuanwu City, temporary square.

When Han Ya announced Lin Yue's brand‑new administrative management plan, the eighty thousand survivors instantly erupted into an uproar.

"What? You want to scatter all of us and reassign us?"

"What a joke! We barely escaped from Suchen, and now we have to be separated from our own family and friends?"

"I refuse! We, the people of the 'Flying Tiger' shelter, must stay together in life and in death—no one dare try to tear us apart!"

The initial whispers quickly turned into a sky‑high wave of protest.

These eighty thousand survivors came from more than a dozen different small and medium‑sized shelters, relying on their original organizations as bonds to barely huddle together for warmth and struggle to survive in this apocalypse.

To them, the familiar faces around them were their sole source of security.

Villages, towns, counties—what's the difference? They're just copying the pre‑apocalypse government's system, and they don't really care.

But to split and reorganize them—how could they possibly accept that?

The crowd began to stir, and the agitated even started shoving, trying to charge the Black Tortoise Guard tasked with keeping order.

"Quiet!"

"All of you, shut up and behave, damn it!"

Lao Li and the more than a dozen other original shelter leaders shouted hoarsely at their own people, but their voices were quickly drowned out by the boiling crowd.

Meanwhile, the original two‑thousand‑plus 'old residents' of Xuanwu City, seeing the scene that was almost out of control, all turned pale.

"Good heavens… with so many people, if this erupts, what can we do?"

"I said we shouldn't have taken them in! This pack of white‑eyed wolves, the City Lord kindly gave them a home, and they actually want to rebel?"

Some of the original residents who, during the early days of the outbreak, had clamored to drive Lao Li and his group out of Xuanwu City were now frightened pale.

Before, they were the ones who ostracized Lao Li's group of 'outsiders'.

But now, faced with nearly eighty thousand new residents, they have become an absolute minority.

The tides have turned, and they now feel fear from the heart, worried that this new crowd, dissatisfied, will take revenge on these 'elders' of theirs.

"Silence!"

Just as the scene was about to spiral completely out of control, a clear, cold feminine shout rang out over the loudspeaker, exploding like thunder across the square!

Han Ya gripped a short dagger, standing frost‑faced on the high platform; her eyes, usually calm as water, were now filled with a chilling killing intent.

Behind her, hundreds of members of the Black Tortoise Guard, dressed in black combat uniforms and wielding Gauss electromagnetic rifles, raised their weapons in unison, the dark muzzles aimed at the restless crowd below.

That icy, murderous aura instantly made the temperature of the entire square seem to drop several degrees.

The crowd that had been noisy just moments before fell silent under that terrifying intimidation.

Everyone instinctively shut their mouths, staring in fear at the slender figure on the high platform.

"I know many of you are unwilling and don't understand."

Her voice remained calm, yet carried an irresistible authority.

"But I need to tell you this: this is the City Lord's order. In Xuanwu City, the City Lord's order is the supreme law!"

"Starting today, all newly arrived residents will be reorganized by family unit, scrambling the existing structure into forty 'villages', each with two thousand people."

"Every ten villages form a 'town'."

"The outer region of Xuanwu City will be divided into four sections, each town receiving its own independent area. As for how each town divides its interior, that's up to you to decide."

"This is Xuanwu City's rule!"

Han Ya's gaze turned icy and sharp as she swept her eyes over every face below, speaking word by word:

"I don't care what your former status was—shelter leader or ordinary survivor. Once you're in Xuanwu City, you have only one identity: a resident of Xuanwu City!"

"Those willing to follow the rules, we welcome. Those unwilling…"

She paused, then raised her hand to point at the massive gate of Xuanwu City that had just been closed.

"The gate is right there. Xuanwu City never forces anyone to stay."

"You may leave at any time."

"Hiss—"

Han Ya's words made everyone suck in a breath of cold air.

"Leave?"

"Where could they go?"

"Continue living in days of insufficient food and uncertain survival?"

"No!"

"Nobody wants to!"

"After personally witnessing the prosperity and peace inside Xuanwu City, how could they possibly want to leave?"

"For a moment, everyone fell silent."

"Those who had been the loudest in the uproar now lowered their heads."

"They knew they had no choice."

"Looking down at the sea of black‑clad heads, Han Ya's face remained expressionless."

"After a moment, she picked up the microphone again, her voice returning to calm."

"Since you all wish to stay, let's begin."

"……"

"The process of splitting and reorganizing was more complicated than imagined."

"Formally beginning under the joint effort of Han Ya's 【Public Security Department】 and Sun Hao's 【Finance Department】."

"Outside the original Xuanwu City, dozens of huge registration booths were temporarily erected."

"In front of each booth, long lines formed."

"What's your name? Which shelter were you from before? How many people in your family?"

"Sun Hao and the several dozen members of his Finance Department were busy nonstop, their abacuses and pens never stopping, their voices hoarse from shouting."

"Next! Hurry up!"

"They needed to, within a week, register the identity information of over eighty thousand people, open Xuanwu Currency accounts, distribute initial living supplies… each task was extraordinarily tedious."

"No one complained."

"Because they knew this was the pain Xuanwu City had to endure on its path to normalization."

"Old Wang, which village was your family assigned to?!"

"A middle-aged person asked the person beside him."

"My family was assigned to Village Seventeen; what about yours?"

"The middle-aged man called Old Wang replied."

"We were also assigned to Village Twenty‑Eight; we don't know how far it is from yours!"

"We'll find out when the time comes! Ah, if only we could be assigned to a village, then our two families could look out for each other!"

"Who says it isn't!"

"Similar scenes played out constantly in every corner of the registration office."

"The process of splitting and reorganizing lasted a full seven days."

"During those seven days, all members of the Public Security Department and the Finance Department, except for a few who truly couldn't hold on, worked without rest."

"When the last survivor finished registration and was assigned to his 'village,' Sun Hao collapsed exhausted in his chair, not wanting to move a finger."

"My dear mother…"

"He looked at the mountain of registration files piled in the warehouse, feeling dizzy and overwhelmed."

"At last… it's done…"