Chapter 125: Infrastructure Conference, Fists Speak!

This venue has stood here since the founding of Happiness City and has a history of more than 30 years.

Ding Yishan walked in, his leather shoes stepping on the terrazzo floor, silently counting the number of times he had come here to attend meetings.

Maybe a hundred times, or maybe two hundred times?

I can't remember.

I only remember that during the "great development period" a few years ago, meetings were as frequent as daily routine.

At that time, the chief and deputy chief of stations held meetings together. He was the deputy chief of stations and Reagan Carl was the chief of stations.

The two of them would come here almost every day. The ashtray in the conference room was always full, and the map was filled with small red flags representing new strongholds. In their memories, everyone's throat seemed hoarse.

By the time he took over the checkpoint, the wasteland had just entered a "rest period", the blades were sheathed, and the number of meetings gradually decreased.

Especially in the past two years, he only needed to be present in person at the monthly routine meetings, and the rest of the time he relied on the defense communication to directly convey orders.

Yesterday's first migration meeting was a rare large-scale event in recent times. The heads of various departments had to attend and the discussion lasted for more than four hours.

The topic is like a spread fishing net, you want to catch everything.

It was not until the first session at nine o'clock today that the focus began to shift, mainly to infrastructure.

Material allocation, regional division, production planning... all these unrealistic ideas have become hard nuts to crack that have to be put into practice.

Originally, Ding Yishan had no plans to come.

One reason was that Liu Kun had to secretly go out of town to do some business, but more importantly, the checkpoint had never been directly involved in infrastructure affairs, and it was always a sideline observer.

He originally wanted to hold back and wait until the second plenary meeting at four o'clock in the afternoon to put forward the proposal and make the final decision.

But now, his mind has changed.

Since we are determined to take the lead in the construction of the outer city, we must not miss any discussion meeting.

The wall clock showed 9:07, and the meeting had already started.

When the heavy conference room door was pushed open, there was silence inside for half a second.

Many people looked up following the sound, and when they saw that only Ding Yishan came in, there was obvious surprise in their eyes.

In recent years, Ding Yishan and Liu Kun have almost appeared together.

But today Ding Yishan was alone, with some mud from outside the city stained on the hem of his windbreaker, and it was obvious that he had come in a hurry.

Instead of going around to say hello as usual, he walked straight to the seat at the checkpoint and sat down.

He raised his head and looked at each participant slowly and calmly.

Most people had blank expressions on their faces, with no extra emotion in their eyes, including Carlo Dickinson, the bald man from the Extraordinary faction who had previously targeted the checkpoint. He was now looking down at documents, and when he looked up he only glanced at him lightly.

The extraordinary faction is targeting Liu Kun, a extraordinary person who is out of their control, not the checkpoint.

As long as Liu Kun doesn't show up, Ding Yishan represents the rule-abiding and less-troublesome checkpoint, and there is no fundamental conflict with them.

However, the reactions of a few idealists were obviously different from usual.

Especially Yu Hong, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes when he raised his head, and after meeting Ding Yishan's gaze, he nodded slightly.

"Okay, let's move on to the next topic, the choice of housing form."

Deputy City Lord Yuan Gang did not attend the first infrastructure meeting.

Hou Rui, who was presiding over the meeting, pushed the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose and swept his eyes across the audience from behind the lenses.

As the faction with the most say in Happiness City, the technology faction often argues fiercely over the technical route:

Some people advocate giving priority to restoring various production technologies of the old era to consolidate the foundation.

Some people have suggested learning from the practices of super shelter cities such as Xinhuo and Ziranli, and focusing on researching source track technology.

Some people also suggested trying the source-inducing technology, because there are extraordinary people in Happiness City, and there is a chance to capture the mother source for experiments.

But these differences never appear in the meeting room. As soon as you step into this conference room, the tech faction has only one voice:

All decisions must be based on scientific theories. Any "experience" that is not supported by data is not worthy of appearing on the agenda!

This is a very important consensus.

Because even with the transition from the old era to the new, the technological system of the old era of mankind was not completely cut off.

But there are still a lot of gathering places, and even the cities of refuge have long gone off track.

To this day, they are still promoting theology, supernatural studies, potions, sacrificial studies and other things that are difficult for normal people to understand.

Someone had previously promoted alchemy in Happy City, adding alienated crystals and conducting experiments on living people.

I haven't heard of it since the technology faction took over.

It was only since then that Xingfu City began to truly develop into an industrial shelter city and gained a firm foothold.

The projector flickered on, and a chart appeared.

Hou Rui flipped open the folder in front of him, his fingertips running across the pages. He said in a deep voice, "There are currently three options for selection: Option A uses a traditional brick-concrete structure. The advantage is that it uses local materials. The existing cement and bricks in the warehouse are enough to build houses that can accommodate 200,000 people. However, the disadvantage is obvious: continuous rainfall will cause the strength of the concrete to drop sharply. As long as the rain does not stop, it will be difficult to roll out construction."

"Plan B uses a lightweight steel frame with a waterproof outer layer. This structure is fast, and a settlement can be built in three days, which is perfect for the current rainy weather. But the problem is consumables. If all the inventory in the warehouse is pulled out, it can only meet the needs of 100,000 people. Even if the factory is running at full capacity, it can only supply 50,000 to 100,000 people per week. It will take at least two to three months to absorb all the migrants. More importantly, this temporary structure cannot withstand the cold winter. When the time comes, it will have to be dismantled and rebuilt with concrete structures, or even covered with insulation. The cost will only increase, and in the end it will be like throwing materials and manpower into the water."

Before Hou Rui finished speaking about "Plan C", someone in the audience had already raised his hand.

It was Lan Ni, the Deputy Minister of the Public Works Department, one of the few women in the meeting.

"Minister Lan, please speak."

"It's like this," Lan Ni stood up. "Regarding Plan B's light steel frame, our Public Works Department just did a double-check overnight, and it doesn't work."

"We calculated that to build a light steel residential complex that can accommodate 500,000 people within two months, we would need at least 80 heavy-duty pile drivers to ensure the laying of underground pipe networks. However, the Public Works Department currently only has 28 of these machines in working order, which is less than half the required capacity."

Lan Ni said, flipping through the folders. "What's even more terrible is that after the Starfish Stand-in, 70% of the skilled workers who could lay the underground pipe network have died. The remaining 30% can't keep up even if they work around the clock. Unless we can recruit workers from among the migrants, but for the job of laying the pipe network."

Before he finished speaking, there was a burst of quiet commotion in the conference room.

Many people lowered their heads to look through the documents in their hands, obviously not expecting such a large gap in machinery and manpower.

The machinery is easy to deal with. It can be kept running by having people work around the clock.

But the shortage of manpower is a real flaw. Laying pipe networks is hard and tiring work. It is common to kneel in the mud to connect pipes and crawl in sewage.

In the past, the ability to recruit workers was entirely dependent on the economic model of Xingfu City. The job paid well, and it could provide the family with enough nutrient solution and save supplies for the winter.

But now, with hundreds of thousands, or even nearly a million, of migrants pouring in, the entire economic system of Xingfu City has to be reshuffled.

Is there a charge for nutrient slurry? How much is it?

Is there a fee for living?

What can migrants earn in exchange for their money? How can it change their lives?

If these upper-level rules are not finalized, the lower-level production model cannot be implemented at all.

"Section Chief Hou, with all due respect, it's not that we won't cooperate with the tech-savvy plan; it's simply not feasible under current circumstances. Light steel frames might seem fast, but the areas designated as the outer city are mostly sandy, soaked through by rainwater, making it impossible to build a solid foundation. Come winter, the frozen soil will thaw, and the house will inevitably collapse. By then, let alone emergency response, I'm afraid we'll cause even greater chaos!"

"Okay, I'll record it."

Hou Rui took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling slightly, and drew an asterisk with the tip of his pen, marking the gaps in machinery and manpower proposed by the Public Works Department.

Different fields have different worlds. We can let them research technological iteration, but they know nothing about construction outside.

Since the Public Works Department has said so, we have to find a way to solve the problem.

"Continue. There's also a C model, which uses a masonry structure. Although the four large brick factories in the industrial zone have stopped production in recent years, the kilns and brick molds are still there. After some repairs, they should be able to restart."

"Based on the brick factory's old production capacity, each production line could produce around 250,000 bricks per day. At maximum capacity, this could reach 300,000 to 400,000. If all four brick factories were fully operational, they could theoretically produce enough bricks to build homes for around 100,000 people per week. Has the Public Works Department verified this data?"

"I've verified it, and there are no issues. This is what I wanted to say. A brick arch with soil covering for anti-seepage is actually the optimal solution at the moment. Utilizing the natural load-bearing capacity of the brick arch structure, combined with the outer soil covering for waterproofing, completely eliminates the reliance on cement and steel frames, making it extremely suitable for the current rainy weather."

Hou Rui pushed up his glasses, and behind the lenses there was a hint of hope: "Tell me more."

"good!"

Lan Ni replaced the memory of the Public Works Department and displayed the prepared pictures.

Pointing a laser pointer at a cross-section, he said, "First, let's talk about the masonry technique. The brick arch is dry-laid, with no concrete joints. The load is entirely supported by the interlocking force between the bricks. This way, rainwater will at most wet the surface of the bricks and won't affect the stability of the masonry at all. In fact, light rain is even better. We can use clay slurry to fill the joints. Rainwater will help the clay solidify faster, making the gaps tighter."

"The second issue is the construction pace. The covering process can be done after rain when the soil is slightly damp. The soil is most sticky at this time, making it less likely to crack when laid, and it also saves the step of manual watering. In other words, continuous rainfall is not an obstacle; it can actually help us save half the maintenance work."

“And practicality.”

Everyone's eyes lit up as they listened quietly to Lan Ni's explanation. "The overburden itself is a natural thermal and soundproof layer, keeping out the cold wind in the winter and the heat in the summer. It's much more comfortable to live in than a lightweight steel house. Furthermore, this structure is actually more waterproof than ordinary brick-concrete structures. Rainwater will flow away along the slope of the overburden and won't seep into the vault at all."

At this point, she changed the subject and spoke more sincerely, "The only shortcoming is that the construction speed is indeed slow. Dry-laid brick arches require skilled craftsmen to control the curvature and interlocking precision, unlike light steel, which can be produced on a mechanical assembly line. But as long as we can provide good training and standardize the arch molds, we should be able to catch up."

"Do a good job of training?"

Zhao Kai, the head of the Human Resources Department, sitting in the back row, suddenly shook his head. "Minister Lan, as far as I know, brick arch construction requires extremely high levels of craftsman experience, right? I've seen in the literature that a skilled arch mason can only advance one or two meters of arch length per day at most. Do you think 'good training' is just lip service?"

The Public Works Department is only responsible for formulating plans, but when it comes to implementing training, the burden falls on the Human Resources Department.

Modern construction has long been dominated by reinforced concrete, and the profession of "arch carpenter" has almost been lost. The cost of training them is higher than training a hundred ordinary construction workers.

"No one in the city knows the technology you're talking about," Zhao Kai said, not even bothering to open the folder. "Even if we had the information, we'd have to organize a group of people to study it thoroughly and teach them after they've mastered it. And then we run the risk of not learning enough during the construction process. Do you think this is suitable for the current situation?"

"This is the optimal solution developed by the Public Works Department."

Lan Ni slammed the table. "If you're not even willing to organize people to study, then what are you going to do? You want me, the Deputy Minister of the Public Works Department, to lead the way in laying bricks for you?"

"Oh, I'm just explaining to everyone what your so-called shortcomings mean." Zhao Kai slowly pushed his sleeves. "Are you anxious?"

"I'm anxious?" Lan Ni chuckled. "Since last year, has your Human Resources Department reported any workers who truly met our requirements? I've said this countless times at meetings. Before, we just let it go, but bringing it up now really hits a sore spot."

"Meet the requirements?" Zhao Kai also became angry and stood up suddenly. "What kind of crazy requirements did your Public Works Department give? They require people to be under 25 years old and have 5 to 10 years of experience. Have your workers been practicing their skills since they were in their mother's womb? And why do workers over 35, who are obviously equally skilled, get paid 10% less than young people? Every time there's a fuss about this shit, I'm the one who cleans up the mess."

"Bullshit!" Lan Ni's face flushed instantly. "Those veteran workers you pushed here talk better than they sing, but their work is worse than the last. For the past two weeks, the buffer zone pipes have burst, and I, the Minister, have had to personally go to their homes to ask them to repair them in the middle of the night. And you're saying I'm paying them high salaries to show that the Public Works Department is being taken advantage of?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Zhao Kai left the table and took a half step forward. "Many people can't even get six hours of rest a day, and you're making them work overtime in the middle of the night. You want to drive these people to death, right?"

The conference room exploded instantly.

They started arguing again!

In the past, the Works Department complained that the people recruited by the Human Resources Department were either too young or too experienced, while the Human Resources Department complained that the requirements put forward by the Works Department were unrealistic. Coupled with the old contradictions such as the salary system and assessment standards, it was like a pile of dry firewood, just waiting for a spark.

And this time the construction of the outer city happened to be the spark that ignited everything.

"Enough!" Hou Rui slammed the table, his gold-rimmed glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose. "Is now the time to argue about this? We want a plan, a solution, not just blaming others!"

Unexpectedly, Zhao Kai and Lan Ni didn't listen to his words at all.

Zhao Kai, in particular, whipped his head around, the veins in his neck throbbing. "Get lost! I've had enough of your attempt to smooth things over! How can this plan be implemented if you don't explain things clearly? Who the hell is trying to pass the buck here?"

"Then how do you solve this problem?"

Hou Rui's voice suddenly rose, and his body was slightly off the ground, with his feet hovering half an inch above the ground. A faint white light surged around his body, and his intimidating aura spread out like invisible waves.

But the next second, a deep voice, like a huge rock thrown into the waves, instantly suppressed all the restlessness:

"Hou Rui, calm down."

Turning around, I saw Carlo Dickinson of the Extraordinary School standing up at some point.

On that shiny bald head, the surface of the skin was slowly covered with mysterious blue and gold lines, as if something alive was flowing under the skin.

A faint fluorescence now appeared in his originally cloudy pupils, and wherever his eyes passed, even the air seemed to stagnate a little.

The Human Resources Department is a subordinate faction of the Extraordinary Faction, so naturally they would not allow Hou Rui to solve the problem.

If the technology faction really takes action here, where will the extraordinary faction put its face?

"Why, you want to teach me how to do things?"

Hou Rui slowly turned around and his eyes met Carlo Dickinson's.

Invisible momentum rapidly accumulated between the two people, like two thunderclouds compressed to the extreme.

All the anger accumulated in yesterday's meeting, all the dissatisfaction caused by the conflict of ideas, and the influence of the extraordinary people's special obsession

No one shouted start, and no one set the rules.

boom.

A sharp explosion suddenly tore through the air, and the two figures disappeared from the venue like two afterimages.

The originally thick gray brick wall collapsed, and two irregular large holes appeared in an instant. Broken bricks and cement blocks poured down like waterfalls. The scene was far more exaggerated than the last time Liu Kun flew out.

Immediately afterwards, a loud bang like thunder exploded outside the venue, shaking the glass in the entire conference room.

Almost at the same time, a translucent light blue protective shield suddenly rose from the ground, completely covering the entire venue.

The source track barrier brought back from the Xinhuo import not only isolates the outside world from prying eyes, but also firmly confines all impacts and sounds within the barrier to prevent them from affecting ordinary people in the inner city.

Everyone who was still in the meeting was stunned at first, and then they rushed to the hole and the window, clinging to the edge and looking out nervously.

In the open space outside the venue, two figures were colliding and intersecting at a speed that was difficult to capture with the naked eye.

Hou Rui's body was wrapped in a silver-white energy flow, and every punch he swung was accompanied by a sharp whistle that tore through the air.

At the moment when the fist collided with Carlo, one could even see the circular air wave formed by the energy impact.

Carlo, on the other hand, had a completely different style. There was no external energy in his body, but his body could twist like liquid metal. Several times, Hou Rui's fist was clearly close to his face, but it just brushed past him at a strange and twisted angle.

Bang.

Another hard collision, and both of them slid back several meters.

"You reckless man who only knows how to solve problems with your fists, die!"

"Idiots whose brains have been ruined by technology, get out of here!"

The two roared and rushed towards each other again.

But just as he finished speaking, under the gaze of everyone, the ground outside the venue suddenly cracked into two human-shaped gullies, just covering the shadows of the two people.

Boom!

A terrifying pressure descended from the sky, like an invisible giant palm slamming down on the ground.

The two men were pressed to the ground without any resistance, forming a "big" shape, with their foreheads pressed against the cold concrete floor, unable to even raise their heads in resistance.

The indifferent voice came from nowhere, but it clearly penetrated everyone's ears:

"Okay."

Yes. Yuan Gang!

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Yuan Gang, dressed as a teacher, falling from the sky. He seemed to be free from the constraints of gravity and was floating in the air.

There was no energy flow, no unusual light, and even the hem of the clothes did not shake violently, like a fallen leaf that could fall to the ground at any time.

But Hou Rui and Carlo on the ground were so crushed by the invisible pressure that their bones creaked.

He could only lie there in humiliation, staring at the other person out of the corner of his eyes, but he couldn't even move a finger.

Yuan Gang landed slowly on the ground, his cloth shoes stepping into the puddles without causing any splashes.

He glanced at the two of them in turn, "Any more questions?"

Hou Rui clenched his teeth and let out a muffled groan from his throat, while Carlo turned his head away and clenched his fists tightly.

But both of them shook their heads in the end.

The invisible pressure disappeared instantly.

The two men got up in a panic. Under Yuan Gang's indifferent gaze, no one spoke again. They lowered their heads and walked back towards the main entrance of the venue.

Soon, the door of the conference room was pushed open.

Yuan Gang walked in the middle, while Hou Rui and Carlo followed on both sides with their heads down, like two children who had done something wrong.

The crowd who had just been leaning against the holes and windows to watch the excitement had already sat back in their chairs at lightning speed, with their backs straight and serious expressions on their faces, as if nothing had happened.

Yuan Gang walked to the empty seat next to the main seat and sat down. Without looking at anyone, he simply said, "Continue the meeting."

No one dared to answer.

Including Lan Ni and Zhao Kai, they were just like Guai Ji at this time, and even forced out a smile when they saw each other.

"Go on, discuss the building structure."

Hou Rui took a deep breath, his voice stiff as he spoke, "Three options have been proposed. Everyone, vote."

"Plan A: Traditional masonry and concrete structure. Please raise your hands if you agree!"

There was dead silence in the meeting room, and no one raised their hand.

Plan B

Still no one raised their hand.

If you raise your hand for a plan that has been rejected, you will be in trouble if Hou Rui assigns you a mess.

"What about Plan C?"

The situation was still the same. Even Lan Ni, who proposed the plan, did not dare to raise her hand to take responsibility.

Because what Zhao Kai said was right, brick arches are indeed very difficult to make. It is difficult to train a group of skilled craftsmen with the current capabilities of Xingfu City!

And this is not just playing house, but being responsible for the livelihoods of 500,000 or 1 million people.

If something goes wrong, they are not extraordinary people, and they will not survive if they fly out of here.

"Can't you decide on the house style?"

Yuan Gang suddenly spoke up, looking at Hou Rui, "There were quite a few people in the buffer zone at the beginning. How did they build it up from nothing?"

"Yes." Hou Rui was stunned and wanted to speak subconsciously, his eyes involuntarily drifting towards Ding Yishan.

"Ding Yishan, you say." Yuan Gang looked over.

In an instant, everyone's eyes were focused on him, with complicated expressions in their eyes.

In their opinion, Ding Yishan should be very regretful. He could have hidden at the checkpoint and waited until the afternoon plenary meeting to show up, but he chose to join in the excitement of this infrastructure meeting.

Now, Yuan Gang personally called out the name, and Liu Kun was not there to smooth things over. If he said something wrong and offended the deputy city lord, he would be in big trouble.

But no one expected that Ding Yishan's face was not nervous at all. Instead, a smile slowly emerged on his face, a smile that they had not seen here for a long time.

"The buffer zone was built by Cheng Wu. Stationmaster Cheng set an example by leading his people brick by brick."

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly throughout the conference room. "Back then, there were no machines, no blueprints, not even enough tools and materials. Most of the buildings we inherited were already dilapidated. Stationmaster Cheng led the residents to use stone rollers to press the foundations, using yellow mud mixed with straw ash as cement to build and patch things up. He also collected materials from the city ruins. Even though the shantytowns are now in tatters and the underground pipe network needs repairs every now and then, the main structures are still functioning normally."

Cheng Wu

Some people in the venue couldn't help but gasp.

Just like the name Cheng Long is taboo in the checkpoint, the name Cheng Wu is taboo in the inner city.

No one ever dared to bring it up, because Cheng Wu's departure that year brought huge trouble to Xingfu City.

It took the death of several extraordinary people to clean up this mess.

Yuan Gang's expression remained unchanged, and he nodded slightly. "It was Cheng Wu who led the team to build it before. Now you are the stationmaster. So, what do you think of this style? Which one should I choose?"

"I don't know." Ding Yishan answered simply.

"have no idea?"

Yuan Gang repeated it, his brows furrowed slightly, seeming very dissatisfied with the answer.

But soon, as Ding Yishan spoke again, his expression changed slightly.

“Yes, I don’t know who can be responsible for the plan.”

Ding Yishan stood up slightly and looked at Hou Rui with a cold gaze, "Section Chief Hou, if we choose Plan B, can your Industry Bureau take responsibility?"

Hou Rui was stunned for a moment, his face calm and he didn't say anything.

Responsible?

Material shortages for light steel frames, repairs, winter cold-resistant renovations, material expenses. Any problem with any of these could cause problems with the entire Industrial Bureau's turnover. How could he dare to deal with it?

Ding Yishan didn't look at him again, but turned to look at Lan Ni and Zhao Kai, his voice cold: "Minister Lan, Minister Zhao, if we choose Plan C, can your Public Works Department and Human Resources Department be responsible?"

They both lowered their heads at the same time, as if they hadn't heard anything at all.

Craftsman training, brick supply, construction delays. Any one of them could make them lose a lot of money. No one dares to take on this hot potato at the moment.

Ding Yishan sat down slowly, and the chair made a dull groan.

He looked up at Yuan Gang, who was in the main seat, and said with a calm tone that was almost sarcastic: "Deputy City Lord, since no one intends to take responsibility from beginning to end, what is the point of us discussing the plan here?"

"Is it for peace of mind, or is it because all the migrants outside have died, so it doesn't matter?"