"Hehe, you two, the food in our Third District is pretty good, isn't it?" Zhang Yun said cheerfully. "You guys really know how to pick a place. I heard that the food in our Third District is among the best of the 36 survivor resettlement areas in the entire Southern City."
"36 survivor resettlement areas?" Chen Yu repeated in surprise, a hint of curiosity and contemplation flashing in his eyes.
“Yes, young man, our Nandu is officially divided into 36 survivor resettlement areas, from the first area to the thirty-sixth area. The area we are in is the third area,” Zhang Yun explained.
"Does that mean there are more than 7 million people in all 36 districts?" Chen Yu asked in surprise. He had heard from the registration staff that the Third District currently had about 200,000 people.
“No, not really. The first three districts have a slightly larger population, but the remaining districts only have around 100,000 people at most. All the resettlement areas combined only have a little over 4 million people.” Zhang Yun said with a regretful expression, “Alas, my poor Nandu City, before the natural disaster, was a metropolis with 9 million people. Now, those who survived are all lucky.”
At this point, a hint of sadness appeared in Zhang Yun's eyes, but she quickly regained her optimism, "Fortunately, we now have official relief, so we no longer have to live a life of hunger. I believe we will get through this disaster safely."
Chen Yu nodded slightly upon hearing this. The extreme cold disaster had been raging for more than two months, and Nandu had only lost half of its population, which was indeed remarkable.
"Big sister, there are so many people in our survivor resettlement area (36 people in total), how much food do we have every day..."
Before Chen Yu could finish speaking, Zhang Yun interrupted him: "Young man, you don't need to worry about the food problem. The grain transport team will deliver food to the various resettlement areas every once in a while to ensure that everyone can have enough to eat. Although resources are scarce, the government and all sectors of society are working hard to ensure that every bit of material is distributed reasonably."
“I heard that our grain was transported from a super-large grain depot. It would take the people of Nandu several years to finish eating it all,” Zhang Yun said confidently. “I think the weather will gradually warm up by next spring at the latest.”
"Hehe, what you say makes sense, eldest sister." Chen Yu smiled and did not refute.
He secretly thought to himself, "It seems that these 36 resettlement areas in Nandu, like the Academy of Sciences, rely on the Nandu Grain Depot for their livelihood. I must have come to the right place this time."
The Nandu Grain Depot is one of the most important grain depots in the Great Xia Dynasty. Its 5 million tons of grain, if not transported elsewhere, would indeed be enough to feed the survivors in Nandu City for several years.
However, the apocalypse we are now facing, with the sun extinguished, is a permanent calamity, and no matter how much food we have stored, it will not be enough to eat.
To overcome this natural disaster, humanity must save itself.
The disaster relief efforts in the 36 resettlement areas organized by Nandu are indeed substantial, and based on the information available so far, the organizers are certainly worthy of respect.
However, supporting 4 million idle people without letting them do anything is a way to squander resources. Once the food is gone, these places will become hell until they are completely destroyed.
Seeing that Chen Yu was eating with relish and quickly finished his bowl of porridge, Zhang Yun said warmly, "Young man, you just arrived today. I'll go tell Old Zhou in the canteen to give you an extra bowl of rice."
"No need," Chen Yu quickly stopped him. "Everyone else is eating so much, what would it mean if I ate an extra bowl?"
"Yes, yes, I'm not really hungry today," Lin Lele chimed in. "I'll share my bowl with you!"
As Lin Lele spoke, she picked up her rice bowl and was about to pour some rice for Chen Yu.
Chen Yu reacted quickly, pressing Lin Lele's rice bowl down: "Little sister, as your brother, even if I starve to death, I would never take food from your bowl! Eat up, and after we finish, we'll find some work to do. We can't just freeload here, can we?"
How could he possibly let Lin Lele pour the rice into his bowl? He had just witnessed Lin Lele secretly spitting the rice out of her mouth back into the bowl; it was absolutely disgusting.
Moreover, the porridge really didn't taste very good; it was half-cooked and contained half a bowl of rice bran, making it quite difficult to swallow.
The reason he was able to eat so heartily just now was simply because he was reminiscing about the bitter past and appreciating the sweet present. After all, during the three years of the apocalypse in his previous life, he could only eat a bowl of rice bran porridge that he had been longing for day and night during the New Year.
Life is better now, but that simple and unique joy can never be found again.
This kind of meal, meant to remind us of the bitter past and appreciate the sweet present, is enough to eat just one bowl as a token gesture. There's no way he'd eat a second bowl!
Seeing that her plan had failed, Lin Lele's eyes reddened and she was almost crying. Her aggrieved expression made Zhang Yun sigh with emotion at the deep bond between the siblings.
…………
After lunch, Chen Yu and Lin Lele planned to walk around the third area to familiarize themselves with the surroundings. However, Zhang Yun said she was too tired to stay any longer and decided to go back to sleep. She also told them to go back to their dorms to rest after they finished exploring.
The third zone consists of a stadium and its supporting office buildings, plus three surrounding residential communities.
The gymnasium is the core of the entire third zone. In addition to serving a small part of the living area, it is also the location for personnel registration, material distribution, and the canteen.
Originally, the gymnasium did not have a living area. However, as fewer and fewer survivors came to seek refuge, the function of registering and distributing supplies became weaker and weaker. In order to accommodate more survivors, an area was designated in the gymnasium and a batch of simple dormitories were built. Lin Lele and Chen Yu were placed here.
The annex building serves as a storage area for supplies and an office for staff in the third district. After all, this is a resettlement site for 200,000 people, and managing it requires a large number of people.
The three residential areas are the main living areas. These are all large communities, each housing more than 5,000 households before the disaster, with a total population of nearly 50,000. However, in the face of the disaster, people have to live more closely together. These three communities alone have accommodated 190,000 people.
To facilitate access to and from the stadium, everyone worked together to dig several passageways in the snow, connecting every building in the community. This saved residents from having to brave the cold wind every day when they went out.
Chen Yu's purpose in coming here was to make contact with the person in charge of the resettlement area, so he took Lin Lele and headed straight for the annex building.
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