Epoch of Twilight Chapter 461 - The Great Migration

United City was located northeast of Hope City and near the center of the Reconstruction Area. It was the city that suffered the worst from the disaster. From the virtual reality image shown on the spacecraft, Luo Yuan could clearly see that it was only 40 meters away from one of the craters. A large portion of the area was covered in thick snow, with an odd form of undulating waves.

It was obvious that when the disaster occurred, the soil had melted into liquid due to high temperature and was then blown by the strong wind, that caused the formation of the wavy structure. Fortunately, it was a distance away from United City, or else the entire city would have melted in the heat as well.

However, the city was hit badly. From the top, the ground including a few layers underneath had collapsed. It was now in ruins, blanketed by snow.

The spacecraft landed five kilometers away from United City.

As the cabin door opened, Luo Yuan and 10,000 military police officers walked out of the spacecraft in an orderly fashion. Many were still stunned and looked at the spacecraft behind Luo Yuan and company.

Soon, they arrived the ruins. It was completely frozen over with snow.

"I didn’t expect the damage to be so bad." Li Feng said while walking next to Luo Yuan.

"It was near the crater after all. Nightfall will soon befall upon us; let’s get this over with!" said Luo Yuan, while looking at the time. Although it was hard to differentiate day and night nowadays, when dusk descended, the temperature would drop to a low.

As the place was covered in snow, it was hard to look for a way to go underground. Fortunately, he had an army with him. Under Luo Yuan’s orders, the 10,000-strong military police looked around and came back with good news. Luo Yuan went to the gap they found – it was a six meter-wide hole with a 40-degree slant. The snow around it seemed to be cleared up by somebody else.

Standing at the hole, he could feel the heat coming from below. It was considered hot in comparison to the cold weather out there, but in reality, this ‘heat’ was -30 degrees Celsius.

There was more than one hole. Soon they discovered more and more holes, and there was a total of 18 altogether. No doubt, there were dug up by United City for ventilation.

Li Feng led a small team and entered the hole. The hole led them straight to the residential area – there were no guards around; showing lack of security in there.

It made complete sense – the weather was cold where it was hard to survive, even for mutated creatures. Hence, there would not be any threats in the area. Moreover, the temperature at the entrance of the hole was even lower. It was unbearable for any ordinary person to withstand, let alone attack.

Without hesitation, Luo Yuan instructed the entire army to enter the underground city.

"People of United City, we are the rescue team from Hope City… We’re in a state of siege at the moment, so please stay at home and do not go out… Hope City has regained its electricity and everything is back on track. All of you will be migrating to Hope City. You will receive sufficient food and be protected from the cold…" The announcement was played over and over again via speakers on the streets.

The people were shocked to see countless armed military police whom they had never seen before. They locked their doors immediately. Unexpectedly, the military police of United City put their guards down after hearing the announcement.

Luo Yuan took a stroll on the streets of United City. There was a fire burning on the walls; the smoke was choking. It was like being in an arson attack, where the fire was burning in every house. Due to the lack of clothing, burning for warmth was their only choice.

Some of the braver people peeked through the door their eyes were red from the burning smoke. They were in thick layers of clothes and were practically wearing everything they owned on their backs. Some of them were tied in their blankets but were still shivering in cold regardless.

As Luo Yuan and Li Feng made their way to the City Hall, a group of people welcomed them. The leader was a tall middle-aged man glancing at both of them.

He was the mayor of United City, Ma Lin. He had met Li Feng several times; they were rather familiar with each other. As part of Hope City's political and legal committee, as well as a Director of Public Security Bureau, Li Feng was considered a senior leader. It was strange for Ma Lin to see him walking behind a strange, young man.

"Welcome, both, to United City. We have been looking forward to seeing you. Director Li, why don't you introduce this leader to us?"

"Greetings, Mayor Ma. Mayor Xie passed away in the disaster. This is our new mayor, Luo Yuan!" Li Feng said while smiling.

"Oh, it’s Mayor Luo! Nice to meet you!" Ma Lin was stunned. He had heard of Luo Yuan before and knew how powerful he was. He shook hands with Luo Yuan right away.

"Mayor Ma, we don’t have much time. Let’s skip all the formalities, we have a mission here. Ever since the disaster occurred, United City can hardly be a place to call home anymore. Everyone here must migrate to Hope City. I hope you could agree to that!" Luo Yuan said while shaking his hand.

The leaders who welcomed them looked at each other. They had thought all the military police that were sent by Hope City was to show off their authority and to provide them with supplies. They did not expect it to be as exactly as they had announced, which was to assist in migrating their population.

Though confused, they were secretly relieved. The condition in United City was bad – they were in darkness and cold most of the time. It had caused the security of the city to be unstable, and an uproar may even occur soon.

"May I know the number of the first batch of migration?" Ma Lin hesitated and asked after deciding to conform to this arrangement. The amount of military police had left him no choice but to agree to what Luo Yuan had proposed.

"200,000."

"200,000?" Ma Lin could not suppress his shock anymore. He was surprised, and so were the people around him.

"I’m sorry to ask, may I know how many trucks Hope City sent this time round?" Ma Lin asked immediately. The distance from United City to Hope City was not short at all – it was at least 50 kilometers away.

Before the disaster, the distance was not considered too great. At an average speed, one could arrive there in eight hours by foot. Now that the weather was cold and the people in United City did not have proper clothing, walking there would be a disaster. They would be frozen in under two hours.

Li Feng could not help but to show off, "Mayor Ma, you don’t have to worry about that. We don’t have that many cars, even before the disaster, Hope City had never exported cars for 200,000 people. We have something better – it’s a spacecraft. It’s parked at the borders of United City.

"Spacecraft?" Ma Lin wanted to make sure if he heard him correctly.

"Yes, a spacecraft. An alien’s spacecraft." Li Feng could not help but laugh, "Let’s not wait any longer. Mayor Ma, kindly arrange the migration immediately."

At their level, they did not know the existence of the Glassians. Li Feng needed to explain it over and over again until the leaders of United City forcefully accepted the fact.

An hour later, the migration had finally begun.

People lined up in a kilometer-long queue to walk out of the city towards the wilderness.

As it was hard to survive in United City, the very moment the news of migration was announced, the citizens had lost their minds in joy. Hordes of people thronged towards the migration crowd, causing a few hundreds of people to be trampled to death. The military police had to open fire to get them under control.

The figures were out of Luo Yuan’s expectation. The initial 200,000 people were now 400,000. As people began leaving, the entire city became empty.

Fortunately, the spacecraft was big enough. Its warehouse area alone was 300,000 square meters. Even the entire population of the United City could be migrated at once.

On the third day, the spacecraft had landed in Twilight City and migrated 300,000 people. The next day, the spacecraft arrived Victory City and migrated 350,000 people.

And on the fifth day, with the increasing production of items for keeping warm, there was a total of 400,000 people migrating into the city. As many people were coming into Hope City, it was now crowded, with five floors of the residential area filled with people.

Luckily, there were 15 floors of underground space, and only 12 floors were occupied, with the remaining three floors empty. Apart from one floor that was converted into an agricultural area, there were still two floors for accommodation purposes.

The spacecraft was flying in and out, not only for the population’s migration but also bringing in massive amounts of materials and machines.

There was sufficient storage of wood for construction. With enough manpower and recovered machines, the construction of buildings was on par with the rising of the population.

On the seventh day, the migration work was completed.

The remaining population turned out less than expected, with only five million people left on earth. Everyone had gathered in Hope City.

In between, Luo Yuan brought the migrated researchers and technicians to the mothership in space. He was also there to oversee the progress.

What delighted him was how the progress experienced a breakthrough, with some of the factories revived and already starting small-scale test-run productions. With the 40,000 researchers that he brought in, the modification progress would also be accelerated.

Chapter end