Cave Refuge-Chapter 269 - 265 Population Dividend_1
It’s quite evident that Pengcheng encourages childbirth, and the essential reason isn’t hard to guess.
Just like during the early establishment of Datong, it was due to the vast population that rapid development and supremacy over other nations were achieved.
No matter when or where, the population size has always been an essential indicator of a nation’s prosperity.
Take the case of India, for instance. Although Datong constantly mocks India’s inefficiencies, excluding the East Asian anomaly and the P5 meetings, India’s potential for war far outweighs other nations.
Even the once mighty Germany, which swept across Europe during World War II, is not on par with India today.
Though India often seems to be a clown in a circus troupe, its military strength should not be underestimated if a new global war were to break out.
We should stop demeaning India by always comparing it to us.
Remember, we once battled both the class president and vice-president of the Blue Star class, before securely holding the position of the Study Commissioner.
Although India can’t defeat our class representatives, tormenting the ordinary classmates is a piece of cake.
The current corruption in India’s caste system is common knowledge, not only among its citizens but also foreigners.
Like us during our time, they’re inherently rotten. We chose to reboot, while India still clings to its ways.
But despite this, India still ranks high in our class. Why is that? Isn’t it due to their vast population?
So, whether it’s Pengcheng or Datong, they are taking advantage of the negligible harm The Long Night disaster poses to survivors, to forcibly ramp up their population count through semi-forceful means.
Of course, this is for the survivors under the official administration. For survivors like Dong Tianyu, who exist outside the state’s control, officials wouldn’t enforce restrictions as they did before the disaster.
However, to put his mother at ease, Dong Tianyu took Walker Violet to meet his parents at their office building.
Walker Violet was smart enough to understand Dong Tianyu’s purpose for introducing her to his parents and successfully played the role of a gentle and virtuous future daughter-in-law.
Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were pleased with Walker Violet, especially after knowing that she is an orphan and has been living with Dong Tianyu.
Although Mrs. Thompson was concerned about her brother and father, she didn’t want a daughter-in-law who was overly attached to her parents.
Unlike the pre-disaster days when siding with one’s parents would only lead to financial loss, now, showing excessive favoritism could inadvertently result in the total destruction of one’s family.
To be completely honest, now that Cave is hidden within chaos, Dong Tianyu didn’t necessarily have to live in the cave of Nameless Mountain. He could very well return and live with his parents in their office building.
If he decided to move in with his parents, to avoid raising suspicion, Dong Tianyu would need to ’work outside’ every day and potentially report daily if he returned home late.
Along with this, there would be various troubles, similar to those students staying in dormitories face when they return home for holidays, or those returning home for festivities after working outside.
In the first few days of their return, whether parents or others, everyone is quite tolerant of him. However, this period usually doesn’t exceed seven days, after which the family members start getting annoyed with his lack of activity at home.
Although they can only return home a few days a year, if they stay at home for too long, they not only irritate their family but also find it incredibly dull.
After all, their social connections are all located outside, and though they have some friends locally, they’ve probably caught up with all of them within five days.
Despite it being their hometown, those who usually live outside don’t know where to go once they return, hence, they prefer staying at home.
Although they’re close relatives and return home after a long time, it’s human nature to be more open with people we’re familiar with. The longer they stay home, the more likely they are to conflict with their relatives.
Similarly, those living with their parents after marriage also face such issues. Except for very few intelligent daughters-in-law or sons-in-law, most of the three-generation families usually have various disputes.
Sometimes, it seems that the saying ’distance makes the heart grow fonder’ stands true.
Hence, as long as Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are not in danger, Dong Tianyu doesn’t intend to move in with them.
As for sending his parents into Cave, Dong Tianyu doesn’t want to resort to this unless absolutely necessary.
Though Cave may appear safe, it is essentially an inescapable cage. It is suitable for the canary but his parents are not criminals; they shouldn’t be confined within Cave.
With Walker Violet now in their lives, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson’s most significant worry has been eliminated. Now, the parents, who are no longer concerned about other things, have not only begun to urge Dong Tianyu and Walker Violet to have children soon but also lead a more relaxed life.
If it weren’t for the constant darkness outside, life now would be much more comfortable than, before the disaster.
Not only did Dong Tianyu feel this way, but the other survivors did too.
At this time, there were no annoying car loans or mortgages, and all those inexplicable pressures were gone. As long as one was willing to work, the Officials could arrange a suitable job.
Although the work might be a bit hard, there was none of that nonsense about baffling reports, comparative analysis, and daily or weekly updates.
The work involved only physical fatigue and was devoid of any mental stress.
The variety of food provided by the Officials might not be much, but at least every survivor wouldn’t starve.
In the once bustling age, whether one was an official or an ordinary person, although everyone still had their own self-interest, at least they considered others’ feelings. They left room for adjustment in all matters and didn’t drive anyone into a corner.
Time passed slowly during these calm days. As everyone was getting used to living in the dark, one early morning, the sunlight slowly pierced through the darkness and once again illuminated the land.
For the survivors who had grown accustomed to the dark, the reappearance of the sun was somewhat disconcerting.
Although the ordinary people were still a bit unsettled, the Officials had already been prepared. As soon as the sun reappeared, they immediately stopped the workers at the Human-powered Power Plant.
They instead directed the workers immediately into the surrounding farmland, swiftly relocating the fungus wood chip bundles, which were originally in the fields, to the underground Refuge Center’s dark confines.
They tilled the vacated farmland and swiftly began to sow seeds.
Now, anyone with a discerning eye knew that there was always a buffer period after each natural disaster. There were no mishaps during this time, and the weather was smooth and tranquil.
So if they wanted to safely weather the next wave of natural disasters, they had to take advantage of this buffer period to hoard as much supplies as they could. Only in this way could they peacefully endure the next wave of disasters.
After all, everyone knew that not every disaster, like the eternal night, would barely affect humans.
Dong Tianyu was not sure about other cities, but in Pengcheng, most of the city’s infrastructure had already been restored during the eternal night. The impact brought by the electromagnetic pulse was almost completely eliminated.
Not only that, but because they had discovered the Bug Nest, the Officials also frequently arranged convoys to conduct trade missions.
In the process of these trades, Pengcheng noticed a peculiar problem. Regardless of whether they were queen bugs, larvae, or soldier bugs, they would instantly die if they left Pengcheng.
After testing, they found that the only common bugs that wouldn’t die immediately upon leaving the Pengcheng area were those that would slowly die after leaving the queen bug.
This fact could explain that these bugs were a special product of Pengcheng. For unknown reasons, they would die immediately after leaving Pengcheng.
Moreover, the Bug Nest seemed to respawn like in a video game. Even after the Officials had arranged for every single bug nest in the area to be removed inch by inch, new nests would reappear in different places within the area after just a few days.
Although many people gradually stopped caring about this after experiencing it multiple times, some people became increasingly worried because of it.
The persistent regrowth of the Bug Nest, combined with the recurring natural disasters that felt like they were being controlled by someone.
All these scenarios didn’t fit with the human cognition on Blue Star. Instead, it was as if someone was constantly adjusting the plot of a television drama or the levels of a video game.
The survivors in Pengcheng were like NPCs in a game or extras in a TV drama, anticipating the arrival of the protagonist.
But after surviving so many rounds of natural disasters, Dong Tianyu still hadn’t figured out who could possibly be the protagonist.
He was sure he wouldn’t be the protagonist for a drama that is so laid-back would not be popular.
Perhaps it was because Pengcheng was only a second or third tier city and not a city where a protagonist would emerge. So it could only be like a city in an open-world game-without any main storyline.
So the protagonist might pass by the city due to a mission, but he wouldn’t stay long here because there were no tasks here.
Considering the situation in Pengcheng in his past life, Dong Tianyu felt more convinced about his hypothesis.
After all, in his previous life, before Dong Tianyu died, the survivors were still hunkered down in the underground refuge center, whether it was during the buffer period or the onset of the eternal night.
But now they were close to restoring the city to its pre-disaster prosperity, a striking contrast to before.
He really did not know what kind of relationship he would have with the protagonist if they came to Pengcheng and found it in such a state. Would any new quests be generated?
The only thing that bothered Dong Tianyu was that his foreknowledge ability, which he gained from his rebirth, had now disappeared. He didn’t know what form the next wave of disasters would take.
Even though he was fully prepared to face the unknown, Dong Tianyu still felt slightly apprehensive.
