Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 890 - 119

Outside Marsel City, a massive mining unit descended from the sky, quickly deploying mining robots and refining equipment on this frozen land.

After numerous upgrades, the mining robots now resemble spiders; their mechanical arms are agile and powerful, wielding constantly rotating excavating heads that emit piercing roaring sounds.

These robots are stripping away layers of ice and permafrost from the surface of the mine, revealing the deeply buried ore beds beneath.

Then, they began their destructive excavation, with gigantic drills penetrating the rock layers, tearing the ore from the earth.

The ore wasn't transported directly but sent to the refining equipment nearby for preliminary smelting instead.

The refining equipment resembles a small factory, with its internal high-temperature furnace heating the ore, separating out impurities, and finally making crude metal ingots.

These ingots were neatly stacked on transport platforms, waiting to be transported back to the Floating City for secondary refining.

This was Perfikot's latest innovation to improve mining efficiency.

She fully understood, even the ore that has undergone preliminary sorting still occupies a considerable amount of space, and the Floating City already has limited space, unable to accommodate too much unprocessed ore.

Not to mention, smelting ore in the Floating City not only requires a large amount of fuel but also produces a significant amount of slag, which not only occupies space but may also pollute the Floating City's environment.

Perfikot certainly would not let the Floating City dump slag along the way; it would be too careless and inconsistent with her pursuit of extreme efficiency and resource utilization.

Therefore, after another series of improvements and upgrades, the current mining unit can not only efficiently mine ore but also conduct preliminary smelting on-site, converting ore into crude metal billets.

In this way, the volume of materials transported back to the Floating City is significantly reduced, and the purity is higher, requiring only secondary refining to obtain satisfactory raw materials.

This innovation not only saves space and fuel consumption in the Floating City but also reduces the production of slag, truly achieving multiple benefits.

At the edge of the mine, several engineers were nervously monitoring the operation of the mining units.

Weariness marked their faces, yet their eyes flickered with awe for the technology.

"The efficiency of these mining units is truly astounding," an engineer whispered, "Brandelis Count is undoubtedly the Empire's most genius Alchemist; her technology always shatters people's understanding."

"Indeed," another engineer nodded, his tone tinged with complex emotion, "I just wonder, behind such efficiency, how many people are paying the price for it…"

Their conversation was drowned by the roar of the mining robots, while the distant mountain continued to be relentlessly peeled apart, as if the earth was silently bearing this ruthless exploitation.

Not far from them, a young miner crouched low, pressing himself into the snow, carefully peeking.

Though referred to as a young man, he was practically just a half-grown child.

Aged merely fourteen or fifteen, his face still bore traces of childishness, his shoulders were frail, and his back slightly hunched, as if weighed down by life's heavy burdens.

However, even such half-grown children must prematurely carry the weight of family and social responsibilities in today's France.

The economic depression and social unrest have plunged countless families into poverty and despair.

These children, who should have been studying in school, running under the sun, have been forced to enter society early to support themselves, and even their families, by engaging in work strenuous enough to break an adult.

They operate dangerous machinery in factories or carry heavy cargo on frigid docks, each day enduring unimaginable physical and mental torment.

Most are like this child, suffering from severe malnutrition, faces sallow, eye sockets sunken, with bodies so thin and fragile that a gust of wind could topple them.

Their hands and feet often covered in frostbite, cracked skin oozing blood, each step accompanied by excruciating pain.

They bear various illnesses—coughing, fevers, joint pain—yet lack the money for treatment, forcing themselves to continue working.

For France, since that absurd war defeat, life has turned into this.

That war not only took countless young lives but also plunged the entire nation into the abyss of economic collapse and social unrest.

The humiliation of defeat stabs deeply like a sharp knife into every French person's heart.

Once prosperous and proud, now only ruins and despair remain.

Factories have shut, fields lie barren, prices skyrocket, hunger and cold become people's daily companions.

And the arrival of the apocalyptic winter has only sent the already terrible life spiraling into hell.

With the rampant blizzards and fuel shortages, countless people shiver in the cold wind, some even freezing to death on the streets.

France, the once glorious nation, now seems forgotten in the world's corner, leaving only endless suffering and struggle.

However, for Jiang Bo'Er, secretly observing the mining unit, all this is merely destined to be reckoned with and repaid.

He huddled behind icy rocks, eyes fixed on the distant Victorian mining machinery.

Those massive machines roared, greedily devouring France's land and resources, as if mocking this land's impotence and submission.

But in Jiang Bo'Er's eyes, both these machines plundering French resources and all the Victorians' imposed upon France—plunder, oppression, humiliation—will one day be repaid in kind!

Every French person thinks so, but Jiang Bo'Er is among those who believe the reckoning and repayment need not be confined to 'one day.'

He joined a group formed by workers, some aged members having participated in France's great revolution.

They personally experienced the revolution that overthrew royal rule, even using the King's invention—the guillotine—to execute him.

The experiences of these veteran workers infused the group with a spirit of resistance, their presence solidifying the group's beliefs.

Simultaneously, young individuals like Jiang Bo'Er joined as well.

Though they hadn't experienced the revolution, having grown up under Victorian oppression, the seeds of resistance had long since been planted in their hearts.

Dissent toward Victorian rule burgeoned; they planned uprisings and riots to overthrow Victorian tyranny and restore France's former glory.

And Perfikot's command and brutal exploitation of France merely catalyze this uprising and riot to erupt sooner and more fiercely.