I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 501 - 499: Lucia’s New Crisis

At this moment, in the distant Lucia Capital, the situation was far worse than within Flame Country, and many places could only be described as Hell on earth.

Due to the pandemic, although Lucia had a relatively well-established shelter system, they lacked the manpower to operate them now, leading to severe shortages in food, heating, and medical care.

Each shelter in Lucia Capital faced the predicament of interrupted heating, insufficient food supply, and the direst—the inability to promptly treat patients.

Interrupted heating and insufficient food supply were tolerable hardships; after all, in this kind of environment, people could endure temporary difficulties.

However, problems arising from the lack of timely treatment for patients were extremely severe.

The spread of the pandemic itself easily incites panic; even before the disaster, if a disease started spreading in a city, even if hospitals had the capacity to treat it, it could easily lead to panic and fear among people, causing them to rush to buy necessities, medicines, and even inciting riots.

What’s more now, with the outside environment extremely harsh and no one able to go out, being stuck in a shelter was akin to being put in an enclosed environment.

If there was no infection, people’s emotions could remain relatively stable; after all, in a closed environment, one could console themselves that the disease and infected wouldn’t come in.

But if infection breaks out within the enclosed shelter...

Ever seen zombies unleashed from a zombie movie? In utter desperation, seeking a way out, people driven to extremes are more terrifying than zombies.

And now in Lucia Capital, diseases were spreading in shelters, with some infections quite severe.

The speed of the disease’s spread had exceeded Lucia’s official control, and even the medical system itself was rife with infected, unable to effectively treat patients or curb the pandemic’s spread.

The medical team sent by Flame Country had limited manpower and resources, making it hard to make a significant impact. Though they had treated some patients and assisted Lucia’s doctors in treating infections, their limited resources only provided minimal help to Lucia.

It’s like trying to benefit the ocean with a drop of water.

They mainly ensured the health of the members aboard the two arks, Xu Dog and Hai Pig, collecting virus strains for vaccine production.

Despair spread throughout Lucia Capital, turning every corner into Hell on earth.

It’s like a powder keg with its fuse lit, waiting to explode once the fuse burns out.

As Murphy’s Law states, if there are two or more ways to do something, and one of them will lead to disaster, then someone will choose that way.

In such extreme circumstances, someone opted for an even more extreme approach, triggering a riot in one of the shelters where the infection wasn’t particularly severe, spreading faster than the disease itself, plunging Lucia Capital into utter chaos.

This couldn’t be said to be the wrong choice; under the pressure of disease, hunger, and cold, people choosing extreme methods to vent their emotions was normal, but in current circumstances, it was the worst choice.

Lucia was already in despair and chaos, with the officials trying hard to keep things from collapsing entirely. If they could provide effective treatment for the infected and produce vaccines, or if Flame Country could spare more resources to aid Lucia, there would still be a glimmer of hope.

But a riot now would cause the order, which could hold a little longer, to collapse completely, dragging everything into the abyss.

With order lost and everything thrown into chaos, the fragile situation they had been maintaining would collapse. Without an operative official system and medical power, Lucia would face death from cold and disease.

No one would strive to treat the infected, no one would distribute food, no one would provide shelter protection...

Everything descended into chaotic disorder, with people smashing everything in sight, destroying, engaging in violence, and chaos—the destruction of everything that could have offered survival hope.

But everyone fell into a fever pitch; the rational ones who tried to stop it were knocked down, trampled by countless feet.

No one could stop the fervent and surging crowd in the chaos, nor could anyone prevent this.

Even though Lucia’s leaders deployed the army, they only managed to curb the spread of the riots, unable to stop further deterioration of the situation.

After all, even the army was infected by the disease, with many soldiers ill, facing a manpower shortage.

Unless Lucia’s leaders ordered the army to attack the rioters, the limited military forces they could mobilize were powerless to stop the uprising.

Yet even if the rioters couldn’t break through the army, the impact of the riot still spread, dragging more areas into unrest, leaving the already overwhelmed Lucia officials struggling to cope.

Furthermore, some rioters charged towards the medical team sent by Flame Country, aiming to seize the two arks sent by Flame Country.

Fortunately, once the pandemic spread, the two arks hadn’t landed, managing to distance themselves from the ground amidst the turmoil and thus remained unaffected.

But there were still patients aboard the arks, and some rescue team members trapped at Lucia’s medical institutions on the ground.

In such circumstances, it’s clear that the arks couldn’t simply take off and leave; they had to at least rescue the trapped rescue team members.

Though the rescue team carried certain armed capability, some soldiers had to remain on the ark to protect it, while others had already joined rescue team members in Lucia’s medical institutions.

Originally there to protect the rescue team, now they themselves were trapped on the ground.

Faced with such a predicament, seeking help from Lucia’s officials was no longer a viable solution. After consulting, the captains of the two arks and the rescue team leaders sent a distress signal home.