I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 606 - 504 Choice

"I'm heading out!" In the morning, after finishing his breakfast and tidying up the packaging of his emergency food, Cao Min greeted his family, grabbed his gear, and prepared to leave.

Before the disaster, Cao Min had a decent job and a happy family, but the disaster struck, destroying his once happy life.

Nowadays, Cao Min is just an ordinary construction worker, and although this job is vastly different from his previous one, having a stable job in this current environment is already very challenging.

Although the country values talent and recruits truly capable people to engage in similar work as before the disaster, there are still industry limitations.

People with skills in manufacturing and research-related technical industries can naturally find new jobs smoothly, but those in third industries like services and finance now struggle to find appropriate work in this era.

It's actually inevitable due to the times and environment, as the development of the third industry relies on a country's overall economic prosperity and advancement—people will want to enjoy more services only when they have money.

When you're too poor to even afford food, how could you possibly want more services?

This is why Cao Min is now just an ordinary construction worker; in this shelter, it's the only job that provides enough income to support his family.

Due to post-disaster rebuilding, construction workers are now the most in-demand jobs, and although other better jobs exist in the shelters, they're not generally attainable by regular people.

For ordinary people like Cao Min without special skills, being a physical laborer as a construction worker is the most suitable job nowadays.

Cao Min's task today isn't complicated—just clearing the ruins of the old city and leveling the land outside the shelter. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

It's a simple job that anyone with enough physical strength can accomplish, so there isn't any difficulty involved—just a bit tiring.

For Cao Min, being a bit tired doesn't matter; after all, he is still relatively young. He just needs a good night's sleep after a day's work to be refreshed again the next day. As long as he earns enough income daily to support his family, being a bit tired is insignificant for Cao Min.

Just as Cao Min gathered with his coworkers at the construction site to start the day's work, the foreman stopped them.

"A new project is about to start, and they plan to allocate some people from here to it," the foreman announced unexpected news to the workers and continued explaining, "The good news is that workers transferred to the new project will receive a 10% increase in welfare, but the bad news is that because the location is closer to the county area and farther from the city, all workers transferred will need to live on the construction site until the project is completed.

Of course, there will still be weekends to go back, and currently, it's voluntary registration. Is anyone interested in signing up?"

The foreman's words made everyone hesitant and tempted; a 10% increase in welfare is undoubtedly enticing under these circumstances, especially since it's distributed as physical goods rather than money, ensuring the family can stay fed and clothed.

But living on the construction site inevitably makes everyone a bit nervous.

Before the disaster, it was a trivial matter—at worst, just poor and tough living conditions.

However, in today's environment, living on a construction site means more than just poor conditions; it could be fatal if not handled properly.

Of course, the workers know the country wouldn't let people freeze to death since they decided to do this; accommodation conditions must be guaranteed.

As for living conditions, in today's world, having a place to stay is good enough—quality is irrelevant.

Yet, most people still prefer the stable and familiar environment of the shelter, reluctant to venture into unknown risks.

However, some are enticed by the additional 10% income and raised their hands to volunteer for the new project.

Unsurprisingly, Cao Min was one of them.

Even though he doesn't want to leave his wife and family and isn't driven by the extra 10% income, he has a compelling reason to go.

His wife is pregnant.

Regardless of whether it's before or after the disaster, this is a joyous occasion.

Especially now, when life is difficult, having a new addition to the family and the couple having a child—a product of their love—is a reason for happiness.

But it also means a heavy burden.

The country provides subsidies in this regard; pregnant women can receive half additional food rations to supplement their nutrition, and there are extra allowances after the baby is born.

This can be considered the country's encouragement for population growth in these circumstances.

Even with these benefits, current conditions still pale compared to before the disaster; not to mention ordinary items like chicken, which Cao Min can now only dream about.

What he can think of and do is simply working a bit more to save more food for his wife and the soon-to-be-born child, ensuring the baby isn't hungry before it's born.

In fact, most of those volunteering for the construction site are in similar situations, perhaps to save more food for their families, or due to other reasons, at worst they're single and want to eat a little better.

Soon the foreman recruited enough workers and registered their names.

The new project hasn't started yet, so they don't need to go over there so early—it's just an initial name registration.

After seeing his name on the foreman's list, Cao Min felt relieved and returned to the construction site with his coworkers to begin the day's work.

Due to geological disaster reasons, the country decided to build the new Dome City in the county area, but that doesn't mean the urban area here is completely abandoned.

Despite the considerable size of the collapsed area, fortunately, it wasn't the city itself, and geological experts concluded after assessment that the geological structure of the urban area is relatively stable. Although the groundwater level has dropped, it hasn't reached the point of abandoning the city.

Therefore, the ultimate plan is to establish the new city in the county area while not forsaking the existing urban area—just part of the population will be relocated to the new city, and here, the urban ruins will be cleared and the land leveled to allow for the possibility of building Dome City in the urban area.