I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 681 - 579: Resource Shortage

From the breakthrough in the Honghu Region to the eventual stabilization of the situation, the fierce battle lasted for a whole week, with more than thirty tactical nuclear bombs used on the battlefield, making Chen Xin think for a moment that the military intended to create an isolation zone with low-yield nuclear weapons.

In fact, if nuclear bombs could create an isolation zone to block the alien creatures, the military wouldn’t hesitate to do so.

Unfortunately, the alien creatures were not so easily stopped; even if the excavated tunnels were collapsed by nuclear bombs, these creatures, so numerous they could trigger trypophobia, would still surge like a tide directly from the surface.

The method of collapsing underground tunnels only served to prevent them from bypassing the defenses and ambushing from below.

However, after destroying the majority of the tunnels dug by the aliens through underground water layers, their offensive was finally curbed.

This might also be because although aliens can massively catalyze sub-bodies, the substantial loss of sub-bodies after the nukes meant they needed replenishment. Also, the elongated battle lines with most troop transport tunnels bombed led to a less fierce offensive compared to the beginning.

Now, all defenses are seizing the time to construct permanent fortifications, aiming to use this slightly more relaxed period to build a solid defense line.

Previously, although they also relied on the defense lines to withstand the aliens’ fierce attacks, most of them were constructed temporarily due to the urgency of the situation, and even later reinforcements could not reach the level of permanent fortifications.

This time, with the situation stabilized and the aliens’ offensive somewhat eased, the military and high-level officials intend to use this period to strengthen the defenses, improving the overall defensive capability to prevent them from being easily breached again.

Due to the need to construct defenses, a large workforce was drawn from the cities surrounding Dongting Lake, and the original cities were either demolished or transformed based on different needs, with a large population relocated behind the defense line for reassignment.

It can be said that although the military stabilized the defense line and repelled the aliens’ attack, frustrating their attempt to bypass the line, strategically, this is a rather successful counterattack.

But on the same note, humanity lost the entire Dongting Lake Region, with several cities and millions of people needing relocation, along with a massive loss in industrial and agricultural capacity.

Especially the ecological greenhouse planting areas established in the Dongting Lake Region, which were completely destroyed by the aliens, significantly impacting food production.

The impact of this matter is not only limited to the Dongting Lake Area and surrounding provinces but also spreads to the entire southern region.

It should be known that before the alien invasion, the country planned to transform the Dongting Lake Area into an important grain-producing region for the entire southern region, supplying food and vegetables to several surrounding provinces.

But now, all of that is gone.

If it wasn’t for the military and high-level officials resorting to nuclear weapons at the last moment to block the aliens’ advance on the capitals of Xiang Province and Hubei Province, the losses could have been even greater.

After all, the capitals of Xiang Province and Hubei Province are the largest cities in the Central South Region of the country, accumulating vast industrial and technological capacities. Once lost, the blow to the country would be immense. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Not to mention the combined population of millions in the two cities; smaller cities can be migrated, but relocating or evacuating such large cities could affect the entire country, making it impossible to move or relocate easily.

Therefore, what the military can do is hold these two cities with all possible means to prevent them from being taken by the alien creatures.

Fortunately, relying on humanity’s ultimate means, nuclear weapons, they finally held the defense line.

Now, the country can only find new suitable areas to rebuild the cities and these production facilities, to quickly restore capacity.

However, the impact of this wave of losses is unlikely to be eliminated in a short time; even if production is restored, it will take at least three to four months, during which all supplies have become very tight.

"Chen Xin, these are the supplies allocated for this month. Please take a look, as your signature is required." Tang Tang placed a supply list in front of Chen Xin, indicating for him to review and sign it.

Chen Xin was not surprised, as previously these matters were handled by Tang Tang’s signature, but now due to the shortage of materials, the supplies allocated to each department must be confirmed by the responsible person’s signature to avoid issues or embezzlement.

Therefore, these documents now require Chen Xin to sign them personally. Fortunately, Tang Tang usually prepares these documents well, allowing Chen Xin to simply read and sign them.

Yet this time, the supply list brought by Tang Tang clearly showed a reduction in the quantity of supplies compared to the previous month.

Although Chen Xin was not very involved in management, he still cared about the distribution of supplies, as Tang Tang would only seek him for a few matters each month, so he was somewhat aware.

This made Chen Xin frown and ask Tang Tang, "Senior, what’s going on? Why are the supplies much less this month?"

"The battle at the front is tense, so supplies from the rear must be tightened." Tang Tang sighed helplessly and pointed to the list in Chen Xin’s hand, explaining, "Because a large amount of supplies needs to be sent to the front lines for building the defense lines and producing various equipment, the supplies in the rear have naturally been reduced to ensure supply to the front line.

We are somewhat fortunate, leveraging the names of producing Titan and the Research Center, we can request a bit more during reports, unlike other places without such favorable conditions, where many have already begun implementing a wartime supply system.

Even these supplies, I retained our share with great effort; otherwise, what we could get this month would have been even less."

After listening to Tang Tang’s explanation, Chen Xin shook his head helplessly. Strictly speaking, they are also considered at the front line, but being behind the defense line and as a production and research unit, they are still under the scope of supply assurance but are nonetheless affected.

Moreover, upon careful review, Chen Xin found that the decrease mainly concerned the supply of food items such as fruits and vegetables, while materials related to the production of Titans like steel were only slightly affected, indicating the country’s most severely impacted area is grain production.

Thinking of this, he could only sigh before signing his name on the document, then saying to Tang Tang, "Let Professor Li over there speed up the operation of the ecological greenhouse in the Dome City; at least we should ensure the food and vegetable supply for the city."