Chapter 456: Chapter 168: Framework Complete, Life Changes Dramatically!

He stopped the car, rolled down the window, and, imitating what he’d seen people do in the modern world, stretched his left arm out of the vehicle.

And honestly, it really was pretty pleasant.

He took a deep breath of the damp air outside, felt the raindrops pattering against his arm, and his heart grew even more steady.

The framework and foundation of the caravan, the most important part, had already been completely put together.

Next, as long as the personnel were in place, the infrastructure of each Satellite City stabilized, and they began to have material demand and output, the caravan could be put into operation immediately.

Cheng Ye estimated that this day wouldn’t be far off. Judging from the construction speed of the first batch of Satellite Cities, in about fifteen to twenty-five days the infrastructure would be fully stabilized; by then, even if they continued gathering refugees, they wouldn’t blindly expand outward.

And those laborers who were freed up would naturally need more industries to absorb them into employment.

"Bottom line is, the infrastructure still has to be laid down first. I wonder how the power grid installation’s going."

Muttering to himself, Cheng Ye drove the off-road vehicle back to the Mechanical Bureau.

They’d been at it for most of the night; even the Sang Brothers couldn’t hold out and had gone to sleep. Only a group of apprentices were still full of energy, busying themselves around the remaining five vehicles.

Some were sticking shielding film along the edges of the windows, some were holding spray guns and adjusting paint thickness, getting ready to apply the final coat of paint to the car bodies.

The frames had already been sprayed with a silver-white primer at the factory; what they were going to cover it with now was a military green paint that Cheng Ye had specifically picked, also the most common vehicle color in the whole of Happiness City.

It wasn’t that he liked to keep a low profile; it was just really not the time to stand out.

Refugees out in the Wilderness, roaming infection sources, and those lookouts hiding in the shadows—eye-catching colors would only draw more attention. In contrast, the most down-to-earth military green could blend into the surrounding environment and cut down on unnecessary trouble.

Cheng Ye leaned to the side and watched for a while. By the time the apprentices finished spraying the roof of the last transport truck and moved the vehicle into a ventilated corner of the warehouse to dry, the sky was already fully bright.

He pulled out his Defense Communication to check the time; it was already six ten.

Yawning, he walked out of the Mechanical Bureau and jogged all the way back to the electronics factory compound.

When he reached the fifth floor, Cheng Ye deliberately paused.

The door of 529 had already been replaced with the same kind of security door as before. The dark gray metal panel gleamed coldly; compared to the creaky old wooden door of a week ago, the sense of security was instantly maxed out.

He fished out the key from his pocket, slowly slid it into the keyhole, turned it twice, and intentionally waited two seconds before pushing the door open.

The little Flame on his shoulder had already leapt out. Its red fluff completely wrapped around its round little body; it was tilting its head, alertly glancing around, but unlike usual, no information came through.

"Huh, that gaze that’s been staring at me every day is gone today?"

Cheng Ye was a bit surprised. Ever since the renovation was finished and he moved back in, there had been a few pairs of eyes secretly watching every day.

With the community militiamen he led, he’d already caught four of them; only the last crafty one hadn’t been nabbed yet.

The four they’d caught were all tight-lipped. Even with Elder He personally interrogating them, they hadn’t managed to pry out any useful information.

As for their level of cooperation—ever since the moment they were captured, it had been a bizarre 100%.

But the last few days he’d been busy at the Mechanical Bureau assembling vehicles and grinding mechanical skills. Cheng Ye hadn’t had any spare charging value to "search for intel." Now that the vehicles were more or less assembled, he could finally free up some time and see if he could pry something out of these four.

He shook his head and temporarily put the matter aside. Maybe that last lookout had pulled back for now, or maybe he was brewing some other trick. The most important thing at the moment was to catch up on sleep.

He pressed the light switch by the entrance, and with a "whoosh," the warm yellow light instantly filled the room.

The two rooms were about the same size as before, but because there was no bed, they actually looked much more spacious than before.

The old pitted concrete floor had been covered with smooth light-gray tiles. The grout between them had been wiped spotlessly clean; you couldn’t see even a speck of dust.

The walls, once blackened by mold, had not only been painted twice with anti-moisture paint but also covered with a layer of off-white wallpaper. The damp moldy smell was completely gone.

After the entire room had been fully renovated, the difference from the dilapidated look when he first moved in was like night and day.

By the window stood a long worktable, two and a half meters long and eighty centimeters wide. Scattered across it were wrenches, screwdrivers, a soldering gun he had brought back from the Mechanical Bureau, plus a few unfinished small parts and a few circuit boards lying to the side.

Against the wall facing the doorway between the two rooms, there was a second-hand brown three-seater sofa. It looked a bit shabby, with some of the leather worn off on the armrests, but once you sat on it, it was especially comfortable.

In front of the sofa was a palm-sized wooden coffee table, with three books he’d finished reading placed on top.

Right by the wall near the entrance, a simple shoe cabinet had been nailed in. Cheng Ye casually set his keys on the cabinet and flopped into the sofa, his body instantly enveloped by the soft padding.

The fatigue from many nights of working late felt like it had been drained away by more than half, and he couldn’t help letting out a long breath.

Comfortable.

With days of steady development like this, every time he came back and curled up for a little daze, he felt light all over.

Once that wave of exhaustion passed, he got up, picked up the book on the coffee table, and walked through the new doorway in the wall.

There was no door installed in the doorway, only a light-gray cotton curtain; a light lift was all it took to pass through.

The layout of the next room hadn’t changed much, except that the old broken wardrobe that couldn’t even close properly had been replaced with a tall wardrobe that reached the ceiling, big enough to hold his clothes and Battle Armor.

Next to the wardrobe was a matching ceiling-height moisture-proof bookcase, taking up half a wall. Behind the glass doors, nearly four hundred books were neatly lined up.

Some were the ones that had been sent over when he was lying in the hospital; some were brought by Jiang Chuan two days ago.

Cheng Ye casually slid open the bookcase, put back the book he’d finished, and pulled out a few he hadn’t read yet.

The area by the old wooden bed had changed quite a bit as well.

Behind the door stood a branch-shaped coat rack; at the head of the bed sat a white nightstand, with a silver, extendable desk lamp stretching out from it. The lamp arm could bend at will, just enough to shine over the head of the bed.

Cheng Ye took off his clothes and hung them on the coat rack, charged his pendant, then lay down on the bed and pressed the switch on the desk lamp. The warm white light fell just right onto the pages.

He flipped two pages, but his vision gradually blurred. The accumulated fatigue of the past few days finally surged up completely.

He pulled the main switch by the bed; the desk lamp and the light in the living room went off together, and the room sank into quiet darkness.

Within a few minutes, the sound of even breathing filled the room. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

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