Book 6 Chapter 33.5 - Storm

The mechanical bugs were like a line of ocean waves, surging forward from the north. The Blood Parliament was the greatest submerged reef of these ocean waves. The line of waves passed over the Blood Parliament, continuing forward, but as the great waves’ lines advanced, the mechanical bugs’ density would thereupon decline, moreover unavoidably produce gaps and holes.

From the Blood Parliament’s civil war to the mechanical bug swarm’s appearance, the entire northern continent was thrown into chaos. The refugees were almost completely wiped out, those who survived fleeing in all different directions. Under large-scale war, the battlefield had long extended beyond the original powers. Many small-scale powers were wiped out, like the large and small companies, and groups like the Alloy Brotherhood. The smaller powers and organizations disappeared without any news, they didn’t have much impact when they still existed, and as such, their deaths wouldn’t stir up much waves either. In an era where abilities were rampant, ordinary people didn’t even have the chance to stake it all; using different words, they weren’t even given the chance to become heroes of tragedy.

However, in this era of howling winds and torrential rain, no one noticed that in a peaceful southern area, a completely new human inhabited area was currently thriving. Now, this inhabited area already evolved from its original few hundred to close to two thousand, most of them were outsiders that were brought in, but the beginning few hundred were clearly still the backbone. The inhabited area’s back was to a mountain, before it water, river water moving through a canal into a staircase type continuous reservoir, after a filtration, precipitation, absorption, and other procedures, it would gradually be converted into clean water. The most important thing was that the degree of radiation would also decrease somewhat, already reaching the level where the inhabited area’s people could drink it day to day. Several large pieces of farmland were set up in the inhabited area’s surroundings, within them growing a few strange plants. Even though they weren’t common foods, they could all be eaten, and the production amount wasn’t too low. The most important thing was that they grew extremely vigorously, maturing in just a month or two.

What was even more striking was the factory next to the inhabited area. This was actually a true factory! Several large steel pots rested side by side, heat added through steam. The boiler producing the steam even carried a small-scale electricity generator, giving the inhabited area a small amount of extremely precious electrical power. Next to the factory, the second factory was already starting to take form, currently having the installations installed. The so-called installations and running water line were all handmade by the residents, and then assembled and installed. Not far from the second factory, the third factory foundations were currently being dug out. If a technology manager from the Blood Parliament was here, he would be able to immediately tell that these three factories linked up together were precisely the cornerstone of the Blood Parliament’s development: a synthetic food factory. The Blood Parliament never lacked energy from the moment it was established, which was why the synthetic food factories were basically completely automatic, a heavy emphasis placed on the quality of the product as well, the end product possessing both nutrients and taste, truly high quality products that didn’t suffer the contamination of any radiation. All individuals with some status would basically use this type of synthetic food as their main meal ingredients. Of course, truly upper level figures could enjoy truly natural yet uncontaminated goods, for example, Morgan’s coffee.

The inhabited area’s food factory used the same theories, but the work flow and details had undergone great changes. There were many segments that were simplified, much fine processing work directly removed, which was why what was produced were completely some waste products that couldn't be eaten. They were crude, lacking texture, and had quite a bit of impurities and radiation. Their only merit was their heat content, but this just happened to be what the upper level figures who needed to preserve their figures hated the most. The revised blueprint decreased the energy needed to the absolute lowest limit, its dependence on electrical power even more so close to zero. The main energy and heat supply came from coal, not far from this place was a small-scale open coal mine left behind before the war, the output not great, but for the inhabited area, there was enough and to spare. The products of this kind of synthetic food factory couldn’t even be considered semi-finished goods, but the output was more than doubled, and it could still be eaten, enough for everyone in the inhabited area to eat. In most great figures’ eyes, this type of thing could only be considered pig feed, while the wilderness refugees, in their eyes, were less than even pigs.

However, once this factory was built, its significance was clear and easy to see. It’s workmanship was simple, could be built through handwork, its energy source requirement even more so wide-ranging, enough as long as they had coal, even better if they had oil. A wider range of materials could be imputed than for the original factory, and with abundant raw materials that could be found in the wilderness, many plants that originally couldn’t be eaten could be converted into synthetic food material. This factory could provide enough food to support 5000 people. In the wilderness, this was definitely a large number. There was also water, an almost limitless supply of water. With these two things secured, as well as the human race’s sped up reproduction cycle and maturation period that was reduced by over half, in less than twenty years, this inhabited area would develop into a city of ten thousand. 

Its other part of its significance laid in the fact that the simplified synthetic food factory could be built through manual labor, didn’t need a large amount of energy, nor did it need powerful ability users, only needing a few second level ability users to transport certain facilities. In the wilderness, second level ability users weren’t that widespread, but they were definitely not uncommon, pretty much equivalent to the number of large and tall men in the olden era. This meant that the ordinary people surviving in the wilderness once again returned to an industrial society, able to rely on their strength to earn a livelihood, able to obtain food through production instead of depending on robbery, scavenging, and hunting for survival. Before this, the only ones who had the ability to produce synthetic food factories were ultra level powers like the Blood Parliament or Holy Crusaders with powerful science and technology backing them. The factories they created would naturally only be used by the upper stratum of society, while the people of the wilderness who truly needed large amounts of low quality food didn’t have any resources, nor did they understand the technology needed to construct a synthesis factory. After a few decades passed, everything became usual practice and natural, as if ability users should be the ones eating better, while the refugees without abilities would always be struggling along the line of life and death.

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