Andai State lay in the tropics, bordering the sea to the south.
After Yingqi Nation relocated here, its ships had also sailed into these waters.
As a former island nation, seafaring and shipbuilding had always been Yingqi's national strengths. In the past, these industries had served as pillars of the country, generating a massive trade surplus.
But after the Earthquake Rule, Yingqi's factories and industries had almost entirely sunk along with the islands. Although some professionals in related fields had been relocated, starting over from scratch on barren new land was far from easy.
This was not a problem Yingqi alone had to face. Even powerful nations like Suoloma and North Star had seen widespread industrial decline during the Apocalypse Rules Era.
Yes, decline rather than progress.
People around the world had once generally believed that, faced with the apocalypse and humanity's possible extinction, mankind would pour all its resources into technological research and spark some kind of technological explosion.
Yet reality had turned out to be the opposite.
Scientific research was not billiards; you could not produce miracles simply by using more force.
The field of scientific research had always been such that ninety-nine percent of hard work was still worth less than that one percent of inspiration.
In these industries, more people did not mean faster research. On the contrary, too many people could end up getting in each other's way and causing countless project management problems.
And the greater issue was that research required a stable external environment, precisely what humanity could not have at present.
Every so often, Fire Thief released a new Apocalypse Rule. With humanity left in the dark beforehand, it was difficult to prepare in advance. Each time, they could only scramble for a response after the rule was announced.
That made it