Luo You had just left.
The Giant Stone Territory welcomed long-awaited liveliness. With more than four hundred newcomers joining the over one hundred able-bodied adults already there during the day, its population soared to nearly eight hundred.
Fortunately, the Stone Houses had previously been built based on an estimated population of one thousand, so they were still barely enough for now.
The outsiders had no complaints whatsoever about twelve people sharing one Stone House.
Compared to living in the fifty-person communal bunkhouses down the mountain, this was far more comfortable.
However, with the population increase, the territory's livelihood and infrastructure problems became much more serious.
There was no water on the mountain.
To reach the nearest water source, they first had to walk nearly four kilometers along the Mountain Road, then another three kilometers across level ground.
Even supplying only the most basic drinking water required sending at least thirty people down every day, rotating in teams of ten to transport it back up.
Considering that disaster had recently broken out and the outside world was far from safe, three guards also had to accompany each team.
The manpower consumed by the round trip was immense, yet they still could not supply enough water.
Any unexpected incident could leave the mountain without water.
Secondly.
Although, before the disaster arrived, Old Zhang had arranged for people to store plenty of infrastructure materials in the two settlements behind them,
with the population now larger, those supplies would only be consumed faster and faster.
Whether for lighting fires and cooking, illumination and heating, or continued infrastructure construction,
the necessary materials were difficult to find on the mountain. They had to search for or trade for them elsewhere at the foot of the mountain.
This was extremely unfavorable for the current Giant Stone Territory.