Chapter 434: The Fragile Defensive Perimeter
New Obbo City in Niger, the rear-area refuge city closest to the world's largest touchpoint, had grown out of the original Obo City.
Only two or three places in Niger, including the capital, could really be called cities.
Yet amid this global crisis, New Obbo City had developed a peculiar prosperity in just a few months.
The hundreds of thousands of Niger troops guarding the touchpoint, along with refugees arriving from every direction, kept expanding its population and size.
Niger's transport capacity meant that this new city of several million people had to shoulder much of the west's industry, including ammunition production and food supply.
And, of course, the indispensable construction industry.
The old city naturally became New Aobo's central district, surrounded by vast numbers of temporary prefab houses and an increasing number of permanent buildings.
There were no skyscrapers, no artistic designs. Many residents used methods that conserved as much cement and building material as possible to erect more and more two- or three-story earthen houses, while also helping the army build simple fortifications.
New Aobo was now a densely populated African city assembled from old buildings, prefab houses, crude new structures, and a considerable number of both professionally made and improvised tents.
Thanks to Dawn's efforts throughout the surrounding area, security around the city was fairly reliable. Gathering nature's bounty of fruit and vegetables in the new forest zones, along with crops planted earlier, was not difficult. Combined with supplies from other parts of the country, this kept the city from facing famine for the time being.
The whole city had developed a division of labor suited to the circumstances. Most people could make a living through manual work, or simply enlist.
But those months of stability ended today.
Large numbers of