The next day.
Lü Yongchang frowned at the documents on the desk before him.
He heard the office door open.
He glanced up at the visitor, then lowered his head and resumed leafing through the documents.
"Fang Xu?" Lü Yongchang asked quietly. "What is it?"
Fang Xu took no offense at Lü Yongchang's attitude. He walked over to the desk with a broad smile.
"I have two pieces of good news. Which would you like to hear?"
A flicker of puzzlement appeared in Lü Yongchang's eyes.
He looked away from the documents before him and raised his head toward Fang Xu. "Two?"
Fang Xu nodded. "The first has to do with your speech yesterday."
"The global address had a major impact."
"We're getting feedback from all over the world. Apparently, people are much more eager to take part in the evacuation now."
"Some have even volunteered to help the staff carry out the Escape Plan."
Lü Yongchang nodded in satisfaction.
"That is good news indeed."
Greater willingness to evacuate could significantly improve the evacuees' survival rate.
During interstellar travel, the more productive people they could carry within their load capacity, the better.
As for what counted as a productive population...
It was simple, and cruel.
Those who could contribute to production now, or would be able to in the future.
In other words, young and middle-aged adults, and children.
After all, there was no telling what unexpected disasters might occur in space.
Never mind space.
Even on Earth, a chain of disasters triggered by a rise in global average temperatures had killed over a billion people in just a few months.
Although most of those billion people had been elderly and unable to move easily, the smaller number of young adults and children who had died in natural disasters had