"This drone's design is completely different from our previous designs; it must have been designed after the apocalypse."
The middle-aged engineer was piecing together the wreckage parts of the drone, trying to arrange them in the shape they were in before they were destroyed.
Around him, a group of thin young apprentices stood, each staring intently at the part in his hands.
"Look at this engine. It uses a completely different standard than anything we used before. Nobody in the world used this standard before the apocalypse..."
The middle-aged engineer patiently explained things to his apprentices, who would become his successors.
However, at that moment, the door slammed shut, and a burly man pushed it open and entered.
"What happened? I heard there's a drone wreck here?"
The man was wearing sunglasses and had a homemade cigarette dangling from his lips. Ever since he entered, all the apprentices had lowered their heads, unable to look him in the eye.
"Mr. Cleveland, the information you received is correct." The middle-aged engineer, like a hotel waiter, clasped his hands together in front of the man, his gaze downward at a 45-degree angle.
This man is Edgar Cleveland, a member of the Cleveland Family and the second son of the current patriarch. In this " Cleveland Kingdom," he is a born Celestial Dragon.
Edgar was already used to the respect shown to them. He walked towards the experimental table with his bodyguards and looked at the wreckage of the drone on it.
Who manufactured this drone?
This was the real reason he rushed here.
Just as Zhang Tianyuan had thought.
In this apocalyptic environment, air power is extremely scarce. Their family's armed forces haven't shot down a plane in thirteen years.
If it weren't for this use, he would have almost forgotten that his family had a stockpile of anti-aircraft missiles.
With air power scarce, every aircraft that emerges represents a potentially powerful force behind it.
This, in fact, signifies the approaching crisis.
Therefore, he had to find out where the drone came from.
Edgar's blue eyes stared at the middle-aged engineer, a cigarette dangling from his lips. He said menacingly, "I hope you've got a clue about this. You've been eating here for free for fifteen years."
The middle-aged engineer jolted, his posture becoming even more respectful and reserved. He invited Edgar to the lab bench. "Please rest assured, sir, I have a lead on the production side."
"Look here." He pointed to a part on the wreckage.
Edgar bent down to look, and when he saw what was written there, his eyes involuntarily contracted.
2056·12·26
This number is clearly a date (year, month, day), and it should be the production date, but...
But isn't it only 2043 now?
"What's going on?" Edgar looked at the middle-aged engineer again, his eyes showing no doubt.
However, the other party could not provide an explanation.
He was just an engineer, not a detective.
But he pointed to other parts of the wreckage:
"This drone has Chinese markings on many parts, so it is very likely that it was manufactured in the East."
"East..."
Edgar muttered the word, then casually picked up a part with Chinese characters and the production date on it and left.
Back in the council hall of the bunker.
His parents, older brother, younger sister, and many younger relatives are all here, and they have all received news about the drone.
This drone has completely shattered the family's peaceful life.
"How are things, Edgar?"
The father was the first to ask a question.
Edgar handed over the parts he was holding.
"The drone wreckage bears a large amount of Chinese characters, leading us to speculate that it was a drone from the East."
He didn't mention the "production time," as he thought it was likely a labeling error.
However, this one thing alone is frightening enough.
"East?" Everyone jumped, as if a thief caught red-handed by a flashlight.
"We're separated by the Pacific Ocean, so why would those people come looking for us? Why do those Easterners have the ability to come here?"
The Cleveland patriarch rose from his throne and went to the table to carefully examine the parts his son had brought back. Sure enough, he found Chinese markings on them.
The eldest son, his face grim, warned, "We haven't been paying attention to the situation in the world. Now it seems they may have gathered their strength and landed on our shores without our knowledge."
Immediately, someone scratched their head and raised a new question:
"Are they crazy? In this situation?"
"There's absolutely no point in crossing the ocean!"
"At this time, with no trade, no industry, and no production, what are they doing crossing the Pacific Ocean to come here?"
Nobody knows the answer to this question.
Just when everyone was racking their brains trying to figure it out, new information came in.
A subordinate knocked on the door to report:
"Our convoy, which was on the front lines for reconnaissance, encountered an Eastern convoy but managed to escape."
Also brought in were photos taken by the reconnaissance convoy. When zoomed in, it was clear that it was a strangely shaped convoy with four flags on the vehicles, as well as some Chinese characters and numbers.
"It seems they really have landed in our country..." Seeing the four flags on the vehicle, the Cleveland patriarch knew that these people had ill intentions.
Not long after, news came back from the various racing teams.
Then, caravans kept witnessing those Eastern caravans appearing around their territory, and the caravans contained not only Easterners but also other races.
These Eastern caravans seemed to be scouting them, or perhaps they had their own mission to carry out.
The objective cannot be determined.
The other party also showed no willingness to communicate with them.
The entire Cleveland Family was on tenterhooks.
The clan chief quickly made a decision:
"Go check our secret weapons immediately and determine their condition."
"Furthermore, send out our armed forces to eliminate all these people and prevent them from continuing to operate on our territory..."
Each family member immediately took on their assigned task.
Edgar, who was in charge of the territory's security, had no new assignments. He left the council hall and went straight to his office, casually asking his secretary, "What else is on my agenda for today?"
The secretary immediately replied, "Today, three babies are celebrating their one-month birthday, and you need to brand them with the mark of loyalty. Also, a woman has applied to marry tomorrow, and she has already been brought to your room."
As he spoke, the secretary gave a lewd smile, "She's a bit thin, but she's a pretty girl, sir."
Hearing this, Edgar raised an eyebrow, whistled as he poured himself a drink, and said, "That's quite a tradition."
Zhang Tianyuan was unaware of what was happening inside the bunker.
He was still exchanging intelligence with Wang Lei.
"I have now removed all non-combat personnel from the area and dispatched sufficient reconnaissance teams to determine the force's operational range."
After listening to Wang Lei's report, Zhang Tianyuan pointed to a section of the intelligence report, "It says here that the Cleveland Family's military strength relies on reserves, and that they will be completely paralyzed once their military supplies are depleted. Is this information still credible?"
"Will they be able to rebuild the industrial system they need during this period?"
Wang Lei shook his head and admitted, "I don't know about this issue, but I also think what the chairman said isn't impossible."
The two men called over the woman surnamed DuPont, intending to question her in detail.
When she was called to an unfamiliar environment, Dale DuPont habitually began to feel uneasy. Now in middle age, she no longer had the beauty of her youth, and looked like a haggard and frightened sheep.
"Ms. DuPont, we would like to learn more about the Cleveland Family..." Zhang Tianyuan asked her kindly.
Even the usually aloof Wang Lei forced a stiff smile when the woman looked over, like those actors in toothpaste commercials who have to show their front teeth when they smile.
Deer instinctively took two steps back in the opposite direction of Wang Lei before speaking, "Our family maintained contact with them for two years, and by then they had already given up on the idea of establishing an industrial system."
"Why would they give up? Could it just be a smokescreen?" Wang Lei asked.
He put himself in others' shoes, thinking that if he were in that situation, he certainly wouldn't just drift along in such an apocalyptic environment.
Boosting productivity is essential, and we must persevere no matter what difficulties we face.
After all, this is related to one's survival and future development.
Zhang Tianyuan shared a similar idea.
"Because they can't do it. They lack the equipment, the materials, and the manpower, and besides, they possess nuclear weapons."
Zhang Tianyuan and Wang Lei exchanged a glance. Based on their beliefs, it was hard to imagine that others would give up on a bright path because of such a small difficulty.
Dale explained further, "Supporting an industrial system requires education and a lot of division of labor, which is troublesome and inconvenient to manage. They don't want that to happen."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Tianyuan immediately understood.
It's white.
Maintaining even the most basic industrial system requires workers, engineers, designers, large amounts of electricity, raw materials, transportation, automobiles, and then more electricity or fossil fuels...
Such a system is useless when it's small, but when it becomes large, it creates a large number of scattered jobs, which in turn give rise to various interest groups. The situation becomes complicated and cannot be controlled by a single family.
Therefore, instead of making things so complicated, it's better to keep things simple from the start.
Apart from the men with guns, everyone else was a slave, serving the Cleveland Family and other armed soldiers.
Then, a small number of engineers from the old era were added to maintain the old weapons and equipment, while also enjoying preferential treatment.
This system certainly has no future, but it can reliably guarantee the family's status.
As long as nothing like the Golden Hand Gang's incident happens...
After realizing this, Zhang Tianyuan was no longer worried about the Cleveland Family.
If it weren't for the possibility that the other side might have a giant mushroom that could make a sound or even fly, he would have let Wang Lei take care of them.
"Next, we just need to surround them and ignore them for now. However, if they come into our line of sight, then eliminate them immediately..."
In this timeline, if you see groups of people with guns wandering the streets, kill them all; you will never kill the innocent.
Wang Lei saluted and accepted the order. Zhang Tianyuan looked at Dale: "Madam, besides the Cleveland Family, do you know anything about other powerful groups? Please provide them to us as well."
Dale nodded immediately, without saying a word of nonsense, and told him everything she knew, especially the possible locations of those forces' strongholds.
Wang Lei was recording the audio.
After she finished speaking, Zhang Tianyuan invited her out and instructed Wang Lei to use drones to survey all the locations he had just mentioned.
Then Jack and Zhao Ge were called in.
After the two entered the room, Zhang Tianyuan first handed a document to Zhao Ge, smiling, "This is your family's file in China. You can take it back and take a look yourself later. They're all safe and sound."
After Zhao Ge took it and stood there stunned for a moment, he instinctively wanted to kneel down, but Wang Lei, who was beside him, reacted quickly and helped him up.
Jack, looking rather shifty, watched this scene unfold, stroked his chin, and suddenly knelt down with a thud, beginning to pray to Zhang Tianyuan...
Judging from his prayer, it seems that he hopes to be forgiven for his actions, which he considers to be so close to "God" and have transgressed the boundaries between humanity and divinity.
???
Zhao Ge, who had just been about to kneel down, was suddenly at a loss for words.
As usual, Zhang Tianyuan felt a headache coming on, and goosebumps rose all over his body.
These charlatan-like figures are truly exasperating.
Wang Lei had just been supporting Zhao Ge, immediately let go and took two steps to lift Jack up as well, but this did not stop his "prayer".
"Alright, alright, let's get down to business." Zhang Tianyuan decided to pretend Jack had never been there and get straight to the point.
"According to our latest news, Earth is brewing a new ice age..."
Zhao Ge listened very attentively, Jack listened even more attentively.
He unusually refrained from spouting superstitious nonsense, and a worried expression appeared on his face.
After Zhang Tianyuan finished speaking, he first looked at Zhao Ge:
" The Mutual Aid Society has already made contact with China, and you'll be able to return home in a while. They're already discussing ways to get through the ice age, so you don't need to worry too much."
Zhao Ge nodded in response, but his face remained thoughtful.
Besides Zhao Ge, Zhang Tianyuan also looked at Jack.
His expression turned sacred the moment he saw the "deity" watching him.
Zhang Tianyuan ignored him and said directly, "As for you, you need to complete the nationwide mobilization as soon as possible, and then start digging the underground city. San Francisco won't always be peaceful and sunny."
"Thank you for the divine message."
Jack knelt down again with a thud.
Zhang Tianyuan waved his hand, and Wang Lei immediately picked up the charlatan and threw him outside.
Just when he thought he could finally relax, Wang Lei returned ten minutes later, his face twitching, and said:
"President, that charlatan, he..."
"He said outside, 'You have brought forth a new prophecy of destruction upon the world, and you have also shown them a path to survival. Only those who sincerely atone for their sins, following the method you have instructed, can overcome this calamity and survive the new catastrophe.'"
Zhang Tianyuan:...