Bai Xu and the others all pricked up their ears.
The Mutual Aid Society members from Division Two listened especially intently, every head turning toward Zhang Tianyuan.
"What exactly does the agreement say?" Some of the more impatient ones could not wait to search through the document and asked outright.
Zhang Tianyuan smiled and faced them. "To put it simply, under the terms of this cooperation agreement, No. 1 Spacetime will provide every resource you need."
"Really?"
The Division Two members exclaimed in surprise, their eyes revealing the joy of sweetness finally following bitterness.
In response to their doubts, Tong Wenshi, seated beside Zhang Tianyuan, nodded in confirmation. "Of course what President Zhang said is true. Could it possibly be false?"
Zhang Tianyuan smiled. "There's more to the agreement than that. No. 1 Spacetime will also send you large numbers of experts, engineers, and workers to help rebuild your industrial and healthcare systems."
"The people who came back with me today are only the vanguard. No. 1 Spacetime will be preparing to send at least another five hundred thousand people over in successive groups..."
To Zhang Tianyuan's surprise, at this point, the joy on the Division Two members' faces suddenly faded. Instead, they anxiously asked what obligations they would have to shoulder under the agreement.
Tong Wenshi volunteered an explanation. "In the future, we'll need to accommodate our brothers from No. 1 Spacetime for temporary stays in our country..."
As he spoke, Tong Wenshi hinted that No. 1 Spacetime's residents would gradually withdraw after the apocalypse, which put the Division Two members at ease.
That was still within acceptable bounds. They had never expected to receive aid without shouldering any obligations.
Besides, there were so few survivors left in the country now. Letting their brothers from No. 1 Spacetime come in and fill some of the space was not out of the question.
That, too, counted as making use of resources.
Everyone was happy once again.
Zhang Tianyuan and Tong Wenshi spent another hour explaining the cooperation agreement to those present. The meeting did not end until midnight, when everyone braved the bitter cold and returned to their assigned tents to rest, their necks hunched into their shoulders.
Early the next morning.
Work in the camp proceeded as usual, with each team beginning to carry out its work plan.
The medical team began receiving patients, helicopters took off to survey the surrounding area, and the communications team deployed antennas to ensure communications relay coverage for the entire camp.
The engineering team had its own tasks as well.
Engineering supervisor Xu Tianji was led by Zhang
Tianyuan toward the classified warehouses on the grassland.
Instructor Yin and the other engineering team members followed closely behind.
The classified warehouses consisted of several dozen prefabricated buildings, with armed guards protecting the perimeter at all times.
When Zhang Tianyuan and the others had last visited, this had also been the only place they were not allowed to enter.
Tong Wenshi stepped out of the crowd and gently pushed a warehouse door ajar to let everyone inside.
Inside were boxes upon boxes, packed densely onto shelves and filling the room to the brim.
The boxes bore different seals and all manner of labels, arranged by category.
Zhang Tianyuan went closer to look and discovered that everything stored in this room was railway-related material.
Tong Wenshi came over and explained, "The classified warehouses contain all the classified records we brought out of the Imperial Capital."
Why did their group represent the legitimate government?
This was the most important reason.
"These records form the core of the entire country's operations. All our country's industrial and engineering projects, all kinds of statistics, scientific and technological materials, cultural history, geography and mineral resources, economics and finance..."
"Basically, they're all in these buildings!"
Tong Wenshi opened the nearest box, took out a magnetic tape containing vast amounts of information, and gently stroked it, filled with longing for the vibrant country of the past.
Engineering team leader Xu Tianji stepped forward and asked, "May we consult all these records? Also, we may need to send them back to No. 1 Spacetime..."
Tong Wenshi sighed. "You may. After all, without them, you'd need at least several decades to feel your way toward understanding our country."
These records were a nation's most precious wealth.
They were the key that wound the nation's mainspring, the gears that kept the machinery running.
Only after analyzing these records, which served as an overarching framework, could "2012" know how to revive Legend World's industry.
In addition, designing the railway for the great migration in Legend World required detailed records.
Thus, one of the engineering team's tasks was to obtain all of No. 2 Spacetime's railway and geographical records.
With Tong Wenshi's explicit permission, that task could be considered complete.
"These records are extremely important. Thank you for your support, President Tong!" Xu Tianji thanked him.
Tong Wenshi said self-deprecatingly, "I'm the one who should be
thanking you for helping us draw up plans. Without your help analyzing them, in our current situation, we could read these records for a hundred years without ever reading the same thing twice."
That was indeed the truth.
Zhang Tianyuan assigned Xu Tianji and the rest of the engineering team to sort through the records in the classified warehouses, ranking them by usefulness. He also called in logistics personnel to help disinfect and pack them.
Then he returned with Tong Wenshi to preside over the second meeting.
"We now have a professional team of ten thousand. In my view, there's no need to wait for further aid. We can leave the grassland and return to the cities now."
Zhang Tianyuan's very first statement plunged many people into thought.
Someone lacked confidence. "But the number of Darkseekers in the cities could be dozens or even hundreds of times our own..."
"Even a million pigs in a city would be troublesome, let alone a million bloodthirsty monsters."
Quite a few people agreed with that.
But Zhang Tianyuan did not. He slapped the little UV flashlight he carried onto the table. "Pigs aren't afraid of ultraviolet light."
"My attitude toward the Darkseekers is the same as before. These monsters are paper tigers. We just need to put a little thought into it, and we can relocate them all."
"You should be thinking about which city we're going to reclaim next."
Tong Wenshi, who had remained silent until now, suddenly said, "Let's return to the Imperial Capital first."
"Why? It's winter now. If it snows in the north, transportation will be a real problem." Zhang Tianyuan frowned. Ideally, he wanted to head to a city in the south.
Tong Wenshi patiently explained, "We still have a large radio station in the Imperial Capital. It's one of the stations transmitting the emergency broadcasts that can now be received nationwide."
Zhang Tianyuan understood. "You mean we should go there first and stop that broadcast, or change its contents?"
Tong Wenshi nodded. "There's no need to gather the survivors anymore. We can have them stay put on the outskirts of the cities and wait for us to arrive."
"Also, we have survivor camps on the plateau and in the desert. Changing the broadcast will let us tell them the good news, too."
"All right, then we'll head back to the Imperial Capital first, go to the radio station, and change the broadcast to tell survivors across the country-
the Mutual Aid Society is here!"
Zhang Tianyuan settled on their next course of action.