"Alright, let's get back to the main topic. After discussing necessities like food and fuel, it's onto clothing, food, housing, and transportation. We've already covered what to eat. Now, let me explain how. Normally, everyone eats at the community canteen. If you're feeling adventurous, you can find other options at the night market. If you prefer to cook at home, you can buy a small stove or a barbecue grill.
Wood is also something you need to buy, but it's very cheap. A meal's cost can get you a large bundle.
For clothing, the safe zone will issue four sets of clothes per person: two for summer and two for winter. If you need more, you can buy them; they aren't expensive, costing about the same as a regular barbecue meal. The same applies to other daily necessities, which are allocated per person.
Housing is also allocated based on the number of people. For two people or fewer, you'll get a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit with a small balcony, but no living room. For two to four people, it's a two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit with a small balcony. For four to six people, it's a three-bedroom, one-bathroom unit with a slightly larger balcony.
Different family sizes will be assigned to different areas. The safe zone's suggestion is that if family members are capable of independent living, they should live separately. This not only reduces trouble but also allows them to live in the same community.
Unless you have many children, then consider living in a two-bedroom or larger unit.
For work and travel, you'll take commuter buses. The routes of each commuter bus have been carefully planned to avoid overcrowding. For personal travel, you can ride bicycles, though the safe zone doesn't provide them; you'll have to buy them yourself.
Finally, let's address the security issue you're concerned about. Within the safe zone, each community will have a guard post with five armed police officers, usually two male and two female officers plus a supervisor. Every unit will have an alarm bell. When pressed, the guard post will receive the alert and then contact you via a landline. Furthermore, when you enter the safe zone, your mobile phones will be collected for the installation of the safe zone's universal system. After installation, your phone will automatically connect to the safe zone's intranet. This intranet only has functions for positioning and alarm; you can't chat or do anything else. It allows for emergency calls, which will be connected to the nearest guard post. Don't even think about phone cards; the safe zone has few base stations, and if too many people try to make calls, it will cause problems.
Currently, the police response in the safe zone is mostly for handling petty disputes between neighbors; fights are rare.
This is the current state of the safe zone. Are there any other questions?"
Lin Yuan and the others shook their heads. "No more questions."
Moreover, Lin Yuan had already planned to take his team out for barbecue that night!
The journey was uneventful, except for the biting cold wind whistling outside.
Fortunately, China had organized two airdrop operations in November of the previous year and January of this year, delivering most of the supplies, including padded jackets, blankets, lighters, food, drinking water, and ammunition.
After three airdrop operations, the China Anti-Biological Warfare Command announced the cessation of airdrops, and the safe zone entered a "hamster mode" of recuperation and rest.
Of course, small units were still engaged in clearing operations in small villages and sparsely populated towns.
Major railway lines were also being cleared, repaired, and reinforced simultaneously.
As they got closer to the safe zone, Lin Yuan could see its appearance clearly. It was a valley, a very large valley, with mountains on both sides, several hundred meters high. Parts of the mountains had been artificially blasted to create a treacherous terrain.
Only the northern and southern entrances were accessible, and standing at these entrances were magnificent reinforced concrete walls, estimated to be about twenty stories high. On both sides of the entrances, there were numerous dense bunker firing points.
Lin Yuan was certain that the northern exit at the end of his gaze would have the same appearance.
The helicopter had clearly made contact with the personnel of the safe zone and was directly allowed passage. The anti-aircraft guns mounted on the city walls merely turned and stopped.
Flying over the city walls, Lin Yuan got a clearer view of their original structure. The width at the top was at least 30 meters, and the width at the bottom had reached over 100 meters.
"Minister Ying, how large is this city wall?" he asked, unable to gauge it himself and seeking help from Ying Tianlong.
"Heh heh, this city wall took a month to build, almost using up all the construction materials we brought with us during the evacuation. It's 32 meters wide at the top, 139 meters wide at the bottom, and 87 meters high. Look further inside, and you'll see some more walls that were built previously."
Awesome.
Absolutely awesome!
Lin Yuan silently gave it a thumbs-up.
As the helicopter flew into the safe zone, besides the terrifyingly large safe zone, they also saw dense residential buildings below, all uniformly five or six-story low-rise buildings, some with anti-aircraft machine guns or cannons mounted on their rooftops.
"Our current infrastructure capacity is limited. Repairing the city walls was already a great effort, so we couldn't build houses dozens of stories high," Ying Tianlong said, noticing their gaze and explaining.
"Hahaha, the houses built inside the safe zone have such unique characteristics!" Lin Yuan didn't mind the height of the houses, as long as they were livable.
What primarily attracted his attention was the whimsical and dreamlike style of the houses. He had initially expected a post-apocalyptic, heavy industrial style with brown-black and matte brass tones. Instead, looking around, a large part of the southern half of the safe zone was in this style, with light pink, light red, light yellow, light purple, and gradient sky blue. Although the shapes of the houses were similar, the roof decorations and some window embellishments were also very cartoonish. Moreover, each community had a small garden and a slide, like a fairy-tale town.
Speaking of this, Ying Jinlong's face was also full of smiles. "These colors were actually added by a girl, oh no, I should call her a female artist, after we finished the construction, in compliance with safety regulations. The General Commander thought it was good, so he let her decorate all the living areas in the southern half. The northern half is basically the industrial zone, so we don't do these flashy things."
"That's good, it's quite nice. Coming back home after work to live in a neighborhood like a fairy-tale town isn't bad."
"Hahahaha, it indeed played a role in psychological construction. At first, some people opposed it, saying it might affect health.
But the paint was provided by us; we coincidentally dealt with a paint factory during a mission. It's green and non-polluting, and we even had it tested. Finally, we posted the test report on the bulletin board, which resolved the issue."
"Attention, attention, we have reached the helipad and are about to land."
The pilot's voice interrupted their conversation.
With a slight jolt, the helicopter landed steadily on the helipad. The cold wind was blowing outside, and Lin Yuan tightened his combat suit, preventing the cold air from finding any gaps.
"Comrades, grab your luggage and personal belongings, and then report to the registration office. We will escort your weapons and equipment."
Stepping off the plane, everyone stretched and took deep breaths of the dry air.
Thanks for the invitation. I'm in the safe zone, just got off the helicopter.
I have egressed the craft, and I am feeling good!