Chapter 964: Chapter 174:
Under the meticulous organization of the Missionary Group, the newly arrived survivors were settled in the open area on the outskirts of the Seven Hills City camp.
The priests in gray robes held alchemy lanterns emitting a soft glow, running back and forth in the howling cold wind, guiding the exhausted refugees to their respective areas with steady voices.
The lime powder in their hands drew clear white boundary lines on the frozen ground, quickly outlining the overall layout of the temporary camp.
Meanwhile, Perfikot swiftly allocated a small Energy Tower from the Floating City module.
As the mechanical devices unfolded, a light blue energy barrier slowly rose, forming a thermal barrier around the camp.
Although the cold winds outside remained bitter, the temperature within the barrier gradually rose, allowing these cold-battered refugees to temporarily escape the biting chill.
This small Energy Tower, though modest, became their first shelter on this unfamiliar land.
With coordination between the Missionary Group and the Steam Knights, the able-bodied refugees soon took action.
They divided into small groups and, under the guidance of the Steam Knights, constructed simple frame structures with salvaged steel, wooden beams, and metal panels from the ruins.
Though these materials were twisted and deformed, after simple correction and reinforcement, they could still support the heavy canvas tents distributed by the Missionary Group.
Despite being tilted and drafty at the seams, under the protection of the Energy Tower’s thermal barrier, these tents provided some protection against the cold, allowing the weary refugees to take a breather.
Some skillful refugees refused to rely solely on tents for warmth.
They gathered discarded iron sheets, wooden strips, and plastic panels from the ruins, bundling and splicing them with thick iron wire and hemp rope to erect simple windbreaks around the tents.
The gaps were filled with rags, dry grass, and even coated with mud, appearing crooked but indeed blocking some of the piercing cold winds.
These spontaneous modifications gave the otherwise monotonous tent clusters a touch of resilience in life.
The food supply was equally tight but orderly.
Every dawn and dusk, the stewards of the Missionary Group would timely set up two large iron pots on the open ground beside the Energy Tower.
A steam pipe extending from the Energy Tower continuously provided heat to the pot bottoms, cooking a starchy mush mixed with dehydrated vegetables.
Though the broth was thin and bland, at least a hint of saltiness floated in the hot steam.
The issued military compressed biscuits were as hard as stones, but after being soaked in the hot soup, they were enough to fill a rumbling stomach.
A few elderly priests organized the refugee women skilled in cooking to be responsible for food distribution and simple processing.
They wisely allocated the limited ingredients, occasionally adding wild roots or gathered wild vegetables to the soup pot to prevent the diet from becoming too monotonous.
Although each meal required precise calculation, scraping the pot bottom clean, the sight of refugees devouring their meals with earthy bowls at least proved they were temporarily safe from starvation.
The entire camp exuded a sense of destitution—tents insufficiently warm, food barely filling, and clothing thin and worn.
But compared to the despair of waiting for death in the wilderness, they now at least had a place sheltered from the wind and rain, with hot food to sustain life.
With support from the Missionary Group and the Floating City, these survivors finally saw hope for survival.
However, the shortage of supplies remained the most pressing issue at present.
In the temporary settlement, the limited resources could not meet the basic needs of all the refugees.
Many families were forced to have five or six people sharing a small tent meant for two, barely partitioning some private space with tattered curtains salvaged from the ruins.
The most heart-wrenching were those homeless single refugees, a dozen people huddled in the simple canvas shed temporarily built by the Missionary Group, relying solely on each other’s body warmth to fend off the cold at night.
There was a particularly pitiful young mother with a three-month-old baby.
Due to the chaos in resource allocation, she went two consecutive nights without receiving a tent until an elderly priest, unable to bear it, voluntarily gave up his own cot.
On the other side of the camp, although they also provided some aid materials, that camp itself had just suffered an attack, with two-thirds of its structures destroyed and heavy losses in the warehouses.
In such circumstances, squeezing out some blankets and food to support here was already a decision made at considerable risk.
Thankfully, the Floating City module hovering above became a symbol of hope.
Under Count Perfikot’s personal supervision, the automated factories of the Floating City were producing tents, blankets, and other much-needed supplies day and night.
These supplies not only supported the restoration of the damaged camp but also provided solid assurance for the temporary settlement of refugees.
However, while arranging for the factories on the Floating City module to focus on producing basic supplies like tents, Perfikot made a more crucial decision—to redirect most of the production capacity towards manufacturing the core components of a standard-spec large Energy Tower.
After all, those small mobile Energy Towers were merely emergency equipment, initially designed to address the temporary heating needs of the nomadic tribes of the Desert Kingdom.
Though highly portable and deployable at speed, their heating efficiency and coverage are quite limited.
To truly rebuild the Seven Hills City’s heating system, it would be necessary to build a standard Energy Tower that meets city specifications. A complete standard Energy Tower’s heating capacity is equivalent to that of multiple small mobile Energy Towers combined, with a thermal barrier coverage that can radiate across the entire city area.
However, constructing a standard Energy Tower is no easy task.
Apart from requiring the Floating City factories to provide precise core components, a large amount of basic materials and a professional construction team are also needed.
Currently, what the Seven Hills City lacks the least is labor; refugees eager for work could form construction teams at any time.
But the issue is that these temporarily recruited workers lack the necessary professional skills.
They are not the Northern Territory technicians personally trained by Perfikot, having no concept of the construction standards for such a precise project as an Energy Tower.
"If the quality doesn’t meet standards, the Energy Tower could become a safety hazard." Perfikot stood on the observation deck of the Floating City, contemplating the busy camp below.
Moments later, she suddenly remembered the Northern Territory technicians who followed the migrant team here.
Though few in number, all had at least participated in the construction work of the Northern Territory’s Energy Towers.
Soon, a core team of over thirty Northern Territory skilled workers was assembled.
Perfikot personally expounded the importance of Energy Tower construction to them, detailing the construction standards.
"You will be responsible for training the local workers, forming a construction team," she handed the design blueprints to the leading engineer, "Every step must be strictly controlled, especially the installation of core components."
The Northern Territory technicians immediately sprang into action.
They selected relatively clever young adults from among the refugees and began teaching them basic construction skills hands-on.
Though language barriers existed, through demonstration and drawings, they managed to establish a barely functional construction team.
With the continuous influx of supplies from the Floating City, the groundwork for the Energy Tower was able to commence.
