Chapter 965: Chapter 175: The Birth of a New City
With the driving of the first foundational pile, the construction of the Energy Tower has officially commenced.
The rhythmic roar of the steam hammer is heard as the ten-meter-long steel pile is slowly driven into the permafrost by the heavy hammer, each strike causing the ground to tremble slightly and snow to slide down from the nearby sheds.
Workers wrapped in heavy cotton clothes busily work in the cold wind, their exhaled breaths forming fine ice crystals on their eyebrows and beards, their fingers turning red from the cold but still diligently working.
Although most of the residents of Seven Hills City lack professional building experience, everyone is fully focused on completing their tasks at hand.
The red-haired young man who once kneaded dough in a bakery is now carefully adjusting the bubble of a level, his tightly pressed lips slightly twitching with each shift of the bubble.
The fishmonger, who used to have the loudest voice in the market, is now meticulously installing steel components according to the marked lines, with veins bulging on his strong arms as if he’s pouring all his life’s strength into each bolt.
Whenever a technician from the Northern Territory demonstrates a new construction procedure, workers can always be seen eagerly gathering around.
A tall, thin youth squeezes too eagerly, causing his safety helmet to slip down to his ear; a few women lift their aprons to use as notebooks, drawing crooked symbols on them with charcoal sticks.
Someone accidentally welded a galvanized pipe as ordinary steel, the blinding arc light causing him to stagger back, leaving chaotic footprints in the snow.
Several women responsible for mixing concrete nearly fell when the drum suddenly turned, their startled cries eliciting a burst of good-natured laughter.
However, these little mishaps only enriched the learning atmosphere, and during lunch, workers often gather in the makeshift sheds, passionately discussing the simple drawings sketched by the Northern Territory veteran with a dagger on the frozen ground, their frozen fingers repeatedly rubbing the engraved lines.
The progress of the project, although nearly half as slow as originally planned—the foundation platform, which was supposed to be completed in three days, took a whole week—but with everyone’s concerted effort, the outline of the Energy Tower has begun to slowly rise on this ice field.
The steel framework gradually extends, like a steel-cast sapling, stubbornly growing in this permafrost.
Every time the setting sun descends, the shadow of the tower body covers half of the camp like a giant, casting a hopeful silhouette over the working people.
And along with this steel giant tower, the settlement of survivors is spreading over the ruins of Seven Hills City.
The newly built prefab houses spread like colonies around the Energy Tower, with smoke gently rising from the crooked chimneys.
Children chase and play between the piles of building materials, and for the first time, their laughter overpowers the whimpering of the cold wind.
When the last batch of refugees was properly settled, Perfikot stood in front of the foundation of the Energy Tower, gathering priests, engineers, and representatives from various refugee groups.
Her voice was particularly clear in the cold wind, accompanied by the distant hissing of the steam boiler: "The era of temporary refuge is over. We will build a new city capable of withstanding eternal winter, centered around the Energy Tower!
Not a collection of tents and tin sheds, but a true city with streets, houses, and heating."
Behind her, the steel frame of the Energy Tower gleamed with a cold metallic luster in the twilight, like a future monument taking shape.
The news spread across the camp as quickly as the steam valve releasing hot air.
The women paused their canvas repairs, the workers stopped their tasks, and even the stoker feeding coal to the steam boiler straightened up—everyone’s faces shone with long-lost brightness.
After all, this meant the days of brick-built fireplaces, walls embedded with brass pipes, and no more worrying about roofs being blown away by blizzards in the middle of the night.
An elderly man suddenly knelt down in the snow, his trembling fingers deeply inserting into the snow as if to personally verify the truth of this promise.
The next dawn, even before the cafeteria opened for breakfast, the crowd gathered at the planning office.
Surveyors in oilskin cloaks spread out blueprints on the snow, with the needle of a brass compass trembling slightly nearby.
The old craftsmen from the carpenters’ guild pointed at the central heating duct on the blueprint, arguing incessantly, leaving sweat stains on the paper with their rough knuckles.
Even the women who were once textile factory workers used their red, frozen fingers to gesture the location of the community cafeteria, their loud discussions even audible from dozens of meters away.
Even the children dragged the collected scrap copper and iron, saying they wanted to use it as building materials for the new city.
The whistle of the steam crane sounded incessantly throughout the day, and the impact of the steam hammer was like a peculiar metallic heartbeat.
Everyone was working hard for the construction of the new city, as if every bit of effort they put in now would bring the city’s completion a little closer.
When night fell, the unfinished frame of the Energy Tower cast web-like shadows under the searchlights, and within those shadows, one could already see the outlines of future streets.
Perfikot stood on the command platform of the Energy Tower, overlooking the bustling construction scene below, a rare smile appearing on her lips.
Though the progress of the project lagged far behind the original plan—the foundation casting was delayed due to permafrost obstruction, the assembly of steel structures frequently required rework due to the workers’ inexperience, and material transportation was often interrupted by snowstorms, all these difficulties were within her expectations.
What truly gratified her was that even in such adversity, the survivors maintained an incredible enthusiasm for construction.
From dawn to dusk, the site was filled with the sounds of clattering and shouting.
Elderly men, trembling, pushed wheelbarrows full of construction materials; women passed bricks while taking care of children; even the wounded insisted on doing all they could.
Remarkably, despite the continuous reduction in rationed food, no one proposed the shortsighted notion of "eat first, build later."
This collective spirit created excellent conditions for Perfikot to promote the New God faith.
The priests seized every opportunity to preach: spreading doctrine during site breaks, recounting miracles during food distribution, and leading collective prayers when night fell.
The survivors also found it easier than before to accept and acknowledge the New God faith, and they spontaneously prioritized the construction of a grand new cathedral—the tall spire pointed straight to the sky, with the bell’s bronze tone echoing in the wind and snow, and stained glass shining brightly under the aurora.
This was the first building completed in the new city, even before the Energy Tower and other structures.
This undoubtedly showed that the faith in the New God had gradually been accepted by the survivors of Seven Hills City, with them becoming the followers of the New God.
When Perfikot felt the overwhelming force of faith converging from the cathedral, she realized that the concentration of faith here had already surpassed that of the Desert Kingdom.
This cathedral rising majestically amid the cold is becoming the most radiant spiritual beacon of the New God faith.
