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Chapter 100: War-Time Plan

"Xiao Mo, you've worked hard." Council Member Liu said at last.

Bai Mo almost reflexively wanted to reply, "Serve the people," but he held it back just before it escaped his lips, remaining silent instead.

After some unproductive conversation, the group boarded the plane bound for Huaxia one by one.

Ten hours later, the plane landed at Tianqing Airport.

"A bit troublesome." Bai Mo emerged from Tianqing Airport, contemplating his next move as he walked.

Tianqing was currently bustling with construction sites everywhere. A large population had begun pouring into this new capital city. Tianqing, which originally had less than four million residents, was suddenly expected to accommodate more than double that number.

At the same time, after the high-level meeting concluded, Huaxia began to uniformly organize and allocate construction teams nationwide, selecting new sites two hundred kilometers away from the coastline to rebuild a large number of cities to receive the countless refugees who had lost their homes in the tsunami.

The area within one hundred kilometers of the coast was designated a military exclusion zone, where bunkers, fortresses, and other land defenses began to be constructed to resist invasions from the sea. Defense systems were also re-established, centered around various military ports.

With ocean trade lost, the only way for nations to transport materials was via air, and various industries suffered severe blows.

This was especially true for several island nations that were heavily reliant on long-distance ocean trade and inherently lacked resources. After losing their overseas raw material supply, they were abruptly knocked back from the industrial age to essentially the agricultural age. Even the materials needed for post-disaster reconstruction had to be meticulously budgeted.

Seeing the unfavorable situation, the governments of Yamato, Gran Ying, and several other major island nations forcefully transitioned to a war-time planned economy, with the state beginning to uniformly distribute scarce resources.

As for some smaller maritime nations that had been thrown back to the primitive era or even wiped out after the tsunami and landing attacks, no one had the mind to care about them now. Reconstruction work alone was already overwhelming for every country. When they could barely ensure their own survival, others could only fend for themselves.

"Ring, ring..." Bai Mo's newly bought phone suddenly rang.

"Hello, Mr. Bai, this is a staff member from the Institute's Logistics Department. Following instructions from above, we have prepared a room for you near the new headquarters of the Tianqing Institute. Please come to the temporary office at the headquarters to sign for and collect your keys."

"Okay, thank you," he said indifferently.

"The address has been sent to your phone via text message. Do you have any other questions?"

"No, thank you for your trouble."

"You're welcome."

After hanging up, Bai Mo began walking according to the address he had received.

He released his divine sense, slowly walking down the street.

"How is it? Did you sort out the housing situation?"

"Don't even mention it. Ever since Tianqing was designated the new capital, everywhere we asked, no one was selling houses. Every single owner is desperately clinging to their properties, all waiting for prices to keep soaring like they did in Tianjing before."

"These cursed property speculators!"

"Sitting here and just cursing won't do any good. We probably won't find a seller, so let's go look for rental properties instead. If we can't find a place to live, we'll have to sleep on the street. Besides, didn't we do the same kind of speculation back in Tianhai... Is this karma?"

"Karma your head! Quick, quick! Let's go find a place."

All along his way, a large portion of what Bai Mo overheard was about housing disputes.

The coastal regions concentrated over six hundred million of Huaxia's population. Relocating all of them inland involved an unimaginable amount of manpower and resources.

But no matter how massive the undertaking, it had to be endured in the face of the tsunami threat. No one knew if the Sea Race would unleash the next tsunami.

Even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance, no one would gamble with the lives of countless people.

For a time, all professionals related to architecture were in high demand and short supply. Even a large number of senior architecture students still attending university were brought in to participate in some of the work.

Following the map's guidance, Bai Mo arrived at the so-called temporary office. It was indeed "temporary" in every sense of the word: inside, only two staff members sat at a worn-out desk, with a single guard outside the main door, where a hastily made temporary sign was loosely placed. There were no other instructions whatsoever.

"Hello, is this the temporary office for the Tianqing headquarters of the Spirit Energy Research Institute?" Bai Mo tried asking.

"Hm, what is it?"

"I'm here to collect keys."

"What keys?"

"For the allocated housing."

"Are you collecting on behalf of a professor? Please also present their identification documents." The staff member on the left clearly found it hard to believe that such a young man would be allocated housing intended for official researchers.

"Just for myself." He promptly took out his ID card.

Though somewhat suspicious, the staff member still took Bai Mo's ID card and checked the roster on the computer, only to indeed find his name.

"Please wait a moment." Realizing he had almost made a fool of himself, he could only force down his embarrassment and continue the process.

Through his emotional vision, Bai Mo guessed the full explanation of the situation from the light emanating from the other person. However, he paid no mind to anyone else's petty thoughts; as long as he could accomplish his own tasks, that was enough. He already had plenty of other things to think about.

...

"It's also because the Institute has been busy with headquarters re-planning lately, and we're short-handed everywhere. Even temporary workers like us have been assigned so much work. Who would have thought there'd be such a young person mixed in with all those old professors doing research?" the staff member who had almost made a fool of himself complained after Bai Mo left with the keys.

"We should still be thankful we weren't in those three cities. Otherwise, we wouldn't even be able to be busy now," the person next to him chuckled.

"Finally arrived." Bai Mo looked around. The Institute headquarters next door had only just begun its groundbreaking. This building must have been a second-hand residential building bought by the government; one could tell it wasn't new from the decor.

But this wasn't within his consideration anyway. For him, the house's greatest use was for conducting various private experiments; it was essentially a laboratory. As for other living facilities, a bed to lie on, a shower room, and internet access were all he needed.

"Ou Gao La Si's lair is in the Alps. Unfortunately, there wasn't time to raid it. His death will undoubtedly trigger a strong backlash from the Blood Clan. If over a dozen individuals with combat power like his were to encircle me, even I would find it hard to escape. A group of East Asians like us is too conspicuous in Italy."

Though Bai Mo felt a slight regret at not raiding Ou Gao La Si's home, in his view, the risk wasn't proportionate to the reward. His memories were the most important gain from this endeavor.