Chapter 1609 - 828: Parcels

The early spring in Hai Province has already revealed a hint of stifling heat, the heavy long night is silent, unable to display the bustling and noisy scenes of daytime.

Yet, with the absence of lively scenes, a certain calm and solid order is even more highlighted. It's as if the external facade has been stripped away.

Even in the deep night, the factory district of the Coastal Industry remains brightly lit. Occasionally, workers riding the park's shuttle buses pass through it, but more frequently, trucks are running back and forth between factory buildings.

Underneath the transport of numerous forklifts, lots of vehicle parts and engineering facilities are moved out of the warehouses and loaded onto trucks. Every half an hour, a convoy silently and unobtrusively departs the factory district, heading into the dark Wilderness.

Under the coordination of the Invisible Hand, they methodically head to their respective destinations, a small portion to the central cities of Tide City and Cliff City, and more to various ports.

At the various large and small ports, the distributed products are sent to all directions before dawn. Following the coastline to various provinces, or riding the vast ocean waves.

Two days later, large cargo ships arrive at the Seven Cities. After unloading a large amount of raw materials and consumables at the Dan City transit station, they quickly reload with small appliances, wind, hydroelectric generator sets, and many other civilian equipment produced by various factory districts of the Seven Cities.

Heading once more towards Central Earth.

Before departure, the nearly closed hatch hesitates for a moment, as a dozen housekeeping cats carry a few packages not originally in the transport plan, rushing in and placing them within the space behind the hatch.

Hatch closed, the cargo ship departs the port.

During a seven-day voyage, after transiting through six islands, with constant loading and unloading processes, the parcels are gradually pushed to the corner of the cabin, vaguely appearing deformed and damaged.

Crossing the ocean, riding the wind and breaking the waves, amidst the daily echo of ocean waves, they finally reach the journey's end.

White Country, Tower City.

Announced by the iconic whistle sound, the cargo ship, imprinted with the Messenger Logistics logo, finishes berthing. At the dock, a large number of waiting engineering cats swarm in, under numerous astonished gazes, the cargo containers are smoothly transported out of the cabin, loaded onto empty vehicles, and flow out like water.

The vast cargo ship is completely emptied in less than an hour.

Then, another convoy, punctual and on time, passes port inspection and begins loading under the transport of the same batch of engineering cats.

Amidst a bizarre 16BIT-style cat calling, the dock's water worker is already completely stunned.

"This, this..."

The worker holding a hose is stupefied, pointing at an engineering cat carrying a broken package while meowing and running away, followed by a container seeming to crawl forward as if it has grown legs:

"What the hell is this..."

"A newbie?"

The yard crane driver, who came out to smoke and watch the fun, grinned and showed his teeth: "Never seen it, huh? It's the new trick the Coast came up with… Every time loading and unloading are done within two hours, instant in-and-out.

They say it's because port berths are limited, for efficiency optimization, but I feel, yo… it's all about saving a couple of days of berth fees, this boss is somewhat stingy after all."

"What about the dock workers?" The water worker, bewildered, looks around.

"Aren't they all here?" The yard crane driver gestured with his hand, among the group of engineering cats, several figures sitting on large exoskeletons commanding in the center, amidst a cacophony of meowing, indistinguishable if not looking closely.

"The efficiency is indeed much quicker; I hear that several other companies are already looking to bring it in. Unfortunately, negotiations have mostly fallen through." The smoking driver laments: "Lately, the dock workers' association has protested several times already, I don't see them settling down anytime soon."

"What about the Coast? The Coast doesn't have issues?" The water worker presses: "Is the Coast that tough?"

"…"

Hence, the yard crane driver's expression turned strange, he glanced back: "If you're willing to take the saved money to give everyone high-temperature and high-risk operation subsidies, you could be tough like that too."

The water worker blinked, subconsciously did a quick calculation, the driver chuckled, raised his hand showing a number in front of him, making him blink again.

Then the driver added, "Every day."

"Damn—"

Aside from using Tower City expletives, the water worker was speechless.

In the distance, the sharp sound of friction rang out, an inspection passed, and the convoy was released.

In fact, aside from loosely executing the steps in the process, there was not the slightest rigorous inspection of other businesses and goods, it was just like returning home.

The mighty convoy set out for Tower City, yet did not enter the center, but stopped at the original slum ruins, a newly built logistics hub.

After completing transit and allocation of vehicle parts and raw materials, some headed to the factory districts, while others were repackaged here, waiting for the next step of transit.

Under the increasingly rampant and cruel sun exposure, the newly recruited local couriers on small tricycles waited outside, seizing the time to rest in the shade.

Meanwhile, a line of travel-stained individuals wearing sect attire were already waiting outside the sorting center.

Watching eagerly, eyes straining in anticipation.

"Mamma, do you think it's that one?" An impatient young man craned his neck to peep inside, his gaze sweeping over package after package on the conveyor belt, "I think this one's like it, the other one should be too, and that one..."

"Correa, quiet down, you're disturbing Mamma."

"Young people are always full of energy." Mamma sighed, rubbing his hair: "Have a sip of water, you'll have to work later."

Outside the factory, a call came from the queuing crowd: "Sister Ugolina, which one is Sister Ugolina?!"

"Here! We're here!"

Correa jumped up, holding a water cup, waved his hand, and after kicking up the cup, he rushed into the crowd: "Do you have our package?"

"Is it just a few of you guys?"

The assigned foreman frowned slightly, turned back, and glanced at the pile of packages stacked into a small mountain beside him: "This won't be easy to carry."

Correa was stunned, dumbfounded, and after estimating the weight, he looked stiffly behind him, scared: "Nanny, don't tell me I have to carry all these back myself..."

The nanny hesitated as well, "Could there be a mistake? We commissioned Coastal Procurement for..."

"Let me check the inventory... Six thousand copies of Federation and Empire language literacy textbooks, three thousand children's books, five thousand copies of Introduction to Mechanical Engineering, six thousand copies of Basic Mathematics, plus twenty thousand various reference books... Yes, this is indeed your order."

After verifying again, the foreman pointed behind him: "This is the first batch, there are more to come."

Boom!

A passing engineer cat briskly flicked its hand, and another huge package on a conveyor belt smashed to the ground, the force creating a gust that stirred up a cloud of dust.

Correa's face grew pale, swallowing dryly, recalling the bold guarantees he made with rolled-up sleeves on the way there, almost bringing him to tears.

"I think young people should get some exercise." The assistant following the nanny laughed gleefully.

Thankfully, there were no plans for Correa to carry all that stuff back to the church alone. After inquiring about the basic situation, the foreman waved and directly arranged for several bean scooter trucks that had just returned; a few trips back and forth, and the job was done. Door-to-door delivery like this for special orders offered pay several times better than other jobs, and you're out of luck if you can't get one!

When Correa and the others brought back several truckloads of books to the church, it wasn't just them; all the clergy and staff were left in shock.

"Elder! Elder!" Correa excitedly rushed into the hall, waving and shouting, "We've brought back so many..."

Before finishing his sentence, he noticed Elder Long Ge, who was seeing a visitor off in the distance.

Many staff members looked over helplessly, and Correa sheepishly lowered his head, picked up a broom, and started working, no longer daring to make a fuss.

While working, he couldn't help but sneak a peek at the guest.

So young.

He seems younger than me, yet looks so mature and reliable; really nice.

"This child was sent over from the Empire as support; he's a bit impulsive and reckless, please forgive him." Elder Long Ge commented warmly.

"Devoted to good deeds, how can you call that impulsive or reckless?"

The young man, leaning on a cane, smiled slightly, unconcerned: "Today's batch of sun dials will still be sold through the church. Do not refuse, Mr. Ji instructed me before he left that the money should still be invested into the local educational charity fund of White Country."

"Then it would be inappropriate for me to decline."

Elder Long Ge nodded, without any refusal, and after receiving the inventory list from the nanny, thanked him again: "The textbooks truly have been a great help."

"You can use the Coast's warehouse, Mr. Ji already instructed to prepare one, so there's no need to worry about the previous fire incident happening again," Yan Chang continued: "This batch was rushed for printing at the Seven Cities, the quality might not be great, but Uncle Gou is planning to establish a printing factory locally, which should make things easier in the future.

Use what you must, no need to be frugal."

Elder Long Ge nodded, sending Yan Chang to the door, watching as the young man left, seemingly sighing softly as if in reflection.

Turning back to the courtyard, looking at the pile of textbooks that had become a small mountain.

"So many?" The nanny, looking at the inventory list, came to realization: "It's like they added a zero to the original quantity, not to mention so many children's books..."

Correa energetically carried a large bundle, beaming: "Nanny, now you don't need to worry! With so many books, it should be enough for Tower City to use for years, right?"

"What do we need so many for? Stored in the warehouse, they're just a pile of waste paper."

Elder Long Ge shook his head, thought for a moment, and suddenly said: "Sisters Ugolina, please, in my name, contact the elders of each settlement, if there are needs elsewhere, don't be stingy.

Even if the elderly are aloof and stubborn, the children must have a chance to get in touch with the outside world."

"Understood."

Ugolina nodded, after retrieving a phone directory from Long Ge's drawer, she picked up the phone and made the calls.

In the span of an afternoon, after contacting various places, despite ending up with a hoarse voice, she managed not to waste the donations from the Coast, finding places for all the books not needed by Tower City.

Contrary to expectations, it wasn't as difficult as anticipated; rather, it went surprisingly smoothly. Nowadays, even the settlements once most isolated, after hearing from the church, didn't reject or remain as vigilant as before.

The settlements were even willing to send personnel on special trips across mountains.

How effective this might be, whether it could bring a change for the future, was something no one could declare for certain.

In the golden light of dusk, watching the children playing outside the window, the elderly nanny found herself lost in thought. The children, seeing her gaze, laughed, jumped up, waved, and called her name.

Startled for a moment, she smiled, put on her glasses, and went downstairs.

In the steadily darkening night, Tower City once again embraced its tranquility, amidst the night, intermittent gunshots seemed to faintly echo.

The neon lights of the distant city continued to shine brightly.