Chapter 107: No Longer Hers

Zeyu enlarged the Dongan district before the government could respond.

"Your map also lists the shopping center and exhibition hall as separate locations, but they share an underground freight entrance. My company delivered equipment through it last year," he said, his usual teasing tone long gone.

The woman, who had introduced herself as Major Xu Yao, checked the property records, then added the connection without arguing.

Within 20 minutes, the 63 shelters stopped appearing as isolated buildings. Zhiyi arranged them into clusters based on protected routes, vehicle access and shared water infrastructure.

The government didn’t need to divide its water equally among 63 facilities.

It needed to move people.

"We can reduce the number of permanent distribution points to 19," Zhiyi announced. "Eight additional locations can operate temporarily for populations that can’t be moved immediately."

Hope entered the official’s expression before caution restrained it. "Does that keep everyone alive?"

"No."

He lowered his eyes to the model.

Zhiyi displayed both projections.

If the government left everyone in place, 44 shelters would exhaust their drinking water within 72 hours. The expected deaths ranged from 14,000 to 22,000, depending on internal temperatures and access to unsafe water.

The consolidation plan moved mobile occupants into 19 primary shelters while preserving eight temporary medical sites. It required more than 38,000 people to relocate.

Qinghe studied the routes and immediately found the weakness. "More than 9,000 people have to travel aboveground."

"Nine thousand, four hundred and twelve," Zhiyi confirmed.

"How many survive the transfer?"

"With staggered departures, wet coverings and every enclosed vehicle assigned to the longest routes, between 6,100 and 7,800."

Qinghe closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, his attention remained on the people represented by the remaining number. "That means as many as 3,300 die because we told them to move."

"And at least 14,000 die if they remain where they are," Jingwei reminded him.

"I understand the arithmetic." Qinghe’s gentle voice hardened as he turned toward Jingwei. "I’m making certain we don’t hide the deaths during transport simply because they produce the answer everyone wanted."

Hanchuan looked between them. "No one is hiding anything. Every available option kills people. Zhiyi’s job is to calculate how many. The government’s job is to decide which loss it will accept."

Qinghe returned to the shelter clusters.

Instead of continuing the argument, he pointed toward three medical facilities connected to larger public shelters. "Move the healthy adults out of these locations and send their remaining water back to the patients. It reduces the number of medical transports."

Zhiyi tested the change. The projected deaths decreased by 417.

Shichen connected two shelters through an underground commercial power system. Zeyu reassigned vehicles according to fuel consumption and travel time instead of water capacity. Jingwei removed routes passing through districts where crowds had already attacked government vehicles.

None of them could eliminate the deaths, but each correction reduced the number.

Forty-eight minutes after the transmission began, Zhiyi completed the plan.

Nineteen primary shelters would receive most of the remaining municipal water. Eight medical or temporary facilities would continue receiving limited deliveries, while 36 shelters would be emptied or abandoned.

The government official read the casualty projection twice. His attention remained on the estimated deaths during transfer, although the larger number beside the original plan hadn’t changed.

"If I authorize this, as many as 3,300 people may die while following an evacuation order carrying my name."

His voice had become quieter. He wasn’t asking Zhiyi to confirm the number; he was trying to understand how a decision intended to save lives could immediately kill thousands of people.

Zhiyi brought the alternative projection beside it. "If you don’t authorize the transfers, at least 14,000 people will die inside shelters that exhaust their water within 72 hours. The upper estimate is 22,000."

The official looked between the two totals. Neither changed while he stared at it.

Hanchuan checked the time remaining in the hour he had given the government. "You have 12 minutes left with Zhiyi. If you need another calculation, ask for it now."

Major Xu Yao turned toward him, anger overcoming the professional restraint she had maintained throughout the call. "He’s deciding whether to send thousands of people into lethal heat. You can’t expect him to do that according to your clock."

Hanchuan met her anger without raising his voice. "The Heat isn’t waiting for him to feel comfortable with the decision. Neither is the water supply."

She tightened her grip on the tablet. "Those people entered government shelters because we told them they would be safe."

"Then your government owes them the truth before the water disappears." Hanchuan glanced toward the evacuation routes Zhiyi had created. "You can tell them to move while some still have a chance of surviving, or you can leave them where they are because their deaths will be less visible."

The woman’s anger faltered. She looked toward the official, but he remained focused on the authorization control beside his hand.

"If I give the order," he said, "the people who die outside will have died because I forced them to leave."

Hanchuan understood why the man wanted someone to contradict him. Accepting the smaller loss didn’t make the people inside it feel less chosen.

"Yes," Hanchuan replied. "And if you refuse to give the order, you choose everyone who dies waiting for water that will never arrive. There is no version where you remain innocent. There is only the version where fewer people die."

The official looked toward Zhiyi as though the model might produce a third result if he waited long enough.

It couldn’t create water that didn’t exist, repair roads that had melted or remove the Heat from the routes people would have to cross. Zhiyi had already reduced the losses as far as the available resources allowed.

The decision no longer belonged to her.

Around him, the command room waited for the same answer.

On the communications wall, the official moved his hand over the authorization control and held it there.