MTLNOVEL Chapter 233: Parting Ways
Lu Yuan paused for a moment, then said, "I have long said that Sky City belongs to the descendants of the Green Grass Civilization, Miss Conch."
"This city cannot be given to those who leave! You must be aware of this!"
"And our goal is to return to human civilization, and this has not wavered."
"Thus, we will not stay in one place for long, we will head towards the distance, and we will certainly encounter significant risks along the way. So, please make your choices before reaching our destination, whether to stay here or to leave"
The crowd fell silent.
You looked at me, I looked at you.
Some reminisced about the already vanished Sha Li Clan.
Others held not a single trace of nostalgia for the past.
After finishing his brief speech, Lu Yuan stepped down from the podium and sighed softly.
"You're burning bridges after crossing them, huh..."
"Your heart is even blacker than Old Cat's, using people and then casting them aside," the orange Old Cat jumped onto his shoulder.
It agreed strongly, "However, selecting the population is the right choice."
"Without selection, many problems would arise."
"After the selection, those who choose to stay are truly part of human civilization."
Lu Yuan wasn't as scheming as Old Cat,
When he first recruited the Sha Li Clan, he had made a promise: as soon as they found a safe place, they could leave.
Now he was simply fulfilling that promise.
And in providing resources to settle them, he had been more than generous.
With a helpless shake of his head, "Let's not dwell on this, let's go and check on the last few major projects."
The stripping work of Sky City's inner ring was almost finished.
The entire structure of the inner ring city presented a "field" character platform with a thick central column and a few thinner ones beside it, divided into three major layers.
Each layer was 4-5 kilometers long.
Because the original Green Grass People specially designed a separate escape mechanism for the inner ring, the inner ring's functionality was fully equipped, including sewers, reservoirs, automated factories, warehouses, power stations, and farms.
Oh, right, and the most important opium poppy was located on the uppermost layer.
From the city's perspective, it was quite miniature, only one percent of its original size.
But in Lu Yuan's eyes, it was already quite a significant thing; comfortably accommodating 100,000 people across three layers was absolutely no problem.
The engineering teams worked day and night, transferring materials from the outer and middle rings to the inner ring.
And those few insects were also frantically drilling for oil, for once they left this place, finding another location with abundant oil wouldn't be easy, so they had to stockpile more now.
"Captain Lu, the preliminary completion is expected in two weeks! Then another two weeks to check and address any deficiencies."
"One month, and it will definitely be completed!" the overall responsible person Sha Mo declared firmly.
There were about five hundred workers in this project area.
Several hundred opium poppy cutting machines were cutting through the walls.
They reconnected the power to the Pandora Crystal Stone and reinforced and repaired some of the things that had been in disrepair for years.
This task had now been going on for one and a half years.
Because of the high-quality meals; eating well and sleeping well, many workers had grown significantly fatter over the year.
Only Sha Mo, the technical backbone, had lost weight, leading a group of unschooled people to complete this great project was quite remarkable.
"Get some rest early, I've brought you all some night snacks!"
It was a big pot of corn porridge, made from genetically modified corn, quite nourishing.
"Haha, immersed in joy, can't help ourselves!" Sha Mo waved his big hand, "Brothers, have some snacks and then let's push for a few more hours!"
"Alright!" Everyone shouted in response.
...
Will they choose to leave?
Obviously — they won't.
Lu Yuan was fully confident, including the 382 Divine Skill Users among the technical backbones, none would choose to leave here.
...
...
After a busy day, Sha Mo returned home and first took a comfortable sand bath.
It was his favorite form of entertainment; letting his fatigue slowly dissolve into the sand, his tense nerves gradually relaxed.
He thought to himself how wonderful it would be if he could bathe with water.
"What exactly is like, the ocean?" He had grown up in the desert and had never seen the real sea.
Fortunately, the virtual world could satisfy all needs, so he knew the true appearance of the sea.
"What awaits us in even further worlds?"
"And what will happen when we encounter other civilizations?"
"Human homeland... Technological civilization..."
The engrossed Sha Mo, ever since he accessed more knowledge, was no longer content to dwell in small villages.
He was very satisfied with his current life, being able to change everything around him through his wisdom.
After the bath, he put on some dry coarse clothes, gossiping with friends, playing chess, and playing basketball, which was also a usual nighttime entertainment.
But today seemed an exception; there were not many people playing in the square, and those few who were there greeted hurriedly and rushed back home, looking heavy-hearted.
Sha Mo was clear in his heart that it must have been that speech delivered by Lu Yuan that stirred people's thoughts.
"Sha Mo, come here for a minute," he said, meeting Sha Sanli around a corner.
This director of the education department, whose daily job was to supervise the children attending school, one less was not allowed.
"Elder, what's the matter?"
"Hey, it's just about that matter... Follow me."
He saw many middle-aged and elderly people with the surname "Sha" sitting in a large room discussing something.
Sha Sanli, the director of the education department, was actually one of the better-off ones, a civil servant who still enjoyed welfare benefits.
But the other elders did not fare as well.
Many of them were older, over fifty, with unenlightened minds, having no skills in life other than farming.
These people, who once held some clan status, now had none.
Seeing the surrounding young people, each living better than themselves, you can't imagine how hard it was inside!
"Sha Mo, are you going back?" someone asked.
"Going back where?"
"I mean... back to the Sha Li Clan..."
Sha Mo looked at them incredulously, "Elder, aren't you doing well here? Why go back?"
The old man swallowed his saliva, he actually wanted to say that life was ordinary, but he couldn't speak it out.
"To rebuild the ancestral temple, they don't allow us to erect it here!"
"And it's also about... the Sha Li Clan..."
"Then you guys go back, I definitely won't be going back." He emphatically rejected them.
"Unfilial descendant... even forgotten the rules of our ancestors!" the elder burst into rage, angrily standing up.
He almost pointed his finger right at his nose.
Sha Mo was not polite either, "What era is it now, still using moral coercion."
"The rules of our ancestors? If our ancestors truly have spirits in heaven, they would definitely want us to live better!"
"They want us to eat well, wear warm clothes! They hope we can progress."
"Not to stick to the old ways, day after day, year after year, living like primitives!"
"And think about it, who let you live until now... could it really be the ancestors?"
Being a Super-thinker, he was articulate and used modern thinking to silence the crowd with a single phrase, "moral coercion."
The people just fumed and muttered "unfilial descendants."
At that moment, another well-off militia captain, "Sha Kan'er," also arrived in the room.
Although he did not possess Divine Skill, he had outstanding cultivation talent, one of the best among ten thousand, and also held an official position.
Sha Kan'er was clearly an old hand, his face twitched a few times hearing their conversation.
Those of you who are not well-off can leave, but why should we who are better off follow you?
He cleared his throat and said, "Elders, Captain Lu has been good to us, without him we would have already died."
"You have to admit this fact!"
Everyone was silent, they didn't dare to speak ill of Captain Lu.
"Now is the time to achieve great things, how can we leave so easily?"
"Of course, if you want to restore the glory of our ancestors, I have nothing against it."
"Here, I will contribute a little. I'll donate my entire salary for this month, that should be enough, right?"
With that, he slapped a bunch of coins on the table with a "smack," then turned and left without looking back, leaving a room full of elders looking at each other.
"I will also donate this month's salary," Sha Mo quickly added, then left the room.
Actually, the director of the education department, Sha Sanli, didn't want to leave either.
Here he had money and status, while going to a new place, although he would still be an elder, the living standards would definitely not be the same.
As a part of the elderly, he was just cornered by these old men and quickly tried to smooth things over: "They've all donated money, let's not make it difficult."
"Everyone has their own aspirations... each person has their own choices."
The crowd silently had nothing to refute.
...
Similar arguments appeared in many families.
The better off the living standard, the more inclined to stay here.
In discussions that were not too intense, the crowd quickly divided clearly into two factions, with about eight thousand people willing to follow Lu Yuan.
And the remaining three thousand wanted to rebuild the "Sha Li Clan."
This was not necessarily a bad thing.
Because almost all the Divine Skill Users and intellectuals chose to follow Lu Yuan.
The vitality would not suffer any loss, but rather the team was streamlined, eliminating some useless people.
For any "large company," "large organization," streamlining the team at no cost was like a pie falling from the sky!
But Lu Yuan, the leader, was actually quite emotional and did not wish to treat people as tools.
Learning of the final choices, he also sighed softly.
"Then I wish them, may they continue for a long time."
...