Chapter 560: Above-ground Shelter 2
Ethan Dawson and Peter Owens exchanged a look, and both couldn’t help but laugh.
"Got it. We’ll definitely be rougher next time."
Evelyn Ford smiled. "What about the others?"
"They’re all in the dorms. Are you two finished with your work?"
Evelyn Ford nodded. "For now. I’m exhausted and sleepy. I need to go back and get some sleep."
"There’s nothing to do in The Undercity. Give us something to do." Ethan Dawson wanted to enter the space to farm, but Evelyn Ford had been busy lately, so the work in the space had been put on hold.
"Alright. Let’s go back to the dorm first."
The four of them returned to the dorm, and Evelyn Ford had Ethan Dawson call everyone over.
In less than two minutes, everyone had gathered. Taylor Vance and Zion Lowell were adjusting well to The Undercity; their complexions had become healthy and ruddy.
"You two are finally back. If you hadn’t returned soon, Mr. Graham was about to go out and look for you."
Evelyn Ford looked at Officer Graham. "Did something happen?"
"No, nothing’s wrong. It’s just that you were gone for so long. Earlier, someone came by and said there was a stampede among the protestors at the hospital where many people died. I got a little worried about you."
"A stampede? Did that happen today? Ronan Kendrick and I have been busy this whole time, so we didn’t know about it."
Officer Graham nodded. "It happened today, just about five hours ago. The Undercity has a broadcast station; they announced it."
"We weren’t anywhere near the hospital, so don’t worry. Anyway, I called you all here to tell you something. It’s a bit much for Ethan Dawson to farm in the space by himself, so you all will go in and work with him to get the land cultivated as soon as possible."
"Is everyone okay with that?"
"Of course! We’ve got plenty of strength. Moving to The Undercity is good, but we can’t help feeling unsettled. Evelyn Ford, just give us work to do. We need to keep busy."
"Yeah. There are so many people in The Undercity. Maybe we’re just used to living alone, so suddenly moving to a crowded place... we’re having trouble adjusting."
"People need to work. Keeping busy stops you from overthinking."
Evelyn Ford made a gesture for quiet. "There are log cabins inside where you can rest. I’ll take you in now. Peter Owens, Miles Vaughn, you’ll go with Ethan Dawson to farm. The rest of you, follow Mr. Graham to organize the supplies."
Even Ethan Dawson and Peter Owens had been picked on. Her large "family" had both old and young members, so to avoid trouble, Evelyn Ford decided to put them all into the space to work.
Knowing they could go into the space to work, everyone was eagerly rubbing their hands together, both excited and nervous.
"Stay out of the mining area for now. Joelle Finch, Wyatt Vaughn, you two are in charge of the livestock area. Start by collecting the chicken and duck eggs. Mr. Vance, Mr. Lowell, there are a lot of pots and pans that were sorted out earlier. You two will be in charge of washing and storing them."
Once the work was assigned, Evelyn Ford sent them all into the space.
After working in the granary for thirty hours, she was covered in sweat. Evelyn Ford quickly went into the bathroom to take a shower. She was so tired that her eyelids had been fighting to stay open while she was talking to everyone.
By the time Ronan Kendrick came out of the bathroom, Evelyn Ford was already asleep.
Meanwhile, it was a different scene inside the space. Everyone was nervous at first, afraid of triggering some kind of trap. Seeing how cautious they were, Quincy laughed until his stomach hurt.
"There are no traps. Get to work, all of you. If Evelyn Ford comes in and finds you haven’t done anything, she definitely won’t let you in again."
As soon as they heard what Quincy said, everyone quickly grabbed their tools and got to work.
"Zoe, Annie, you two go collect eggs too."
"Okay, Dad. There are some little birds in there. I want to go talk to them."
Quincy patted Zoe’s head. "Go on."
There were many poisonous plants in the cultivation area, which Ronan Kendrick had fenced off with wooden stakes and marked with a sign bearing a skull.
With their tasks assigned, everyone got busy. Two log cabins were situated in the cultivation area, so anyone who wanted to rest could go back and lie down for a while.
"Why don’t we just live in here forever? It has everything, even a day and night cycle. We can farm, and most importantly, it’s safe. Wouldn’t that be great?"
"You’re dreaming. Except for Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick, anyone else who stays in the space for a certain amount of time will be automatically ejected. We can’t stay in here forever."
Officer Graham smiled. "Things are already great as they are. We work together, and many hands make light work. We can grow more grains and vegetables. We can’t just let Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick support us forever. We also have to pull our own weight and make a contribution."
"Mr. Graham is right. We need to work harder and do more."
Evelyn Ford slept until she woke up naturally. She took out her pocket watch to check the time and was surprised to find she had slept for nine hours.
Ronan Kendrick was already up. He had left a note on the bedside table, saying he had to go out for something but not to worry, and that he would be back within three hours.
Evelyn Ford stretched. Remembering that the others were still working in the space, she washed her face and quickly entered it to check on them.
"Wow, amazing. Many hands really do make light work. It only took a few hours to sort out this whole huge pile of clutter."
Looking at the neatly organized shelves, Evelyn Ford’s eyes shone as she looked at everyone.
Ethan Dawson walked over to Evelyn Ford. "We’ve tilled thirty acres of land. We can sow the seeds now."
"Alright, let’s sow wheat then. I’ve decided the first crop will be all wheat."
"Wheat is great! The flour we mill can be used to steam buns and make noodles."
’I remember I collected several noodle-making machines from the granary,’ Evelyn Ford thought. ’It’ll be so much easier to make noodles in the future; the machines will do all the work.’
"Everyone, let’s head out for now. You’ve been working for a long time and must be tired. Go to the cafeteria to eat first, then go back and get some sleep."
"We’re not tired! I don’t want to go out. We can cook in the log cabins. The cafeteria might have free food and drink, but it’s too crowded. Every time we go to eat, people stare at us and size us up."
’Maybe it’s because we haven’t interacted with outsiders for too long... it feels like everyone’s getting a little socially anxious,’ Evelyn Ford mused. Except for Quincy.
"That works too. It’s not like we’re short on food or drink. Go ahead and cook for yourselves in the log cabins."
"Mr. Chase had Liam Sterling issue a notice earlier, saying all able-bodied men between fifteen and forty-five have to sign up for work. Should we go?"
Evelyn Ford shook her head. "No, you don’t have to. Just keep working here in the space."
The base had already issued a notice: all able-bodied young men were required to help build the surface shelters. All participants in the construction would be given priority for residency. Young women could sign up to cook, clean, and do laundry. As long as they participated, they too could move into the shelters first and receive officially distributed oxygen tanks and oxygen bags.
The stampede had killed over a hundred people. All the troublemakers who had incited the commotion were imprisoned, awaiting execution by firing squad.
The pharmaceutical factory and the cannery were still in operation. All workers had already received their oxygen tanks. After the management teams made peace, the pharmaceutical factory added fifteen new production lines and would begin mass-producing oxygen tanks and oxygen bags.
The base restarted the food factory and would begin mass-producing compressed biscuits, instant noodles, and sausage links.