CHAPTER 318: CHAPTER 143: WE ARE ALL THEIR CHILDREN (PART 2)

Food is not a problem, safety is not a problem.

The cliché of "internal strife" and "power struggle" commonly seen in apocalyptic scenarios has not happened at all.

A relatively democratic leadership system was established, and then the first five-year plan was passed.

Wang He seems to have quite a few opinions about this plan.

While chatting with the base correspondent, he freely expressed his views.

"...Actually, we don’t need to prioritize agricultural development; the population size is almost constant now."

"It’s difficult to find more survivors, and on the other hand, survivor settlements that are already substantial have no plans to join us for now."

"Village self-defense is the current situation, so we should focus on specialized development."

"Yangcheng and the Pearl River Delta are developing industry, but we should focus on healthcare, since we do have an advantage in this area..."

...

He has many ideas, but from Chen Jian’s perspective, most of them are too optimistic and idealistic.

So, naturally, his suggestions were not accepted.

However, he didn’t seem dissatisfied with this.

When the first five-year plan started, he obediently joined the "agricultural expansion."

Every day when he returned to the fort for his shift, he was always chatting with the correspondent about the farming work he did during the day, and his newly discovered techniques.

He grew increasingly professional.

Breeding, grafting, fertilizing, pest control...

It was evident that he was not the only one making progress.

By the end of the first five-year plan, with the help of large machinery, the Imperial Capital Base with a population of 1,200 had achieved self-sufficiency in food.

During the New Year of this year, everyone ate flour made from the wheat they grew for the first time.

Wang He ate 38 dumplings, and before returning to the fort for rest, he asked the correspondent to help him find any unexpired digestive tablets.

But evidently, the correspondent didn’t find any.

So, in the end, he went to sleep enduring the discomfort in his stomach.

This discomfort did not affect his mood.

After reporting on the maintenance status of the nuclear fort, he said to the correspondent on the other end:

"Life is getting better; we’ve even eaten dumplings."

"We have 1,200 people now, and if things go smoothly, we might grow to around 5,000 people in a generation."

"Twenty years? Or at most 30 years?"

"As long as productivity can keep up, in 100 years, we might grow to a scale of tens of millions."

"Restoring civilization isn’t that hard, right?"

...

He maintained an optimistic mindset, and seemingly, things were progressing according to his expectations.

After the first five-year plan was successfully completed, the second five-year plan followed immediately.

The industrial scale began to expand, and using the technology and equipment foundation left by the 001 fort, the Imperial Capital Base quickly achieved self-sufficiency in basic tools.

They began to produce steam engines, generators, and simple combustion engines, and manufactured the first tracked steam locomotive after the great catastrophe.

Although the power of this steam locomotive was far inferior to professional machines before the disaster, everyone was still jubilant about it.

Wang He continued to adhere to his post.

He frequently rotated with other team members, but due to his growing expertise, the duration of his shifts also became longer.

In 2053, he got married.

Over the next five years, he had four children.

However, it was from this year that his mood suddenly became subdued.

Abnormalities started appearing within the base.

Almost as if a fast-forward button had been pressed, those who were in their prime found themselves rapidly weakening.

Wang He was no exception.

He sent a worried message to the correspondent.

"...I feel like I’m not going to make it."

"I’m not sick, but my body is barely holding up."

"I’m only 40... it shouldn’t be this way."

"The boss was only 39, but when he died yesterday, his face looked like that of a seventy-year-old."

"Do you think this could be some kind of disease?"

"If not a disease, could it be a lingering effect of radiation?"

He posed the question, but it received no answer.

In the next three years, the population of the Imperial City Base sharply declined.

Not only them, but every other base they could contact faced the same problem.

Thus, the burden fell onto the Imperial Capital Base.

The 001 fort stored many advanced medical devices, and during their development, they collected a significant amount of equipment from the Imperial City.

The first stage of experimentation began, and during this period, the central focus of Imperial’s work shifted entirely to "exploring the causes of aging."

Dissection, experimentation, research, validation.

This cycle repeated over and over, but ultimately, they did not obtain an answer.

The population continued to decrease.

In February 2058, Wang He died at his post.

His final message to the correspondent consisted of only one sentence.

"It’s only a few days until New Year; make sure you eat a few more dumplings for me this year."

After he died, a new team member replaced him.

This member doesn’t seem to enjoy chatting with the correspondent as Wang He did, but even from the sparse messages he sent, a vast amount of information was exposed.

The speed at which the population was decreasing accelerated, and the average age of death was getting lower.

From initially around 45 years old, by 2075, it had dropped to 37.

The population of the base had not stopped growing for now, as this age of death had not yet threatened the reproductive age range.