CHAPTER 464: CHAPTER 462: LUCIA’S DESPERATE SITUATION

While Chen Xin and others were troubled by the situation in the disaster area, the situation in Lucia’s capital was not much better.

Although the arrival of the Earthly Dog and the Pig offered a glimmer of hope for the struggling Lucia, the nation was already so weakened that it could barely hold onto this thread of hope.

Although Lucia is one of the five major powers on Blue Planet, and its overall strength is not poor, the country itself is a sick tiger stuck in a quagmire.

In the era of Suyia, Lucia’s predecessor, the country collapsed due to various social problems, turning into Lucia and a series of states. However, this self-collapse did not solve the lingering social problems from the Suyia era but instead deepened Lucia’s struggles, worsening its situation.

Before the disaster, Suyia had been dismantled for nearly thirty years. While the abundant legacy barely maintained Lucia’s facade as one of the five major powers, and the leaders’ efforts allowed the country to struggle out of the mire, the results were still minimal, and the people’s lives were not better than during the Suyia era.

In such circumstances, Lucia still participated in the counter-asteroid action.

However, this almost drained Lucia’s last breath.

The country was already powerless, long gone from the era when Suyia’s might oppressed all of Europe as one of the world’s two poles. The counter-asteroid action was akin to a reckless gamble.

If successful, Lucia might have leveraged the merit of saving humanity, the gathered unity, and national power from the event, to rebuild post-disaster.

Though this might not revive Lucia’s former strength, at least it could improve the domestic situation.

But this gamble failed, marking not only Lucia’s failure but humanity’s overall failure.

There were no winners; all nations were losers.

Lucia also faced near-collapse due to losing too much.

When the aid from Flame Country arrived after traversing thousands of miles to Lucia’s capital, although the city hadn’t collapsed, the cold environment surpassing Flame Country, shortages of various materials, and people plagued by cold and disease turned the once-proud Suyia’s capital into a despair-filled Hell.

The shelter built beneath the Capital’s subway station was already the best place in the country.

Yet even here, it was less of a sanctuary and more of an underground cellar filled with starving bodies.

The people here could more or less get enough food to avoid starvation, yet only barely.

Lucia was already a high-latitude country, and its winters were much longer than Flame Country’s, with a less developed agricultural sector.

After the disaster, they could barely maintain food supply by growing potatoes underground, but many people still starved.

Moreover, worse than Flame Country, Lucia’s outdoor temperature had plummeted below minus one hundred degrees, far more severe than Flame Country’s. At such temperatures, outdoor activities were impossible, and everyone could only stay in underground shelters.

This also meant Lucia couldn’t do post-disaster reconstruction, only attempt to dig further underground to expand the shelters.

Even worse, at extreme cold temperatures, the trains couldn’t run; you couldn’t ignite boilers at minus one hundred degrees, plunging the city into resource scarcity.

At this point, the situation in Lucia’s capital was akin to the falling-winter Chapter in the "Frostpunk" game, lacking clothes and food, filled with various problems.

Heating, coal, food, not a single resource could be stably supplied!

The arrival of two arks from Flame Country was indeed a life-saving measure in dire times, but all they could provide Lucia was akin to splashing some alcohol on a pile of embers, which seemed to burn but couldn’t sustain beyond the alcohol’s flame.

To save this country, it takes injecting new fuel.

"You’ve already seen the situation here, Lucia desperately needs help from Flame Country!" In the Central Subway Station shelter, Lucia’s leader met with the Flame Country officials, candidly revealing Lucia’s predicament: "Only Flame Country can help Lucia now. As long as you’re willing to assist us through this crisis, we’re willing to repay your help with anything."

Right now, the plight Lucia faced left no room for negotiations or maneuvering with Flame Country officials.

All he could do was lay all that Lucia had on the negotiating table for Flame Country to choose from, in exchange for aid that could keep Lucia alive.

"What do you need?" Perhaps it’s still the deep-rooted humility of Flame Country people; even if they wanted everything Lucia could provide, the Flame Country official still first asked about Lucia’s needs.

After all, it was already meat in the bowl; there’s no need for unsightly greed.

"Food! Medicine! Fuel! Even clothes! Lucia needs everything! Needs everything that can keep people alive!" Lucia’s leader helplessly rubbed his forehead, explaining Lucia’s needs to the Flame Country official, even if it exposed the country’s weakness completely.

But Lucia’s leader couldn’t care about that; without support, Lucia was on the brink of downfall.

Before the disaster, Lucia knew to prepare, and indeed, using Suyia’s legacy, they made every preparation possible within their power.

But the harsh environment and Lucia’s weak national power left them unable to do much more in many areas.

Like underground potato farming, Lucia knew it was the sole food source post-disaster, but its weak national power meant it couldn’t produce enough food to feed everyone.

Now, Lucia’s leader couldn’t contemplate more, at a desperate end, he’d even considered following the British example, merging the entire country into Flame Country, in exchange for sustained survival for the nation and its people.

Compared to Lucia’s leader’s distress, the Flame Country official was more composed. He thought for a moment and said: "We brought fifty tons of food and ten tons of medicine; these are offered freely to you. You can use them to respond to urgent needs first."

Upon hearing this from the Flame Country official, the Lucia leader showed an expression of joy.

Although not much, it was indeed a timely help, enough to solve immediate crises.

"As for more aid, I need to contact our home country to make decisions, considering Flame Country’s situation isn’t optimistic either. Southwest Region’s earthquake caused significant loss to Flame Country, and we don’t have much spare capacity to help you." The Flame Country official stayed in touch with his homeland, being well aware of the situation.

The statement was both factual and a negotiation tactic with Lucia’s leader.

After all, Flame Country’s aid wasn’t genuinely free.