CHAPTER 541: CHAPTER 439 LUCIA AID PLAN·2

Of course, Chen Xin’s involvement in Lucia’s aid project wasn’t just about upgrading the Energy Tower’s core.

Once all the supplies were unloaded, the planes hurriedly returned, while the supplies and engineering team that arrived along with them were received by the base.

They would then be directly transported to the installation sites that the Lucians had prepared, and the installation process would begin.

The construction of the Energy Tower is a relatively complex project. Although the Lucians had made a lot of preparations, the installation and connection of the heating pipelines, the assembly of the Energy Tower’s shell, the overall equipment debugging...

There was still plenty of work to be done. Among these tasks, the Lucians were mainly responsible for the peripheral work, while the core technology aspects would be completed by the engineering team from Flame Country.

"Can’t you just teach us the technology so we can do it ourselves?" The Lucian official in charge of the Energy Tower project complained to Chen Xin. In his view, Flame Country had taken so many benefits from Lucia, and it shouldn’t be so stingy with a piece of civil technology.

In fact, it is understandable that the Lucians would complain, because despite Flame Country’s aid plan to help Lucia build an Energy Tower to provide heating equipment, the Energy Tower’s core had to be imported from Flame Country, not to mention that the relevant components and parts also had to be imported from Flame Country.

Let alone that, if the Energy Tower malfunctioned and required maintenance, Lucia had to have Flame Country’s technical engineers present to carry out the repairs.

Otherwise, it would be deemed as non-standard operation, and Flame Country would not be responsible for any subsequent issues.

If it were before the catastrophe, such restrictions would actually be quite normal. Although it has become rare in recent years, in the eighties and nineties, many devices imported into Flame Country from abroad had such strict usage restrictions.

Parts had to be purchased from designated manufacturers, which were expensive, and sometimes of lower quality compared to domestic ones; any dismantling and repair required a foreign engineer to be present, and many key core parts were simply welded shut, so not only could you not see them, but repairs had to be sent back to the original manufacturer, incurring high costs.

It was precisely because of this kind of technological blockade that the people of Flame Country decided to rely on themselves, starting from imitation and counterfeiting to self-innovation, creating their own technological path from scratch.

Not only did they achieve localization of components, but they also managed to produce domestically many originally heavily imported devices.

After finally forging this path, the people of Flame Country became very protective of their technology and were not willing to let foreigners learn it easily.

The incidents that happened in the eighties and nineties, where a few foreign workers would tour a factory and walk away with the core technology, would never happen again.

Although it’s now a post-apocalyptic world, protecting technology remains an incredibly important matter.

It doesn’t mean that the people of Flame Country are stingy. If they were truly stingy, they wouldn’t be offering aid to Lucia. It’s just a way of reciprocating past experiences.

So when faced with the Lucian official’s question, Chen Xin merely shrugged and said, "The core of the Energy Tower consists of extremely precise components. Even in our country, only a few factories can produce such high-precision components, and they require a lot of high-performance materials.

The core itself is encapsulated, and dismantling it carelessly could easily lead to core damage.

This is precisely why we don’t allow you to disassemble it recklessly. After all, with something as precise as this, even the slightest inadequate maintenance could ruin it, right?"

"That’s a prejudice!" The Lucian official retorted indignantly but found himself unable to argue further.

The fact is, if they don’t want to teach you the technology, what can you do about it? Even finding an excuse to explain it could be considered Chen Xin humoring him.

No matter how much he says, in this situation where their positions are unequal, it ultimately holds no weight.

Right now, it is Lucia seeking help from Flame Country, and no matter how harsh the conditions flame country imposes, Lucia has no choice but to accept them, without room to negotiate.

In fact, the current conditions are far from being harsh for Lucia; it’s just a matter of psychological unwillingness.

Seeing that the official had nothing more to say, Chen Xin turned around and walked ahead, not forgetting to speak to the Lucian official following him, "Once the Energy Core is installed, the heating field’s coverage can reach a radius of five hundred meters. With a completely enclosed tower, the effective heating range of the pipelines can reach ten kilometers."

"If you place the Energy Tower underground in the city center, theoretically, it can provide heating to all shelters within a ten-kilometer radius. So how is the pipeline layout going now?"

This matter directly affects how many survival points Chen Xin could get, so he naturally paid close attention to it.

Upon hearing Chen Xin’s question, the Lucian official quickly explained, "We have currently connected the heating pipelines for all official shelters, and are trying to incorporate the smaller shelters within the range into the official shelters’ heating pipelines. But due to the large number, and the complications of construction, we’ve only completed about 40% so far."

We’re speeding up the progress, and we expect to reach about 85% by the time the Energy Tower is completed. But as for the remaining part, there are still some who refuse to cooperate."

"Who refuses to cooperate?" Hearing that some people were not cooperating, Chen Xin’s face immediately turned grim, and he stopped in his tracks.

Concerned about the survival points he could earn, he did not want any issues affecting his ability to earn them.

"It’s some of the previous rioters. They were initially incorporated by the revolutionary army but somehow have now reasserted their independence from the revolutionary army, do not comply with official management, and resist the revolutionary army, with considerable stubbornness." The Lucian official explained to Chen Xin, hinting at some complaints as he spoke.

Upon hearing this, Chen Xin frowned, pondered, and asked, "How many of them are there, and how much area do they control?"

"Currently, there are about tens of thousands of them, mainly concentrated in several small-to-medium shelters they’ve occupied." The Lucian official explained to Chen Xin, also explaining why they had not been dealt with, "The leadership doesn’t want further conflict that could destroy the capital, so they’ve temporarily tolerated their presence. We’re currently working with the revolutionary army to persuade them to cooperate in the reconstruction work, but they’re stubborn, and we’re at a standstill."

"Resolve this quickly. If they’re still unwilling to cooperate by the time the Energy Tower is completed..." Chen Xin said, pausing before continuing, "I’ll send someone to help you forcibly dismantle them."