Early spring in Haizhou already carried a trace of irritating warmth. The heavy, lingering night was utterly quiet, showing none of the bustling clamor of the daytime.
Yet without the lively crowds coming and going, a certain calm, unshakable order became all the more pronounced—as if its outer disguise had been stripped away.
Even in the dead of night, the Haian Industries factory grounds remained brightly lit. Occasionally, workers riding the facility shuttle buses moved through the grounds, but far more numerous were the trucks shuttling between the factory halls.
Carried by countless forklifts, massive volumes of vehicle parts and engineering equipment were hauled out of the warehouses and loaded onto trucks. Every half hour, a convoy would silently roll out of the complex and venture into the darkness of the wilderness.
Dispatched under the invisible hand, they parted along their respective ways in orderly fashion. A small portion headed for the two central cities of Chaocheng and Yacheng, while the vast majority made for various docks.
At docks large and small, the assembled and sorted goods were dispatched in all directions before daybreak—tracing the coastline toward other provinces, or plunging into the boundless ocean, cutting through the wind and waves.
Two days later, a massive cargo freighter arrived at the Seven Cities. After unloading large amounts of raw materials and consumables at the Dancheng transit station, it was rapidly loaded up with small household appliances, wind- and hydro-generators, and an array of civilian equipment manufactured across the various factory zones of the Seven Cities.
Then it set off once more, bound for the Mid-Continent.
Just before departure, the closing hatch paused for a brief instant. A dozen or so chore cats sprinted over, carrying several parcels that hadn't been in the original shipping manifest, and shoved them into the space behind the door.
The hatch slammed shut, and the freighter departed port.
Over the seven-day voyage, transiting six islands with continuous loading and unloading, the parcels were gradually squeezed into a far corner of the hold, showing faint signs of deformation and wear.
Crossing the seas and braving the swells, accompanied by the daily reverberation of rolling waves, they finally arrived at their destination.
Tacheng, White Nation.
Amid the blast of an iconic horn, the freighter stamped with the Courier Logistics logo docked at the pier. A vast swarm of engineering cats that had been waiting for ages flooded inside in neat lines. Under countless flabbergasted gazes, shipping containers flowed out of the holds like water and were mounted onto empty trucks, which streamed out in an unbroken procession.
The enormous freighter was completely emptied in under an hour.
Then, right on schedule, another convoy passed port inspection and began loading under the handling of the very same engineering cats.
Surrounded by an uncanny chorus of 16-bit cat meows, the dock's water service worker was utterly numb.
"Th-this..."
Clutching his water hose, the worker stared blankly, pointing at an engineering cat that was running past with a battered parcel on its back, meowing as it went, while a shipping container that seemed to have sprouted legs crawled along behind it. "What in the world is that?"
"New here?"
A gantry crane driver who had slipped away to smoke and watch the spectacle grinned, baring his teeth. "Never seen it before, eh? It's a new trick Haian came up with. Every loading and unloading gets done within two hours—stop and go.
"They claim berths are limited and it's to optimize efficiency, but the way I see it... it looks an awful lot like trying to dodge two days of berth fees. That boss has got to be a bit of a cheapskate."
"Then what about the stevedores?" the water worker asked, looking around in bewilderment.
"Aren't they right there?" The crane driver pointed toward the middle of the engineering cats. A few figures sat in large exoskeletons, directing operations from the center. Amid the sea of meows, you couldn't even tell them apart without looking closely.
"Efficiency really shot up, though. Rumor has it other companies want to bring the system in, but tough luck—talks probably won't go anywhere." The smoking driver sighed. "The dockworkers' union has gone on strike to protest several times lately. I doubt things will quiet down anytime soon."
"Then what about Haian? Haian's fine?" the water worker pressed. "Haian can stand that tough?"
The crane driver's expression turned odd, and he glanced back. "If you're willing to take the money you saved and hand it out as high-temperature and hazardous-duty allowances to everyone, you can stand that tough, too."
The water worker was taken aback and instinctively did the math in his head. The driver gave a dry chuckle and flashed a number with his fingers, making him freeze again.
Then the driver added, "Daily."
Aside from a string of Tacheng profanities, the water worker couldn't utter another word.
In the distance, a sharp screech echoed. Security inspection cleared, and the convoy was waved through.
In truth, aside from a perfunctory run-through of the standard procedure, there was none of the stringent scrutiny imposed on other enterprises and cargo. It was practically like coming home.
"Holy hell..."
The massive convoy drove toward Tacheng, yet it didn't enter the city center. Instead, it halted at the newly built logistics distribution center in the ruins of what used to be the slums.
Truckloads of parts and raw materials were transferred and allocated here before heading off to the factory districts, while the rest was sorted and repackaged, awaiting the next stage of transport.
Under the relentless, scorching sun, locally recruited delivery workers waited outside on small tricycles, seizing the moment to rest in the shade.
Meanwhile, a travel-stained group clad in clerical robes had long been waiting outside the sorting center.
They craned their necks, eyes full of eager anticipation.
"Sister, do you think that's it?" An impatient youth poked his head forward, his gaze darting across the parcels gliding down the conveyor belt. "That one looks like it, and the other one should be too, and that one over—"
"Correra, be quiet. You're bothering Sister."
"Youth always has energy," the elderly sister said with a sigh of fond amusement, ruffling his hair. "Drink some water. There's work for you to do in a moment."
Outside the warehouse, a shout rose from the queue: "Cleric Uglina! Which one is Cleric Uglina?!"
"Over here! We're here!"
Correra, holding his cup, sprang up with a wave. Tucking the cup away, he plunged into the crowd. "Are our parcels here?"
"Just the few of you?"
The foreman handling allocations frowned slightly and glanced back at the parcel pile stacked high like a hill. "This won't be easy to carry."
Correra froze, his jaw dropping. After roughly estimating the weight, he stiffened and looked back in terror. "S-Sister... you don't expect me to... haul all of these back on my own, do you?"
The sister hesitated as well. "Excuse me, could there be a mistake? What we commissioned Haian to purchase was..."
"Let me check the manifest... Six thousand copies of Federal and Imperial reading and writing textbooks, three thousand children's books, five thousand introductory mechanical engineering texts, six thousand basic mathematics books, and twenty thousand various reference manuals... Yes, that's what you ordered, no mistake."
After verifying the slip once more, the foreman pointed behind him. "This is just the first batch. There's more coming."
*Thud.*
A passing engineering cat flicked its paw deftly, dropping another massive bundle from the conveyor belt onto the ground. The gust of wind kicked up a small cloud of dust.
Correra's face went pale. He swallowed hard, remembering the grand assurances he had made while rolling up his sleeves on the way here, and nearly burst into tears.
"I think young people could use a little exercise," an assistant behind the sister laughed mischievously.
Fortunately, Correra wasn't actually left to carry everything back to the church alone. After asking about their situation, the foreman waved his hand and arranged for several Doujiao tricycles that had just returned to make a few trips. It was just home delivery, after all; the performance points for this sort of special assignment were several times higher than normal tasks, and you couldn't even snag one without good luck!
When Correra and the others returned to the church with several cartloads of books, it wasn't just them—all the clerics and staff members were left dumbfounded.
"Elder! Elder!" Correra rushed into the hall in excitement, waving his arms and shouting. "We brought back so many—"
Before he could finish, he spotted Elder Longge seeing a guest off near the doorway, along with the visitor standing beside him.
Several staff members gave him helpless looks. Correra shrank back sheepishly, grabbed a broom, and began sweeping, not daring to make another peep.
Yet as he worked, he couldn't resist sneaking glances at the guest.
So young.
He seemed even younger than himself, yet he carried himself with such calm, steady assurance. It was genuinely admirable.
"The child is a newcomer sent over as support from the Empire. A bit rash and impulsive—please don't take offense," Elder Longge remarked warmly.
"When one is devoted to good deeds, how could it be called rash or impulsive?"
The youth leaning on a cane offered a faint smile, entirely unbothered. "This batch of Sundials is still entrusted to the church for sale. Please do not decline. Before departing, Mr. Ji instructed me that this revenue should continue to be funneled into the local White Nation charity education fund."
"Then it would be remiss of me to refuse."
Elder Longge nodded without protest. After receiving the shipping manifest from the sister, he offered his thanks once more. "As for the textbooks, it truly is an enormous help."
"You may use Haian's warehouse; Mr. Ji already gave orders to clear one out, so there's no need to worry about another fire like last time," Yan Chang said. "This batch was rushed through the presses in the Seven Cities on short notice, so the quality might not be the best. Moving forward, Uncle Gou said he plans to acquire a printing shop locally, which should make things much easier.
"Use them as needed; there is no need to spare them."
Elder Longge nodded and walked Yan Chang to the door. Watching the youth depart, he let out a soft, contemplative sigh.
Turning back, he looked at the mountain of textbooks piled in the courtyard.
"So many?" Looking at the manifest, the sister felt as if waking from a dream. "It's as though they simply added a zero to the original order! And there are so many extra children's books..."
Correra hoisted a heavy bundle with great enthusiasm, a bright grin on his face. "Now you don't have to worry anymore, Sister! With this many books, it'll be enough for Tacheng for years!"
"What would we need so many for? Sitting in a warehouse, they'd be nothing more than scrap paper."
Elder Longge shook his head. After a moment's thought, he spoke up: "Sister Uglina, please contact the elders of each settlement in my name. If any of them have a need, do not be stingy.
"No matter how xenophobic and stubborn the old folk may be, the children must be allowed to make contact with the outside world."
"Understood."
Uglina nodded, went over to rummage through Longge's drawer for a phone book, and picked up the receiver.
Throughout the afternoon, she made call after call until her voice grew hoarse, ensuring none of Haian's donation went to waste and finding homes for all the books Tacheng couldn't use.
It wasn't as difficult as anticipated; in fact, it went astonishingly smoothly. Even the settlements that had once been the most insular and mistrustful no longer refused or showed their former wariness upon hearing the news from the church.
Some were even willing to dispatch people to travel across mountains and ridges to make the trip.
Yet just how much difference this would make, and whether it could bring a sliver of change to the future, was something no one could say.
In the twilight glow, watching the children romping and playing outside the window, the aged sister couldn't help but lose herself in thought. The playing children glanced back, noticed her gaze, and instantly broke into laughter, jumping up and waving while calling out her name.
She paused, then smiled, put on her glasses, and walked downstairs.
In the creeping night, quiet once again settled over Tacheng. From within the darkness, the faint, intermittent crackle of gunfire could be heard.
Far away, the brilliant neon of the city shone as ever.
Chapter 828