Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 609 - 573: After the Disaster

The storm arrived earlier than Perfikot expected.

Or rather, the storm's front affected Langton earlier than the storm itself. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"It's getting colder, it's really cold today!" Hugh rubbed his arms and hunched his body, trying to keep as warm as possible.

But it was at most a bit of psychological comfort and couldn't really warm his body.

Hugh didn't mind this; he just continued walking down the street.

He worked at the Energy Tower, where the temperature wasn't low when it was running, and he just had to endure it.

There was still water on the street, although most of it had receded, some low areas still had water deep enough to cover his feet, forcing Hugh to be very careful.

After all, the weather was already cold, and stepping into a puddle would wet his shoes, which was no big deal, but if his foot stayed cold for long, he could get sick in this kind of weather.

Moreover, he had to work today, and having water in his shoes would be inconvenient, especially when he had to climb the Energy Tower; slipping on water could be deadly.

Hugh hadn't walked far before he felt warm all over, which invigorated him and even changed his walking posture, straightening his back again.

Of course, it wasn't because Hugh got warm from walking; for someone with thin clothes and no breakfast like Hugh, he couldn't get warm from exercise unless he ran around the whole block twice.

The warmth he felt was because he had entered the warming field of the Energy Tower.

The Energy Tower constructed by Perfikot in Langton, like those in the Northern Territory, naturally had a temperature regulation barrier and could create a relatively warm environment within a certain area.

Although the Energy Tower hadn't been running at full capacity since it was not entirely winter yet, the temperature inside the warming field was only slightly higher than the outside by a few degrees.

But those few degrees were enough to make ordinary people like Hugh feel warm all over.

Once he warmed up, Hugh quickly arrived at the bottom of the Energy Tower, greeted his coworkers, received his daily ration, and changed into his work attire to prepare for work on the tower.

The Energy Tower he maintained was one of those damaged during the previous tsunami, and although emergency repairs had restored its use, having been flooded by the tsunami still had lingering effects.

Therefore, workers like Hugh were needed to go up to the tower every day for inspections and maintenance.

Hugh's work wasn't complex; he had to check whether the pressure in the pipelines of the Energy Tower was normal. If there were any pressure anomalies, he had to promptly switch the valves to adjust and prevent pressure from exceeding or falling below working pressure.

During the previous tsunami, a lot of seawater entered the Energy Tower's boiler. The crystallization of evaporated seawater caused blockages in the pipelines and heat exchangers, although not very serious, it could be cleaned, but cleaning thoroughly was a very complex and troublesome task.

Thus, Perfikot only repaired the damaged parts, and maintenance and cleaning work had to be postponed until after the hurricane to schedule personnel for cleaning.

However, this was good news for Hugh.

After all, if there were no problems with the Energy Tower, he wouldn't need to climb it every day for inspections and maintenance.

This was crucial for Hugh's livelihood because finding such a decent and hard-to-get job in Langton was very difficult now.

Or more precisely, finding a job itself was tough.

Having climbed the high tower and walked around the maintenance pathway, checking that all pressure gauges were in the normal range, Hugh finally arrived at a small maintenance platform at the top of the tower, sat down, and began eating today's ration.

From his position, he could overlook much of the inner city, and if he looked into the distance, he could see the outer city beyond the city walls.

It was a great scenic spot; if it were in the past, looking at the bustling and vibrant Langton would fully convey the extravagant indulgence of the world's most bustling metropolis.

But the scenery now was hardly good.

Even with the city's walls as a barrier, many buildings in the inner city were still torn down by the previous tsunami. Although cleaned up now, the collapsed buildings couldn't be restored quickly.

Plus, due to the previous construction of Energy Towers, buildings around each tower were demolished, and much of the construction debris wasn't promptly removed but was piled in unobtrusive locations. The cleared spaces were filled with leftover materials and parts from Energy Tower construction.

The remaining free spaces were filled with temporary tents, housing refugees who lost their homes in the tsunami.

This made the area around Hugh's position look like a mess, full of chaos and dirt.

After all, not much time had passed since the tsunami; even though Perfikot mobilized all troops within and around Langton City to aid in the disaster, they only cleared the main streets for passage and settled rescued citizens around Energy Towers.

And Perfikot and other technicians were more focused on repairing Energy Towers and shelters, so more people would have places to stay and avoid freezing to death in the towers' warming fields.

A bit dirty or messy? That's not considered a big deal, at least not before surviving becomes the main focus.

Ultimately, only by surviving first can other concerns be addressed.

Of course, a dirty, chaotic environment can lead to the spread of epidemics, and cleaning up garbage helps maintain good hygiene, which is also important.

But currently, there was simply no manpower available, so these tasks had to be temporarily postponed.

Fortunately, the weather was rapidly turning cold, hindering conditions for epidemic spread, preventing worries about large-scale epidemics.

Moreover, Hugh knew that the city government was organizing settled citizens into cleaning squads to start cleaning up the garbage around the camps.

Clearly, the officials knew what needed to be done, and overall, everything was steadily improving.

But looking at the still shimmering outer city beyond the walls, Hugh couldn't help but sigh, clearly sympathizing with the people there.

They weren't as lucky as those in the inner city; many people were still soaking in water, and there were no rescue operations in the outer city.

"Ah, serves you right! Who told you to believe in some Evil God? Good luck, let's see if the Evil God you believe in comes to save you!" Having finished his rebellious comments, Hugh sighed, then resumed his work for the day.

According to the city government's announcement, the hurricane was landing within a few days, so Hugh had to ensure the Energy Tower was kept in normal and good operation.