Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 852 - 81

The sky in Langton seems to always be gloomy, as if this city is perpetually shrouded by a thick gray curtain, never able to escape.

In the past, many people believed that Langton's bad weather was due to industrial pollution.

After all, ever since the Empire entered the industrial era, the sky in Langton has hardly ever been blue.

No matter when you look up, all you see is a grayish sky, as if an invisible dust layer is forever suspended overhead, blocking sunlight and the blue sky.

However, with the advent of the apocalypse winter, a large number of factories relocated from Langton to the Northern Territory, indeed reducing air pollution within Langton City, but the sky still didn't turn blue.

People then realized that Langton's weather issues were not merely about industrial pollution.

Ultimately, it's the latitude and terrain of Langton that lead to its weather being perpetually rainy year-round.

Langton is located in the northern part of the Empire's homeland, near the polar region, where the climate is cold and damp.

Coupled with the mountains surrounding it, the moisture is difficult to disperse, resulting in constant overcast skies here.

After the apocalypse winter, global climate changed drastically, making it even harder for Langton to glimpse the sun.

Especially during the cold season, when blizzards rage, it's common not to see sunlight for months.

The entire city seemingly engulfed by ice and clouds, plunged into endless cold and darkness.

The challenges faced in the Northern Territory are naturally not less in Langton, and due to its proximity to the old world's mainland, many issues and threats are more severe than in the Northern Territory.

The apocalypse winter brought not only extreme cold climate but also the lurking Evil God sects from the old world.

These sects are far more rampant in the Empire's homeland than in the Northern Territory, using people's fear and despair to attempt dragging the entire Empire into the abyss.

As the core city of the Empire's homeland, Langton naturally becomes a primary target for the Evil God sects.

Fortunately, Langton and the Northern Territory still maintain contact, allowing Langton to promptly apply the technological advancements from the Northern Territory.

Breakthroughs in alchemy and development of new energy sources in the Northern Territory provide Langton with certain technological support.

Thus, even though the blizzards rage, Langton hasn't been completely destroyed; life is difficult, but it still manages to persist.

The national church played a significant role in this matter.

The religious personnel remaining in the Empire's homeland greatly stabilized people's sentiments, enabling Langton's citizens to better endure hardships.

Though it's not something worth praising and advocating, it did indeed ensure that Langton's citizens could survive better amidst disaster.

If people cannot endure hardship, it can be fatal in adversity.

Because it often lowers a person's tolerance, leading to emotional breakdowns or more negative feelings when faced with adversity.

Even without external factors influencing things, this is an issue that could be fatal; not to mention a bunch of divine beings in the old world waiting to destroy humanity.

It can be said that the problem with the Evil God sects is far more intense and severe in Langton and the Empire's homeland compared to the Northern Territory.

If it weren't for the national church's support, Langton might have already fallen.

But even so, Langton's situation continues to worsen, and survival becomes increasingly difficult.

The primary reason remains the shortage of resources; if the Empire's homeland had sufficient resources, Perfikot wouldn't have proposed abandoning the homeland and relocating the Imperial Center to the Northern Territory back then.

Now, with the loss of resource supply from overseas colonies, the resources from the Empire's homeland are barely enough for Langton today.

Although alchemy-compressed biscuits prevent most people from starving, the scarcity of fuel remains a severe issue and threat that cannot be ignored.

After all, one might survive without food for a few days, but in this frigid environment with subzero temperatures, lacking sufficient fuel? One would be frozen within a few hours.

This issue is currently the most perplexing problem facing Langton authorities and numerous other cities in the Empire's homeland.

Citizens in distress, in search of fuel, even dug through the snow-covered layers to retrieve frozen trees for fuel, including the oak forests planted by the Navy Department for shipbuilding in the past.

The Empire's homeland cannot be said to lack coal resources entirely, but it's hard to claim abundance either.

Particularly with extremely uneven resource distribution, some cities might have a relatively rich coal resource nearby, but Langton can hardly be described as resource-rich.

This compels Langton to find ways to trade with surrounding cities to obtain sufficient fuel.

Perfikot, when in Langton previously, indeed sorted out the connections between surrounding cities and Langton, allowing several cities to exchange necessities, at least operating as a collective.

After all, Langton City's industrial base still has some that weren't moved, enough to meet the industrial demands of itself and surrounding cities.

As time progresses, especially with environmental changes, the industrial demands in many places are gradually decreasing, except for the rising need for fuel, which becomes an imperative in every city.

This causes the once barely sufficient coal resources to become increasingly scarce, with prices continually rising.

The separatist momentum is progressively increasing, and cities with coal resources are starting to seclude themselves, attempting to maintain their independence to gain more resources and benefits from other cities.

During Sanderion's presence, she could somewhat manage things.

Though not adept in administrative management, as the Empire's sole demigod, her deterrence was sufficient.

When she explicitly expressed her support for the Empire's legitimacy, no one dared to speak of division and independence in her presence.

But when Sanderion left Langton for the Northern Territory to participate in the Floating City project, the officials couldn't hold the situation, leading to increasing problems.

Though officials did consider inviting esteemed clergy from the national church to mediate, when a person's ambition starts to grow, assessing how much impact religious faith can have becomes difficult.

Ambition and greed often lead people to overlook the constraints of faith, especially with severely scarce survival resources, people are more prone to betrayal and division for personal interest.

Consequently, Langton's situation becomes more complex, the city's cohesion gradually disintegrates, and the flames of separatism quietly burn in every corner.

In short, when Perfikot arrived above Langton with the colossal Floating City module, although the city hadn't reached the brink of chaos, it could be described as on the verge of danger.

The arrival of the Floating City undoubtedly brought a glimmer of hope to Langton's citizens, but simultaneously posed a threat to those harboring ulterior motives.

Perfikot immediately took over Langton's city government and dispatched the Floating City to patrol the Empire's main cities to deter dissent.

As for herself, she started organizing various issues in the Empire's homeland.