The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

The appearance of the "Thunder Sail" not only successfully allowed the "Iron Heart" to break through the stormy sea, but also brought the energy reserves of this steel city to their peak.

Considering the issue of the continued development of "Iron Heart", Shen Ge wanted to invest this energy into "production", so he convened the first "development meeting" with the participation of all officers on board.

It can only be said that the word "farming" is engraved in the DNA of every Chinese person. The first thing to do after settling down is to consider the issue of developing agriculture in the "Iron Heart".

In the temporary meeting room next to the main control room, Shen Ge sat in the highest "governor" position, with several groups below him.

On the left is the tech faction led by Hephaestus and Ellie, representing the "Iron Heart's" technical and research departments.

Hephaestus's men are mostly old men from the former "Rusty Heart," many of them bearing the marks of mechanical modifications, their eyes filled with a fanaticism for technology.

Even now, most members of this group firmly aspire to "mechanical ascension" and become immortal intelligent machine life forms.

Shen Ge estimated that when he retrieved the "Ark," this group of people would not hesitate to upload their consciousness into the Ark.

On the right is the "Development and Defense" department, represented by Alai, Kyle, and Roca. Alai is responsible for most of the city's daily life issues and resource allocation, while the two brothers are the commanders of the entire city's defense system.

The third group consisted of "pure humans" led by the one-armed Ragnar, who had previously "surrendered" to Elysium. As they were the newest members of the "Iron Heart," the group, apart from Ragnar, appeared somewhat reserved compared to the first two groups.

Shen Ge doesn't actually like these kinds of situations. In "real life," he would just dump these kinds of things on Deng Yuqi. Even on the Ark, he was a hands-off manager.

However, "Iron Heart" does not yet have any members with this kind of talent, so he can only deal with it personally for the time being.

"I called you here not to celebrate the victory, but to discuss what to eat tomorrow in this city we live in," Shen Ge said bluntly.

"..."

"..."

"..."

This extremely down-to-earth opening remark left everyone stunned.

"We are about to embark on an expedition that could last for months or even years. The world is much bigger than we imagined."

"In the far north, there is something I want: a 'ticket' that could potentially influence the future development of 'Iron Heart' and lead everyone to a world before the apocalypse."

His words stunned everyone present.

A world where the end of the world hasn't come yet?
Is it really...possible?

Recalling Shen Ge's previous display of strength, even those who had recently joined the Paradise Island faction didn't have much doubt about him.

Not to mention Alai and others who were among the first to know Shen Ge; they witnessed firsthand Shen Ge's journey from a lone individual to building a steel city.

Ignoring the astonishment of the crowd, Shen Ge continued, "The current 'Iron Heart' is a steel behemoth that only knows how to 'eat' and 'fight,' while we survive by scavenging spoils and stockpiles. But stockpiles will eventually run out. I raised the issue of 'sustainable development' before, and this cannot be solved by 'processing' alone. We need production, we need... planting!"

Alai and the others exchanged glances. They had already received Shen Ge's orders to prepare for this meeting, so Hephaestus was the first to produce a report:
"Regarding this, under the instructions of His Excellency the Consul, we have decided to establish three new departments."

"First, the Department of Energy. They are responsible for analyzing the two backup small 'subspace engines' and, in conjunction with the energy stored in the Thunder Sail, designing a more efficient and secure 'power transmission network' that can cover the entire city."

After Hephaestus finished speaking, Ellie opened the meeting minutes book and continued:

"Secondly, the Ministry of Industry. We need to establish a complete 'resource recycling and reproduction' production line. All the prosthetics left behind by the fallen 'Gear Guards,' all the armor plates damaged in battle, and even the garbage we generate every day... must be recycled, smelted, and turned into new parts and building materials. 'Iron Heart' does not allow any 'waste'."

Finally, there's Alai, who is still in charge of infrastructure development related to living conditions and resources:

"The third is agriculture... or rather, the 'Ministry of Ecology'. Currently, the cultivation department is cultivating soil collected from the previous islands, and a variety of plants have already emerged. We need to develop the 'agriculture industry' and, at the same time, combine it with the strange flesh and blood to conduct various cultivation studies."

"According to our initial plan, we can use the biological tissues left over from the previous flesh and blood city to build 'three-dimensional ecological farms' in the abandoned ship cabins in the lower and middle levels of the city."

This was the knowledge about "soilless cultivation" and "ecological cycle system" that Shen Ge had mentioned to Alai before. However, Shen Ge was, after all, a "layman" and could only offer theories, leaving Alai and the others to implement them.

Hephaestus suggested, "We can use the bioluminescent fungi of the strange creatures as a light source, irrigate them with purified seawater, and utilize the 'regenerative' properties of those biological tissues to cultivate rapidly growing mushrooms, algae, and even the edible plant seeds we brought back from Paradise Island!"

Those seeds were brought back by Ragnar, which is why he is sitting in this conference room today as the representative of Paradise Island.

"Very good." Shen Ge was very satisfied with the arrangements made by the group. It was clear that they genuinely wanted to develop the city, and everyone was sparing no effort to build "Iron Heart" into the perfect post-apocalyptic shelter in their minds.

"Besides that, I have a little idea that I need you to implement."

“Alai”.

“I’m here.” Upon hearing this, Alai immediately stood up.

"From today onwards, the 'Iron Heart' will establish a 'Ministry of Civil Affairs,' with you as its first minister. You will be responsible for the management of all people in the city, including population registration, resource allocation, work scheduling, and even education."

“I don’t care where they come from or what they’ve been through. From the moment they set foot in this city, they are citizens of ‘Iron Heart’.”

“Ragnar, you and your people will be among the first employees of the ‘Ministry of Ecology’ and the ‘Fishing and Hunting Team.’ Those who do not hold positions in other departments can earn a living through their labor and improve their lives.”

"Your children will enter the 'Iron Heart Academy' founded by Alai, along with Moya. They will need to learn not only combat, but also literacy and arithmetic."

Shen Ge's idea was simple: he had passed on the "knowledge" to Alai and the others, and now Alai and the others would continue to teach others. Regarding the development of "Iron Heart," Shen Ge had actually raised the issue once before, when he had just seized control of Steel City. However, at that time, the survivors in the city were filled with anxiety and unsure of the new "lord's" temperament, whether he would be like the previous archbishop, constantly exploiting the lower classes with his so-called "divinity." Therefore, many things could not be discussed in detail.

But things are different now. Several months have passed since Shen Ge and his team took over "Iron Heart" and established a new order. The steel city is developing steadily, which allows Shen Ge's ideas about "the continuation of civilization" to be truly implemented.

However, the development of a city is not so simple. The establishment of the department is only the first step. In the actual implementation, many problems still arise.

The first point of contention was with the core of sustainable development – ​​the Ministry of Agriculture.

The first to raise objections was an old engineer from the technical faction, a key technical figure left over from the time of Arcturus. He dared to frequently contradict Hephaestus, so naturally he wouldn't listen to Alai.

“Nothing can grow on metal. Plants need sunlight, soil, fresh water, and a suitable temperature to grow. In this place, which is shrouded in clouds all year round, where even fresh water needs to be collected in small amounts by steam condensers and the seawater conversion device is almost negligible, we can barely support people. How can we support those delicate plants?”

His words expressed the sentiments of the vast majority of technicians present.

Alai looked at Hephaestus. She was good at management, but her technical skills were not as good as those of an expert like Hephaestus. Shen Ge had his reasons for sending Hephaestus to assist her in establishing the Ministry of Agriculture.

Hephaestus adjusted his goggles and uttered a sentence that nearly made the old engineer jump up: "Theoretically... it's feasible."

All eyes instantly focused on this genius boy.

"What theory?" the old engineer asked, his beard bristling and eyes wide.

Hephaestus said earnestly, “Sunlight is essentially a combination of light and heat energy. We can use the energy of the ‘Heart of God’ to power a ‘growth lamp’ that emits light of a specific wavelength. Soil is the medium that provides nutrients. We can use the biological tissue left over from that fleshy city, mixed with organic waste, to create ‘nutrient paste.’ As for water… the new conversion device will soon be put into use. We’ll wait and see.”

Finally, he added, "Don't forget that what our city has in abundance right now is 'reserved energy'."

The energy stored in the "Thunder Sail" is beyond description, making the "Iron Heart" like a mobile nuclear bomb, which could easily cause annihilation. This is the fundamental reason why the technical department is so eager to consume this energy.

After Hephaestus put forward the basic theory, they chose the interior of an abandoned large oil tanker in the lower level of the Iron Heart as their "test field".

The space here is large and enclosed enough to facilitate control of temperature and humidity.

In the first week, Hephaestus and Ellie's technical team confidently laid out the "growth light" network powered by "psychic fiber optics" and installed automatic sprinkler and ventilation systems.

However, problems arose when Ragnar and his group of survivors spread the dark, foul-smelling "nutrient soil," a mixture of flesh and blood from the remnants of the city, brought from "Paradise Island," onto the cold metal floor.

"No, the pH of this stuff is completely wrong! The residual energy inside is too high; any ordinary plant seed would be instantly burned to death if it were put in!" a technician said urgently, holding a detector that was flashing red light.

Ragnar and the others looked at the "soil" with disdain, believing it to be far inferior to the soft, fertile black soil on their original island.

The first attempt ended in failure.

In the following days, the entire "Ministry of Agriculture" was engulfed in endless arguments and experiments.

The technocrats believed that the pH of the "nutrient soil" should be neutralized by adding chemical reagents, but the survivors strongly opposed this, believing that it would "poison" the soul of the land.

The survivors suggested introducing earthworms and insects that they commonly found on the island, which they believed could improve the soil.

However, the technologists believe that introducing uncontrolled organisms into a confined space would be an ecological disaster, leading to a fundamental conflict between the two sides' ideas.

Finally, the argument reached Shen Ge, who then adopted the simplest and most direct approach—a two-pronged solution.

Each person puts their own ideas into practice, and ultimately convinces the other party with the "results".

Hephaestus pointed to the huge "experimental field" and called over two boys: "Carvis, Ron, I need you to design a 'purification device.' Mimic an energy fluctuation I found to create an energy field that can continuously and stably 'soothe' these soils. I don't require it to be 100% purified, but at least it should maintain the soil at a baseline that allows the seeds to survive."

"Mr. Ragnar."

Hephaestus then looked at Hephaestus and said, "Your task is to lead people to select the most resilient and adaptable varieties from the plant seeds they brought back. Then, find a way to get them to take root and sprout in this 'purified' soil."

The technical team, led by Hephaestus, attempted to alter the environment and then select suitable seeds to adapt to it.

The ecological team started with the most basic insect breeding, but after sailing for so long, they hadn't even encountered a single island. The most basic "earthworm" had become the biggest problem.

But soon some people suggested using other insects as substitutes, or even artificial simulations and assistance, in order to change the ecological environment.

Fortunately, after sailing for half a month, the "Iron Heart" encountered a small "island".

After confirming that there were no strange traces on the island using the Ghost Eye and the "Prophet's Eye," Shen Ge docked the "Iron Heart" nearby and began "moving the island."

Finally, on the seventy-first day after the establishment of the "Ministry of Agriculture".

early morning.

When Ragnar, as always, walked with his youngest daughter into the stuffy, smelly cabin, looking tired and worried.

The little girl suddenly tugged at his clothes and, in a voice full of surprise and disbelief, pointed to one of the most inconspicuous experimental areas and exclaimed excitedly, "Daddy, look!"

Ragnar looked in the direction she pointed and saw a vibrant green shoot emerging from the black soil of the "black land" surrounded by metal and pipes! (End of Chapter)