“Maybe you’re right. Walking fast doesn’t mean that we’re not advancing steadily. I shouldn’t be so worried.

“The current situation…is good.

“In the future, who could tell…”

Standing in front of the shelter’s main door, Su Deben looked at the festive scene outside through the cool night mist and was fascinated.

Compared to the previous grand scene, when he led hundreds of thousands of people into another world, the gathering of a mere thousand people right now should not be able to his heartstrings.

Oddly enough…

In his heart, just like the ordinary villagers, his blood was also burning with passion.

This was the charm of starting from scratch!

Witnessing everything being built from scratch and the growth of the territory brought an immense sense of belonging and achievement.

“Let’s go. It’s time to welcome a new life!”

Su Mo glanced at everyone and smiled, showing that he understood their worries. Then, he took the lead toward the village.

Lu Kuan, Su Deben, and the others formed a long line and followed obediently behind him.

There were many people, and as soon as they appeared, they attracted the attention of the villagers gathered in the distance.

In an instant, without anyone controlling the order, everyone spontaneously remained silent and watched them approach the platform with expectant gazes.

They say that hardships are not what train the people. It is the brutal world that pushed them forward.

The ordinary villagers only stayed for more than 100 days which was around four months in this apocalypse.

However, for Su Mo, with the addition of the days on the ruins at sea, his days in this world had silently reached more than a year.

Su Mo took his seat in the center of the platform.

He was no longer the little boy who had just transmigrated to this wasteland, nor was he the shy young man who avoided the crowd’s eyes.

His gaze was sharp, like an unsheathed sword, making those around him afraid to meet his eyes.

The crowd below him would consciously sit upright with just a frown on his face.

This stemmed down to the territory lord’s coercion over the people and the strong condescending aura toward the weak!

When everyone was seated…

Chen Shen, who was seated beside Su Mo, cleared his throat and picked up a microphone.

“Everyone, quiet down!

“Today is Month 4 Day 15 of the doomsday calendar. The third general meeting of the Hope Village will commence soon! There are a total of 1,415 participants in this meeting which means that the whole village attended today!

“A month ago, we crossed the sea and came to this familiar yet unfamiliar New World. Time has passed by in a blink of an eye, and we’ve arrived at the time to resist another wave of disaster. I’m sure everyone’s hearts have been filled with countless emotions and thoughts.

“It’s true! In the past, we could only quiver and hide in the face of the disasters and pray to the gods to protect us, but now! This time we are going to use our own hands, blood, and sweat to show the impending disaster…!

“That it is nothing!”

“…”

After a burst of passionate speech, all the villagers burned with enthusiasm to stand up and shout. However, Chen Shen’s voice suddenly changed, and his tone rose to a different level.

“Right now, I announce that the meeting will officially begin! The theme of our meeting today is…”

He lowered his head and glanced at the title on the paper that Su Mo had handed over.

Chen Shen’s eyes twitched, but he continued to read out the paper’s content.

“The official change of the territory name and the establishment of a new structure in the territory!”

It was a bit confusing to read.

However, it was not hard for everyone to understand.

Accompanied by a slight commotion from the crowd, Chen Shen continued to recite the following lines.

“From now on, the basin is officially renamed “Heaven’s Origin”, which is meant to signify that this is our core, our beginning, and where we started. This is where we call home!

“Heaven’s Origin will be led under the lordship of Su Mo, and all the residents living in the territory will unconditionally accept the jurisdiction of Lord Su Mo.

“At the same time, every resident’s life, property, and personal interests will be protected by Lord Su Mo, and no one else may force another person to change their wishes by any means.”

This was an unprecedented change.

Today, Su Mo finally revealed his ambitions in front of everyone.

From now onward, all residents in the basin would no longer have multiple leaders.

They only had one territory lord, Su Mo!

Everyone was subject to his lordship, and at the same time, they were subject to his infinite protection.

In the past, they could only claim that they were Su Mo’s subordinates and belonged to Hope Village.

However, they have now earned a new title.

The territory residents of Heaven’s Origin!

As expected, none of the villagers in the crowd stood up to rebel and accused Su Mo of dictatorship.

Many even showed joy on their faces like ancient concubines that had finally earned a legitimate title in the palace.

After the first reform was read out, Chen Shen continued to recite the second reform.

“The current population of Heaven’s Origin is 1,416 people, of which the first subordinate village is ⁠Hope Village, with a total of 1,405 people including villagers and leadership.”

“In the future, when the number exceeds 3,000, new villages will be established with new leaderships.

“When the number of villages exceeds three, as the first village, Hope Village will be restructured into a town with a capacity of 10,000 people and will have additional leadership and job positions.

“From today onward, the village will establish eight departments, namely the Village Council, Armed Forces, Resource Department, Information Department, Task Department, Supervision Department, Research Department, and the Villagers’ Union.

“Among them, the village council will be headed by… the armed force will be headed by…the information department will be headed by…”

Chen Shen repeated after Su Mo’s previous candidates.

After Chen Shen read out the names of the eight departments, he announced the head of every department.

Each time a name was called, one of the people seated on the high platform would stand up to receive the applause of the villagers below.

Different from the chaotic leadership system in the past, now, after clarifying the candidates and system, all the villagers had really high regard and acceptance of the new structure.

At the same time, the promulgation of the new system undoubtedly hinted to the ordinary villagers that they had many channels and opportunities to be promoted. As long as they worked hard, they would be rewarded sooner or later!

After reading the chosen candidates for the department heads, Chen Shen calmed down when it came to the third reform.

It was hard for humans who liked a sense of security to accept sudden changes quickly.

However, in the face of a straightforward arrangement, it was very easy to accept as long as you found a sense of security in the rules.

“The third reform, from now on, Hope Village will officially implement the village plan. At this stage, agriculture will be the mainstay, supplemented by industry.

“The establishment of four factories, namely, disaster resistance materials factory, disaster resistance clothing factory, infrastructure construction factory, and vehicle development factory.

“Each factory plans to recruit 50-100 people in the first phase, and all villagers are eligible to apply for factory selection.

“Once you pass the selection interview, you will receive a formal worker status, with a full range of employee benefits and basic salary…”

The previous two reforms could only be considered an inspiration on a spiritual level to the villagers below.

However, starting from the third reform onward, they were good policies to implement manufacturing and care for everyone thoroughly!

The villagers could join the production line and get related jobs.

They would be compensated with a generous wage if they were to work hard every day. It not only ensured that they would not have to worry about food and drinks but they could also accumulate some supplies in the long run.

Of course, the treatment of workers was slightly inferior to the tasks that required taking risks in the outside world.

However, not everyone liked adventures, after all.

For some people who were not strong in combat and could not bring themselves to hurt or kill another, such stable work would allow them to exert their abilities better!

“The fourth reform. After the winter, Heaven’s Origin will officially set up a caravan, carrying the goods produced in the territory to other places to exchange…

“The fifth reform, after the winter, Heaven’s Origin will officially accept the entry of foreign caravans to achieve the circulation of goods…

“The sixth reform, after the winter, Heaven’s Origin will search for more survivors to join the territory, and the initial estimation is about 3,000 to 5,000 people…”

“…”

After reciting four or five reforms in one breath, Chen Shen wanted to take a break and have a sip of water before continuing reading, but the tenth reform caught his attention.

His hand that reached out for water halted instantly, and he continued to read with difficulty as if someone had strangled his throat.

“The tenth reform, from now on, the territorial land will be delegated to individuals, with a minimum lease term of five years and a maximum lease term of 100 years. The contracting body will be divided into high and low. The higher is the lord Su Mo, and the lower is the contractor.

“Without harming the territory’s interests, the interests of the contractor’s land will be protected by the lord Su Mo, and others shall not by any means interfere, occupy, snatch, and so on.

“The land rent is cheap, the annual contracting fee is about one week’s salary for the four major factories, and there will be no limit to the length of the continuation of the lease. Tenants can choose a five-year lease first and then renew the lease afterward.

“The contractor can freely choose the properties of the contracted land without being charged any additional fees…”

Whoa!

Every time Chen Shen uttered a sentence, the commotion below grew louder.

Before he could finish speaking, the noises, conversations, and even the shock of the leadership had surrounded the place.

Modern people have lived for so many years in the age of civilization.

No one was unaware of what this policy meant and stood for.

This was an opportunity that they did not have before.

This was a huge opportunity for these villagers who were already part of the territory.

“Calm down!”

Seeing that the crowd was getting out of control, Su Mo took the microphone and waved his hands down slightly as he spoke.

Miraculously, the noise stopped instantly and returned to the original silence state.

Contracting out the land and contracting it out to individuals at such a low price was almost equal to giving it to them for free. It was a bold decision made by Su Mo out of all the plans.

If all the people on earth had traveled to ancient times and were surrounded by enemies with cold weapons, then the land had to belong to the lord because it would be necessary to build a city.

However, in this doomsday wasteland, the least valuable thing is precisely the land.

In order to develop the territory at the fastest speed and revitalize the economy, it was necessary to mobilize the spontaneous driving force of each territory resident fully.

The first reason was that the difficulty of territory construction would be greatly reduced. When the land is given to individuals to build, the territory would not need to pay extra for construction materials, labor, and various miscellaneous expenses. On the contrary, when these villagers wanted to build something, they would use whatever resources they had on hand to exchange with others in the territory, which vigorously promoted the high-speed circulation of materials in the territory.

Secondly, the speed of development in the territory had greatly improved. Things produced by factories in the territory had circulation value. Under the circumstance that everyone had their own land, as long as the corresponding products were produced, the development would continue until the domestic demand was satisfied.

Thirdly, this was to encourage the motivation of the territorial residents. The enthusiasm of each person was limited. Although they were willing to sacrifice for the territory and work for the territory, in the long run, their enthusiasm would eventually be exhausted sooner or later. Once everyone decided that living was more tired than just being dead, the territory would collapse instantly and enter a rotten situation.

Fourth, the sense of belonging is repeatedly embedded in the villagers. No matter how good the development of the territory was, everyone was merely a part of it. When a better place with favorable conditions surfaced, it would be easy for them to waver and leave. However, now that the land had been delegated to them and everyone had their own home in this wasteland, then the meaning would greatly change for them. Even when they explored outside, they would have a high sense of belonging and always feel that Heaven’s Origin was home.

Fifth the chance for personal talent to shine. Owning land was just the beginning. In this process, Su Mo, as the lord, could easily observe everyone’s behavior and progress and select people with outstanding abilities and outstanding personal talents to be trained. For example, some people might be good at firing pottery, so they would be trained by their counterparts. In the future, he could open a shop selling pottery in the territory, which would not only add color to the territory’s business but also promote economic development. Some people were good at manufacturing and building agricultural tools, then this group of people could also rely on this craft to profit and increase the total production value. As long as there were enough people, the talented ones would always stand out and could contribute to completing the territory before all industries were even perfected.

Sixth, establishing the prototype structure of human society was the most important of the six points and also the least important point. He wanted to allow freedom and space for society to develop and create its own social structure that was suitable for the doomsday wasteland. This was a small expectation of Su Mo.

It was cruel to say that although there were many opportunities in the wasteland, it was still a distant dream to achieve common prosperity and fair distribution.

Su Mo could only make the decisions for the future in advance.

He promised that capitalism would never appear in this territory.

There would definitely be a group of people who accumulated their riches first, which would drive the people behind to increase their wealth together.

When the time came, those with talent and abilities would be responsible for more things and have more responsibilities while enjoying a better life.

People with less talent still would not have to worry about food and clothing. They could at least ensure their own safety and have the time to develop in the future slowly.

The cake was not perfect at the moment, let alone within the next hundred years. As long as human beings could conquer this world, in the next thousand years and ten thousand years, there was no worry that the development would slowly stop.

Around this policy, Chen Shen read out several additional items related to it.

Overall, sixteen policies were announced overnight.

Chen Shen gulped down half a glass of water and sat down, then asked, “Shelter leader, would you like to have a few words?”

“Forget it. It’s already eight o’clock! Hurry up and finish your meal, then prepare yourselves to fight the disaster!”

Glancing at the time, and then looking at the villagers who were suppressing what was on their minds below, Su Mo smiled and immediately stood up to announce the end of the meeting.

In fact, the announcement of the policy was only the beginning of the restructuring.

In the follow-up, whether it could be implemented and put into place was the time to put it to the test.

Su Mo was not afraid that some might not understand the meaning of these policies tonight.

After all, everyone would have a lot of time to figure it out during the next winter.

On the contrary, now, they had to hurry up to eat and prepare to resist the first wave of disaster coming at twelve midnight.

That was the important thing at the moment!

…

The tables, chairs, and benches were brought directly from the venue to the cafeteria and then placed in their designated locations.

The chefs came forward and put the ingredients and pots that had been prepared a long time ago!

Under the earthenware pot, there was a red charcoal fire, and the juice inside the pot made a gurgling sound, and fragrance immediately burst throughout the air.

On the table, there were slices of meat that had been trimmed that had an appetizing appearance and fresh vegetables that were freshly washed, which made the villagers feel happy.

Everyone who had watched Su Mo enjoy hot pot during his live disaster broadcast while fighting against the snowy weather.

They never thought they would enjoy such a magical life one day.

The villagers felt a burst of unconscious relief as they watched Su Mo at the front row table, chatting to those around him with a festive look on his face.

The meat slices were put in the pot, and the air was full of fragrance.

Coupled with some dipping sauce, everyone devoured their food, savoring every last bit of the taste of meat.

When the nearly one-hour feast was over, everyone left the venue without any nostalgia, returned to the prefabricated room as quickly as possible, put on their equipment, and headed to their designated posts.

“Let’s go. It is going to be a sleepless night tonight!”

Su Mo took the last sip of wine in the cup, and the pungency slid down his throat.

He pursed his lips and stood up immediately.

…