154: Eastern Harbour

Donghai City’s East District Seaport is the largest of the world’s top ten seaports, with an annual cargo throughput of 150 million standard containers.

It has long since implemented unmanned management; an unmanned port only requires a few hundred people to manage such a large port, showing how high the value of each person is.

The Underground City of the Shelter will also be built into a large Underground City in the future. To achieve unmanned management, talent in relevant fields is also needed.

If the Underground City can achieve unmanned management, it will greatly save labor costs. And these people from the East District Seaport are the beginning of the unmanned operations for his Underground City.

“I’m going out for a bit, to the East District Seaport.”

Upon hearing that her boss was going out, Shen Yuan quickly said, “Are you going to rescue them? Aren’t you sending a helicopter?”

Tian Ming shook his head and said, “Not for now. I’ll go over and check the situation, and we’ll talk about it after I have a clear understanding.”

“Boss, can I go with you?” Shen Yuan quickly asked.

Tian Ming, however, smiled and shook his head: “You should stay at the Shelter. One of us always has to guard the home, otherwise it’s easy for it to be overrun.”

Shen Yuan pouted, looking unhappy. Tian Ming looked at her expression and smiled: “Alright, don’t be upset, it’s not like I’m not coming back.”

“Okay then, but you must be careful and stay safe.”

Tian Ming hummed in acknowledgment, then left the base and flew towards the East District Seaport.

Shen Yuan had her emotions, but she wouldn’t let them interfere with Tian Ming’s decisions. Tian Ming was right; in terms of ability, she surpassed other Superpower Users, and staying in the Shelter to guard it was indeed the optimal choice.

The distance from the Shelter to the East District Seaport was relatively short; it wouldn't take much time even to fly there.

Half an hour later, Tian Ming arrived at Donghai City’s East District Seaport. It was already dusk, and the entire seaport was dead silent. Large numbers of containers were piled up in the port, and tens of thousands of tons of cruise ships were docked by the shore.

Covered in snow, everything was a vast expanse of white. At this time, the seaport had completely ceased operations and was in a state of disarray.

Tian Ming slowly flew towards the cargo management building.

This building had seven floors, covering several thousand square meters. Some of the surrounding snow had been cleared, clearly showing signs of human activity.

The main entrance to the building was completely shattered. Walking through the door, one could vaguely make out a spacious office.

From the third floor, faint sounds of shouting could be heard. Tian Ming frowned at the noise.

The port had no shortage of goods, but because it was an unmanned port, most of the equipment was driven by electric motors. Therefore, there was very little fuel prepared here; it was basically all electrified.

Due to the large-scale power outage, all the AGV automated guided vehicles here were out of commission. The survivors were all concentrated in the building.

These people had modified an incinerator, using goods as fuel to provide heat to the building.

There was generally not much food among the goods transported by sea; even if there was, it was processed dried food. These people were on the verge of not being able to hold on much longer in this place.

“Zhao Kai, it’s your turn to go out. We have so much cargo at the dock, I don’t believe we can’t find a box of food.”

“We’ve opened all the containers we could, and they’re all light industrial products. There’s really very little food; that kind of thing usually goes by air, not by sea. Haven’t our radios already contacted rescue? Let’s wait a bit longer, wait for them to come save us.”

“Save? How to save? Haven’t there been enough people who said they would come save us? Hasn’t every time ended up with no follow-up?”

“Now we can only trust them. If they don’t come to our rescue, we can only last a maximum of one week here.”

“One week? I think we can’t even last three days. If we don’t find stored food soon, we’ll all die!”

When Tian Ming pushed open the door to the third-floor hall, a pungent odor assailed his nostrils. This cargo trading hall was very large, like a train station waiting room.

It was filled haphazardly with various clothes, and a large group of people were huddled together in this hall. They had spread cotton clothes on the ground, and new energy batteries had also been disassembled and piled in a corner, with a dozen small heaters operating at full power.

This hall was relatively warm, but the people didn’t bathe, so the smell was a bit unpleasant.

Seeing Tian Ming suddenly appear, the crowd didn’t react at all, simply assuming he was one of the original surviving personnel of the port.

“Who’s in charge here?” Tian Ming called out.

“We don’t have anyone in charge here; we all look out for ourselves.”

These people also sensed something was off and turned to look at Tian Ming. They hadn’t seen this person before. The leading man had very long hair and a scruffy beard.

He walked over and asked, “You are…?”

“You sent out a distress signal, and you’re still asking who I am?”

The group immediately became ecstatic, as if they had found a lifeline. The man stepped forward and grasped Tian Ming’s hand.

“We finally waited for you to arrive. We are finally saved.”

The man was incoherently excited, but his breath was a bit stale. Tian Ming smiled and withdrew his hand.

Looking at the group of people, Tian Ming spoke: “It’s getting late. Our helicopter will arrive tomorrow morning at dawn. You all tidy up, and those who want to come along, register your names on a list.”

The man nodded and turned to the group behind him, saying, “Did you hear that? Pack up, we’re saved.”

“We sent so many distress signals, why are you only coming now? How do you people do things? Do you know how we’ve been living for the past six months?”

Tian Ming frowned, displeased, and said, “Who’s talking? Come out and speak.”

A middle-aged man, appearing to be around 40 years old with a receding hairline, walked over. The men here didn’t shave or cut their hair for warmth, but this man was different; he had no beard, and his face was cleanly shaven, showing that he was very conscious of his image.

The man glanced at Tian Ming and said, “What, you’re just a staff member, and you’re unhappy when I say a couple of things to you?”

Seeing that Tian Ming didn’t respond, the man continued, “I am the general manager of the East District Seaport. My surname is He, and my name is He Zhenjun. Which rescue team are you from, and what’s the name of the person in charge?”

This guy was actually putting on airs in front of him. Tian Ming found it both irritating and amusing.

“I am not an official.” Tian Ming replied coldly, then said to the crowd, “Send someone to compile the list for me. I’ll arrange for the helicopter to come for rescue, don’t miss anyone.”

After speaking, Tian Ming turned to leave. Since he was already here, he might as well see if there was anything he needed at the port. With so many containers, there should be a lot of cargo. He would look for some things he hadn’t seen before, collect a batch of samples, and if needed in the future, he could replicate them.

General Manager He saw Tian Ming’s attitude, and his leadership demeanor immediately surfaced.

“Wait a moment, what’s wrong with you, young man? If you’re not official, then are you from a civilian rescue team? I know the leaders of those few civilian rescue teams in Donghai City. I’m telling you, your attitude is very bad.” He Zhenjun said with a stern face.

“Lunatic…” Tian Ming dropped this remark and then turned to go downstairs.