“This… this… and these—I’ve marked every single one of them, taken photos, and filed them all. The sealing tape is custom-made. Don’t even think about secretly taking my supplies. You’re a public servant, right? You’re responsible for storing these things.”
Qin Sang looked at the imperious middle-aged woman in front of her and took a deep breath.
“Regretting coming here as a volunteer?” Second Aunt’s voice sounded from beside her. She still wore her usual cheerful expression, completely unbothered by the scene before her.
Qin Sang shook her head. No, she didn’t regret it. Who could go through life without running into the occasional difficult person? Besides, she was essentially an auxiliary member of this team. The official staff were responsible for communicating with the local residents. They were the ones who took the most abuse. Qin Sang was just serving as a mobile warehouse.
Yes, Qin Sang was currently volunteering.
On the night of July 30th, after the authorities announced the national population relocation plan, countless human and material resources had been mobilized.
Qin Sang wanted to take part in this operation and help people in whatever small way she could. So after discussing it with her family and friends, she went to the community office and signed up for the migration volunteer program.
Following the principle of proximity, she was assigned to join Second Aunt’s space owner team and travel to Nan’ao, an island province over 500 kilometers from Huashan City, to help the residents there with their relocation.
Their team was enormous—over 10,000 people. Most were from the Huashan City area. Led by local staff from the Disaster Response Administration, they had flown overnight to this island province.
As soon as they landed, they rested for an hour. Then, before sunrise, they were divided into small teams and sent to their respective mission locations.
But barely had the mission begun when they ran into trouble.
People who refused to leave. People who wanted handouts before leaving. People like the woman in front of them who suspected they would steal supplies. All kinds of people.
—
“Ma’am, according to the information registered in the Survival app, your household has one space owner. If you’re concerned about the safety of your supplies, we recommend that your family store them yourselves. Official policy states that households capable of storing their own supplies will be directly arranged to leave on tonight’s flight.”
Lin Feng, the team leader, explained the official relocation arrangements to the woman calmly and without groveling.
In fact, after the authorities announced the population relocation plan last night, the corresponding arrangements and work details had already been posted online. Before Qin Sang and the others even flew here, they had spent the entire trip studying those rules.
For example, the supplies that the official team helped transport were limited to survival necessities. Items like tables, chairs, and benches were refused.
If a family could transport their own supplies, the authorities could arrange fast, direct transportation like airplanes or high-speed trains.
If they needed to use the official space owner teams, then those people would have to take buses or slower green trains arranged by the authorities.
This served as a small incentive for people who could store and transport their own supplies. Otherwise, if everyone relied on the authorities, there was no way the government could handle the sheer volume of people across the country.
Of course, another reason for this arrangement was that the daytime temperature had now approached nearly 60 degrees Celsius. The ground temperature had already exceeded 60 degrees. During the day, any form of transportation was impossible.
Only after eight or nine in the evening—sometimes as late as ten—could various modes of transport begin operating.
For them, the flight to Nan’ao was only an hour and a half, so it was fine—they could arrive before sunrise.
If they had to fly from the far south to the far north, a direct flight was out of the question.
—
“Do you not understand plain language? Those people aren’t civil servants. How do I know they won’t steal my supplies? I ask you to help store some supplies and you give me excuses. You call yourself a public servant? It’s not like we want to relocate—the government is making us relocate!”
The middle-aged woman raged at Lin Feng, even pulling out her phone to livestream.
Qin Sang: …
Their small team had 10 space owners. Adding the team leader and security personnel, there were 12 people in total. That day, they were responsible for a residential compound of over 600 households. The pressure was… a bit high.
“Ma’am, I hope you understand that this relocation is not mandatory. Also, I don’t have a space, so I cannot store your supplies for you.”
Team leader Lin Feng remained calm and unruffled—almost robotic. Which only irritated the woman even more.
Qin Sang and the others stood outside the entrance to the woman’s building.
There were eight households on this floor. Every family was busy packing. Seeing the commotion, someone from another unit called out, “We’re ready over here. Come register us first.”
At this, Lin Feng immediately said “okay” and stopped arguing with the middle-aged woman. He led the team directly to the door of the household that had called out.
This family was large: eight people—two elderly, two middle-aged, two young adults, and two infants—four generations under one roof.
“Team leader, there are a lot of us, so we have quite a few supplies.”
Seeing the young man’s embarrassed expression, Qin Sang thought to herself that she would much rather help someone like this store their supplies. Someone like that middle-aged woman from earlier—if Qin Sang helped her, she’d probably be accused of theft later.
Just then, a young woman handed over a supply list.
Qin Sang’s eyesight was sharp, and she noticed that most of the items were for the elderly and infants. Clearly, when this family had stocked up, they had prioritized supplies for the old and the young. The middle-aged and young adults had very few supplies.
“Finally, some sensible people,” Second Aunt muttered under her breath. Then she heard Team Leader Lin call her over to start storing supplies.
Exactly how much supplies each family had was known only to the storekeeper and the team leader. Additionally, everyone wore a body camera to prevent disputes.
Qin Sang and the others continued waiting in the hallway for the next family.
With this one family’s efficiency, other families who had been watching realized there was no point in negotiating with the authorities.
One by one, families called out that they were ready.
The middle-aged woman from earlier was left standing alone, ignored.
“Hmph, I dare you to leave my family behind if I refuse to go.”
Hearing her tough talk, Qin Sang blinked. She found the woman’s logic peculiar. Who was leaving her behind? Wasn’t she the one who didn’t want to leave?
They had started on the second floor, which had residents. One household consisted of just an elderly couple. They had no children. They repeatedly stated that they didn’t want to leave their hometown, nor did they want to burden the country. They had enough supplies to last a long time. If the day truly came when they couldn’t go on, they would face death with calm dignity.
As a lowly foot soldier, Qin Sang had personally witnessed Team Leader Lin’s persuasion efforts. He had tried every angle. After the elderly couple made their final decision, Lin didn’t just leave immediately. Instead, he gave them information about a local shelter.
Even among the relocation zones, people who were unwilling to leave would be arranged to live together in shelters. The authorities had not abandoned these people, nor had they abandoned the territory.
Relocating the population was simply a way to help more people survive better.
Qin Sang fully approved of this approach. Whether someone left or stayed was a personal choice.
By the time they finished working on that floor, the middle-aged woman was still standing at her door with her neck stiff, glaring coldly at them.
But no one paid her any attention. Time was too tight. They needed to move up to the next floor.
Only when she saw them leaving did the woman finally react, shouting and screaming.
The young man who had spoken earlier said to her, “Aunt He, stop shouting. They’re upstairs. If you want them to store your supplies, you’d better go now. My family is taking the train out tonight. I hear the earlier you get to the shelter, the better the housing arrangements, and the easier it is to find work.”
Hearing this from the stairwell, Qin Sang nodded slightly. This young man clearly had some foresight. Since leaving was inevitable, sooner was better than later. Word was that the shelters were already up and running.
All the residents of this compound were being relocated to a shelter in the suburbs of Huashan City.
—
That day was destined to be tumultuous. Upstairs, they encountered more people like that middle-aged woman. Once again, one household on this floor was left behind. Then they moved up further, with one or two difficult households cropping up now and then.
Each time, Team Leader Lin tried to communicate with them. If he couldn’t get through, he simply moved on.
Qin Sang found it quite satisfying. Those who were causing trouble didn’t deserve to have time wasted on them.
Thanks to this decisive work style, they finished half of the building by noon.
“Rest here for now.”
Their lunch break was only an hour. They didn’t go downstairs. Instead, they rested right there in the stairwell on the 16th floor.
The temperature at this hour was especially high. Qin Sang and the other space owners, along with the security personnel, took out officially issued supplies from their spaces: folding stools, cooling patches, solar-powered portable fans, and so on. Then each person grabbed a work boxed meal and sat down to eat.
The boxed meals were delicious, uniformly distributed by the authorities. Each person also received a bottle of frozen mineral water.
“Captain, are we really going to ignore those troublemakers?” a young team member asked Lin Feng.
Lin Feng shook his head. “We’ll leave them be for now. After we finish the entire compound, we’ll circle back and deal with them.”
“Ugh, that woman downstairs earlier—I really wanted to give her a piece of my mind. Captain, you have such good patience,” a middle-aged man said.
Second Aunt spoke up at that point. “You can’t blame her entirely. They have to leave their home and go to a strange city. Look at the apartments in this compound—they’re probably worth one or two million. If you had to leave a home like that, you’d probably be reluctant too.”
Her words made everyone quiet for a moment.
“Good thing I can’t afford a house,” a young team member said.
Lin Feng then spoke. “That’s why we need to be understanding in our work. But we also can’t be endlessly accommodating. Time doesn’t wait. Today is the 31st. After today, there are only seven days left. According to the official announcement, the moment the sun rises on August 8th, the disaster will begin.”
Hearing this, everyone’s hearts grew heavier.
After the past month of weather changes, no one was still clinging to wishful thinking.
“It’s okay. We have spaces—that gives us a much better chance of survival,” someone said.
Qin Sang spoke up at that moment. “While we still have time, we should focus on exercising and absorbing energy. That’s what really matters.”
At these words, everyone looked over at her.
Qin Sang shrugged. “After watching last night’s press conference, didn’t you all try doing things like Baduanjin?”
“I tried but didn’t feel anything,” the previously excited middle-aged man said immediately.
The young man, however, grinned. “I did the Five Animal Frolics a few times, and it worked. Back when the course registration system assigned me that class, I cursed it. Now I’m glad I did, heh heh.”
Then, instead of taking a nap, everyone finished their boxed meals and found places to start exercising.
Second Aunt pulled Qin Sang aside and asked her to teach her Baduanjin.
“I wish I’d skipped the square dancing and done this instead.”
Thinking of the massive square dancing groups in the village square, Qin Sang held back a laugh. “It’s not too late to learn now…”
The stairwell grew lively. Some residents on the 16th floor peered through their doors. Seeing everyone exercising, a few extroverts came out to join in.
Qin Sang took the opportunity to observe the residents. Roughly one in seven or eight had a space. That was a fairly high ratio.
The one-hour break passed quickly. They resumed work. Even though they had exercised for half an hour instead of resting, everyone felt unusually energetic.
The middle-aged man said happily, “For the first time, I feel full of energy.”
“Ha, haven’t you ever been young?” someone joked.
Amid laughter and conversation, their work efficiency was remarkably high.
By three in the afternoon, they had finished the entire building. Thirteen households were still holding out and refusing to cooperate.
Team Leader Lin pressed on, leading the team to Building 2, aiming to finish it by midnight.
Seeing them leave, those 13 households finally grew uneasy.
By the time Qin Sang and the others arrived at Building 2, news of what had happened in Building 1 had apparently spread. This time, the work went very smoothly. The team worked continuously until six in the evening, finishing more than half of Building 2.
Another break came. Like at noon, everyone ate and drank in good spirits.
Just then, a resident from that floor ran out with their phone and shouted to them, “Something happened in Building 1.”
What could have happened?
That was everyone’s first thought. At this critical moment, the main task was packing up to leave. Even people who liked to cause trouble wouldn’t pick now to do it. After all, there were armed forces accompanying them—they just hadn’t entered the compound, staying outside instead.
Thinking this, Lin Feng still decided to take some people over to check.
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