Cave Refuge

But the Thompson family of three never expected that after collecting the deposit, Evan directly walked to the position of the window, and then took out a metal rod from his Storage space. Subsequently, the metal rod instantly softened in Evan's hands, and like molding putty, Evan directly molded the metal rod into a window frame with his bare hands.

Following that, he placed the metal window frame into the exposed window space. Seeing that there were still some gaps between the metal window frame and the window frame, Evan pinched it again with his hands, and then the metal window frame tightly fit together with the window frame. After that, Evan took out several objects similar to long nails from the space and promptly fixed the window frame firmly to the window.

With the metal window frame in place, it became even simpler to make the window. At this time, manufacturing the type of thermally broken aluminum windows from before the Natural Disaster was very troublesome since making those windows required too many hardware parts. Thus, the windows Evan made were necessarily sliding windows.

After measuring the window frame with a ruler, Evan once again took out glass from the Storage space, then trimmed it on site, using his own abilities to fit it into an outer frame. Finally, he installed the glass fitted frame into the metal frame, completing the installation.

Since it was an all-metal window without sliding tracks installed, moving it not only produced a hissing metal friction sound, but also due to its being entirely metal, moving the window required significant strength.

However, at this time, almost all the adults had already achieved some level of Cultivation, so for most people, aside from the unpleasant friction sound when opening or closing, the metal window frame posed no significant issues.

When the Thompson family of three were shocked that Evan had installed a window in no time, Evan, who had much experience in such cases, took it in stride but still cheerfully explained to the Thompson family of three: "I am an Artifact Manipulator, and my ability is Metal Reshaping."

After introducing his ability, Evan directly went to another window in the house and similarly swiftly created another window by hand, quickly installing all the windows in the two houses.

After installing all the windows, Evan then spoke to the Thompson family of three: "The day after tomorrow, I will bring workers here to build walls and lay stoves; the work is expected to take about a morning, and the remaining work will be completed within a week at most."

Hearing Evan say this, Mr. Thompson naturally understood the other party's plans: "Okay, when you come next time, I will give you the second installment of the renovation payment directly."

Seeing that Mr. Thompson understood his intentions, Evan didn't linger and directly bid farewell and left.

At this time, manual manufacturing as demonstrated by hand wasn't like before the Natural Disaster, in that it didn't represent a long time needed to complete production.

Rather, at this time, if the quantities aren't vast, due to the Awakeners possessing various abilities, the majority of items, if made in small quantities, could potentially be produced even faster than those machines before the Natural Disaster.

In fact, from Evan's actions just now, one could deduce that for the Imperial Court, if they wish to quickly restore industry now, it wouldn't be challenging, especially since although those machines had been destroyed during the Natural Disaster, compared to before, there are now many Awakeners similar to Evan.

They may not be able to manufacture items in large quantities directly, but if they were shown all the technical blueprints of machine parts, then they could leverage their abilities, directly producing what is known as the industrial jewels, and whether ordinary or high-precision machines, for these Awakeners, there's not much difference in difficulty.

And not only within the Awakeners, there are not only people like Evan who can easily manipulate the appearance of metals but also those who can quickly fuse different types of metals, or even directly enhance the properties of metals.

So now, what is limiting the recovery of technology isn't the damaged metal machines nor the energy supply that has only just stabilized. Rather, like those countries with unrest before the Natural Disaster, what's lacking is a safe and stable site for production and research.

Once when the flood submerged the land, even though the space at the Water Base was vast, each Water Base was overloaded initially as an effort to accommodate more people.

Although casualties and the inability to replenish immediately meant spaces within Water Base gradually became spacious, it was still insufficient to initiate an industrialized process inside.

As the floods receded and people began re-establishing cities on land, although the Imperial Court had initially outlined industrial areas within the bases,

but since the flood just receded, no one could ensure that the established bases would safely make it through another Natural Disaster. Hence at this time, Officials had arranged for Awakeners to gradually start manufacturing lathes, instruments, and other machinery.

However, they primarily chose simple and durable machines and did not replicate the highly precise electronic instruments used before the Natural Disaster. It's not that the Imperial Court lacked the ability to replicate them, but rather, during this period, even if the instruments were manufactured, they wouldn't serve much purpose.

It is similar to bringing the knowledge of making nuclear bombs back to the feudal era. Even if you have all the necessary materials and capabilities for independent manufacturing, constructing a nuclear bomb is not an overnight task.

And now, what's most important isn't restoring industry, but prioritizing agricultural production, first resolving the survival issues of all survivors, then similarly attempting to rapidly increase the population, only after which improving industrial productivity follows in line.

Of course, the development plan outlined by the Imperial Court currently has little relevance to the three members of the Thompson Family. Once Evan had installed all the windows inside the house, it finally had the attributes of shielding against wind and rain.

Although the interior now is as empty as a warehouse, each member of the Thompson Family has their share of various furniture stored in their Storage Equipment, so they didn't need to sleep on the floor inside the room.

After Mrs. Thompson retrieved table and chairs from the Storage space, Dong Tianyu immediately brought out some marinated dishes. Although it was unclear how long these dishes had been stored, they were still warm when taken out, seemingly unspoiled.

Even though dinner was rich, the three of them weren't as excited as when they first moved in. After dinner, they each took out their bedding and went to rest early.

The next morning, after finishing the buns and fried dough sticks Dong Tianyu brought out, just as they were planning to walk downstairs for a stroll, they heard someone knocking on the door.

Mr. Thompson found it strange; after all, they had just bought and settled down in the house yesterday, they shouldn't have any acquaintances around here. The only reappointment was with Evan who was scheduled to visit tomorrow. Logically, there shouldn't be others calling today.

In contrast to Mr. Thompson's confusion, upon hearing the knocking, Dong Tianyu used Divine Sense to investigate who it was outside the door. Noting that the knockers were the clerks who processed their settlement formalities the day before, Dong Tianyu couldn't immediately guess why they had come.

However, seeing the expression on their faces as they stood outside the door didn't seem like they were here to cause trouble, so Dong Tianyu walked straight to the door, opened it, and invited the two men inside.

Although Mrs. Thompson had cleared the breakfast off the table into her Storage space, the room still faintly smelled of breakfast since the windows were closed during last night's sleep.

Upon entering, despite seeing only a set of table and chairs in the barren house, the smell of the remaining breakfast made them understand that the Thompson Family of three was living well, causing them to instantly reckon that their impromptu visit was justified.