March arrived.
The island nation east of the Great Xia Empire officially announced its decision to discharge nuclear wastewater into the ocean.
As soon as the news broke, it sparked massive reactions across media platforms worldwide.
Especially on international media platforms, public opinion was almost unanimously opposed.
Countless citizens from various countries took to social media to condemn the island nation for its decision to release nuclear wastewater.
They called the nation shameless.
Why should other countries bear the consequences of pollution caused by this one?
Over a hundred nations opposed the island country's actions, as no one could be sure whether they were releasing treated nuclear wastewater or untreated nuclear sewage.
Some netizens even suggested:
If they claim the nuclear wastewater has been treated, is safe, non-polluting, and even drinkable—then why don't they let their own citizens drink it all?
However, the people of the Great Xia Empire knew this island nation was merely a puppet state. The real decision-makers weren't its leaders—they were just following orders.
Besides, with the backing of their "daddy," the Far Star Union, what did they have to fear?
And so, despite international outcry, the island nation opened the floodgates and released the nuclear wastewater.
In fact, the discharge included both nuclear wastewater and untreated nuclear sewage.
On the day of the release, Li Dong was at home scrolling through related news reports and domestic reactions on various platforms.
On one short-video platform:
[Fck this! Opening StarJoy Video to see this kind of news is worse than stepping in dog sht. Damn islanders!]
["Treated nuclear wastewater," my ass. If it's really free of radiation and pollution, why don't they drink it themselves? Or use it as domestic water?]
[OP's right. These islanders are all wolves at heart. A century ago, they were still causing harm on our land.]
[I say we drop a *bomb on their wastewater storage tanks—give them a nice high-temperature purification.]
[I second that.]
[Same here.]
[I disagree. I suggest *bombing the entire island multiple times—just to be thorough.]
[Holy sh*t! Genius!]
[Absolute legend!]
[Honestly, this Pig-riding Hermit guy's idea sounds even better.]
Of course, most of these netizens were just venting online. Anger aside, they weren't the ones making decisions.
Though the Great Xia Empire voiced strong opposition and condemnation in international media, it had little effect—and no major follow-up actions were taken.
Besides, the Great Xia Empire's main focus wasn't on this issue but on the meteorite asteroids beyond Blue Star.
Moreover, the nuclear wastewater (or sewage) discharged by the island nation wouldn't reach the Great Xia Empire's coastal waters anytime soon.
For now, there was no need to engage further.
That said, the Great Xia Empire did implement countermeasures.
For example, banning trade with the island nation.
Prohibiting the import of seafood and other products from the country.
The moment the news broke, domestic seafood prices plummeted by half.
Even though prices were slashed by more than half, no one complained.
After all, who knew whether eating these seafood products would cause mutations? Zombies from movies had already become a reality—mutations wouldn't be surprising at all.
"Nuclear wastewater was released, and we barely had two months to prepare." After watching the news report for a while, Li Dong thought of the meteorite news that would shock all of humanity on Blue Star in May.
"Still, it's time to reveal the coming apocalypse to some people in advance, so they can make their decisions early."
This decision wasn't made impulsively by Li Dong.
It was the result of careful consideration and discussions with his younger brother, Li Tiang.
The goal was to win over some hearts and persuade certain engineers to join the Great Qin Heavy Industries Shelter Base. Of course, if they chose not to join, Li Dong wouldn't force them—especially if they had better options.
For now, order in the Great Xia nation remained relatively stable.
Though cases of people turning into zombies occurred from time to time, the situation wasn't severe—at least not as bad as in the Western Continent nations, the Boro Ancient Country, the Black Africa continent nations, or the South Americana continent nations.
However, after enduring wave after wave of natural disasters, the Great Xia government at all levels was growing weary, and the efficiency of various departments had begun to decline.
Fortunately, the cabinet had issued strict nationwide control measures three months prior.
The total number of public security patrol personnel across the country exceeded ten million.
Police personnel numbered over eight million.
Even Li Dong was a member of the reserve forces, as he had served as a conscript and was naturally within the recruitment scope for maintaining social order and security.
The military, however, had yet to take any visible action.
If the military stepped in to enforce control, it would mean the situation had grown dire.
But even if the military did act, such information wouldn't be something Li Dong could easily obtain.
The security team Li Dong had spent a fortune training was already in operation.
At the same time, recruitment continued, as Li Dong realized that a shelter base with only a 500-member security force was far from sufficient.
At least a thousand—or even more—people were needed to maintain order in the shelter base.
After all, the entire shelter base covered an area several times larger than an ancient imperial palace.
And that didn't even include the underground shelter.
"Aunt Liu, I'm heading out. I won't be back for dinner tonight."
After a brief pause, Li Dong stood up from the sofa, calling out as he walked toward the door.
Arriving at the garage, he drove a luxury car straight to the shelter base.
About an hour and a half later,
the car entered the shelter base, where clusters of buildings rose from the ground—though none stood taller than thirty meters.
The higher the building, the harder it was to achieve earthquake resistance below magnitude nine.
Rumble—
The roar of construction machinery at the worksite was incessant.
Li Dong parked his car in front of the tallest building in the base, which was already operational—the main building of the entire complex.
Though not particularly tall, its footprint was massive, covering a full six acres of land, grand and imposing.
The walls of the main building were thicker than those of some permanent fortifications, and during construction, various materials—such as lead—had been incorporated.
Because lead, as a material, could block radiation.
In addition, multiple layers of insulation, thermal barriers, and electric self-warming layers were incorporated.
This maximized the cold resistance to such an extent that as long as the meteorite didn't directly destroy the building, humans could survive inside even at temperatures as low as -70 to -80 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, there was underground heating and electricity supplied by generators.
The buildings at the Shelter construction site were not standalone structures. Underground, they were interconnected, with each building serving a distinct function.
Some buildings were dedicated entirely to livestock farming.
An entire building could function as a breeding facility.
Through scientific farming methods, a single low-rise building under 20 meters tall could house thousands or even tens of thousands of live pigs.
Of course, these buildings covered vast areas, starting at several hundred to over a thousand square meters, so each floor offered ample usable space.