The total number of people Li Dong needed to win over temporarily exceeded two thousand.
Without these two thousand-plus individuals, the entire Shelter Base simply couldn't function. If their family members were included, the Shelter Base population would likely exceed ten thousand.
This was no joking matter.
In the Great Xia nation, even if families had split during their parents' generation, each household still maintained six or seven members.
Parents, wife and children, plus the individual being recruited—that already made six people.
Even if parents were no longer around or lived with other siblings, a family would still consist of at least three or four people.
Some families didn't just raise one or two children—some had as many as six or seven, while others had one or two.
Of course, among those on Li Dong's recruitment list, their family backgrounds had been thoroughly investigated. Most didn't have many children.
Raising children wasn't easy—it required both money and energy. After all, adults had been children themselves and naturally understood that having too many offspring wasn't beneficial for the children's wellbeing.
Well, except for the nouveau riche or wealthy individuals who would keep a bunch of illegitimate children hidden away.
Although Great Xia's birth rate had been declining due to economic development, current family sizes remained quite large.
It wasn't like Li Dong's previous life at all.
This was mainly because traditional culture still held significant influence among the populace.
Even with economic prosperity, the concept of bearing children remained deeply ingrained.
Considering these employees' families and children, the Shelter Base had made many considerations—such as schools.
Schools absolutely had to be built.
They couldn't let the descendants of these employees' families grow up illiterate, could they?
Teaching children knowledge and culture would make them capable workers when they grew up—they couldn't just let them waste their time.
The Shelter Base could establish education from elementary through high school.
As for university, that was beyond their capabilities.
The base lacked sufficient specialized advanced teachers, scholars, and experimental equipment.
For elementary through high school teachers, they didn't need to overthink it—they could select some higher-educated personnel from Great Qin Heavy Industries Technology Company to personally teach.
Teaching elementary through high school curriculum wasn't particularly difficult anyway.
As for university students, they could try having some of the base's engineers or technical personnel personally instruct them in relevant skills and technical knowledge.
Most engineers and technical staff at the base were highly educated individuals, having graduated from at least four-year universities.
At minimum, they had associate degrees.
Teaching knowledge and skills to seventeen or eighteen-year-old university students wouldn't be a problem.
"Just thinking about how school continues even as the apocalypse approaches makes me want to laugh."
That day, while walking around the construction site, Li Dong looked to his left front where a teaching building stood.
The teaching building to the left front wasn't particularly large in area and still appeared like an unfinished shell, with neither interior nor exterior completed.
This teaching building was intended for elementary school students.
Adjacent to it stood two other similarly sized buildings—the middle school and high school teaching buildings respectively.
As for university teaching buildings, there were none.
Because among those on Li Dong's recruitment list, families with university students were few—only a few dozen in total, with elementary and secondary school students making up the majority.
There's no need to waste resources building a teaching building just for these few dozen college students.
Besides, these students are likely to secure spots in some Official Shelter.
Official Shelters can't accommodate too many people, but if you're talented or a highly skilled professional, you might secure a spot after passing multiple rounds of screening.
Moreover, some well-funded universities will build their own shelters, making it relatively easy to obtain a spot—and even bring family members along.
After all, many universities are already located in decent areas—why not repurpose them into shelters?
Of course, some universities are situated in locations unsuitable for conversion into shelters.
For example, universities in coastal cities.
When the meteorite strikes Blue Star, the resulting mega-tsunami will swallow all coastal cities.
Building shelters in coastal areas would be suicidal.
When the apocalypse arrives, even major coastal cities like Modu, Pengcheng, and Yangcheng suffered heavy losses, let alone small fishing villages, towns, and counties along the coast.
Most ordinary residents in coastal regions had no choice but to evacuate inland.
Well, they had to—the Cabinet would issue orders for all coastal residents to relocate inland.
Of course, these displaced coastal residents would be provided with housing.
As for immovable property—well, that was definitely left behind.
Fortunately, the Great Qin Heavy Industries Shelter Base isn't located in a coastal area. It's technically inland, so the post-apocalyptic tsunami won't reach it, and there are no nearby fault lines.
Otherwise, why would Li Tiang have chosen this place?
Li Dong stepped into a teaching building and glanced around. The bare concrete structure was still under construction, with dozens of workers busy with renovations.
The entire building could accommodate several hundred elementary school students—enough for now.
The entire structure was fully enclosed, modeled after some teaching buildings in the northeastern regions.
As for teaching materials—
Li Tiang had secured a wealth of textbooks and instructional videos through official partnerships with several schools.
He also collaborated with textbook publishers.
For just one grade level, over a hundred thousand sets of textbooks had been printed.
Enough to meet the needs of the base's future elementary students.
Textbooks for middle and high school grades were also stocked.
The above-ground teaching buildings were just backups. If they collapsed due to earthquakes, the classrooms in the underground shelter base would be activated instead.
Li Tiang had also visited universities in Pengcheng, Yangcheng, and Dongjiang City, securing plenty of materials, textbooks, and instructional videos through partnerships.
These were humanity's true treasures.
Preserving knowledge meant preserving humanity's future.
Li Tiang had also visited libraries across the country multiple times, collecting textbooks and reference materials across all disciplines.
Millions of volumes.
Every bit saved counted.
After all, they were humanity's real wealth.
At the same time, Li Tiang used AI technology to scour the internet for all publicly available instructional videos and scientific research papers.
By the end of March—
Over the past few weeks, Li Dong had chaired over a dozen meetings and handled hundreds of tasks, big and small.
Swamped with work.
Out of all those meetings, the success rate of recruitment was 98%, though a small fraction still remained unconvinced.
Perhaps these individuals had their own considerations, or perhaps they didn't fully trust Li Dong and his team.
Of course, Li Dong also issued orders to these uncooperative personnel, forbidding them from spreading any doomsday-related information.
Li Dong didn't immediately dismiss this small group of uncooperative individuals to prevent them from spreading unfavorable news outside.
By May, when the end-of-the-world news became public, Li Dong promptly terminated their employment.
It's worth mentioning that all members of the security department agreed to join the Shelter and were willing to follow orders.
Additionally, all levels of engineers, scientists, experts, scholars, and professors within the base were successfully recruited.
Only a small portion of management personnel and technical staff remained uncooperative.
"Hello, this is Li Dong speaking."
"What? A meeting in Pengcheng on the 5th of next month? All entrepreneurs from Dongjiang City and Pengcheng are required to attend? And it's officially organized?"
"Alright, I understand."
After hanging up the phone, Li Dong looked out from the fifth floor of the Teaching building at the construction site outside. Countless construction machines roared in the distance.
"It seems the authorities are beginning to mobilize."
"The wind is rising!"