Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 340: Increased Population

The Province Sweep Project was a huge success. Black Haven was able to cleanse every corner of its territory from monsters and survivors alike.

The First Army played a crucial role in leading the battles while survivors provided the auxiliary support needed. For every soldier. three to four survivors followed.

The Black Haven territories have become fully cleared of initial carriers. The only threats they have to take care of were the summoned creatures during town invasion, monsters at various dungeons, and threats that came from the Red Portal.

The Red Portal was becoming more active as time goes by. More unique monsters that probably came from other wild dungeons started to appear. Survivors were also another source of the problem.

Most of the time, the survivors that appear from the Red Portal would only stay for a day to rest and get their feet back on the ground after running away from something, usually, evolved carriers and monsters. 

The Garrison would take care of them first through an interview if they were cooperative, and interrogation if they were not. After scrutinizing everything, the survivors would then be passed down to the Monitoring Department.

The Monitoring Department is the one responsible for the surveillance, and protection of these strangers. Their 'well-being' should be taken off properly. Usually, survivors would be placed in a mansion together for easier monitoring. The monitoring system is currently new and the department is doing its best to adjust to the dangers of the new world.

Back at Black Haven compound...

Inside the meeting room at the back office, each department head started their reports.

Bernard started. "There's been a huge increase in territory population in the past few days and they still continue to increase. We have more than ten thousand new people coming in these few days. Most of the new people answered on their citizenship application form that they heard good rumors about this place, Black Haven.

"Although most of the people seem neutral-bad and some had evil intentions, we couldn't be more than happy to have more people. The more citizens we got, the faster the economy would flourish. The faster the economy flourished, the more the territory would improve, which would invite more people to travel here. It's a repeating cycle of profits!"

Jun could understand why this is happening since he had a hand in this matter.

When the coin was flipped and the survivors saw the two sides of the coin, they were able to judge for themselves what side would be better for them. After days and nights of contemplation, a huge group of survivors finally decided to come and jump over the fence to enter Black Haven.

It was inevitable after the news regarding the Province Sweep Project was released to the public. 

Black Haven just cleansed the whole province of carriers with close to zero casualties. Can the government do that? What were they doing while it was happening? Probably having their meetings and tea parties.

That's what most salty poor people would think. No buts, it's guaranteed. Even those who were in the know started to doubt whether staying with the government was a good choice.

While the government was still planning on how to proceed with its Northern Expedition, another power has already purified the province. 

The people weren't blind and can choose freely where to go. Every day, survivors would accept simple jobs from the officials of their district, then head out and never return. It was a simple trick to get out without having to worry that the guards would stop them.

Even if the authorities wanted to stop these people to leave, they at least need to give a proper reason or they'll suffer huge criticism. Citizens are fickle-minded individuals that always want the best for themselves.

Bernard continued his report. He already recruited selected individuals with unique abilities into the Agent Program. These selected individuals would be employed under Black Haven and they would fulfill the orders received by Black Haven. A few of the unique professionals was a dentist and a midwife. Unfortunately, they still haven't found a boat builder.

Next was Gina. Her report was swift and steady, finally improving from her past reports. "I don't know much about economy, but I still know something about supply and demand. A huge number of people arrive and the already small amount of goods we have would not be enough to satiate their needs. There is more demand than supply, which means we can raise our prices by a small margin. This wouldn't affect most people and the smart traders were already doing this."

Jun nodded. "Limit the amount each person can buy from the shop. Impose certain rules. Make sure that one group can't monopolize every resource. It's alright if they started some small fights as long as it doesn't get too big that the public is affected. Have Monitors patrolling each street. You can also decide what actions you should take based on the situation. Just stick with making them fight, but don't interfere directly."

"Un," Gina responded. Only when Jun moved on to Dyna did she managed to calm herself. She prepared for this meeting and was happy with the results.

Next was Dyna, who eagerly and excitedly reported her findings.

"I found a way how children could gain skills!"

Everyone in the room adjusted their seats and perked their ears, ready to listen. Jun motioned for Dyna to continue.

"By teaching!" she answered excitedly. "Teachers have different education levels and there are different skills for every teacher. The higher the education, the more powerful the skill. The higher the skill level, the higher the efficiency of the skill. I gained this insight after interviewing a kindergarten teacher and a high school teacher. Together with my own experiences, I can say that there is a high chance of this being true!

"For example, I found a kindergarten teacher that can grant the temporary use of a skill. A child can experience how to use Sprint even before they even leveled up! However, a high school teacher can grant temporary access and even allow the student to keep the skill if they were able to use it perfectly on the first try."

Bernard and Gina didn't know what was great about that? Even though all of them were opposed to child labor and assisting children to kill carriers, usually spoonfed, once they grow up they would still be able to learn such skills. What's the fuss about?

On the other hand, Jun found the important keywords from her sentences. There are different education levels for teachers and every teacher has a different skill. Even if they have different skills, the skill essence remains which is imparting knowledge to its students!

A high school teacher can grant temporary skill usage to a student and has a chance to permanent access to the skill if they successfully mastered it on the first try. That's just a high school teacher! What about a college teacher?!

If he gathers enough teachers, he could easily increase the training speed and skill gain of the entire army! 

"Although there are advantages in implementing this, I also discovered a few problems."