While battles raged in several parts of the territories, those in the evacuation centers prayed for everyone’s, especially their loved ones’, safeties.

The evacuation center was basically the bunkers created during the Extreme Heat disaster back then, the ones underneath several parks.

Each one was basically one big dorm-type room with beds close together. The space between each bed was just enough for two people facing their respective beds, which was enough for two people facing the bed to move comfortably.

If there were an emergency, people could just jump over their cots or something. No one was as weak as they were in Terran, so things like stampedes shouldn’t be a problem.

It wasn’t like each evacuation center had several thousand people. Except for the tunnels, which had several exits, the rest of the evacuation centers had several hundred people each.

Those who had no choice but to stay there prayed. Most of them were the weak ones who could not participate in high-level wars, and they did not have roles in the logistics teams either, which was a pity.

Many relatively ’normal’ people were actually still working silently in the relevant factories, making sure they didn’t run out of supplies. Examples were the medicine factories, the textile factory making gauze, and so on. They were working very low-key so as not to attract enemies.

Enemies were definitely interested in industrial areas. Not only them, but many passersby and visitors from other territories were hungry for this opportunity.

Rules were void during wars, so this was indeed the best time for them to sneak in and steal secrets. This was why, regardless of whether there was someone working or not, there were still guards around the area, so it was a waste not to put a few factories to work.

Not to mention, there was a relatively dense concentration of loose sentries there.

The industrial and agricultural areas had a lot of open spaces, so there were fewer places to hide for enemies. As soon as a sentry got activated, the guards would be alerted that there was a trespasser nearby. If a flair was activated, then even more would come.

The annoying part would be if the trespassers didn’t have anything to do with the enemy territory, like those from other territories just wanting to take a peek and maybe steal some stuff.

In this case, it meant that Alterra had to spend precious time and use precious human resources—ones that should’ve been used to defend in the war—to hold down unrelated individuals.

After the war, these people would be banned forever, and people from the same territory also received demerits, which were equivalent to ’negative’ contribution points.

Alterra knew they could not control everyone, but they could certainly make use of them as a warning.

This would naturally cause a lot of dissatisfaction, especially for the innocents who just happened to be from the same territory.

But what could they do? Alterran contribution points and demerit points were somewhat arbitrary. People who couldn’t live without Alterran goods could only feel bitter and mutter to themselves, unable to actually do anything else.

Rather, the people themselves would watch out for their own fellow townsfolk or villagers, which counted as a deterrence that Alterra didn’t have to spend anything on.

Such was true power.

...

Some people inside the Evacuation Centers, on the other hand, were just plain...cowardly. They just didn’t want to put their heads out there. But those people were actually the minority, consisting only of those who were truly cowardly and those who were still new.

People who lived in Alterra for so long generally would be affected by its culture, and the ’bad apples’ tended to separate themselves naturally, i.e. some could be sent to prison so many times they had to work in the mines to catch up with their demerits.

On the other hand, most of the people hiding were sad that they could not join in or contribute to the war. They used it as inspiration to grow fast.

To be fair, their pace wasn’t slow, especially since Alterra’s atmosphere of growth was no joke. Everyone who could move generally still went out to kill monsters, in some way or form.

It was just that Alterra itself was rising too fast, gathering strong enemies. What could people do? Just train harder!

One of these people was Hana and Tim, with the former just weak and couldn’t even fight well at the village level, let alone the town level, and Tim, who lacked a leg and could only be dependent like this.

They were certainly not comfortable in hiding like this, especially since it had already been more than two years since they came to this world.

Everyone else who came with them had the same starting line and were already out there blowing enemy heads off.

BOOM!

BANG!

"Eek!"

People in the evacuation centers, many in their beds to retain their own spaces, while some sitting together in front of the door, shivered as they heard the noise from above. Those touching the ground could even feel the vibrations.

The sounds of the fights above were usually muted because of the insulation. The fact that they could hear it from below meant it was a really loud explosion.

They shivered. They couldn’t help but remember the bombs that attacked the ministers and the children before the war!

The door suddenly burst open, and they could hear battle cries, yells of instructions, clanking of weapons, and various sounds of elements and other things clashing.

Soon, people in guard uniforms appeared. There were thousands of guards now, and most people didn’t know the majority of them anymore. A lot of them were aborigines, too.

"Let’s go! Everyone! This evacuation center has been compromised!"

This caused people to pale, immediately standing up in panic.

"What?!"

"Oh no!"

At this, everyone immediately got up. Everyone had spaces, so there was little to pack. People were also trained well not to panic and cause chaos, except for a few; most were standing right by their beds, as if on queue.

The guards blinked, startled, and looked at them. "Why aren’t you moving quickly enough?

"You’re so SLOW! Didn’t you hear us? WE HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED!!"

It was as if these guards wanted them to panic.

It made a few Alterrans narrow their eyes.