Chapter 4: Announcement and Orphans
“…Hello hello! Hello hello! May I have everyone’s attention! May I have everyone’s attention!
I am Chen Wenyun, the Organizational Coordination Commissioner of the Emergency Status Committee! I am Chen Wenyun, the Organizational Coordination Commissioner of the Emergency Status Committee!
Now, on behalf of the Emergency Status Committee, I am going to broadcast an important message to everyone!
At around twelve noon today, over two hundred officers and sailors from the naval destroyer Destroyer Guiyang, under the command of Captain Yang Yunfeng, captured a pirate ship belonging to the Dutch United Provinces East India Company in the southern sea, and took nineteen pirates on board alive!
On behalf of the Emergency Status Committee and all survivors, I extend our gratitude to Comrade Yang Yunfeng and all personnel aboard the Destroyer Guiyang for their heroic combat!
I’m sure many of you are puzzled why a pirate ship from the East India Company appeared nearby, and you must have many speculations.
To dispel everyone’s doubts, after careful verification by the Emergency Status Committee, we have decided to announce a message that has been preliminarily confirmed as fact.
According to the confession of the captured Dutch pirates, our current world’s timeline is November 25, 1671 CE!
That means we have returned to 353 years ago!
And our current location is near the city of Melbourne, at the southeast corner of the Australian continent!
Please relay this message to those nearby who did not hear the broadcast, and please restrain your emotions and refrain from actions violating public order or decency.
The Emergency Status Committee will, starting now, send security patrols for inspection.
For special needs or emergencies, you may seek help from patrol teams.
If you find any misconduct by patrol team members, please file a complaint at the Security Division on the second floor of the Bohai Ship Group administrative building after 8 AM.
Finally, to address these new changes, tomorrow at 10:30 AM, all survivors aged eighteen and above are requested to attend a meeting at the Bohai Ship Group Hotel auditorium to discuss and vote on establishing a new long-term management and service organization to replace the temporary Emergency Status Committee.
If you have any opinions or suggestions, please go to the first floor of the Bohai Ship Group Hotel before 5 PM today to voice them.”
At 2 PM, the new announcement from the Emergency Status Committee was broadcast via the Bohai Ship Group system, and soon reached most survivors in the workshops, streets, and dormitory buildings.
Honestly, twelve days later, most of the 4,500 people have already accepted in their hearts that they have traveled through time.
After all, the three natives and several aggressive kangaroos caught by patrol teams a few days ago are still confined in a warehouse cage, exhibited every day.
Besides, the process of the time travel itself was too shocking… a flash of white light, and the entire person along with surrounding buildings and docked ships suddenly moved from the bustling Bohai coastal city of Huludao to this deserted, unfamiliar continent!
If this weren’t time travel, nothing else would make sense.
Yet even after the Emergency Status Committee publicly announced the fact of time travel, many still could not accept it; some wailed and cried, some wept openly, and others were filled with anxiety…
After all, their relatives and friends, their careers and achievements, their ideals and aspirations have all become inaccessible illusions!
Of course, while some wore expressions of sorrow, others were ecstatic!
When the nearly five hundred students from Longgang Middle School near the shipyard discovered they had truly traveled through time, some third‑year junior high school kids immediately tore their textbooks apart and threw them out the window, shouting “I’ve traveled through time! I want to be emperor!”
The outcome of ambition greatly outweighed ability, as expected.
The boy was immediately subdued by the burly discipline head and the PE teacher, and forced to publicly reflect on his erroneous thoughts on the playground in front of all the students.
At this moment, on the third floor of the Longgang Middle School teaching building, in the principal’s office, Principal Sun Debo, in his early fifties, was standing by the window chatting with a handsome young man in a gray suit in his mid‑twenties, while watching the child below making his public reflection.
“…Among these children, quite a few must be orphans now, right?” the handsome young man in the suit sighed lightly, speaking to Principal Sun Debo, whose receding hairline had reached a Mediterranean state.
“Yes indeed! Suddenly losing parents, and right in the rebellious phase—it’s truly a headache!”
Principal Sun Debo reached out to rub his shiny high forehead helplessly and said, “Xiao Zhou, do you think Li Yingchun, Jiang Dalong, and the others will agree to that adoption plan you mentioned?
There’s a saying: a half‑grown child eats up his poor father. These kids are in need of nutrition now, and supplies are diminishing day by day. Suddenly giving them foster sons or foster daughters would mean stealing supplies—most wouldn’t be happy!
Besides, with boys it's perhaps fine, but if a girl gets bullied, what then?
Not appropriate, not appropriate! I think it’s really not suitable!”
Watching the balding old principal shake his head vigorously like a rattle, Zhou Jixin felt some admiration for the man’s character.
When encountering a situation, he didn’t first think of his own benefit but thought about the children’s safety—at least, moral-wise, the old man was a qualified principal.
But what he intended to do still needed to be done.
Looking at the line of students walking into the teaching building below, he calmly persuaded, “…Principal, besides English, I also took psychology as an elective at university, which included adolescent psychology…
Suddenly losing one’s parents is a major blow for anyone—let alone adolescents in their formative years!
Right now, at least half the children in this school have lost one or both parents.
If we cannot offer timely guidance, and provide them with the warmth of family and the care of society, they will head down the wrong path, stray further, and may eventually endanger us all—resulting in a great tragedy!
To prevent tragedy, we must act with resolve now and do everything we can to save these children!
We must fight for funding for nutrition and building dormitories, and immediately begin the work of finding adoptive parents for those who have lost both parents!
As for what you mentioned, Principal, about resource competition and risks… I don’t think these will be real problems!”
“…Hmm?”
Sun Debo came back to his senses.
He pointed at Zhou Jixin and scolded him playfully, “You rascal! Are you playing word games with this old man?
Come on, spit it out! You’re a top student from the Beijing Normal University, your brain is sharp—you must have a foolproof plan!”
Zhou Jixin chuckled, “I wouldn’t say foolproof—just some detailed arrangements, that’s all.
First, regarding living supplies: you heard the broadcast just now too, Principal.
The Emergency Status Committee is about to become history, and the current material rationing system will most likely follow suit not long after.
The newly established management body will probably retain only the basic food allotments for each person.
Everything else—supplies and resources—will need money, or some kind of contribution points or accounting currency to be allocated and mobilized.
Otherwise, if everything’s handed out for free, who’s going to do any work?”
“Exactly! As long as Li Yingchun and the others haven’t lost their minds, they definitely won’t keep running a communal kitchen!” Principal Sun agreed with a nod.
“So! The issue you mentioned earlier—adoptive families fighting over food—shouldn’t arise.”
Zhou Jixin continued his analysis: “As for the safety of the children, we can minimize risk in three ways.
First, when selecting adoptive families, we should prioritize households or individuals who’ve lost their own children, and set age restrictions as well.
This way, we can avoid most risks and allow the children to experience familial warmth.
The adoptive families and individuals will also gain emotional comfort and bonds from the children.
Second, we’ll set up dormitories at the school.
Children will stay on campus during the week, and only visit their adoptive homes on weekends—if they choose to.
Responsible teachers will regularly visit these families to monitor their situations, allowing adjustments in adoption relationships.
This will help us avoid most of the risks.
Third, we’ll work with the Navy and the future Army.
They’ll provide funding and military instructors to train the children in military skills, or we might jointly establish a Navy and Army Military Academy for deeper collaboration in education with the military.
With military support and protection, I don’t believe anyone would dare harm these children!”