“… It’s said that during the Prosperity Era, two centuries ago, the Great Desert wasn’t called that. It used to be four major industrial zones of the Human Federation.”0

Chu Guang glanced at him, puzzled. “Four major industrial zones?”2

“Yes.” Wu Changnian nodded, his gaze lost in memory, as if recalling some archived footage. After a pause, he continued slowly, “The Western Industrial Zone was the starting point of the entire supply chain. It produced the rawest materials and handled crude processing for logistics and space elevator shipping, synthetic chemicals, catalysts, and alloys.”0

“The Northern Industrial Zone was the logistics and warehousing hub. It stored surplus goods, handled product distribution, and transferred intermediate products and waste. It had the densest traffic network of the Prosperity Era, both by rail and not. In theory, if you picked the right transport, you could travel there from anywhere on the planet. It also had the highest density of office buildings.”1

“The Eastern Industrial Zone was the end of the chain, with massive, efficient, and concentrated manufacturing plants converting raw and intermediate goods into final products.”0

"As for...0