Chapter 537 - 341: "The capable do more. This is your era, and if you don’t worry, who will?
Chapter 537: Chapter 341: "The capable do more. This is your era, and if you don’t worry, who will?
Even though they were twins and both had grown quite large, Jiang Cai’Er chose to have a natural birth.
With her constitution as a Tier Sixteen Extraordinary Being, the delivery went smoothly. The two baby boys came into the world crying, looking seventy percent like Li Xiang and thirty percent like Jiang Cai’Er.
As the father, Li Xiang had naturally prepared their names long in advance, putting a great deal of thought into them. Welcoming new additions to the family and naming them was a matter of utmost importance, something that had to be done with solemnity.
The older brother was named "Li Yuchen," with the nickname "Xiaoyi" (from ’yiyi,’ meaning ’shimmering’); the younger brother was named "Li Zezao," with the nickname "Yangyang."
Both names were rich with meaning.
For instance, "Yu" (煜) was taken from the line, "The sun illuminates the day, the moon illuminates the night," symbolizing universal light. With the Apocalypse approaching and the Sun about to "go out," everyone, from ordinary people to Li Xiang himself, yearned for light. Humanity had no idea when they might find a new, bright homeland. This could be considered a name fitting for the times.
After the Apocalypse began, many babies were born with similar names. Characters like "Ming" (bright), "Guang" (light), "Liang" (radiant), and "Yang" (sun) became prevalent. In any given class, many children shared the same name. Though common, these names represented the hope in people’s hearts.
It was like a fetus that had gone through numerous scares during pregnancy. Every prenatal check-up would reveal some suspicious indicator, requiring follow-up after follow-up, constant measures to protect the pregnancy. For example, low progesterone, risk of miscarriage, a Down syndrome screening indicating a need for further diagnosis, the umbilical cord wrapped around the neck, a breech presentation, renal pelvis separation, or lateral ventricle dilation...
Then, the parents would hope with all their might for the baby to be born healthy and safe. So, what did it matter if they chose a common but auspicious name containing characters like "Kang" (health) or "An" (peace)? At that moment, it was their only wish.
"Chen" (宸) refers to the location of the North Star, representing nobility and direction. The meaning was self-evident.
As for Li Zezao’s name, "Ze" (泽) meant to bestow grace upon all things. Given Li Xiang’s achievements in dredging rivers, protecting living creatures, and saving Earth, it wasn’t an exaggeration to give his son this name.
"Zhao" (昭) signified being open and magnanimous, with the hope that he would hold fast to his beliefs in the darkness.
The nickname "Yangyang" symbolized warmth, vitality, and the new hope budding in the Apocalypse.
After they were discharged from the hospital, Li Xiang took Jiang Cai’Er back to Li Family Village. The provincial authorities had offered to send them by helicopter, but Li Xiang just waved his hand dismissively. Why go to all that trouble?
He stored all their things in his warehouse, got out a double stroller for the twins—the kind where they could sit up or lie down—and laid it flat for his two sons to sleep in. With the canopy pulled over, he pushed the stroller with one hand and held Jiang Cai’Er in his other arm.
In truth, Jiang Cai’Er could have walked on her own, but since Li Xiang insisted on carrying her, she just let him.
When they reached the underground parking garage, an earthy yellow light flared up. Under the envious and amazed gazes of the onlookers, they sank directly into the depths of the earth, arriving home shortly after.
As for Jiang Jianguo and his wife, Li Xiang had already brought them over.
Actually, despite the ice and snow making travel difficult, trains were still running. There were just fewer of them than before, and they moved more slowly.
Besides, even with the severe cold and frozen rivers, it wasn’t like there were blizzards every single day. There were still scheduled flights. Otherwise, how could all those leaders, teachers, and classmates from the Imperial Capital have come to the hospital to visit Jiang Cai’Er?
Travel between major cities was still possible; it was just inconvenient to get to remote rural areas. With the icy roads, cars could easily skid, leading to traffic accidents.
And it was so cold that, unless absolutely necessary, most people couldn’t be bothered to go out.
People used to dream of traveling to Snow Village, but now they could see snow and play on the ice right outside their own doors. Who would bother going anymore?
Although Jiang Cai’Er was in her postpartum confinement, her mother was there, and with Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui helping out, Li Xiang didn’t need to worry. This freed him up to take part in the preparatory work before the Apocalypse.
He was invited to the Capital City to participate in numerous important meetings. At every single one, Li Xiang was, without a doubt, one of the main focuses of attention.
On such occasions, it was only natural that he would be expected to speak.
Trying to sit quietly in the back was impossible. Besides, his seat wasn’t in the back or in a corner; it was on the stage, in the front row, right next to the center seat.
The seating arrangement was fixed in advance, and his name was on the seat. He couldn’t have sat in the back even if he’d wanted to.
In his past life, Li Xiang would have been so nervous he would have stammered. But in this life, having reached his current level as the strongest person on Earth, he handled it with ease.
Furthermore, his capable wife, Jiang Cai’Er, had even prepared a speech for him in advance.
One thing that made the bigwigs at the conference envious was that no matter how large the meeting room—even in the Great Hall—Li Xiang never needed a microphone. He could speak casually, and his voice would carry clearly to every single person’s ears.
His voice was resonant and his enunciation perfect. The content of his speech was substantive and eloquent, often leaving a brilliant impression on the audience.
The themes of these meetings were all related to the preparatory work before the Apocalypse.
For example: the construction of the Underground City system; a share-out of current military and technological achievements and a look at future research directions; resource stockpiling and ensuring the public’s livelihood; international cooperation and crisis management; and so on.
Regarding the construction of the Underground Cities, the nation would accelerate the development of a multi-layered underground urban network. To put it simply, they would build 72 hive-city clusters. Each cluster would be 50 kilometers in diameter and use a fractal structure (a main city plus 12 satellite cities), with a compression resistance rated for Level 12 tectonic shifts. If the satellite cities were counted individually, the total number of Underground Cities would be 936.
In China, there are a total of 694 cities at or above the county level, comprising 4 municipalities, 293 prefecture-level cities, and 397 county-level cities.
Factoring in the vast rural areas, 936 Underground Cities would be enough to accommodate all 1.4 billion people.