Chapter 538 - 341: "The able do more work. The future is your era; if you don’t handle it, who will?
Chapter 538: Chapter 341: "The able do more work. The future is your era; if you don’t handle it, who will?
This included the underground base in Li Family Village.
The Li Family Village Underground City was considered a main city, to be protected by 12 surrounding satellite cities. In time, all of them would fall under Li Xiang’s command.
Special funds were allocated for the project. All the money Li Xiang had previously spent was to be reimbursed, though ownership would remain with Dark Sanctuary Limited Company. However, Li Xiang wasn’t hurting for money and politely declined. He hoped the funds would be used to build other Underground Cities instead.
With such a massive undertaking, the national budget was stretched thin, and every sector needed funding.
Some might ask, "Why not just print more money?" But it doesn’t work that way. Currency is a reflection of productivity; you must have goods to have currency. To put it more abstractly, materials are the real money.
Print too much, and you get inflation; print too little, and you get deflation. This involves basic economic theory, which is covered not just in college but even in middle and high school curricula.
Speaking of which, China’s education system truly taught the Dragon Slaying Technique. This is why the broad-minded, strategic perspective of Chinese students is something students from other countries can’t compare to.
The leadership praised Li Xiang for his noble character and didn’t insist further.
The meeting then moved on to discuss the energy problem for each Underground City. Energy was the most critical component for survival in the Apocalypse.
In a world of ice and snow, deep in the darkness underground, it would be impossible to take a single step without energy.
These Underground Cities, depending on their geographical location, would use nuclear power, petroleum, natural gas, or a combination of several methods for their power and heat supply.
Nuclear and thermal power were to be the mainstays for the future.
The thermal power could come from petroleum, natural gas, coal, and other sources.
There would also be a supporting underground industrial complex, including things like steel mills, armories, textile factories, and pharmaceutical plants.
This also included underground farms, ecological recycling systems, and an integrated subway network for transportation.
Military and technological development would naturally be transformed to adapt to the characteristics of the Apocalypse. In the military domain, for example, the navy was almost completely abandoned. Development shifted to the army and a small air force, focusing on various missiles, drones suited for severe cold weather, reconnaissance planes, fighter jets, tanks with stronger defensive capabilities, exoskeleton armor, more formidable personal weapons, and more powerful cannons (such as microwave directed-energy weapons, Laser Cannons, and High-Energy Ion Cannons), as well as fuel with stronger cold-resistant Attributes and hydrogen fuel cells.
It’s worth mentioning that the "Qing Teng" model fuel cell, developed by the State Power Investment Corporation, had successfully achieved stable power generation at -80°C at the Antarctic Qinling Station. Its unique low-temperature cold-start technology was truly a masterpiece; it was no exaggeration to say it was leagues ahead of anything else.
Research and development on the previously captured Exotic Beasts had yet to be completed, but progress had been made, yielding a first-generation prototype: a Quark Deconstruction Cannon. There was also the Nuwa Battle Armor. This Battle Armor was developed using a new material derived from the skeletons of alien creatures, and it far surpassed existing body armor while also being much lighter.
Although Li Xiang had his Crystal Gold Armor, he forged it all by himself, so it was impossible to equip that many people. Moreover, the equipment he crafted with his Crystal Gold Armor was extremely heavy—not something an ordinary person could even lift.
After Li Xiang returned, he got to work in the spirit of the meeting, renovating and expanding the Li Family Village Underground City and digging tunnels to the 12 satellite cities.
Although the state had a comprehensive plan, the Apocalypse was only a few years away, making the construction schedule incredibly tight. The underground tunnel network Li Xiang had built in his hometown was so effective it had gone viral online, so he was invited to help accelerate the process.
A leader joked, "The able should do more work. The future is your era—if you don’t worry about it, who will?"
Li Xiang: "..."
Honestly, Li Xiang had no grand ambitions. A wife, kids, and a warm home were all he needed to be content. But with human civilization on the brink of annihilation, he knew he had to rise to the challenge.
’Humans are social animals,’ he thought. ’If the entire world’s population died out, leaving only my family, what would be the point? Putting everything else aside, just continuing the family line would be an issue. My sons and grandsons wouldn’t be able to find wives. My daughters and granddaughters wouldn’t be able to marry. We’d go extinct in four or five generations.’
’As for Extraordinary Cultivation, I’ve never heard of anyone who is truly immortal. Even those few Divine Level Earth Vein Spirits seem to have limits to their lifespans. Plus, they have plenty of weaknesses. For instance, their true bodies are special Earth Veins, which means they can’t move. If they really had to relocate, they’d have to rely on the slow, geologic shifting of the Earth Veins, the kind of change that takes eons.’
’If humans wanted to kill them, it would actually be quite simple: just bombard them relentlessly with bunker-busters to destroy their true bodies. And since they’re Mountain and River Spirits that have also fused with the civilization and fortune of humanity, their strength is inextricably linked to the Huaxia Civilization that lives on this continent.’
’Some evil Feng Shui Arrays can also damage the Earth Veins and endanger them.’
’If we’re talking about true immortality, maybe Jiang Cai’Er could do it. She could become a Digital Life, a stream of consciousness. But she would still need a vessel; if that vessel were destroyed, she would perish as well.’
’But by becoming a Digital Life, one can’t enjoy the many pleasures of being human. Even an eternal life like that would be terribly boring.’
’Those three Divine Level Earth Vein Spirits like to slumber for a couple of reasons. One, they really did suffer heavy damage and lost a lot of their foundational essence—I’d estimate at least 30% or more. Two, I guess there’s not much for them to do when they aren’t sleeping anyway.’
"It is my duty, and I will not shrink from it!" Li Xiang readily agreed. For reasons both public and private, he could not simply stand by and watch.
’Besides,’ he reasoned, ’I’m idle right now anyway. After I broke through to the Saint Tier, leveling up became extremely difficult. Building this underground transportation network is practically a form of Cultivation in itself.’
So, he spent a month digging the tunnels for the national underground transportation network. As for laying the rails, installing fiber optic cables, and placing equipment along the routes—that wasn’t Li Xiang’s responsibility. The relevant departments would handle it.
As Li Xiang dug the tunnels, a CCTV reporter provided full-time coverage. However, they concealed the specific routes and coordinates, only referring to general sections. Outsiders had no way of knowing the exact locations, depths, or paths of the tunnels.
Witnessing this monumental feat, the public was once again left in awe.
The previous dredging of thousands of waterways had been carried out in secret, so not many people had witnessed it firsthand. But now, with daily live broadcasts on CCTV, everyone was seeing Li Xiang’s Earth Element Divine Techniques for the very first time.
Someone commented, "This is way more impressive than Tuxing Sun."
"What’s Tuxing Sun? How can he even be compared to Li Sheng?"
"Congratulations to Li Sheng on his brilliant achievements! He’s added another magnificent entry to the history books."
After finishing the tunnels, Li Xiang wondered what else he could do to help. So, he got to work again, proactively helping to build underground oil refineries, along with their supporting pipelines and storage depots for transporting and storing petroleum and natural gas.
This was where Li Xiang had a distinct advantage.
For the oil and natural gas under the South Sea, there was no need for drilling. Li Xiang established a direct pipeline and, using the principle of Earth Vein Suction, made the oil and gas flow directly through the pipes in a continuous, inexhaustible stream.
The design was ingenious, and the scale of the project was immense. It would have been virtually impossible without an Earth Ability as powerful as Li Xiang’s. Even if it could be built through conventional means, the cost would have been astronomical.
For Li Xiang, however, it was a simple task he could complete in a matter of days.
If necessary, he could even dig tunnels to the Middle East or Russia to draw upon their oil and gas resources, which would also flow directly over without any need for drilling or transport.
A single pipeline would be too slow and would risk being blocked or destroyed. So, Li Xiang laid down seven or eight parallel pipelines, separated by a set distance. This not only massively increased the transport volume of oil and gas but also greatly improved the system’s resilience to risk.
It was a work of divine craftsmanship.
This capability was so outrageous and strategically significant that it was not publicly reported.
Furthermore, Li Xiang used his Earth Superpower to help the various Underground Cities rapidly excavate enormous spaces, allowing the nation to accelerate the relocation of factories underground. This included entire armories, robotic arm production lines, and the like.