Chapter 652 - 386: Artificial Little Sun, Rebuilding Li Family Village
Jiang Cai'Er, for her part, brought out the latest Artificial Little Sun developed by Celestial Calculation Energy Technology. Hovering ten kilometers up in the sky, it illuminated a fifty-kilometer radius as if it were broad daylight.
Zhao Xueqing was also invited over to restore the vegetation in Li Family Village and the surrounding countryside.
Within the fifty-kilometer radius centered on Li Family Village, the oxygen levels gradually grew richer, and the temperature slowly rose.
Not only did all kinds of plants begin to grow, but many animals were also transferred from the Underground City: chickens, ducks, geese, fish, cats, dogs...
In just seven days, Li Xiang, Jiang Cai'Er, and Zhao Xueqing were like creator gods, restoring the once dark and cold Old Li Family Village to the thriving state it had known before the Apocalypse.
Li Xiang's courtyard, in particular, was replicated to be an almost exact copy of the original.
The Big Red Bullhide War Drum was also returned to its original place. The old drum had been damaged over the years, so Li Xiang used the hide of a Demon Beast to craft a new one. In the past, making a drum was a complex process that took a long time, but now, it was a matter of about ten minutes.
He spent those ten-odd minutes pouring his effort into sculpting the details, trying his best to make it identical to the original.
Even the old Chicken Blood Stone Jungle, the vegetable garden, the persimmon tree, the peach tree, the wintersweet, the Overlapping Waterfall, and so on were all replicated to be exactly the same.
It wasn't just the Li Family home; the entire village, including Jiang Cai'Er's house, the old Clan Ancestral Hall, and the Mountain God Temple on the mountaintop in front of the village, were all restored down to the last blade of grass, almost identical to how they were before the Apocalypse.
When Er Huang, the Little Fox, and the others heard the news, they too ran up and returned to their old kennel. The dog and the fox squeezed and snuggled together in the small shelter, full of bliss.
The rooster, the big goose, the cats, and the hedgehogs all returned as well.
Xiaobai led its little friends into the vegetable garden and took a bite of a newly ripened cherry tomato, squinting its eyes from the sourness.
The pandas also returned to the back mountain, leisurely munching on tender bamboo shoots.
It was as if the Apocalypse had never happened.
Amidst this peaceful scene, a small alloy gate in the mountainside opened. Li Xiang emerged, carrying his granny on his back, followed by Jiang Cai'Er, their two sons and one daughter, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jiang Jianguo. Other villagers from Li Family Village, like Li Yucheng and his wife, and folks from the neighboring areas—including Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, Lei Xiaohui, and Lei Jiaming—all walked out of the Alloy Gate together, returning to Li Family Village.
This small gate was rarely opened. The Underground City had several other entrances and exits in other locations, including some giant alloy doors dozens of meters high.
"Wow, it's so beautiful! Is this really our old home?" At eighteen, Li Xinyue was in the prime of her youth. Taking mostly after Jiang Cai'Er with a hint of Li Xiang in her features, she was a bundle of bouncing, mischievous energy.
Her two brothers were more composed.
After touring Li Xiang's house and courtyard, the group went back outside. They strolled through the village, chatting and laughing, walking back and forth several times.
Granny Li Xiang was getting old and lacked the stamina, so Li Xiang carried her on his back most of the time.
Jiang Cai'Er had actually designed a smart wheelchair for the old woman. It was voice-controlled, self-driving, and could go wherever she pleased. But Li Xiang insisted on carrying his granny on his back.
'If I don't carry her now, in a few years, I won't have the chance.'
Li Xiang recounted the time it snowed heavily and Third Granny's house collapsed, and how he had carried her back to his own home. Both his granny and Cai'Er said they remembered it vividly, as if it were only yesterday.
"Let me sing an old song for you," Jiang Cai'Er said.
Li Xinyue was very curious and asked, "Mom, you can sing? What song are you going to sing?"
Li Xiang said, "When your mother was young, her singing voice was incredible. She could also play all sorts of instruments—a true woman of many talents."
With everyone's eyes on her, Jiang Cai'Er began to sing "Spring Courtyard Snow": "In the courtyard, pear blossoms fall, another year is done... Standing in the crisp night, moonlight spills on the empty stairs... In dreams, pipes play an old melody... Waking, tears smear the rouge on my face..."
The song was truly ancient, a viral hit from about twenty-five years ago. Li Xinyue and her two brothers had never heard it before.
"It's really beautiful. So this is the style people liked back then."
After Jiang Cai'Er finished, Li Xinyue energetically offered up a few songs of her own. But everything about them—the lyrics, the musical style, the vocal technique, the breath control—was completely different from the old songs of the past.
This was especially true now, in an era where both the Extraordinary and technology blossomed. Li Xiang had made the Breathing Technique public, so almost everyone knew a little. Many songs incorporated the Breathing Technique into their vocalizations, and new pronunciation techniques and singing styles were emerging one after another. Each generation was indeed stronger than the last.
Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, Lei Xiaohui, Lei Jiaming, and the others also went back to look at their own ancestral homes.
With the Artificial Little Sun in place and Li Xiang as the Master of Earth, many people were genuinely considering whether to move back.
Most, however, were unwilling to move. The Underground City was warmer, more livable, and had complete supporting infrastructure: shopping, healthcare, education, leisure, entertainment... It had everything one could want, all filled with high technology.
Returning to the surface meant a desolate countryside, while the Underground City was the most developed city on the entire planet, a vibrant and bustling metropolis.
In the end, everyone had their own ideas; to each their own. Li Xiang didn't force the issue. 'Living underground is actually pretty good, too,' he thought.
Videos of Li Family Village regaining its former glory were posted online by some of the villagers. Netizens across the globe were amazed, envious, and excited, strongly demanding that Li God provide more Artificial Little Suns to help everyone rebuild their homes on the surface.
[Netizen from Central Plains Province]
"Li God's move is insane! We can plant wheat on the surface now! When can we folks from the Yellow River Old Channel get an Artificial Little Sun? Begging you to make us a priority test site!"