Chapter 130: Chapter 130: Miracle Arrives!
“Has the cultivator team I requested arrived yet?” Ni Hong’s tone involuntarily became somewhat hurried.
Transcendents were not only useful in battles but could equally exert powerful effects in construction.
Especially in more delicate works, their efficiency was very high.
“Not yet; they are expected to arrive in half an hour. However, forty of the Chosen Ones with relevant Talents have arrived,” the secretary team quickly said, “and there will be five hundred new devices arriving in fifteen minutes.”
“Don’t let the Chosen Ones come to see me. Send them directly to the construction site and have someone instruct them on what to do. Also, after the new devices arrive, add twenty more sites!” Ni Hong said rapidly, “How many more people do we have?”
“Two hundred and fifty thousand people, and the number is still increasing, with many locally registering.”
“Have them deploy the new concrete and carry out the excavation work simultaneously, and tell the transport department to increase the shipment of equipment and construction materials next, with a temporary halt on personnel!”
“Understood!”
“What about the shield tunneling machines, the large ones!”
“Shield tunneling machines worldwide are undergoing comprehensive optimization. Some that have already been optimized are on tomorrow’s shipping list; do you need them sooner?”
“Sooner! I want to see at least two before nightfall! Has my most important application been responded to yet?”
“Not yet.”
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Ni Hong loosened his collar. Staring intensely at various data, he was sweating profusely on his forehead despite the extremely cold weather.
Although he had proposed the project and taken on the task himself, it wasn’t until he actually sat here and stepped onto the battlefield that he could feel this immense pressure.
Indeed, he had done everything within his ability, mobilized all the power he could muster, and had received unprecedented support.
Yet, it still wasn’t enough, far from enough!
This mission was drastically different from his past work.
In the past, no matter how rushed the schedule or immense the pressure, they would first design everything, calculate all problems, plan the entire project, and then proceed step by step according to the plan.
But now.
The construction site could only be determined once the first wave of disasters was confirmed, design drawings could only be continuously improved while work commenced, and even the initial work had to be roughly decided based on simple site surveys, relying on his experience and intuition.
It was as if he was blindly rushing forward without care!
It also felt like a meaningless struggle on the verge of death.
With no confidence, no assurance, and although they had far more advanced equipment and building materials than before, everyone, including himself, still had no certainty of success.
No, to be precise, given the current situation, it was destined to fail!
However, this was all expected.
Ni Hong and everyone knew that to win this war, it took not only the all-out effort of countless people but also a miracle!
And the only one who could bring about a miracle was one person!
What sustained Ni Hong in persisting with this seemingly impossible task was Shen Hao, or rather, the goods and technologies from the higher-level stores within the Chosen One Mall!
He could strive to concentrate the power of all, pushing human efforts to the limit, but he also staked this miracle upon Shen Hao!
Time passed by little by little, with a continuous stream of transport aircraft arriving, more and more people were thrown into the “battlefield,” and Ni Hong constantly calculated the estimated time needed.
From the initial two years, with the increasing number and efficiency, it reduced to nine months, then eight months, seven months, six months…
By the time almost four hundred thousand people were involved.
Four months!
To construct a framework for an underground city that could accommodate five hundred thousand people working simultaneously in a blizzard, in four months was the limit that the existing equipment, personnel, and technology could achieve!
Indeed, just this estimated time was considered an incredible miracle by everyone!
Yet, it was still far too insufficient!
“Give it up, Engineer Ni.” Ni Hong’s most steadfast colleague, now succumbed to immense despair, “Those people were right, this is simply an impossible plan. We need to build thousands! Even if we double the efficiency, we can’t rely on this to save humanity. People will die struggling before they even reach the safe underground cities!”
To double it was already their greatest expectation for a “miracle.”
“There must still be a way!” Ni Hong stared persistently at the blueprints.
Others also debated increasingly under a cloud of pessimism.
“We’ll find geologically more suitable locations.”
“The surveys simply can’t keep up, there’s too little time!”
“Then replace all the workers with cultivators above Level 5!”
“How could there possibly be so many cultivators? Having a Level 3 is already ahead of the vast majority, and the Undead Battlefield cannot be neglected, we need cultivators all over the world.”
“Equipment! There must be better equipment!”
“President Shen Hao hasn’t responded yet!”
“What else can we do? Now go and tell those who’ve worked hard all day that we can’t do it, that we’re giving up and tell them to go back and pray under the threat of a blizzard?”
“Switch to other projects…”
“The Underground City Project is the safest, most reliable one! Haven’t you seen the report? The Sun will extinguish, the entire surface of the earth might enter a sub-zero environment reaching minus one hundred and fifty degrees or even lower! Do you think our only enemy is the blizzard?”
“…”
Towards the end, it couldn’t even be considered a debate anymore, it was more about venting, the problems kept increasing, but the solutions were dwindling, everyone could feel a deep, overwhelming despair.
As some people said, the Underground City Project is undoubtedly the most likely to pass the Civilization Trial.
The failure of this project means that human civilization can only gamble, bet that surface projects will succeed, bet on the leniency of the Civilization Trial, bet that the climate change won’t be as severe as the worst-case scenario!
Even places like the Pocket World Blessed Land and Magic Secret Realm cannot guarantee that they won’t be overwhelmed by the extreme climate brought about by the Eternal Night Ice River, and at most, they could only accommodate four to five hundred million people.
By then, billions of undead growing wildly outside, even the Pocket World Blessed Land would be a death trap!
“Stop arguing!”
Engineer Ni suddenly slammed the table hard, raising his head, his eyes red with bloodshot, filled with ferocity.
This made him look not like a scholar, an engineer, but rather like a warrior!
“The workers on the front line are still putting their all in a minus five-degree environment, and you’re here quarreling! Quarreling about what?” He stared intensely at everyone, “We were blindly charging forward from the start, and now, barely opening our eyes to see the difficulties, you want to stop charging? Then what did you come here for? To shout about giving up?”
No one made a sound, some people lowered their heads.
Because Engineer Ni was right.
These problems, weren’t sudden, they could have been foreseen from the beginning.
Only now, actually standing here, truly facing all this, especially facing those people struggling valiantly with hope and passion, they were still timid, they flinched.
“We have seven days left, seven days, which might not change anything for us, but for President Shen Hao, everything is possible!” Engineer Ni stared once more at the blueprints in front of him, “Let’s do our jobs well, there must still be a way to save some more time, even if we really have to give up in the end, it’s not up to us to decide! Unless we ultimately fail, or President Shen Hao decides to give up this project, everyone must stay on the frontlines, no one is allowed to take a single step back!”
Everyone looked at each other, clenched their teeth, and began to resume their work.
Drawing blueprints, calculating load capacity, allocating equipment and personnel, conducting onsite surveys and recordings…
Even if all of this felt like children building sandcastles on the beach, chaotic, ridiculous, and incredibly fragile, always at risk of being washed away by the waves, they had to give their all, and with hundreds of thousands of people, turn it into a real fortress!
Just as everyone’s morale was rising again, a voice suddenly appeared among them.
“I was worried you would give up on your own. This does seem to be quite spirited.”
Engineer Ni abruptly lifted his head, the rest of the people also paused in their actions, their eyes shaking, some even in disbelief, looking at Shen Hao who had suddenly appeared in the middle.
Some of the engineers who were over fifty years of age even had red-rimmed eyes at that moment.
He had finally arrived!
This figure, at this moment, was not just a person, but the miracle they all had been longing for, the hope of all present!
Even Engineer Ni, who had just been chastising everyone and reinvigorating morale, was also so excited that he was trembling.
It can be said.
Shen Hao’s presence was the only chance for this project!
However, Engineer Ni still remembered his responsibility as the project manager, forced himself to calm his emotions, and strode forward, “You’ve finally arrived.”
“Yes.” Shen Hao noticed some people’s tense faces and even managed a slight smile, “Don’t worry, it’s not to announce the project’s failure. I’ve seen your applications; in fact, I’ve brought some good news—the Level 16 Mall has just opened.”
Upon these words, Engineer Ni’s steps even abruptly stopped in place, his facial expression turning incredibly vivid.
It was a mix of ecstasy, excitement, incredulity, and more.
Not just for him, some in the surroundings who knew some details felt the same!
Because, the Level 16 Mall was the “miracle” everyone had been awaiting!
The store level of Shen Hao’s Mall was no secret, with numerous White Level 15 items already distributed across the globe in the past three months, and most people could foresee the enormous demands from White Level 15 to Level 16.
No one would have thought that it would reach Level 16 so quickly!