Chapter 370 - 268 Laying the Foundation
Of course, Chen Xin is not an irresponsible person, but given the current situation, he really can’t make any promises to Mo Qingyan.
In fact, no promises are needed between him and Mo Qingyan. What he needs to offer Mo Qingyan is merely emotional recognition and a change of relationship, from their original good friends to a romantic couple.
As for what’s truly important, it’s still how he plans to manage his relationship with the two women in the future.
Chen Xin has never experienced dating two girls at the same time, nor had he ever imagined he’d be sharing a bed with both Qin Lan and Mo Qingyan.
This leaves him somewhat at a loss with the new dynamic among the three of them.
So after saying some comforting words to Mo Qingyan and agreeing to some unequal treaties from Qin Lan, Chen Xin fled his RV in a slightly embarrassed manner and returned to the construction site.
Though Qin Lan and Mo Qingyan couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed by Chen Xin’s escape, as no woman would want the man to run off on the first day of confirming a relationship.
However, both expressed understanding generously, willing to give Chen Xin, and also themselves, some time to adapt to the change in their three-way relationship.
To be honest, Qin Lan and Mo Qingyan indeed also need time to adapt to the changes in their relationship.
After all, even if Qin Lan had already come to an agreement with Mo Qingyan, their relationship had always been good, but neither Chen Xin, Qin Lan, nor Mo Qingyan had ever imagined their relationship turning out this way.
So not only does Chen Xin need time to adapt and adjust, but they do as well.
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Back at the construction site, Chen Xin quickly refocused his energy on his work. Although he had just experienced changes that greatly impacted his life, his work still required his serious attention.
The workers who had gone home for the New Year holiday had returned to the site early in the morning, brimming with energy for work.
Chen Xin donned his Power Armor and went down to the bottom of the snow pit, where he saw the workers demolishing the exposed cement on the ground in preparation for laying the foundation of the heating hub.
The entire heating hub is over ten meters high, roughly equivalent to four or five floors, and inside, a complete set of evaporative cooling systems had to be installed, making the completed heating hub look like a standing iron tower.
Of course, the heating hub is now just a pile of unassembled parts, requiring workers to assemble piece by piece after the foundation has been laid.
Down in the snow pit, Chen Xin observed the workers using a pneumatic pick to break the cement on the ground, but it was ineffective, and the work progress was unsatisfactory.
Chen Xin had anticipated this situation. After all, at temperatures several degrees below zero, the cold had made the ground rock-hard, and even the snow that had turned into ice next to it was as hard as granite. Trying to punch through the already hard cement to create a hole large enough for the heating hub’s foundation was not an easy task.
However, Chen Xin obviously wouldn’t just watch the workers wasting time and effort slowly chiseling the floor. With the Power Armor, Chen Xin could easily break through the cement and make holes that met the design specifications.
"Step aside, let me handle this." Chen Xin said to the workers, stopping their work and moving aside. Only then did he squatted down, directing the mechanical arm at the spot where the workers had tried to demolish with the pneumatic pick.
The area just struck by the workers with the pneumatic pick only left a few white points on the ground, showing no signs of cracking.
Clearly, the freezing cold made the already sturdy cement even more robust and challenging to break through.
But this was no obstacle for Chen Xin’s mechanical arm. With the various tools on the mechanical arm working together, Chen Xin soon cut out a chunk of cement from the ground.
Though the cement was extremely hard and couldn’t be shattered by the pneumatic pick, it couldn’t withstand the cutting machine.
Cutting through the cement didn’t mean the work became any easier, only relatively less difficult.
Beneath the cement lay rubble and soil, materials used for the plaza’s past construction foundation, compacted by a roller ensuring the ground was level while pressing the soil and stones more tightly.
If it were just like this, letting the worker dig with hoes would finish the job, but the cold temperatures had turned the soil into frozen ground, not something that could be casually dug out by manpower.
In fact, Chen Xin let the workers give it a try, and even with the pneumatic pick, all they could do was chip a small dent in the frozen rubble, which wasn’t entirely useless, but creating the required foundation using just the pneumatic pick would take a very long time.
Faced with this situation, Chen Xin could only continue swinging his mechanical arm.
Thus, under the astonished gazes of the workers, Chen Xin’s mechanical arm created the entire foundation required for the heating hub construction on the ground with nearly ten times their efficiency.
"Alright, the foundation is done. The subsequent construction is in your hands now." Chen Xin stood up, feeling a bit sore in his waist, then told the workers to continue their work as he climbed out of the snow pit.
The workers were amazed at the efficiency of Chen Xin’s Power Armor, but they could only envy it, as they still had to continue their tasks using their diligent hands.
The main support columns of the heating hub were buried in the bases that had just been dug according to the markings on Chen Xin’s blueprint, assembling the other supporting components to secure the main columns and maintain horizontal and vertical positions, only then did they start pouring the cement into the foundations.
The cement the workers used wasn’t just ordinary past cement; while it could be used, it required temperatures above zero, which Chen Xin and the team currently lacked.
Therefore, they used anti-freezing cement mixed with Antifreeze and a Water Reducing Agent, ensuring the cement wouldn’t freeze rapidly due to water content, preventing cavities from forming within.
These workers were skilled, so there were no issues at this stage. All the support columns were successfully finished cementing according to construction requirements.
Furthermore, due to the cold weather, the cement soon became as hard as stone, firmly securing the heating hub’s support columns to the ground.