Chapter 1056: Lantern Festival (3)
Chapter 1056: Lantern Festival (3)
One area lit up after another across the Cathayan Underworld, like body parts of the giant dragon awakening one by one.
In
contrast with the lighting facilities in the mortal realm, the light
show of the Cathayan Underworld was still quite lackluster.
Lights
hadn"t even been set up in every area. In order to give all of the
netherworldly citizens a surprise, Hell had only set up lights in all of
the nonresidential buildings and the street lamps.
However, these lights were more than enough to ignite the fire in the hearts of all of the netherworldly citizens.
They were welcoming the arrival of the new era in person!
Across
countless cities, counties, and villages, everyone was cheering with
all their might, overcome by an unprecedented sense of joy at the
monumental achievement that their nation had accomplished ahead of the
rest of the world.
All of the officials of the hundreds of cities across the nation were able to bear witness to this breathtaking scene.
They
saw their cities light up in rings from the center until they were
entirely basked in golden radiance, and it was impossible to describe
the emotions that they were feeling at this moment.
A governor had
a hand clasped over his own chest, and even though there was no heart
in his chest cavity, he felt as if something were thumping violently in
there, threatening to leap out of his body at any moment to join in on
the nationwide celebrations.
This was the deep-rooted patriotic pride that had been ingrained into every single fiber of his being.
It was the pride of seeing his motherland rise up once again after remaining dormant for over a century.
These
officials of the Cathayan Underworld"s cities were more refined and
restrained, so they weren"t going to completely lose their composure
like normal netherworldly citizens. However, all of them extended a bow
toward Everburn in unison, and their bodies were trembling
uncontrollably as they did so.
………………………………………………..
Meanwhile,
the long energy resource battle waged by all of the major power
stations across the nation was also drawing to a conclusion.
In
the Reincarnation Power Station of Westriver Province, all of the Yin
spirits present were unconsciously seated bolt upright with their entire
bodies tensed up in anticipation. They wanted to scream, to shout, but
they repressed those overwhelming urges as they stared intently at the
screen, particularly at the number that was constantly jumping up
further and further in the top left corner.
"We"re at two hundred
million kW/m!" The eyes of the researcher operating the equipment were
about to bulge out of their sockets as they stared at the screen with
slack-jawed expressions. Many Yin spirits had already piled around the
monitor, witnessing this historic moment with him. He couldn"t help but
read out the number as it continued to jump up. "278 million... 279
million... 280 million! We"re only twenty million away from our goal of
three hundred million!"
To put this into context, a comparison
could be drawn to the province of Jiangsu in the mortal realm. In 2018,
Jiangsu Province had used a total of six hundred billion kilowatt hours
of electricity, which meant that six hundred billion units of
electricity had to be produced per hour, equating to roughly ten billion
units per minute.
At this point, the new energy resource of Hell was only being used for lighting purposes.
Aside from that, there was no infrastructure that required electricity.
Furthermore,
the current population of the Cathayan Underworld was only around a
seventh of the mortal realm"s population. In order to satisfy the future
electricity demands of a population of this size, a minimum rate of
three hundred million kW/m would have to be reached, equating to
eighteen billion kilowatt hours.
The Yin spirits gathered around
the screen were the last group of people in the Cathayan Underworld who
were still yet to erupt into celebration. Only after their target was
reached could this night truly be called a success.
At this point, the number on the screen had already reached the home stretch.
As
the number on the upper left corner continued to jump up incessantly,
90% of the map on the screen had already turned green, with only a final
small section left untouched.
Everyone was breathing extremely
heavily as they crowded around the screen, praying with all their might
that their target could be reached.
Finally, the final city of Westriver Province began to take on a hint of green.
The green color slowly spread, and once this city turned green, the entire map of the nation would be fully converted!
All of a sudden, a clear ringing sound rang out.
All
of the Yin spirits in front of the screen instantly rose to their feet,
and after a brief moment of silence, a burst of thunderous cheers
instantly rang out.
"We did it! We reached three hundred million kW/m!"
"I
can"t believe this! I thought it would be impossible to complete this
project in such a short timeframe, but we really did it!!"
"Only now can we truly say that the new energy resource of our Cathayan Underworld is on the right track!"
"Everyone, let this be the first of many successes to come!"
From
this moment forth, there was no longer any cause to be concerned
whether the nation was only going to be illuminated for one night before
falling into darkness again. With the completion of this goal, the new
energy resource was here to stay!
Amid the deafening cheers, an
elderly Yin spirit with a head of white hair picked up a microphone with
trembling hands, then cleared his throat before declaring, "All units
of Westriver Province have been activated, achieving an output of
eighteen billion kilowatt-hours! We"ve fulfilled our target to
perfection!"
His voice was enveloped in Yin energy, transforming
into a discreet speck of silver light that flew up into the sky before
flying directly toward the Bohai Sea.
Unbeknownst to him, hundreds
of other specks of silver light were also rising up from all over the
nation before converging toward the Heavenly Pillar City!
………………………………………………..
Bohai Sea, Kraken Fortress.
The
Heavenly Pillar City had also become a bustling hub of activity, there
were countless construction workers here, but none of them could see
what was happening above the clouds.
On the top floor of the tall
pagoda, Perkins was so stunned that he had already collapsed to the
ground, leaning against the railing as he looked on with a slack-jawed
expression.
The countless lights down below had completely
illuminated the clouds, and he could imagine just how spectacular and
vibrant the scene beneath the clouds would be.
He couldn"t see
that, but what he could see were the four surrounding pagodas. Just now,
golden light had appeared on the pagodas floor after floor, presenting
an indescribably breathtaking sight to behold.
At this point, the
four pagodas had already transformed into four dazzling golden mountains
that had illuminated even the heavens into a bright golden color.
Amid
the golden radiance, Perkins slowly raised a hand in an awestruck
gesture. This was the first time after his death that he had been able
to see the world at night in full color.
The sky was no longer a dreary gray color. Instead, it was bright blue like a vast sapphire.
Only now did he realize that the underworld at night was every bit as spectacular as the mortal realm.
His hand fell limply back down again as he leaned against the railing.
He
had noticed what appeared to be electric wires earlier, so he was
already mentally prepared for this, but what about the rest of the
world?
Once the international trade conference began, all of the
world"s leaders were going to come to the Cathayan Underworld,
completely unprepared for this bombshell!
He could already
envision the unstoppable wheel of history crushing all those in its path
who didn"t manage to get out of the way in time, and now that the wheel
had been set into motion, there was no going back!
Finally, he
opened his eyes as he recovered some semblance of composure. He
struggled to his feet, relying heavily on the railing for support, and
his legs were still trembling as he dusted off his own suit and said, "I
am a neutral party in all of this, but Yanluo Qin, have you thought
about the repercussions of all of this? In the face of the new energy
resource, all of the world"s old rules will be shattered, and the state
of the entire world will be massively shaken up. The Cathayan Underworld
will be the only party to benefit from this! In the wake of such
massive changes, some smaller underworlds may go bankrupt, and we could
even witness the emergence of a fifth pillar! None of that is beneficial
to the world in any way! Esteemed Yanluo Qin, I ask that you give the
rest of the world sufficient time to prepare and adjust. Otherwise, if
the global economy receives such a massive shock, there"s a very good
chance we could see the emergence of widespread financial crises!"
"So what?" Zhao Yun asked as he took a sip of his wine with a nonchalant smile.
"What exactly is it that you"re trying to achieve?!"
Qin
Ye leaned back in his chair in a relaxed manner, and his voice was very
calm, but his words were as sharp as a blade. "It"s time for a dominant
force to appear in this world."
Perkins"s pupils contracted
drastically upon hearing this, and he reflexively brought his palms
together to pray to the gods above.
Whoever is up there, cast your
omniscient gaze upon this demon! He"s going to build the glory of the
Cathayan Underworld upon the demise of other underworlds! Why are you
not punishing him?!
The entire world was still under the
impression that the third King Yanluo was a reasonable individual who
played by the rules, but in reality, he was even more ruthless and
terrifying than his two predecessors!
Perkins was even beginning
to pray that something could go wrong so that the Cathayan Underworld"s
research and development would be delayed by another four to five years,
thereby giving the rest of the world time to prepare. Otherwise, he
didn"t even dare to imagine the bloodbath that would unfold during the
international trade conference!
However, as soon as this thought
began to take shape in his mind, countless specks of silver light
suddenly converged from all directions before forming a series of light
screens in mid-air. The screens depicted the faces of countless
scientists who were excited beyond belief, and all of them were yelling
at the top of their lungs.
"All units of Westriver Province have
been activated, achieving an output of eighteen billion kilowatt hours!
We"ve fulfilled our target to perfection!"
"All units of Wanjiang
Province have been activated, achieving an output of twenty billion
kilowatt hours! We"ve fulfilled our target to perfection!
"All
units of Everburn have been activated, achieving an output of fifteen
billion kilowatt hours! We"ve fulfilled our target to perfection!
"All
units of Ashmound Province have been activated, achieving an output of
thirteen billion kilowatt hours! We"ve fulfilled our target to
perfection!
There were hundreds of these screens in total, and
Perkins could practically hear the old era crumbling away while the new
era arose from its remains.
The new era had arrived, after all.
"You"re making an enemy out of the entire world!" he exclaimed in a horrified voice.
"No,
we"re trading with the entire world," Qin Ye countered. "The GTO is the
organization that is most well versed with all of the economic changes
taking place worldwide, which side are you going to take?"
"We..."
"Don"t
be in such a hurry to reply," Qin Ye interjected. "The world doesn"t
need anyone to survive. A world trade organization is necessary, but it
doesn"t have to be called the GTO. Perhaps it can instead be known as...
the Pan-Asian Trade Organization. The entire world will trade with our
Cathayan Underworld, and we"ll withdraw from the GTO to found the
Pan-Asian Trade Organization. What do you think of that? Of course, if
you"re willing to agree, then the Cathayan Underworld will invest large
sums of money each year to support your organization. Or, are you afraid
that we won"t have the money to invest?"
Perkins opened his mouth before closing it several times in succession.
His
soul was trembling violently, and he knew that the biggest advantage
that the Cathayan Underworld currently held was its isolated status from
the rest of the world. As a result of this, no one was aware that they
had already developed the new energy resource and had already moved on
to constructing ancillary facilities! They were digging a massive pit
for the three pillars to fall into!
However, the biggest
disadvantage that they had was also their isolated status, which made
them unaware of what was going on in the rest of the world.
Thus,
they needed an informant in the outside world. With ancillary facilities
already being constructed for the new energy resource, it was clear to
Perkins that a currency war was going to follow.
With the
assistance of the GTO, the Cathayan Underworld would be in an even
better position. Looking at things now, he simply couldn"t envision a
future where the Cathayan Underworld could possibly lose, and if they
did achieve victory, then would there be any need for the GTO to
continue to exist?
Would the center of the entire world not shift to eastern Asia? If that were to happen, what would become of the GTO?
After making sense of all of this, he cast a complex gaze toward Qin Ye"s outstretched hand.
30 seconds later, he finally reached out to shake Qin Ye"s hand with his own hand.
"Please remember your promise, Yanluo Qin."