DBMEP CH88

Chapter 88: The Great Infrastructure Plan. 

Selling it to Immortality Tech wasn’t actually Xiang Nanli showing favoritism to the “biological son” he was raising for an “adoptive father.”

Immortality Tech offered the highest price. Moreover, once the other companies realized the big boss had bought it, no matter how disgruntled they felt, they would ultimately have to back down.

The price of sixty million was also very fitting.

Any more, and Xiang Nanli worried they might forgo commercial cooperation entirely, deciding it would be easier to just rob and silence him.

Immortality Tech’s efficiency was incredibly high: the contract was signed in the morning, and the money was transferred in the afternoon.

The formula was handed over in the evening.

Xiang Nanli provided an address: a paid locker at a surface transport station in Gusu City.

Inside was a glass vial containing fungal matter Beichen had sliced off the Mother he had cultivated himself. The active ingredients extracted after cultivation were the most crucial raw materials for the inhibitor.

Upon retrieving it, the security team delivered it immediately to Liszt’s laboratory. Two hours later, Liszt replied with a single word: “Received.”

This indicated he acknowledged the economic viability of this fungal strain.

As for how they operated afterward, that was beyond Xiang Nanli’s concern.

Survivor Base: Understood, dear. Feel free to contact us anytime if you have further needs~

After a moment’s thought, Xiang Nanli added another sentence: You will make sure the people who need the inhibitor can afford it, right?

Liszt: You’re only considering this now?

Liszt: Yes.

Only then did Xiang Nanli have Xiao Zhi disconnect from the network.

To connect to the internet on the surface, one had to go to a place with decent signal and purchase specialized surface data, which was unimaginably expensive.

Xiang Nanli walked back from the mountaintop in the dark, muttering to himself: “Sixty million. After paying corporate income tax, we only get a little over fifty million in hand. The Human Alliance is so stingy.”

The Human Alliance had long since eliminated the concept of physical cash. Every transaction was recorded, and taxes were automatically deducted. A single credit point could be traced back through several generations of users. Evading even 0.1 credit points in taxes was an absolute impossibility.

[Alright, hurry up and come back.] Xiao Qing urged.

Xiang Nanli readily agreed, but his rickety bicycle made a turn and headed toward the pasture instead.

The season had turned to autumn, and it had recently started snowing. The sky also grew dark much earlier.

Xiang Nanli turned on a streetlamp. The bulb hanging from the wooden pole lit up, emitting a harsh, stark white light.

Sure enough, the cows in the pasture had been gnawed to pieces again. With the recent drop in temperature, the regeneration speed of the mycelium had noticeably slowed down. Ezekiel would occasionally take the smaller Mutants out to hunt in the surrounding areas.

Consequently, the Eternal City’s originally stable environment became even more stable. In past autumns, various Mutants—such as man-eating monkeys, deer, or blind bears—would often attack the city. Now, not even a single footprint of a Mutant could be seen. Though, there were certainly a lot more bones in the forest.

Mutants could scavenge and eat carrion. With the recent low temperatures slowing decomposition, a single hunt allowed the Mutants to stay indoors for seven or eight days.

Xiang Nanli wrote a letter detailing the pasture’s situation and sent it to Beichen. The small transport drone had flown out several days ago, but he still hadn’t received a reply.

Xiang Nanli parked his bicycle by the edge of the pasture and pulled a beef patty wrapped in oil paper from the insulated box on the back. After unwrapping it, he tossed it into mid-air and called out: “Ezekiel.”

A blur flashed past, and the beef patty vanished from mid-air. The next second, Ezekiel landed nimbly on the electrified fence at the edge of the pasture.

This fence was electrified with high voltage; even getting close to it posed a risk of being shocked.

His scale-covered hands and feet landed on the wire. Aside from slightly bending the wire, he showed absolutely no reaction.

With the beef patty in his mouth, Ezekiel swallowed it whole in two or three bites. His blood-red eyes stared fixedly at Xiang Nanli, his demeanor far from docile.

Beef patties were not on the cafeteria’s menu. One beef patty cost two work point vouchers. The crust was thin, the meat filling was thick and bursting with juice, and it was seasoned with wild onions and black pepper—spices rarely seen on the surface. It smelled incredible.

Xiang Nanli’s base salary was three work point vouchers a day, all of which he used to feed himself.

So, to buy this beef patty, he was actually using Xiao Qing’s salary!

Xiao Zhi spoke faintly: [You’re using Dongfang Qingdi’s salary to raise Ezekiel again.]

Xiang Nanli felt this statement sounded incredibly weird.

However, Xiang Nanli quickly replied: “Xiao Zhi, remember to secretly delete this piece of data. Don’t let Xiao Qing find out.”

Xiao Zhi: [Hehe, understood.]

Although it wouldn’t matter even if Xiao Qing found out, he still felt a bit embarrassed.

When buying the stuff, Xiang Nanli hadn’t consulted Dongfang Qingdi. Xiao Qing probably thought he was just earning money to support his “wife.”

But Xiao Qing was the one who voluntarily handed over his salary! Besides, Xiao Qing didn’t even eat human food, only consuming some sort of biological energy…

Looking at Ezekiel, whose mouth was covered in grease, Xiang Nanli fell into deep thought: Does this count as Xiao Qing’s biological energy?

Xiang Nanli didn’t come every day. It was an hour’s drive from Eternal City, and coming daily was a massive waste of time.

Ezekiel wasn’t here every day either. Xiang Nanli had hammered a nail into a nearby tree; when Ezekiel wasn’t around, he would hang the patty on the tree.

Xiang Nanli believed it was highly necessary to maintain a good relationship with Ezekiel.

Eternal City was previously the Divine Court’s territory. The Divine Court could send people over at any moment. This group of Mutants was Eternal City’s first line of defense.

Xiang Nanli then pulled a bundle of cloth from his bicycle trunk and tossed it over.

Ezekiel caught it and unwrapped the cloth strips. Inside were a toothbrush, a comb, and a steel wool scrubber used for washing dishes in the cafeteria.

Xiang Nanli gestured to him: “Toothbrush, for rinsing your mouth. Comb, for combing your hair. The last one is for bathing.”

Xiang Nanli had read in a biology book that Crawlers shed their dead skin in the autumn and grew new scales in the winter. These new scales made them more competitive in the spring and summer, whether for courtship or hunting.

Mutants had thick, rough skin; washing with a regular bath sponge wouldn’t even register to them. A steel wool scrubber worked much better. It would help the brittle scales fall off faster, making way for new ones to grow.

Having finished feeding the wild animal, Xiang Nanli waved and hopped onto his bicycle: “I’m heading home for now. I’ll come see you next time. By the way, want to come have fun at the Harvest Festival? If you come, I’ll have the kitchen prepare some food for you guys.”

Ezekiel let out a breath from his nasal cavity—it was impossible to tell if it was an “Mm” or a “Hmph.”

With his large tail held high, he crawled away along the power lines.

Xiang Nanli rode his bicycle back to Eternal City.

Most areas of the city were pitch-black; at most, an oil lamp flickered in front of a door. But the area around the school was brightly lit.

He entered the city. By the roadside, covered in the first snow, stood a signal tower nearing completion. Even in the dead of night, several young faces were working diligently under the light of flashlights.

The batch of college students Yi Hengxing sent over was of excellent quality. There were five in total, all from their university’s “Investigation Club,” maintaining good relations with the Investigation Bureau. They were essentially reservists for the investigators of various cities.

Moreover, in this era, anyone who could make it all the way to university not only had to have excellent grades but also couldn’t come from a poor family.

The Human Alliance only provided 5 years of compulsory education.

Xiang Nanli had flipped through the Human Alliance’s textbooks; the educational value of their compulsory education was roughly equivalent to the level of a first-year junior high student during his own school days back in his home country.

If one wanted to attend middle school or university afterward, the tuition fees for every single year were astronomically high. Only the very top tier of students could secure scholarships, and tuition was often paid on a monthly basis.

The only comforting aspect was that because degrees were not inflated—maintaining strict entry and strict exit requirements—even a middle school graduate could find a decent job underground.

Eternal City provided food and housing, but material conditions remained quite scarce.

To Xiang Nanli’s absolute surprise, this group of students actually voluntarily applied to construct a signal tower, likely treating it as some sort of social practice assignment. Of course, while labor was free, the material costs were still covered by Eternal City.

But in reality, the inner thoughts of these college students were more along the lines of: “…A three-month teaching assignment without even being able to get online? I want to die.”

During the day, they prepared lessons, helped Eternal City repair base stations, and occasionally formed groups to conduct surface field trips nearby.

At night, they taught. After dinner, they taught continuously from 6:00 PM to midnight. Their courses covered Human Alliance language, mathematics, physics, general studies, mechanical repair, and more.

Xiang Nanli parked his bike and called out a greeting: “Xiao Wang, Xiao Zhou! Look at the time, and it’s freezing outside. Head back to the dorms for now and continue building tomorrow.”

Xiao Wang shook his head solemnly: “I can’t, Teacher Xiang. I haven’t logged into my game for fifteen days. If I don’t log in soon, my guild is going to kick me. Don’t worry about it. I must get this city connected to the internet tonight.”

Xiao Zhou: “I’m very interested in building a functional signal tower using scrap materials on the surface. When I return to school, this can be converted into credits and serve as supporting evidence for my graduation thesis. It might even help me secure an internship at Immortality Tech.”

Xiang Nanli felt they were all very ambitious.

It’s a pity such excellent laborers can only be used for three months.

Seeing the base developing so vibrantly, Xiang Nanli felt deeply gratified.

Finally, his bicycle arrived downstairs at the municipal building.

Xiang Nanli parked his bike and went straight to the conference room on the third floor.

He pushed open the door. Expressionless, Xiao Qing draped a down jacket over Xiang Nanli’s shoulders, casually brushing away the snow from the crown of his head.

“It’s actually not cold,” Xiang Nanli whispered, pulling the down jacket tighter around himself.

His body had been enhanced by Gene Serum; this level of cold wouldn’t kill him.

Dongfang Qingdi merely replied: “Be careful not to catch a cold. The city lacks medicine.”

Comrade Haili, who was also in the conference room, inexplicably felt she had just been force-fed a mouthful of dog food.

A line of text was displayed on the screen in the conference room: “Eternal City First Three-Year Development Plan Meeting.”

The attendees were Xiang Nanli, Dongfang Qingdi, Andrew, Gospel, and Haili.

After Andrew returned to the base, Haili would take over his duties in Eternal City.

She and her husband were both selected for the first batch of the base’s member directory.

Gospel’s current physical size was massive, so it attended via remote connection. Its seat in the room only held a computer.

This was Haili’s first time attending such a formal meeting, and her expression was incredibly nervous. She only knew how to execute orders, rarely making decisions, constantly fearing she wouldn’t do a good enough job.

Xiang Nanli took his seat and smiled: “Sorry to keep you waiting. The base’s financial subsidy to Eternal City for the coming year is thirty million. Once the communication network between the two locations is established, we can coordinate and allocate funds centrally.”

Although they had netted fifty million from Immortality Tech this time, the base itself also needed to develop.

Technology is the primary productive force. Xiang Nanli planned to allocate 5 million as an active reserve fund for the laboratory’s development.

Another 5 million would be set aside as capital for a comeback in case their rebellion failed.

Of the remaining forty million, Eternal City had a large population, so it received thirty million. The base had a small population and hadn’t really begun construction, so it received ten million.

As for tax revenue, they couldn’t count on it yet. Eternal City hadn’t even implemented its own currency, so taxes could only be collected in the form of physical goods. As for the base’s own currency, Xiang Nanli planned to consider it only after power was established.

Although he had divided it in great detail, for now, all this money was still sitting securely in Xiang Nanli’s account.

“Currently, the most urgent matter is infrastructure. Eternal City lacks energy and electricity. The main city district of the base has a geothermal power plant with an abundance of electrical energy. We need to accelerate the construction of the power transmission network between the two locations. I consulted Yi Hengxing regarding this; there are Human Alliance subsidies available for surface power grid construction that we can apply for. One option is a traditional ultra-high voltage power grid, and the other is a high-energy particle power grid.”

Given the sunlight conditions at Eternal City’s latitude, solar power was completely out of the question. There were also no significant water or wind energy sources nearby.

“The latter offers high safety, low construction costs, and low energy loss, but particle power transmission easily disrupts magnetic fields. So, let’s stick with traditional high-voltage electricity.”

Xiang Nanli spoke at a measured pace, his pronunciation of the Human Alliance language very standard, making him pleasant to listen to.

Gospel silently recorded the meeting minutes: “September 30, New Calendar Year 947. The base held its first Three-Year Development Meeting. During the meeting, Base Chief Xiang Nanli proposed accelerating the construction of infrastructure between Eternal City and the base to meet the material needs of the people’s lives. Upon the successful construction of the power grid, the base will further develop light industry, utilizing its technological advantages to form a trade surplus with surrounding surface settlements, thereby promoting the prosperity and development of the base.”

“The Base’s second-in-command, Dongfang Qingdi, pointed out that food security is also an indispensable part of urban development. It is necessary to construct municipal highways or arrange for aerial transport to ensure the food supply for the base’s main city district.”

“Historically known as the ‘Great Infrastructure Plan.'”