189: Chapter 189 Trade routes between two worlds are opened, and the Dragon Kingdom takes off.

Tianhai City, Monday morning rush hour.

Old Man Li went to pay his electricity bill as usual. He gripped the pension he had just received, calculating that since he'd turned on the floor heating this month, he'd probably have to bleed money—at least eight hundred to a thousand yuan.

"Beep—"

The self-service payment machine spat out a light little receipt.

Old Man Li glanced at it nonchalantly, and then his whole body froze. He rubbed his presbyopic eyes, thinking he had misread the decimal point, or that the machine was broken.

[Electricity usage this month: 850 kWh.]

[Amount payable: 42.5 yuan.]

"For... forty yuan?"

Old Man Li's hand shook, and the receipt almost fell to the ground. He grabbed the staff member next to him, his voice trembling:

"Young lady! Is this machine broken? I've been running the floor heating for a month, and you're charging me forty yuan? Is this electricity free?"

The young staff member beamed, pointing to the brand-new red banner hanging in the hall:

"Sir, haven't you seen the news?"

"Our Dragon Kingdom's 'Eastern Nuclear Fusion Demonstration Reactor' was connected to the grid last week! It uses Helium-3 fuel transported from outer space by Chenxing Technology!"

"Electricity prices have dropped now! Five cents per kilowatt-hour! The state has said that electricity will be like air from now on, use as much as you want!"

Old Man Li was stunned for a long time, then suddenly slapped his thigh hard, tears streaming down his face:

"Good! Good!"

"I finally caught up with good times in this life! When I get home, I'll turn on that air conditioner I was too stingy to use! Let it run twenty-four hours a day!"

...

This was not just Old Man Li's carnival.

As the luan niao starship transformed into a super transport plane, continuously transporting Helium-3 and gold from the Wasteland back to Earth, the entire Dragon Kingdom's economy was like riding a rocket, shooting straight out of the atmosphere.

Energy is the blood of industry.

When blood becomes almost free, that massive machine once known as the "World's Factory" erupted with a terrifying production capacity that made the whole world tremble.

Electronics? Cabbage prices!

The latest Photonic Chip phones, 99 yuan including shipping.

New energy vehicles? Cabbage prices!

A family sedan with a range of two thousand kilometers, drive it home for twenty thousand yuan, and it even comes with free lifetime charging benefits.

Deflation? Non-existent.

Because the money in the pockets of the common people is more valuable, and their purchasing power is exploding. On the streets and alleys, everyone wears that confident smile of "being rich."

And on the outskirts of the West Suburb Base.

A more magnificent infrastructure frenzy is shocking the world.

"One! Two! Three! Lift!"

It was not the sound of human chants.

But that low, rough roar, like the growl of a beast.

I saw on the dusty construction site, thousands of two-meter-tall, muscular gray-skinned "alien workers" were carrying dozens of tons of steel beams, walking briskly on the construction site.

They don't know fatigue, and they don't fear cold or heat.

As long as they are given expired canned food to eat, they can work for three days and nights in a row without panting.

With the assistance of these "top-tier laborers," the infrastructure speed of the Dragon Kingdom has broken physical limits.

The Space Elevator clusters that originally needed ten years to build are now springing up like bamboo shoots after a rain, one after another.

Tianhai, Kyoto, Shenzhen...

Black cables reaching straight into the clouds, connecting the earth and the starry sky, forming the most spectacular—[Sky Ladder Matrix] in human history.

"This is too exaggerated..."

Foreign netizens watched the aerial footage on YouTube, so jealous their teeth ached.

In the comment section, there was a chorus of wailing:

"Is this the Dragon Kingdom speed? Are they using magic to build buildings?"

"Look at them! Electricity is five cents! My bill this month is five hundred dollars! I'm still burning wood for heat!"

"I want to go to the Dragon Kingdom! I want to work for God Jiang! Even if it's just to move bricks!"

"Forget it, you can't even compete with those aliens in moving bricks; they are professionals."

...

Across the ocean, the United States.

This is another scene.

The supermarket shelves are empty, gas stations have long queues, and the inflation rate has soared to double digits.

Because they lost their technological hegemony and were impacted by the Dragon Kingdom's cheap goods, the former hegemon is now falling into unprecedented depression.

On the lawn of The White House, some people have even started growing vegetables.

"Mr. President, we... can't hold on anymore."

The economic advisor looked at The President with despair, "The Dragon Kingdom's nuclear fusion roasted sweet potato machines are even being sold here, five dollars each, and they come with a heating function. Our microwave oven factories have all gone bankrupt!"

The President slumped in his chair, looking at the roasted sweet potato he had just bought, stamped with "Made by Chenxing," and took a hard bite.

It was delicious.

But the tears in his eyes couldn't stop flowing down.

"Once, we had aircraft carriers, we had chips, we had the world."

"Now..."

"We can only eat the Dragon Kingdom's sweet potatoes, watching them take the elevator to the sky."

"This script... is completely ruined."

...

Yunding Villa, terrace.

Jiang Chen held a glass of red wine in his hand, looking at the brightly lit city beneath his feet, like a city that never sleeps.

Prosperity.

Extreme prosperity.

But after seeing this prosperity too much, it's just that.

"Boring."

Jiang Chen sighed, placed the wine glass on the railing, "There is more money than I can spend, and no one can beat the technology. For me, the Earth level has already been cleared."

"Tired of it already?"

Academician Chen Shuyin walked over, still holding that tablet, "The production capacity of the Photonic Chip hasn't been maxed out yet, don't you want to earn more?"

"Why earn so much money? To look at it as numbers?"

Jiang Chen shook his head, his eyes cast towards the deep starry sky above his head.

His gaze penetrated the atmosphere, as if he saw that distant coordinate, 4.2 light-years away from Earth—

[S-778].

That was the dowry Jiang Wanqiu gave him.

A resource planet made entirely of gold and Helium-3.

"Old Chen."

Jiang Chen suddenly pointed in that direction, a light called "ambition" flashing in his eyes:

"Don't you think our perspective is still too small?"

"What's the point of being a king on Earth? At most, it's just a village chief."

"That planet is the real gold mine."

Academician Chen Shuyin was stunned for a moment, then pushed her glasses and rationally poured a bucket of cold water:

"You want to go and receive the dowry? Don't dream."

"4.2 light-years. Even if the luan niao starship can fly, with its current sub-light speed engine, it will take several years to fly there. And there is no supply station in the middle, do you want to starve to death on the way?"

"Who said we have to fly directly there?"

Jiang Chen turned around, a mysterious smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

He took out his phone and pulled up a star map that had been prepared long ago.

His finger drew a line between Earth and S-778.

Then, he pointed heavily at a red dot in the middle of this line.

That red dot is very close to Earth, right at the doorstep.

Red, desolate, but it is the necessary path for humans to step into deep space.

"Roads have to be walked step by step, and meals have to be eaten one bite at a time."

Jiang Chen looked at the red dot, his tone becoming firm and fanatical:

"Since it's too far to go, let's build a 'service area' first."

"Mars."

"Let's go and develop it..."

"As a springboard, and also as our first stop towards the stars and the sea!"