775: Chapter 77 Go and make a hole in the sky

Shen Yan pushed the door open and stepped out of the car. His gleaming leather shoes trod upon the dusty ground without showing a hint of dishevelment.

Two bodyguards immediately unfurled black umbrellas.

Although the rain had stopped, the dust on the construction site was dirtier than rainwater.

"Boss, why are we here?"

Chen Guangke covered his nose. This place was worlds apart from the Sacher Hotel they had just left.

"Looking for someone."

Shen Yan strode inside. The Austrian security guard at the entrance was about to stop him.

Chen Guangke casually tossed over two large denomination Euro bills, and the barrier rose faster than a salute.

Construction Site Area B.

A burst of intense argument, mixed with the roar of machinery, carried over, conducted in German.

Interspersed were a few angry Chinese curses.

"You people are committing murder!"

"The reinforcement ratio for this load-bearing column is simply insufficient!"

"If a magnitude three or higher earthquake occurs, the entire Building B will collapse!"

Shen Yan followed the sound and looked over.

An Asian man wearing a yellow hard hat and a reflective vest was standing beneath the scaffolding.

He was waving a blueprint in his hand, his face flushed red, spittle flying everywhere.

Opposite him stood a fat white man covered in flesh, who appeared to be a foreman, currently picking his ear with an impatient expression.

"Liang, shut your mouth," the fat white man sneered in broken English. "You are just a safety officer."

"Your job is just to watch the workers so they don't fall to their deaths."

"Structural matters?"

"That’s for the Chief Engineer to worry about."

"Besides, what does it matter to you if it collapses after it passes inspection?"

Liang Yibai trembled with rage, the blueprint in his hand crumpled into a ball.

"I am an Engineer with professional integrity!"

"Not an accomplice to you vampires!"

"I won't sign!"

"I absolutely will not sign the inspection form for this phase!"

The fat white man let out a cold laugh and kicked Liang Yibai directly on the shin.

"You won't sign?"

"Then get lost today."

"There are plenty of Chinese people eager to work on this dump site."

"We don't need a beggar like you."

Liang Yibai staggered, nearly falling into the nearby cement trough.

Several workers nearby were watching the spectacle; no one stepped forward, their eyes showing only numbness and mockery.

On this foreign construction site, a conscientious Chinese man was the biggest joke.

Liang Yibai gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot.

He wanted to fight back, but he thought of next month's rent and his elderly mother waiting back home for living expenses.

That anger was forcefully suppressed in his chest, turning into suffocating humiliation.

Just as the fat white man was preparing to kick him again, a hand grabbed his collar.

Not grabbed.

Lifted.

Like lifting a bag of garbage.

The one-hundred-and-eighty-pound fat man's feet instantly left the ground.

The bodyguards behind Shen Yan stood expressionless, the muscles in their arms stretching their suits taut.

"Who are you?!"

The fat man screamed in terror, kicking his legs wildly in mid-air.

Shen Yan ignored the squealing pig and walked straight to Liang Yibai, looking at the man covered in mud stains, utterly wretched.

"Liang Yibai?"

Shen Yan's voice was calm, but it carried immense penetration across the noisy construction site.

Liang Yibai froze. He straightened his crooked hard hat and warily eyed the imposing man before him.

"Who are you?"

"Who I am is not important."

Shen Yan pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it over.

"Wipe your face."

"Such a fine Engineer's visage,"

"You've made yourself look like a beggar."

This statement stung Liang Yibai, and he did not take the handkerchief.

"If you were sent by the client as a lobbyist,"

"Then you can get lost."

"That column is defective. I won't sign, no matter how much money you offer."

Shen Yan smiled, not a polite smile, but one of appreciation.

"That column is indeed garbage."

Shen Yan turned around and glanced at the half-finished residential building.

"Not only is the column garbage,"

"This mediocre matchbox design,"

"This aesthetically bankrupt mechanical stacking,"

"Is itself a massive piece of construction waste."

Liang Yibai was stunned. The fat man being held mid-air by the bodyguard was also stunned. Was this person also here to cause trouble?

"You understand structure?"

Liang Yibai's gaze changed, becoming somewhat sharp.

"A little."

Shen Yan took a tablet computer from Chen Guangke.

He casually tapped open an image. It was a partial structural diagram of the "Spine of the Tower of Babel," preliminarily rendered by the system.

It was just one node, a node utilizing the concept of the Tensile Structure Principle, completely violating conventional mechanical common sense.

Shen Yan showed the screen to Liang Yibai.

"Since you look down on this pile of trash,"

"Are you interested,"

"In challenging this?"

Liang Yibai subconsciously glanced over.

Just one look.

His gaze could no longer move away, as if magnetically attracted.

His pupils contracted violently, and his breathing instantly stopped.

As a Special Grade Engineer, dozens of stress models instantly constructed themselves in his mind.

Attempting to analyze this node.

Collapse.

Collapse.

Still collapse.

According to traditional theory, this structure could not stand at all.

But in this blueprint, the lines, through a bizarre yet perfect angle, converted gravity into upward tension.

This was not just structure; it was art, it was violent aesthetics.

"Who... who drew this?"

Liang Yibai's voice trembled. His hand instinctively reached out, wanting to touch the screen, yet fearing he might shatter this dream.

"This is impossible..."

"This violates Newtonian mechanics..."

"No... if carbon fiber cables were used here..."

"If a self-adaptive damper were added here..."

"My God..."

Liang Yibai was mesmerized, muttering to himself.

The recent humiliation, the anger, the rent, the elderly mother—all were thrown to the back of his mind.

At this moment, in his eyes, there was only this damned, captivating, insane node.

Shen Yan took back the tablet.

With a snap, the screen went dark.

Liang Yibai looked up sharply, his eyes like a hungry wolf whose meat had been snatched away.

"Show me!"

"Let me see it again!"

"What about the lower part?"

"How is the foundation handled?"

"How is the wind shear offset?"

He rushed forward to snatch it, but was blocked by one hand from a bodyguard.

Shen Yan looked at him, his gaze condescending.

"You want to see it?"

"I do."

Liang Yibai nodded desperately, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

For a genius who had been silent for three years, a blueprint of this caliber was far more attractive than a breathtakingly beautiful woman stripped bare.

"Do you want to build it?"

Shen Yan asked again.

This question pierced straight through Liang Yibai's soul.

Build it?

To construct something that only existed in science fiction movies into reality?

"I..."

Liang Yibai opened his mouth, his voice dry.

"Can I?"

"That depends on you."

Shen Yan pointed at the fat white man still struggling mid-air, and then pointed at the muddy construction site.

"Are you going to continue arguing with pigs here,"

"Selling your dignity for a few hundred Euros in wages,"

"Or will you come with me,"

"To go poke a hole in the sky."