188: Driving patrol

He tapped the center console screen, and a 3D map appeared beneath the windshield.

This was the "Divine Kingdom Navigation System" he had exchanged for in the Faith Mall, capable of clearly displaying the terrain, buildings, and resource points of Skydome City.

He swiped his hand to pull up the route of the main power grid.

The red line followed the main street, eventually branching into many smaller lines that extended into the residential area.

The headlights illuminated the path ahead as the Wuling Hongguang drove over the last stretch of dirt road and onto the newly paved concrete road.

The road surface smoothed out, and the car stopped bumping. Shen Xiaochuan let out a sigh of relief and took his hands off the steering wheel to rub them together.

He had been nervous for the past few dozen kilometers, afraid that if he pressed the accelerator too hard, the front of the car would lift up.

He had modified this car himself.

The chassis was fitted with dark iron shock absorbers, and the engine had been replaced with a Thunder Crystal power core, making it run more than twice as fast as before.

But no matter how familiar he was with the blueprints, sitting inside the car was a different experience.

He had driven forklifts during his university internship, but that kind of heavy vehicle was different from this off-road car.

The gear shifting was always half a beat slow, and he kept crossing the lines when turning, nearly hitting the rocks on the side of the road several times.

He turned his head to look at the tool bag on the passenger seat; the zipper wasn't closed properly, revealing half of a wrench.

He had stuffed it in casually, always feeling that something would break on the road and he would need to be able to fix it at any time. Looking at it now, that didn't seem necessary.

He turned off the screen and leaned back against the seat.

The car drove steadily forward, with streetlights flashing past the windows one by one, making the interior of the car flicker between light and dark.

He looked ahead, but his mind was occupied with thoughts—the aluminum ore would arrive tomorrow, so the foundation for the steel furnace needed to be started immediately; the oil refining team hadn't replied yet, and he didn't know if the oil sludge purification had succeeded; the miniaturization design for the internal combustion engine was stuck on heat dissipation, and Liu Erniu said there were issues...

Just as he was thinking about this, the communication ring on his wrist vibrated.

He raised his hand to check the message; it was from White Snow Princess.

[The United States has just released an announcement that the S-rank Legacy mission "Dawn of the Northern Territory" has begun, inviting the Huaxia Alliance to participate, with shared quotas.]

Below that was an addition: [Thor is personally presiding over it and is willing to exchange resources for technical cooperation.]

After reading it, Shen Xiaochuan typed two words directly into the dialogue box: "Refuse."

He sent it.

He also conveniently turned off the notifications for the "Blue Star Channel."

There were too many messages like this; one moment a ruin was discovered, the next some expert was fighting a boss. It was too noisy, making it impossible to focus on work. The last thing he needed right now was distraction.

The car turned onto the main road of the residential area, and lights began to come on in the houses along the roadside.

A few houses already had electric lights hanging at their entrances, casting a dim, yellow light on the steps.

He knew this was the result of Wang Tiezhu and the others working overtime last night. The first batch of power lines had been energized that afternoon, and although it only covered the area around the Hospital and the orphanage, the elderly and children could finally see the road at night.

He slowed down. As he passed a house, he saw a child inside hunched over a table writing, the light overhead illuminating the paper brightly. The child looked up at the outside, their gaze sweeping over his car, before lowering their head to continue writing.

Shen Xiaochuan's lips twitched slightly, and he pressed the accelerator.

The car passed through several small roads and stopped outside a detached villa. This was where Aphrodite lived.

The outer walls were painted light gray, and there was a circle of low posts at the entrance, wrapped in pale cyan threads; it was a barrier to keep outsiders from entering.

He got out of the car, the sound of the door closing crisp in the night. Walking to the courtyard gate, he raised his hand and pressed it against the barrier. A golden pattern flashed on his palm; verification passed, and the cyan threads slowly parted to make a path.

"I'm coming in," he said softly, afraid of startling the Tiger Cubs inside.

The courtyard was very quiet. In the corner, there was a semi-enclosed pen covered with thick animal skin mats. Four Canglan Tigers were huddled together sleeping, their fur shiny, bodies relaxed, and breathing steady. They were a circle larger than when they were born, their shoulders already showing the form of beasts, claws hidden in their paw pads, occasionally moving as if catching prey in their dreams.

Shen Xiaochuan squatted down to look. He didn't get too close; these young beasts had special Bloodlines, and even though they were small, they were easily startled. He first checked their fur, which was smooth and not dry or broken, indicating they were eating well; then he checked their noses, which were moist and slightly red, with normal body temperatures; finally, he watched the rise and fall of their chests, which were steady and rhythmic with no wheezing.

He took a palm-sized device from his pocket—a "Life Fluctuation Scanner" exchanged from the Faith Mall—and pressed it against the nearest Tiger Cub. Data appeared on the screen: [Growth Rate: 3.1 times the baseline value] [Energy Absorption Efficiency: 87%] [Health Rating: Excellent].

He nodded and tested the other three; the results were similar. It seemed Aphrodite was taking good care of them, feeding them specially made spiritual milk and fumigating them with Spiritual Qi every day to help with their Bloodline Awakening.

"They're growing quite fast," he thought. "In another month, I can start training them."

He put away the device and stood up. Beside the pen stood a wooden sign, detailing the daily feeding times, amounts, and temperature changes, written in neat handwriting, even recording the room temperature. He could tell that she was truly putting in the effort.

He walked toward the gate, and the barrier sensed him leaving and closed automatically. Just as he reached the car, he stopped again and looked back at the Tiger Cubs. One of them twitched its ear, rolled over, and continued to sleep.

He opened the car door and sat in, inserting the key into the lock without starting it immediately. The center console screen was still lit, with the map paused at the previous position. He reopened the power grid planning map, swiped his finger to confirm the location of the substation, and marked three new power distribution points.

"Three months," he said in a low voice. "I must finish laying the city-wide power grid."

He started the car, and the engine roared to life. The car moved slowly, returning the way it came. In the rearview mirror, Aphrodite's small house grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared from view.

He didn't return to the Industrial Zone but turned onto the South Ring Road. This road had just been completed and had no streetlights, relying entirely on the car's headlights to illuminate the path. He didn't drive fast, looking at the road while browsing the item list in the Faith Mall.

The steel furnace upgrade module was still in the inventory, costing 32 million faith points. He was currently earning 1 point per second, over 860,000 per day, so it would take more than a month to save up enough. However, he wasn't in a rush; he still had a few summoning scrolls on hand, which he could sell in an emergency if he really didn't have enough.

He tapped on "Energy Category," scrolled down, and saw something called "High-Efficiency Energy Storage Array," costing 23 million, which could increase the power station's storage efficiency by 40%. He hesitated for two seconds, then clicked to bookmark it.

Just as he was about to exit, the screen suddenly flashed, and a battle report from the Blue Star Channel popped up:

[NATO players raided the S-rank mission area and encountered the boss "Frost Prison Lord"; 57 people died in the first wave, and even with Thor leading the assault, they couldn't break its defense. Now, everyone is on the defensive.]

Below was a video clip; the image was shaking violently, but one could only see a giant over ten meters tall standing on the ice field, covered in black ice. With a single punch, the ground cracked open a fissure dozens of meters long, and three gods were frozen into ice sculptures on the spot.

Shen Xiaochuan watched it once and closed the video.

He minimized the mall and opened the city map. This time, he raised the perspective to look at the entire Skydome City. There were many more lights than half a year ago; places that used to be dark now had little points of light, like stars fallen to the ground. White smoke rose from the Industrial Zone chimneys, red lights shone on the power station cooling towers, the foundation pit for the steel furnace had been dug, and the first layer of concrete would be poured tomorrow.

He stared at the map without saying a word.

The car continued forward, passing through the last stretch of unpaved road in the South District, tires crunching over gravel. Ahead was his residence, with the lights still on in the window. He knew it was Lilia who had left them on; the little girl was always afraid that if he came back late, it would be inconvenient for him to navigate in the dark.

He pressed the brake, and the car came to a steady stop.

Before getting out of the car, he took one last look at the center console screen.

On the map, all the tasks to be done were marked in green, with only a few red dots still flashing—those were the tasks that must be completed tomorrow.

He pulled out the key and pushed the door open to get out.

The wind blew from the south, carrying the scent of rust and soil.

He stood by the car and looked up at the sky. The clouds had dispersed a little, revealing a few stars.