323: Chapter 323 This is the Infrastructure Maniac

Su Mingyuan stood on a flat piece of land on the northern edge of Victory Pit, facing an open plateau.

Dark red moss covered the ground, stretching all the way to the end of his vision.

The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the air was nearly seven times higher than at the Forward Base. Just standing there and breathing normally, he could feel spiritual power drilling into his Meridians.

Behind him was Victory Pit—a circular crater several kilometers wide. Engineering Mecha were cutting skyfall steel at the bottom of the pit, and the hum of the cutting saws drifted up from three hundred meters deep, sounding muffled.

In front of him was a map spread out on a folding table.

An irregular polygon was drawn on the map, marked with red pen as "Dawn City · Phase One."

The polygon covered an area of about one hundred square kilometers, with its center located approximately twenty kilometers from Victory Pit.

Tao Zhe stood on the other side of the table, holding a tablet displaying a 3D model generated by Tianheng.

"There are three main reasons for choosing this location."

Tao Zhe rotated the model on the tablet. "First, the Spiritual Qi concentration. The Spiritual Qi concentration on this plateau is more than seven times that of the Forward Base, and it gets higher as you move toward Victory Pit. Cultivation efficiency is five to six times faster than at the Forward Base."

"Second, the terrain. The plateau's ground is flat, with low ridges on the east and west sides forming natural barriers. To the north is the area we've cleared, and to the south is the road connecting to the Forward Base. There's support on all four sides."

"Third, the proximity to Victory Pit. The skyfall steel vein is only twenty kilometers away, making it convenient for processing the skyfall steel."

Su Mingyuan looked at the red polygon on the map.

One hundred square kilometers, with Phase One designed to accommodate one million people.

A city of one million people would be equivalent to a medium-sized city in the Main World.

"How many people from the Engineering Corps have arrived?" he asked.

"The full staff from Great Xia's First, Second, Fifth, and Eighth Construction Companies have arrived. Combined with two engineers transferred from the Zombie World and Giant World, there are a total of 228,000 people. We have 2,800 Engineering Mecha, 12,000 heavy machinery units, and 50,000 light construction machines."

Tao Zhe glanced at the data on the tablet. "The first batch of modular building components has been transported from the Main World, enough to build roughly 3,000 standard residential buildings. More will be continuously brought in through the portal every day."

"Ten days," Su Mingyuan said.

Tao Zhe looked up at him.

"The core area must take shape within ten days."

Su Mingyuan tapped the middle section of the map with his finger. "Prioritize the cultivation area and the research area. The residential area and supporting facilities can wait a few days, but the cultivation area cannot wait."

"The B-rank and above citizens identified by the national Root Bone testing must enter the Yaowu World as soon as possible. Every day wasted is a loss for our Great Xia."

"In short," Su Mingyuan said, "build the cultivation area first so people can move in."

He rolled up the map and looked toward the south.

At the end of the road, a grayish-white line extended from the horizon, lined with a row of small black dots—it was a heavy transport convoy driving from the direction of the Forward Base.

In front of the convoy, 2,800 Engineering Mecha were already forming up.

The orange-yellow machines, over ten meters tall, lined up on the plateau, their hydraulic clamps and cutting saws reflecting the morning light.

Bulldozers, excavators, concrete mixers, and rollers followed, driving off the road one by one and crushing deep ruts into the mossy ground.

The roar of diesel engines and the clatter of tracks crushing the ground mixed together, carrying from the south all the way to where Su Mingyuan stood.

"Let's get to work," Su Mingyuan said.

—

Day One.

The 2,800 Engineering Mecha split into four groups, advancing simultaneously in four directions from the center of the site.

The first thing they had to do was not build houses, but level the ground.

Although the plateau was generally flat, the surface was covered with a thick layer of moss and gravel, and the soil underneath was soft, making it unsuitable for direct construction of large buildings.

Bulldozers led the charge, pushing aside the moss layer and topsoil to reveal the grayish-black rock layer beneath.

Rollers followed behind, repeatedly compacting the ground until the hardness reached the standard.

Then the Engineering Mecha took the stage.

Their hydraulic clamps were swapped for leveling blades. The blades, over ten meters wide, pushed against the ground, leveling a twenty-meter-wide foundation strip in a single pass.

The four groups of mecha worked simultaneously, radiating outward from the center.

Every hundred meters they advanced, surveyors behind them drove stakes into the ground and pulled white marking lines.

The marking lines were accurately positioned according to the urban planning map generated by Tianheng, with an error of no more than ten centimeters.

By three in the afternoon, approximately two square kilometers of the central area had been leveled.

The grayish-black rocky ground reflected the sunlight, as flat as a mirror.

Su Mingyuan stood on a temporary observation platform, looking around with binoculars.

The mecha formations in the four directions were still pushing outward, their orange-yellow figures stretching into four lines across the plateau.

"Progress is two hours ahead of schedule," said Old Zhao, the commander of the Engineering Corps, looking at the progress chart. "The geological conditions are better than expected. The rock layer's hardness is uniform, so no extra foundation treatment is needed."

"Has the location of the cultivation area been set?" Su Mingyuan asked.

"It's set," Old Zhao pointed to the map. "Right in the center of the city, covering about fifty square kilometers. It's the location with the highest Spiritual Qi concentration in the entire city—Tianheng's Spiritual Qi distribution model shows that this point is exactly on the central axis of Victory Pit's Spiritual Qi radiation."

"What about the research area?"

"Right next to the east side of the cultivation area. It's closer to Victory Pit, which facilitates the transfer of skyfall steel samples."

"And the residential area?"

"A ring belt surrounding the cultivation and research areas. Housing, cafeterias, medical facilities, and logistics are all on this ring. The advantage of this is that the distance from the residential area to the cultivation area is uniform; no residential building is more than two kilometers from the nearest cultivation field."

Su Mingyuan nodded without saying much more.

He stepped down from the observation platform and walked over to a transport truck that was unloading.

The truck was loaded with modular building components—prefabricated wall panels, floor slabs, beams, and columns, all made of skyfall steel alloy frames and high-strength composite material panels.

Each component was sprayed with a serial number and a QR code for its installation position.

A worker stood on the truck bed, directing a crane to lift the components down.

The crane's steel cables were pulled taut, and a six-meter-long wall panel hung in mid-air, slowly descending.

Su Mingyuan watched for a while, then turned and left.

He had to return to the Forward Base today to handle other matters.

The construction of Dawn City could be left to Old Zhao's supervision; he didn't need to stand on the construction site every day.

Before leaving, he took one last look back.

The 2,800 Engineering Mecha were spread out across the plateau, followed by thousands of heavy machinery units, and behind them was a transport convoy stretching to the horizon.

It was very loud.

Engines, hydraulic pumps, cutting saws, and rollers—all the sounds blended together into a continuous low-frequency roar. Coming up from the ground, he could feel his feet tingling slightly.

This was Great Xia's infrastructure.

This was the Infrastructure Maniac.