16: Chapter 16: The beginner village is over, time to start creating new worlds!
Early the next morning, Jiang Ning finished her cultivation. Her cultivation base had consolidated significantly, needing just a little more refinement to break through. She had originally planned to stabilize for another month, but with the system's new mission, her plans were completely thrown into disarray.
Building The Oasis in the middle of a desert was no child's play.
She descended from the top of the tower and went straight to Director Zhao Lixin's temporary command post.
Director Zhao Lixin was there with a group of experts, their eyes bloodshot from staying up late, studying the task she had assigned yesterday. Seeing Jiang Ning enter, he stood up hastily.
"Chief Consultant, did you rest well?"
"Mm." Jiang Ning nodded and went straight to the point. "I have a new idea."
She explained the "Gobi Miracle" mission in her own words, naturally not mentioning a single word about the system or merit. She merely stated that she wanted to go to the Northwest desert to carry out a much larger-scale ecological transformation.
"...That's the gist of it. In the very center of the desert, we will build a large Spirit Gathering Array hub, alter the climate, draw in moisture, plant spirit plants that can stabilize the sand, and finally create a self-sustaining Oasis. As for the location, let's start with ten square kilometers."
Jiang Ning said it as casually as if she were going downstairs to buy groceries.
But in the command post, everyone who heard this was stunned, as if struck by lightning.
Director Zhao Lixin, Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo, and the group of experts who had just witnessed her "divine methods" all had their mouths agape, wide enough to fit an egg. Their minds were buzzing, unable to believe what they had just heard.
"Ch-Chief Consultant..." Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo stammered, the pen in his hand dropping to the floor with a clatter. "What did you just say... where are we going? The Taklamakan? And how big? Ten... ten square kilometers?"
"Yes," Jiang Ning replied. "Is there a problem?"
A problem? There was a huge problem!
That was the Taklamakan! The world's second-largest shifting desert, nicknamed the "Sea of Death," a place where living things never came back out once they entered!
It barely rained a few drops a year, yet the evaporation rate was dozens of times higher than the rainfall. Sandstorms could bury people alive, the climate was as bad as it could get, and there wasn't even a decent road. How were they supposed to deliver logistical supplies?
Doing engineering work in a hellhole like that—let alone building an Oasis—would take an immense amount of effort just to pitch a tent.
And she asked for ten square kilometers right off the bat!
How big was that? It was almost fifteen times the size of the Forbidden City!
Turning such a massive patch of sand into an oasis?
This wasn't magic; this was trying to be Pangu creating the world!
"Chief Consultant, this... this is impossible!" Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo was the first to get agitated, his face turning red. "I acknowledge that your technology is amazing, but the Taklamakan is different! The environment there is too harsh! No water, no electricity, no roads, nothing at all! Our people and equipment simply can't get in! Even if we did get in, people wouldn't be able to survive!"
"He's right." Another geological expert stood up, his expression serious. "It's all shifting sand underneath. How do we lay the foundation? The piles for our Spirit Gathering Array need to be driven a hundred meters underground. How are we supposed to do that in the desert? You drive them down, and it's all just sand; there's no resistance at all!"
"And water! Without water, everything is useless! You can't just conjure a river out of thin air, can you?"
Suddenly, the command post was filled with noise, all of it opposition and skepticism.
This time, it wasn't that they doubted Jiang Ning's technology; it was that these top-tier experts knew all too well how difficult it was to build in the "Sea of Death." That wasn't just struggling against difficulties; that was going against Heaven itself.
Director Zhao Lixin didn't say a word, but his brows were knitted together, and his attitude was clear.
This plan was too absurd.
Jiang Ning looked at these agitated people, her face calm and unruffled.
She could understand, though. According to the common sense of this world, this was indeed a pipe dream.
But who was she? The Infrastructure Construction maniac of the cultivation world.
The more impossible an engineering project sounded, the more excited she got.
"I've thought about all the things you've mentioned." Jiang Ning waited until their arguing had died down before speaking slowly.
"Let's talk about water first. It's not that there's no water under the Taklamakan; it's buried too deep, and you can't find it or dig down to it. I have a way to bring the water up using a new array called the 'Water Diversion Array'."
"As for the foundation, shifting sand is a problem. But by using a 'Sand Stabilization Array,' we can temporarily make the sand as hard as rock, enough for us to drive in piles. Once the Spirit Gathering Array is activated and the energy field covers it, the foundation won't collapse."
"Finally, logistics. It will be hard in the beginning, but as long as the first small array is built, we will have a foothold in the desert. We can convert electrical energy, pump water from underground, and as for food, once I grow drought-resistant spirit plants, won't we have everything we need?"
In just a few sentences, she dismantled the few problems the experts thought were fatal.
Although everyone was still confused about things like the "Water Diversion Array" and "Sand Stabilization Array," with the example of the purification tower before them, no one dared to blurt out "impossible" again.
In the command post, silence fell once again.
Everyone stared at Jiang Ning as if looking at a monster.
Just how many terrifying "arrays" were packed into this girl's head?
After a long while, Director Zhao Lixin finally took a deep breath and asked, "Chief Consultant, I have one last question. Why... did you suddenly want to go work on the desert? We've only just started here in Donghai City, and there's still a pile of work left to do."
This was what he couldn't figure out the most. No matter how you looked at it, the Donghai project was of great significance; it was the face of the Pangu Project. Why, just after getting started, did she want to bite off the hardest nut to crack?
Jiang Ning glanced at him; she couldn't exactly say that the system mission had forced her hand.
She changed her phrasing.
"This Spirit Gathering Array is effective, but it relies on 'turbid energy'," she explained. "To put it plainly, it's just a 'waste processor.' Once the air in Donghai City is cleaned up, its efficiency will drop."
"But the desert is different." Jiang Ning's tone revealed the excitement of an engineer seeing a perfect construction site. "The desert doesn't have turbid energy, but it has purer and more potent energy—'Earth Malice Energy' and 'Wind Fury Energy.' Using these energies to power the Spirit Gathering Array will be a thousand times more effective than it is now! And it's inexhaustible!"
"The most critical point is," she emphasized, "in a desolate place like that, I can truly let loose and test those super arrays with greater power and wider range without worrying about affecting the common people. That place is the best testing ground."
These words made Director Zhao Lixin's heart skip a beat, and he understood instantly.
For Jiang Ning, Donghai City was just a place to practice.
Her goal was the sea of stars. And the desert was the first stepping stone on her journey toward that sea of stars!
"I understand!" Director Zhao Lixin's voice changed, revealing an unprecedented level of enthusiasm. "Chief Consultant, I will support your plan even if I have to risk it all! I will report this to the higher-ups immediately! The country will definitely support you too!"
"The Pangu Project cannot just be about patching things up. Like its name, we must go and open up the heavens and earth! In the Sea of Death, we will carve out a new world for our country!"
These few words from Director Zhao Lixin stirred up the spirits of everyone in the room.
That's right, who were they? They were the nation's greatest builders! Their job was to turn the impossible into the possible!
If they could stand up a purification tower on ruins, why couldn't they build an oasis in the desert?
"I agree!" Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo slapped the table and stood up excitedly as well. "Chief Consultant, just say the word! These old bones of ours will go with you and be buried in the desert!"
"We're in too!"
The experts shouted along with him.
A grander, crazier plan was passed unanimously in this small command post.
That same day, Director Zhao Lixin's report, along with a "Project Feasibility Analysis Report" jointly signed by Professor Chen, Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo, and dozens of other national treasure-level experts (though they didn't understand the principles themselves, the conclusion was that it was "technically feasible"), were placed on the desk of the highest leadership.
A few hours later, the highest directive came down.
"Approve the 'Gobi Miracle' project! Codename 'Kuafu'! Mobilize the nation's strength and, at all costs, meet all the needs of the 'Kuafu' project!"
"Appointment: National Meritorious Chief Engineer, one of the commanders-in-chief of the Three Gorges and South-to-North Water Diversion Projects, Comrade Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo, to serve as the On-site Commander-in-Chief for the 'Kuafu' project!"