250: Chapter 250 An Ineffable Sense of Belonging

Every Xia Country person who saw this headline experienced a brief blankness in their minds at the same time.

Controlled Nuclear Fusion... fully integrated into the power grid?

And a package of price reductions for basic livelihood expenses?!

After a brief moment of daze, with disbelief and uncontrollably racing heartbeats, countless trembling fingers poked at that red pop-up window simultaneously.

The few tenths of a second it took for the announcement details page to load became the longest wait countless people had ever experienced in their lives.

When the announcement page popped up.

Everyone's eyes eagerly scanned the text, and the core information of the first paragraph smashed into everyone's eyes without any buffer.

“Recently, our country's independently developed Controlled Nuclear Fusion reactor clusters have completed all commercial testing.”

“Following research and decision, it is scheduled to commence the synchronized grid integration work for the national power grid at midnight tomorrow.”

Seeing this time, countless people subconsciously looked up at the clock.

Three o'clock in the afternoon!

In other words, in less than nine hours, Xia Country will completely bid farewell to the era of fossil fuels!

“Holy crap! Didn't they say within a month? How long has it been?!”

“Let me count... from the last news announcement until now, it's only been a dozen days or so at most? It's nearly half a month early?!”

“The state's efficiency is terrifyingly formidable!”

The surprise came so suddenly that before countless people could digest this first wave of shock, their eyes continued to scan down—

“To ensure that the dividends of technological development effectively benefit all citizens, starting from the first of next month, the national benchmark communication rates, residential and industrial electricity, tap water, natural gas, and public transportation costs such as high-speed rail, subways, and buses will simultaneously undergo a major downward adjustment!”

“The specific price reduction implementation plan will be formulated and released by relevant departments within three days.”

These few lines of text directly stunned everyone.

Starting next month?

It's already the end of the month!

Next month is only a few days away at most!

Within just a few minutes, the atmosphere on major domestic social platforms, forums, Tieba, and countless chat groups was completely ignited, with the speed of messages flooding the screens being too fast for the naked eye to see clearly.

“Holy shit, grid integration tonight and price cuts next month. The state is taking advantage of the New Year to shove red envelopes directly into our pockets!”

“I'm stunned! I thought only electricity would be cheap, but water, internet, gas, and even high-speed rail prices are dropping? This... this is basically cutting our cost of living down to our ankles!”

“Is this the dimensional-reduction benefit-sharing brought by the technological explosion?!”

Shock, ecstasy, gratitude.

No one was a fool; combined with Lin Yuan's previous groundwork and the state's major moves, everyone understood clearly.

With Controlled Nuclear Fusion, electricity prices would inevitably drop to an outrageous level, but no one expected the state to have such terrifying boldness to directly bundle water, electricity, transportation, and communication into a package of price cuts.

This approach of not playing around with empty words but instead turning technological dividends into hard cash and putting it into the pockets of the common people made 1.4 billion people feel an indescribable sense of belonging.

At the top of the trending list, a topic surged to the peak at a visible speed, followed by a dark red 'Explosion' tag.

#No Regrets Being Born in Xia Country#

At the same time, the online frenzy swept offline at light speed.

The entire Xia Country seemed to have been forcibly fast-forwarded, entering a festive state like the Lunar New Year in advance.

In streets and alleys, offices, university dormitories, and even bustling wet markets, everyone was animatedly discussing the upcoming new life.

“Did you hear, Old Li? Next month, phone bills and water bills are all dropping! Everyone's saying electricity will be so cheap it'll be like it's free!”

“Isn't it though! My son, who works in the south, just called me and said even high-speed rail tickets are getting a huge price cut. He can save a big chunk of travel expenses for the New Year this year. His voice was so loud I thought he'd won the lottery!”

“Isn't this better than winning the lottery?! A lottery is one person's luck, but this is a grand national fortune shared by all 1.4 billion Xia Country people!”

And this wave of frenzy didn't just stop at the level of the general public.

In the business world, especially for those physical manufacturing industries extremely sensitive to energy costs, the reaction speed was faster and much more acute than anyone else's.

Starting on the first of next month, the new electricity prices would take effect.

When the bosses did a little math, cold sweat and ecstasy broke out simultaneously.

In other words, in just a few days, the energy costs for factories would plummet off a cliff.

If they continued production during these few days, they would still be using expensive old electricity. This wasn't production; this was freaking burning money for nothing!

Thus, the bosses of major industrial parks, manufacturing enterprises, and high-energy-consuming factories made an extremely rare and surprisingly unanimous decision at the same time.

“Send out the notice!”

“Stop all work in the factory that doesn't have urgent, must-complete orders!”

“It's only a few days until New Year's Day. Arrange for all workers to take an early holiday, paid!”

“Let everyone go back and rest well, eat and drink to their heart's content!”

“Wait until after New Year's Day to resume work!”

For a time, work groups of major factories were densely populated with notices for early holidays.

In the workshops, the roar of machinery gradually ceased, replaced by the deafening cheers of the workers.

Countless workers packed their bags, filled with anticipation and joy, preparing to enjoy this sudden holiday in advance.

...

At the same time.

The Other Side of the Ocean, at a certain high-level intelligence center.

The lights were dim and cold. Several intelligence analysts on duty were forcing their eyes open, holding cold black coffee, staring listlessly at the monitoring wall composed of dozens of screens.

“This damn night shift...”

A blonde analyst gave a huge yawn, physiological tears squeezing out from the corners of his eyes.

Just then.

“Beep beep beep—”

A piercing red alarm sounded.

In the bottom right corner of the screen, a pop-up window set with the highest level of special attention suddenly jumped out.

It was a real-time monitoring capture targeting Xia Country's official media matrix.

The blonde analyst jolted, his sleepiness instantly half-dissipated. He grabbed the mouse and clicked on the pop-up.

The screen was full of Xia Country square characters.

He casually clicked the 'military-grade one-key real-time translation' plugin at the top of the screen.

Two seconds later.

The translated English words appeared line by line on the screen.

“Joint Announcement on the Full Grid Integration of Controlled Nuclear Fusion and the Package Price Reduction Adjustment of National Basic Livelihood Expenses”

“Following research and decision... commence synchronized grid integration work for the national power grid...”

“Starting from the first of next month... residential and industrial electricity... will simultaneously undergo a major downward adjustment...”

“Clatter.”

The coffee cup in the blonde analyst's hand slipped without warning.

“Something happened... something big has happened...”

The blonde analyst's voice trembled uncontrollably, his teeth chattering.

“Quick! Sound the highest-level red alert!”

“Wake up the commander immediately!”

“Xia Country's nuclear fusion... is on the grid!!!”