51: Chapter 51 Relocation of Old Home

After packing his luggage, Chen Mo called his uncle.

"Uncle, I'm going out for a walk. Just leave me a message if anything comes up later."

His uncle's voice rose sharply. "Going out for a walk? Don't you know what the situation is like outside right now? The television talks about the dangers of the wilderness every single day; why are you running around alone?"

Chen Mo held the phone, waiting for his uncle to finish.

"Uncle, it's fine. I've been training, so my physical condition is decent. Right now, it's just that the plants and trees are growing a bit faster; it hasn't reached the point where one can't go out."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds.

His uncle probably understood that once Chen Mo made up his mind, there was no point in saying more.

"...Alright then," his uncle's voice softened. "Take care of yourself. Send me a message when you arrive. Remember to check your phone; don't let me be unable to reach you."

"Okay."

Putting down the phone, he checked the time; there was still half a day left before he had to leave.

He didn't have the habit of letting time go to waste. He changed into his training clothes, walked to the backyard, and began his daily muscle tension control training.

With his legs apart, he tightened his whole body's muscles, starting from the soles of his feet and working his way up layer by layer.

Antagonistic muscle groups exerted force simultaneously, and the lines of force converged, opposed, and maintained balance at the joints.

Every muscle fiber was under static limit load, and Spiritual Qi was drawn into his body from the air, seeping into every working cell along with the Rhythm of his breathing.

He held one set of movements for half an hour.

He closed his eyes and let his body operate on its own.

His breathing and muscle tension were synchronized, and sweat slid down from his forehead along the bridge of his nose.

Around three in the afternoon, before the training was finished, Chen Mo opened his eyes.

There were footsteps coming along the village road toward his place, and it wasn't just one person.

He recognized one of them; it was the village party secretary, surnamed Liu.

The other person had a lighter gait, looking like a staff member from the sub-district office. He carried a briefcase on his shoulder with the zipper not fully pulled, revealing the corner of a document folder.

Chen Mo stopped his training, didn't wipe his sweat, and walked straight to the front door.

Just as the door opened, Secretary Liu was in the middle of raising his hand to knock.

"Xiao Chen, you're home." The secretary's face was flushed from running. "Perfect, there's something I need to tell you."

The staff member beside him pulled a document from his briefcase.

"According to the notice from above, our entire village area is to be relocated."

The secretary pointed toward the mountain behind them. "You've seen it too, how these trees and grasses are growing wildly. A meeting was held at the top, and all villages near the mountain forests are to be relocated to the newly planned resettlement sites in the city. The resettlement housing is built in the western suburbs, constructed by the state, and distributed per capita. Each person gets at least 120 square meters, starting with three bedrooms, and you don't have to pay a single cent yourself."

Chen Mo took the document and scanned it. It had a red header and a clear reference number. It stated the scope of relocation, the execution time limit, housing standards, and distribution principles.

After reading it, he returned the document to the secretary.

"When are we moving?"

"The sooner, the better. Most families in the village are already packing. If you have time today, pack what you need to take; make sure to bring your documents. The specific location of the subsequent housing will be sent directly to your phone."

Chen Mo nodded.

He didn't ask another question, and there was no expression of reluctance on his face. He had already packed his past; what needed to be taken was already packed in his backpack.

He turned and went into the house, spending less than twenty minutes doing a final tidying up. He would have a moving company handle the furniture and appliances later. He only picked up his parents' photo from the coffee table, wrapped it in a soft cloth, and placed it in the compartment of his backpack.

After doing this, he stood in the center of the old house and scanned the surrounding walls. The wall plaster was a bit yellowed, and the paint on the window frames had cracked into several fine fissures.

Chen Mo withdrew his gaze and closed the door. The sound of the door closing was heavier than usual.

Standing in the courtyard, he looked back at the silhouette of the old house. Then he turned and walked toward the entrance of the village. He did not look back a second time.

Chen Mo knew that after leaving this time, it was highly likely he would never return. After some time, whether this house would still exist or what it would become was hard to say.

He had no feelings of attachment or reluctance. He was simply finishing the task, one step at a time.

But he did think to himself: he was still exploring his own path, and on this path, the only trace left of his parents seemed to be this yellowed photograph.

At the village entrance, Secretary Liu and the staff member were tallying the list of people who had moved away. Seeing Chen Mo come over, Secretary Liu nodded at him and took out a pen to check off a box on the form.

"Xiao Chen, you're registered. The address for the resettlement housing will be sent to you via text message one after another later. If the elderly at home need to be notified, please relay it to them yourself."

Chen Mo replied with an "okay" and then asked, "What about the city side? Will the speed be increased?"

Secretary Liu said, "The state is already creating isolation zones, clearing vegetation around the cities first to protect the urban areas. Then comes the new resettlement zones, and roads. The state has already listed physical education as the fourth major subject; in the future, physical education scores will be counted in the college entrance examination. Every new urban district is planning training centers, and the newly built resettlement housing will have supporting fitness facilities."

Chen Mo nodded. He knew. From the moment the highest level said that phrase until now, it had only been a little over a day.

The broadcast at the village entrance, the staff member's document folder, the nationwide synchronized urban expansion plan—this massive chain had turned from words into reality.

The speed at which construction on the resettlement housing started and the progress of clearing the isolation zones had clearly entered the preparation stage before the official announcement.

He walked on the dirt road out of the village; the road surface beneath his feet had been pushed up into fine cracks by grass roots. The wild grass on the roadside grew very tall, and in some places, the roadbed could not even be seen.

He suddenly realized one thing. Oxygen concentration. The wild growth of plants was not just "more green." The total amount of photosynthesis was increasing exponentially, and oxygen concentration would rise accordingly. And the greenhouse effect would further intensify due to the explosive increase in vegetation coverage, and extreme weather in local areas would become more and more frequent. This was a chain reaction.

In the short term, huge changes were inevitable. Floods, droughts, storms—none of these would stop just because humanity had announced the "Spiritual Energy Revival." The pressure on infrastructure would become greater and greater, and the speed of urban expansion had to outrun environmental changes.

But from a longer-term perspective. Plants were purifying water sources. Forests were advancing toward the edges of deserts. Under the nourishment of Spiritual Qi, the carrying capacity of the entire ecosystem was rising.

He suddenly remembered those pictures he had seen not long ago of root Systems penetrating concrete. Root Systems that could penetrate concrete could also re-weave the sand-fixing soil layer into a network structure. The wildly growing grass could cover all the bare, desertified land again. The trend of desertification might begin to reverse after the Spiritual Qi concentration reached a certain threshold. Deserts turning into oases. This was not a metaphor. This was an inevitable result of the continued increase in Spiritual Qi concentration.

Chen Mo withdrew his thoughts. When passing the last utility pole at the village entrance, he stopped, took his phone out of his pocket, and took a photo. It recorded the last appearance of his old home before being swallowed by vegetation. Then he turned off the screen and put the phone back in his pocket.

Chen Mo walked toward the outside of the village, preparing to stay in the city for one night and leave tomorrow. His pace was not fast, but every step was pushing the village behind him further away. He did not look back again. He knew that the old order had already been turned over.