170: Chapter 170 As long as I stay home, I am invincible.

Gu Changan stood at the edge of the dust-filled construction site, the cigarette in his hand already half-burnt.

He ignored the tearful face of the project manager, Wang Aiguo.

Under the [Eye of Data Insight], the two-story building ahead was enveloped in a layer of dark golden light so dense it felt substantial.

That light carried an extreme sense of exclusivity, as if the laws of physics had ceased to function within that area of several hundred square meters.

On the rooftop, Zhao Tiezhu was fanning himself with a banana-leaf fan, lying on a rattan chair and looking perfectly at ease.

"Director Gu, look at the mess this has become."

Wang Aiguo pointed at the three excavators not far away with their tracks snapped, his voice trembling.

"That house is incredibly evil. Large sledgehammers bounce right off it, fire can't burn into it, and water can't wet it."

"Our construction team should have finished the closure half a month ago. If this drags on, I'll lose my head."

Gu Changan looked up at Zhao Tiezhu, then at the ticking countdown.

[Remaining Reward: 58 minutes.]

Once this hour passed, the old man would obtain the "Earth Divine-Grade" on the spot, and his house would truly merge with the land, becoming immovable by anyone.

Zhao Tiezhu seemed to hear the commotion below, leaned over the railing, and spat downward.

"Hey! The official down there!"

"Looking all dressed up like a human, stop wasting your effort here."

"This is a blessing from the Heavens bestowed upon me. This house is now the Southern Heaven Gate, understand?"

"I won't demolish it for any amount of money. I'm going to achieve Immortal Ascension tomorrow; do you think I care about your little compensation?"

The clerks responsible for persuasion around him were turning blue with anger.

"Uncle Zhao, this highway is a livelihood project, a key project for the entire province. You're blocking it, and the whole city has to take a detour."

Zhao Tiezhu sneered disdainfully.

"What does the whole city have to do with me? Is their ability to travel more important than my Immortal Ascension?"

"If you have the ability, blow up this house. If you can't, get lost and don't disturb my opera listening."

The drumbeats of the Peking Opera from the radio were deafening, full of provocation.

Gu Changan stepped forward and took the megaphone from Wang Aiguo's hand.

"Zhao Tiezhu, even Immortal Ascension must follow basic laws."

"You achieving Immortal Ascension in the middle of the road counts as illegal occupation of public resources, do you know that?"

Zhao Tiezhu changed his posture, covering his face with the banana-leaf fan.

"Stop trying to scare me with the law; I am now immune to all laws."

"I'm just going to sit in this house and not go anywhere. Let's see what you can do to me."

Gu Changan didn't get angry; instead, he carefully observed the pale golden shield.

The range of this shield was extremely precise, just hugging the boundary of the house's homestead.

The System's judgment logic was rigid: as long as the host did not leave the house, the house and the host were absolutely invincible.

Gu Changan put away the megaphone and turned to look at Chen Xiaobei.

"Chen Xiaobei, pull up the planning map and ownership certificate for this plot of land. I want the kind that is accurate to the centimeter."

Chen Xiaobei operated the computer rapidly, and a few seconds later, a holographic comparison map appeared before Gu Changan.

"Director Gu, Zhao Tiezhu's homestead is indeed legal, with an area of 180 square meters."

"However, the documents he holds only cover the usage rights of the surface structure."

Gu Changan pointed at the side-view projection on the screen, a curve forming at the corner of his mouth.

"According to our country's Property Law and Mineral Resources Law, land usage rights usually only cover the surface and its attachments."

"The underground minerals, deep soil, and the airspace above belong to the state."

Wang Aiguo was stunned: "Director Gu, what do you mean by that?"

Gu Changan pointed to the soil layer directly beneath Zhao Tiezhu's house.

"His System's invincibility is targeted at the physical structure of that house."

"In other words, as long as he doesn't leave that house, the house is an indestructible whole."

"But the System didn't say that the soil under his house is also invincible."

Gu Changan looked at the project manager, his eyes as calm as a precision instrument.

"Go and bring over those high-power horizontal directional drilling rigs and tunnel boring machines."

"Don't touch his house, and don't touch his perimeter wall."

"Start digging downwards from outside the boundary line of his homestead, down to twenty meters underground."

"Hollow out all the soil beneath this house and install prestressed steel structural supports."

Wang Aiguo's eyes almost popped out: "You mean to suspend his house in mid-air?"

Gu Changan nodded: "Since he wants to achieve Immortal Ascension, wants to ascend to the heavens in broad daylight, then I will help him."

"According to the original plan, this land was meant to build an interchange hub."

"No need to wait for the future; start work right here, right now."

"I want to make this house the only 'scenic bridge pier' of this interchange."

Zhao Tiezhu was stunned for a moment on the roof, then burst into loud laughter.

"Gu, who are you trying to scare?"

"Hollow out the foundation? My house weighs several hundred tons; once the foundation is empty, it will collapse immediately."

"As long as a single brick in my house cracks, it will be your responsibility. Let's see how you pay for it then!"

Gu Changan ignored him and signed the construction plan in his hand.

"Rest assured, sir, your invincible shield is very professional. It will ensure that even if your house is suspended in mid-air, there won't be a single crack."

"Start work!"

Following Gu Changan's order, the heavy machinery on the construction site began to roar like thunder.

Dozens of excavators and rotary drilling rigs began to dig frantically around the edges of the golden light shield, as if they had gone mad.

The piercing sound of metal cutting and the roar of motors resounded through the sky.

Zhao Tiezhu didn't care at first, even taking a leisurely sip of tea.

But in less than half an hour, he realized something was wrong.

He felt a slight tremor coming from the floor, not the kind of shaking that precedes a collapse, but a kind of... weightlessness.

He ran to the second-floor balcony and looked down.

He saw that the originally flat ground had, at some point, turned into a huge circular deep trench.

The pitch-black deep pit was spreading rapidly downwards along the base of his perimeter wall.

The familiar yellow earth was rapidly disappearing under the gnawing of those mechanical monsters.

"What are you doing! You are destroying private property!"

Zhao Tiezhu shouted from the balcony, a hint of panic in his voice.

Gu Changan looked up at him, holding the newly printed official document in his hand.

"Uncle Zhao, we didn't touch your house, nor did we enter your yard."

"We are conducting normal tunnel and bridge infrastructure work at an underground depth that belongs to the state, with complete procedures."

"According to the calculation of [Divine-Grade Construction Engineering Mastery], in ten minutes, your house will lose all ground support."

Zhao Tiezhu sneered: "Better if it collapses! Once it collapses, just wait to rot in prison!"

Gu Changan shook his head: "I told you, your System is very powerful; it won't let you collapse."

Just as Gu Changan expected.

When the last layer of load-bearing soil beneath the house was rudely swept away by the tunnel boring machine.

A shocking scene appeared.

The two-story building did not disintegrate as common sense would dictate, nor did it tilt or fall.

The dark golden "Absolute Defense Domain" locked the spatial structure of the house firmly in place.

The entire building, along with the less-than-two-meter-deep foundation soil, was like a model solidified in amber.

It floated steadily in mid-air.

And all around it, dozens of workers were frantically installing huge steel beams and hydraulic supports.

These steel beams did not touch the shield but were precisely placed against the edge of the shield, forming a huge metal support frame.

In a short time, Zhao Tiezhu's home transformed from a nail house on the road surface into a "high-altitude island" standing above a twenty-meter-deep pit.

Zhao Tiezhu looked at the bottomless pit beneath his feet, and the banana-leaf fan dropped to the ground with a clatter.

His legs went weak, and he gripped the railing tightly.

[System Warning: Environmental physical displacement has occurred, current height 22 meters, shield energy consumption increased.]

[Check-in Progress: 99 days 23 hours 15 minutes.]

Zhao Tiezhu gritted his teeth, a flicker of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.

"It doesn't matter... It doesn't matter!"

"As long as I don't go out, as long as I don't touch the ground, the check-in won't be interrupted!"

"As long as I endure for another forty-five minutes, I will become a god!"

"When that time comes, I will make you all kneel before me!"

Gu Changan looked at his watch, then glanced down at the framework of the interchange that was already beginning to take shape.

He picked up the walkie-talkie: "Chen Xiaobei, have the people from the power company and the water company come over."

"Since this has now become an 'independent building,' the previous municipal pipeline connections no longer meet safety standards."

"For the sake of the gentleman's safety, physically cut off all external connections."

Zhao Tiezhu was just about to go back inside to drink some water to calm his nerves when he suddenly found that the lights in the house clicked off.

A sizzling, hollow sound came from the faucet, and finally, two drops of murky yellow water dripped out.

The signal light on the wireless router also instantly turned red.

On this desperate high-altitude island, everything of modern civilization instantly left him.

Gu Changan stood at the edge of the deep pit and waved at Zhao Tiezhu above.

"Sir, the first step to Immortal Ascension is fasting."

"Take your time with the check-in; I'll be watching from below to see if your Immortal Qi is filling enough."