After leaving the experiment site, Sun Hang did not drive straight home, but instead detoured to the Xindu District in the north of the city.

At the intersection of Xingcheng Avenue and Phoenix Elevated Road, there was a commercial residential development spanning over five thousand acres just beginning construction... Whether it was good or bad luck for the developer was unknown, as the foundation of the project had not even been dug when the Eternal Night descended without warning.

Property prices throughout Shuzhou plummeted to rock bottom overnight, and naturally, the developer of this project abandoned their further construction plans—according to the Federation Government's regulation, a development must reach one-third of its intended construction progress to officially start pre-sales... and this project, without even a foundation, wouldn't get a penny recouped from future owners.

The money used to buy the land had already turned into sunk costs. Continuing construction wouldn't even recover the land purchase money, let alone the cost of building materials and labor—it was impossible. The locals were looking to sell their properties and relocate to other city-states, while outsiders would have to be out of their minds to consider buying a house in Shuzhou at this time.

Elsewhere, no matter how small the distance between buildings, how low the ceiling height, or how narrow the windows, there was always a bit of daylight available... But in Shuzhou now—goodness, no matter what floor you're on or how large your windows, the amount of daylight remains uniformly zero.

Even the boldest speculators didn't dare to gamble their money on the Eternal Night, which might last for many more years.

While the developers were at their wits' end figuring out how to explain to the shareholders about these billions in sunk costs, the Celestial City Management Committee brought them some "good news" at this moment.

The Celestial City Management Committee was willing to buy back this nearly five-thousand-acre plot at 50% of the selling price and take over the subsequent construction work.

Though it was still a significant loss, the difference between a 50% and a 100% loss was considerable... the developers, almost driven to desperation, agreed to this proposal without hesitation, selling the newly purchased land back to the Celestial City Management Committee at half the price.

As for the use of this land, it certainly wouldn't be used to build commercial housing that couldn't be sold... This place would soon have a new name, a name significant enough to attract attention across the Federation.

"Dubhe Tower Comprehensive Talent Training Base."

As the first "Honorary Principal," Sun Hang naturally had the duty to inspect the progress of the project—during the days he was away from the Celestial City, the special engineering team from Dubhe Tower had already started the construction. Reasonably, the foundation should be almost finished by now, right?

However, when Sun Hang drove along Xingcheng Avenue to the construction site, he discovered that a fort-like fortress, almost comparable to a military stronghold, had arisen from the ground. Twenty-meter-high walls enclosed the entire construction area, and from Sun Hang's perspective, he could only see cranes towering over a hundred meters high, along with large drones assisting workers in transporting building materials.

"This... built quite quickly, didn't it?" Sun Hang was taken aback for a moment. He suddenly remembered Yang Qi had mentioned in passing that this engineering team had also been involved in the expansion project of Chunming City.

Compared to that miraculous and grand metropolis, everything before him seemed to make sense again.

Sun Hang wanted to take another look, but a blaring horn suddenly urged from behind. He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw over a dozen heavy-duty trucks loaded with building materials heading his way.

Sun Hang quickly started the car and moved out of the way, watching the convoy of trucks enter the ramp.

Amidst the screeching sound of friction, the heavy walls began to move, revealing an opening over thirty meters wide. These trucks orderly entered the construction site through this gap, after which the walls closed once more.

On top of the walls, there were even heavy-duty machine guns and large hangars for drones to take off and land. High-lumen searchlights swept the surroundings non-stop, and from time to time, armed helicopters with blinking signal lights flew overhead. All that was missing was the transport of the Garuda aerial combat platform.

The nearby road sections had long been closed. Fortunately, Sun Hang drove a car with the special plates of the Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute, allowing him access—still, the checkpoint at the entrance wasted nearly five minutes of his time.

Truth be told, Sun Hang frequently saw the media praising the Xiazhou Federation's infrastructure capabilities as terrifying and exaggerated, but this was indeed the first time he had personally experienced the reality praised in the media... the facts were even more outrageous than the written descriptions.

At this pace, the talent training base could probably begin operation within a month, right?

It might even catch up with the traditional start of the school year in September.

It's just unknown how many students can be recruited... The annual "Unified Examination for Higher Education Admission" had ended, and the time for volunteer application had passed. Although, with Dubhe Tower's authority, getting all candidates across the Federation to fill out their applications again was just a word away. But how many top talents would give up their original aspirations to attend a newly built school in a place "literally devoid of sunlight," where career opportunities were extremely narrow, remained entirely uncertain.

The name of Dubhe Tower is indeed prestigious, but Sun Hang still thought Pei Zongjun was overly optimistic about the admission rate.

"But having fewer students is also a good thing." Sun Hang muttered to himself while driving, "Fewer people, fewer troubles... Moreover, this place... might soon turn into a battlefield."

Sun Hang was also uncertain when Chimera 17 might come knocking, but for those "chosen ones" about to start a new semester here, they absolutely couldn't dream that their first semester would introduce a "life-threateningly exciting" "practical course."

Here, "life-threatening" and the previous "devoid of sunlight" were meant quite literally.

"I should mention this to Mr. Pei when I get the chance," Sun Hang muttered, "We can't have a massacre of students in the first semester, right..."

...

After inspecting the site, Sun Hang initially planned to visit the residential area where the Tai Sui had been discovered and devoured. However, just as he drove down the elevated road, he received a video call from Yang Qi.

"Why aren't you home yet?" The moment the call connected, Yang Qi directly questioned Sun Hang—as Sun Hang felt the background behind her was somewhat familiar, Miss Zhong Ling, wearing an apron, suddenly flashed across the screen.

"You're at my place? Didn't you say you were working late tonight?" Sun Hang asked in confusion.

"...Ahem, I later thought about it, and work should be balanced with rest," Yang Qi coughed twice, then spoke earnestly, "Besides, I really haven't eaten ramen in a long time."

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