"Please take a look, this is the normal situation of natural water supply in a region."

Gongsun Bao pointed to his own hand-drawn map.

It was a large scroll of sheepskin with a piece of land depicted in ink, marked with mountains, forests, plains, and rivers.

"The main source of land water supply relies on natural rivers or lakes. Here, I'm mainly talking about rivers that pass through a part or the whole of a landmass."

He gestured on the map with his finger: "The water from the Dead Sea enters the land and settles in the soil environment, becoming drinkable. Generally speaking, the further inland and away from the Dead Sea, the purer the water, and the safer it is to drink."

"The water near the Dead Sea has certain hazards, at least for humans, as drinking it would cause various diseases or anomalies."

"So our general practice is to draw water back, use pots or pits for secondary sedimentation, and then drink the upper part of the cleansed water. A better method is to drink boiled water based on this, although it consumes a lot of fuel. Fortunately, now many residents have bought Flame Cups, greatly alleviating the water fetching problem."

Zhou Yi listened carefully.

"Apart from some suitable areas that can support fish, shrimp, water algae, and lotus roots, the vast majority of water resources are hard to utilize. One reason is the quality of the water, and the other is the severe influence of the Dead Sea on the water flow."

Gongsun Bao spoke about water conservancy projects with an inner confidence that radiated outward, his buck-teethed and ugly face seemed to gain a different kind of charm.

"The direction of water flow is normally from high to low, but under the influence of the Dead Sea, this is not the case."

He drew a circle on the sheepskin map over the area of the Dead Sea Zone.

There were whirlpools representing rapids, high-pressure areas with downward arrows, and explosion scatter symbols of Light Burst.

"Mr. Zhou, you see, in reality, it's the rapids that dictate the water flow, causing water to move from high to low and from low to high."

"Especially apparent near Steel Refining City. In spring and summer, the river flows from north to south, but in autumn and winter, it flows from south to north."

"The reason lies in the change of rapids entering and leaving the area in different seasons."

Zhou Yi was first learning of this.

He normally drank either soft drinks or the underground water filtered and extracted by Jade City, never paying attention to the direction of river flow.

"But no matter how it changes, the rapids always exert enough thrust on the water flow to form rivers that run across the land. This is the natural power I intend to harness."

Gongsun Bao pointed to a coastal region on the map, where a circular trench had been drawn, one end connected to the Dead Sea and the other snaking around the land, forming an arc before returning to the Dead Sea.

"Digging a trench on the coast to harness the power of the Dead Sea, it will propel the river at the entrance to surge rapidly and enter into circulation within the trench."

"Next to this trench, Guangtai Port could be constructed, and collection tools can be deployed stepwise within the trench. Utilizing the Dead Sea's natural thrust, the Light Soot Sand in the Dead Sea could be collected, making it an easier, semi-automatic process."

"That's one thing."

He confidently elaborated: "Then, waterwheels will be created. When the Dead Sea propels the water into the waterwheels' troughs, the hydraulic power will rotate the wheels, which, through a transmission device, will drive the pumps to work."

"The pumps will then be able to draw water, lifting it from low to high for irrigation, and reach up to higher elevations, significantly reducing irrigation costs and achieving water storage in many areas. Even during long and hot summers like this one, there will be abundant clean water sources that can be consumed directly."

"Although the cost of such a project will be very high, if you look at it as a ten or twenty-year investment, it will undoubtedly be profitable."

"It would be even more beneficial to build aqueducts near Sand Port, as there are a lot of farmlands and agricultural needs. Plus, there are those lands that could be suspended in midair, which also require water to be lifted from below."

Zhou Yi listened carefully to the entire explanation.

The idea, although bold, indeed had certain feasibility.

He asked, "Gongsun Bao, how much do you think a circular Dead Sea Channel like this would cost?"

"I conducted experiments at the mouth of the river, and based on scaling, if a channel 4 kilometers long and 8 meters wide is constructed, it would work. However, considering the hazards and destructive power of the Dead Sea, apart from needing a large number of bricks and stones, there's also a need for seepage prevention, leakproofing, and earthquake resistance. The cost should be 300 Light Seeds per kilometer, calculating a phase one project to be approximately 1200 Light Seeds."

"However, if we want to ensure the project is safer and more stable, we'd need to hire professional mechanical and electronic lifeforms, and the budget would need to be increased. But overall, as long as it's a water conservancy mechanical lifeform, this small-scale project can be completed."

Gongsun Bao said, "I've also calculated the revenue. If we can continually earn income from Light Soot Sand, following the model of Guangtai Port, this length of trench could recoup its cost in about 15 years. After that, it's all profit."

Zhou Yi was silent for a moment.

Gongsun Bao was somewhat nervously waiting.

At this moment, Zhou Yi's thoughts were racing.

Gongsun Bao's idea could bring about limited direct benefits but belonged to the field of public infrastructure. It could achieve long-term water storage and irrigation, which would be hugely beneficial for farms.

Especially as the number of suspended layers continued to grow, these higher-elevation farmlands needed water supply, and relying on manpower was too cumbersome and tiring. Using Light Imprint Devices would become increasingly costly.

As long as the Dead Sea Channel is built and equipped with pumps and trenches, it could enable a very low-cost, continuous water supply.

This was a good direction.

Zhou Yi came back to his senses and saw Gongsun Bao's anxious expression.

He smiled immediately: "It's a good design. Our company has a lot of farmlands, and the Dead Sea Channel could solve the irrigation problem. Just for that, it's very worthwhile."

"Gongsun Bao, I formally invite you to join our Wasteland Development Company as the chief architect of the Dead Sea Channel and execute this construction project. Are you willing?"

The other party's face stiffened for a moment, then burst into jubilation: "I'm very willing, willing!"

Zhou Yi shook hands with him and found that Gongsun Bao's palms were sweaty.

"Better sooner than later, let's head back now to discuss the details of constructing the Dead Sea Channel. The sooner we complete this water management project, the better our farmlands can benefit from the improved water supply."

Zhou Yi said goodbye to the Steel Refining Lord and took Gongsun Bao back to Jade City, flying toward Sand Port.

...

Gongsun Bao walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the clouds outside and the increasingly small ground below, lost in thought.

Assistant Yuan Xiao brought a cup of tea to this guest—though it was just iced black tea poured into a paper cup.

"Please drink."

"Thank you."

Gongsun Bao took it with some trepidation.

Zhou Yi said to the Angel of Death, "You go ahead with your work; I'll have a chat with him."

"Yes."

Yuan Xiao returned to the study and closed the door gently.

Zhou Yi walked up to Gongsun Bao as well: "Have you been in Steel Refining City all along?"

"No, Chairman."

Gongsun Bao sipped his tea, "This is really good... I come from Fanyun City."

"Our place is situated at a very high altitude, in fact, it's a land covered with many mountains. It's cold in winter and cool in summer, shrouded in clouds and mist all year round, hence the name."

"The houses in Fanyun City are all built on the middle of the mountain and cliffs, as there are no particularly flat open spaces to use. I work there as an architect, helping everyone design and construct houses; we have plenty of local stone and wood for building materials."

"It's just that we have a small population there, and the houses last a long time, so architects like us need to look for work in other places. It was in Steel Refining City that I first saw the Mushroom Houses; I was both astonished and scared."

Gongsun Bao held the paper cup with both hands, his face showing a mix of confusion and melancholy: "All you have to do is plant the mushrooms, support them with wooden sticks to grow straight up naturally, and then do some post-arrangement, and you have a breathable, sturdy house."

"Such a house can be placed on any land, high mountains, canyons, cliffs, without any clever thoughts. It will firmly grasp the earth on its own, more solid than the foundations of any house."

He said somewhat desolately, "All that design drawing knowledge I had, as well as experience in geological survey and construction... became utterly useless."

Zhou Yi consoled: "Technological innovation is something every person must accept. What we can do is learn to change and strive to lead that change."

"You're absolutely right."

Gongsun Bao nodded: "Architects must learn to adapt to the environment to build the needed houses. We cannot select our places; we must craft the homes according to the different locations."

"But it's also because I know too much about houses that when I saw the Mushroom House, I was tremendously shocked. It turns out that at the end of the day, what architects compete over isn't materials and structural design, but rather cultivation techniques."

The architect showed a bitter smile.

Zhou Yi also opened a bottle of oolong tea and took a sip: "How did you come up with the idea of the Dead Sea Channel?"

"At first I thought, since Steel Refining City needs to smelt steel, why not build an internal channel that could transport ores from the mining area to the steel plant by boat, and then back to the mining area in a loop."

"But unexpectedly, as soon as my design came out, I learned that Steel Refining City was sanctioned and steel production was reduced... so I had to change the drawings. But the idea of utilizing the Dead Sea, I actually had it while in Fanyun City, and even architects there have been successful with it."

He shared: "There was once an architect in Fanyun City, he redirected the river across the Dead Sea mountains, turning it into a spiral structure encircling a large mountain. This change not only allowed every settler on each layer of the mountain to easily access water, but also to place rafts in the water to effortlessly transport heavy objects and stones down to the foot of the mountain."

"That was the source of my inspiration."

"Inland transportation of materials can also be accomplished in this way, delivering to different areas."

Zhou Yi suddenly understood.

There was already a successful precedent.

"It's a pity that later on, there was an accident with the Dead Sea Channel on the mountain, and many people died... so it was completely abandoned."

"What happened?"

"Hmm. The circular Dead Sea Channel created a peculiar pressure, causing the nearby residents to cough up blood, have ringing ears, dizziness, and feel weak all over. Quite a few people suffered organ ruptures and bleeding, and more than a dozen people died."

Zhou Yi immediately realized: "A high-pressure area?"

He had clearly experienced a similar pressure when he was in the high-pressure zone in the Dead Sea.

"The mechanical-electronic lifeform that came to survey also said the same. Due to the circular channel creating a directional circulation of the Death Light, the surrounding area of the loop produced high pressure. Its intensity is much lower than within the Dead Sea, but the impact on a human's internal organs is still significant, absolutely not usable."

"Even if the Dead Sea Channel is narrow, it is harmful to humans; if the width increases... that kind of oppressive and heavy feeling becomes particularly evident, even birds can't fly."

Gongsun Bao said: "So, we mustn't form a complete loop, we need to avoid such risks. It's also because of this that the Dead Sea Channel isn't widely used on the surface, as it indeed carries risks and must be kept away from the population."

Zhou Yi listened and fell into deep thought.

Artificial high-pressure areas... indeed, there's a place where they could come in handy...

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