Chapter 246: Upgrade

September 1st, 1628. Dayuan Island, Imperial City.

The five-month construction of the Imperial City had finally finished ten days ago. The Transmigrators, brimming with excitement, had barely endured the ten-day "airing-out period" before eagerly picking September 1st, a date that looked very much like an auspicious day, to move in.

Elegantly cradling his cardboard box, a smile spreading across his face, Xia Lao Zhongtang, surrounded by the crowd, solemnly led the group of Transmigrators through the gates of the Imperial City, just like a poor county magistrate moving into a luxurious new Government office building.

The Imperial City was situated at the center of Dayuan Island, composed of a two-story Basement and a three-story surface structure, with protruding square-pillar Corner Towers at its four corners. In fact, if the windows and walls on the outer perimeter were carved with patterns and reliefs, and the Corner Towers reshaped into spires, a Victorian-style castle would emerge.

Unfortunately, the paupers lacked the resources for such frivolity. The so-called Imperial City was, in reality, a plain, rectangular red-brick commercial building.

The Imperial City's Basement had two levels, storing the Transmigrators' most valuable possessions, such as backup computers. Additionally, the Basement levels both had a ceiling height of three meters, with a one-quarter isolated area on the south side, designed to facilitate Cao Chuan's teleportation and the moving of those 2.8-meter crates.

The surface First Floor and Second Floor were in the form of an ordinary Government Office Building, with corridors flanked by offices featuring bright Glass windows. It's worth noting that the Imperial City's sewage system was quite comprehensive; a nearby Type 28 water tower and a septic tank perfectly solved the gentlemen's urgent bathroom needs.

All rooms featured healthy Decoration—only Cement floors and white walls brushed with Calcium Oxide, guaranteed formaldehyde-free. Of course, the office furniture here was still quite ostentatious: either Flower Pear Wood or red sandalwood.

The essence of the entire Imperial City lay on the Third Floor, where the formal "Imperial Palace" was located.

The Third Floor great hall, two Circles smaller at its base than the floors below, was a column-free hall built with Steel Bars and Cement. The hall had a ceiling height of 5 Meters and an area reaching 500 square meters, a space specifically designed for holding General Assemblies and ceremonies.

Atop the great hall stood an Eiffel-style telecommunications tower common in Later Generations, packed with various communication equipment and Radar.

The blue Glass Curtain Wall, specially imported from Later Generations, instantly elevated the Imperial Palace's prestige to the Number One level in this plane. Meanwhile, the palace's interior decoration appeared somewhat shoddy: needing to conserve Import Goods, yet appear magnificent, and also meet the construction deadline, the construction crew had plastered large amounts of gold foil on the ceiling and the platform holding the Dragon Throne to fool people.

As a result, the gold foil interior, lacking any fine reliefs or artistic sense, instantly laid bare the nouveau riche temperament of a certain group.

The Imperial Platform with its three-tiered steps was likewise a model of crudeness. Apart from the thick red sandalwood steps and a single Flower Pear Wood "Dragon Throne," the whole thing was utterly featureless, sharing the same style as a podium in a company auditorium. The only point of luxury was that the Imperial Palace floor was at least paved with imported floor tiles...

Furthermore, the Dragon Throne faced north.

One couldn't entirely blame those guys. After all, the Designers from Later Generations hadn't designed an imperial palace for many years... since 1912.

Fortunately, none of these were problems. In fact, these time-space travelers crossing planes generally held a critical attitude toward so-called tradition, especially those designs feudal societies used to maintain an emperor's mystique—the society the Transmigrators created would Be Bound To be one where the emperor frequently showed a folksy demeanor on television, needing none of that mysterious, secretive stuff.

And so, a nouveau riche imperial palace, with a blue-and-gold color scheme and a condensed company-auditorium style, was thus completed.

Cao Chuan, who consistently presented a laid-back boss image, was invited to tour the entire building upon the Imperial City's completion and cheerfully expressed his satisfaction with the project. After This, he exercised his authority and named the great hall "Jianyuan Hall."

The completion of Jianyuan Hall marked another major step forward for the Crossing Faction's nation-building enterprise, entering the phase of substantive operation. And time was running short for a group of people constantly "tearing each other apart for the nation" there. They had to reach a Consensus on some long-debated issues before the Enthronement Ceremony—they couldn't have the enthronement happening over there while the Constitution, National Flag, and such were still unresolved here, right?

Additionally, the Enthronement date had been preliminarily set for two months later, on November 11th... a very... affectionate date.

... Since there was still One Section of time before the Enthronement, this current period of working in the Imperial City could only be considered a "trial run."

Since it was a trial run, they had to test the building's various functions, right? So on this day, September 1st, the comrades had no sooner stepped into the new Office Building than they kicked off a grand Imperial City party on the terrace outside Jianyuan Hall.

A large number of Transmigrators rushed over upon hearing the news, and then the scene spiraled out of control. Within a short while, Transmigrators who heard there was home-brewed beer and a seafood barbecue, busy or not, all came running.

Starting from noon, powerful heavy metal music boomed from the direction of the Imperial City. If any Native had very good eyesight, they could see someone on the blue-glowing Second Floor platform of the Imperial City, wearing headphones, twisting their hips, and constantly flipping lobsters, abalones, and leopard coral groupers on the grill.

Most people eating barbecue held a cup of home-brewed beer. In small groups of three or five, they chatted and shot the breeze inside and outside the Imperial Palace, enjoying themselves immensely. Even the Great Office crowd seemed free of their usual squabbles today.

At that very moment, Chairman Cao, who was always elusive, unexpectedly emerged from the secret door Behind the Dragon Throne—the secret door connected to an independent bedroom and the Basement, ensuring Cao Chuan could come and go freely.

Seeing Chief Executive Dong suddenly appear, everyone was first stunned, then raised their glasses one after another to wish Chief Executive Dong eternal health... And Cao Chuan, who normally didn't participate in such group activities, seemed to be in high spirits today in his own Imperial Palace. He actually came smiling among the "masses," picked up a glass of beer, and drank with everyone.

After the atmosphere reached its climax, the next item was Chief Executive Dong's exclusive signature routine: opening the crate.

One must know, since Chief Executive Dong toured the Imperial City ten days ago and then vanished Behind the Dragon Throne, today was his First Time showing his face. So everyone excitedly crowded around Chief Executive Dong to the outside of Jianyuan Hall, wanting to see at the First Moment what good things were inside the crate.

Cao Chuan was already very familiar with this situation. He took a few steps forward with a smile, Rounding a square table piled with various fruits and vegetables, then looked back at the large crowd of Transmigrators raising their beer glasses in excitement. He extended his left hand.

Previously, this left hand had been kept in his trouser pocket the entire time.

Now, after extending his left hand, unlike usual, he deliberately raised that hand high above his head and waved it behind him.

Next, amidst several gasps of surprise, Cao Chuan clapped his hands like a magician, and before him appeared a 2.8-meter shipping container, utterly familiar to everyone.

After completing this action, Cao Chuan spun around abruptly, grabbed a tomato from the table, and fiercely hurled it at a Transmigrator whose face was full of shock and whose mouth was exclaiming, "Where's the Ring?!"