Chapter 17: Dragon Beneath the Earth: Modern Subways Reshape Infrastructure Concepts

Lin Xuan changed into his sneakers and stuffed a black sun umbrella into his backpack.

Xiao Sizi, wearing newly bought children's sneakers, stamped her feet at the entrance.

Midday in early summer, the sun was vicious. Daily novel reading experience is great, ttkk. tw is awesome.

The asphalt road was baked hot, a layer of transparent heat haze shimmering in the air.

Lin Xuan opened the umbrella, casting most of the shade over the little girl's head.

The two crossed two blocks and stopped before the entrance of a massive sunken plaza.

A glass canopy covered the stairs leading down.

A metal escalator emitted a low hum, its steps endlessly devouring the descent into an abyss.

Waves of cold wind blew out from the depths of the underground passage.

Xiao Sizi stopped, leaning closer to Lin Xuan's leg.

"Are we going to Jiu You Huang Quan?"

She stared at the pitch-black underground entrance, her voice trembling.

Ancients revered heaven and earth.

The living dwell above ground; the dead enter the earth to rest.

To walk deep underground is to go meet the King of Hell.

Lin Xuan closed the umbrella and shook the dust from its surface.

"Huang Quan doesn't look like this; down there are all living people, and it's livelier than above ground."

Lin Xuan took her hand and stepped onto the metal escalator.

The conveyor belt slid smoothly downward.

On the white walls on both sides hung colorful GG lightboxes.

Xiao Sizi clutched Lin Xuan's fingers tightly; she dared not look at the moving metal steps beneath her feet.

She could only tilt her head up, watching rows of cold lights rushing past overhead.

Above the Sky Screen, the view fell into the deep, gloomy underground.

Great Qin, Xianyang Palace.

Ying Zheng kicked aside the bronze charcoal basin at his feet and strode to the edge of the high platform.

He built the Li Shan Ling Mu, conscripting seven hundred thousand convicts, hollowing out Li Shan to carve out a vast underground palace city.

He knew well the difficulty and peril of moving earth underground.

Collapses, water seepage, lack of oxygen; for every foot excavated, lives had to be paid.

In contrast, this underground world in the Sky Screen was spacious, bright, and dry.

Living people in bright clothes came and went everywhere.

"They have dug out another city beneath the city of the living?"

"The passages are reinforced with Glazed Ware and steel, with eternal flames."

"Can craftsmen of later generations cut through the earth veins at will?"

Ying Zheng turned and stared at the Zuo Shao Fu behind him.

"Stop construction on the side halls of Epang Palace! Reallocate the artisans for me to study how to drill holes beneath the soil layers!" Flames of mad conquest flickered in Ying Zheng's eyes. "If Great Qin can master such underground passage arts, to breach cities and fortresses, with armies digging straight through enemy walls from below, who in the world can stop me!"

Underground Level One, the station hall.

Lin Xuan led Xiao Sizi to a row of red machines.

Ahead was a row of metal turnstiles.

He took out his Mobile Phone and brought up the ride QR code.

He aimed the screen at the scanner.

Beep.

The machine emitted a short chime, and the red barriers snapped open to both sides.

Lin Xuan led the girl through the turnstiles, continued down the escalator, and entered the platform on Underground Level Two.

A stronger gust of cold wind surged out from the tunnel.

On both sides of the platform stood a row of transparent Glass screen doors.

Beyond the doors lay the deep, dark tunnel.

The numbers on the countdown display jumped: 01 minute 00 seconds.

A few seconds later, a highly oppressive low-frequency vibration came from deep beneath the floor.

Xiao Sizi's toes involuntarily rose onto her tiptoes.

She heard a long roar belonging to no beast in this world.

The wind grew stronger, blowing the wisps of hair on her forehead wildly.

Two beams of blinding light tore through the darkness deep in the tunnel.

A massive creature cast from silver metal roared as it charged into the platform.

Steel grinding against rails erupted in a sharp shriek.

The train braked to an emergency stop.

Dozens of train doors slid open to both sides simultaneously.

Cold air mixed with the scent of the crowd surged out.

Xiao Sizi held her breath, gripping Lin Xuan's fingers even tighter.

"Let's go, get on the train."

Lin Xuan took her hand and stepped across the gap between the carriages.

The train started, sending a powerful push against their backs.

The tunnel lights outside the window instantly stretched into streaks of white light trails.

Xiao Sizi was pressed by Lin Xuan onto the seat.

She propped her hands on the edge of the plastic seat, her eyes unblinking as she stared at the scenery rushing past outside the window.

"This beast..." she swallowed hard, "travels a thousand li a day?"

"About that." Lin Xuan made a rough estimate, "Eighty kilometers per hour. Converted to your Great Tang's measurements, it can run over one hundred and sixty li in half an hour."

"And it needs no grass to eat, no rest to take."

The train slowed down and stopped at the next station.

The doors opened, and a batch of passengers surged in.

A pregnant woman with a protruding belly, carrying a canvas bag, walked over while holding the handrail.

Lin Xuan immediately stood up.

"Hello, please sit here."

The pregnant woman paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded in thanks: "Thank you, handsome."

She held her waist and sat down carefully in Lin Xuan's original spot.

Xiao Sizi tilted her head back, her gaze switching back and forth between Lin Xuan and that strange woman.

In her understanding, Lin Xuan knew medicine, understood the secrets of heaven, and lived in a house full of magical treasures.

In this world, Lin Xuan was absolutely a high-ranking figure of supreme status.

How could a high-ranking figure give up a seat to a commoner?

"Lin Xuan." Xiao Sizi tugged at the corner of his clothes, lowering her voice, "Why did you give your seat to her?"

"She is pregnant; standing is unsafe."

Lin Xuan held the overhead ring with one hand, his tone casual.

"But you are the master..." Xiao Sizi stopped the words at her lips, changed her phrasing, "You are noble, she is lowly; since ancient times, there has been no rule for the noble to yield to the lowly."

Lin Xuan lowered his head, meeting her eyes full of confusion.

"Great Tang speaks of hierarchy; here, we speak of civilization."

Lin Xuan pointed to the "Respect the Elderly and Care for the Young" slogan pasted on the carriage wall, "In modern society, there are no masters and no slaves."

"Everyone buys a ticket to board; status is equal."

"I gave up my seat because her body is inconvenient, out of care for the weak, not because she is more noble than me."

He ruffled Xiao Sizi's hair.

"Bullying the weak is what beasts in the jungle do."

"Only by caring for the weak can it be called modern civilization."

Outside the Sky Screen.

Lin Xuan's casually spoken words struck a heavy hammer blow against the rigid hierarchical system of the ancients.

Great Song.

Bao Zheng stood in the courtyard of Kai Feng Fu, stroking his long beard, and let out a satisfied hum:

"Hmm~ No hierarchy, only civilization."

"The strong protect the weak, rather than arbitrarily humiliating them."

Tears welled up in Bao Zheng's eyes, "This is the true world of Great Unity."

"I have judged cases all my life; is this not what I seek? Absolute fairness under the law!"

Great Tang, Taiji Palace.

Li Shimin stood with his hands behind his back, listening to Lin Xuan's words in silence.

Great Tang has its own national conditions; he could not abolish class distinctions immediately.

What he cared about more was the environment where Lin Xuan lived.

Li Shimin's gaze passed over Lin Xuan, landing on a glowing panel above his head.

It was a city subway map.

Red, yellow, blue, green.

More than a dozen colored lines intertwined, like a huge spider web spread beneath the city.

Every node was marked with dense place names.

In the scene, Lin Xuan happened to raise his hand and point at that map.

"Do you see this net?"

"Underground in this city, more than a dozen such iron dragons are running simultaneously."

Xiao Sizi followed his finger to look.

"Every line connects every corner of the city."

"The granary in the east, the factory in the west, the hospital in the south."

Lin Xuan pointed his finger at the center of the map, "A city of tens of millions of people relies entirely on this net for transport. Every day, millions of people shuttle through this net; in one hour, you can cross from the south of the city to the north."