327: Chapter 327 Holy crap, even construction sites are high-tech projections!

"Holy crap?"

"Those barriers just now, were they actually fake?"

Wang Peng's entire face was practically pressed against the car window.

He had clearly seen large areas of construction barriers, gray hoarding, unfinished building structures, and several cranes just a moment ago.

Even that specific sense of dust in the air—typical of a construction site—felt too real to be fake.

But after the business van passed through the gate, everything before his eyes looked as if a gray curtain had been gently wiped away.

Those barriers were gone.

The cranes were gone.

The unfinished building structures were gone, too.

In their place was a smart avenue so clean and wide it hardly looked like a real city road.

The smart streetlights on both sides of the road formed silvery-white arcs; their poles lacked any unnecessary decoration, yet they shimmered with a faint metallic luster under the sunlight.

The road surface was divided into different functional zones.

The middle was a dedicated lane for fully automated buses.

On both sides were standard traffic lanes and dedicated lanes for logistics Robots.

Closer to the pedestrian area, there was a light blue guide strip that would automatically adjust its brightness as pedestrians approached.

In the distance, the glass exterior walls of the high-rises reflected the sky and sunlight.

Those buildings were not cold steel forests in the traditional sense.

Their lines were clean and light, and the facades were covered in large areas of smart glass, the brightness of which seemed to slowly change according to the angle of the sunlight.

Several transparent sightseeing passages spanned between the buildings.

From a distance, they looked like crystal corridors suspended in mid-air.

Wang Peng's jaw hung open in disbelief.

"This... this isn't scientific."

"Just a moment ago, looking from the outside, it was clearly still a construction site!"

Lu Yaoguang was also stunned for a moment.

She had originally prepared herself to see a half-finished city.

After all, that circle of barriers and cranes outside had been far too realistic.

But now, she realized.

The things seen outside might have been fake from the very beginning.

Chen Shuyu's eyes brightened slightly.

She understood technology better than Wang Peng and Lu Yaoguang, so the impact on her was even greater.

Because this was not just an ordinary projection.

Ordinary projections could not deceive a person's sense of space.

Nor could they maintain the same realistic occlusion effect when viewed from different angles.

Su Qingxue looked out the window, also somewhat surprised.

She knew that the smart city had a visual shielding scheme on its perimeter.

This project had been mentioned in early reports.

But she hadn't expected the actual effect to reach this level.

If she hadn't personally passed through the shielding boundary, she would have even thought those construction scenes outside were real.

Lu Li watched for a while, then suddenly asked:

"Who made this perimeter shielding scheme?"

Xu Wenzhou, sitting in the passenger seat, immediately turned around.

"Director Lu, it was Team Leader Zhang Yueran."

"She is in charge of the visual interaction and city boundary shielding project."

"The equipment currently deployed on the perimeter of the Chengbei Smart New District is the Guanghui Technology Mirage Air Imaging device."

"The construction barriers, cranes, unfinished building structures, and dust trails seen from the outside are all air projections generated in real-time by the Mirage system."

Lu Li was slightly taken aback when he heard the name.

Zhang Yueran.

He went through his mind and had a vague impression of her.

She seemed to be a young team leader promoted from the visual interaction department.

But it was only a vague impression.

After all, the smart city project was too massive.

As the chief project engineer, his role in the past had mostly been setting the direction, providing the technical framework, pouring in resources, and establishing safety red lines.

The actual implementation was mostly left to Deputy Chief Engineer Chang Mingyuan and the project teams below.

Lu Li suddenly felt a bit ashamed.

He knew the top-level architecture of the entire smart city by heart.

But if he really had to name every team leader below, he certainly couldn't remember them all.

The one he had the deepest impression of was Deputy Chief Engineer Chang Mingyuan.

Now it seemed that quite a lot of talent had indeed emerged from below.

Seeing that Lu Li didn't speak, Xu Wenzhou felt a bit nervous.

Thinking that Lu Li felt he wasn't familiar enough with the project team members, he quickly added:

"Team Leader Zhang is also in the New District today."

"Would Director Lu like to meet her?"

Lu Li nodded.

"Have her come over."

"I happen to want to hear about this shielding system."

Xu Wenzhou immediately notified Zhang Yueran through internal communication.

The business van did not continue deeper into the core area but stopped beside a temporary reception platform.

On the smart road not far away, a fully automated bus drove by quietly.

The bus had no traditional driver's seat.

The entire vehicle looked like a low, rounded transparent capsule, with the route number and estimated arrival time displayed on the surface of the body.

Wang Peng couldn't help but raise his phone again.

However, just as he raised it, Lu Yaoguang pressed it down.

"Don't take pictures."

"It hasn't been made public yet."

Wang Peng looked regretful.

"I know."

"I just wanted to keep a souvenir."

Lu Yaoguang shot him a sidelong glance.

"Usually, by the time you finish saying that sentence, it's already been posted to your Moments."

Wang Peng immediately spoke righteously.

"Sis, you are slandering my character."

Lu Yaoguang scoffed.

"Your character is just like your internet speed—not very trustworthy."

Wang Peng: "..."

A few minutes later, a young woman walked over quickly.

She was wearing the Guanghui Technology project team uniform, her hair simply tied back, and she wore very light makeup.

She looked capable and sharp.

Even in an environment as futuristic as the smart new district, she still had a very distinct presence.

It wasn't the kind of beauty that was deliberately flashy.

It was a beauty that was calm, confident, and highly professional.

She arrived in front of Lu Li and Su Qingxue, stood still, and bowed slightly.

"Director Lu, Director Su."

"Zhang Yueran, from the Visual Interaction and City Boundary Shielding Project Team."

Su Qingxue looked at her and nodded slightly.

Lu Li asked directly:

"The perimeter shielding system, did your team make it?"

Zhang Yueran nodded.

"Yes."

Her voice was steady.

"The Mirage Air Imaging system is currently used on the perimeter of the Chengbei Smart New District."

"It is not for the sake of mystery."

"There are two main purposes."

"First, to prevent the smart new district from being secretly photographed while in a semi-finished state, leading to out-of-context interpretations."

"Second, to preserve the visual surprise for the official opening."

As she spoke, she raised her hand to bring up an air projection screen.

A real-time surveillance feed of the perimeter of the smart new district appeared on the screen.

Looking from one of the external perspectives, the Chengbei Smart New District still appeared to be a large construction site.

Barriers, cranes, construction vehicles, unfinished building structures, and even a few workers wearing hard hats walking in the distance.

But another internal perspective showed that those places were actually completed smart blocks.

The two images were placed side by side, the contrast so sharp it made Wang Peng's scalp tingle.

"Even the workers are fake?"

Zhang Yueran looked at him and explained:

"They are not static images."

"The masked imagery changes in real-time according to the external perspective."

"Everything, including shadows, dust, construction vehicle tracks, the sway of the tower cranes, and the perspective changes of the edges of distant buildings, is regenerated based on the observer's position."

"Ordinary people looking from the outside will only think that this is still an unfinished construction site."

Chen Shuyu couldn't help but ask:

"What if someone uses a drone to film from high altitude?"

Zhang Yueran did not pause.

"There is a corresponding scheme for high-altitude perspectives as well."

"However, there is currently temporary low-altitude control around the perimeter of the Chengbei Smart New District; drones that approach will be warned by the city AI to return."

"If they force their way in, the system will record the device ID and the operator's location."

"But even if someone films from a distance across the control zone, the Mirage system will supplement the masked imagery according to the aerial perspective."

After hearing this, Chen Shuyu's eyes brightened even more.

If this technology were applied to military camouflage, urban protection, commercial launches, theme parks, or even large-scale performances, the possibilities were vast.

Lu Li watched the projection screen and did not speak immediately.

After a while, he nodded.

"Not bad."

Two words.

Very light.

Yet they caused a subtle, momentary change in Zhang Yueran's originally calm expression.

Her fingers tightened slightly.

To an outsider, this might just be a casual comment from Lu Li.

But she knew very well how difficult it was to get a "Not bad" from Lu Li within Guanghui Technology.

Especially for technical projects.

Lu Li rarely complimented people.

Most of the time, he only pointed out problems.

Where something was inefficient.

Where security was insufficient.

Where the user experience was so stupid it looked like it was designed without a brain.

Therefore, this "Not bad" carried far more weight than a bunch of pretty words spoken by ordinary leaders in meetings.

Xu Wenzhou also breathed a sigh of relief on the side.

He quickly said:

"Director Lu, Director Su, next we have arranged a flying sightseeing vehicle."

"From the air, you can observe the overall layout of the core area of the first phase more completely."

When Wang Peng heard the words "flying sightseeing vehicle," his eyes instantly lit up like light bulbs.

"Flying?"

"Is it an Anti-gravity sightseeing vehicle?"

Xu Wenzhou smiled and nodded.

"To be precise, it is the city sightseeing version of the Star Wing series, from the Anti-gravity series under Guanghui Technology."

Wang Peng immediately looked at Lu Li.

"Bro, we haven't experienced this sightseeing version yet; you're being too biased."

Lu Li glanced at him indifferently, too lazy to reply.

Wang Peng straightened his back on the spot.

"I announce."

"What I am sitting in now is not a sightseeing vehicle."

"It is the future."

He paused, then asked cautiously:

"Bro, can I record a video?"

Lu Yaoguang looked at him with disdain.

"Can you stop adding drama to yourself every time?"

Wang Peng was righteous.

"This is a historic moment."

"As the family's designated representative for shock, I have an obligation to record it."

Lu Yaoguang looked at Lu Li.

"Bro, I suggest confiscating his phone."

Wang Peng was suddenly anxious.

"Sis, private property is inviolable!"

Su Qingxue watched the two bicker, a faint smile appearing in her eyes.