126: Chapter 126 Foundation Laying Ceremony! Is the foundation meant to be blown up?

The Equatorial Base Station in the Wasteland dimension had now become a massive open-air classroom.

Li Qiang sat cross-legged on a large stone tablet engraved with "Construction Site, No Entry," with a blade of grass he’d plucked from who-knows-where dangling from his mouth. He was speaking eloquently to a hundred fully armed, upright-standing "National Team" soldiers.

"Listen up, you greenhorns!"

He cleared his throat, looking every bit like a teacher.

"Rule number one for surviving in this world: never trust anything that looks normal. That oasis you see? Might be a Slime's nursery. That beauty you see? Might be a Succubus fishing for prey. This ordinary-looking patch of sand..."

He pointed at his feet.

"...could be a luxury family bucket meal pit designated by some Abyssal Worm."

Behind him, Lu Feng and his Dragon Fang members each held a small notebook, recording everything at high speed.

Everyone's faces were written with an expression that said, 'I don't understand, but I'm deeply shocked.'

Their tactical manuals were already densely filled with unheard-of, bizarre knowledge like "Demon Toilet Distribution Map," "Passive Trap Identification Techniques," and "Slime Spawning Season Avoidance Guide."

Lu Feng felt the military knowledge he’d built over twenty-plus years being shattered by this man in an extremely crude manner, then reshaped into something more... abstract.

Just as Li Qiang was about to teach the high-level survival skill of "How to Determine a Goblin's Diet from Its Droppings," a loud bugle call echoed through the construction site.

"Attention! Attention!"

Rich Woman Hungry, also known as Lin Xiaowan, stood on a high platform built of gold coins and gems, holding a diamond-encrusted megaphone, and announced loudly.

"The Tower of Babel project groundbreaking ceremony begins now! Would the Chief Engineer 'Luban No. 7,' the Construction Captain 'Also a Ruthless Person,' and the PDC (Earth Defense Council) representative please come on stage for the ribbon-cutting!"

As the words fell, the entire construction site erupted.

Countless players swarmed from all directions, surrounding the high platform until it was packed tight.

Wang Wei pushed up his glasses and walked out of his mobile laboratory, which was filled with various blueprints and parts.

Li Qiang smugly straightened his collar, jumped down from the stone tablet, and walked toward the platform under everyone's gaze.

As the representative of the "National Team," Lu Feng had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow with two engineers.

"Everyone! Fellow players! Demon friends!"

Li Qiang snatched the microphone from Lin Xiaowan's hand, putting on the air of a leader giving a speech.

"Today is the first step for our human civilization toward the sea of stars! This Tower of Babel will carry our dreams, our ambitions, and... our thirst for gear, soaring straight into the clouds!"

"I declare the groundbreaking ceremony... officially started!"

He gave a grand wave of his hand.

However, the expected excavators and construction vehicles did not appear.

Walking onto the stage were the two engineers in special engineering suits behind Lu Feng.

One of the veteran engineers looked to be in his fifties, with gray hair but a spirited look. His name was Liu Zhenguo, one of China's top civil engineering experts, who had overseen several world-class super-projects in reality.

Engineer Liu opened a holographic projection, and an incredibly complex Foundation Pit Excavation Plan, accurate to the millimeter, appeared before everyone.

"Greetings, comrades."

Engineer Liu's tone was rigorous and serious.

"According to our surveys, the geological structure of the project site consists mainly of granite and sedimentary rock. To ensure the ten-thousand-year stability of the space elevator's foundation, we have developed a three-month 'Layered Stripping Excavation Plan'."

He pointed at the data on the blueprints and spoke eloquently.

"In the first phase, we will use Ultra-high-pressure Water Jets for precision cutting to ensure the rock structure is not damaged."

"In the second phase, we will use heavy excavators to strip layer by layer, while reinforcing the pit walls in real-time."

"Throughout the process, we need to excavate a perfect cylindrical foundation pit with a depth of ten thousand meters, a diameter of five kilometers, and an error margin of no more than ten centimeters..."

Engineer Liu spoke with great passion. The National Team members behind him nodded repeatedly, their eyes filled with awe for science.

But the surrounding players had already started yawning.

"What's that? It takes three months to dig a hole?"

"An error margin of no more than ten centimeters? The hole I made peeing yesterday was more than ten centimeters!"

"Too slow! By the time he's done digging, the aliens will be at our doorstep!"

Li Qiang also frowned as he listened.

He leaned toward Wang Wei and whispered, "Old Wang, did you get that? Translate it for me."

Wang Wei adjusted his glasses and spoke succinctly.

"He means he wants to use the effort of embroidery to cut a block of tofu."

"And what about our plan?" Li Qiang asked.

"Our plan is," a hint of madness flickered in Wang Wei's eyes, "to use explosives to flip the table the tofu is on."

Li Qiang grinned.

"I like that plan."

While Engineer Liu was still explaining the technical challenge of "how to handle groundwater seepage," Li Qiang suddenly interrupted him.

"Uh... Engineer Liu, right?"

Li Qiang stepped forward and patted Engineer Liu's shoulder with a look of sincerity.

"Your plan is very scientific, very rigorous, and reflects the excellent spirit of our great nation's craftsmen."

Engineer Liu nodded with satisfaction, thinking his expertise had been recognized.

"But," Li Qiang's tone shifted, "we gamers value efficiency."

"So, we've decided to adopt another, more... simple and crude plan."

"What plan?" Engineer Liu asked in confusion.

Li Qiang didn't answer him.

He just raised his hand and gave an "OK" gesture to the crowd in the distance.

Then, he grabbed Engineer Liu and Lu Feng, who hadn't reacted yet, and shouted.

"Everyone! Get down!"

The next second.

The entire earth let out a dull roar.

Not once.

But hundreds of explosions came from deep underground at the same instant!

A visible shockwave spread out in a ring from the groundbreaking platform!

"Rumble—"

The earth shook and the mountains swayed!

Countless players were knocked over.

Engineer Liu and Lu Feng only felt the ground vanish beneath them as they were thrown into the air by a massive force.

In their horrified sight, the vast, solid equatorial plain beneath them collapsed downward like a biscuit crushed by an invisible giant hand!

A terrifying, bottomless giant pit over five kilometers in diameter appeared before everyone in just a few seconds!

Billowing smoke and dust rose into the sky like the apocalypse, blotting out the sun.

After a long while, when the dust slowly settled.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at the scene that looked like a miracle, yet also like a disaster.

The foundation pit that Engineer Liu's plan said would take three months to complete was now... finished?

Although the walls were rugged and jagged, looking like they could collapse at any moment.

Although black smoke was still rising from the bottom, emitting a strange smell of sulfur mixed with gravitons.

But it was... indeed deep enough and large enough.

"You... you guys..."

Engineer Liu was pulled up from the ground by Lu Feng. He pointed at the giant pit, then at the smug Li Qiang, his lips trembling, unable to say a full sentence for a long time.

"What... what did you use?"

"Oh, nothing much."

Wang Wei walked over from somewhere, holding a data analyzer, and explained calmly.

"Just buried a hundred Compressed Graviton Bombs at the underground rock nodes, plus five hundred tons of High-Energy Sulfur Explosives refined from Abyss Balrogs."

"According to my precise calculations, the graviton bombs are responsible for collapsing inward to create depth. The sulfur explosives are responsible for blasting outward to expand the diameter. The energies offset each other perfectly; theoretically... it won't cause plate tectonics to shift."

Listening to these terms he couldn't understand at all, Engineer Liu felt like his brain had been stepped on by ten thousand Goblins.

He looked at the plan in his hand, filled with precise calculation formulas, then at the simple, crude, and unreasonable giant pit before him.

The civil engineering knowledge he had accumulated over a lifetime was completely shattered at this moment.

"Unorthodox... these guys are so unorthodox..."

Engineer Liu muttered to himself, his eyes hollow.

"No, this isn't called unorthodox."

Li Qiang walked over and smugly patted his shoulder.

"This is called the fourth calamity speed."