Chapter 1056: Lantern Festival (3)

One area lit up after another across the Cathayan Underworld, like body parts of the giant dragon awakening one by one.

In contrast with the lighting facilities in the mortal realm, the light show of the Cathayan Underworld was still quite lackluster.

Lights hadn't even been set up in every area. In order to give all of the netherworldly citizens a surprise, Hell had only set up lights in all of the nonresidential buildings and the street lamps.

However, these lights were more than enough to ignite the fire in the hearts of all of the netherworldly citizens.

They were welcoming the arrival of the new era in person!

Across countless cities, counties, and villages, everyone was cheering with all their might, overcome by an unprecedented sense of joy at the monumental achievement that their nation had accomplished ahead of the rest of the world.

All of the officials of the hundreds of cities across the nation were able to bear witness to this breathtaking scene.

They saw their cities light up in rings from the center until they were entirely basked in golden radiance, and it was impossible to describe the emotions that they were feeling at this moment.

A governor had a hand clasped over his own chest, and even though there was no heart in his chest cavity, he felt as if something were thumping violently in there, threatening to leap out of his body at any moment to join in on the nationwide celebrations.

This was the deep-rooted patriotic pride that had been ingrained into every single fiber of his being.

It was the pride of seeing his motherland rise up once again after remaining dormant for over a century.

These officials of the Cathayan Underworld's cities were more refined and restrained, so they weren't going to completely lose their composure like normal netherworldly citizens. However, all of them extended a bow toward Everburn in unison, and their bodies were trembling uncontrollably as they did so.

..

Meanwhile, the long energy resource battle waged by all of the major power stations across the nation was also drawing to a conclusion.

In the Reincarnation Power Station of Westriver Province, all of the Yin spirits present were unconsciously seated bolt upright with their entire bodies tensed up in anticipation. They wanted to scream, to shout, but they repressed those overwhelming urges as they stared intently at the screen, particularly at the number that was constantly jumping up further and further in the top left corner.

"We're at two hundred million kW/m!" The eyes of the researcher operating the equipment were about to bulge out of their sockets as they stared at the screen with slack-jawed expressions. Many Yin spirits had already piled around the monitor, witnessing this historic moment with him. He couldn't help but read out the number as it continued to jump up. "278 million... 279 million... 280 million! We're only twenty million away from our goal of three hundred million!"

To put this into context, a comparison could be drawn to the province of Jiangsu in the mortal realm. In 2018, Jiangsu Province had used a total of six hundred billion kilowatt hours of electricity, which meant that six hundred billion units of electricity had to be produced per hour, equating to roughly ten billion units per minute.

At this point, the new energy resource of Hell was only being used for lighting purposes.

Aside from that, there was no infrastructure that required electricity.

Furthermore, the current population of the Cathayan Underworld was only around a seventh of the mortal realm's population. In order to satisfy the future electricity demands of a population of this size, a minimum rate of three hundred million kW/m would have to be reached, equating to eighteen billion kilowatt hours.

The Yin spirits gathered around the screen were the last group of people in the Cathayan Underworld who were still yet to erupt into celebration. Only after their target was reached could this night truly be called a success.

At this point, the number on the screen had already reached the home stretch.

As the number on the upper left corner continued to jump up incessantly, 90% of the map on the screen had already turned green, with only a final small section left untouched.

Everyone was breathing extremely heavily as they crowded around the screen, praying with all their might that their target could be reached.

Finally, the final city of Westriver Province began to take on a hint of green.

The green color slowly spread, and once this city turned green, the entire map of the nation would be fully converted!

All of a sudden, a clear ringing sound rang out.

All of the Yin spirits in front of the screen instantly rose to their feet, and after a brief moment of silence, a burst of thunderous cheers instantly rang out.

"We did it! We reached three hundred million kW/m!"

"I can't believe this! I thought it would be impossible to complete this project in such a short timeframe, but we really did it!!"

"Only now can we truly say that the new energy resource of our Cathayan Underworld is on the right track!"

"Everyone, let this be the first of many successes to come!"

From this moment forth, there was no longer any cause to be concerned whether the nation was only going to be illuminated for one night before falling into darkness again. With the completion of this goal, the new energy resource was here to stay!

Amid the deafening cheers, an elderly Yin spirit with a head of white hair picked up a microphone with trembling hands, then cleared his throat before declaring, "All units of Westriver Province have been activated, achieving an output of eighteen billion kilowatt-hours! We've fulfilled our target to perfection!"

His voice was enveloped in Yin energy, transforming into a discreet speck of silver light that flew up into the sky before flying directly toward the Bohai Sea.

Unbeknownst to him, hundreds of other specks of silver light were also rising up from all over the nation before converging toward the Heavenly Pillar City!

..

Bohai Sea, Kraken Fortress.

The Heavenly Pillar City had also become a bustling hub of activity, there were countless construction workers here, but none of them could see what was happening above the clouds.

On the top floor of the tall pagoda, Perkins was so stunned that he had already collapsed to the ground, leaning against the railing as he looked on with a slack-jawed expression.

The countless lights down below had completely illuminated the clouds, and he could imagine just how spectacular and vibrant the scene beneath the clouds would be.

He couldn't see that, but what he could see were the four surrounding pagodas. Just now, golden light had appeared on the pagodas floor after floor, presenting an indescribably breathtaking sight to behold.

At this point, the four pagodas had already transformed into four dazzling golden mountains that had illuminated even the heavens into a bright golden color.

Amid the golden radiance, Perkins slowly raised a hand in an awestruck gesture. This was the first time after his death that he had been able to see the world at night in full color.

The sky was no longer a dreary gray color. Instead, it was bright blue like a vast sapphire.

Only now did he realize that the underworld at night was every bit as spectacular as the mortal realm.

His hand fell limply back down again as he leaned against the railing.

He had noticed what appeared to be electric wires earlier, so he was already mentally prepared for this, but what about the rest of the world?

Once the international trade conference began, all of the world's leaders were going to come to the Cathayan Underworld, completely unprepared for this bombshell!

He could already envision the unstoppable wheel of history crushing all those in its path who didn't manage to get out of the way in time, and now that the wheel had been set into motion, there was no going back!

Finally, he opened his eyes as he recovered some semblance of composure. He struggled to his feet, relying heavily on the railing for support, and his legs were still trembling as he dusted off his own suit and said, "I am a neutral party in all of this, but Yanluo Qin, have you thought about the repercussions of all of this? In the face of the new energy resource, all of the world's old rules will be shattered, and the state of the entire world will be massively shaken up. The Cathayan Underworld will be the only party to benefit from this! In the wake of such massive changes, some smaller underworlds may go bankrupt, and we could even witness the emergence of a fifth pillar! None of that is beneficial to the world in any way! Esteemed Yanluo Qin, I ask that you give the rest of the world sufficient time to prepare and adjust. Otherwise, if the global economy receives such a massive shock, there's a very good chance we could see the emergence of widespread financial crises!"

"So what?" Zhao Yun asked as he took a sip of his wine with a nonchalant smile.

"What exactly is it that you're trying to achieve?!"

Qin Ye leaned back in his chair in a relaxed manner, and his voice was very calm, but his words were as sharp as a blade. "It's time for a dominant force to appear in this world."

Perkins's pupils contracted drastically upon hearing this, and he reflexively brought his palms together to pray to the gods above.

Whoever is up there, cast your omniscient gaze upon this demon! He's going to build the glory of the Cathayan Underworld upon the demise of other underworlds! Why are you not punishing him?!

The entire world was still under the impression that the third King Yanluo was a reasonable individual who played by the rules, but in reality, he was even more ruthless and terrifying than his two predecessors!

Perkins was even beginning to pray that something could go wrong so that the Cathayan Underworld's research and development would be delayed by another four to five years, thereby giving the rest of the world time to prepare. Otherwise, he didn't even dare to imagine the bloodbath that would unfold during the international trade conference!

However, as soon as this thought began to take shape in his mind, countless specks of silver light suddenly converged from all directions before forming a series of light screens in mid-air. The screens depicted the faces of countless scientists who were excited beyond belief, and all of them were yelling at the top of their lungs.

"All units of Westriver Province have been activated, achieving an output of eighteen billion kilowatt hours! We've fulfilled our target to perfection!"

"All units of Wanjiang Province have been activated, achieving an output of twenty billion kilowatt hours! We've fulfilled our target to perfection!

"All units of Everburn have been activated, achieving an output of fifteen billion kilowatt hours! We've fulfilled our target to perfection!

"All units of Ashmound Province have been activated, achieving an output of thirteen billion kilowatt hours! We've fulfilled our target to perfection!

There were hundreds of these screens in total, and Perkins could practically hear the old era crumbling away while the new era arose from its remains.

The new era had arrived, after all.

"You're making an enemy out of the entire world!" he exclaimed in a horrified voice.

"No, we're trading with the entire world," Qin Ye countered. "The GTO is the organization that is most well versed with all of the economic changes taking place worldwide, which side are you going to take?"

"We..."

"Don't be in such a hurry to reply," Qin Ye interjected. "The world doesn't need anyone to survive. A world trade organization is necessary, but it doesn't have to be called the GTO. Perhaps it can instead be known as... the Pan-Asian Trade Organization. The entire world will trade with our Cathayan Underworld, and we'll withdraw from the GTO to found the Pan-Asian Trade Organization. What do you think of that? Of course, if you're willing to agree, then the Cathayan Underworld will invest large sums of money each year to support your organization. Or, are you afraid that we won't have the money to invest?"

Perkins opened his mouth before closing it several times in succession.

His soul was trembling violently, and he knew that the biggest advantage that the Cathayan Underworld currently held was its isolated status from the rest of the world. As a result of this, no one was aware that they had already developed the new energy resource and had already moved on to constructing ancillary facilities! They were digging a massive pit for the three pillars to fall into!

However, the biggest disadvantage that they had was also their isolated status, which made them unaware of what was going on in the rest of the world.

Thus, they needed an informant in the outside world. With ancillary facilities already being constructed for the new energy resource, it was clear to Perkins that a currency war was going to follow.

With the assistance of the GTO, the Cathayan Underworld would be in an even better position. Looking at things now, he simply couldn't envision a future where the Cathayan Underworld could possibly lose, and if they did achieve victory, then would there be any need for the GTO to continue to exist?

Would the center of the entire world not shift to eastern Asia? If that were to happen, what would become of the GTO?

After making sense of all of this, he cast a complex gaze toward Qin Ye's outstretched hand.

30 seconds later, he finally reached out to shake Qin Ye's hand with his own hand.

"Please remember your promise, Yanluo Qin."