Chapter 72: The Steam Factory

Chapter 72: The Steam Factory

Zhou Xue glanced at him briefly before pulling out a novel and immersing herself in reading. The bus soon started moving.

The vehicle was clearly outdated, its engine wheezing like an asthmatic patient, emitting a "clunk-clunk" sound that made Chen Shouyi worry it might break down midway. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

After lying down for about half an hour, he opened his eyes and looked out the window. Outside was an industrial area, densely packed with chimneys spewing thick white smoke.

Pingqiu City wasn’t far from Ningzhou, and they had already entered Ningzhou’s territory. Compared to the still-depressed Pingqiu City, the traffic here had somewhat recovered, though it remained much sparser than before.

"Driver, I heard some factories here are using steam engines?" a passenger asked.

"Those with smoke coming out? Yeah, most of them are! Right now, Ningzhou’s electricity can only supply residential areas and a few industrial zones. Most factories have to generate their own power or switch to steam engines, retrofitting their machine tools. The government supposedly offers subsidies and interest-free loans for that," the driver explained.

"That’s really…" The passenger struggled to articulate his feelings. "I thought it was just a rumor."

"Actually, steam engines aren’t bad. Think about it—thermal and nuclear power plants still use steam turbines to generate electricity. And modern factory steam engines aren’t the same as the old ones. At the very least, they’re Subcritical Steam Engines. A single one can power hundreds or even thousands of heavy machine tools. Much cheaper than generating your own electricity!"

As a former high school senior, Chen Shouyi roughly understood what a Subcritical Steam Engine meant.

When water is heated and vaporized, as the pressure inside the boiler increases, the saturation temperature of the water also rises, reducing vaporization efficiency. Once the pressure reaches a certain point, the steam becomes saturated and stops vaporizing. At this stage, the density of steam and water becomes identical—this is the critical state.

If pressure and temperature continue to rise beyond this point, all water turns into steam, eliminating the distinction between steam and water. Water becomes steam, and steam becomes water—this is the Supercritical state.

Subcritical refers to approaching the critical state, a technology already highly mature in modern times.

Nowadays, thermal and nuclear power plants mostly use more advanced Supercritical Units or even Ultra-Supercritical Units.

Still, even Subcritical Steam Engines boast extremely high thermal efficiency, far surpassing steam engines from a century ago.

But understanding the technology didn’t ease the heaviness in Chen Shouyi’s heart as he gazed at the forest of chimneys outside.

This was the slow decline of human civilization.

Electricity remained humanity’s most convenient and cleanest energy source. If the Otherworld’s Strength continued its invasion, rendering electricity completely unusable, not only would the prosperous and convenient era of information and electrification become a relic of history, but industries like metallurgy and chemistry would also suffer severe regression.

The entire world would plunge into darkness.

Watching the chimneys belching white smoke outside, Chen Shouyi felt as though he were witnessing the twilight of a dying civilization.

An inexplicable sense of melancholy settled over him.

...

The car continued for another half hour before finally stopping.

Chen Shouyi and Zhou Xue got off together and walked out of the station, where they saw many taxis waiting outside.

"Together?" Chen Shouyi asked.

Zhou Xue nodded and said, "Yeah, sharing a ride saves money!"

After all, she was just a fifteen-year-old girl and probably hadn’t been to Ningzhou before.

Of course, neither had he, but he was much bolder than her. He placed his backpack in the trunk and got into the passenger seat.

"Driver, to the Martial Arts Assessment Center."

The driver quickly started the car and said, "I’ve already made several trips today, all to the Martial Arts Assessment Center."

"Are there a lot of people?" Chen Shouyi asked.

"Plenty! Most are coming from other places. I heard they’re lowering the requirements for this assessment!" The driver seemed well-informed.

"Really?" Zhou Xue perked up and quickly asked.

"Definitely. Think about it—with so many people, if they assessed everyone strictly, it’d take forever. They’ll have to relax the standards."

Zhou Xue, who had little confidence in the assessment, couldn’t help but show a hint of joy at the good news.

Chen Shouyi didn’t care whether the assessment would be harder or easier and instead asked, "Are there any hotels nearby?"

"There are quite a few, but I bet they’re already full!"

"Let’s check it out first. We’ll see when we get there."

The car soon arrived at their destination.

"That big building ahead is the Martial Arts Assessment Center. That’ll be 125."

"So expensive!" Zhou Xue exclaimed from the back.

"What’s the surprise? Gas prices have doubled, and cars guzzle more fuel now. Look, I even used the meter," the driver complained.

Chen Shouyi didn’t argue and simply took out his wallet to pay.

After receiving his change, he retrieved both their luggage from the trunk and waited for her to get out.

"It’s too expensive. We should’ve taken the bus," Zhou Xue muttered as she carried her luggage, looking pained. Then she took out her wallet. "Here, this is 70. You owe me 8.50."

Chen Shouyi took it and put it in his wallet, saying, "I don’t have change right now. I’ll owe you."

"You just got change from the driver, and there was a five in there. Give it to me first."

Chen Shouyi reopened his wallet and, sure enough, found a five. He handed it over. "Here."

"Then you still owe me 3.50," Zhou Xue said seriously.

This girl was really meticulous.

Chen Shouyi sighed inwardly. "Don’t worry, I’ll pay you back once I get change."

...

The two then began searching for a hotel nearby, but everywhere was either fully booked or too expensive.

Chen Shouyi didn’t mind. Ever since obtaining gold, he’d been living comfortably and had grown a bit careless with money.

But Zhou Xue was far from satisfied.

"This one’s even more expensive than the last—300 for a single room, and we’d need to stay two nights."

"We’ve been looking for over two hours. How about I pay for you? You don’t have to pay me back," Chen Shouyi couldn’t help but say.

"Who asked for your kindness? If you’re impatient, just go. I never asked you to stay with me the whole time," Zhou Xue’s expression instantly turned cold.

Chen Shouyi grew up in a financially comfortable family, never having to worry about money. It was inevitable that he wouldn't realize the immense pressure an ordinary family—possibly a single-parent household—faced in raising a Martial Artist Apprentice, nor how much more sensitive such individuals might be about financial matters.

Realizing his mistake, Chen Shouyi quickly apologized:

"Alright, my bad. Let’s keep looking!"

The two fell silent, walking with their heads down. The atmosphere, which had just begun to warm up, turned cold again.

After nearly half an hour of searching, they finally found an affordable hotel.

The pretty receptionist, unfazed by their age, asked without hesitation: "Would you like a Couple's Room?"

A Couple's Room!?

The young girl clearly hadn’t encountered such a situation before. Her eyes widened slightly, and a flush quickly spread across her fair face. Stuttering like a startled rabbit, she blurted out, "W-we’re not together! A single room, for two days."

"Please show your ID. The deposit is 100, and the room fee is 200—300 in total."

After completing the check-in, Zhou Xue grabbed her key card without waiting for Chen Shouyi. Carrying her luggage, she hurried toward the elevator, as if eager to prove to the front desk that they had nothing to do with each other.