“I hope it won’t be too much trouble.” Jiang Chen smiled and looked at the entrance of Lunar City outside the window.
“Haha, believe me, it is definitely not.”
Jiang Chen had never been a fan of been fixated on small details. Compared with flattering and sucking up on the surface, he preferred to see tangible results. The experience of living in Hua in the early years made him well aware of the low efficiency of a bureaucratic system.
The advanced technology products didn’t please him the most, but rather, the vitality and energy of a start-up even inside this massive company. Future Group’s innovation was not corroded by the management’s thinking.
The culture at the top determined the performance on the bottom.
Tang Hanjie, the mayor of Lunar City, knew the style of his boss, so when he was preparing the welcoming ceremony, he made it grand but not too long.
After the welcoming ceremony on the colonial square, Tang Hanjie personally acted as the guide for the duo. He took the duo to the elevator next to the square.
Once they were on the elevator, they descended about 500 meters.
When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, a fresh and dry gust of air blew onto their faces.
Outside the elevator was a circular hall with more than 30 identical elevators inside. Here, the elevators served a similar purpose as a subway station on Earth, connecting the underground living space with the mining stations and factories on the surface.
The circular hall was bustling with people, from those in Celestial Trade uniforms to passengers in all kinds of outfits. Tang Weijie took Jiang Chen and Xia Shiyu to the special tunnel on the side, and directly entered the underground city.
“This place used to be an underground glacier. Later, after the ice layer was mined, we found a lava tunnel formed by the ancient magma activity below the ice. The surrounding rock is a glassy black volcanic rock, which is even stronger than concrete, so we decided to seal the space with aluminum and transform it into the colony’s living space.”
“The temperature difference on the surface of the Moon is high, but the underground temperature is stabilized at around 25 degrees Celsius, and it can also effectively reduce the impact of harmful rays and meteorites. A total of more than 27,000 people now live here and the elevator has become the main form of transformation in the city.”
Tang Weijie described the city’s changes to Jiang Chen as they moved forward.
Although the city was built under his inspiration, when he finally stood in the city, he still felt moved by its magnificence.
No one had thought that the small colony with only 200 colonists would expand to this size in the span of a year.
“Only half of the city is developed, and the other half is still being built. Later, we will use the lava tunnel of the extinct volcano to double the area of the volcano cave. By that time, the city will easily fit over 100,000 people.” Looking at his boss’s touched expression, Tang Weijie was proud.
As they continued to tour the city, Xia Shiyu looked around and gently pulled on Jiang Chen’s sleeve. She whispered.
“Is there water here? I’m a little thirsty.”
The assistant behind Tang Weijie immediately stepped forward and took out two new stainless-steel cups from her bag, she smiled and handed them to the two.
“This is one of the specialties of the Moon, Moon Brand Functional Beverage.” Tang Weijie took the opportunity to introduce the product to Jiang Chen.
“There shouldn’t be any Moon soils inside right?” Xia Shiyu joked.
“Haha.” The assistant lady chuckled.
“What is this? It doesn’t feel like plastic.” Jiang Chen examined the bottle.
“A new type of PVC material. It is an anti-rust, lightweight steel that weighs only 1.2 times that of plastic with the same volume. Its surface material has a germicidal effect similar to that of activated carbon. The most important thing is that the production of steel on the Moon is much cheaper than plastic. Right, this is the work of the Material Science Lab,” Tang Weijie explained.
“Really? I didn’t expect this small cup to have such a long story.” Jiang Chen smiled, unscrewed the lid, and sucked on the straw.
It tasted a bit strange. It tasted like herbal tea, but much sweeter than herbal tea. Jiang Chen felt energetic after he took a sip, he felt even better than after drinking coffee or Red Bull.
When they arrived at the end of the corridor, Tang Weijie led them through an arch door. They passed through the air shower and entered a factory.
Rows of culture racks stood in the factory and were distributed on the factory floor. Dozens of culture tanks were placed on each culture rack, and ultraviolet lamps were mounted on the top. Through the glass wall, Jiang Chen saw the seedlings growing prosperously.
“Is this a farm?” Jiang Chen looked at the nearest culture tank.
“Yes, but this farm mainly produces cash crops, or the raw materials of this drink, such as potatoes, radishes, and pumpkins.” Tang Weijie walked to Jiang Chen and pointed, “Ninety percent of the food in Lunar City is imported from Celestial City. It’s not technologically difficult to farm on the Moon, just other factors make it almost impossible.”
At first, the farms were all built on the surface of the Moon. However, due to the cosmic ray, even with lead plates installed as covers, the crops would still mutate during its germination stage.
Later, it was discovered that the soil on the Moon effectively absorbed harmful cosmic rays and solar wind particles. Therefore, they simply moved the farm underground, leaving only one small plantation used for breeding selection. Other infrastructures on the surface were mines and factories.
“What is the daily average traffic volume in Lunar City?” Jiang Chen reached out and touched the sprouts of the potato seedlings in the culture tank.
“The average daily passenger throughput was 3,417 last month,” Tang Weijie immediately replied.
“What about cargo throughput?”
“The cargo throughput last month exceeded 900,000 tons!”
This figure would likely exceed ten million tons annually considering the continuous expansion of rare earth production in 2019.
Jiang Chen did the math in his head, and after a moment of indulging, he smiled at Tang Weijie.
“I plan to build a 200-kilometer elevator in Lunar City. I want to hear your opinion.”