Chapter 137: Equatorial Clean Energy Combination
The world was still accelerating forward, and for Jiang Yang, it could truly be called day by day new and moon by moon different.
Every time he awoke, the world he saw would be somewhat different.
He saw one hot celebrity after another suddenly shoot up like a rocket, shining brightly around them, harvesting thousands of supporters, unmatched in popularity for a time, but after merely a dozen or so hibernations, they faded into the crowd, never to be mentioned again;
He saw one internet-famous shop after another, one brand after another emerge like spring thunder exploding, leading trends while countless people went to check in, but similarly after merely a dozen or so hibernations, they became deserted with a mess left behind;
He saw those grand plans that had clearly just appeared a month ago instantly spark social heated discussions, but after merely one or two cycles, they lost all buzz, with no ordinary people paying attention besides professionals. And after merely a few dozen hibernations, those great projects that could be called inconceivable finally came to fruition, quietly changing a part of the human world;
He saw the World Government become ever more deeply rooted in people’s hearts, ever more authoritative, and the world’s operations ever smoother;
He saw all sorts of scientific and technological breakthroughs emerge one after another like a fireworks display, at a speed so fast it was dazzling, seemingly never stopping.
He saw many, many things.
Being immersed in it, one might not feel how rapid these changes were. After all, information explosion was just a normal social phenomenon.
Only at this moment, like himself, jumping out and viewing from an angle like a bystander, could one truly experience how fast the development had been in these years.
Only now did Jiang Yang truly appreciate how prescient the person who had proposed back then to form a small team, letting some people he was familiar with hibernate together with him, instead of him hibernating alone.
If not for so many people accompanying him, he simply dared not imagine how lonely he would be.
This loneliness was not physical loneliness.
In fact, no matter how society changed, his existence was always like a “national treasure,” and whatever government would do its utmost to satisfy all his demands.
Afraid of loneliness?
No problem, there would be thousands upon thousands of people accompanying him every moment, and it could be guaranteed that every companion would be extremely respectful to him, ready to satisfy any of his demands anytime, anywhere.
But this was useless.
Spiritual loneliness could not be alleviated in this way.
Fortunately, at this moment by his side was a small team from the same era as him, with the same situation.
Jiang Yang felt that his connections with those specific people and events in this world were becoming ever weaker.
Not only himself, he also knew that every person in the Hibernation Team was the same.
Zhou Yu’s father, that interesting little old man, ultimately passed away peacefully five years after his wife died;
Sun Changhe’s grandson was now at the age of knowing heaven’s mandate, about to have his own grandson soon.
After a certain awakening, Sun Changhe specially went to visit his grandson and great-grandson, but this visit did not lift his spirits.
He didn’t say what exactly happened. But since that time, he never mentioned visiting again.
Jiang Yang secretly had some guesses; it was really nothing more than that kind of situation: although there was still blood ties, in fact, the two sides had long become strangers.
In that family, Sun Changhe was just an “outsider.”
Any more contact would only make both sides awkward.
The other members of the team were the same.
Every member’s connections with those specific people and events were becoming ever weaker, with fewer and fewer bonds in the vast sea of worldly dust.
At the same time, people could clearly feel that their side was becoming ever closer to the concept of “human civilization” as a whole.
That feeling was like, in real life, I can hate many people, like many people, and be indifferent to most strangers.
But all these people I love, hate, or don’t care about combined into the concept of “motherland” could make me unhesitatingly give my life for it.
Now, this concept of “motherland” had been replaced by “human civilization.”
Ensuring civilization’s continuation and safeguarding civilization’s development had become the only remaining duty and mission in our lives.
Time was still passing rapidly, with one hibernation and awakening after another continuing.
This time upon awakening, Jiang Yang received good news.
The Equatorial Clean Energy Combination had been built.
This news was more significant and prominent in meaning than what he had received upon awakening from the previous few hibernations, such as the successful manned landing on Mars and return voyage, the Moon permanent base completed and welcoming the first batch of 15 astronauts to take up residence, undertaking the subsequent excavation tasks of that underground cavity while also carrying out a series of scientific expeditions, the space-sky-surface-underground Four-in-One Risk Monitoring Network completed, the underground base cluster progressing rapidly, with over 5000 large, medium, and small bases now built, capable of accommodating about 1 billion people for refuge when necessary, and with more underground bases under intensive construction afterward.
This time upon awakening, the shopping was canceled. In the limited time, people took airplanes to arrive near the Earth’s equator, and then dozens of helicopters were called in, carrying everyone to fly before this unprecedented grand spectacle.
Jiang Yang looked below and saw densely packed photovoltaic generator panels, vast like an ocean.
The helicopter continued flying, and he saw a windmill field composed of countless windmills.
Over the ocean, besides the windmill field, he also saw a large number of floating devices.
Those were wave surge generators.
At the same time, in the sky floated one airship-like thing after another.
He knew those were high-altitude wind power generation devices.
Endless clean energy devices extended out like a giant dragon, almost circling the Earth once.
Jiang Yang knew that even though this giant dragon was already so massive, it was merely a component of this great project.
In those previously unusable desert areas of the Earth, the ocean of photovoltaic panels continued, and among towering mountains and steep ridges, windmills turned with the wind one after another.
This way, when one side of the Earth was in daylight, wind power weakened but sunlight strengthened, so the photovoltaic panels would exert their power; on the other side of the Earth in night, the wind power generation devices would exert their power.
Between different areas under different lighting and wind conditions, electricity could be conveniently allocated through ultra-high-voltage transmission devices spread globally, supplying anywhere in the world.
Sitting in front of Jiang Yang, Sun Changhe spoke with full emotion: “The Equatorial Clean Energy Combination and the global transmission and distribution network, we had been planning them over a hundred years ago.
If this project is completed, it will completely solve the global energy crisis; there will no longer be energy pollution, nor will there be power shortages.
Even the food crisis will cease to exist. This abundant electricity paired with large-scale starch synthesis devices will enable round-the-clock nonstop food production; humans will no longer need to plant and graze on land at the cost of destroying the environment.
We planned for many years but failed to truly push this project forward.
Now that the World Government has been formed, this project has finally come to fruition…”
