Chapter 336: Vacuum Ejection Traction Channel (Patreon)

Chapter 336: Vacuum Ejection Traction Channel

May 18th.

After several days of buildup,

the shockwaves from the global network integration officially transformed into a tsunami, sweeping across every corner of the world.

For the first time, many people learned

that during the period of severed communications, over 100 new nations and autonomous entities had emerged worldwide.

Billions of people

had once believed the total number of survivors was less than a million.

Meanwhile, on this very day,

the second Morning Light-Class Transport Ship rolled off the production line,

increasing Su Wu’s daily population transfer capacity from 10 million to approximately 20 million.

The pace of unifying the Eastern Continent quietly accelerated.

Farmhouse Compound, Underground Level 1 Control Center.

"The first four levels of the new surface zone have been completed,"

"It’s starting to look somewhat substantial now."

On the holographic projection floating before Su Wu,

the Farmhouse Compound’s full structure had grown from its initial height of 500 meters to 790 meters.

Its appearance had shifted from a thin, flattened disc to something much more solid,

now resembling a traditional cylindrical form.

Due to Su Wu’s decision to allocate most labor resources to surface construction,

progress on the underground levels had nearly ground to a halt.

Underground Level 14 remained unfinished to this day,

and for the foreseeable future, its completion seemed distant.

In stark contrast, the surface zones

were evolving at a breakneck pace.

Excluding the first three levels, which stood over 150 meters tall,

the new zones from Level 4 up to the freshly completed Level 7

had added a combined height of 200 to 300 meters.

From a distance,

it looked like a colossal city enclosed by towering walls.

"Level 4 is primarily dedicated to plantations, while Level 5 focuses on livestock farms,"

"Both levels have completed their initial construction phases,"

"and production has officially begun."

"The first batch of output is expected to enter the shelter’s internal market within half a month at the earliest,"

"significantly improving the dietary conditions for all residents."

Though these two food production levels were mainly intended

to supply basic rations for the incoming relocated populations,

their massive output capacity

still benefited ordinary residents to some extent.

With their existence,

Su Wu finally had the confidence to expand the population without restraint.

"Levels 6 and 7 are residential zones dominated by standard dormitories."

"Currently, only Level 6 houses around 10 million people, while the rest remain vacant."

On the holographic map,

the top seven surface levels of the shelter gradually zoomed in.

The 75-meter internal ceiling height and 6-meter-thick foundations

formed the framework of a grand, hyper-scale metropolis.

A 75-meter ceiling height

meant it could accommodate 25-story residential buildings.

With the most compact layout—eight people per dormitory, sharing a small shower-equipped bathroom—

and an average of about 37 cubic meters of living space per person,

each level could ultimately support up to 80 million inhabitants.

"But the vacancies are only temporary."

"Soon, they will be filled by a continuous influx of people from across the Eastern Continent."

"And it will continue to spread to the 8th above-ground level, the 9th above-ground level, and even higher."

"By then, the demand for resources will reach a terrifying scale."

Human survival depends on air, water, and food.

The consumption of a single individual might seem insignificant.

But when multiplied by hundreds of millions,

the oxygen consumed daily through breathing alone amounts to tens of thousands of tons.

Yet a population of one hundred million is barely more than what a single level of the Farmhouse Compound will hold in the future.

"Currently, the oxygen supply within the shelter primarily relies on photosynthesis in the Plantation."

"Secondary sources include external ventilation ducts."

"Emergency backup measures involve electrolysis of water and chemical oxygen production."

"These methods barely maintain equilibrium."

The shelter's ventilation system, which Su Wu had once heavily reinforced with Survival Points,

could no longer support the current massive population exceeding one hundred million.

It had been reduced to merely serving as a private environmental regulator for the core area where Su Wu resided.

Beyond the core zone,

an entirely new air circulation system—redesigned by Artificial Intelligence and refined by teams of elite scholars—had taken over as the shelter's foundational framework.

Through an extensive network of pipelines spanning over a million kilometers in total length,

it kept the shelter's air in perpetual motion,

balancing oxygen levels across all sectors

while simultaneously conducting toxic substance detection and viral monitoring.

Every liter of air was ensured to be free of anomalies before leaving its current shelter level, district, or even building.

"In extreme scenarios,"

"such as the destruction of the Plantation or the inability to draw fresh air from outside,"

"emergency measures could still provide hundreds of thousands of tons of oxygen daily,"

"enough to maintain air quality for a considerable period."

"However, the additional daily power consumption would become staggering,"

"potentially requiring several extra nuclear reactors to match the demand."

Beyond air,

food and water each formed their own intricate and precise systems.

The Plantations, built to produce food,

were arguably the largest category in terms of space within the shelter.

For every unit of space occupied by a shelter resident's daily life and recreation,

at least twice that amount was allocated to Plantation construction.

Yet whether for Plantations, daily shelter operations, or industrial production,

massive water supply was indispensable.

The network of water pipelines, with reservoirs and water towers as nodes,

stretched even farther than the ventilation system—several times over.

"Complex and precise systems aren't without their advantages."

"Their sheer scale translates to greater resilience against risks."

"Short of the entire shelter being destroyed at once,"

"it's nearly impossible to completely collapse the internal water cycle, air circulation, or Plantation systems."

"And with even a single surviving core, rebuilding around it would be far simpler."

Having reviewed the shelter's foundational functions

and confirmed their robustness,

Su Wu turned his attention to the ongoing construction of the 8th and 9th above-ground levels.

At that massive worksite...

At every moment, tens of millions of laborers were at work.

Massive quantities of materials were being transformed at an incredible speed.

They became partition walls, beds, wardrobes, lighting fixtures, and utility networks for countless rooms.

Bit by bit, these elements spread and took shape across the nearly 40 million square meters of the shelter's eighth floor.

Simultaneously, such enormous construction demands gave rise to two thriving industries:

Standardized containers of varying specifications and the Vacuum Ejection Traction Channel.

Standardized containers might seem simple at first glance.

But when combining requirements like durability, low cost, safety, and reliability, the technical sophistication involved was anything but minimal.

The Vacuum Ejection Traction Channel, on the other hand, was an advanced version of conveyor belts.

It could transport materials at ultra-high speeds through specially designed vacuum tubes to their destinations in an extremely short time.

Its efficiency was hundreds to thousands of times greater than traditional conveyor belts.

Within the limited 7-kilometer diameter space of the Farmhouse Compound, it reduced transportation time to nearly negligible levels.

"Currently, the Vacuum Ejection Traction Channel is primarily divided into three types,"

"One for transporting solid materials, one for liquids, and one for Standardized Containers."

"The first two handle the bulk transportation of ordinary resources."

"The latter is used for Standardized Containers with a one-cubic-meter capacity."

For the shelter's internal needs, rare resources, precision components, and instruments that required separate transportation were usually not too large or could be disassembled.

They could easily fit into one-cubic-meter containers.

A few oversized items could also be transported individually via lifting platforms.

"Once costs decrease further in the future,"

"And these traction channels can be deployed externally,"

"Material transportation speeds will increase even more."

"Even now, some remote mining sites in mountainous regions have already installed vacuum channels."

"They're used to quickly transport mined and refined minerals to the plains outside the mountains, making it easier for Ice Lake-class Transport Ships to carry them away."

"However, strictly speaking, those pipelines still belong to the category of traditional conveyor belts and are not products of the same era as today's traction channels. Their efficiency differs by many times."

"They aren't suitable for long-distance transportation over hundreds of kilometers."

"Moreover, the output of ordinary mines doesn't justify the effort of setting up such traction channels."

"Their production capacity isn't sufficient to support this kind of bulk transportation method."

"It's actually more convenient to directly use Ice Lake-class Transport Ships to transport materials back one by one."

(End of Chapter)