After the completion of the Xinxi Building and the official opening of the new inn, the Lunar New Year was just around the corner.
The innkeeper has seven days of annual leave. Before the Lunar New Year, Chen Yang did not arrange any work in the micro-world. All the necessary supplies were available, so not working was not a problem.
The micro-world has essentially taken a year-end holiday, so everyone can do whatever they want.
The most popular activity was a vacation to the West, which is practically a miniature Maldives.
However, crossing the desert in the West would be too dangerous for just one or two newcomers, so they formed a team and set off only after gathering enough people.
The log bridge over the western border river passed the test; one person and one horse could cross it without any problem. However, the horses were still a bit scared, and it took a lot of effort to get all five horses they brought across.
Chen Yang led the formation of another team, the Rainforest Team, to take a vacation in the rainforest.
A few of the remaining people went to the plateau, while others stayed at the camp and on the island in the middle of the lake. Because the thin ice on Chenghu Lake had melted, it was now easy to move between the two places. They had opened up a road and built a stable on the lake shore, making the journey from the camp to the lake shore quick—less than half an hour.
Back when Chen Yang first entered the Micro Realm, he didn't have a horse, and even his shoes were crudely made from tree bark. It took him half an hour to reach the lake shore. Later, after becoming familiar with the path, he made good shoes, and now he has a horse, so his efficiency has increased by an unknown amount.
The bamboo raft has been improved many times, and its speed has increased significantly, while its load-bearing capacity has also been continuously strengthened.
They now have a total of five bamboo rafts, because sometimes they also need bamboo rafts to go to the Indian mountains.
Grandpa Xing Tu, Guo Zifeng, and Bai Jing also set off with Chen Yang and the others, but their destination was the location of the tea trees, not the rainforest. They wanted to transplant a few tea trees and take good care of them so that they could harvest them next year.
After spring arrives, a camp needs to be built in the Yinshan Mountains. Silkworm rearing requires manpower, which is no easy task.
However, several elderly people in the camp knew how to raise silkworms, including Hong Gui's parents. Jiang Yining was also very interested in silkworm farming and planned to help them. Besides him, Li Sen also wanted to learn; he had recently been researching silk products, which would be very helpful in understanding silk.
However, there's plenty of time to do all that after the New Year, so for now they're just focusing on their vacation.
Because they were already familiar with the route, they were much faster.
They have opened up many routes through the Yinshan Mountains to the Loess Plateau, one of which is for horses only. Although it is a roundabout route, it is relatively flat.
At this moment, the Yinshan Mountains are still in autumn scenery, with only the recent heavy snowfall causing some impact, and the area near the lake shore has snow accumulation.
They rode their horses leisurely along the mountain paths, dismounting and leading the horses along inconvenient sections.
Chen Yang walked at the front because he needed to clear the way.
He wanted to take this opportunity to completely open up the road, making future travel easier and at least ensuring the horses could pass through the school.
He moved stones when he encountered them and trees when he encountered them, clearing away all obstacles along the way.
This path was one they had already chosen, and it didn't have much of an elevation difference. If Chen Yang cleared the obstacles now, it would be much easier.
However, his method of clearing obstacles is so simple and violent that others really can't imitate it.
A giant boulder weighing hundreds of kilograms can be easily lifted by one person, and a tree thicker than the waist can be uprooted. It's like a humanoid Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Because Chen Yang was so efficient, their progress was not slowed down much, and they soon reached the Loess Plateau.
The nighttime temperature is very low this season, but with so many people, setting up a temporary shelter is quick. They don't plan to leave the micro-world, since they've all brought warm clothing. They lit two fires next to the shelter, which were very warm.
Just as they reached the junction of the Indian Mountains and the Loess Plateau, the caravan heading to the West had already arrived.
There were no obstacles in the desert, and the horses galloped quickly along the river, consuming very little food and having no worries about water.
Although desert conditions are much harsher, that's for pioneers; Chen Yang and his team almost died here when they came.
Later arrivals enjoyed the benefits of the pioneers; the routes were already planned, water sources were found, and as long as they brought enough food, they had nothing to worry about.
The saying "One generation plants the trees, another enjoys the shade" illustrates this principle.
One of the things to do when you arrive in the desert is to experience distilled seawater.
When Chen Yang and his team first arrived in the West, they built a seawater distiller. After finding a water source, they partially abandoned it, but it was still usable.
Most of the residents who came to the Western Ocean for vacation were newcomers who rarely ventured outside the Mo Yuan region. They had never been to the Western Ocean or the desert before and were very curious.
However, their seawater stills were not very professional, and although the distilled water was fresh, it didn't taste as good as purified freshwater.
The salt extracted using this distiller actually tastes quite good. It's different from the lake salt they get from the Mirror of the Sky.
Sun Bo happened to be on his way to the West, and he decided to distill more sea salt and bring some back with him.
Seawater distillers require multiple additions of water, a process that repeatedly purifies the sea salt, making it safe to consume directly.
"Chen Yang and the others almost died here when they entered the desert. I think that's a bit of an exaggeration," Xu Meng's cousin muttered.
"Of course you don't feel anything since you've been staying in the camp all this time. You can try going into the desert," Xu Meng said disdainfully.
“Fine, I’ll go.” Xu Meng’s cousin was somewhat unconvinced.
"Alright, stop being stubborn. I was totally dragging everyone down when I passed out. Are you sure you want to go?" Weng Ji said with a smile.
Xu Meng's cousin immediately fell silent.
Onggi was a potential Nobel laureate, not just a figurehead. He respected him greatly, though frankly, he wasn't confident in his ability to win.
“Professor Weng, please tell us the details. I’m quite interested.” A middle-aged man who recently joined the group said that he was Yun Shi’s uncle.
He wasn't the only one; many others were also very interested in the history of desert development.
To be able to explore a place that no one has ever set foot in before is something many people dream of, and just thinking about it makes their blood boil.
Even though I know the process will be arduous, I still feel a longing for it.
Since there's no opportunity to actually try it out for now, it's good to listen to what the person involved has to say.
Ongji was not just a scholar who buried himself in research; he gave countless lectures and participated in numerous debates.
Scholarship cannot remain on paper forever; this is his way of doing things. Therefore, when he talks about his experiences at that time, he does so vividly. Although he is simply recounting the facts, he makes everyone feel as if they were there themselves, and they feel very anxious when they hear the key points.
“At that time, we were really out of ammunition and food. They dragged me forward, dug water in the ground, drank the water that seeped from the soil, filtered it, and that’s how we barely regained our strength. And we didn’t know at the time that there was actually a water source not far from us. Later, it was with the help of this water source that we continued to move forward, found the West, and used seawater distillers to produce fresh water while searching for new water sources.”
Ongji slowly recounted the story, mentioning how they rescued the stranded whales and how the whale pods drove away the fish in return.
The others listened quietly, seemingly calm, but their hearts were surging like the waves of the sea.
(End of this chapter)
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