Chapter 299: Chapter 216: Jiang Cai’Er’s Warning Method (Part 2)
Li Xiang was naturally supportive of her desire to learn.
The Northern Laos Border was just over 2,200 kilometers from the Imperial Capital. Li Xiang’s cruising speed was 2.5 Mach, or 3,060 kilometers per hour. Even though he was carrying a girl, Jiang Cai’Er weighed barely a hundred pounds. With Li Xiang’s Giant Power of one hundred thousand jin, she felt as light as a feather in his arms, not affecting his speed in the slightest.
In about forty minutes, the two arrived in the Imperial Capital. After a nighttime tour of the Capital City, Jiang Cai’Er mentioned she wanted to see the flag-raising ceremony.
The best place to watch the flag-raising ceremony was, of course, from the Tiananmen City Tower. However, the flag was typically raised shortly after 6:00 AM, while the Tiananmen City Tower didn’t open until 8:30 AM. This meant it was impossible to get up there through normal means. The next best spot, then, was around the flagpole.
For Li Xiang, this wasn’t a problem. He donned his Black Mountain Profound Armor and released the Black Light Shield, enveloping Jiang Cai’Er within it. At around four in the morning, his figure blurred, and in an instant, they moved from several hundred meters away to the top of the Tiananmen City Tower, hiding inside.
Although the Black Mountain Profound Armor wasn’t invisible to the naked eye, it was completely undetectable by technological means like radar and infrared. At his speed, security cameras couldn’t capture him either.
The two shared an intimate time on the tower as they waited for the flag-raising ceremony. After it was over, they landed in a secluded corner of the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City was vast, making it easy to hide. The tower, in contrast, was relatively small. If someone came up for an inspection, running into them would be inconvenient. They weren’t afraid, and no one could possibly catch them, but it was best to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Once the Forbidden City began to bustle with crowds, they emerged into the open and began to tour the grounds like any other visitors.
A group of elementary school students in their uniforms arrived on a field trip, chattering away with innocent liveliness. Jiang Cai’Er watched them, mesmerized.
"What’s wrong?" Li Xiang asked.
Jiang Cai’Er sighed softly. "This is the first time in my entire life I’ve been to the Forbidden City, yet these kids get to come on field trips while they’re still in elementary school."
Li Xiang watched them for a few moments as well. From the children’s expressions and words, it was clear this was far from their first visit; for them, it was a common occurrence.
It wasn’t just the Forbidden City. Other popular attractions in the Imperial Capital, like the National Museum and the Military Museum, were so booked that ordinary people couldn’t get a reservation even five to seven days in advance. Yet, local elementary school students could easily get in for field trips during the off-season.
But for children from farther away, visiting on a weekday was extremely difficult. It meant adults taking time off work and kids taking time off school, which was practically impossible.
Of course, given their current status and abilities, they didn’t dwell on such sentiments for long. They soon put the matter out of their minds and headed for the National Library.
This place served as the national book repository, the national bibliographic center, and the national center for the preservation of ancient texts. It was also one of the largest and most advanced national libraries in the world. Inside, countless elementary and middle school students were studying or on field trips.
Its collection contained 37,686,200 volumes, including nearly 2,000,000 ancient books and over 1,000 TB of digital resources. It was the largest library in Asia and the third-largest national library in the world.
This place was an ocean of knowledge, and upon entering, Jiang Cai’Er became like a sponge, ravenously soaking up everything it contained.
Many resources were accessible online, though they required registration or a reader’s card. However, many more precious resources were restricted, inaccessible with the permissions of an ordinary reader’s card.
From within the library, by "hacking" the system internally, Jiang Cai’Er easily "copied" all of its resources, storing them in her Memory Palace.
Her brain capacity had become incredibly powerful, with nearly 80% of it unlocked. A popular myth suggests that humans only use 10% of their brains, and that Einstein’s genius stemmed from his brain being developed just a few crucial percentage points more than the average person’s.
A myth might just be a myth, but scientific studies have shown that approximately 98.5% of an average person’s brain cells are dormant, with only about 1% participating in daily functional activities.
For a woman like Jiang Cai’Er, no man in the world besides Li Xiang was worthy of her. And she, in turn, wouldn’t give anyone else a second glance.
The same was true for Luo Feifei.
Their phones had been off during the long flight. Jiang Cai’Er now turned hers on to let her parents know she was safe, telling them she was studying at the library with Li Xiang.
Jiang Jianguo and his wife didn’t press the matter. They knew a grown daughter couldn’t be kept at home forever. They just hoped Jiang Cai’Er and Li Xiang would exercise some self-control and not cause any "incidents" before graduating high school.
In truth, their worries were needless. Both Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er had a strong sense of propriety.
That evening, the two left the National Library and had a copper-pot hot pot dinner at a restaurant with a pleasant ambiance. Afterward, Li Xiang took Jiang Cai’Er home.
Jiang Cai’Er had been immersed in learning for almost the entire day. She had acquired the knowledge, but digesting it and truly making it her own would still take a considerable amount of time.
They didn’t even have time for a trip to Qingbei, where Jiang Cai’Er would be studying in the future.
But neither of them was in a rush. When Jiang Cai’Er came here for her studies, there would be plenty of time to explore properly. They would surely experience all the sights and tastes the Imperial Capital had to offer.
「A few days later」
On the day before Jiang Cai’Er was scheduled to return to school, a cold wave swept across the north, bringing widespread, heavy snowfall.
Winter seemed to have arrived especially early this year.
It was only the beginning of September.
While some northern regions like the Mo River area or Changbai Mountain had seen snow in July or August in previous years, those were exceptions. This year, however, nearly the entire north was a vast expanse of white, frozen for a thousand miles, with snow drifting for ten thousand more.
In southern Sichuan Province, the Yangtze River Basin, and areas further south, temperatures plummeted. It felt as if summer had turned to late autumn overnight.
Weather like this was by no means normal.
’Looking back now, the Apocalypse actually sent out warnings for a decade in advance, with signs appearing almost every year. It’s just that in my past life, nobody took them seriously.’
Li Xiang was in the yard chopping firewood, stocking up for the winter. Jiang Cai’Er kept him company, skillfully maneuvering a robotic dog to split logs as well. With no one else around, they discussed strategies for the Apocalypse as they worked.
When the topic of warning signs came up, Jiang Cai’Er said she had an idea. She could use her abilities to post warnings all over the internet or email government websites.
She could send tens of thousands of posts or emails in an hour, all from different IP addresses. Not even the most skilled hacker could dream of tracing them back to her.
If she wished, she could send even more—hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions, even hundreds of millions—enough to instantly flood the entire internet.
Li Xiang thought it was a great idea and told Jiang Cai’Er to give it a try.
