Zhang Tiantian glanced at him and smiled: "Effort can't just be lip service."
Soon.
There were strange noises again in the room.
Until half an hour later.
Meng Xiaochuan felt almost completely drained, lying still like a sage.
After a while.
He heard Zhang Tiantian's voice: "The news says the Pioneer Alliance imported over 3000 tons of First level Exotic Material from Iron Fist Civilization, called 'Ebara Thermal Energy Metal', and that it's going to spark an energy revolution. What's this thing?"
Meng Xiaochuan snapped out of his sage-like state and asked: "Did the news introduce Ebara Thermal Energy Metal?"
Zhang Tiantian nodded: "Yes, it did."
She continued: "The news described an application scenario, saying it can greatly improve the thermal efficiency of thermal power generation. What does that mean?"
Meng Xiaochuan stretched out his hand: "Let me see the phone."
Zhang Tiantian obediently handed the phone over.
After looking at it for a while, Meng Xiaochuan suddenly sat up from the bedside and blurted out: "Awesome!"
Zhang Tiantian nudged his leg with her foot and asked: "What's awesome?"
Meng Xiaochuan explained: "The essence of thermal power generation is burning coal to produce steam, which then drives a steam turbine to generate electricity.
"This process inevitably involves a lot of wasted heat energy, and the more energy wasted, the lower the thermal efficiency."
Zhang Tiantian nodded, somewhat understanding: "I didn't expect you, a history major graduate, to know so much about thermal power generation."
Meng Xiaochuan chuckled without explaining that he likes reading historical time-travel novels, from which he learned a lot of random facts.
He continued: "According to the news, Ebara Thermal Energy Metal has a magical property that allows it to store heat energy.
"We can develop a new type of power generation unit, potentially increasing the thermal efficiency to over 95%, maybe even 98% is not impossible.
"Currently, the maximum thermal efficiency of thermal power generation technology is only 50%, so this is effectively doubling the power generation efficiency.
"Previously, one ton of coal could generate over 3000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, but with Ebara Thermal Energy Metal, it can generate nearly 7000 kilowatt-hours.
"According to the news, 3000 tons of Ebara Thermal Energy Metal could transform the nation's power plants.
"At that time, the nation's power generation will increase by 20 trillion kilowatt-hours, which is undoubtedly an energy revolution."
Zhang Tiantian finally understood: "I see."
Meng Xiaochuan added: "In principle, all fuel-burning power devices can use Ebara Thermal Energy Metal to enhance efficiency, so its application prospects are beyond imagination.
"This time, the civilization trade acquired Ebara Thermal Energy Metal, which is enough to boost Great Xia's strength to another level."
Zhang Tiantian realized: "No wonder the Pioneer Alliance stocks surged so much after the trade deal was reached."
Meng Xiaochuan returned the phone to his girlfriend and complained: "I feel there are too many revolutions nowadays; you can see a revolution every other day."
Zhang Tiantian shrugged again: "These are your Great Xia people's revolutions; they don't have much to do with us New Zealanders."
This statement was true. Currently, the "revolutions" on Canglan Star are nearly seventy percent initiated by Great Xia, over twenty percent by Carmenia Federation, and combined, the other countries account for less than ten percent.
Meng Xiaochuan touched his girlfriend's face: "In a few years, you'll be a Great Xia person too, so you should say 'our Great Xia people's revolution.'"
Zhang Tiantian immediately laughed: "Alright then!"
She continued scrolling on her phone for a while, suddenly exclaiming: "Oh my god!"
Meng Xiaochuan turned his head to look, asking: "What's wrong?"
Zhang Tiantian handed the phone over again: "There's video footage of the frost disaster in Aurora Continent circulating now, lots of people died."
Aurora Continent is the smallest continent on Canglan Star, with 28 countries before the Age of Calamity, many of which were island countries, New Zealand being one of them.
Therefore, when the Age of Calamity began, Aurora Continent suffered the greatest losses, with up to 15 island countries permanently disappearing.
This time, the frost disaster erupted in the largest country in Aurora Continent, also the country occupying the entire Aurora continent — the Asia-Oceania Union.
Meng Xiaochuan looked at the phone screen and immediately saw the city streets jam-packed and immobilized.
Zhang Tiantian explained beside him: "The disaster struck Buban City, the third largest city in the Asia-Oceania Union. After the extreme cold cyclone appeared, many people drove their families to escape, causing numerous accidents, ultimately blocking the entire city.
"The frost disaster in Buban City came particularly fast, erupting in less than an hour after the extreme cold cyclone appeared, while the frost disasters in Dongli Kingdom and Great Xia erupted four hours later."
Meng Xiaochuan saw white frost appear in the footage, covering everything in a short time, including buildings on both sides of the road and the densely packed vehicles on the road.
Many Australasians hurriedly got out of their cars, trying to take refuge in nearby buildings.
But it was already too late.
They had walked only a little distance before a layer of frost climbed over their bodies.
The whole city soon fell silent.
Zhang Tiantian's face turned a little pale: "The entire Buban City was within the frost disaster zone; reportedly, less than forty percent of people successfully escaped, and the final death toll might exceed 2 million."
Meng Xiaochuan agreed: "Indeed, it's too tragic."
Actually, he felt a bit puzzled; Great Xia had already issued warnings and used Xiumei City as a sample to show the world, telling the Canglan people this was the correct response.
Couldn't these Australasians even copy homework?
You don't need to copy a perfect score of 100, just a passing score of 60 should be manageable, right?
Yet these people handed in a blank sheet!
Zhang Tiantian added: "New Zealand isn't too far from the Asia-Oceania Union; it might also experience the frost disaster. There's already panic in New Zealand."
She paused, looking grateful: "Luckily, I'm in Great Xia now."
Meng Xiaochuan hugged her shoulder: "Stay in Great Xia and don't go anywhere. After a while, I'll try to bring your parents over so your whole family can settle in Great Xia."
Zhang Tiantian was overjoyed: "Do you have a way?"
Although marrying a Great Xia person and having kids is the universally acknowledged quickest way to obtain a Great Xia National ID, this benefit doesn't extend to the spouse's parents.
Under relevant clauses, spouse's parents can visit, but not for more than a month each year.
Meng Xiaochuan confidently said: "I am now one of the foreign publicity ambassadors for Great Xia, with a little bit of leverage. Helping your parents immigrate shouldn't be much of a problem."
"Mwah!"
Zhang Tiantian expressed her thanks in this manner: "It's so wonderful to have met you!"
*
Eastern City.
Night had already fallen.
Gabalabas and Gaba Muda were walking in the snow.
Gabalabas glanced at the sky and sighed: "I like this world; Iron Fist World is too hot."
Gaba Muda shook his head: "I was like you at first, but after staying here for a long time, I found myself liking Iron Fist World more."
Gabalabas smiled and changed the topic: "I'm a bit confused, Ebara Thermal Energy Metal is just a first level Exotic Material, doesn't seem very useful, so why do the Canglan People value it so much and order 3000 tons?"
Gaba Muda answered: "The civilization system is different, so the needs are naturally different. Ebara Thermal Energy Metal may be useless to us, but it could have huge significance for Canglan Civilization."
Gabalabas nodded: "Selling scrap Exotic Material at thirty times the price this time, I think Lord Guardian must be very pleased."
