“Didn’t you say the trial run would be at National Day this year? How is it directly opening for traffic now?” Huang Laoban asked the accompanying staff on the way.
“Boss Huang, with your global influence, you still don’t know how unfavorable international public opinion is towards us?” A staff member accompanying him said with a wry smile. “We are under immense pressure. Even some comrades who don’t fully understand the situation have expressed doubts after reading foreign reports, putting our entire company in a very passive position.”
“So, the higher-ups issued a strict order demanding us to use the fastest possible speed, ensuring safety, to open a section of the line first, and then let reporters experience it firsthand. All rumors will naturally be dispelled,” the staff member said.
“So that’s how it is!” Huang Laoban’s face twitched slightly. “Then why specifically invite me?”
“Ah… didn’t you personally tell Secretary Liu during the last ribbon-cutting ceremony that you absolutely wanted to be the first passenger on this train? That’s why Secretary Liu specially invited you!” the staff member said somewhat confusedly. Huang Laoban wished he could slap himself.
Of course, Huang Laoban wanted to be the first passenger on China’s own high-speed maglev train; it was a matter of great prestige. But the problem was, he was about to board a train that had undergone thorough testing and hundreds of trial runs, with a safety coefficient of at least 99.99%.
He wasn’t the lamb being dragged out as evidence due to an opinion crisis, forcing an early trial run.
Fortunately, the staff member seemed to have noticed Huang Laoban’s concerns and proactively said, “In fact, we’ve already run it countless times. After the Yunnan to Guangxi section was completed, we simultaneously conducted safety tests and trial runs. The train has been operating faultlessly in this section for 4,986 hours.”
“As for the Guangdong to Guangxi section, because it was just completed, the testing time is not long. However, the cumulative testing duration is 362 hours. The entire process has been basically fault-free. The occasional issues that arose were minor faults and did not affect the overall safety of the train.”
“Our emphasis on safety is such that all department heads, from the Chairman to middle management, will collectively ride it. So, it’s definitely foolproof!” Hearing this, Huang Laoban felt much more at ease.
However, to be honest, if it were 10 years ago when Huang Laoban first transmigrated to this world, he wouldn’t have cared so much. He would have just gone for it, with nothing to worry about, considering his life cheap.
But now, as the world’s richest man, with a wife, children, a cozy home, and assets worth over a trillion US dollars, losing it all would be unbearable!
Yet, in the next moment, the staff member’s words made Huang Laoban feel a bit displeased. He said, “In fact, even if we take a step back, there shouldn’t be any problems. This technology was developed under your guidance, so you should know that even if there were a major malfunction in the pipeline, or if the pipeline deformed due to geological disasters, there would be no danger to life!”
“Because our train is sturdy enough, and it also has a comprehensive design for pressure dispersion. Additionally, the company stipulates that each train must always carry enough food and water for 15 days.”
“So, even in the event of a serious problem, causing the train to be trapped underground, as long as there isn’t internal pressure loss that causes all the air to leak into a vacuum, there is no fatal danger. We would just need to patiently wait for rescuers.”
“Taking another step back, Mr. Huang, the carriage you’ll be taking today has been specially designed with fewer seats, which allows for more space to store supplies. It is stocked with enough provisions for three months. Surely, no one would be unable to rescue you within three months!”
“Moreover, each seat is custom-made. If a depressurization event occurs, as long as the protective shield is promptly raised and the internal pressure is activated, the pressure within the seating space will remain stable. Additionally, there are oxygen generation devices at the bottom of the seats, capable of providing oxygen for half a month. The seats also store three liters of water.”
“It’s like this: without food, people can survive for about three days with water. But with water and no food, it’s not a problem to last for ten days to half a month. So, we can still patiently wait inside the protective shield for rescue.”
“Your considerations are truly comprehensive!” Huang Laoban praised sincerely. These safety measures were indeed very well-prepared, rivaling his own soon-to-be-completed private jet.
However, Huang Laoban still had a doubt: if these people had prepared such thorough safety measures, did it imply that they themselves were uncertain about the safety of the entire journey? And that all company executives had to be in the carriage, hence the meticulous preparation of all safety measures for their own protection?
Thinking this, Huang Laoban’s hair stood on end; it was too terrifying.
The High-Speed Rail Development Company greatly valued Huang Laoban. As soon as he deplaned, he was greeted by the company’s deputy secretary and then escorted by a special car to the reception hotel.
After staying at the hotel for a day, he finally arrived at the starting point of this extraordinary journey, Kunming, Yunnan.
The starting station was built next to Kunming Changshui International Airport, where Huang Laoban had landed the previous day. The straight-line distance between the two giant buildings was no more than 3 kilometers.
However, the reception hotel where Huang Laoban was staying was tens of kilometers away in the KM city… Unfortunately, there were no five-star hotels near the airport, and the hosts felt that this might not be fitting for Huang Laoban’s status. Therefore, Huang Laoban had to travel dozens of kilometers back and forth for a mere 3-kilometer distance.
The reason for building the starting station next to Changshui Airport was that this area was on the outskirts of Kunming, and it was all mountains, which could reduce surveillance by ill-intentioned individuals. Also, land acquisition costs were low.
As for construction costs, although building on mountainous terrain was definitely more expensive than on plains, the vacuum maglev pipeline only needed to be excavated and buried. All the construction difficulty and cost were concentrated in the manufacturing of the pipeline itself. The infrastructure difficulty was actually low, and the cost did not increase significantly.
Another most crucial factor was to thoroughly connect the entire city’s transportation network. Connecting railways, airports, bus hubs, and other important transportation facilities has become the most basic urban planning for all large-scale city constructions.
This way, passengers could take the high-speed rail immediately after disembarking, which was very convenient.
While Huang Laoban slowly arrived at the starting station, ready to experience this magical journey, some reporters had a rather terrible experience.
“Carlott is a reporter for The New York Times stationed in Yunnan. However, he is also a special correspondent for dozens of American media outlets in Yunnan, including The Wall Street Journal, BBC Television, NHC Television, and so on.”
“It’s not that this Carlott is exceptionally capable and favored by so many media outlets, but rather that Yunnan is somewhat neglected by the media. World media outlets generally only station reporters in the capital of China. Stationing reporters in other regions would incur too high costs.”
“Therefore, one reporter is assigned to cover the work for multiple media outlets, and the news drafts they collect are distributed to all these media outlets.”
Despite being a special correspondent for dozens of media outlets, Carlott’s work was quite leisurely because, although there were many news items in Yunnan, there weren’t many that interested the American public. Apart from some breaking news, he only needed to submit three general news drafts to the major media outlets each month. Most of these drafts would not be adopted, and they wouldn’t even be bothered to review them before directly passing them on.
So, Carlott simply slacked off. Initially, he wrote his own news drafts. Later, he simply found a few pieces of news with some international value from local newspapers, translated them into English, and sent them back home.
Even later, he stopped translating them himself and directly sent them to Jiangnan AI for translation.
After all, Jiangnan AI’s industrial-grade service only cost 120 yuan per month, which was incredibly cheap for foreign journalists like them.
But just as Carlott was preparing for a leisurely life, a call came from the China headquarters of The New York Times, instructing him to arrive at the media reception center at Changshui Airport by 9 AM with his reporter’s ID for an interview assignment.
Carlott was furious.
This was because he received the call at 7 AM, and Carlott was still sleeping with a naked Chinese girl he had tricked into being his translator. Who would want to go for an interview at such a time?
So, Carlott agreed verbally, but in reality, he intended to ignore the order. Anyway, there wouldn’t be any major events there. Even if there were, the official Chinese media would report it first, and he could simply translate their reports. Shouldn’t he enjoy himself more in the morning?
But then, a second call came, this time from The Wall Street Journal.
Then came the third, from Fox Television.
Within a mere 10 minutes, headquarters from 15 media outlets for which Carlott was a special correspondent called him directly, ordering him to go to a specific location.
It was at this point that Carlott began to feel that something was amiss. At the same time, a sense of curiosity surged within him. He immediately threw aside the girl who was clamoring to go with him, put on a Han Chinese outfit, grabbed his reporter’s ID, and called the only photographer in the entire press station. The two of them then left their hotel and headed straight for Changshui International Airport.