During class, Qin Luming shared the news with Guo Gaoming and Diao Ligang. Both of them were delighted for him and loudly demanded that Qin Luming treat them to a meal.
Guo Gaoming, with his big mouth, posted the news that Qin Luming's book had finally been signed to the class group chat, declaring that their class had gained another great writer.
Qin Luming had no choice but to send a red packet in the group chat. He did not explain that he had only just signed the contract; forget being a great writer, he did not even count as an entry-level web novelist yet.
"Congratulations." After class at noon, Zhu Baiqing came over specifically to say so to Qin Luming. In the web novel industry, aside from competing for website recommendation resources during the promotion period, there was basically no such thing as peers fighting over the same bowl of rice... though Zhu Baiqing would admittedly have felt a little more superior and comfortable if Qin Luming had never managed to sign a contract.
"Thanks," Qin Luming said with a smile.
"Actually... forget it. You're not someone who has to bow to reality anyway. Writing according to your own wishes is quite a comfortable thing." Zhu Baiqing nodded. He had originally wanted to offer some encouragement and warnings from the standpoint of a senior, such as how an average of three thousand subscriptions after premium release only barely counted as getting started, but on second thought, there was no need.
Zhu Baiqing had checked the account that had tipped him one million Qidian coins again today and found that it made many large tips. He understood that Qin Luming had actually always been a low-key tycoon. Forget three thousand average subscriptions—Qin Luming would probably need income at the level of thirty thousand average subscriptions before he felt even a little tempted.
"Want to have lunch together? My treat," Qin Luming invited him.
"No, I'm going with A He." Zhu Baiqing shook his head, then walked toward Qi Ahe, who had been standing some distance away and looking over.
Guo Gaoming and Diao Ligang were also waiting for Qin Luming. Zhu Baiqing joining them would not really have affected anyone's mood, but since he was not going, no one felt any regret.
Qin Luming treated Guo Gaoming and Diao Ligang to barbecue. Naturally, there were no particularly upscale barbecue restaurants near the school. The three of them were stuffed after spending three hundred yuan... and that was with Qin Luming ordering a large fruit platter and a big pitcher of juice.
After lunch, Guo Gaoming and Diao Ligang returned to school, while Qin Luming went to print out the documents for his novel's contract with the website. It was a thick stack and looked rather official. Qin Luming read through the contract terms, filled in the relevant information as instructed by the signing editor, signed his name, and found a courier service to send the contract off.
After afternoon classes, the novelty of having just signed a contract had faded. Qin Luming considered a very practical issue: signed works generally needed stable updates to gain an editor's attention and receive the website's promotional resources... if he kept fishing for three days and drying nets for two as before, then signing the contract would basically make no difference.
"Uh..." Qin Luming scratched his head.
He would deal with it later.
Qin Luming was about to unlock a shared bike when he habitually scrolled through his notification list and saw a news alert containing a keyword he had set.
"This afternoon, an abandoned all-steel road-and-rail bridge in front of Mentougou was discovered to have vanished from its original location. The bridge was built in the 1980s. Because its designed load capacity could no longer meet the growing traffic demand, it was officially decommissioned ten years ago. A newly built bridge downstream took over its role, while the main structure of this steel truss bridge remained awaiting demolition. Our reporter is currently investigating whether the bridge's disappearance was an official demolition or, like the previous Zinc Factory disappearance, the work of a theft ring..."
Qin Luming found the bridge on his phone map. It was not far from the old Zinc Factory he had visited last time, so he decided to take a look.
A powerful intuition told Qin Luming that Zhou Nan had done this again... If it really was her, Her Majesty the Empress had come to the real world, taken a Zinc Factory first, then taken a bridge. What was she trying to do?
Qin Luming still hailed a ride and hurried over. When he arrived near the Mentougou bridge, he found the area desolate.
Fresh yellow-green weeds mingled with gray-white thatch that had not survived the cruel winter. Broken concrete from the flood-control embankment lay scattered across the riverbank. The land on the opposite shore had long since been abandoned, and not far away lay the boundary the city could not cross. A mountain range covered with sparse planted forest stretched across the end of his vision, its yellow-earth base faintly visible.
The steel bridge that had once spanned both banks had vanished without a trace, leaving only the foundation sites on either side. Just like the Zinc Factory, it had been uprooted entirely. Everything that should have formed part of the steel bridge's main structure had been stripped away cleanly and removed from where it had originally stood.
The steel bridge had been built in the last century to improve transport conditions for the Zinc Factory. All of its steel-frame materials had been provided by another steel enterprise in City A.
Now, the Zinc Factory had been abandoned and had even disappeared, while that steel enterprise continued to thrive thanks to City A's vigorous economic and infrastructure development over the years.
Qin Luming walked to where a bridge pier should have been. Now, only a huge deep pit remained. Several earthworms poked their heads around as they crawled through holes in the mud, and at the bottom of the pit were faint traces of groundwater seeping in.
The explanation for the Zinc Factory's disappearance was that a criminal gang stealing concrete pavement had done it. Could the same gang have taken this railway bridge too?
Qin Luming absolutely did not believe that explanation. He still trusted his own judgment: only Zhou Nan had such unscientific powers and could accomplish this with divine arts.
But what did this Zhou Nan want? What value did the Zinc Factory and the steel bridge have for her... Qin Luming truly could not figure it out.
Understanding the thoughts of an emperor from another world seemed to be a very difficult thing.
Qin Luming tried to put himself in her shoes. If he were a ruler of the real world, possessed a certain degree of power, and traveled to another world, what would he do?
He would probably first find a way to fill his stomach... Forget it. Qin Luming gave up on trying to understand Zhou Nan.
Qin Luming could not understand Zhou Nan, but her actions might not be without a pattern. He opened the digital map and found that the old Zinc Factory and the Men'gangou Steel Bridge lay on a straight line.
Of course, any two points on a map lay on a straight line... but extending that line to the left led to Ma Shilong's home.
He did not know whether it was a coincidence, but the three times Qin Luming had discovered Zhou Nan's actions had all been on the same straight line.
Any two points could be connected by a straight line, but there was no saying that any three points would still lie on one.
Qin Luming dragged his finger across the map and looked to the right. Continuing along that line led into the mountains... No. A flash of insight struck him. There was a dam in those mountains!
This dam was even older than the Men'gangou Steel Bridge. In the 1970s, flooding was rampant in the waters around City A, so City A concentrated its resources on building the dam. It was remarkably grand, with a vertical drop of more than three hundred meters from its highest point to its base, exceeding even many world-famous dams.
Yet after the dam was completed, the water flow somehow gradually diminished and even stopped entirely for a time. This dam, built for flood control and power generation, went unused and gradually fell into disrepair.
After the last group of workers maintaining the dam withdrew in the 1990s, it became a forgotten place in the wilderness. Only in recent years, with the rise of online short videos, did occasional streamers go there to film wilderness survival livestreams or videos, bringing the dam back into public view... before that, even the people of City A had forgotten it.
Qin Luming suddenly understood a little. Considering the way this emperor wielded a massive hammer, she surely possessed an unstoppable momentum. She had not deliberately selected anything; she had merely chosen a direction. Whatever she saw along that path, whether it was a Zinc Factory or a bridge, if she wanted it, she took it.
It was still difficult to understand what value the Zinc Factory and bridge had, but Qin Luming felt that Zhou Nan's next target might be that dam.
Before you continue