At a certain research institute, a group of engineers working overtime consoled themselves while racing to finish their design drawings.
"But there's one benefit to this: we won't have to endure all that bumping around. We can transport everything by water the whole way, and work can begin at multiple points simultaneously. Construction speed will increase dramatically."
"At least it's more comfortable than building bridges and installing signal towers in the mountains down south."
One engineer said as he revised his drawings, "I heard from my colleagues in the south that Zhe Province has already placed a huge number of orders for inland passenger and cargo ships. When the time comes, the water route will connect directly from the Yangtze River to Xinjiang Province. It'll be convenient as hell."
"Damn, taking a boat all the way from Zhe Province to the westernmost edge of Xinjiang Province sounds downright surreal."
"What's even more surreal is that shipping will open in less than half a month."
Another engineer got ready to take a paid bathroom break. As he left his seat, he pulled out his phone and browsed while walking. "The trending searches are packed with posts about the Red Chess River Project. All the streamers and uploaders near the canal have gone to watch it. Every close-up video is getting crazy traffic."
An engineer who had just come out of the restroom chimed in, "The hottest one is that livestream of a guy driving an off-road vehicle and chasing the canal. Its popularity has gone straight through the roof."
He was talking about an outdoor self-driving streamer. He had been driving through Gan Province that morning when he happened to encounter the Red Chess River being opened to water. By another stroke of luck, he was not far from the canal's