Ch 168: The World’s Number One Resort

The tourists were engrossed in the heated discussions about the Great Tang Cinema. At Great Tang Resort, Tang Huai sat in his office, reviewing the recent work reports.

According to the global conference schedule, Great Tang would start welcoming visitors from around the world tomorrow. National delegations would also gradually arrive, and the opening ceremony of the global conference would officially take place on March 10th, just eight days away.

“Manager Tang, the projects in the three areas have been completed. Should we organize a ribbon-cutting ceremony?”

Tang Huai closed the report, and his secretary handed over a new document. The Great Tang secretarial team had expanded to eight members, but with so many affairs to manage, they were still stretched thin.

“No need for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Just focus on planning the opening ceremony.” Compared to the minor ribbon-cutting events, the global opening ceremony was the real highlight.

After Tang Huai finished speaking, the secretary responded promptly.

Tang Huai continued working for a while. It was now 8 PM. After some thought, he put the documents aside and drove to the Underwater Ancient City.

As the global conference approached, the number of tourists on the island increased. To create an atmosphere, Tang Huai had hung numerous eco-friendly lights on the branches along the main road. The island’s public areas also featured video booths themed around “environmental protection.”

Visitors could freely experience the changes on Earth in 10D, a significant public welfare initiative. Since its launch last week, it had received unanimous praise from tourists.

Sora Island operated efficiently, like a car engine.

The drive from Sora Town to the Underwater Ancient City required passing through three areas: Snow Village, Bianjing Ancient City, and Sky Forest. Along the way, Tang Huai encountered many tourists of various ethnicities. Great Tang had indeed become an international offshore town.

Half an hour later, Tang Huai arrived at the Underwater Ancient City, the central area. Unlike the dull construction site from before, the city’s entrance now resembled an extravagant high-tech gate, standing majestically on the coast. Near the entrance were the diligent and responsible service staff of the ancient city.

In front of the gate was a large, five-square-kilometer open space, mainly occupied by a beach and beverage stands. To the south of the beach was a designated parking lot, where seven or eight tour buses were parked, along with some single-person balance scooters.

“Only eleven more hours to go; it’s so hard to wait.”

“I’m so excited! I can finally see the Underwater Ancient City firsthand.”

“I heard the Underwater Ancient City occupies half of Sora Island’s area. I wonder if it’s true.”

“I don’t know… Take a couple of pictures for me; I want to post them on my social media.”

…

At this moment, the gate was surrounded by tourists from all over the world. They were all waiting for the Underwater Ancient City to open the next morning. Tang Huai estimated there were more than 3,000 people scattered around.

This was a typical scene at the Underwater Ancient City.

The Underwater Ancient City was a vast scenic area. This was its main entrance, with several side entrances at Sora Town and the Fruit Kingdom.

Although the other entrances weren’t as crowded as the main one, they were still filled with tourists eagerly awaiting the official opening of the Underwater Ancient City.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless one.

Tang Huai parked his car in the parking lot. Most of the beach tourists were playing on their phones or playing cards, enjoying a variety of activities.

“Can we take a picture? Ahhh, so handsome!” As Tang Huai wandered around the beach, looking for an open spot to wait, he heard an excited female voice from a distance.

He turned around and saw seven Chinese tourists to his south. Six of them were girls, and in the middle stood a Chinese man wearing a checkered shirt.

The man, who looked about 25 or 26, had a chubby figure, wore a checkered shirt and flip-flops, giving off a casual yet slightly unkempt vibe.

He was taking pictures with each of the girls next to him.

Tang Huai felt the man looked familiar. After squinting and taking a closer look, he finally recognized him. This man… Li Yuan?

Li Yuan was a popular young actor in China. He had made headlines several times last year due to his contract termination with Red fruit. Since then, he had repeatedly voiced his support for Great Tang on Weibo and was the first VIP 90% discount cardholder at Delicious Restaurant.

In Tang Huai’s memory, Li Yuan was tall and thin, with a delicate yet handsome appearance. But now, looking at this young man in front of him with a 170+ weight, Tang Huai was completely stunned.

Time spares no one; the once-young heartthrob is long gone. However, judging by Li Yuan’s expression, he seems to be enjoying life to the fullest.

Tang Huai glanced at him briefly before losing interest. It was now 11 PM, with nine hours left until the ancient city opened.

Finding a quiet spot, Tang Huai started scrolling through his phone. As the cool breeze brushed past, he gradually dozed off.

“Ahhh, it’s about to open! Hurry up and get in line.”

“So excited!”

“Let me post on Weibo first…”

Half-asleep, Tang Huai felt the morning light shining in. He opened his eyes to find that it was 7:10 AM. The number of tourists at the ancient city’s entrance had grown to over 5,000. There were eight entry lanes, and under the guidance of the service staff, the tourists lined up in an orderly fashion.

Tang Huai stretched lazily and joined the nearest queue.

As the absolute owner of Great Tang Resort, Tang Huai had the privilege of entering first. However, since he had waited all night, he decided to enter together with the other tourists.

“Hello, viewers in front of the TV! I’m Jennifer, a reporter from BBC Television, currently reporting from Great Tang Resort…”

“I’m from North America Weekly…”

Many media outlets had gathered at the front of each queue. These reporters came from various countries; some were part of the global conference’s official press, while others came at their own expense to gather material. Every media group was brimming with enthusiasm.

At this moment of global attention, Great Tang was the center of worldwide focus.

The media had made up their minds to live-stream the opening of the Underwater Ancient City.

…

“Has it started? Damn, I’m more excited than I am for the Spring Festival Gala.”

“Stay calm. Exams are over; we can finally relax.”

“So many people lining up… Great Tang is incredible.”

While tourists patiently lined up, in Room 306 at Binghe University in China, Gao Jian and his roommates were eating cold noodles while watching the live stream on Great Tang’s Lazyfish platform.

Douyin, Lazyfish, Weibo… Out of the top ten trending topics, seven were live streams of the Great Tang Ancient City. During this global conference, they couldn’t leave the country, but they could still enjoy virtual tourism.

Recently, Great Tang had been trending quite frequently. Yet, compared to all the celebrity dramas, Great Tang offered a refreshing, natural alternative with its beautiful scenery.

“Knock, knock—”

“Oh my god, you guys are watching the Great Tang live stream too? Old Gao, how about a round of Great Tang Cinema? I’ve already sent you the money on WeChat.”

With ten minutes left until the ancient city’s opening, Room 306 waited patiently. Just then, there was a knock on the door. The guy from the next dorm, munching on an apple, asked Gao Jian while peering inside.

Gao Jian pointed to the Great Tang Cinema on the table.

The cinema wasn’t cheap, but the boys in the dorm loved to try new things. Once the first person sent Gao Jian money for a session, business for the Great Tang Cinema took off.

In the past five days, Gao Jian completed 32 transactions. Although he hadn’t broken even yet, the future looked promising. It was only a matter of time before he made a profit.

After this brief interruption, the Underwater Ancient City officially opened, and the live-streaming tourists entered one after another. Due to the queue, viewers had to wait a bit, following the streamers.

The order in which the streamers entered became a key factor in retaining viewers.

The competition among streamers was fierce.

…

“Time to check tickets. Old man, don’t get lost.”

“I’m not a child.”

The excitement was high among the live-streaming tourists. At the third entrance of the Great Tang Ancient City, after a long wait in line, a pair of tourists, one male and one female, finally passed through the security check.

Both were Chinese tourists. The woman, named Zhou Shanyue, was seventy-two years old and a retired communications engineer. The man, Zhang Jiansheng, was seventy-three and also a retired communications engineer.

The two had been retired for seven years. After a brief period of boredom, they spent the past seven years traveling the world. They were older but still fit and robust, leading a carefree life, except for making regular calls to their son and daughter.

The two had been skiing in the Alps recently. When the results of the global conference were announced, they quickly decided to set their March travel plans for Great Tang.

Great Tang and China were in a honeymoon phase, and they were both very curious about Great Tang’s technology. They had arrived yesterday, and upon seeing the floating Sky forest, they had no regrets about their decision.

Today, with the Underwater Ancient City opening, they naturally joined the excitement.

The entrance tunnel was a high-quality glass corridor with a five-meter-wide stairway inside, sloping downward. Without the tunnel overhead, the entire stairway would have been submerged in seawater.

“Pretty good waterproofing.”

Zhou Shanyue touched the glass tunnel near the stairs. The glass was so clear that she could see the world outside in perfect detail. The hard shell of the tunnel showed no signs of leaking, but underwater tunnels had been a major project in China in recent years. Zhou Shanyue wasn’t particularly surprised.

Following the directions of the service staff, the two walked downward. The glass stairway consisted of 32 steps, leading to a large platform at the bottom, where five express tracks lay ahead.

An advertisement board stood beside the platform, making the scene resemble a miniature version of the Beijing subway.

They looked up.

The roof of the undersea platform was high, with a transparent ceiling directly overhead. Countless fish swam above them, and since the water wasn’t too deep, they could faintly see sunlight. The scene before them was truly magical, with the light patterns of the water creating an enchanting atmosphere.

“Click, click—”

“Let’s take a few pictures to remember this.”

Zhou Shanyue was a bit stunned by the sight, while Zhang Jiansheng snapped a few shots with his DSLR. Although he was seventy-three, he had a wide range of hobbies, photography being one of them.

“Let me see; you’ve made me look too ugly in these…” Zhou Shanyue took the camera. She was the main subject in Zhang Jiansheng’s photos, but, like most women, she could always find flaws in candid shots.

“Ugly? Not at all, you look great! Oh, the train’s coming…” Zhang Jiansheng complimented her while saving the pictures. Zhou Shanyue blushed a little. Just then, a silver train arrived.

The train resembled a subway in China—sleek and spacious, capable of carrying up to a thousand passengers.

The Great Tang Line 1 stopped.

The two boarded. Since they were among the first to get on, the train was still quite empty. They took a few more photos before other tourists began to board, and soon, the train was full.

The Great Tang Line 1 officially departed at 9:03 AM.

Regardless of whether it was Line 1 or Line 2, the subway’s destination was the same: the Underwater Ancient City.

Amidst all the anticipation, Line 1 began its journey.

“Whoa, it’s not moving parallel; it’s going underground?”

“I heard the Undersea Ancient City is located more than a thousand meters below sea level. I thought that was just a marketing tactic… Is the pressure down there safe?”

“No idea. You don’t think this trip is going to end in failure, do you?”

“Watch your words! If you can’t say anything good, then keep quiet.”

As Line 1 left the subway station, everyone felt a wave of panic. They realized the subway tracks sloped downwards at an angle of at least fifty degrees.

Even though they knew that Great Tang’s attractions were famous for their psychological challenges, the idea of being a thousand meters underwater still felt a bit unsettling. This wasn’t land—if anything went wrong… it could mean disaster for all of them.

“Look outside!”

“So many fish, and there are coral reefs too.”

“Is this the underwater world? It’s even more beautiful than in the movies.”

“The underwater tunnel even has its own lighting…”

Line 1 continued moving forward, and as the passengers’ initial fear subsided, they tried to adjust their mindset. The underwater subway was just like any regular subway line, except it was encased in a waterproof, transparent tunnel.

Warm lights illuminated the tunnel’s interior. The underwater world outside was dark and eerie, but with the tunnel lights, they could see the surrounding scenery clearly. It was a unique experience.

“Click, click—”

“This is stunning! Everyone, I’m on my way to the Underwater Ancient City right now. This is Line 1’s tunnel. Isn’t it cool?”

As the passengers calmed down, they took out their phones and started snapping pictures. Taking photos was a must during their travels.

“Whoa, is that a shark?”

Line 1 moved steadily as passengers edited their social media posts. Suddenly, the surrounding area grew noisy again. A seven-meter-long, three-meter-tall black whale shark swam past with an imposing presence.

As the whale shark swam, the water churned, and countless smaller fish scattered in every direction. The whale shark noticed Line 1 and immediately charged at it, only to be blocked by the glass tunnel.

Not giving up, the whale shark swam parallel to the train, curiously observing the passengers.

“It’s even pressing its face up against the glass… Oh my god, this is like a real-life version of Jaws!”

“This is so damn thrilling!”

The passengers were so tense that they barely dared to breathe.

Jaws, Underwater Escape, Shark King… In that moment, scenes from various ocean disaster movies filled their minds.

“Choo—” The whale shark made a threatening sound before swimming away under the passengers’ watchful eyes.

It figured it might as well go chase some smaller fish instead.

“It left? It really left, right?”

“That scared me to death; it’s my first time seeing a whale shark.”

As the whale shark swam off, the passengers were still catching their breath. Then, they quickly opened their social media apps. This was a live shark encounter! It felt like hitting the jackpot; it was so exhilarating!

Although the passengers’ expressions didn’t show it, they now understood the high quality of the glass tunnel after experiencing the whale shark’s collision.

They realized there was no need to worry too much about safety.

The passengers checked the time. It was now 9:39 AM. According to the information card, Line 1 would arrive at the Underwater Ancient City at 9:55 AM.

The speed of Line 1 was just right. As they talked about the shark and admired the ocean scenery, time passed bit by bit.

Sixteen minutes later, the train entered the Underwater Ancient City area.

☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️