"Sunji Town of Linyi County?"
Gao Chuwu scratched his head so hard it looked like he was trying to dig out a memory with brute force. "That name… I swear I've heard it somewhere."
A head popped out beside him.
Lao Nanfeng grinned. "Back when we were still running Yongji Water Fort. Before Puzhou. Remember? We hired people from Linyi County to dig limestone. Quite a few of them said they were from Sunji Town."
Gao Chuwu's eyes lit up. "Right! That's it!"
Sunji Town.
A place that history had slapped around without apology.
When the bandit Old Zhang Fei swept through, he seized the town and tore down its walls—brick by brick—leaving nothing but open ground and bad luck. After that, any bandit passing by treated it like a roadside inn that didn't charge.
Worse still, many townsfolk had been dragged off and forced into bandit ranks.
Only after Xing Honglang killed Old Zhang Fei at Yongji did those people finally crawl back to freedom. They worked for the water fort, hauling stone, mixing lime, surviving on honest wages and thin gruel. When the fighting eased, some returned home.
Returned to a town with no walls.
No protection.
And no future.
Xing Honglang's column hadn't even fully halted when the town erupted.
"They're here!"
"It's Chief Xing's army!"
"Chief Xing? Watch your mouth—that's General Xing now!"
A crowd surged out like a dam breaking.
People who had once worked at Yongji rushed forward, faces bright, voices loud, joy spilling everywhere. Their excitement was contagious; even the more cautious villagers—those who didn't recognize Xing Honglang—were dragged along, standing at a distance, peeking and whispering, wanting to believe but afraid to hope.
"General Xing! Are you doing business here?"
"Are you building another water fort?"
"Yongji was too far—I had to come home! If you build one here, I'll work day and night!"
"I'll do anything! Just let me work again!"
The town buzzed like a festival that hadn't existed in years.
Xing Honglang felt… awkward.
"I'm just passing through," she said carefully. "Heading north to suppress bandits."
The joy froze.
"Oh."
The disappointment was immediate and unfiltered.
Because for common folk like them, working for Xing Honglang had been the best days of their lives.
Fair pay.
No deductions.
No tricks.
No overseers who "forgot" wages.
You worked, you ate.
It shouldn't have been miraculous.
But in this era, it was.
Xing Honglang frowned slightly. These people needed help—but how?
At that moment, a calm voice spoke from Gao Chuwu's shoulder.
Dao Xuan Tianzun's avatar.
"Across the Yellow River," it said mildly, "lies Heyang County."
The crowd gasped.
"The Dao Xuan Tianzun!"
"He's here!"
The avatar continued, "From there, it is very close to Qichuan Ferry."
Xing Honglang nodded. "Cross here, and you reach Sanji Village. From there, it's barely a dozen li to Qichuan Ferry."
The avatar's tone was almost casual.
"Then connect them."
Silence.
"Build a bridge," Dao Xuan Tianzun said. "So Sunji Town can receive supplies, trade, and work from Qichuan Ferry."
Qichuan Ferry was no backwater anymore.
It had docks, fleets, warehouses, and the Second Steel Mill—the beating industrial heart of Gao Family Village's artillery. A town had grown around it, loud and alive.
And here, just across the river—
Poverty.
Because water, apparently, was stronger than fate.
"I grant you," Dao Xuan Tianzun said, "another great bridge."
The villagers blinked.
"Grant… a bridge?"
Xing Honglang and the others, however, reacted very differently.
"What?!"
"A bridge?!"
"We missed Longmen—and now there's another?!"
Gao Chuwu laughed so hard he nearly dropped his halberd. "Quick! Everyone! To the river!"
The militia sprinted.
The villagers followed, half-confused, half-dizzy with excitement.
The Yellow River surged before them, vast and violent, roaring like something alive.
From inside the box, Li Daoxuan glanced at his monitor.
Sunji Town.
Future site of the Linyi Yellow River Bridge.
Budget: 2.32 billion RMB.
He nodded.
"Good location."
He reached for the building blocks.
The golden hand descended.
First, the riverbanks were compacted—soil pressed, stabilized, reinforced. Then—
Boom.
A plastic pier slammed into the ground.
The militia cheered.
The villagers screamed.
Then stopped screaming.
Because Xing Honglang wasn't afraid.
And neither was Dao Xuan Tianzun.
"Oh," someone whispered. "It's not a monster."
"It's… benevolent."
The golden hand moved with patient precision.
Click.
Clack.
Segment after segment locked into place.
This bridge was longer than Longmen's, requiring multiple piers. Li Daoxuan drove them deep into the riverbed, tamped them down, adjusted alignment like a craftsman rather than a god.
Time passed.
And then—
The Linyi Yellow River Bridge stood complete.
Spanning destiny.
The river bowed beneath it.
Xing Honglang stared, breathless.
The villagers stared, stunned.
Dao Xuan Tianzun's avatar chuckled.
"I've already informed Bai Yuan at Qichuan Ferry. He'll bring people over soon. As for Sunji Town—start building roads. Cement roads. One to the town. One to Qichuan Ferry."
The villagers didn't fully understand.
But they understood work.
"Road construction!"
"We have work!"
"I'm going to run across the bridge!"
"You fool! It's several li long—you'll starve before you finish!"
Laughter erupted.
But Xing Honglang and the others saw the deeper truth.
This bridge didn't just help Sunji Town.
It opened a land corridor between Heyang County and Puzhou City.
The Gao Family Village militia could now move faster.
And history—
History had just been nudged.
Again.