Lately, he hadn’t stopped researching the anchor point’s stability. Almost every day after the Ancient City closed, he would run over to Yongtong Bridge and inspect the area for any changes. Unfortunately, even though the bridge was attracting an increasing number of tourists, neither Yongtong Bridge nor the surrounding West City Street had seen much change during this period.
But now, as another tourist triggered a High Level emotional resonance, the anchor point’s stability—which had been slowly accumulating every day—finally rose from 7% to 8%.
What surprised him even more was that as the stability increased to 8%, the system actually unlocked a new function!
"No."
He decisively chose no. Chen Yan rested his chin in his hand, deep in thought. Integration was a must, but not right now. The Ancient City was still open for business, and there were several tourists lingering around Yongtong Bridge.
Based on his previous experience of integrating the Yongtong Bridge fragment, this process wouldn’t be short. The amount of commotion it might cause was hard to predict, so he had to wait until the Ancient City closed. However, this gave him some time to study the new function.
The system interface explained it clearly. With the increase in anchor stability, he could finally unlock a new area, and this new area was the Qinghe Street he had been longing for!
Even now, he couldn’t forget its bustling scenery. Back when he was recording environmental data, he had thought that if he could bring this street back to his Ancient City—even if he only replicated a tenth of its charm—it would absolutely save the Ning’an Ancient City from the brink of bankruptcy. And now, this all seemed on the verge of becoming reality!
He also noticed that the unlocked Qinghe Street scene was only at the primary level. While he didn’t know how this primary-level scene would differ from the complete version he had once seen, he already had a rough expectation in mind.
Setting those thoughts aside, he had finally figured out the specific use of the anchor stability and unlocked a new function. Right now, Chen Yan felt completely energized. He wished the sun would set the very next second so he could hurry up and integrate the new scene.
Evening soon arrived. As the last tourist walked out of the Ancient City, Chen Yan told Sun and the others to get off work, then quickly headed to West City Street alone.
Two weeks had passed, and the once dilapidated and desolate West City Street had seen some changes. The buildings on both sides of the street were still old and mottled—that wasn’t something that could be changed overnight. However, the bluestone pavement underfoot was much cleaner. The moss and weeds that used to be everywhere had essentially been cleared out, and a long-lost trace of human vitality was gradually returning.
Standing on Yongtong Bridge, Chen Yan took a deep breath. His gaze fell upon the system prompt that had popped into the corner of his vision the moment he entered West City Street.
[Detected that the host has arrived in a highly relevant area. Initiate ’Qinghe Street’ scene integration (Primary)?]
[Warning: The current area will disappear after integration. Please proceed with caution.]
"...Integrate."
Compared to his decisiveness when integrating the Yongtong Bridge fragment last time, Chen Yan hesitated for a brief second before confirming. After initiating the process, he couldn’t help but walk down the bridge and stroll along West City Street.
Previously, after integrating with Yongtong Bridge, the old West Bridge had disappeared. Now that West City Street was about to undergo scene integration, barring any accidents, tonight would be the last time he saw this street.
[Command confirmed. Integration process initiated—]
[Estimated completion time: 168 hours.]
[Please do not enter this area during the integration process.]
"Wait... 168 hours?!"
Chen Yan had only taken a few steps when the estimated completion time popped up before his eyes, nearly causing him to stumble and fall.
There were only 24 hours in a day. Those 168 hours added up to a full seven days! Integrating the Yongtong Bridge Memory Fragment had only taken twelve hours. This time, the duration had multiplied fourteen-fold.
"Great. The scenic area has only just started to improve, and now people can’t come in here for a whole week..."
The integration process had already started, so it was too late for Chen Yan to back out even if he wanted to—not that he did. This area was inaccessible during the scene integration. While it wouldn’t affect other parts of the Ancient City, everyone knew that the only reason tourists were buying tickets nowadays was for Yongtong Bridge. In other words, closing this street for a week was no different from shutting down the entire Ancient City for a week.
After some thought, he walked out of West City Street while pulling out his phone, planning to send a message in the Ancient City work group chat about closing the street for construction for a week. But the moment he stepped out of the intersection, he suddenly heard a commotion behind him.
He turned his head.
A gray wooden plank had appeared out of nowhere, completely blocking his line of sight. Chen Yan nearly dropped his phone and hurriedly backed away a few steps.
After retreating, he looked up and finally saw it clearly. West City Street, which had been completely open on all sides a minute ago, was now entirely enclosed—from the street to the buildings on both sides—by a continuous ring of towering wooden barricades!
The barricades didn’t look like anything special; they were just ordinary wood that could be found anywhere. But they had appeared too suddenly, almost as if they had instantly spawned. Even Chen Yan, who had just stepped out of the street, hadn’t noticed a thing.
"Well, that saves me a lot of trouble."
His line of sight completely cut off by the ring of wooden barricades that were at least six meters high, Chen Yan couldn’t see a single thing inside the street. After his initial shock wore off, he actually felt a wave of relief.
He had just been worrying about this. When West Bridge underwent integration, he could still use simple barriers to cover it up. But now he was integrating an entire street; simple barriers wouldn’t cut it. If the enclosure wasn’t tight enough, heaven knew what kind of accidents might happen. Now that the system had stepped in and solved this problem for him, his fondness for this somewhat rigid and mechanical system greatly increased.
He spent some time walking a full circle around the barricades. Faint sounds of construction could be heard from within; presumably, workers arranged by the system were on the job. Since there was no entrance, he had to give up his initial plan of peeking inside.
Since the inside was hidden from view and the construction sounds were natural, Chen Yan relaxed. As he walked back to his office, he picked up his phone and sent a message to the group chat:
"Starting today, West City Street will be closed for construction for a week. No one is allowed to enter the closed area without permission."
After sending the message, he thought everyone would simply reply ’received’ as usual. However, when he returned to his office, washed up, lay in bed, and checked his phone, he found that his construction notice was followed by a line of five question marks.
"Uh... I forgot that times have changed."
Seeing the formation of question marks in the group, Chen Yan finally realized his oversight. Over the past half a month, the situation in the Ancient City had gradually begun to improve, and everyone knew exactly why. Just when things were finally looking up, he suddenly announced that West City Street would be closed for a week of construction. How could they not be surprised?
To this, Chen Yan could only explain that this construction upgrade was absolutely necessary. As for what exactly was being upgraded, he didn’t elaborate in the group chat, simply telling everyone to trust him.