Wu Bozhong is granted twenty minutes to enjoy his last moments with companions before his flight to Kathmandu, a stark contrast to the months-long journeys of his ancestors. The Wu family elders marvel at the rapid advancements of the modern world, from travel times to their understanding of a spherical Earth. Wu Bolin, preparing for his own journey to Antarctica, muses on global geography, comparing the Earth to a hanging lantern.
Hero of heart The amazing son in law complete
Chapter 7431
In the waiting room, Wu Bozhong, who was first told that he could board the plane, planned to go to Kathmandu.
A beautiful ground staff member approached and respectfully said in fluent Mandarin, “Mr. Wu, your plane is ready for boarding. We have a car to take you to the gate. Would you like to depart now or wait a moment?”
The three elders of the Wu family all hailed from the Qing Dynasty. After a century of seclusion, although they had accumulated a wealth of general knowledge about the world, they were completely unable to learn a foreign language in a short time. Fortunately, Wu Tianlin cared for these elders and had arranged for Mandarin-speaking staff to serve them beforehand.
Wu Bozhong asked the officer, “What is the latest I can wait?”
The attendant said, “Your flight has just begun boarding for first and business class passengers. Economy class passengers are expected to board in ten minutes. We will escort you from the VIP terminal to the VIP aisle, which will take you directly to the boarding bridge. So, you can spend a maximum of another twenty minutes with your friends.”
Wu Bozhong nodded and said, “Then pick me up in twenty minutes.”
“Okay,” the staff member said respectfully, “Mr. Wu, please sit down for a moment. I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
After the officer finished speaking, he turned and left. Wu Bozhong looked at the boarding pass in his hand, which was full of English and Arabic numerals, and sighed to the other two elders: “The world changes so quickly. In the past, when we traveled from Suzhou and Hangzhou to the capital by canal, we would depart from Hangzhou in early March and arrive in the capital in late June. That was a two-thousand-mile waterway journey that took three or four months. Now, we can fly there in two hours.”
Wu Bowen smiled and said, “Back then, we didn’t even know the Earth was round. Later, Tianlin told me that the Earth was a big ball. Even if you went further and further in the opposite direction, you could eventually return from the other side of the Earth. I thought that bastard was just joking. If it really was a ball, wouldn’t the people on the other side of the Earth fall? But after I took the plane the last time and saw it with my own eyes, I was truly impressed.”
After saying that, he looked at Wu Bolin and said with a smile, “Senior Brother, now you are going to Antarctica, after passing the South Pole, will you be able to return to China?”
Wu Bolin smiled and nodded, then said, “I’ve shifted the world map several times. Roughly speaking, the Earth looks like a hanging red lantern. The South Pole is at the bottom, like where the lantern’s tassels hang, and the North Pole is at the top, like the end of the rope that hangs the big red lantern. No matter which pole you stand on, as long as you choose the right direction, you can go anywhere.”
Wu Bowen gave a thumbs up: “It must be our senior brother. He can always be more diligent than us.”
“Heh.” Wu Bolin waved his hand humbly: “It’s not really research. Tianlin happened to give me a globe, and I played with it a bit like a toy.”
Wu Bozhong, who was standing nearby, said, “Senior Brother, the Antarctica you’re going to this time isn’t that far away, but it’s said to be the harshest place on Earth, without exception. You have to be extra careful!”
Wu Bolin smiled and said, “With the cultivation level of the three of us, as long as we don’t go to the Ten Thousand Mountains or provoke the armies of those countries, we shouldn’t encounter any danger anywhere.”
Wu Bozhong sighed, “Speaking of soldiers, today’s artillery is far more advanced than the artillery of the Eight-Nation Alliance of the past. With our current cultivation level, countering those old cannons would be a breeze, but today’s artillery fire is extremely cunning and deceptive.”
“I heard that those high-temperature armor-piercing bullets can melt even the finest steel when they explode. No matter how thick our armor is, those bullets can still burn a hole in it. Even if we had three heads and six arms, we wouldn’t be able to withstand that. Not even a wise ruler would be able to do it, would he?”
Wu Bolin nodded and instructed, “You must be extremely careful when entering this world. It’s said that a certain nobleman was blown to pieces by a melee weapon system. That thing can chase people, and not only is it lightning fast, but it can also predict your trajectory. Before you even arrive, it will fire dozens, if not hundreds, of bullets at your target. There’s no way to defend against something like this.”
Both of them nodded enthusiastically.
In fact, the more the three of them learned about modern society, the greater their sense of disappointment.
Wu Bolin muttered with a sigh: “To be honest, before I went into seclusion, I thought that after coming out, I would be able to roam the world without fear. I never expected that in the past hundred years, although our cultivation has improved greatly, the world has developed even more rapidly.”
“Just imagine, a hundred years ago, a cannonball could only destroy a small boat or a house at most. But in 1945, 80 years ago, an atomic bomb could destroy a city. Fifteen or sixteen years later, a Soviet hydrogen bomb was equivalent to two or three thousand nuclear bombs from 1945. It was said that this was a weakened version because they were afraid that its power would be too great, and its power was only 30% of the original plan…”
At this point, Wu Bolin retorted, “Tell me, in the face of such a world-destroying weapon, what exactly are cultivators? Even before the end of the Dharma era, if all the cultivators from all sects gathered, after a single hydrogen bomb, let alone anyone surviving, having an intact corpse would be considered a sign of their extraordinary cultivation.”