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All the towns and villages say they are safe and sound.

He slowly put down the briefing and rubbed his temples.

What were those few blows just now?

Just as he was about to speak, the landline on the table rang again.

Kobayashi answered the phone, listened to one sentence, and his expression suddenly became very strange.

"Your Excellency," he said, his voice trembling as he covered the microphone, "it's the mayor of Qingya Township, he said..."

"say what?"

“He said…” Kobayashi swallowed hard. “He said, a road fell from the sky.”

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It normally takes three hours to drive from the county seat to Qingya Township.

Yu Gu's team only used two people.

A long line of official vehicles, with police cars leading the way, followed by two ambulances, and then technical vehicles from the Transportation Bureau, Natural Resources Bureau, and Emergency Management Office, with their hazard lights flashing, wound their way along the mountain road, attracting villagers to stick their heads out to watch.

But the further into the mountains you go, the more difficult the road becomes.

After passing Shipan Township, the paved road ended. The rest was all dirt road, full of potholes from yesterday's rain, causing the wheels to slip every now and then. The driver drove very carefully, while Yu Gu sat in the back seat, not saying a word, just staring out the window.

Until you turn the last corner.

The driver slammed on the brakes and brought the car to a stop.

“Yu County…” his voice was a little weak, “You see…”

Yu Gu has already seen it.

At the end of the road, there is another road lying across it.

It's not the kind of road that "goes horizontally"—it's a brand new, straight road that cuts right out of the mountainside, lying quietly among the mountains.

Sunlight shone through the clouds, making the road shine.

Yu Gu got out of the car, took a few steps forward, and then stopped.

Behind him, one car after another stopped. The director of the Transportation Bureau, the director of the Natural Resources Bureau, the director of the Emergency Management Office, Secretary Xiao Lin... everyone stood by the roadside, and no one spoke.

Voices could be heard in the distance.

They are the villagers.

From the mountain valleys, from behind the woods, from the mud-brick houses hidden in the gullies, groups of two or three people were walking this way. Some were using crutches, some were carrying children, and some were calling out to others as they walked.

"Come and see! A road! A new road!"

"There really is a road!"

"Oh God..."

The sounds grew louder and closer. Elderly people, women, children, and several men who had just returned from the fields—in no time, over a hundred people had gathered by the roadside.

Someone took out their phone and started taking pictures of the road.

No one stopped them.

Yu Gu glanced at Xiao Lin. Xiao Lin understood, walked over and said a few words to the people holding up their phones. The people were taken aback for a moment, then nodded repeatedly, holding their phones up even higher.

Soon, someone started live streaming.

"Family members, I'm not bragging, it's true! Look—this road, this mountain, they weren't here yesterday! And they're here today! It's really true!"

"The anchor is in Qingya Township, see for yourselves! This road is straight! So straight you can't see the end of it!"

"Did you hear those sounds just now? Those were the sounds! And then this road came into being!"

The comments scrolled wildly, but Yu Gu couldn't see them. He just stood there, looking at the road.

The director of the transportation bureau has already led his people forward.

Four people, wearing reflective vests and carrying equipment, carefully stepped onto the new road. After a few steps, they squatted down, tapped the ground with a hammer, and then lay down to examine it.

Then comes the second paragraph, and the third paragraph.

Ten minutes later, one of them ran back, panting, with an expression on his face as if he had seen a ghost.

"County Magistrate, Director Zhou sent me back to report—on this road..."

"explain."

"The density is even higher than the standard for highways. As for the flatness, we measured 30 meters, and the error... was almost nonexistent. We examined the ridges on both sides; the cross-sections are all perfectly even, like...like..."

He couldn't continue.

Yu Gu waved his hand, telling him to leave.

In the distance, more and more villagers gathered.

Someone knelt down by the roadside.

Someone called, crying, "Mom, we have a road now! We really have a road!"

Someone was holding their child's hand, pointing at the road and saying something. The child looked up, their eyes sparkling.

Yu Gu looked at those people and remained silent for a long time.

"Where is Director Zhou?" he asked.

The traffic chief was standing at the beginning of that road, looking into the distance through binoculars. Hearing someone call out, he turned around and jogged over.

"Yu County".

"How about it?"

Director Zhou swallowed hard. "I estimate this road to be about eight kilometers long. It's perfectly straight, straight from beginning to end. It comes out of that mountain hollow over there and leads all the way to—"

He paused, then pointed into the distance.

"It leads all the way to Lijia'ao. That's the most remote village, with about thirty households. You mentioned in a previous meeting that it would be great if we could build a road for them."

Yu Gu remained silent.

Director Zhou added, “The ridges on both sides were handled very well. They weren’t blasted or dug out; they were just cut out. The cut surfaces are smooth, with no signs of loosening. And all the cut stones have been used to build walls, neatly arranged along both sides of the road.”

Yu Gu finally spoke: "Can we leave?"

"Yes, it can." Director Zhou nodded vigorously. "I just had someone walk a kilometer, no problem. Large trucks can also walk it, definitely." It's just that...

"What is it?"

"There's just a small problem." Director Zhou pointed to the area between two mountains in the distance. "There's a wind gap over there, and the mountain slopes are quite steep, so the wind can be very strong. If it snows in winter, that section of the road might get icy. We need to add windbreaks or plant protective forests."

He paused, then added, "But that's no big deal. We already have the road; we can handle the rest."

Yu Gu looked at that road.

Eight kilometers straight, it winds its way out of the mountains and leads all the way to the most remote village.

The village he mentioned in the meeting, the village he wanted to visit but had never been able to.

That village of thirty-odd households, whose ancestors had relied on a single dirt road for generations to enter and exit.

"Yu County?" Director Zhou called out tentatively.

Yu Gu came to his senses.

"Nothing that needs to be done can be omitted," he said. "Geological exploration, slope protection, drainage facilities, traffic signs—all must be done according to standards. Repair what needs repairing, and patch what needs patching."

"Yes."

“And that wind gap,” Yu Gu looked between the two mountains, “you need to come up with a plan when you get back. It has to be done before winter.”

"Yes."

Yu Gu turned around and looked at the villagers who were still looking around by the roadside.

Someone was taking pictures of him with their phone.

He didn't hide.

"Fellow villagers," he took a step forward, his voice not loud but loud enough for those in front to hear, "this road is not safe to use right now. We'll let you use it after our people have finished testing it and confirmed it's safe."

Someone shouted, "How long will that take?"

"Soon," Yu Gu said. "Once the necessary tests are completed and the necessary protective measures are in place, it will take at most a month."

A buzzing sound arose from the crowd.

Then someone shouted, "So from now on, we won't have to take that old road when we go out?"

Yu Gu looked at the man.

He was an old man, over sixty years old, with deep wrinkles on his face, as if etched by a knife. He stood at the very front of the crowd, his eyes unusually bright.

"No need," Yu Gu said.

The old man opened his mouth, then suddenly squatted down and buried his face in his arms.

Someone patted him on the back, and someone else stuffed tissues into his hand.

Yu Gu shifted his gaze to the road.

Eight kilometers.

Straight.

One end connects to the world outside the mountains, and the other end connects to the village that has been trapped in the mountains for generations.

"Thank you, Yu Xishi."

"Thank you, Yu west."

"Thank you, thank you! Hahaha!"

The sound of villagers' laughter reached my ears.

A road fell from the sky.

A few days ago, Yu Gu would have been completely baffled.

But now...

Yuxi City, Y City.

A normal person can simply look at a map and draw a straight line from Y City to Yuxi.

Qianyuan County is located on this line.

It's not exactly in the middle, it's a little off-center, but it's definitely on this line.

Yu Gu raised his head again and looked in the direction of that road.

The next steps—windbreaks, protective forests, drainage ditches, traffic signs—this is the most crucial task for the county going forward.

Don't even mention that 99% of the work is already done.

Even if that bastard only "pointed" at it, would they dare not fix it?

In the distance, several more cars arrived.

It's from the county TV station, and there are also a few self-media outlets.

Xiao Lin went over and said a few words to them. Those people stood by the roadside and didn't push forward; they just took pictures from a distance.

The sun began to set.

Golden light shone on the new road, making the compacted ground shine.

Yu Gu stood by the roadside, looking at the road.

Looked for a long time.

--------

Ten minutes later, the report from Qianyuan County to the city was submitted.

Fifteen minutes later, the city's report, along with the video footage from the scene, was transmitted to the capital.

In a courtyard without a sign, several low gray buildings stood quietly in the shade of the trees.

On the third floor, in the conference room at the east end, an electronic screen on the wall is displaying live footage of Qingya Township.