Chapter 74

Nanjing Province is located in the southwestern border of our country, with its capital in Huadu. The total area of Nanjing Province is 390,000 square kilometers, ranking eighth in the country. It borders four provinces within the country and three countries—Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. Nanjing has a long history, with human habitation and reproduction dating back 1.7 million years. During the Warring States period, a general of the State of Chu established the Dian Kingdom here. After Emperor Qin Shi Huang unified the six states, the connection between this region and the inland areas was strengthened. During the Anti-Japanese War, this area became the only land route for our country to receive foreign aid, known as the Burma Road. In 1942, over 100,000 expeditionary forces entered Myanmar from here to cooperate with the British army.

Nanjing is situated on a low-latitude plateau with a unique geographical location and complex terrain, resulting in a complex climate. It is mainly characterized by a plateau monsoon climate, with most areas being warm in winter and cool in summer, enjoying a spring-like climate all year round. The capital, Huadu, is known as the "Spring City" for its mild climate, with temperatures consistently ranging from 3 to 29 degrees Celsius. It is a national historical and cultural city and a scenic area.

As a well-known tourist city, Huadu has over 200 protected cultural relics at various levels, including a world geopark, Dianchi Lake, hot springs, and snow-capped mountains, among other famous national and provincial scenic spots. There are also over 100 key scenic spots such as the World Horticultural Expo Garden and the Ethnic Village. The city is rich in resources, especially fruits, which are available year-round, including pineapples, bananas, papayas, jackfruits, and more. It also boasts various precious mountain delicacies like chicken truffles, matsutake, bamboo fungus, and monkey head mushrooms. As a tourist city, it is impossible not to have good food, such as Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles, Clay Pot Chicken, White Fish, Ghost Chicken, Rice Cakes, Spicy and Sour Rice Noodles, Cold Fish Skin Salad, Lemongrass Grilled Fish, and various mushrooms. Due to the numerous ethnic minorities in Nanjing Province, various ethnic specialties can be found in the streets and alleys of Huadu, including those of the Dai, Bai, Zhuang, Li, Miao, Hani, and Tibetan ethnic groups.

The next morning, after having a bowl of the famous Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles at the hotel, Wang Yong began his thrilling and exciting journey in Nanjing.

Wang Yong was different from ordinary tourists. Instead of visiting the famous scenic spots, he took a taxi straight to the largest orchard in the suburbs. In fact, Wang Yong had considered this trip as an opportunity to add more species to the Small World. Nanjing, with its vast wild forests, became the top choice, especially since it borders three countries, giving Wang Yong the idea of exploring abroad to obtain some unique and rare species. Of course, he would not go through normal channels but would sneak across the border. With Wang Yong's current strength and the existence of the Small World and Little Light, he had no need to worry about any danger.

After a more than one-hour taxi ride, Wang Yong finally arrived at what was said to be the largest orchard in the area. After paying the fare, Wang Yong entered the orchard. There was even a ticket booth? No wonder it is a major tourist province; even an orchard was bustling with people. In the various fruit groves, groups of people could be seen everywhere, strolling, picking their favorite fruits with joy, or even laying out cloths on the grass to play cards and have picnics. The entire orchard was filled with laughter and happy faces.

Wang Yong walked into the orchard alone, carefully collecting the trees he had seen and those he had not, including many subtropical grasses and wildflowers. Of course, Wang Yong tried to choose young seedlings, and if there were no seedlings, he chose small trees. After collecting them into the Small World, he quickly filled the holes and destroyed the "evidence."

With Little Light's broad search, Wang Yong stealthily collected hundreds of plant species and dozens of animal species into the Small World. These included famous fruits like bananas, pineapples, jackfruits, papayas, star fruits, kiwis, coconuts, mangoes, oranges, pomelos, loquats, wax apples, lychees, rambutans, yellow plums, sapodillas, gac, guavas, passion fruits, miracle fruits, dragon fruits, tangerines, longans, waxberries, durians, and mangosteens.

After collecting hundreds of fruit trees into the Small World, the Small World expanded again. Unlike previous expansions, this time it extended a large area in one direction. Wang Yong planted the newly collected tropical fruit trees in this region, which was noticeably warmer than the central area, provisionally calling it the tropical zone. Planting hundreds of trees by himself would have taken a long time, but as the master of the Small World, Wang Yong simply thought, and hundreds of holes of various sizes and depths appeared. With another thought, all the saplings instantly appeared in the holes, standing upright as if someone was holding them. He covered the soil, watered them with the Spirit Spring, and then introduced a stream of the Spirit Spring to create a large lake of about 100 acres in this new area.

This lake not only provided water for the fruit trees but also allowed Wang Yong to collect some local specialty fish species to raise in the lake. For fish, as long as they were edible, Wang Yong had no resistance. He had already reached a certain level in eating fish, having tried all the edible and inedible fish near his hometown when he was just a teenager. Although he suffered a lot from the inedible or unpalatable fish, his love for fish remained unchanged. Moreover, there were several rare and special fish species here, such as the antelope fish, which was said to be extremely delicious.

The Small World had now reached a certain level. As the master of the Small World, Wang Yong estimated that its area was about a quarter the size of China. Such a vast area could not be seen to the end at a glance. With high mountains, grasslands, deserts, plains, and seas, and now a tropical climate region, perhaps in the future, there would be temperate zones with distinct seasons, cold zones where water freezes, and islands with various climates. Wang Yong felt that the Small World would only become perfect then. However, he wondered what the Small World would become after that—would it continue to grow, or would it develop into various planets like the outside world?

Suddenly, Wang Yong felt something was different. He had never felt this way before, a warm feeling from his heart, like basking in the sun on a cold winter day. This? This is the sun! When Wang Yong saw the large, luminous object above his head, he couldn't help but exclaim. Although his body was not in the Small World, Wang Yong could clearly feel that it was the sun, or something similar to the sun. After all, the sun is a massive star, while the object above his head was clearly much smaller. Could it be that the great deity who created the Small World had obtained this artificial object from somewhere?

Seeing that no one was paying attention, Wang Yong instantly disappeared from his original location and appeared in the Small World. Looking up, he saw the sun, which he would provisionally call that. The light it emitted was not blinding, but the warmth of the sunlight on his body was very comfortable. Under the sunlight, everything in the Small World became even more vibrant. Wang Yong deliberately concealed his presence and did not disturb any of the animals in the Small World. A gentle breeze blew, lifting Wang Yong's hair and rippling the mirror-like surface of the water.

Several geese flew high in the sky, with three of them clearly smaller than the others, likely the offspring of the first batch of geese. Various birds flew out of their nests, clearly sensing the changes in the Small World. A sparrow hawk soared high in the sky, letting out a loud cry, showcasing its dominant presence. A group of young pheasants, led by their mother, flapped their wings, wary of the sparrow hawk in the sky. A large wild rabbit that had just emerged from its burrow paid no attention to the small sparrow hawk, lazily lying in the grass, basking in the warm sunlight.

The creatures in the water also felt the presence of the sun. Many fish leaped out of the water, raising their heads high to see the sun. Many of the smaller ones became easy prey for the birds enjoying the sunlight. These birds would occasionally dive down, grab a fish, and then fly back to their nests to feed their young or enjoy it themselves. Various shrimp and crabs also joined in, crawling out of the water to the shore and even into the grass, causing another round of frenzied diving and hunting by the birds. Several large turtles, followed by smaller ones, slowly crawled to the surface, their four legs paddling hard, eventually reaching the shore to compete for food with the birds. Their necks would stretch out at lightning speed, grabbing shrimp or small fish with their mouths. Unlike their easily startled counterparts in the outside world, one large turtle even attacked a nearby kingfisher, nearly succeeding and causing the kingfisher to immediately fly away in alarm.

The sparrow hawk, possibly angered by the lack of respect from these creatures, angrily dove from the sky, like an arrow, straight at a sparrow that was pecking at a shrimp. Just as the sparrow realized the danger and tried to escape, the sparrow hawk's sharp claws grabbed it. The sparrow hawk, holding the sparrow firmly, flew back into the sky without landing. This caused immediate chaos, with threatened birds taking flight to escape the dangerous area.

Several ducks and geese flapped their wings and dived into the water, emerging a while later with fish in their mouths, swallowing them with effort. These natural swimmers were in heaven here, with abundant food making them well-fed every day. With no natural predators, they were all robust, full of energy, and fiercely aggressive, far surpassing their counterparts in farms.

Seeing the vibrant Small World, Wang Yong decided to return to the city to treat himself to a feast of local specialties.