HLM – Chapter 186 The Scenic Route Concept

There was plenty of land in Sunset Town, but only two plots had a “Residential Heart” installed, making them ideal for building homes. Still, Atulu was right—it’s best to set aside a dedicated residential area for them.

Wang Bo let them choose for themselves. The town’s residential district was located north of Highway 8, symmetrically built with China Road as the central axis. So, the Māori chose to settle south of Highway 8, behind the commercial district for convenient access to shops.

According to their agreement, the town would help with laying the foundations, but the Māori would cover the cost and labor for the construction.

Though the Māori didn’t usually have savings, they weren’t worried about building homes. Since their houses had been destroyed in an earthquake, the government would be covering their reconstruction costs—and quite generously—enough to build beautiful homes.

As a result, both residential zones began construction at the same time, and the town’s vitality grew stronger by the day.

Traffic along Highway 8 gradually increased. In addition to the convenience store, fast food joints, cafés, and snack shops started opening. Once the gas station became operational, even more vehicles began passing through.

In early July, it was deep winter in New Zealand’s South Island, but the temperature remained above five or six degrees. Wang Bo only needed a cashmere sweater to get through the winter—it was quite comfortable.

The spin wheel became available again. When he spun it, he won another “Heart of the Spring,” just like the one in the pasture.

At first, Wang Bo instinctively wanted to store it in the “Heart Container,” but after some thought, he took it out again and placed it on the north side of Highway 8, about 100 to 200 meters away from the road.

He did this because he understood that, at this stage, Highway 8 was the key driver for developing the town. Only by increasing vehicle and foot traffic could the town’s residents earn money and attract more people to move in.

By installing a Heart of the Spring, he aimed to create a spiritual spring on one side of the road and plant flowers and trees along it to form a scenic route.

The spring in the pasture had already turned into a high-quality stream. The Heart of the Spring improved the groundwater, irrigating the pasture’s grass to a lush green and even enhancing its taste and nutrition.

By comparison, if a similar stream were formed on the north side of the highway, the plants and trees grown there would also thrive beautifully.

Once Highway 8 became a scenic route, both traffic and visitors would surge.

Wang Bo had actually thought about this idea when the road was under construction. While researching New Zealand highways, he found that among the most traveled roads, one of them was a designated scenic route—the famous Highway 43 on the North Island.

Highway 43, also known as the “Forgotten World Highway,” was located in a remote area and relatively new, but it featured untouched green vegetation along the way and attracted a huge number of self-driving tourists.

The road winds through twisting straits and lush green valleys of the North Island, passing through beech forests and fertile farmlands. Along the route, tourists could explore ancient mining towns and marvel at the mysterious Moki Tunnel, making the journey full of interest.

This was somewhat similar to the stretch of Highway 8 passing through Sunset Town. The area within town limits remained largely untouched, with endless green plains, the perpetually glaciated Southern Alps, and undulating hills.

Additionally, both roads had only one town along the way—Highway 43 had the old Whangamomona town, and Highway 8, naturally, had Sunset Town.

After doing more research, Wang Bo finally settled on the idea. He opened the terrain model and installed the Heart of the Spring beside the westbound lane leaving Sunset Town.

The reason for choosing this spot was that New Zealand’s South Island had a terrain that sloped from high in the west to low in the east. The west was mainly mountainous with higher elevations, while the east was gentler with more plains.

After placing the Heart of the Spring, a spring gradually emerged beside the road. After a while, it would form a flowing stream.

From a road maintenance perspective, a stream appearing beside a highway wasn’t good news—it could damage the foundation. Fortunately, Highway 8 was maintained by the New Zealand government, so they’d be responsible for roadbed maintenance.

In a way, Wang Bo felt like this was a small act of revenge against the New Zealand government. After all, they had once tried to undermine him—attempting to annex his town? How outrageous!

A few days after placing the Heart of the Spring, someone noticed water flowing beside the road.

At that moment, Wang Bo was working, hunched over his desk playing Chinese chess with Charlie, while Hani watched from the side.

Bowen and Juan were more into poker. Though they could manage a game of Dou Dizhu, they weren’t interested in Chinese chess. Hani was the opposite—he didn’t care for poker but loved chess. According to Charlie, Hani was quite skilled at international chess.

Hani advised Charlie, “Quick, retreat that knight. Don’t you see his cannon is right under your horse’s hooves? Move it back—either checkmate or take his cannon!”

Charlie looked and realized he was right, so he quickly moved his horse. Wang Bo widened his eyes and drew in a sharp breath—that move was going to cost him his cannon!

Just then, someone knocked on the door and peeked in. “Hi, is the mayor here?”

“I’m here, what is it?” Wang Bo replied, standing up while quickly folding the chessboard. Charlie immediately shouted, “Sh*t! Wang Bo, you cheating bastard!”

Wang Bo shot him a warning look and whispered, “Shut up! If someone takes a picture of me and the auditor playing chess during work hours and it goes online, I’ll be double-disciplined!”

“What’s double-disciplined?” Hani asked, confused.

The visitor was a stranger, a young man. Wang Bo asked how he could help. The young man introduced himself and said he and a friend had been driving down Highway 8 when they noticed a spring emerging beside the road and came to report it.

Wang Bo had expected this. New Zealanders generally had a strong sense of civic responsibility. A spring by the highway might damage the road, so anyone who saw it would likely report it to local authorities.

But Wang Bo had no intention of sealing the spring. He followed the young man to the site and saw that the spring had already formed—a clear stream over a meter wide flowed steadily beside the highway.

Just like the spring in the pasture, wherever the water reached, the previously withered wild grasses turned lush green again, growing even better. Some curled dock plants had even bloomed with pale pink flowers.

Wang Bo thanked the young man. Hani frowned and said, “Mayor, this could be trouble. We should probably call in a geological team. If a spring has appeared, there might be an underground water vein.”

Charlie grumbled, “Didn’t they conduct surveys before building the road? Damn it—those lazy bastards must’ve skipped large sections of the route!”

Wang Bo waved them off. “This has nothing to do with us. Since the spring is here, we might as well make use of it. How about we plant some flowers and trees along the roadside?”