HLM – Chapter 202 Smart City

On the way back, they had to pass through Omarama again. Wang Bo first went to look for Eva. He went to her home, only to find that the surrounding apartment buildings were all under renovation. Some prefab houses were nearly half-collapsed, and Eva’s house was tightly shut—it looked like no one had lived there for quite some time.

Recalling how Dale had said their house was “broken,” Wang Bo now finally understood the extent of the damage. Clearly, Eva hadn’t been living there for almost two months.

He called her, and when Eva answered, she gave him a new address, saying she was temporarily staying at a colleague’s place.

Wang Bo drove over. Eva was waiting by the roadside.

A winter wind swept down the street, causing the beautiful teacher’s khaki trench coat to flutter, revealing the cashmere sweater and black leggings underneath. Paired with high heels, she looked tall, elegant, and confident.

After getting out of the car, Wang Bo asked with concern, “Hey, what happened to your house? I’m sorry—I had no idea the earthquake caused such serious damage. I should have paid more attention.”

Eva gave a gentle smile and said, “Don’t say that—it’s not your fault. Our house is a prefab, and it’s quite old, so it took more damage than most.”

The biggest downside of prefab homes is that once they near the end of their lifespan, any damage becomes irreparable—you can’t fix them, only tear them down and build anew.

Wang Bo hadn’t realized this before. But after seeing the devastation at Eva’s building, he resolved not to use prefab houses in future construction. From now on, all buildings would be properly made with brick and timber structures.

After parking, the two of them strolled down the street. Wang Bo asked how she’d been doing. Eva explained that she and Dale were temporarily staying at her colleague, Katherine Houston’s home. The school relocation was proving difficult—they had to go through certain bureaucratic procedures first.

“When will you be able to move?” Wang Bo asked. “I’ve already chosen a new location for the school. It’s still a prefab, but I can quickly build a proper one for you afterward.”

Eva smiled brightly. “Should be soon. Mainly just some paperwork and informing the parents about the new site. Once that’s done, we can move—maybe in a week?”

With business out of the way, Wang Bo—cheekily—hoped to nurture his personal relationship with the beautiful teacher. So he invited Katherine’s whole family to dinner, saying it was to thank them for taking care of Eva.

Which, to be fair, he should’ve done. They weren’t just looking after Eva—indirectly, they were also looking after him.

Relocating the school wasn’t just Eva’s responsibility. Two other teachers, support staff, and security were all being transferred. Meanwhile, Katherine’s child would still need to attend school in Omarama, and her husband had to stay behind for work. That meant she’d be separated from her family a few days every week.

Although Sunset Town and Omarama bordered each other, the school was on the western edge of the town, making daily commuting from eastern Omarama unrealistic.

Katherine’s husband, Carter Houston, was a network engineer working for New Zealand Telecom—a major telecom company headquartered in Wellington. He was responsible for services in this region, so he couldn’t leave.

Wang Bo thanked him first, expressing his appreciation for supporting his wife’s work and helping with the development of Sunset Town.

Carter was affable and said with a smile, “Actually, I think it’s a great thing. Sunset Town has wonderful scenery and is perfect for a school like that. I’m happy to see Katherine helping more people—so are our kids.”

Katherine added, “Maybe we can move there as a family in the future. I’ve passed through Sunset Town a few times recently, and wow, it’s really changed! Everything’s much more convenient now. It’s great, isn’t it?”

Carter nodded in agreement.

Over dinner, Wang Bo and Carter got to talking about work. His town didn’t yet have fiber-optic internet, and Carter’s company was an industry leader in that area—plus Carter himself was an expert. So Wang Bo started asking questions.

Carter asked, “What exactly do you need? If you’re just looking for internet access, you can apply on behalf of the town—it’ll be cheaper that way.”

Wang Bo said, “I read online that New Zealand has a smart city project, right? It seems like you can build a wireless network to cover an entire city? That’s what I want.”

He’d learned about it online. Starting last year, the government of New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, had been promoting a “smart city” initiative. Telecom companies had started replacing outdated public phone booths with new modern WiFi terminals—LinkOak.

These LinkOak terminals could provide free WiFi. Once there were enough of them, the entire city could be blanketed with wireless signal.

Wang Bo found this fascinating and wanted to implement it in his own town.

Carter nodded. “Funny you mention that—I was just about to bring it up. Buddy, that’s a great idea. Because of its size, your town is perfect for a smart city setup. You’d only need to invest around five million NZD to cover the residential area.”

WiFi terminals were booming all over the world—in airports, train stations, entertainment venues, and upscale neighborhoods. But smart cities were different. They weren’t just hotspots—they covered outdoor public areas, came with network memory functions, were ultra-secure, and required dedicated staff for maintenance.

Several pilot zones in Auckland had become popular. The network speeds were impressive—reportedly, you could download a 1GB file in just one minute, something standard 4G couldn’t compete with. And the best part: the service was nearly free.

But more important than speed or cost was security. LinkOak worked through an app—LinkOka—that recognized user devices and installed certificates to make connections much more secure.

And the significance of LinkOka wasn’t limited to free WiFi—it also had major implications for smart cars, intelligent roads, and overall city automation.

However, the smart city rollout in Auckland had been slow—very slow, in fact. That’s the downside of a democratic system: building a city-wide high-speed network was costly, and not all taxpayers wanted their money spent on it.

So even though the pilot programs had received positive feedback, achieving full coverage would take a long time. Just covering a small town’s residential zone cost five million—that said a lot.

But Wang Bo’s ambitions didn’t stop there. “I don’t want to cover just the residential area,” he said. “I want to cover the entire town. Stronger signal in residential zones, weaker in the outer areas.”

Carter was taken aback. “Are you serious?”