Zhou Xue glanced at him, then took out a novel and read it to herself.

The car drove up quickly.

This car is obviously a little old, and the engine in the carriage is like an asthma patient who is out of breath, making a sound of "Kutong Kutong", and Chen Shouyi is a little worried about whether he will break down halfway.

After lying down for about half an hour, he opened his eyes and looked out the window.

Outside is an industrial area with chimneys spewing out a lot of white smoke.

Pingqiu City is not far from Ningzhou, and it is already within the scope of Ningzhou.

Compared to the still depressed city of Pingqiu, the traffic on the roads here has recovered, but it is still much less than before.

"Master, I heard that some factories here use steam engines?"

"Those who are smoking, basically!

At present, the electricity in Ningzhou can only be supplied to residential areas and some industrial areas, and most factories can only generate their own electricity, or switch to steam engines and renovate machine tools, which is said to be subsidized by the government and can also provide interest-free loans. The driver said.

"That's really ......," the passenger didn't know how to express his feelings: "I thought it was fake." ”

"Actually, the steam engine is not bad, you see that the thermal power station and nuclear power plant are not generated by steam turbines, and the current factory steam engine is not the same as before.

At least it is a subcritical steam engine, a steam engine can drive hundreds or even thousands of heavy machine tools. It's a lot more money than generating your own electricity!"

As a former senior in high school, Chen Shouyi still roughly knows what a subcritical steam engine means?

In the process of heating and gasification of water, as the pressure in the boiler increases, the saturation temperature of water will also increase, and the gasification efficiency decreases.

If the pressure and temperature continue to rise, at this time all the vaporization has been converted into steam, and there is no difference between steam and water, water is steam, steam is water, and it becomes supercritical.

And subcritical is approaching a critical state, which is already an extremely mature technology.

As for today's thermal power stations and nuclear power plants, they basically use supercritical units, or even ultra-supercritical units.

However, even the thermal efficiency of the subcritical steam engine is extremely high, far from being comparable to the steam engine of a hundred years ago.

But looking at the chimneys outside, Chen Shouyi still felt heavy in his heart.

This is the slow decline of human civilization.

Electricity is the cleanest energy source for human beings.

If the forces of the other world continue to invade, once the electricity is completely unusable, not only will the prosperous and convenient information electrification era become a history of civilization, but also various industries, including metallurgy and chemistry, will also suffer a serious decline.

The whole world will be darkened.

He looked out the window at the chimneys spewing white smoke, as if he saw the afterglow of the imminent decline of civilization.

There is a faint sadness in my heart for no reason.

......

The car continued to drive for half an hour, and finally stopped.

Chen Shouyi and Zhou Xue got off the bus together, walked out of the station, and saw a lot of taxis outside:

"Together?" Chen Shouyi asked.

Zhou Xue nodded and said, "Well, let's carpool together to save money!"

After all, she is a fifteen-year-old girl, and it is estimated that she has never been to Ningzhou.

Of course, he didn't, but he was much more daring than her, and he put the backpack behind him in the trunk and sat in the cab:

"Master, go to the Martial Arts Assessment Center. ”

The driver's car quickly started and said, "I've picked up several trips today, and I'm going to the martial arts assessment center." ”

"Are there a lot of people?" asked Chen Shouyi.

"Many! Most of them came from other places. I heard that the requirements will be lowered in this assessment!" the driver said as if he was very well informed.

"Really?" Zhou Xue heard and hurriedly asked.

"It must be, you think, so many people come, when will they pass the test one by one, and the requirements will definitely be relaxed when the time comes. ”

Zhou Xue was not sure about the assessment at all, and when she heard this good news, she couldn't help but be overjoyed.

Chen Shouyi didn't care at all whether it was difficult or easy this time, and then asked:

"Is there a hotel nearby?"

"There are quite a few, but I guess it's full!"

"Let's go there and ask first, and we'll talk about it then. ”

The car arrived at its destination in no time.

"The building in front is the Martial Arts Assessment Center, a total of one hundred and twenty-five. ”

"It's so expensive!" Zhou Xue in the back exclaimed.

"How fresh, now the fuel cost has doubled, and now the fuel consumption of driving is also more, you see I have hit the meter. The driver shouted.

Chen Shouyi didn't argue, and directly took out his wallet to pay.

After receiving the change, he took out his own and the other party's luggage from the trunk and waited for her to get out of the car.

"It's too expensive, I would have done it if I knew it would. After Zhou Xue took off her luggage, she still chattered and said, looking distressed, and then took out a wallet: "Here you are, this is seventy yuan! You look for me for eight yuan and five." ”

Chen Shouyi took it and put it in his wallet, and said:

"There is no change, I owe it first. ”

"You just collected five yuan of the driver's change, give it to me first. ”

Chen Shouyi reopened the wallet and looked at it, and sure enough, he found that there were five yuan in it, took it out and handed it over: "Here you go!"

"Then you still owe me three dollars and five. Zhou Xue said with a serious face.

This girl is a little more serious.

Chen Shouyi was speechless in his heart: "Don't worry, I will definitely return you when I redeem it." ”

......

The two then began to look for a hotel nearby, but it was either full or too expensive.

Chen Shouyi didn't care, since he obtained the gold, his life has always been nourishing, and he has become a bit lavish in spending money.

But Zhou Xue was not satisfied.

"This is more expensive than the previous one, 300 single rooms, and it will take two days to stay. ”

"I've been looking for more than two hours, or I'll help you pay for it, you don't have to pay it back. Chen Shouyi couldn't help but say.

"If you're impatient, you can go, I didn't ask to stay with me all the time anyway. Zhou Xue's face suddenly turned cold.

Chen Shouyi's family conditions have been good since he was a child, his life is worry-free, and he has never bothered about money, it is inevitable that an ordinary family, and it may be a single-parent family, how much pressure it is to train a martial arts apprentice, and at the same time, he is more sensitive than ordinary people in terms of money.

Chen Shouyi reacted and hurriedly apologized:

"Okay, if I'm wrong, then keep looking!"

The two didn't talk anymore, they walked with their heads bored, and the atmosphere that was finally getting acquainted with each other became cooler.

Then after searching for nearly half an hour, the two finally found a hotel with a suitable price.

Looking at the age of the two, the beautiful waiter at the front desk had no abnormality on his face: "Need a couple's room?"

Zhou Xue's eyes widened slightly when she heard this, a crimson quickly appeared on her fair face, and she stammered a little: "I...... We weren't together, single room, I stayed for two days. ”

"Please show your ID card, a deposit of 100, a room fee of 200, a total of 300 yuan. ”

After Zhou Xue completed the formalities, she took the room card and didn't wait for Chen Shouyi, so she carried her luggage and walked to the elevator, as if she couldn't wait to prove to the front desk that the two were okay.