After playing truant for five days, Dong Tianyu made a preliminary construction plan for the Refuge Center.
After finishing his shift with his colleagues, he immediately drove to the village at the foot of the mountain as soon as the five days were up.
Having inquired about the situation during his truancy, Dong Tianyu already knew that although they had seen Buddha statues in the cave when they were in it, the cave did not belong to the temple.
The statues were placed in the cave because another exit of the cave led to a cemetery.
The villagers believed that because the cave passed through the mountain, it brought the negative energy from the other side of the mountain, thus disrupting the Feng Shui of their village. That's why they put a Buddha statue in the cave to suppress the Feng Shui.
Since he had made an appointment in advance, when Dong Tianyu arrived in the village, the village head and others were not out.
When they found out Dong Tianyu planned to expand the cave and turn it into a labyrinth, the villagers were very welcoming. The lease process was much easier and cheaper than Dong Tianyu had anticipated.
Once all the paperwork was completed, Dong Tianyu, a bit puzzled, asked the village head out of curiosity, "Are you hiding something from me?"
Although Dong Tianyu's question seemed random, the village head understood his concern and said cheerfully, "There's nothing I'm hiding from you.
The reason the price was so reasonable is because you're willing to develop that cave.
You're going to build a maze inside the mountain which will not damage the vegetation on the mountain, and it will also attract people, especially considering the situation at the other exit which you probably already know about.
We are not old fogeys, we use smartphones to watch short videos. There doesn't seem to be a maze inside a mountain project in our surrounding cities.
If your project becomes popular, it could also increase our village's income. After all, to get to the cave, tourists must pass through our village. Surely we can't let tourists pass through a cemetery first.
Moreover, even if the visitors agreed, the families of those buried in the cemetery would not.
So you can boldly proceed. As long as you don't collapse the mountain, you can do whatever you want in the cave. Despite our proximity to the city center, we don't actually get many visitors."
Hearing what the village head said, Dong Tianyu understood his intention.
Building a maze in the cave to attract tourists would, in a metaphysical sense, bring more human energy and protect them from the negative energy coming through the cave from the other side of the mountain.
From a practical point of view, there's only one road up the mountain, and tourists must pass through their village. If the project succeeds, they can set up some agritainment businesses to increase income.
Even if the project fails, that cave is in the mountain, and no one in the village visits it regularly. Renting it out can also earn some rental income, so why not?
Moreover, what was rented out was a cave, not the entire mountain, so it wouldn't damage the environment. Dong Tianyu was only expanding the cave, and the lease was only for ten years, so... one way or another, he wouldn't lose.
"Ten years! Hmm."
Maybe he didn't realize it at the time, thinking he had just met a kind person. But on the drive home, Dong Tianyu slowly guessed the reason why things went so smoothly today.
If it were about renting a house, ten years would seem a very long lease. But if, as Dong Tianyu said, he was going to expand the cave and build a maze inside the mountain, ten years was not a long time.
Firstly, expanding a cave is more troublesome than building a building on flat ground. It's not as simple as just digging a hole. You need to consider the entire structure of the mountain, just like mining. The deeper you go, the greater the risk.
So under normal circumstances, according to the actual expansion area inside the cave, it would take at least one to three years to dig out a space of 50*50*10.
Then comes the decoration.
According to what Dong Tianyu said about building a maze, it would need water, electricity, and internet, as well as sewage pipes.
These things are easy to do in the city, but to establish these infrastructures inside a cave would cost a considerable amount. With the interior decoration of the cave, it wouldn't be finished without two or three years.
So if Dong Tianyu really wanted to build a popular maze inside the cave and the lease term was only ten years, then it would take two or three years for cave expansion, two or three years for decoration and infrastructure, and another two or three years to attract tourists.
By the time the place really started to make a profit, there wouldn't be much time left on the ten-year lease. Then the village could decide whether to increase the rent or turn it into a village industry.
Low rent for ten years, just to coax Dong Tianyu into paying for the basic construction of the cave first.
Unfortunately, even though Dong Tianyu didn't think of this at the time, his ultimate goal was not really to build a popular internet maze.
After signing the cave lease agreement, Dong Tianyu immediately went to the Pengcheng Design Institute and entrusted them with the whole project of expanding the cave.
Why did he entrust the entire project to them? Because every construction site needs a design drawing.
(The detailed reasons will be explained by those in the engineering field in the comment section. I won't say much about it here. One reason is that it might not get published, and the other is that I don't want to be accused of padding out the word count.)
After using his connections and paying extra, Dong Tianyu got the design plans within a week, and they were approved within half a month.
With money to back it up, the project of expanding the cave was completed ahead of schedule in less than half a year. And the actual space inside the cave was not 10 meters high.
Digging out a mountain is not like building a building on flat ground, where you can easily tell the approximate height.
Normally, the price for digging a cave ranges from 500 to 1,000 (including inner reinforcement). The stones dug out can be sold.
However, stones like these that haven't been processed are worth about 200 per tonne, and a cubic stone weighs about 1.5 tonnes.
In the negotiation process, when the owner heard that Dong Tianyu was willing to transfer Eagle Coins directly overseas, he immediately agreed and made three guarantees.
The first guarantee was that the structure inside the cave was stable and resistant to earthquakes of magnitude seven and above.
The second was a guarantee that it would pass inspections by the relevant authorities.
The third was a guarantee that the entire transaction process was legal.
(This is not an urban novel. Due to the great crab's (internet censorship) reasons, I can't write about this in detail, so I'll quickly gloss over thirty to fifty thousand words.)
Eventually, Dong Tianyu, after paying ten million Eagle Coins, besides the 50*50*10 area inspected by the relevant authorities, had dug out four more layers of equal size below.
In order to avoid having too many cooks spoil the broth, after Dong Tianyu transferred another five million Eagle Coins to them for decoration costs, they took over the decoration work as well.
The decoration was actually quite simple. It involved applying full-proof waterproofing all around, installing a large lift that could accommodate a truck, and a small lift.
In the very bottom layer, while installing two sets of geothermal equipment, a well was also dug.
A diesel generator solved the electricity problem, the oxygen production problem was solved by an algae-based system, and a ventilation system was in place to circulate the air inside the cave.
In modern society, with enough money, a complete ecosystem can be created in a closed environment.