I, Stone Golem, only want to forge.

Chapter 114 Dam

Murphy was already planning to go to the dam to check on things, so he naturally had no objections and immediately agreed.

The three of them quickly arrived near the dam. The guards at the gate didn't waste any words when they saw Ling Ya and were about to let them pass.

However, one of them stared at Murphy for a while before hesitantly asking, "Are you Mr. Murphy?"

Murphy nodded, glanced at the person, and after confirming he didn't recognize him, asked, "Have you seen me before?"

"Ah, no, no, but I've heard of you. Didn't you have a serious illness a few days ago?"

My son was able to recover thanks to your machine.

I heard you're a stone man, living deep in the mountains. I thought it would be hard to meet you, but I didn't expect to be able to today—we'll have something to talk about when we go out for drinks and chat later.

After the guard offered a few words of thanks, he didn't delay Murphy in any way and naturally made way for him.

Before leaving, he made a special trip to the three of them, especially Lingya, and gave them a special instruction.

"Something strange has been going on inside lately. We keep hearing some odd noises, and even some children talking. But overall, nothing serious has happened."

But please still be careful, especially Ms. Lingya. You were away for a few days and we couldn't reach you. We apologize for not being able to inform you.

"It's alright, thank you for your trouble. I'll be careful."

Ling Ya nodded slightly to express her gratitude, then stepped forward to lead the way for Murphy.

He just led the way while asking Murphy a question.

"Mr. Murphy, where do you think that strange sound came from? Could it be a spirit?"

"Never seen it before, don't know."

Murphy didn't rush to offer a long list of possibilities; he simply shook his head and told the truth.

Lingya didn't press further and continued leading the way.

They first toured the observation post on the dam, and then prepared to return after their observation.

Murphy didn't speak immediately. After pondering for a moment, he seemed to have sorted out his thoughts and reached out to Lingya, saying, "The specific data on the Kulen core, the water flow rate and velocity during the flood season, and the extent of water area impact after the flood season—"

Murphy launched into a long, rapid-fire monologue.

Ling Ya's expression grew increasingly serious as she listened. She nodded, then shook her head, and finally tapped the collar around her neck. Suddenly, several sheets of white paper appeared in her hand.

His expression shifted from serious to embarrassed, even tinged with guilt, as he asked Murphy, "As for the data, it's not as much as you said, just this much, about the same as when we built the dam—is that alright?"

Lingya could understand what Murphy was saying, but the problem was that she had never thought about collecting these things before.

To be more precise, it wasn't just her; none of the engineers had ever thought of collecting these things.

Often, they only collect the most basic data as a reference before starting to work.

After all, magic is so useful. If I encounter any problems that I can't solve, I can just use magic to solve them.

Even if something really happens—

She's a Vatican official, so there's a possibility the tribunal might come and cause trouble.

However, as long as the building doesn't collapse on its own, or isn't a shoddy construction that's obviously substandard, there won't be any problems in most cases, as long as you make the building function even if it's barely functional.

No one would think the designers or engineers were at fault; they would just think the people who caused the problem were just unlucky.

We've already built a dam for you, and you still want it to release floodwaters? There's no such thing as a free lunch!

Moreover, not only will those above not concern themselves with this matter, but generally speaking, due to the difference in status and power between mages, professionals, and ordinary people, those below will also not ask.

They should even thank the people who built the dam for them, otherwise the flooding might have been even greater.

This leads to most designers who take on such civil engineering projects being extremely perfunctory.

As long as the overall project can be completed, there's no need to spend a lot of time and energy collecting data and researching structures.

The engineers who take over are only responsible for completing the construction. Once the construction is completed, as long as the building doesn't collapse, everything will be fine.

Over time, these people find themselves in a state of using their brains but not fully engaging in their work.

Murphy glanced at Ling Ya, who looked somewhat guilty, but didn't say anything. He just flipped through the documents in his hand while making plans in his mind.

After a moment, it closed the document and spoke.

"If the dam is too low, the water flow area will still be too large if it continues to flow."

Although it won't flood the farmland as it has in the past.

However, this is actually worse. In the past, after flooding farmland, the water flow did not change significantly, so there was less soil erosion.

As the water area shrinks, floods will continuously batter the farmland, washing away all the nutrients.

"what?"

Lingya gave a short call, then nodded thoughtfully, as if she had just realized this.

But Murphy still hadn't finished, so I went on to talk about four or five other issues, such as siltation, water erosion, and other miscellaneous problems.

It only gave a brief overview, without going into details, and then talked for over an hour.

After listening, Lingya looked a little dazed, nodding her head repeatedly like a chick pecking at rice, occasionally letting out an "oh" sound, and even taking out a notebook to start taking notes.

What Murphy just said wasn't actually that difficult for her to understand.

The main point is that just because you can understand it now doesn't mean you'll be able to think of these things next time, or be able to apply the knowledge to real-world scenarios.

Compared to the bright student Lingya, the big stone next to her seemed much more dazed, just listening quietly without making any reaction.

He only blurted out a sentence after Murphy had finished speaking.

"But if the dam is higher, won't the water flow down even faster?"

Lingya, who was deep in thought while looking at her notes, suddenly looked up at the big rock, even more shocked than when she heard what Murphy had said.

Murphy looked at the big rock with some surprise, not expecting it to ask such a crucial question, and nodded in agreement.

As expected of someone with such discerning eyes, who thought the Stone Man was intelligent, he certainly has some of the Stone Man's style.

"So we need to divert the flow. There is a tributary next to the Kulun River, which is very close to here. Its channel is very deep and it is basically dry all year round. We can dig a channel a little in front of the dam to divert the flow there."

"Wouldn't digging another tunnel to that side be too much work?"

Lingya's original expression was just serious and indifferent.

Now, upon hearing Murphy suddenly bring up the matter of modification, his indifferent expression instantly turned into confusion and bewilderment.

Judging from Murphy's words just now.

They certainly didn't think the stone man was talking nonsense, and they genuinely felt that this matter was somewhat difficult to accomplish.

Murphy shook his head, but didn't stop. Instead, he made an even more startling statement: "Not only that, I also plan to build two more dams in front of this one."

"How could that be possible in such a short time?"

If it's just about changing the river course, Lingya thinks it's possible.

But how could we possibly build two more dams?