There was a scholar named Person who brought a high-powered loudspeaker from the research institute, intending to analyze the frequency of the echoes coming up from the bottom of the pit. However, after fiddling with the loudspeaker for a long time and trying all sorts of sounds, he didn’t hear even the slightest echo. The scholar was quite puzzled. He racked his brains, wondering what the reason could be. Yet, with so many eyes watching, he couldn’t just give up and become a laughingstock. He pressed the loudspeaker right up to the mouth of the pit and turned the volume to the maximum. Deafening sounds poured out of the loudspeaker, unceasingly. If this had been on the surface, people dozens of kilometers away would have heard it. But this pit accepted everything, swallowing all the sounds whole.

The scholar couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy. Pretending to be calm and confident, he turned off the loudspeaker and ordered in an unquestionable tone, “Fill it in immediately!”

Although the matter hadn’t been figured out, it was best to deal with it quickly to avoid the scholar making a fool of himself in public.

Was it really going to end so hastily? The onlookers around all felt it was a bit of a shame. But there was nothing to be done; it seemed they would have to leave disappointed. Just then, a man, sweating profusely, squeezed out from the crowd and loudly proposed:

“Please let me have this pit. I’ll fill it for you.”

He was the speculator who had originally planned to buy the patent for the pit at a high price.

However, the Village Chief of the village disagreed.

“It’s certainly a good thing that you’re willing to fill in the pit for us, but we can’t give it to you. We must build a temple on it.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll build you an even better temple right away, and I’ll add a plaza as well. How about that?”

Before Village Chief could reply, the villagers all shouted in unison, “Is that true? It would be even better if it were built closer to our village.”

“What’s so special about a pit? You can have it right now.”

And so, the deal was struck. Of course, Village Chief had no choice but to agree as well.

The businessman who bought the patent fulfilled his promise according to the contract. A small temple was built closer to the village, along with a plaza.

That autumn harvest season, the patent owner started a novel “Pit-Filling Company.” Near the pit, he built a small house with a little sign hanging above the door.

Next, the patent owner sent his partners all over the city to promote the business by every means possible.

“This company has a marvelous, unfathomable pit. According to scholars, its depth is at least five thousand meters. It’s the best place to dispose of nuclear waste from atomic reactors and other dangerous materials. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”

Soon, the relevant government departments issued a business license. Many atomic power companies rushed to sign contracts. At first, the villagers were a bit worried, afraid something might go wrong. But the “Pit-Filling Company” sent people to explain that this was an extremely safe pit, and even after thousands of years, it would never cause any harm to the surface. Moreover, the villagers could benefit from it. Once everyone understood this, they felt reassured. Also, a modern highway connecting the city to the village was quickly built and opened to traffic.

Trucks sped along the highway, continuously bringing in many large lead boxes. The lids automatically opened above the pit, and nuclear reactor waste was poured into it.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense threw in their unnecessary classified documents along with the safes. The government officials who came along to supervise chatted easily about playing golf, while the lower-ranking staff tossed in various documents and talked about pinball parlors.

It seemed as if this pit could never be filled. Everyone agreed that it was an unfathomable bottomless pit, and perhaps the deeper it went, the wider its diameter became. The “Pit-Filling Company” gradually expanded its operations.

The bodies of laboratory animals used in university infectious disease experiments were brought in, along with many unclaimed vagrants’ corpses. The authorities drew up a plan to lay a large number of pipelines to discharge all the city’s waste and sewage into the pit. This method was much better than dumping pollution into the ocean.

This pit brought great comfort to the city dwellers. For a time, people had been desperately expanding production, causing extremely serious pollution in the city. But dealing with this pollution was very difficult, and everyone found it a headache. Moreover, people only wanted to work in productive enterprises or commercial companies; no one wanted to deal with all kinds of garbage every day. However, everyone believed that this social problem would be gradually and properly solved by this pit.