In Sumeru, pretend to be a scholar

Soon, the officials had everyone tied up.

Of course, kidnapping people is not difficult, but the main problem is that Wang Yan rewarded each of them with a wind blade, which makes stopping the bleeding and saving lives more troublesome.

After teaching the gilded girl group how to pay homage to the Flower Mistress, Wang Yan walked towards Seno.

"So, you managed to take care of that intelligence broker in just one night?"

Seno nodded slightly: "Just take him back, and that guy will drop everything and promise us to help spread false information."

"It's not exactly fake news, is it? I, as a scholar, am always genuine," Wang Yan said with dissatisfaction.

Actually, when Wang Yan was drinking with Kavi yesterday, he had already guessed that Dolly and Seno might use him as bait.

The reason he didn't refuse was because Wang Yan knew that these two wouldn't put him in any real danger. On the other hand, he did need to resolve Dolly's problem as soon as possible and then take a boat to Nordkal.

"What are you going to do if I don't take action?"

“Use flanking maneuvers, ambush them, and take them down directly.” Seno waved his hand, making a take-down gesture. “I will not allow any casualties among you.”

"Hmph, it's not just the Grand Envoy, I've brought out a super gadget. If you're in any danger, I'll activate it right away." Dolly walked over at some point, looking like she'd also contributed.

Wang Yan glanced at her: "Since I was the one who made it so you didn't have to use any props, why don't you give me the money for the props in lieu of payment?"

"Hmm, ah, wait! Is it possible to do this?" Dolly's pupils dilated, and she took a few steps back. "This, this isn't right."

Wang Yan stopped teasing her and simply said, "Now that we've caught the person, the items should be found soon too. Do you need me to help you maintain the spaceship?"

"Hehe, of course I need it. This is the boat fare you promised, Scholar Wang Yan." Dolly is the type who feels like she's losing out if she doesn't make money, so naturally she wouldn't let go of someone as useful as Wang Yan.

Wang Yan didn't mind, nodded, and asked again, "These people are definitely trying to prevent the spaceship from taking off. Do you have any doubts about that?"

Dolly and Seno must have heard what he said to the middle-aged man in the dress earlier.

Seno may not know, but Dolly, as the owner of the goods, certainly has the information.

Upon hearing Wang Yan's question, Seno also looked at Dolly.

Dolly frowned, looking deep in thought: "According to the procedure, after the spaceship takes off, it will first head to Hailu Port in Fengdan. The autonomous machine that guy brought earlier was clearly in the Fengdan style, but... Fengdan has several partners..."

Seno said, "As far as I know, Fengdan has controls over these armed clockwork mechanisms. Do any of your partners have access to them?"

"You underestimate me a bit. Of course, I can contact the partners of Lord Sangge Mahabay. I sold them to the Miaolun faction back then... cough cough. Anyway, you definitely won't find any clues from the self-regulatory agencies. I guarantee that these agencies won't even have any codes."

Dolly said with certainty.

Seno nodded, trusting that the other party wouldn't lie to him: "It seems the only way is to get some new clues from that person."

After saying that, Seno walked back to the prisoners' area.

Wang Yan leaned close to Dolly's ear: "So, you want to buy N goods?"

Dolly was startled: "Huh? Haha, of course they're all normal goods, spices and stuff..."

"Do you think I'd believe that? Generally speaking, penalties for breach of contract are closely linked to the value of the goods. If the other party is willing to do something like this to force you to breach the contract, it must be a huge amount, and the goods must be just as valuable."

Wang Yan's gaze was deep and his tone was calm: "Could it be... those materials from Nordkalley?"

He hadn't forgotten that he had once discovered in Port Ormos that Dolly had secretly hidden a warehouse full of lunar torque materials.

At the time, I was in a hurry to get to Liyue, so I didn't pay much attention. Now that I think about it, those materials were probably not just purchased for the scholars.

"... "

Dolly was sweating profusely. At this moment, she missed Kavi terribly. They were both scholars, so why was Wang Yan so much more difficult to deal with than Kavi?

"Tch, looks like I guessed right. Someone in Fengdan ordered a batch of Nordkalley materials from you. You don't know why, but when you went to Fengdan, they started sending people to disrupt your schedule and delay the spaceship's takeoff time."

"Hmm...did they pay extra for expedited delivery? They acted like they didn't know you had a spaceship, but they seemed really anxious, asking for extra money to deliver it within a certain timeframe."

"You thought you had the spaceship and could do it all, so you signed the contract."

Wang Yan spoke faster and faster, and more and more fluently, while Dolly broke out in a cold sweat.

"Stop talking, stop talking."

Dolly finally couldn't hold back any longer and quickly said, "Scholar Wang Yan, I think... it's enough for our partners to know about these things. There's no need to tell the Disciplinary Officer."

Wang Yan looked at her and said, "So you really are involved in smuggling."

“It’s not smuggling, it’s not smuggling, it’s just some leftover stock that we couldn’t get rid of. Someone happened to come by and said they needed materials from Nordkalley, and we thought this was perfect,” Dolly whispered.

"Didn't you say it was materials for scholars? How come there are leftovers?" Wang Yan questioned. "Besides, what's wrong with leaving oversights that the disciplinary officials can't know about?"

There are too many inconsistencies in Dolly's words.

"It's all because the scholar who ordered from me got arrested!" Dolly finally revealed a crucial piece of information. "That guy paid me a deposit, and when I got the goods back, he was arrested for academic corruption..."

"If the disciplinary officials find out about this shipment, it will definitely be seized because of the deposit, and I'll suffer a huge loss."

For merchants, having their goods seized means losing money every day they are detained.

"I plan to sell the goods first, and then talk to the Religious Council about this matter. By then, the goods will be gone, and I can just return the deposit."

After saying that, Dolly looked at Wang Yan pitifully and said, "Scholar Wang Yan, we are business partners. You wouldn't just watch my goods get confiscated, would you?"

Wang Yan stared at her, sensing that there was something she hadn't revealed. However, having pressed her to this extent, it was time to stop.

After all, she was his business partner, and he still needed Dolly to make money.

Let's just ignore these minor issues.

"Alright, just be careful and don't let the Grass God down," Wang Yan said in a formal tone.

Dolly wiped her forehead: "Definitely, definitely."

After finishing his conversation with Dolly, Wang Yan ignored the still bustling camp and sat down by the fire.

The fight just now didn't put out the fire.

Before long, Seno came to say goodbye. He was taking his men back to Sumeru City for interrogation. Wang Yan naturally did not try to stop him and nodded in farewell.

As for Dolly and her guards, they will travel to Casazale Palace with Wang Yan.

As the disciplinary officer and the group of thirty men left with the prisoners, the camp quickly quieted down, and Dolly's men had already set up camp.

The Nara group cooked again, and after the meal, some people kept watch while others rested.

Wang Yan was naturally the one resting; he certainly didn't need to keep watch and had his own separate tent.

This makes the practice of the "Purification of the Three Karmas Mantra" more convenient.

……

Several days later.

Wang Yan arrived at Kavi's most outstanding achievement—the Casa Zara Palace.

This palace, nestled deep in the forest northeast of the Sumac Cave and southwest of the Dense Forest of Mushrooms, truly gives one a dreamlike feeling.

The palace itself is magnificent and imposing, with a meticulously maintained garden in front of it. The garden is full of blooming flowers, birdsong, and a beautiful and pleasant environment.

Wang Yan even saw a huge zoo where dozens of takins were lazily strolling around, and people were taking care of them and chasing away flying insects.

This person is probably living a better life than many others.

“These are all old hands who have followed me from the beginning to build our fortune,” Dolly said as she walked over to introduce the animals, noticing Wang Yan staring at the zoo.

Wang Yan nodded: "You are indeed a person of great loyalty."

"Hmph, as long as they cooperate with Master Sangge Mahabay, I'll make sure they're all well and good!" Dolly said proudly.

She certainly has the right to be proud.

Wang Yan didn't praise her, but simply looked away and asked, "Where is the spaceship?"

“In the plaza on the other side of the palace,” Dolly said. “I have a special cargo yard for parking spaceships, isn’t that nice?”

Despicable rich people...

Wang Yan felt a pang of sadness in her heart.

After instructing her subordinates to take the members of the Nara girl group to rest, Dolly led Wang Yan to the so-called spaceship plaza.

It was indeed very large. Wang Yan glanced at it and estimated it to be the size of one or two football fields. The spaceship he had ridden in before was docked in the middle.

"The Mysterious Theory School's spaceships are good, but they don't provide any follow-up maintenance, which is a real headache," Dolly complained, then looked at Wang Yan, "Scholar Wang Yan, if you can maintain them, how about we cooperate long-term? You can help me maintain the spaceships, and I'll take you wherever you want to go for research for free."

Wang Yan rolled her eyes at her: "Old man Bai really doesn't miss any opportunity to take advantage of others. Am I that cheap?"

Even this time, if it weren't for wanting to get to Nordkalley as soon as possible and wanting to see the design of the spaceship, Wang Yan wouldn't have agreed to Dolly's request to maintain the spaceship.

This kind of thing can be done once; long-term cooperation? There's absolutely no need for that.

"Alright, alright, what a pity." Dolly sighed and pointed to the spaceship. "Do you need me to take you there?"

Wang Yan shook his head: "No need, I will check the condition of the spaceship for you. You'd better urge Seno to find the stolen parts as soon as possible, and replace them as soon as possible if any parts are damaged."

"Oh, you're getting professional, that's the style, Scholar Wang Yan." Dolly's smile deepened. "The Grand Inspector has already sent a letter. The night those guys were arrested, they revealed where the items were hidden. The Grand Inspector and the thirty-man group have retrieved the items, and my men have already handed them over. They'll be delivered soon."

Wang Yan nodded: "Okay, then I'll get started."

After saying that, Wang Yan walked directly to the spaceship, ignoring Dolly.

Chapter 157 The Intimacy of Chubby Little Purple

"So that's how it is... using a large number of [Weight Reduction] runes to reduce the ship's weight, and then using wind elements to levitate the ship..."

"After takeoff, the direction is controlled by fine-tuning the surrounding wind elements..."

"Hmm...this is a built-in positioning system...interesting...geodetic positioning? Can spaceships use geodesic positioning in the air?"

Inside Dolly's spaceship, Wang Yan was examining the surrounding equipment in the spaceship's core power room.

The propulsion system of a spaceship that can carry a 30-meter-long, 12-meter-wide, 100-ton ship, along with hundreds of tons of cargo, in the air, even for a long time, must be excellent.

At first, Wang Yan thought it was a trick involving flying bricks, but after examining the airship closely, he discovered that there were many details involved.

For example, the ship's bottom is engraved with a large number of "weight reduction" runes, which can effectively reduce the ship's weight. In this way, the energy required to drive the spaceship will be greatly reduced.

For example, the energy circuit is designed so well that it can make the most of every elemental force.

Meanwhile, the direction control of the spaceship is not actually done with sails, but with true elemental manipulation; sails are more of a backup physical means.

What Wang Yan was most interested in were actually the two modules of the spaceship.

One is the positioning system. The spaceship uses the ley lines for positioning. As long as it is within the Teyvat ley lines, the spaceship will not get lost.

This is very impressive, considering that Teyvat does not have artificial satellites, or rather, the dragons may have had them in the past, but they are not in the current system.

Therefore, what merchants fear most when sailing far away is getting lost.

With this system, you can know very clearly where you are and where you need to go next.

For traders, not getting lost is practically a superpower.

However, Wang Yan was also curious. Although the term "earth vein" does not necessarily mean that the earth vein is underground, the earth vein is indeed inseparable from the earth.

So how do spaceships flying in the sky use the earth's veins for positioning?

"This thing... is a technique from the Sulun school... These guys from Siddham Academy are truly amazing in their research on earth veins and elements."

Wang Yan sighed, noted down his doubts, and then looked at another core device.

"This is..."

Wang Yan looked at the prop in front of him and felt that it looked familiar. After thinking for a while, he remembered that this was the elemental amplification device that Dolly gave to the Traveler in the Nordkalley storyline.

"So, this thing amplifies the energy carried by the spaceship itself, and then drives the entire spaceship to move."

Wang Yan had sensed something was wrong before. To drive a spaceship that weighs over a hundred tons and whose cargo volume is likely several times its own weight, how much elemental power would be required?

Even though the Wondrous Theory School took many measures to reduce its own weight, the spaceship was still a colossal object.

Now it seems that they not only reduced their own weight, but also amplified their elemental power.

It was a combination of subtraction and addition that made this behemoth take flight.

"However, I wonder if this elemental amplifier will be useful for the 'Seventy-Two Celestial Blades'."

"Hmm... I remember it's Kavi's technology. It seems to be a project jointly created by Dolly and Nasita, and Kavi did the research. Well, we're on the same side. We can take a closer look at the internal technology during the maintenance later."

After observing the parts that interested him, Wang Yan began his formal work: maintaining the spaceship.

It's more accurate to call it an inspection than maintenance.