In Sumeru, pretend to be a scholar

"Oh, that's good, that's good." Fu Ningna breathed a sigh of relief.

After finishing their conversation here, Ying and Paimon also managed to calm Sandoni down, finally sparing the little pigeon's life.

Seeing this, Frinna and Vizel stepped forward and said they wanted to keep the last picture as the finale.

Therefore, they could pay Sandonne a performance fee.

Perhaps she wasn't so angry anymore, or perhaps she herself wanted to see herself reunite with Columbia, Sandoni finally agreed, but she didn't ask for any performance fee, as she certainly didn't need that kind of money.

Wang Yan watched from the side and suddenly realized that the actors in his film didn't seem to be the biggest stars anymore.

Look at their lineup: Luna, Fool, and...

And him? He's the lead actor, but he's only fit to be someone else's lighting assistant...

"Hey, that's some serious star power!"

Chapter 374 Golem

In the morning, Wang Yan followed the crew of "Homecoming" and watched them reshoot many scenes of Sandoni and Colombia, and was thoroughly impressed.

At noon, he declined Furna's invitation to lunch and left the film crew.

We agreed on a morning, and that's a morning; we can't keep our mentor waiting.

What if I get back late and my advisor gets worried?

However, when Wang Yan returned to Fengdanting and found Nicole and Falushan, he realized that he had been adding his own drama to the story.

Erosan wasn't worried about whether Wang Yan would be late or not.

She and Nicole were browsing a sculpture exhibition.

It appears to be themed around All Souls' Day, and includes many knight statues, perhaps representing the original Pure Water Knights.

However, Wang Yan thought some of the statues looked more like golems from Remuria.

Nico and Erosan were standing in front of a life-size knight statue, one tilting her head and the other crossing her arms.

Just as he was about to walk over, he heard Estelle speak.

“Look at how this shoulder armor is forged.” Eroshan raised her chin. “It’s forged from a single piece without any seams, yet the curve is so even. For ancient craftsmanship, the artisan who made this is quite skilled. But that’s also the problem. Real armor wouldn’t be forged like this. Shoulder armor needs to allow for some freedom of movement, otherwise a knight wouldn’t even be able to lift his sword.”

“So this isn’t armor,” Nico continued, tracing the outline of the statue in the air with her fingertip. “It’s armor that the sculptor imagined. He wanted a guardian who would always stand there and never fall.”

“Hmm, look at his center of gravity.” Erosham walked around to the side of the statue. “His feet are wide apart, his spine is straight, his sword is on the ground, and his whole body is like a stake driven into a spring. From a mechanical point of view, this posture is tiring to stand in for a long time, but visually, it is a sign of stability.”

“That’s good enough.” Nico smiled. “After all, this statue guards the spring.”

Wang Yan then realized that Nico's voice was not coming from his mind, but was being transmitted through the air.

Could Ni have spoken?

Just as the doubts in his heart began to surface, Wang Yan noticed that she was wearing a small device around her neck.

"Oh, it must be Alice's magical tool," Wang Yan guessed.

The fact that Nicole cannot speak directly does not mean that there are no other ways to make her voice heard.

For Alice, making such a small prop was not difficult.

The question is... why would Nico wear something like that?

After glancing at Nicole and the spot next to her, Wang Yan suddenly understood.

A few people were already scattered around them, and more and more were constantly appearing.

Nico glanced at the growing crowd, but instead of calming down, he seemed slightly excited.

"Does the senior know who this statue is about?" she asked Valusa, her voice neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for the people around to hear.

“A pure water knight?” Erosanne replied cooperatively.

Although it was her first time visiting Fengdan, she had read quite a few documents about Fengdan.

“To be precise, it’s the Pure Water Knights group.” Nico turned around, facing the statue, and also facing the people who had unknowingly formed a semicircle to listen to the story. Everyone was happy on Souls’ Day, but few remembered whose name this holiday originally commemorated.

The people around quieted down slightly, all pretending to listen.

“Long, long ago, there was a golden empire high above the sea. The emperor of the empire did not trust natural springs. He ordered the Golem Legion to fill in the springs in the mountains and build aqueducts, so that a kind of artificial water could flow through every conquered city-state.”

"The pure water spirits who lived by the springs lost their home and could only hide in the mountain streams where no one could find them. And by those springs where they took refuge, a group of people were born."

Nico softened his voice.

"They forged silver armor for themselves and swore an oath to the elves and their people to protect this last bit of water that had not been tainted yellow. They are the Knights of Pure Water."

Someone on the outer circle let out a soft "ah," clearly unaware of the story.

Nico heard it, but ignored it and continued speaking.

"The most famous of the knights is named Irie, who was originally a singer. Her hometown was burned down by the Golem Legion, and her people were either killed or scattered. She crawled out of the pile of corpses and was adopted by the chief of an island."

"Later, she grew up and spent twenty years gathering together the warring tribes on the high seas, leading her knights to sweep across the islands, and using her sword to persuade them to make a pact with the water god."

“But she never said she was a queen.” Nicole looked at the statue’s lowered eyes. “She only said that she heard the servants of the king.”

"Is that Lord Fukaros?" someone asked from inside the room.

The higher-ups in Teyvat basically all knew that Frinna was an imposter, but to most ordinary Mapledans, Frinna was simply retired.

So, when it comes to Xingqi, he said that the key to success is Fukalos.

“It was Egoria, the water goddess of that time, who was imprisoned in the dark depths of the sea,” Nico explained.

Then she continued the story: "The knights made a vow to travel across the sea and find a cup filled with the purest water, so that they could use it to bring the water goddess back to her kingdom. They did it, and I won't go into the sacrifices they made along the way. In short, the water goddess returned, and the golden empire sank into the abyss."

She paused for a moment, then reached out and patted the statue's sword-wielding hand.

"In the end, these knights did not compete for credit. When the empire fell, they laid down their armor and went home. Their story was woven into a folk song, and as it was sung, it became the festival we celebrate today."

The surroundings were quiet for a short while.

Then, I don't know who started clapping first, but the applause started sporadically and soon became a continuous sound.

Nicole's eyes crinkled with joy.

She specifically asked Alice for the magic gadgets, wasn't it for this?

Telling stories to people and gaining their approval makes Nico so happy!

The applause lasted for a while, and then the two female artists, who seemed quite knowledgeable, began to discuss the art of sculpture with them.

Nicole and Erossen enjoyed the atmosphere of being asked questions and began to talk freely.

Seeing this, Wang Yan stood at the very edge of the crowd and did not join them.

Firstly, it would be inappropriate for him to interrupt when the other person was engrossed in their conversation; secondly, his attention was indeed drawn to the statues nearby.

He slowly walked to another statue, crossed his arms, and stared at it for a long time.

These statues were quite different from the surrounding Pure Water Knight statues; they were the very statues that Wang Yan felt resembled the Remurian Golem.

But upon closer inspection, this doesn't look like... this is definitely a Remurian golem!

The golem is sculpted from gray-white stone, with its joints, armor patterns, and helmet ridge inlaid with brass.

The stone surface features classical Roman relief patterns, and there are narrow slits in the chest cavity and shoulder armor.

If it weren't for the fact that there were no traces of spiritual dew flowing on its body, Wang Yan would have thought that it might be Remuria attacking.

'Who was so clever as to send the Remurian Golem over thinking it was a Pure Water Knight statue?'

Wang Yan found it both amusing and speechless.

If Iriye himself saw the Remurian warrior statue at the exhibition celebrating the Pure Water Knights, I wonder if he would come to the sculptor with his sword and have a good talk with him.

"Are you interested in this statue, sir?"

The voice came from behind Wang Yan; it was from a man dressed in a gentleman's suit.

"Hmm? Who are you?" Wang Yan looked at the other person, thought for a moment, and realized it was just a stranger's face; he didn't recognize the person.

The man smiled and introduced himself: "My name is Gorendran, and I am a businessman. I am here at the exhibition to promote these white stone sculptures."

“A white stone statue…” Wang Yan looked at the Remuria golem, then at the man in front of him, “Do you know what this is?”

"Hmm?" Upon hearing Wang Yan's words, Gorendran's eyes lit up with excitement. "Does this gentleman recognize these white stone statues?"

“It seems you know…” Wang Yan shook his head slightly. “Then don’t you think it’s a bit inappropriate to place these statues on Spirits’ Day?”

Upon hearing this, Gorendran immediately shook his head: "I understand what you mean, sir, but in my opinion, they are also victims."

“They are victims? That’s a novel argument.” Wang Yan became interested. “Then tell me, why should they be victims? Whether it’s documented records or historical facts, they should be the aggressors.”

Although the golem was not originally intended to be a weapon of war, but rather the eternal body that Remus envisioned for all the Remurians in the future.

War corps were merely a byproduct of this technology.

But no one can deny that the Golem Legion committed countless atrocities while rampaging through Maple.

“I believe they are all victims of desire; it was uncontrolled desire that destroyed them and led them to commit grave mistakes,” Gorendran recounted. “Whether you believe the story I’m about to tell, sir…”

"I was once a greedy and despicable businessman. In order to steal a scholar's work, I made a grave mistake..."

"Later, for some mysterious reason, my consciousness entered a stone statue, a white stone statue like this, and I experienced its entire life inside it."

"This experience allowed me to witness firsthand the ideals and tragedies of the Remulians."

"The ideal of the Remurians is to analyze the soul with music and to escape the fate of mortals destined to perish through the reincarnation of golems, so as to build an eternal civilization."

"But the grand symphony they used to redeem humanity contained the arrogance and hatred of the conquerors themselves. Their ideals were twisted in violence and prejudice, and they ultimately brought about their own destruction, confirming the prophecy that they were trying to rebel."

"The means to pursue eternal happiness itself create immense suffering; using them to rebel against fate is futile!"

Gorendran sighed, "That's why I say they were innocent... but this grand system places collective will above individual freedom, and under the influence of the group, everyone is swept away..."

After hearing what this person said, Wang Yan remembered who this guy was.

4.6 Characters and plot points in "Beyond Time and Space: A Fantasy".

An NPC who claims to be a good businessman covets Galcha's pusher machine in the storyline and colludes with others to secretly steal its benefits. However, his consciousness is captured by the "Phobos" symphony of Remuria, a remnant of the Old Sea, and his soul is pulled into an ancient white stone statue.

Within the statue, he experienced firsthand the life of the Dean of the Remulia Academy and witnessed the tragedy of the shattering of the ancient kingdom's ideals.

When the truth was revealed, the perpetrator, shocked and remorseful, suddenly realized his mistake and ultimately accepted legal punishment.

In addition, the calculus was a hand-cranked geared calculator that could transform phenomena into mathematical formulas for deduction. Galcia attempted to use it to analyze all things and even consciousness.

Its concept of "everything can be calculated" resonates with the ancient musical ideas of Remuria.

Does this look familiar? That's right, everything can be calculated... This can also be considered a kind of "world formula".

Although the creators of the pusher machine, Galcia and Rene, had no connection whatsoever, their research was related to Remulia's "Phobos Symphony".

The two belong to two independent research lines, but their underlying philosophies are highly similar.

Unfortunately, Garcia was not a super genius like René. His mathematical calculation machine could only perform mathematical deductions within a limited range, converting real-world objects (recipes, sheet music) into formulas for calculation.

However, Galcia's long-term vision was to explore consciousness and the soul.

This is indeed the same as René's.

It can only be said that there is indeed a story behind the place called Fengdan.

"So you moved these statues here so that the Fengdan people would forgive them?" Wang Yan asked curiously.

Gorendran immediately shook his head: "No, Remuria has been extinct for thousands of years. All the blood feuds have long since disappeared with time. To the Maple people, Remuria is just a legend."

"Then what is this?"

Gorendran chuckled: "Of course it's about making money. If we can make money while letting more people know about the tragedy caused by desire, that would be even better."

"...Don't you think it's contradictory? You want to make money, but you also want to warn others not to succumb to desire," Wang Yan complained.

Gorendran shook his head: “That’s not the case, sir. I don’t earn money out of lust, but to atone for my sins. As I said, I made a mistake before, and although I have served my sentence, I still want to do more good deeds. So, I’m not making money for my own selfish desires.”

"Who knows if you really weren't acting out of personal desires?" Wang Yan questioned.

“You’re from Liyue, aren’t you? There’s an old saying in Liyue: ‘Judging by actions, not by intentions, for no one is perfect by intentions.’” Gorendran said with a smile. “If you’d like, you can watch how I do it.”

Now that things had been said, Wang Yan no longer doubted the other party.

Of course, he certainly didn't have time to watch the other person do things.

After thinking for a moment, I glanced at the statue next to me again.