Mr. Pantalone has no crazy plans today.

But Sandonne shook his head slightly, and then tried to ask, "Five hundred billion Mora?"

“Not enough,” Sandoni shook his head slightly, denying it.

"...How much is that?"

"Five hundred billion Mora, this is the first phase of funding needed for the development of 'mechanical prosthetics'."

Pantalone fell silent upon seeing Sandone's request for funding.

Okay, he knew that technology development was a very expensive thing.

But nobody told him that this thing was so expensive.

Can he get his money back now?

Chapter 22 "The Memories of the Girl" Columbia

In everyone's mind, the winter solstice is a country that is frozen by ice and snow all year round.

And that is indeed the case; this is a bitterly cold land located in the far north.

Compared to other countries, it is indeed quite barren, and such a harsh environment makes it even more difficult for people living here to survive.

It all originated from that God of Ice.

In the most ancient times, the God of Ice used his power to dispel the cold of this frigid land and protect the ancient humans, allowing them to continue and survive. They established a human kingdom in this land, which was the first winter.

She was once a goddess who deeply loved people, and also the queen of winter.

Under the Queen's protection, the people who had struggled to survive in this land established their kingdom.

She feels joy when people are happy, and she is delighted when people are at peace.

But I don't know when it started.

The empress no longer began to love, but instead used deep, solid ice to freeze all her emotions, burying that burning love deep in her heart.

No one could understand the sorrow in the Queen's heart, and no one could bear the bitterness in her heart.

This is precisely because the Empress was too gentle.

Because she was too gentle, she had to become cold.

It was precisely because of her desire to protect her people that she was unwilling to let them share the burdens she bore. This was because the bitterness in the Empress's heart was something that no ordinary person could bear, and only those with burning desires could endure the bitterness in the Empress's heart.

In the memories of "girl" Columbia.

The empress was always like this; she always buried everything deep in her heart alone.

She was not a weak goddess; she simply chose to bear everything alone.

As a "young girl", Columbia was one of the first executors to follow the Queen. After the initial Fool pledged allegiance to the God of Ice, she has always followed the Queen.

She knew countless things and considered herself one of the people who knew the Queen best.

After a long period of time, things suddenly changed one day.

A somewhat strange human appeared; he was a man of great talent, with countless wild ideas and geniuses.

The "girl" Columbia didn't actually have much interaction with that man; she only observed the strange man because of the Empress.

He possesses unparalleled talent and ideas, along with a drive and ambition that are beyond the reach of ordinary people.

He was always able to seize opportunities that ordinary people could not see and take advantage of them, which enabled him to quickly accumulate a lot of wealth among the people. On the other hand, he was also very good at using people's weaknesses to make money for himself.

This allowed him to quickly gain a high social status and begin to control wealth and power.

Perhaps it's because of his early experiences.

He had no reverence for the gods, and was even close to being a heretic.

To the "young girl" Columbia, the man was a very strange fellow.

He was unlike any other human being he had ever met in his long history; he possessed ideas that others dared not even think of, and he was more daring to act on them than others.

He was a thoroughly hard-hearted rationalist, yet he could also be as loud and boisterous as a fanatic, cursing imperfect humanity while simultaneously believing in its potential.

On one hand, they regard emotions as impurities, yet on the other hand, they value interpersonal relationships more than anyone else.

Despite being a businessman, he also has a strong interest in the path of science.

He was contradictory, yet more human than anyone else.

The man relied entirely on his own abilities, climbing step by step through experiences unimaginable to outsiders, to a position that ordinary people could only reach in a lifetime.

Even the "young girl" Columbia couldn't understand what he was thinking or what his mindset was when he went to this point.

But even she had to admit that he was indeed a man unlike any other.

When no one else is around, he would often say strange things like, "I am not actually from this world, but a transmigrator from another world."

He was rescued from Liyue Harbor by local Fools when he was on the verge of starvation, yet he always claims to be from another world.

If nothing unexpected happens, then everything will probably continue like this.

One day, after hearing about the Fool, the man suddenly had the idea of ​​joining in, simply because he believed that this was the only way to repay the Queen for her kindness in recognizing his talent.