Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

[It's too far away to see clearly. However, the entire cave is filled with bacteria. It's possible that the Tower of Babel, which is beyond our control, has been infected by bacteria.]

"But what does the presence of those fungi in the tower have to do with the forum posts? Are even the posts materialized?"

I'm afraid so. This is the essence of the Lighthouse Project—in Cyberlania, all technology exists in a 'tangible' form. The Great Library isn't just a storage space for books; its collection is automatically updated based on the expansion of Cyberlania itself. Here, I'm afraid forum posts also exist in physical form in the Tower of Babel.

"Good boy, is this true for everyone?"

So I've been thinking about it and haven't decided what to deploy yet. Having my post eaten is already a headache, and if something else gets eaten later, I don't know what weird things will grow.

"Is this how the New World handles problems? That's quite fascinating."

Shangluo didn't know whether this was a good thing or not. But from the moment Nemi Lake appeared above the Forest King's head, a health bar had formed, he had anticipated it. Covering the unknown with the known, conquering the wilderness with numbers—this was the ambition of the Lighthouse Project.

Humanity's understanding of the "information world" is still quite superficial, and perhaps intelligent robots will emerge in the future. But here, all the problems are already laid out on the canvas—even if there is a Skynet or the Matrix, they must materialize everything under the light of a beacon, rather than hiding in the corners of the information world.

In the long run, even if there's a final problem like a robot rebellion, there's a way to resolve it. But Roman matters are often double-edged swords, and this is no different. While the final problem is no longer a cause for concern, the fact that a small forum has resorted to such drastic measures to address it is comparable to the level of trouble caused by the Jungle King.

"This is just a forum. I can't even imagine what it'll be like if we open a game later. That would be hilarious. We'd have to have people on duty 24/ just to keep out the germs—why not? We could just build a wall! If we build a wall, we can keep the germs out. We, and the Romans, all love building walls."

【At this point, this is the only way, but it feels good.】

"What's good about it? Why does it feel like as soon as we get involved with Rome, strange barbarians will surround us from outside?"

"Then tell me if it's useful or not! It really is very useful. As long as you can overcome these obstacles, it's really useful."

"Okay, okay. How's your boat coming along?"

[Hehe, I'm sending troops. Those fungi can grow in this time, and my troops are almost there. Give me a day, and I'll take back our position.]

"Wait a minute. Gao Shiyu is urging me again. Oh, he called, I'll pick up."

Shangluo picked up the phone:

"Hey?"

A storm of howling came from the other end of the line: "Shangluo Shangluo Shangluo!!! Is it fixed! Is it fixed! Is it fixed!"

"Stop howling! We're fixing it! We're fixing it!"

"Oh, I'm going to die if you don't fix it! Why did you let me experience the beauty of the internet and then suddenly cut me off? It would be better if I didn't go online in the first place!"

"If you're so anxious, go online now and help us recover the lost territory."

"I was looking at cars this morning, but now the internet is down. I can't do anything. I'm completely useless!"

"Let your sister answer the phone."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds.

"Hello?" Gao Qingyu was the one on the other end of the line. Their voices were actually quite similar, and their howling tones were almost identical.

"How is your brother? Is he anxious right now?"

"Hurry up and fix the net. He's almost rolling on the ground now."

"Let him calm down first. Fix it today, today."

He hung up the phone, and before two seconds had passed, someone else called.

"Hello? Senior Fu?"

"Shangluo, why does the post I posted last night seem to have been swallowed by some jelly? Was it you who did this?"

"No, there was a malfunction. It will be fixed today."

"today?"

"Yes, today for sure. Today for sure. I'm going to hang up now. Class is about to start."

Before he finished speaking, a head popped in from the window next to him:

"Brother, brother, brother! Why is your line always busy?" Han Xingzhi's head suddenly poked in from the window.

"What are you doing here suddenly?!"

"The forum is broken! What should I do?"

Shangluo slapped his head back and said, "The bell will ring in three minutes. Go back to class! Also, no internet access in school!"

"Is this how you treat consumers? I recharged 30 wen. Woohoo!"

"Stop crying! People who are charging tens of thousands are also queuing up. If you're really in a hurry, we can go in and check it out this afternoon."

"Okay, I'll go back then~" Han Xingzhi shrank his head back. He was in the teaching building next door, and he could actually see both sides through the window.

"Huh, finally some peace and quiet," he breathed a sigh of relief. Ever since the end of get out of class, as if everyone had anticipated his departure, a torrential downpour of news had poured in.

Just as he was catching his breath, his phone vibrated—it only vibrated when someone very important called. He glanced at the caller: it was Zhu Xianxun.

"Yes, within today. Then I'm hanging up."

After spending 3 seconds explaining the situation, he hung up Zhu Xianxin's call and turned off the answering function of his phone.

[Wow, even he called to ask. I didn't expect so many people would be hooked after just one day.]

"Social media is like this. Once you check it, you feel sick if you don't check it for a day. But I can't get out of this situation. If I don't fix the network, I'm afraid they'll eat me alive."

Judging by the data, yesterday's pageviews were quite impressive. From the time it opened yesterday afternoon until the outage this morning, a total of 16 hours had passed. During those 16 hours, 73% of Qigong practitioners visited at least once, and 82% of those visited for at least three hours.

“Where can you see the data?”

I had Doudou manually record this. A few of them have been posting on the forum, helping me monitor the situation. I can't get to the control panel at the Tower of Babel right now, so this is all I can do—but even with the glitch, the traffic hasn't stopped growing. 92% of Qigong practitioners have already visited at least once.

Shangluo was stunned. "I might need to mobilize some people. This is getting bigger and bigger. This is my first major task as the Lord of the World. If I can't even handle this, I'll lose face. Apollonia, help me check the schedule. What time will Guoxing arrive today?"

Between 3:20 and 4:15 p.m., Guoxing will meet with you. It's mainly about sponsorship.

"We might have to deploy some high-end forces. How come this is even harder to deal with than the Forest King? See if we can clean up those fungi. If not, we'll have to mobilize the power of the gods to suppress it."

I'll take a break today. Good night everyone.

Chapter 378 Xiaoyao

"Guo Xing will be here in an hour. Everyone, get ready. Every button of your school uniform must be buttoned, and there must be no garbage in the trash can." Qi Yuan came in from outside carrying a bundle of brooms. "My goodness, why are there so many cans in this trash can!"

"Isn't that what our team drinks every day? We bought it with our budget."

"Then pour it out quickly!"

Shangluo was sitting next to him with a can of Coke in his hand - he didn't know where to throw the can.

"It's true that such things happen everywhere I go." This scene of dealing with leadership inspections made Shangluo feel that "something was right."

"Hurry, hurry, there's motor oil at the door! Who spilled it there? Are you setting a trap to catch people from Fujian? When did we start eating Fujianese here? Clean it up! Forget it, forget it, I'll do it. Give me the detergent. It's a pretty big spot."

"Let me have some too." He put the Coke on the table. If you finish it, you can't throw it away, but if you don't finish it, you can just leave it there.

He brought the cleaning agent and rag to the door, and he and Qi Yuan squatted beside the steps and started wiping.

"By the way, what level does the national surname count as?" Shangluo asked. Although no one really cares about whether someone is a royal relative or not these days, it's still better to receive the higher-ups.

"The Guo family was a new group of noble relatives granted titles during the Great Righteousness War hundreds of years ago. After the Battle of Tumu, they began to take on important responsibilities. However, unlike the noble relatives during the Hongwu and Yongle eras, their fiefdoms were overseas, and they had actually conquered their own territory, such as the Sun family, Marquis of Pingxi, and the Li family, Marquis of Jingnan. Speaking of rank, first of all, being a marquis is a superior rank. Administratively, they belong to the inner vassal state, and he is the lord of the inner vassal state."

"What level does the national surname count as in the new nobility?"

"He's considered the leader among the new nobles. Guo Xingcheng posthumously conferred the title of Prince of Yanping upon him, putting him on the same level as the founding kings Xu Da of Zhongshan and Li Wenzhong of Qiyang—though the Zheng family of Nanyang later inherited the title of Marquis of Yanping. There's also talk of conferring the title of Duke upon them."

“But it wasn’t closed in the end?”

"Yes, after all, it wasn't the founding of a nation nor the suppression of the rebellion, so a distinction should be made. However, at this level, there's actually no difference between a duke and a marquis. But he wasn't granted a title back then, and there haven't been any major events recently, so there's no opportunity to grant him a title of nobility. Most importantly, the Nanyang Zheng family used to be very active in gaining military merit. But this generation of the Marquis of Yanping doesn't seem to be too interested in the title."

"He wants to live forever, right?"

Qi Yuan nodded. "It seems this is no longer a secret. He is more interested in immortality than a title. Even though the soaring serpent rides on mist, it ultimately returns to dust. It would have been fine if he couldn't achieve it, but he experienced the moment of celestial enlightenment during his experiment. So, he must return to it. So, you are in that state now, right? Do you feel anything special?"

"I feel great," Shangluo answered honestly. "For example, I can now completely control my sleep schedule. I can fall asleep during the ten-minute break and wake up the second before the teacher enters the classroom."

"No wonder I always see you lying there after class. It turns out that a celestial being can control his body so precisely. How long do you sleep every day now?"

"Four and a half hours of sleep is enough for me, and I can use fragmented time to sleep, so the total time is enough for four hours. Because I can immediately enter a deep sleep state, there is no need to slowly adjust."

"You're charging!"

“It’s really similar to charging – that’s where I use it the most.”

"So if you only sleep four hours, what do you do at night?"

"Hmm" wasn't an easy answer. He'd actually gone to have breakfast with Zhu Xianxun that morning; the pork elbow there was indeed delicious. Afterward, if he felt like it, he'd just walk all the way here. If he felt too lazy, he'd just take a nap on the subway.

But he couldn't tell anyone about eating with Zhu Xianxi every morning. This was for Zhu Xianxi's safety; only the Imperial Guards knew his whereabouts, and no one else could know.

"I practice in the morning. In the morning, purple air comes from the east, and the sun rises before the moon sets. I want to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and absorb the brilliance of the sun and moon. So morning is the best time to practice."

[Your level of bullshit is getting better and better]

"I'm not kidding. I really think practicing in the morning is best, but I'm just too lazy. Practicing is too tiring. I'll start officially after I get the secret manual from Wudang Mountain. Master Sa Tianshi also said to wait until I'm done with the car race before we start. Can't you just let me take a break from my busy schedule?"

[But I clearly see you slacking off most of the time]

"It's also very important to maintain a carefree mentality. Don't you think that this is how I behave as an immortal? Since my life has been extended, of course I should enjoy life. Before I became an immortal, I was exhausted and wanted to live and die. After becoming an immortal, I still have to live and die. Then my immortality would not be in vain."

[Hey, hey, let me remind you, you haven't truly become an immortal yet. You've only just entered the heavenly realm. You're still a celestial being, not a true celestial immortal.]

"Why rush? Look at our Emperor. He hasn't even achieved celestial status yet, yet he's not in the least bit of a hurry. Because everyone knows this is a matter of time, and we are the last generation to reach the stage of freedom."

[Speaking of which, you guys are really carefree, as if you can solve any problem you encounter. Huh?]

"What's up?"

【There's a call coming in. It's Wen Yuan's number.】

"Captain, I need to answer a call." He quickly cleaned the step in front of him, then stood up and answered the phone.

10 seconds later, he came back.

"Guo Xing will be here soon!"

"Huh?" Qi Yuan continued wiping the steps. "Didn't you say you'd be there at 3:20?"

"Because my internet connection was down and I was in a hurry, I came here first."

"???" The two people looked back and saw the person standing at the intersection talking to them.

The man who looked to be in his early 20s and wearing a baseball cap was standing next to the vending machine.

He hadn't just arrived. In fact, he had been standing there in the shade of the tree the entire time. He had been standing there while the two men were scrubbing the stairs.

"Guo Xing? It's you?" Qi Yuan carefully confirmed his face. "Really? Have you been here all along?"

"I've been listening to you guys."

"So where did it probably start?"

"Start by setting a trap to eat Fujianese people."

Qi Yuan put the rag aside and said, "The weather is really nice today~~Guo Xing, you came so early?"

"I wanted to see what Shangluo was doing. So I made some time to come here. Shangluo, if you're free, can we chat now? Let's talk about sponsorship."

Chapter 379 Story

Under the shade of a tree next to the vending machine, Zheng Shijie was holding a bottle of coconut milk he had just bought and handed one to Shangluo.

Zheng Shijie was his given name. But it was rarely used anywhere else these days, except on his ID card. When signing his name, as the Marquis of Yanping, he would write "Guoxing Shijie," as if his surname was actually "Guoxing."

"Guo Xing is here today. I heard you're here to visit our fleet?"

"No, I came here specifically to see you. There were other people visiting the convoy, but I came here specifically for you. So, what did you notice when you first met me?"

"You seem younger than your real age?"

This was Shangluo's first impression of him. Although it wasn't easy to tell the difference in age between those under 28, he and Zhu Xianxun were the same age, yet he looked noticeably younger.

"I knew you were going to ask this. I think most people can guess the answer: the moment I became a Celestial Being, my physical state was pushed back to 16 years old. Now I'm just growing up again."

"What's the real answer?"

"The real answer is that I've been taking large doses of elixirs to make my physical state appear younger. My research into elixirs began a long time ago, and the moment I became a Celestial Being, my hair simply turned white. Based on this, do you find it strange that I'm wearing a hat? Do you think I should show off my white, Celestial Hair to be more in line with my character?"

Shangluo did sense something was amiss—though it was a secret, it was practically known to everyone. Everyone he knew thought Guoxing was someone who "yearned to ascend to heaven, attempted, and actually succeeded for a moment." They also felt that even now, Guoxing was nostalgic for that moment.