Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"No," Phaethon shook his head. "The torpedo we designed is a torpedo. Once it's activated, it will follow commands until the spring runs out. The greater the output, the faster the spring spins, and the dumber it becomes. Only a small output can maintain the basic intelligence to execute commands. A torpedo starts at full output, so you can't tell it to fire or not."

"What is the principle of this?"

"You've seen it, haven't you? It uses phlogiston to accelerate. The Vulcan core's time is activated by a spring. The faster the spring runs, the faster time flows. Force is related to acceleration. However, as the speed increases, the puppet's ability to handle problems does not increase accordingly, so if it goes too fast, it won't be able to react. In addition, no matter how fast a mass-produced product goes, it can't drive a torpedo. Only a weapons-grade Vulcan core worth an entire cruiser can have this speed and power. It also has the potential to demonstrate intelligence. But..."

"But what?"

"But Peach isn't clockwork. You don't know what Peach is thinking, and you don't know when Peach will stop. So it's quite reasonable for the Palace of Muses to refuse to use Peach. Firing this thing is equivalent to handing the weapon to 'Peach'. Then who knows what Peach is thinking?"

"This is getting increasingly terrifying." Zhu Xianxin, who was sitting in the back, took a sip of tea. "Are you sure you want to introduce something so dangerous into a competition between students?"

"I think it's necessary," Shangluo replied. "They've brought out all the Torch Engines, so I have to use some off-site forces."

"Okay. Well, can't you interview in a pot?"

"I've tried it inside the pot. I just want to see if this thing works outside—I'll figure out how to deal with the explosion."

"Okay, let me think about it." Zhu Xianxun put down his teacup and began to ponder.

"You're experimenting with something that flies, so you can't test it outdoors. If some flying torpedo pops up during a major holiday, I'd probably see you on the front page of the news tomorrow morning. So we have to find an underground location. The Imperial Prison is big enough, but it won't work. A regular basement won't work either; it's not big enough. The subway? The subway is still running. That's the only place."

He picked up a red phone without a dial on the table: "Hello, it's me, Lao Wu. Okay, happy holidays, eat and drink well. Lao Wu, I have a question for you."

After talking for a minute, he put down the phone.

"You two, go to the vacant subway section below Yuxi Palace. And don't shoot towards the running tracks, shoot inside. I approve this. You can experiment from now until 6 PM."

"Wait a minute." Shangluo hesitated. "Is this really okay? There seems to be something important in there?"

"Don't worry, just have fun. There's no way a truly important place could be in trouble because of a little peach like you. Just have fun. And Miss Apollonia, have fun."

Directly below Yuxi Palace, the lights in the dark subway tunnel were turned on.

"Brother!" The person who greeted them and sat at the subway station entrance turned out to be Han Xingzhi.

"Why is it you?"

"My uncle went to the bathroom. Oh~~ I just called and heard you're going to add something really cool to your car!"

"Oh, yes. It's a good thing that you are here. We can discuss technical issues together." He looked around and did not see the figure of Han Wu who was watching the warehouse.

"By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Let me play with this." He pointed to the small train next to him. "This tram is so fun. It has the functions of a real subway tram, but it's only the size of a family car, so it can operate without any accidents. When my uncle agrees, I will come over to play with it."

"Isn't it his job to keep secrets?"

"Yes." Han Xingzhi nodded, "But my confidentiality level has reached its limit."

"Ah, I'm not surprised at all. You're a Xuan cultivator, so you'll definitely be exposed to some secrets. That's perfect, I'll show you the big treasure we're going to have!"

As he spoke, Shangluo opened his bundle and pulled out an 8-meter-long torpedo, which landed on the ground with a clang.

This was an unfinished torpedo from the Ω39 phlogiston submarine. It wasn't loaded with a live warhead, but rather a base for a Vulcan core.

"This??? Load it onto the car???"

Han Xingzhi was completely stunned. This thing was much more powerful than a car.

"No, no, it's a torpedo after all. We'll remove the useless parts later. Since you said it's okay, let's play with it first."

He opened the bundle and took out another peach.

Following Phaethon's instructions, he manually unlocked the base's hatch—it was empty. A round, billiard-ball-sized recess appeared before him, just enough to fit a billiard ball, a Vulcan core, or a peach.

He stuffed Tao'er in and closed the hatch.

He closed the hatch.

Several people looked at the torpedo.

"What then?" Shangluo asked Phaethon beside him.

"And... Hey, what then? I don't really know how to activate it from outside the submarine."

"So how do you usually start it?"

"I told you to use the key! This thing doesn't even have a keyhole, how am I supposed to know how to start it?"

"Wait a minute." Shangluo took a step to the side - then opened the bundle again, reached out and pulled out an 8-meter-long torpedo, and smashed it to the ground with a clang.

There was a hole in the warhead of the torpedo, and the hatch was unlocked and could be opened with a hand.

A wilted peach lay inside, its skin a withered yellow and wrinkled. This was the torpedo that had been shot down by Phaethon a few days ago; it had previously been activated normally.

"Ball number two, come out for a moment." He asked someone who knew the matter, "What's the difference between these two peaches?"

Ball number two was silent for a while.

Shangluo could notice a cool feeling extending from the ball to the two peaches.

“So that’s how it is”

"What did you see?"

"The dead one on the right is a true spore with the potential to hatch into a fungi-beast. The peach on the left is a spore that couldn't hatch. It seems their potential was activated by a command. Just take one true spore, and I can leave the rest."

Chapter 464 Ball No.

"So how does this thing work?"

After finally finding the person involved, Shangluo was ready to ask Ball No. 2 directly: "The Romans tried so hard to get the Vulcan core, how come you can grow it in the ground?"

"It's probably because the Romans are stupid." Ball Two lowered his voice. "When you asked her how to eat boiled eggs before, she didn't mention paying."

"What did he say?" asked Phaethon.

"Um, he's still talking. Wait a minute."

Shangluo lowered his voice and continued to ask Ball No. 2, "They're a bit stupid. I basically agree. Or rather, they're not stupid. They're just a bit stubborn sometimes, because sometimes they don't even know what they're doing."

[Hey, hey, hey, she can't hear me, but I can! ]

So, you accomplished the same thing in a simpler way?"

"I don't understand what their 'Vulcan Core' is, because it's not mentioned in the 'Remnant Scripture'. According to the 'Remnant Scripture', it should be closer to the famous Yujing delicacy - live pearls."

"Hairy eggs?"

"No, I need to correct you. According to the contents of the Fragmentary Sutra, the gods other than you once discussed the definitions of hairy eggs and live pearls. Hairy eggs are eggs that failed to hatch; live pearls are eggs that could have hatched but were taken out and eaten halfway. In my shallow opinion, this is more like a live pearl than a hairy egg. But it is one step further than a live pearl. It was picked out and eaten before the hatching process even began, and is essentially still an unintelligent spore."

"So as long as it has 'potential for hatching', it's all that matters? What's the principle here?"

He got the information from the underworld, but without the information from Rome, he still didn't know how this thing moved.

"Because of the Akashic Records." After asking Phaethon, she answered, "Time has no meaning for the Akashic Records. As long as it has the potential to hatch, it will produce the fruit of hatching. At the moment of its birth, the cause and effect of hatching was already determined, and it can be hatched. In the future, it can truly become a mushroom beast in its lifetime - so although it is currently a hairy peach, its soul is free and eternal. This is destined. Because time has no meaning, cause and effect have meaning. And then."

"Then?"

"Then we cut off its cause and effect. This is Roman technology. That's why the 'explosion' method of the engram torpedo is collapse, and it's extremely powerful. Theoretically, the greater the potential, the more powerful the collapse after cutting it off. Each of these peaches has Sigma-level psychic potential, which means that they all have the potential to become powerful Sigma-level psychic entities one day in the future - so."

Her brow furrowed. "Your problem is solved, but does this thing have such great potential? It's just a hairy peach, right? And every one of them has one. What on earth is this thing that has been blown up so easily by so many hairy peaches? Will there be any problems later?"

"Well, that's something to consider." Shangluo nodded. "However, there's no such thing as power without karma. Even cultivators will have to face heavenly tribulations in the future. Compared to this, I'm wondering if Doudou is the opposite. Has Doudou's potential been stimulated? Speaking of which."

He asked Han Xingzhi next to him: "Where do our Tianyi nobles come from?"

"I applied for the job." Han Xingzhi replied.

"What's the difference between this answer and the one my mother gave me? Of course our Tianyi Guiren came here by applying for a job."

"No, this is very important." Han Xingzhi replied, "All the Tianyi nobles chose to work at the court on their own initiative, and some did not. They probably live in their homes."

"So they still have their own territory?"

"One flower, one world; one tree, one bodhi tree. They even have a Doudou News Station. But I don't know where they live. I just know there's probably a big tree there, because they all grew out of it. They themselves don't know where their hometown is. After all, they didn't take the train to Yujing. They received the talisman and then invited it here directly. Well, compared to that, these peaches are indeed Doudou in reverse. The Romans actually have the means to eliminate cause and effect. How did they do it?"

"That's the warhead," Phaethon pointed at the torpedo. "It relies on a mechanical structure to operate. This is the technology of the Syracuse Institute. However, the entire internal structure of the warhead is a sealed black box. Only the slot for the Vulcan core is available."

"Never mind." Shangluo shook his head. "Burning oil is burning, and burning spirits is burning. Oil died in the past, and this thing will die in the future. It's all the same. It's just oil in reverse. Burning anything is burning. Let's mobilize the troops and march."

"Well, so this is the situation." After landing at the South Heaven Gate, Apollonia delivered a briefing on yesterday's observations. "Insula Village is gone."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because they took control of the city of Kaniki and began calling themselves the fifth tribe, the Vajra Tribe, alongside the Air Tribe, Water Tribe, Earth Tribe, and Fire Tribe. They revered the Thunder God and possessed a divine weapon. It was with that weapon that they conquered the city of Kaniki."

"Artifact? What artifact?"

"This." Apollonia turned the panel over and projected it in front of Shangluo:

Before him lay an axe—a massive axe. The axe was held in the hands of a shaman adorned with a cape. The shaman-like figure was the same "Uma" Shangluo and his companions had met earlier. He was much taller than before, but his frail frame, still wrapped in a large cape, made the axe appear even more exaggerated.

"How can there be a copper axe??? Where does the metal come from in that world?"

"Because," Apollonia shook her head, "because they gave me money to buy the peaches. But instead of using it as money, they melted it down and used it to forge this axe."

"I feel like I've heard this somewhere before," Han Xingzhi muttered. "I think we learned in history class that the specialty of Foshan, Guangdong, is iron pots. They're specially made for trade, called 'Guang pots.' Although they're pots, not many people actually use them as such when they're sold. Instead, they're disassembled and remade."

"Eh? Why an iron pot and not an iron ingot?" Phaethon asked. "In Rome, they usually trade in iron ingots."

Han Xingzhi replied, "This is similar to why modern metal materials are mostly transported in coils, not ingots. Iron pots were the steel coils of the time. They were easy to transport, and when stacked together, they would lock together and not shake on a bumpy ship. Once transported to a destination, they could be simply processed into materials like iron sheets and knives."

Chapter 465 Carnegie

Han Xingzhi continued, "Modern steel coils are also easy to transport and can be directly machined on-site, either by stamping or shearing. Similarly, iron smelters like Foshan used iron pots as their primary product, which they then exchanged for pepper, gold, and silver from Southeast Asia in the tribute trade."

"Also, most Mongolians buy iron pots to use as cooking pots," Shangluo added. "Because Mongolians need to boil milk to preserve it, iron pots are a necessity, and they bring back a ton of them every year. Are we launching some weird new product line?"

He noticed a copper coin hanging under the axe, a Yongle Tong Bao coin that hadn't yet been melted down into copper. The coin was neatly tied with a red string, like a lucky charm.

"Axe!" Phaethon stared at it. "The axe has special significance. If the healed femur symbolizes humanity's mutually supportive society, then the skull split open by the axe is a symbol of kingship. Such a large ceremonial axe would probably only strike a criminal during an execution. You use axes to split skulls, and we use axes to split skulls. Now it seems they've chosen a common path for humanity. Do you have a video of this?"

"Yes," Apollonia pulled up another video. "After it was identified, it was recorded in high definition. Doudou went down to the scene to film it. The footage has been stored in the Tower of Babel."

The panel displayed the first frame of the video. In the pitch-black night, a tall fire pit was lit. Everyone in Insula Village gathered around the fire pit, witnessing the moment the copper coins were melted.

"But this was just a symbolic melting, because this kind of open-air fire couldn't hold the copper coins together. They later completed the entire axe head elsewhere, but I didn't record that in detail; it was just simple metalworking."

"Wait." Shangluo suddenly remembered, "They have overcome the fire?"

"After calling themselves the Vajra Tribe, they had overcome their fear of fire. Even after forging the axe, fire became a symbol of power, because only fire could melt metal."

"Have they changed?" Shangluo muttered, "They were just ordinary water people at first, but now they are enlightened by fire!"

He suddenly realized: "Could they have become the Fire Tribe? Is this how the Fire Tribe was born?"

"At the moment, no," Apollonia replied. "They call themselves the Vajra Tribe, not the Fire Tribe. This is because their society isn't driven by anger, nor does it harbor deep hatred. But it's worth noting that the Terrans are dissatisfied with this. The land belongs to the Terrans, and this city belongs to them. Currently, the two sides are negotiating remotely, and if the talks break down, war could break out."

She paused. "We're ready to document the scene. This could be the first war, but it'll have to wait."

"Ah," Shangluo pressed his forehead, "This is really lively. Keep watching, after all, this is money."

He looked at Phaethon and said, "I understand. Not paying is one way of looking at it. Although paying eliminates the cause and effect, it seems to make things more complicated. I hope nothing goes wrong. If the Water Tribe members are wiped out in this wave, it will be difficult for us to find Yue soldiers to do the work. So, since they've moved, let's go to Carnegie and move quickly to avoid any more trouble."

Several people, dressed in floral robes, stood on the streets of Carniki. This was the city of Terran, the "lord" of this land. Unlike the wooden houses of earlier times, the houses here were constructed from precisely cut, geometrically shaped stones. The pillars were either sharply angled or rounded, with not a trace of decorative curves. There weren't many houses in the city, but there were far more people than houses. It seemed most people came simply to trade, not to stay full-time.

"Let me see the peaches, peaches, what should I do with the peaches?" He looked around -

"Hey, there are people selling peaches!" There was a row of peaches on a stall.

Shangluo walked up and asked, "Boss, how much are the peaches?"

"One piece of cloth equals 15 peaches."

"What about the hairy peaches?" he asked. "The kind that can hatch fungus beasts."

The boss blinked and said, "One penny, one."

"Here you go."

"Give you peach"

Even when they returned to Nantianmen, they were still a little confused.

"I say, is this going too smoothly?" Phaethon muttered. "Did you just buy the peaches?"

"It seems so. I didn't realize it was only a penny each. And ball number two has also been confirmed to be a real peach."

"But aren't you supposed to use the peaches yourself? According to the agreement between them and the mushroom beasts, peaches shouldn't be here. Isn't this illegal? You're breaking the law! Check it out and see what happens next!"