Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Then how did Xu Fu capture their souls?"

"That's easy. For the art of magic, there are also numerous ways to call back souls. Xu Fu may have grabbed one of their souls and made them fight each other - that's probably it. But from the perspective of immortal magic, we have no idea how it works. We don't use this kind of magic now. I can't say it's very advanced, but it is indeed quite effective."

"But is there something wrong with such a wide range of collective magic?"

"No, Shangluo." Fu Yuanshan explained, "The characteristics of these techniques are that they are wide-ranging, effective, and far-reaching. In the fourth year of Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty, there was a collective nightmare called 'Xingxi Queen Mother Chips'. Its origin is still unknown. But historical records show that at that time, tens of thousands of people ran barefoot with their hair loose, holding 'Xiwangmu Chips' and shouting, rushing towards Chang'an City, and even rushing through checkpoints at night, causing shock to the government and the public. The people of Chang'an were in a state of panic all day long. They heard that a great disaster was about to befall, and they had to wear this Xiwangmu Chips to survive. Otherwise, the white hair of the Xiwangmu would appear under the door hinges."

The event of the Queen Mother of the West was recorded in the Book of Han, and was repeatedly cited in the classics of successive dynasties. Although the event itself stopped spontaneously in the autumn of that year, its impact has continued to the later generations. After that, every dynasty tried to reduce the occurrence of such mass panic, but the collective will of human beings is uncontrollable, and it happened many times afterwards.

"Is there still soul-calling?" Shangluo knew that there was a similar incident during the great panic in 1768 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong.

"Calling souls? That never happened." Fu Yuanshan shook his head and said, "We don't have such a thing here. But it seems that you can understand what the magic is."

"No, I don't understand. Why?"

"What I'm saying is that you understand 'you can't understand alchemy'. I can't understand it either - so now Xu Fu is demonstrating to us how to use real alchemy. Now, in contrast to the Western Queen Mother's Chip, he uses the Nightmare Spell to nail everyone to the spot, daring them to not move. They fear Xu Fu's alchemy even more than they fear death itself.

"Just the way he pinned everyone to their feet, even Shang Yang would have given a thumbs-up. The First Emperor should have invited him back to be the Imperial Preceptor. Two thousand years of life weren't wasted! His skill in tormenting people has simply reached an unprecedented peak. I'm now very curious about what it is that even he's preparing for war."

According to the intelligence sent by Titus, Xu Fu had a fleet of ships stored in Qianye - but he had no intention of sending the fleet to fight against the king's army. He just ordered a ship to die, let it be sunk by the king's army and never fought back.

Shangluo pondered for a moment: "He called us all the way here, didn't he just want to tell us this?"

"Can't he speak human language? If he really asked for help, we can discuss it." Fu Yuanshan still didn't understand. "Why did he go to so much trouble to send waves of people to die?"

"I think, is it possible that this is the case? This is already 'speaking' to him."

"What do you mean?" Fu Yuanshan asked.

"I think Xu Fu may have lost the ability to communicate normally. This kind of behavioral communication is already his way of conveying his meaning - that is, he seems to be calling people to die, but in fact he may be talking to us."

"Has he turned into an ant? Is he communicating with pheromones? Isn't it because he has already released enough pheromones and feels that we can't understand him, so he has to send people to die to prove his loyalty?"

Shangluo shook his head: "I can't understand what the ants are thinking. How could Xu Fu become like this? If immortality is going to become like this, then I think Xu Fu's path to immortality might be adulterated. But what kind of powerful enemy is it that makes him care? Are there any enemies in the Pacific Ocean to the east that are going to kill us?"

"Um"

"Wait a minute." Shangluo suddenly raised his head. "How is the situation in the Columbia Automata Country?"

"Our spies are still in action, and there is no news for the time being." Fu Yuanshan replied, "But New Antioch is on the east coast of the New World and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. Even if they come, they have to bypass the entire New World."

"Since we can't figure it out, let's just ask him. He's very loyal, right? He won't fight back, right? Now that we've found his treasure, the industrial base and farm he worked so hard to build, I'll see if he really won't fight back. I want to see if his loyalty is absolute."

"Ah, this." Fu Yuanshan asked him, "Did you want to burn Edo, but found that there was nothing to burn, so you had to find something to burn?"

"I am just following Xu Fu's wishes. Since he is willing to take it, I will of course hit him a few more times. Pass on my order - let them go to Qianye."

"He will die." Fu Yuanshan reminded, "That Jing Yi might die."

"That depends on his loyalty. I also want to see how Xu Fu would view his loyalty to the king's army. Anyway, let Titus report a location. It would be best if you can mark Xu Fu's 'Super Crossbow-class Battleships'. I want to send them to see the Dragon King."

Chapter 1161 Additional Information

"This is the situation." Titus conveyed Shang Luo's order, "Shang Tianjun asked us to go to the city called Qianye to mark the target warship and guide the royal army's firepower delivery."

"No, no, no! This is really not possible! I will die if I do this! Xu Fu's killer will kill me!"

"Don't you realize that you have violated Xu Fu's orders? Hasn't the assassin who supervised you been eliminated?"

"But I still don't dare to go. I've gotten used to it after so many years. Even if you told me that I could be free now, I would..."

"Shut up!" Titus reached into his cloak and pulled out a golden cup. "Do you know what this is?"

"."

"This is the river Lethe, the water of the river of forgetfulness. If you drink a small cup of this, I will cleanse your soul into a white soul, erasing all traces of your existence in the world. Your past, your present, and your future will all become blank. And your consciousness will fall into eternal nothingness, wandering alone in the abyss of chaos. If you disobey my command, this cup of water will appear in your stomach in one second. I will give you X seconds to consider. X, IX, VIII"

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Extreme fear filled his heart.

"Don't cry! Crying also counts as time! VII!"

"I'll lead the way! I'll lead the way! I'll lead the way!"

"Very good." Titus put away the golden cup.

——"So he really has that thing?" Shang Luo asked Apollonia across the channel, "Does he really have the water of the Forgotten River?"

[Yes and no. The Lethe is the fifth of the four Styx rivers - it both exists and does not exist. It does not exist because it does not exist in official history such as "The Odyssey". It exists because it does function as a river and appears in later poems. The water of the Lethe was also collected through the hero's pilgrimage.]

"Then drink it and it will."

[Yes, he is right. Those things will really happen after drinking it. But the "eternal wandering" at the end is his personal artistic processing. The water of the River of Oblivion can indeed cleanse the soul into a blank state, but no one knows how the person being executed will feel. After all, no one can feel "nothingness". ]

"Wait a minute." Shang Luo thought for a moment, "So the function of the water of the Forgotten River is to replace 'something' with 'nothing', and to use 'nothing' to wash out everything in the soul?"

[That's a good explanation. I didn't expect such a fitting statement. I'll give you a reward.]

"You also gave me a reward of 'Nothing', right? Forget it, all your things are mine, what's the point of asking for your reward?"

[Hey, I still have the oracle's belongings. ]

“That’s the rent.”

【Woo~~How could you do this.】

“You can check out at any time if you are not satisfied.”

[Tsk, you know I can't leave now. Only you can hear me. I can only communicate with others through you.]

"If that's the case, then the Lethe River."

"You want that stuff too?! You're a top-tier dangerous item! If you spill it anywhere, it'll cause irreversible consequences. So, forget it! This is totally unnecessary!"

"What are you thinking? Why would I put this thing in my arms? I have enough magic weapons. This thing is difficult to control and dangerous. I don't want it anyway. What I mean is, can you give some to the Jinyiwei? I think this thing is more suitable for the Jinyiwei."

[You are not giving yourself the hair, but giving the hair to your own sphere of influence. What is the difference?]

"The difference is that I can use it without having to take the risk of storing this dangerous item. When I need it, I can just ask someone to bring it to me."

[Well, it's not a particularly precious thing. You can always find it if you go to collect it. But this thing is really dangerous. It is a magic weapon that only fearless phlogiston submariners can keep properly.]

"Aren't they afraid of washing themselves with this?"

[Don't be afraid. Because they, including all the Romans' souls, have been extracted from the Great Styx. And for them, even if they are cleansed by mistake, they have a backup in Cyberlania - that's why I said you shouldn't take this thing away casually. If the Jinyiwei overturns it, it will be really dangerous. ]

"That's okay. When you need it, can't you just call a phlogiston submarine? You guys keep it normally and use it when you need it."

[You're going even further! Are you unwilling to keep it for safekeeping? ]

"Didn't you say not to let me get my hands on it? Then when I need it, I'll naturally call someone over - Victoria has no objection anyway, right?"

"Yes, I have no objection." Victoria replied, "If you want to use it, then use it. Although I don't know how the phlogiston submersibles work, you can use them at will. Anyway, you can use them. Anyway, these things can't be brought into Cyberlania, and they will have to be dealt with if they are kept. Now dealing with these dangerous goods has become an extremely costly expense, so use them all up as soon as you can."

[If Victoria has no objection, then neither do I. But what do you want to do with it?]

"The water of Wangchuan can wash the soul into a blank, which means it will interrupt the continuity, right? It will be the same as Mengpo soup, which will bring true death. Xu Fu has lived for so long that he cannot be killed by ordinary methods. If I want to execute Xu Fu, I have to prepare the potion in advance."

[So you are thinking about this]

"Because the characteristics Xu Fu has shown so far are too dangerous. He can actually run a country on his own. His mobilization capacity is incredibly strong. I'm waiting for information from the front. I want to see if the 'super crossbow-class battleship' he mentioned is what I think it is. If it is..."

【You just destroy it? 】

"If it is, then his importance has increased. This means that he can see things that belong to 'my side'. If that is true, then I hope he can reproduce more things more accurately, such as Cyclonus falling from the sky for me."

[What is that? A more powerful doomsday weapon?]

"No, it's a smaller doomsday weapon."

【What's the use of the small one? 】

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Shang Luo shook his head. "You don't know, the smaller ones are more useful. The 'Crazy Storm' I want is a spiritual weapon that can be used without magic - controlling spiritual weapons doesn't require magic. I wonder if you have a demon god in Chernobyl who assists in controlled nuclear fission? In fact, nuclear fission is controllable and does not require magic to control it. The same is true for Tiandi Datong. This thing is too powerful and cannot be controlled at all."

Chapter 1162 Chiba

"Ah!" Victoria almost jumped out. "So there really is a controlled fission facility? How big is it? How many tens of thousands of square meters?"

“A backpack is enough.”

"Oh my God! No wonder the emperor was always so mysterious when he talked about 'Zhongguo technology'. So there is such technology! Shangluo, what science fiction world are you from? Our reactor is bigger than the dome of Hagia Sophia! You can actually fit it in a backpack? Isn't that a perpetual motion machine?"

"Wait, you misunderstood. That backpack-sized thing is a bomb. If it is to be used as a power source, it must be at least as big as a container."

"Containers are ridiculous! No wonder you said miniaturization is more important. Yes, as long as it's the size of a backpack, it can be used anywhere. If the power of the sun could be stuffed into a backpack, I would throw 998 rounds right now!"

"How come your number has both zeros and integers?"

"I'll clear out the places where Aotearoa was planted. Apart from the one you detonated in New Antioch, there are still 998 to deal with. If there are any left after that, I'll send those technological barbarians to hell."

"Wait, wait, don't get so excited. I can't do it."

"Shangluo, how can you not do it? If this is your skill, then you should be able to master it as long as you learn it."

"No, no, no, Victoria, you've got one thing wrong. We use science, not alchemy. Science has divisions of labor, and the spread of science is uneven. It's impossible for everyone to learn the entire process of the Three Great Arts and alchemy like magicians do. Our division of labor is very detailed. Even the surgical departments of a hospital are divided into general surgery, neurosurgery, and burn surgery. In large hospitals and specialized hospitals, the divisions are even more detailed."

"So that's how it is. If this is a whole system, then it's really impossible to learn. After all, the Roman alchemists only used earth, fire, water, and wind to make medicines and adjust the balance of cold, heat, humidity, and dryness. So you hope Xu Fu can help you bring these techniques over?"

"If he can really reproduce those warships, it means that he really knows something that I don't know. Then we really need to capture him and let him use his brain for the royal teacher. If he can really do this, maybe I can show mercy and help him pull out the First Emperor."

Shangluo had high hopes for this - he didn't want to do this, because the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. But if it can really be moved here, it means that Xu Fu really has a channel to obtain additional information, not based on Shangluo's own understanding.

Those "super-Dreadnought-class" battleships are the key. The so-called super-Dreadnought-class battleships refer to "super-dreadnoughts" - Dreadnought-class is the Japanese name for the Dreadnought-class battleships, and Dreadnought is the first sound of the original word "Dr".

Super dreadnought refers to the true battleship that appeared after the dreadnought class.

Strictly speaking, the battleships of the Ming Dynasty Navy were also like these. However, all the battleships of the Ming Dynasty Navy had been "modernized", such as the installation of large-scale electric detection and fire control equipment, the use of coil programming fuses for artillery, and the take-off and landing at the stern of the ship were not seaplanes but helicopters, etc.

But no matter which one, Shangluo actually didn't know how to make it - as mentioned before, building a battleship is a systematic project. Just knowing some plans or knowing the appearance is impossible to build it. And if Xu Fu can complete it, then his good days will come.

——"Yes, Your Majesty, we will definitely reach Qianye."

Titus hung up the phone. Now it was not only Shangluo who gave him orders, but Victoria also gave him orders, and Victoria seemed to be more excited than Shangluo himself.

"Your blessing has come." He looked at Jing Yi beside him, "Now my lord has given me the same order, you have to go."

"If they want to see it so much, why don't they come and see it themselves?"

"Why do you care so much?"

Titus didn't want him to know that Shangluo was on guard against Xu Fu, so he had to find a meat shield to take the blame. As a phlogiston submariner, Titus could withdraw safely even if he was taken the blame. As for Jing Yi, the only person who cares about him now is Titus, because Titus really wants to eat healthy beef.

"Anyway, if you don't cause me any trouble, then I will do my best to ensure your personal safety. I swear to the Great Styx that I will do my best. I will definitely save you if I can."

"Do I have any choice?"

"It's good that you know. Lead the way. Where is Qianye? How do we get there?"

"You could take the tram before. You can still take the tram now."

"There's not even a ghost around here, where's the car?"

"The original Edo Railway was not abolished along with the city's fall. Some stations are still in operation because Xu Fu did not order them to stop operating. You can take those trains to Chiba, which is about a two-hour journey."

“No,” Titus rejected the idea. “I can’t take public transportation.”

"Can I ask why?"

"This is my taboo - never mind, you won't understand even if I tell you. Anyway, I can't take it. You have to choose a fast route that doesn't involve public transportation."

"But without public transportation, we can't enter Chiba at all. Chiba doesn't accept private visits."

"This is your problem, not mine."

"Wait a minute. Ah, I have an idea! Please follow me this way."

The two walked out of the quiet dock - on the empty streets, the white lines on the road had been weathered and worn. Without human maintenance, everything in this city collapsed in just a dozen years. Grass and trees extended to the sidewalks and grew out of the cracks in the bricks. Everywhere was full of vitality. Green replaced human beings and flourished in this uninhabited land.

Standing next to the dilapidated bus stop, the two waited there. In the distance, a tram came through the half-man-high grass. The driver of the tram was surprised that there were people here, and he came down to ask.

Titus looked at him.

"No, not this bus." He asked the driver to go first and continued to wait here.

8 minutes later, the next tram arrived on time.

"This is?"

"This is a private railway company owned by the Ii family. It doesn't count as public transportation, does it?"