Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1559 Gift
Yingtian Artillery Academy is the oldest military academy in the entire Ming Dynasty. Although it is called an artillery academy, it is actually a comprehensive military higher education institution directly under the Imperial Guard. Its recent news is that it has officially established the "Imperial Rocket Propulsion Laboratory", which marks the beginning of the Imperial Guard's comprehensive integration of the current cutting-edge scientific research achievements of various parties with the aim of weaponization.

Although explosions are inevitable in propulsion research, the school is located within the Tangshan military camp, one of the few areas in southern Zhili not covered by residential areas. It has a firing range large enough for artillery drills, so blowing up a few rockets isn't a problem. After all, no actual full-scale launches will be conducted here; as long as there's enough space for explosions, it's fine.

Shang Luo arrived at the school gate. Before leaving, he needed to explain Wen Yuan's situation—although many people were in danger, Wen Yuan was actually the most vulnerable because he was closest to a breakthrough and had "previously" experienced failure. This trip might take a little while, so he needed to plan things out for Wen Yuan before leaving.

"So your school gate faces outwards? I thought it was right in the middle of Tangshan Camp."

“How can we let a bunch of kids wander around inside the Tangshan camp? It’s true that the school is inside the Tangshan camp, but the campus is right next to it. The gate of the campus is next to the gate of the Tangshan camp. You can walk one stop over there and you’ll reach the gate of the Tangshan camp.”

Shangluo looked inside—

"I didn't know Yingtian had such a large open space. I thought it was all houses."

Tangshan Daying is located in the middle of a large urban area, and is a rare woodland in the completely urbanized Yingtianli.

Inside, there are pristine mountain forests. From the school gate onwards, the view extends entirely to green spaces, with only the rooftops of the campus buildings visible among layers of pines and cypresses. In the distance, there are also genuine, untouched hills.

"Actually, there are hot springs on our school grounds. If you have time to come next time, I'll take you for a soak."

"You have hot springs? Your facilities here are that good?"

"It's not that the facilities are good—it's that the school was built on a hot spring. Tangshan is full of hot springs, which is why it was designated as a place for a large army to be stationed. There are many hot springs in Tangshan."

Do you go to the bathhouse often?

"I did have that plan. But lately, I'm afraid that if I soak myself too much, it might suddenly activate and start upgrading, and then I'll be in big trouble."

This concern is even more justified, especially after you just boiled water and cooked a dragon in Shangluo.

"Well, Wen Yuan, I'm going out this time and won't be back for a while. It's dangerous for you, so I came to remind you before I left. You absolutely, positively, must not try to break through to the next level on your own."

"Even if you force me to break through, I won't do it. I'm terrified of dying, and now that I know I could really kill myself, I absolutely won't do it. I'm still young, and I don't want to die so early."

"Very good, very good, it's best that you think that way."

Although Shangluo knew that Wen Yuan was unlikely to do anything foolish in most situations, it was still necessary to confirm, at least as a reminder.

After all, if something really happens, it's easier to help if he's nearby. But if he's to the west, it'll be much more difficult.

"To be honest, I'm not saying anything unlucky, I'm just reminding you—just in case, if you suddenly enter an unpredictable breakthrough under unexpected circumstances, then go directly to the Cat Cart."

The cat carriage, also known as the red leopard and raccoon carriage, is now pulled by a specially hired "red leopard and raccoon".

The creature in this world that best fits the name "Red-striped Leopard" is the red panda. Red pandas have red stripes, and pandas are also called "fierce leopards." Pandas also resemble cats, so the name "Red-striped Leopard" is literal.

This cat-cart should theoretically possess powerful magic. However, it hasn't been used yet—because no one is actually dying right now.

"Oh right, and that one too. What if I don't have time when you're not around?"

"If there's no time, you have to crawl to get the cat cart."

"How do I call the cat cart?"

"Wait a minute, I need to make a phone call. Hey, how about this, I'll take you to meet Car Cat."

"Don't shorten 'cart-pulling cat' to 'cart cat,' who's going to understand that?"

"It's for emergencies, so the simpler the name, the better. Are you going to call it Red-striped Leopard Civet? Or Red-striped Leopard Civet? If you were dying, would you really be able to think of that?"

"..." Wen Yuan looked at the sky. "That makes a lot of sense. Let's call it Car Cat then."

"So, I'll take you to find Chemao. You two can get to know each other and exchange numbers. If anything happens, Chemao will take special care of you."

"So I should thank the cat, right?"

"That's only right. People travel thousands of miles from the free mountains and forests to work for the imperial court, all for the sake of accumulating good deeds. Pandas eat bamboo in the mountains, and they eat bamboo here too. Ultimately, bamboo is everywhere. For a bamboo-eating panda to be willing to come out and do good deeds, that takes a great deal of kindness."

This is why it was so difficult for Zhu Ling to persuade him before—because the panda had already given up all desires.

Pandas have no natural predators in the wild. Only extremely hungry predators like wolves would target such large animals. However, in actual observations, wolves mostly form packs out of necessity, and this is less common in mountainous areas. It's more likely that jackals or wild dogs will form packs. Given the panda's size, neither of these creatures would dare to attack it.

Pandas also have a very simple diet. Bamboo grows everywhere, and pandas only need to choose the bamboo that suits their taste. Bamboo plants usually grow in clusters and tend to exclude other plants. Once a panda finds a suitable bamboo grove, it doesn't even need to spend much effort selecting the bamboo; it can simply start eating in concentric circles around itself.

It's not even very interested in reproduction; it only has a need for it on a few fixed days each year.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, pandas have no desire for safety or survival. They are left with only spiritual pursuits.

"So, Wen Yuan, let me tell you, our panda only came here because of social interaction."

"Wait a minute." Wen Yuan was greatly shocked. "Are you talking about pandas, panda spirits, or panda mythical beasts? If it's a mythical beast, I'll just assume it's a human." "No, it's just an ordinary panda with a rather unique coat color."

Do ordinary bears also have social needs? Are these social needs so urgent that they would make it willing to travel such a far place?

"Otherwise, why would it be so hard to find?"

Not just pandas, but virtually all bears have strong social needs. As the most intelligent animals in the order Carnivora, bears exhibit remarkably complex intelligence in various situations. Some species of bears not only possess the ability to use simple tools—they will even move other objects to use as stepping stones.

Some bears can even reason about abstract concepts. For example, some Tibetan Mastiffs can figure out how to open door locks, and some brown bears will bite people first to make them scream before ambushing rescuers. Other bears, when attacking vehicles, can clearly distinguish between the whole and its parts, recognizing that the vehicle is driven by a person in the driver's cab, and thus attack the cab directly instead of engaging with a specific part of the vehicle.

For pandas, this ability is concentrated in social interaction. Because pandas are herbivores, the living spaces of different panda species can overlap to some extent. How exactly this overlap occurs to ensure the healthy development of the entire population sometimes depends on the specific social interactions.

Generally speaking, male pandas like to socialize with their relatives, centered around their mother's social circle, with their older brothers born the previous year or younger brothers born the following year. Female pandas, on the other hand, prefer to socialize in places where they don't have relatives.

"The bear we found is female. She has a very powerful older brother who has conquered all the surrounding mountains, leaving the bear we found with nowhere to socialize. Under such circumstances, the panda would have to start traveling far away to settle down somewhere else. It seems that because her brother is so powerful, it spurred her to want to go to a farther place—so Zhu Ling seized this opportunity and persuaded her to come to the capital."

"Unbelievable, it's just an ordinary bear."

"Ah, of course, pandas were involved in the translation. In general, while pandas are indeed very intelligent, they are not intelligent enough to have complex thinking. It's just that, from the perspective of wild animals, pandas particularly enjoy observing the behavior of other creatures, thus demonstrating a wisdom far beyond their cuddly appearance."

"Sometimes I wonder if the world is much more complicated than we imagine."

"Listen." Shang Luo patted his shoulder. "Buddha sees 84,000 insects in a bowl of water, understand?"

"..." Wen Yuan nodded. "You mean to say that it's best not to observe casually at times like this, right?"

"Yes, don't overthink it. For example, this bear is actually just an ordinary bear, but the bear we brought this time is a socialized panda that has already developed its intelligence. You might not say they are really very intelligent. But understanding things doesn't require that much wisdom. The most important thing is to develop a strong sense of self in the process."

"Like, the Heavenly Nobleman?"

"Yes, just like the Heavenly Nobleman. The Heavenly Nobleman's head is still just a bean, and no matter what, a bear's hardware configuration is better than a bean. As long as one's mind is awakened and given self-awareness, then any creature with a large brain has this potential to some extent—of course, you can't awaken them all, or it will be chaos."

"Is this what enlightenment is?"

"It's not wrong to call it a phone call. After all, this enlightenment comes from revelation among similar beings—we just need to let nature take its course."

"Shangluo," Wen Yuan said solemnly, "I really feel like I'm in some danger now."

"That's why I made sure to explain everything here to you before leaving. I also know that the secrets of this world are probably more complex than what we can see with our naked eyes, and there might be boxes inside boxes. My advice is to ignore it. At least for now, we just need to develop a methodology based on the current phenomena—for example, even if you don't know exactly what pi is, it doesn't stop you from using pi to calculate values, right? You can just approximate it to a few digits."

"So we don't need to worry about things like pi until we're completely ready, right?"

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Shangluo nodded. “Sometimes, I think we should all be wary of nature—if we succeed in the future, what’s wrong with rounding up pi after we ascend?”

"I understand." Wen Yuan nodded. "After you leave, I will try my best to stay indoors and go to school by myself every day, and I will not overthink things. Oh, by the way, I will talk to Panda myself later, since we both have time. Take care."

"Oh, take care, I'll be back soon."

"Tch, you actually took a casual 'take care' seriously. See you later then."

"See you."

On the way back, Apollonia muttered to herself, "Speaking of which, isn't Wen Yuan one of your few friends?"

"On the other hand, I'm his only friend. We're quite close. That's why I really don't want anything to happen to him."

"You seem to be implying something in your words?"

"You don't know if you've noticed, but this kid sometimes has really bad luck. A lot of things just inexplicably happen to him and then he gets into trouble. I had a bad feeling about this trip, like he was going to be the first one among us to have a really bad day."

So that's why you specially prepared a cat stroller for him before leaving the house, right?

"The cat cart is necessary. I don't want to come back to find him gone again. It's precisely at such a critical moment that we need to be prepared."

When he returned home, Shangluo also brought back the gifts he had intended to take to Rome.

"Let's divide things up. Some things should be passed on to your own fathers, and some things should be passed on to other people's fathers. You both understand, right?"

“Very good. Then, there’s only one thing left—Miss Yanqiu, could you please watch the house while I’m away? Here’s the house key.”

"Huh?" Yanqiu was still eating dinner and didn't expect to have work to do. "Okay, I'll keep an eye on the door for you until you get back. But, how do you plan to repay me?"

"Shall I rehearse another episode of Wang Lingguan with you?"

"Okay, it's a deal! You can go without worry, I'll take care of this family."

(End of this chapter)