Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

Two months of waiting is neither a long nor a short time.

In the Winter Palace, Phanes examined the parchment map over and over again no less than thirty times. He remembered even the exact location and number of strokes in the faded text.

They even made a special trip to the archives of the Northern Bank to retrieve a topographical map of the northern snowfields in winter for comparison, and finally confirmed the destination location—deep in a glacial mountain range at the northernmost end of the snowfield, which is covered by ice fog all year round. The small circle drawn on the map was exactly in the pass where two ice ridges meet.

The warming season at the end of winter is a rare sight, lasting only about ten days a year.

The temperature rose from minus twenty degrees to around zero degrees, and the snow thickness visibly thinned. Icicles on the eaves began to drip water intermittently, and the servants at the Winter Palace collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

Fanes read the news of the warming weather three times before he was sure he wasn't mistaken. He grabbed the scroll of parchment, rushed to the square, and patted Little Black's paw: "Wake up! Let's go! It's warming up! Let's go find the treasure!"

Xiao Hei woke up from its curled-up sleeping state, blinked its amber vertical pupils blankly twice, and yawned.

After two months of rest and regular feeding, it has grown even larger. Now, when it stands up, its wingspan can cover most of the Winter Palace Square, and its scales gleam with a healthy, oily sheen in the warming sunlight.

After taking off, the man and the dragon flew north. The sky was much brighter in the warmer season than in the depths of winter, the clouds were much thinner, and sunlight filtered through the gaps in the clouds, casting patches of golden light on the snowfield.

As Fanes lay on the dragon's back, he directed Little Black to fly north along the route marked on the map, passing over two continuous ice hills and a frozen river. Sure enough, the outline of the ice ridge drawn on the map appeared ahead.

Two glacial mountain ranges stretched diagonally from the east and west like the arms of a giant, their confluence forming a natural pass. Fanes patted Little Black to let it land, then slid off the dragon's back and onto the ice-covered rocky ground at the bottom of the pass.

The ice beneath his feet was much thicker than the ice outside, and through the translucent surface, he could see the exposed dark rock beneath. He walked around the entrance to the valley and found an unnatural patch of ground at the base of the ice wall in the northeast direction—the ice there was slightly darker than the surrounding ice, and there was an almost straight seam at the edge, like a frozen door.

Fanes crouched down and tapped the ice surface with his hand, discovering that it was hollow underneath, and the echo was much more muffled than elsewhere. He took out the Eye of God—although it was no longer the seven-colored one from back then, Fanes later discovered that even without the Eye of God, his power could be directly transmitted through his palm, which was probably a byproduct of the "backup hidden energy" within his body.

He placed his palm on the ice, releasing a gentle heat. The ice slowly melted and seeped into the cracks, revealing a rough, dark stone slab underneath.

The stone slab is surrounded by a circle of dragon reliefs that have been worn away by time. Although the patterns are blurred, the general shape can still be made out. They are somewhat similar to modern dragon patterns, but the lines are rougher and more archaic, carrying a more primitive sense of power.

Fanes studied the pattern for a while, then gently pressed at the center where the patterns intersected. The stone slab emitted a deep rumble and slowly sank down, revealing a narrow staircase extending downwards.

The stairs were short, leading to a small stone chamber. Several dimly lit crystals were embedded in the rock crevices in the ceiling, their faint light illuminating most of the room.

As Fanes descended the last step, his gaze first fell upon the corner of the wall—where three chests stood neatly side by side. Two of them were made of dark gold material, with some scratches on the surface but were in excellent condition. The dragon pattern inlaid on the locks was exactly the same as the relief on the stone slab outside.

The central box was cast entirely in a bright gold, its surface so smooth it could almost reflect a mirror, and the patterns on its edges were far more intricate and exquisite than the other two.

(Two precious treasure chests and one magnificent treasure chest; I wrote so much just to reach the word count!)

Fanes first opened the box on the left—it was full of old Mora coins, each one neatly pressed and heavy. A quick glance told you that this amount was enough to take over an entire street of shops in the most bustling area of ​​Liyue Harbor.

Then, the box on the right was opened, inside which were several rolls of parchment and several well-sealed elemental crystal blocks. Blue, purple, and green crystals shimmered in the dim light of the crystals, each one being two grades higher in purity than the highest grade available on the market.

Fanes closed the lids of the two boxes again, took a deep breath, and turned to look at the middle box. He crouched down and carefully lifted the lid; what was inside made him pause for a moment.

The inside of the box was lined with a thick layer of cushioning velvet, on which several strangely shaped devices were fixed in three rows. Some were palm-sized metal square boxes with several rows of fine grooves and joints on the surface, and the workmanship was so exquisite that every corner was perfectly sealed. Others were ring-shaped objects like wristbands, with a circle of tiny elemental crystals inlaid in the inner ring, and the crystals were connected by metal wires as thin as hair. There was also something that Fanes recognized for its purpose at a glance. The shape of the object was very similar to a signal transceiver he had seen in Fontaine, but it was smaller, made of better materials, and its outer shell was covered with a more advanced runic pattern.

He rummaged through the box again and found a roll of instruction manual made of some kind of supple animal hide at the bottom. Although he couldn't read all the words, the illustrations were clear and easy to understand. He could tell at a glance that it explained how to disassemble, assemble, and maintain the equipment.

Fanes picked up the rolled-up animal-skin instruction manual and flipped through a couple of pages. These things were at least two generations more advanced than the solution he had envisioned for his previous communications project. The design of the signal transceiver was so ahead of its time that he wondered if it was some cutting-edge technology left behind by an ancient dragon civilization. He carefully closed the box, squatted down, and thought for a couple of seconds about how to get these things upstairs.

Little Black eventually proved its carrying capacity. Fanes secured the three boxes with the rigging that was always on the dragon's back, and then sat beside the boxes, directing Little Black to slowly ascend.

By the time they returned to the Winter Palace, it was already evening. Phanes didn't bother with dinner; he simply commanded the little black dog to land in the square outside Sandonne's workshop, and then he himself dragged the magnificent treasure chest through the workshop's door.

Sandonne was engrossed in drawing lines on a new design, while Xinoning was assembling a newly completed terminal prototype next to him.

Hearing the door being kicked open, the two looked up at the same time and saw Fanes standing in the doorway, panting, dragging a silver box. His hair was a mess from the wind, and the tip of his nose was red from the cold, but the smile on his face was so bright that it could melt the snow of winter.

"What's going on?" Xinoning put down the screwdriver in his hand, walked over and squatted in front of the box to examine the intricate dragon relief on the surface of the box.

Fanes lifted the lid of the box, revealing several strangely shaped devices and a rolled-up animal skin instruction manual inside.

"It was unearthed over in the snowfield. It's equipment left behind by the ancient dragon race. The craftsmanship and design are far superior to what we use now. See if you can disassemble it and study it. Maybe if you can fully understand the technology inside, our communication project can be progressed much faster."

Sandonne put down the blueprints and walked over. When her blue eyes fell on the devices, she seemed to be frozen by something invisible. Her gaze moved back and forth between the intricate grooves and interfaces. She remained silent for a while before speaking, her tone filled with a rare and heartfelt appreciation.

"...I've never seen this structure before. It looks like it's transmitting signals using some kind of elemental resonance principle." She reached out and gently touched the palm-sized square box, her fingertip lingering on it for a moment. "The coldness of this metal is unusual; it doesn't seem like something produced by modern smelting."

Hino Ning was already squatting down beside him, flipping through the animal-skin instruction manual. After turning a couple of pages, he whistled, "The way the runes are arranged here is even simpler than the most advanced conduction technology Nata is currently using. If we can extract this logic and apply it to our prototype, the signal coverage will increase by at least three times."

Fanes leaned against the edge of the workbench, reached out and patted the dust off the lid of the box, a smug smile on his face.

"Then you can start researching it. I don't understand the technical stuff, but I've dug it up for you. Use what you can, and disassemble what you can't to analyze the principles. Just write a report for your records after you're done."

Sandone had already taken the box device out of the case and placed it on the table to examine the interface at the bottom. Shinonin also joined in to study the direction of the rune line. The two of them quickly entered a technical discussion mode in which Fanes couldn't get a word in edgewise.

After watching the two of them whispering around the device for a while, Fanes turned and walked out of the studio, closing the door behind him.