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

A year later, in the Winter Palace workshop, Fanes was leaning over Sandonne's workbench, his face almost touching the newly assembled prototype casing on the surface.

Holding my breath, I stared at the palm-sized metal box. Its edges were rounded and smooth, and a palm-sized crystal panel was embedded in its surface. Below the panel was a tiny button area.

Xinoning, screwing in the screwdriver, completed the final calibration step, straightened up, and rubbed his stiff shoulders: "Alright. All the technical aspects are done. If you make me adjust the driver module again, I'll throw this thing off the roof of the Winter Palace."

Sandoni strolled over from the side, holding a cup of tea that had gone mostly cold. His blue eyes swept back and forth over the prototype, his tone calm but with an undisguised sense of pride.

"Theoretical verification has been passed. The crystal panel can transmit and receive signals, transmitting text and images via electrical signals. Based on the rune array structure dismantled from ancient dragon equipment, the signal coverage has achieved full Teyvat coverage without any blind spots."

Sandonne set his teacup aside, pointed to the ground, and said, "We can receive signals in any corner of Winterfall, Mondstadt, Liyue, Sumeru, Fontaine, Nata, and Inazuma."

Fanes looked up abruptly: "The whole of Teyvat? It can connect from that far away? How did the signal get through?"

Sandonne slowly pointed towards the ceiling: "Satellite."

Fanes followed her finger and looked up at the ceiling. Through several rooftops and clouds, he couldn't see anything, of course. But he knew what was there: "...What satellite? When was it launched? Who launched it?"

Xinoning leaned back in his chair and stretched, his tone carrying a relaxed air of "you definitely won't believe it if I told you."

"The captain threw it up. It happened a couple of days ago. He said he finished up some business in Nata and was on his way back to Winterfell. Your communications project needed a relay platform, so he just grabbed a box of equipment and went to the ice field outside Winterfell. I pointed him in a direction, he took a few steps, jumped up, and swung his arm into the air. The box of equipment flew straight out of the atmosphere."

Fanes' mouth opened and closed repeatedly, finally managing to squeeze out only one comment he had repeated countless times on different occasions: "...He's practically a superman."

Sandoni snorted: "At least he doesn't have to 'casually' help us move heavy things anymore."

Sandonne reached out and pushed the prototype on the table, turning it toward Fanes. "Try it. The power button is on the left."

Fanes carefully picked up the prototype, flipped it over, and found a slightly raised circular button on the side. The moment he pressed it, the crystal panel lit up, and a circle of light blue light spread along the edge of the panel. Then, a line of clear characters appeared in the center of the panel.

He stared at the line of text for two seconds, and a smile involuntarily spread across his face: "...It really is lit up."

Xinoning leaned closer and pointed to an icon in the upper right corner of the panel: "This is the signal strength. As long as this icon is lit, it means there's a network connection. The upper left corner shows the battery level; just charge it before it runs out. Below the panel is the input area; you can bring up the keyboard by clicking it."

Fanes tried tapping the input area with his finger, and sure enough, a row of neatly arranged character cells appeared at the bottom of the panel, each cell engraved with Teyvat script. He then tapped the signal icon in the upper right corner, and the panel switched to a completely new interface with several icons listed on it.

"What are these?" Fanes asked, pointing to the icons.

Xinoning leaned over and glanced at it: "Videos and novels. You mentioned last time that you wanted some entertainment features, so I added a module. I picked out a few popular fanfics from Mondstadt and Liyue to include. As for videos, there are only a few pre-loaded clips right now, which are all test materials. You can save your own if you're interested."

Fanes clicked on the novel's icon, and a row of titles immediately popped up on the panel. He flipped through a couple of pages, his gaze settling on a familiar name—the book's cover featured a roughly drawn outline of a sword-wielding figure, and the title was "The Overbearing Water God Falls in Love with Me," with the author's name, "Fanes," crookedly written below.

Fanes stared at the three words in silence for about three seconds, the tips of his ears turning slightly red. He quickly scrolled away, pretending he hadn't seen anything: "This feature is quite comprehensive. I'll watch the video later."

Sandoni leaned against the shelf and finished the last sip of his iced tea, placing the empty cup on the table. "The basic framework of the equipment is complete. If mass production is needed, I'll organize the blueprints and hand them over to the Northern Bank's factory line. If your bookstore wants to install terminals, one mainframe per store will be enough to cover the communication needs of the entire street."

Fanes gently placed the prototype back on the table, then got up and paced back and forth in the workshop twice. He quickly reviewed the progress of the past year in his mind: the phone was finished, signal coverage was complete throughout Tewat, the satellite was launched by the captain by hand, and entertainment features were included. The next step was promotion.

The Yangshizi Novel Store in Liyue can be equipped with a host terminal as a pilot project, and the Mondstadt branch can be rolled out simultaneously. Then, two demo units can be placed in the store for customers to try out, which is equivalent to getting a free win.

Fanes turned around, placed his hands on the edge of the table, and looked at his two collaborators across from him, who had worked hard for a year to finally finish the project. His tone was solemn and sincere.

"Thank you for your hard work. This year has really caused you... a lot of trouble. I'll handle the subsequent promotion and mass production myself, but I'll still need you two for technical maintenance. If any usage problems arise later, I'll send the feedback back immediately."

Xinoning waved his hand: "As long as the money is there, anything can be discussed."

Sandonne turned around, pulled out a few spare design drawings from the shelf, rolled them into a tube, and handed them to him.

"I've drawn up a simplified design for the mass-production version of the terminal, which reduces the cost by about 40% compared to the prototype. Take it to the factory to assess the manufacturing cycle and see when the first batch of goods can be shipped. There are also matching host structure and circuit layout diagrams in the second row of files on the bookshelf. Don't forget to bring a prototype for the businessmen to demonstrate before handing it over."

Fanes took the roll of blueprints and held it in his arms, then glanced at the prototype still glowing blue on the table. The book titles on the panel were still quietly displayed, the signal indicator in the upper right corner was steadily lit, and the battery indicator in the upper left corner still had more than half a bar remaining.

I reached out and gently touched the small metal box, feeling a warm sensation in my palm, as if something inside the machine was actually buzzing around.

Fanes withdrew his hand, tucked the blueprints under his arm, and walked towards the door: "Then I'll go to the Northern Bank to find a factory to connect with. You two should rest well these few days and sleep until noon."

Sandoni had already sat back down at his workbench, pulled a new blank blueprint book from his drawer, and tossed out a sentence without turning his head: "Just don't install the matching main unit backwards when you start mass production."

Xinoning slumped back in his chair, looked up at the ceiling, and said, "Next time there's a job like 'dropping a satellite,' I suggest you let me know in advance so I can prepare a bigger box to hold the equipment."