Legendary Son-in-Law: The Man with Poison Talismans

Huo Tang glanced at him, showing no fear, but rather seemed to find his appearance somewhat amusing: "So what do you plan to do? Kill me? You try it. There are sentries every three steps and guards every five steps outside. If you make a move, I'll shout, and you won't be able to leave Shabak."

Lin Mu stared at her for a couple of moments, his mind racing.

This silly girl knows his identity and also knows about Gu Qingyi. She's a living source of information. Let's keep her calm for now, and if things get too bad, we can eliminate her in a flash.

He released his grip, took a half-step back, and softened his tone: "I won't kill you, nor will I stop you. But since you know who I am, you should know why I came to Mengzhong. Tell me, is she alright now?"

Huo Tang was stunned for a moment, as if he hadn't expected him to ask this. Even at this moment, he was still thinking about Sister Gu.

A picture suddenly flashed through her mind.

Two weeks ago, Sister Gu sat in the garden of Prince An's mansion, holding a leaf in her hand, and softly recited a poem.

She only remembered two lines: "What is love in this world that makes people willing to die for it?"

She didn't quite understand it at the time, but she thought the sentence sounded nice.

Standing in front of Lin Mu now, looking at the look in his eyes when he asked that question, she suddenly understood.

Regardless of whether this person is eating meat heartily at a banquet or looks ordinary, the way he asked that question couldn't lie.

She was silent for a moment, then a thought suddenly popped into her mind.

If Sister Gu really marries her brother, who is only interested in power and influence, she will probably never again be asked "Is she alright?"

The provocation on her face faded a bit. After a moment of silence, she spoke, her voice softer than before: "...She's locked up in the mansion and can't get out, but her life isn't too bad. But you can't get into Prince An's mansion. There are sentries every three steps and guards every five steps at the gate. Not even an insect can fly in, let alone a person."

She paused, then said, "But don't worry, I'll keep your information a secret. I haven't seen anyone tonight; you're still Lin Yichen from the Fengmo Lin family."

She said this without looking at him, as if she were talking to herself.

Lin Mu nodded, neither asking further nor stopping her.

Huo Tang glanced at him, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she swallowed it back, turned around, pushed open the door and walked out.

The footsteps faded into the night, and the door closed gently behind her.

Lin Mu watched Huo Tang disappear into the night, his footsteps fading into the distance until they were completely gone, before slowly closing the door. He stood there for a moment, then let out a long sigh, thinking that now he could only take it one step at a time.

He didn't lie down again, but went back to the table and sat down. He took out paper and pen from his storage bag and began to plan his next steps.

He had already tried the teleportation ring; teleportation and blinking could only be done with light objects nearby, anything too heavy wouldn't work.

If he is discovered or surrounded, he will have to find another way to escape.

Although the maggot-infested carriage was fast, the Prince's mansion was full of doors and obstacles, so riding a horse would be much smoother.

At the very least, it can be concluded that only the Prince's Palace's maggot-infested carriage can take advantage of its speed.

Furthermore, both the prince and the commander had luxurious eight-wheeled maggot-like carriages.

Furthermore, both Gu Changfeng and Shabak are now ambitious. Although I haven't discovered it yet, I can't guarantee that they've already started to disregard the court's regulations in private, and there will only be more wicked people around.

Even if they tried to escape on the ground, they might not be able to outrun those eight-wheeled, maggot-laden official vehicles.

If you can't outrun it on land, how about in the sky?

Lin Mu leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, his mind racing.

He recalled all the awakened beings he had ever met.

Whether you're a warrior, a mage, or a Taoist, at most you can jump a little higher than an ordinary person, three or five meters, that's the highest you can go.

No one can truly fly.

No one can float in mid-air.

This is not a world of cultivation; the people in this world still live close to the ground.

He suddenly sat up straight.

If he could fly, even if it was only ten feet off the ground, as long as he could maintain his direction and control his speed in the air, he could escape the spellcasting range of mages and Taoists, and stay away from those tall buildings and arrow towers. No matter how fast the evil maggots on the ground were, they couldn't catch up with him.

No matter how fast the monstrous carts on the ground go, or how high the walls of Prince An's mansion are, they can't stop someone from flying through the sky. This is a road no one has ever traveled before.

Just do it.

Lin Mu took out a piece of paper, folded it into a bamboo dragonfly, rubbed it in his hand, and it flew straight up, circling above the candlelight a few times before landing.

He folded another ordinary paper airplane, tossed it casually, and it glided more than ten feet away before landing lightly on the ground.

That wasn't enough, so he folded a new paper airplane.

The paper airplane's wing surface was slightly arched on the upper side and flat on the lower side, which was exactly the shape he remembered that conformed to fluid pressure.

With a push forward, the paper airplane glided more than two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) away, twice the distance it had traveled before, and still landed lightly on the ground.

It seems that the world still follows the laws of fluid pressure; such a structure can indeed provide lift.

Chapter 255 Aircraft Design

Now that we have the lift for fast flight, the next step is to study the power source.

He released a black maggot and tried it over and over several times.

No matter how you position it, the maggots can only stand upright and rotate. Unless they die, they cannot lie completely flat; at most, they can only tilt to one side at a 45-degree angle.

Then we can't just lay the maggots down to make them lift-driven; we have to use gears to change the angle of rotation, turning the upright rotation into a lying rotation.

Why must the rotation be made to be a horizontal rotation?

Because the Prince's Palace certainly doesn't have a runway, it's impossible to achieve a ground-based takeoff run.

To take off in a confined space, you have to rise straight up, just like a helicopter.

Furthermore, the weight and strength of this system must be carefully controlled.

Mages' weapons are too brittle, and many are not made of metal, while warriors' weapons are too heavy. Taoists' weapons are just right, light yet sturdy.

He happened to have a few ordinary dragon-patterned swords, which he kept as treasures, and he wouldn't feel bad melting them down.

He drew a few more strokes on the paper, the candlelight flickering and falling on the crooked lines.

The night outside the window was still deep, and there was still some time before dawn.

Without turning on a lamp, Lin Mu, in that dim light, painstakingly transferred the blurry outline in his mind onto the paper, stroke by stroke.

The next day at daybreak, Lin Mu took the blueprint he had spent the entire night drawing to the weapon shop.

Old Shi was hammering an iron billet in front of the furnace. When he saw him come in, he put down his hammer, took the blueprint and laid it on the anvil. He looked at it for a while before speaking: "This thing... I've never seen it before."

Lin Mu pointed to the conical outlines on the drawing: "These are gears, bevel gears. The angles need to be precise enough to change the direction of rotation. The precision must be high, and there can be no burrs on the tooth surface, otherwise it will jam when it rotates."

Old Shi observed it for a while longer, then traced the toothed lines with his finger and nodded. "It can be made, but this thing requires high strength. Ordinary iron won't do; it needs to be forged using materials of the caliber of the Staff of Judgment. It will take another three days."

Lin Mu said, "Three days it is."

Then he immediately took out a Judgment Staff from his Qiankun Bag, placed it on the anvil, and struck the iron surface with a solid sound.

Old Shi glanced down at the Judgment Sword, weighed it in his hand, said nothing, and simply turned and walked towards the fire.

Lin Mu didn't linger. He left the blueprints behind, turned around, and left the weapon shop.

He turned the corner and went to the clothing store.

Pushing open the shop door, the owner was cutting a piece of gray-blue fabric behind the counter. Hearing the door open, he looked up and glanced at him.

Lin Mu took out several animal hide belts he had previously acquired from his Qiankun bag and placed them on the counter: "Help me modify these into leather belts that can transmit power. They don't need to be too wide, but they need to be sturdy."

The shopkeeper picked up a piece, examined it, and then ran his fingers along the edge of the leather before nodding: "Okay, come pick it up tomorrow."

Lin Mu didn't ask any more questions, paid the money, and turned to leave the clothing store.

He walked through two streets and found Tieshan at a quiet alleyway on the west side of Shabak City. Tieshan was leaning against the wall, wiping his knife. He didn't get up when he saw him coming, but just raised his eyelids slightly.

Lin Mu said, "Don't let anyone disturb me these next few days. I need to make some things in my room. If the prince returns from his monster-hunting adventure, please let me know."

Tieshan didn't stop wiping his knife; he just snorted through his nose as a sign of agreement.

Lin Mu didn't say anything more, turned around and went back to his residence, closed the door and shut the windows tightly.

Then he took the materials out one by one from his Qiankun bag and laid them out on the table.

The fuselage and propellers don't need to be that precise, so we can do them secretly. Our own designs and plans must be kept secret and not revealed too much.

During the few days he stayed in Shabak, Huo Lie did not send anyone to keep an eye on him, and Tie Shan only came to ask every morning, "What does Young Master Lin need?", and did not inquire about him at other times.

Lin Mu never went out, day or night, locking himself in his room, with the materials and tools from his Qiankun bag scattered all over the floor.

He sat cross-legged in the middle, holding a Soul Fire Talisman in his palm. The talisman spontaneously combusted, and a cluster of crimson flames danced at his fingertips.

He took out the dragon-patterned swords one by one from his Qiankun bag, slowly melting and shaping them little by little with the fire of the Soul Fire Talisman.

First the fuselage frame, then the wings, and then the propellers.

The wings are designed to be foldable. When unfolded, the wing surface is wide and flat, and when folded, it fits snugly under the fuselage, taking up no space.

The propeller blades were tested several times to adjust the curvature, and the edges were thinned to the perfect thickness so that they wouldn't vibrate when spinning and the wind resistance would be minimized.

However, the number of dragon-patterned swords was ultimately limited, so only the most basic frame and seat could be retained in the body, while the rest was hollowed out.

The crisscrossing beams resemble a semi-transparent metal cage when viewed from the side, but the position of each load-bearing beam has been repeatedly calculated, saving every penny where possible and leaving nothing out where necessary.

The entire aircraft is made into an open metal frame, so light that it can be lifted with one hand.

Once you sit on it, there's no air beneath your feet, and the wind will come in from all directions without any obstruction. But it's light and stable enough that it rises up effortlessly.

He did the calculations as he worked: wing area, blade angle, rotational speed, lift coefficient.

He painstakingly unearthed these physics formulas, which he had almost forgotten in his previous life, from the depths of his memory, and wrote them down on scrap paper for repeated deduction.

If the calculation is wrong the first time, start over; if it barely works after two attempts, check it again.

He only put down the charcoal pencil and continued working after confirming that the theoretical lift was sufficient to support the full weight of the person and equipment.

They work during the day and at night.

When I get sleepy, I'll lean on the edge of the table and doze off for a while. When I wake up, I'll rub my eyes and continue.

The sky outside the window brightened and darkened again, and he barely closed his eyes, as if he were completely absorbed in something and couldn't pull himself out.

After three days and three nights, the fuselage frame, wings, and propellers were finally completed.

The entire aircraft is made of silver-gray metal, without any paint or extra decorations. It looks simple, but the frame is sturdy, the folding mechanism pushes and pulls smoothly, and when the propellers are spinning, the edges are almost not visible to vibrate.

He disassembled all the parts one by one, put them into his storage bag, and checked every lock and hinge to make sure there were no problems. Only then did he let out a long breath, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep with his eyes closed.