People in Mondstadt, starting to develop black technology

From around eight in the morning until now at four in the afternoon, except for the time when the VCR was playing at the beginning, he has never stopped talking, answering their questions and explaining the project.

He took the water handed to him by Sugar and drank it all in one gulp without even saying thank you.

"Shen Qin, the Knights' 40 billion... may be a bit difficult to come by." Qin said with embarrassment.

She had no idea about Shen Qin's arrangements for the Fenglong Ruins in advance, so the 40 billion was naturally not discussed with her. But she did not mean to blame him, because if the Academy City in the sample film could really be built, 40 billion for a half-percent share would indeed be a profit.

Shen Qin and Diluk, two old foxes, smiled at each other. Seeing that Shen Qin had said a lot today, Diluk spoke for him: "Qin, the Knights don't need to give up even one Mora. This half of the shares is given by Shen Qin to the Knights."

"Um?!"

"Including my 80 billion Mora, I actually only paid about 40 billion. This share price is used to set the floor price for others. The price they will get tomorrow will definitely be higher than this price."

"But we want to ask you for a policy, which is fifty years of tax exemption for Academy City. This will be beneficial to the construction and development of Academy City."

Qin thought about it seriously and said, "No problem!"

Mond's tax rate is actually relatively low. If Academy City starts to make a profit, it will need to pay 15% of the net profit in tax, which is actually much more than the half-percent dividend. However, Academy City is a fixed asset, and the half-percent shares owned by the Knights are very valuable.

Qin can still clearly distinguish the advantages and disadvantages.

Moreover, the tax-free policy can indeed boost the economic growth of Academy City and related industries. Academy City is built within Mondstadt, and it may radiate to Mondstadt City and boost the local economy.

Qin wanted to know more about Academy City, but Shen Qin was too weak to speak, so Sucrose and Albedo had to answer on her behalf.

While the Knights were having a great time, Tartaglia hurried out of the city with his notes. Due to the existence of the Sky Shield system and the Sentinel system, he had to leave the city to do some sensitive things.

He came to the Seven Heavens Statue in Fengqidi and used his evil eye to communicate with a dark force far away in winter.

After receiving a response from the other side, he used the power of the evil eye to wrap the notes he had compiled and the plan issued by Shen Qin. The huge flow of information was carried by a mysterious energy, entered the earth veins through the Seven Days Statue, and then sent to the distant winter.

After all the information was transmitted, he immediately cut off his connection with the Evil Eye. Beads of sweat the size of beans appeared on his forehead, and the pain made him breathe heavily.

He sat on the grass, leaning against a stone, nourishing his body with the power of the Eye of God.

"Heh... transport vehicle... Shen Qin had thought of it a long time ago. He even thought further than me... It turns out that a warrior shouldn't use his brain." He muttered to himself and thought of the shocking plan of Academy City that had shocked him for a hundred years.

"The technology is completely different from that of Kanreya, but they are almost on the same path. Will they be destroyed this time?" He stared in the direction of Mondstadt with worry in his eyes.

"No, no! Apart from the Great Sun Destroyer, Academy City's planned projects are basically unrelated to destructive weapons. Most of them involve people's livelihood and economy, so they shouldn't cause a devastating blow."

He also thought that at least three countries (Mondstadt, Liyue, and Solstice) would benefit from Academy City this time. If something really happened, these three countries would not stand idly by, right?

Just as he was daydreaming, a message came from the Eye of God. He quickly established a connection with the other side and received a clear reply.

——No matter how much Mora I have to pay, I must get half of the shares of Academy City.

Chapter 123: The Doctrine of the Mean

Early the next morning, all the participants of yesterday's meeting were present, and no one gave up their shares.

The Fatui, Liyue, and Feiyun Chamber of Commerce all received half of the shares for 75 billion Mora, and the Mondstadt branch of the Adventurers' Guild also surprised everyone by receiving 3% of the shares for 45 billion Mora.

Therefore, the competition for the remaining 10% of the shares became more intense. None of them had the ability to take up half of the shares, and the financial strength of each company was not much different.

"What are you guys from Liyue's Black Rock Factory doing here interfering in Mondstadt's affairs? Go away!"

"Hey - you old man, aren't you just running a hotel? You have no skills, and no strength. We at Black Rock Factory can buy your hotel by selling the scraps of ore!"

"Sir, since your Black Rock Factory has money, why don't you spend 75 billion to buy half of the shares? Why are you getting involved with us small-time shop owners?"

"Everyone, although we are not Bulu and we also run a store, we are actually quite rich."

"Um...you guys can fight for it slowly, just leave some for us deer hunters..."

The chaos lasted for more than three hours. When Diluk was rubbing his temples with a headache, they finally divided the remaining 10% of the shares. Anyway, everyone got a satisfactory share, and the total transaction price of that 10% reached 180 billion, which was slightly higher than before.

Diluk signed a contract with everyone, for a total of 375 billion Mora, which needed to be in place within one month. If it was not in place by the deadline, the Mora previously paid would not be refunded and he would be held accountable by the other shareholders.

No one, except the big powers, could afford to be at odds with so many forces - this was also an insurance measure taken by Diluk and his team to prevent budget errors from affecting the construction of Academy City.

Qin stared at the nearly 400 billion Mora in hand, and sighed: "This is more Mora than Mond has earned in several years, but you only spent two days, released a demo, and wrote a vague planning book, and you earned so much Mora out of thin air."

"Jin, this is an investment. It's different from the Mora earned from Mondstadt's normal production and operation," Diluk explained. "Every Mora used here must be accounted for. Although it's easy to earn Mora, it's hard to spend Mora, and it's even harder to spend them in the right place."

Shen Qin smiled and said, "I do know a lot of people who used plans to deceive investors, and then took Mora and ran away after getting the investment. Some of them went far away and lived a good life, while others met a very miserable end after being caught. But I didn't expect to get so much investment this time. After all, the technology in the plan and the demonstration sample may be beyond their understanding."

Diluk: "That's because you have a good reputation and are worthy of their trust and investment."

He was right. The reputation that Shen Qin had accumulated in Mondstadt became an important factor in the success of this investment promotion. Although the Fatui had suffered some losses at his hands, they would not deny his character.

Keqing rushed to Liyue immediately after signing the contract. 75 billion Mora is not a small amount, especially during the period before the start of the ceremony of inviting the immortals. Its misappropriation is bound to attract criticism from some people.

But she was fearless and determined to get the 75 billion Mora in place as soon as possible.

Judging from the limited space, she saw the rolling wave of changes in Teyvat's future from the planning of Academy City. If Liyue does not seize this opportunity, it is very likely to decline and exit the stage of history!

After this Chamber of Commerce officially ends, all major forces will definitely spread the news of the construction of Academy City in order to gain more attention and benefits, and the news will be quickly transmitted back to Liyue.

And those corrupt people who are against her will certainly not believe that the so-called Academy City can bring any changes. They will only use the waste of 75 billion Mora as a sword to tear a piece of flesh from her.

It didn't matter if she was dismissed, but the connection between Liyue and Academy City must not be severed, so she had to make arrangements before the news was passed back.

At eight o'clock in the evening, she finally arrived at Liyue Harbor. Ignoring the city's no-fly regulations, she went straight to the Jade Pavilion as quickly as possible.

"Keqing, what's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry?"

Ningguang put down the pen she was using to mark official documents and walked around the desk to stand in front of her.

"Take a look at this first." She handed her the Academy City plan and the equity purchase contract.

Ningguang glanced at the huge amount of 75 billion on the contract and frowned slightly, but did not say much. Instead, she opened the plan and started reading.

The plan designed by Shen Qin and his team is naturally not just boring text, but also contains many design drawings to make it easier for others to understand.

While Ningguang was reading the plan, Keqing was also explaining some details that Shen Qin had mentioned at the Chamber of Commerce meeting. Ningguang was doing two things at the same time and was able to acquire information from both sides.

After reading the plan, Ningguang made a decision in her mind. She was thinking and deducing while reading.

"You are too reckless." Ningguang's words made Keqing's face change.

Ningguang continued, “But it’s well done.”

There was a smile on Keqing's face.

"I believe that the other seven stars will agree with your approach, but there will always be some foolish people in Liyue... We can suppress their voices by uniting the seven stars, but this will destroy the balance."

Ningguang looked at Keqing and said helplessly, "For Liyue, you can rush forward with all your might, but balance is also the key to Liyue's strength. You are always lacking in this aspect."

Keqing actually doesn't have any good feelings towards her, mainly because their personalities are incompatible. She always attaches great importance to Mora and interests, but Keqing is a pragmatic idealist, so it is normal for the two to dislike each other.

However, no matter how much she disliked her, Keqing believed in her vision, so the first thing she did after returning to Liyue was to bring her into her camp.

At this moment, her words seemed to be a bit "preachy" to her, which made Keqing feel a little unhappy, but considering that she was in the same camp as her, she decided to endure it.

“I will ensure that Liyue fulfills this contract, but I’m afraid you will have to endure it for a while. After all, now is before the ceremony of inviting the immortals, and many things cannot be done.” Ningguang locked the plan and the contract in the drawer. “But after the ceremony is over, you will get the results you want.”

"Hehe - it depends on whether Academy City can produce any results during this period of time. If their actions are big enough, they may be able to achieve your expectations ahead of time."

Keqing looked at the drawer reluctantly, and finally asked for the plan back: "Ningguang... can you give me the plan back? The content in it is worth reading over and over again."

“Oh?” Ningguang raised her eyebrows and laughed when she saw Keqing’s embarrassed but somewhat stubborn look.

"Okay, I'll have Ganyu copy it tomorrow, and then return the original to you. I can also deduce... a new way of governing the country, and by the way, I can also win over this secretary to our side!"

Chapter 124: Win-win-win!

Keqing’s prediction was not wrong. After the Chamber of Commerce officially ended, major shareholders publicly announced their investments in Academy City. At the same time, they responded to Shen Qin’s opinion and called on outstanding talents from all walks of life to go to the Wind Dragon Ruins... Academy City was shining.

As the funds arrived, the construction plan of Academy City officially began to be implemented. As the chief construction engineer, Albedo led a group of think tanks to begin filling in the details of the plan.

Shen Qin found a large open space in the outer city of Academy City and built a temporary processing workshop. He brought a large number of alchemists with him to build an automated production line while teaching them knowledge of mechanical processing.

"Machining mainly includes the following processes: turning, milling, drilling, grinding, planing, boring, broaching, sawing, casting..."

It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. He could just take out the drawings of all the mechanical equipment and let these people make parts according to the drawings, just like the production line of the grenade launcher, with an inspection terminal at each workstation, so that those mechanical equipment can be assembled no matter what.

But the development of science and technology is not like this. He alone cannot support the construction of the entire Academy City. More scholars or technicians who have mastered new technologies must emerge to improve the overall technological level of the Academy City.

Why did he name this city Academy City? He hoped that all those who contributed to the city could learn new knowledge while building it. He also needed to learn more about Teyvat alchemy.

These alchemists who studied with him were all people who had previously worked in the Chenxi Winery factory. They had personally made Shen’s alchemy products such as flying skateboards and bionic prostheses.

Shen Qin spent five days with them, half teaching and half designing, and finally made the automated production line for the previous alchemy products. According to the test, the production efficiency of the automated production line can reach five times that of the manual production line in the same time! Moreover, only one person is needed to sit in front of the terminal screen to supervise the operation status of the production line, which is very different from the previous situation where more than ten people were needed for one production line.

So Shen Qin assigned a part of his people to work on the automated production line, in order to free up the alchemists on the factory assembly line as soon as possible and devote them to more efficient work.

Shen Qin then assigned a group of people who had participated in the design of automated production lines to teach the alchemists who had just come off the assembly line new technologies.

The rest of the people followed him to develop the transport vehicle. With his drawings and some machine tools that had been made before, the first Fruit Wine Lake small transport vehicle was quickly assembled. However, problems arose during the road test. Six of the ten wheel-side motors broke down. Fortunately, the other four motors worked well and the vehicle was towed back to the processing workshop before it was scrapped.

Alchemist apprentice Timaus quickly found the cause of the motor failure: "The problem is caused by the material of the motor shaft. It has very good heat resistance and wear resistance. It is fine at low temperatures, but once the temperature reaches over 80 degrees due to friction, it will collapse in a strong magnetic field. The stability of the material decreases, causing wear and cracking."

Timaeus is the assistant that Albedo assigned to Shen Qin. He used to work as an assistant in his alchemy workshop. He is conscientious and responsible in his work and has an imaginative mind.

Anyway, Shen Qin was quite satisfied with him. He had a strong learning ability and did a good job in all kinds of work.

"Okay, then you guys find the right alchemical materials as soon as possible and let me know when the Fruit Wine Lake passes the test."

Shen Qin assigned the work of the transport vehicle to him, and he went to take care of other things. This was because there were too many things to do in the early stages and all kinds of talents were not in place, so many things had to be done personally by several senior executives.

As for large-scale construction machinery, bucket transporters must be arranged, right? They are needed for the transportation of various materials and supplies.

Is the giant excavator in place? It is used to fill the ground and remove obstacles.

What about cranes? Pile drivers? Concrete mixers?

Only when all these machines are in place can the most basic infrastructure of Academy City officially begin.

Someone suggested that before these big guys were built, it would be better to use the traditional method of Teyvat to carry out the work, but this was rejected by Shen Qin, Albedo and others.

Academy City is based on a high-tech concept, but despite all the publicity given to it by the shareholders, it still follows the same old Teyvat approach when construction begins. This directly lowers other people's expectations of it, and the reputation of the shareholders may even be affected.

The gain outweighs the loss!

Time is very tight, but there is no need to rush.

I don't know how many people come to the Wind Dragon Ruins every day to gather information or watch the excitement, just waiting to see the Academy City start its earth-shaking construction work. If you see the workers using rickshaws to pull stones and sawing wood with their hands, you will definitely think - this is the end of Academy City? This is the end of high technology?

Therefore, the most important thing at the moment is training, training the talents sent from Liyue and Zhidong, and training the recruited workers.

The workers are naturally very happy about this. They don’t have to work, they can learn new things, and they can get paid. The training teachers said that once they have learned these things, they can get higher wages when they officially start working!

Many ordinary people actually have no idea about high technology. With the level of development of Teyvat's civilization, most people are still very simple. As long as they can earn more Mora, they don't care what kind of work they do.

So after the news spread, many ordinary people in Mondstadt flocked to Academy City, hoping that they could be selected to become workers and earn a better life for Mora.

Even some ordinary adventurers came to join in the fun. After all, the officials of Academy City said that the construction of the city has just started and there will be many projects in the future.

Becoming a worker is equivalent to finding a stable job. You won't have to worry for the next ten or twenty years. Moreover, if you do your job well, you can be promoted to a leader based on your merits. Less work, more work!

Isn't this better than adventurers taking commissions all day long, risking their lives and having unstable income?

After all, not every adventurer does this job because of his love for adventure, some people just want to make money.

Anyway, because of the job recruitment in Academy City, one-third of Mondstadt's young and middle-aged people went there to find work, and even about 20% of them were adventurers.

Seleus felt that this was not a good way to go as all the talents in the association were lost, so he used his power as a shareholder of the association to allow Academy City to issue construction-related commissions to the association in a stable and long-term manner. In this way, the adventurers' personnel relations remained in the association, the construction of Academy City was not delayed, the association also earned a sum of money from the project price difference, and the adventurers also earned a large sum of Mora.

Triple win!

The propaganda from major shareholders is like a bolt from the blue. Academy City’s preliminary preparations are to accumulate thick dark clouds, waiting for the clouds to accumulate to the limit and then bring down heavy rains to subvert Teyvat’s technology!

Chapter 125 Win-Win-Win!!

The drawings of the transport vehicles were designed by Shen Qin a long time ago, but there are three models in total: Fruit Wine Lake, Dawn, and Bright Crown. Therefore, when the final products of the three vehicles were completed, the products of several other large-scale construction machinery were also completed. After Shen Qin and the shareholders held a meeting and discussed, they decided to hold a press conference on the fourth day after the end of today to showcase these large-scale machinery and officially announce the start of the construction of the Academy City.

These three days are just enough time for the alchemists to build their automated production lines and for the workers to become proficient in the operation of these large machines.

Although Shen Qin has written intelligent systems for each machine, they will start working automatically as long as the work content is set on the terminal's visual program, but like an automated production line, they still require workers to supervise and perform manual operations when necessary.

Completely abandon artificiality?

Of course Shen Qin can do it. He was able to create AI to the same level as a mechanical pet before. Now it is not difficult to create a super AI to control these machines.

But have you heard of Red Queen from Resident Evil? Or Ultron from The Avengers? Or the Omnic Crisis from Overwatch?

Aren’t there enough super AIs that serve as villains in various science fiction works?