Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"It's me." Wen Yuan answered inexplicably.

This sound frightened Gao Shiyu so much that he took several steps back: "Wow! How come there is no trace of you!"

"???" Wen Yuan waved her hand, "You really can't see?"

"What I saw was different from what you saw. You were so close just now! Wow! So close!" He retreated to the wall and felt a little relieved.

"Is he that scary?"

"I can't even see him even when you're shining the light next to me. You're talking about this? Sorry, I'm a timid person. I've been afraid of the dark since I was a child. Um... Shangluo, help me." He held out an umbrella. "Please help me. I just stepped on the trace."

"Broken? What traces?"

"You should be able to see it too, on the ground."

Shangluo squinted his eyes and stared at it for a while - he couldn't actually see it, but he vaguely felt that something was glowing, a bright golden light.

"Wait. Did you spill the torch on the floor?"

"Yeah." Gao Shiyu nodded. "I use torches to find my way. I scatter a little bit as I walk, so that the path I've walked on is marked. But I think I stepped on a block just now. Ah, the direction is messed up. There's something in front and behind me. Which direction did I come from?"

"Over there." Shangluo pulled his umbrella and dragged him to the intersection.

"Ah, thank you. I feel much more at ease."

Holding an umbrella, he walked back slowly along the same path.

"This guy is quite interesting." Wen Yuan tilted her head, "He just treats me like a passerby, which makes me a little unhappy. Do I have such a low sense of existence? Tsk, then let's go, pack up your things. Did he promise to give you Torch?"

“He seems very enthusiastic.”

"Yeah, he seems nice. But I'm still upset. Why can't he see me? I'm so angry."

The subway was shaking and moving towards the big parade ground.

"Classmate Wen Yuan, right?" Gao Shiyu suddenly asked.

"Yes, is there something wrong?" There was Shangluo between him and Gao Shiyu.

"Can you please reach out your hand? I want to mark you. Otherwise, I can't see where you are and I feel uneasy."

"Oh, it's troublesome." He stretched out his hand and let Gao Shiyu light a drop of torch on his hand.

"Ah, much more comfortable. This is torch mixed with paint, not fuel, so it won't hurt your hands. You can just wash it when you get home. But... don't wash it for now, please."

"Okay, okay." After all, Gao Shiyu couldn't see, so Wen Yuan was still quite patient with him.

"We've arrived at the Grand Parade Grounds. Passengers transferring to the Ningwu Intercity Tram, please get off at this station."

"We're here, get out of the car. Do you want me to drag you away?"

"No need." Gao Shiyu stood up, holding the umbrella. "Just walk in front of me and I'll follow the light trail."

“Very convenient”

"Then this is convenient for you, do you want it?"

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Wen Yuan took back her words. But it had to be said that even with his blindness, the wonders of spiritual energy still made Gao Shiyu's life quite interesting, and it didn't even evoke a sense of sympathy. He was in excellent condition. Aside from the occasional need for help, he mostly didn't require extra care. It was hard to tell he was any different from an ordinary person.

Except for the eyepatch.

"By the way," he asked as he walked out, "why are you wearing an eyepatch? Are you playing the blind ape general?"

"On the contrary, Blind Ape General was created after interviewing me. I wrote a lot of the script myself."

"Oh my goodness! It's you?! Then why is there no plot about the Blind Ape General this year? Watch out for the stairs."

"Because there's a car race, big brother! We're very busy at the training center! Why don't you ask Shangluo?" Walking to the exit of the station, he poked the height of the steps with his umbrella, then stepped on them.

"This guy isn't busy at all. He was just free-range not long ago."

The space in front of me gradually became brighter and reached the ground.

"Do you want to cross the road?" Gao Shiyu asked.

Wen Yuan subconsciously wanted to show him the way, but halfway through she remembered that he couldn't see, so she walked ahead: "Turn around, it's right behind you."

"Yes, here we are."

Gao Shiyu was the first to look up, and everyone followed the direction he was looking and noticed that there were navigation lights flashing in the sky.

Lu Huaiyang felt very strange from the beginning, because when these three people came, they just walked over in a swagger. He didn't even notice that Gao Shiyu was invisible at all, and thought they were other people who came to visit.

However, he wouldn't really ask after all.

The navigation lights became brighter and brighter, and the plane got closer.

The "Pengzi 8" heavy transport aircraft approached the runway at Daxiaochang Airport. Eight piston engines, four in front and four in the rear, powered this massive aircraft. It was considerably smaller than the "Pengzi 4" flying boat, but about the same size as the semi-autonomous "Pengzi 4" glider Shangluo had seen in Yangzhou. This was a new model this year, and its eight engines allowed it to fly independently, without the need for a glider's assistance.

Two rows of landing gear were lowered one after another, and the transport planes were lined up on the runway, their engines rapidly reversing. Yujing didn't have much dust, so there wasn't much dust raised. If it were Yangzhou, this level of dust would have flooded the runway.

The transport plane slowly landed on the apron and opened the tail door. Someone had been waiting at the door.

His face is similar to Gao Shiyu's, but he is not wearing an eye patch, but a pair of headphones.

After the tail hatch was closed, she raised a baton in her right hand and said, "Go."

She descended from the rear hatch, and a black racing car, operating autonomously, followed behind her. Painted in matte black, it featured a rare asymmetrical design. On the left were tandem seats, while on the right was a gas turbine engine that stretched almost the entire length of the car.

Even at idle, the gas turbines were spinning at full speed, leaving a trail of white light in the car's wake, much like the wake of the White Star. It was a miniature White Star, even the color was the same black. And the trail of light behind it was undoubtedly the traces of Torch—meaning that, like the White Star, this car was powered entirely by the miracle of Torch.

The high-speed turbine created strong wind pressure, and there was a faint sound of a tiger's roar hidden within the steel shell.

"Ah, this." Wen Yuan was stunned. "This is also possible???"

"Want to test drive it?" Gao Shiyu held onto his umbrella. "This is—the latest achievement of Torch Technology, compressing the power of the sun down to the size of a Formula One car. This is the answer the Fengjing Yanshan team handed over this year: the Xuantan Tiger. Hmm, it's not much worse than your Tiandao Shadow Puppet, is it?"

Chapter 331 Xuantan Tiger

Xuantan Tiger. This is a name taken from Zhao Gongming, a joke played by the Yanshan team. Zhao Gongming's black tiger, Xuantan Zhao Yuanshuai, is about the same black as the car in front of him.

"Unconsciously, it seems like there are more and more Shang Dynasty characters like us. They control the destiny, have the Zhuxian ship, there are high-ranking officials with the surname Wen, and their family is a Lei Xiu, and now there is even Zhao Gongming's Black Tiger."

[Hey, you seem to have forgotten the most important thing—your last name is Shang.]

"." Shangluo was stunned for a moment, "I'm a little panicked"

[Seriously. If destiny truly arrived, and you were faced with a catastrophe like the Romans, what would you do?]

"Business is business. Of course I'll kill him. I'll kill him right away. I don't care about Bo Yikao. If I catch him, I'll kill everyone in the Ji family on the spot. I didn't eat Ji Zhou's rice."

[Oh, it suddenly occurred to me. You also worship the 'Emperor'! Isn't that the Daozu? The Daozu is the Emperor, and he often descends to the mortal world, just like the Shang Dynasty.]

He thought for a moment, "Now I think I should burn a tortoise shell for divination. Eh? I think I actually have one?"

[Yes, I can ask for you. They are very professional in burning tortoise shells.]

"Tsk, after all, it's the 'Emperor' that scares me the most. Having the protection of our ancestors is one of the most defining characteristics of the Shang Dynasty. And then there's my own karma. Any contact with Roman affairs will drag me into the shackles of the hunting god, the god of wine. And the surname is even more complicated. Why did Old Shang choose the last name Shang?"

Why don't you go ask him?

"I do plan to go. If the other cars were all of the Xuantan Tiger's quality, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to handle it. Besides, now I understand why Gao Shiyu is so generous."

The Xuantan Tiger was pressing down on the rear door of the transport plane and slowly descending to the ground. Behind it was a tanker truck, carrying a full load of Torch.

It was obvious they'd used Torch as the basis for the race car from the start. A gas turbine requires gas to work on the blades, which far exceeds current technology. While more reasonable than the White Star's outrageous "miracle engine," which was hailed as a futuristic weapon, it wasn't much more reasonable. That gas turbine engine certainly wouldn't have been able to function without the miracle of Torch.

In other words, they used a completely specialized Torch Engine, built from the ground up to maximize the power of the Torch. The Tiandao Shadow Puppet, on the other hand, used an ordinary aviation engine—though not ordinary at all, even the experimental 12-cylinder turbocharged engine looked ordinary compared to a gas turbine.

By comparison, the turbine on that engine is barely larger than a hair dryer; it simply uses exhaust gases for boost pressure, while the work is still done by the pistons in the cylinders. The Xuantan Tiger's engine, on the other hand, takes up almost half the entire vehicle. Clearly, such a large turbine isn't just for show. If it were used to power an airplane, perhaps with some modifications, it could even power a third- or even fourth-generation jet fighter.

Facing such a professional Jusu engine, even if Gao Shiyu gave Shangluo half of his tanker truck and had Shangluo use Jusu for the entire finals, he would just be on the same track as the Xuantan Tiger—and then be defeated by the Xuantan Tiger's rich experience. Whether to lend it or not was another matter.

"Gao Shiyu is indeed a good person, but, just as I thought before, he probably won't use his trump card that determines the outcome of the game to do favors. On the path of the Torch Engine, Xuantan Tiger is unbeatable."

So, are you going to look for Lao Shang?

"It depends on the situation. If it's just the Xuantan Tiger, I'm not completely helpless. But if the other cars in the finals are just as outrageous as the Xuantan Tiger, then I'll have to use all my strength - I have to call for help!"

"Hey, fellow Daoist, please stay!" Is that right? So business-like! Getting more and more business-like! The Yin Shang just love to attract people.

"Scared. Scared."

"Shangluo, do you want to try it?" Gao Shiyu asked him. Gao Shiyu was enthusiastic and was not afraid of revealing any technical flaws in front of Shangluo.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll see through you?"

"Tsk, even if I saw through you, it's too late—I mean, your Yujing competition is too troublesome. From what I observed this morning, the teams competing in your qualifiers are all top-tier teams, and the average level is quite high. It's just that there are so many strong teams, so you can only focus on the qualifiers and can't gather the full support of an entire province like we can. So, it's only fair that I let you see some intelligence."

"You mean, I can accept defeat with a clear conscience, right?"

"Hehe~" He smiled, "I guess so."

"Let's see it another day. I have something else to do this afternoon. Thanks for today's help."

He was quite busy this afternoon and had no time to prepare for tomorrow's "Wine Mengzi Competition." If Gao Shiyu hadn't planned to give him some torches, he would have had to spend quite a bit of time solving the problem.

"Okay. Wait a minute, sister, get them a jar and put 20 kilograms in it."

"Wow" Qi Yuan and others were dismantling the car when they saw Wen Yuan bang a silver-white barrel on the table.

"It's not too heavy, but it's tiring to carry it this far. How are things going over there?"

"Based on previous data, we're adjusting the oil output and stuff. Tsk, every team is busy right now, some are even buying 56° sauce-flavored oil. How's it going over there? This jar is..."

"Yes, I got 20 kilograms of torch."

"Yeah." Qi Yuan was finally relieved. "In this way, combined with our modifications, these 20 kilograms of torch element will be enough for training until the finals, not to mention the preliminaries." After all, the Tiandao Shadow Puppet does not need too much torch element to operate, and it may not be able to use this bucket even after finishing the finals.

"Oh, right." She looked back. "Where are the people from Shangluo?"

"Wait a minute, he's showing someone the way. Is the conference room empty? Come over here, there's a meeting this afternoon."

"What content?"

"It's not just the Fengjing team we're picking up. There's another group as well. They're coming."

Sitting in the innermost part of the conference room, Qi Yuan listened to the noises outside. Sure enough, a group of footsteps could be heard from outside. Shangluo entered first, followed by Lu Liang. This time, Lu Liang wore a Tai Chi badge on his left chest. Following him in were five or six other athletes in white uniforms, all also wearing Tai Chi badges on their left chests.

"Let me introduce you," Lu Liang said, standing at the other end of the table. "Although the car race has nothing to do with me, as a disciple of the Wudang Sect, I'm serving as their liaison this time. This badge is theirs. Let me introduce you to the Wudang team, representing Huguang Province. This is my senior sister, Zhang Baoling, the Wudang Sword Master. She's leading the Wudang team."

"It's friendly."

After the two sides exchanged greetings, Shangluo said:

"Let's make it short. This time, it was the Jinyiwei who helped us connect, and we've reached some cooperation with the Wudang team. I'll go check out the Wudang team's car, and they'll share intelligence on all the teams with us. In addition to Fengjing's [Xuantan Tiger] that we just went to see, there's also Guangdong and Guangxi's [Neptune 4], Lan Fang's [Lan Fang Pharmaceutical-sponsored Sanbao Bawang Banana], and cars from other seeded teams, including Wudang's own [Taishang Juechen]. You can also take a look at what other teams are saying about us. I took a quick look, and they ranked [Tiandao Yingkui] second in Class A, which is not bad."

Chapter 332 Intelligence

"First, let me tell you something." Zhang Baoling stood in front of a curtain. She did not have any characteristics that indicated she was a "sword cultivator." She was just wearing a white team uniform.

On the table in front of me was a projector. However, this projector didn't use the Tianyi Guiren, but instead used ordinary film. The film was in the form of a card, and each film was projected.

"I want to make two promises and clarifications to everyone on the Longjiang team: First, we promise that nothing we say will be false. Second, this information is absolutely everything we know. However, this information only applies to the period before the start of the game. If they make any changes after the start of the game, there will be nothing we can do about it."

"Yeah." Shangluo nodded, "Then tell me."

"Then let's begin." She changed to the first photo, and a Xuantan Tiger emitting white light appeared on the screen:

"Let's talk about the rankings. We've ranked five A-class cars for Shaoping's 4th year of competition. The first A-class car is Fengjing's [Xuantan Tiger]. Shangluo, have you seen this car?"

"Yeah." Shangluo nodded.

"Then you should have seen it—it has the full support of the Hokyo side, utilizing the White Star's cutting-edge technology, even at the forefront of cutting-edge technology. The White Star's engines are enormous, while the [Gentan Tiger] integrates complex systems into a single racing car. This is one of the technologies that the White Star aims to practically implement in the future, as it's impossible for all machines to be as large as the White Star. However, the [Gentan Tiger] also has its weaknesses."

She moved down one picture: Gao Shiyu and Gao Qingyu were projected. Both were wearing helmets, standing next to the car.

"You should have seen these two too. Gao Qingyu, who was born deaf, and Gao Shiyu, who was born blind."

"Gao Shiyu's sister can't hear?"

"Yes, she was born deaf and can't hear anything. But she seems to have regained some of her perception, just like Gao Shiyu, by using the Torch Device. Her perception has even been enhanced in some areas."

"I saw her wearing headphones before?"

"That's it. Including the third eye on Gao Shiyu's forehead, both benefited from the development of the Torch Element to make up for their innate lack of senses - but their innate deficiencies originally brought them quite powerful cultivation talents. Gao Qingyu is a thunder cultivator who directly learned from Master Lan, while the other received guidance from Master Kong Miao in the Quanzhen Sect. After the Torch Element supplemented their senses, these two people have become extraordinary. This car is tailor-made for them. Specifically."

She switched back to the previous one:

"As a Xuan cultivator, Gao Shiyu is responsible for monitoring the operation of the Jusu engine. And Gao Qingyu, as a Lei cultivator, is responsible for driving it."