Chapter 47: Mobile Phone Radar
Chen Bai contacted his friend Zhou Zi’ang, who was both his gaming buddy and a master architect.
“The general situation is like this. I’m planning to build a Western legendary magic spire in reality, but the conditions are limited, and there are no specific scientific construction drawings…”
Zhou Zi’ang did not answer directly. Instead, he sent over a shocked emoji. “That guy Tang Shen suddenly opened a game company not long ago and hired a whole bunch of people, but up to now, they still haven’t started work. Don’t tell me he got interested on a whim again and is funding you to build a magic tower? That is my lifelong dream.”
Chen Bai smiled. Tang Shen was indeed a little willful, but this time it really was not Tang Shen suddenly having a strange idea.
Zhou Zi’ang continued, “Tang Shen has money and can be willful. You, the artist type, I hear you’re also pretty unrestrained. Tang Shen said you even ran off to some mountain corner to support education. At least you’re doing something you like. Only me—I work overtime until I’m going bald, still doing my nine-to-five to earn money for a wife…”
Chen Bai gave a bitter smile. Doing something he liked? How could this brother say that? Right now, he was a puppet being controlled in someone else’s hands. He could not even resist. He knew his own bitterness, but there was no way to say it, so he could only swallow his broken teeth along with the blood.
Though Zhou Zi’ang complained, in truth, this guy’s salary was very high. At such a young age, he was already one of the top architects in the country.
After chatting for a while, the topic finally returned to business. Zhou Zi’ang said, “I happen to have a complete construction drawing for a magic tower that I designed before. As an old player addicted to games, I used to always have some unrealistic fantasies. Tsk, now I understand. Forget labor and materials—even the land alone is something I can’t afford. Ah, dreams. They withered before they even bloomed.”
This chatterbox. Chen Bai quickly asked him for the construction drawings. After all, they were old drawings, so they definitely did not fully match the current requirements. They still had to be modified by Zhou Zi’ang based on the current conditions.
The two of them chatted like this for an entire night.
Zhou Zi’ang said, “No more, no more. Staying up late damages the kidneys. I’ll definitely fail to find a partner in the future. I have to go rest. We’ll slowly fill in the rest later.”
To be honest, he was able to last an entire night only because he had rekindled the passion of his old dream. This really had been his dream in the past. But staying up late did hurt the body, and Zhou Zi’ang still had to go to work, so his time had to be strictly controlled. Unlike Chen Bai, who was now relatively free with his schedule.
Chen Bai replied, “Then go rest. I’ll keep looking it over. Actually, it doesn’t matter if your kidneys are damaged. You don’t have a chance to use them anyway.”
“Get lost.”
After ending the chat, Chen Bai looked at the first draft. Actually, most of it had already been revised. Only the details still needed polishing.
Chen Bai looked at the construction drawings, whose steps had already been simplified as much as possible. Simplifying did not mean cutting corners. It only meant removing unnecessary parts. The structure was still extremely solid.
Right now, there were roughly two difficulties.
First, the main body of the magic tower required a large amount of stone, and people had to cut it out. Of course, that was not much of a problem. After all, he was building it for Lu State, so they would definitely provide the manpower. For example, if one stone required one person fifteen days to cut, then sending fifteen people would only take one day.
With many hands, strength was great. In terms of stone, the time spent was not as long as imagined. The hard part was how to cut the stone.
Building a magic tower was like stacking a tower of blocks. It had to ensure that the weight, contact surface area, and slanting angle of every stone slab were accurate to the smallest detail.
If a block tower collapsed, it could be rebuilt. But a real building could not. Therefore, every stone slab had to be specially measured and calculated.
Chen Bai thought about it. His students had already learned some simple mathematical foundations. Sketching also used certain units of measurement, and he had briefly taught them things like Arabic numerals and calculations at that time.
Now, if he gave them some extra lessons and taught them the Pythagorean theorem, arc calculation, and so on, it should come in handy. He could have them calculate each stone slab properly and draw lines with rulers. Then the workers could cut the stone according to the lines they drew. That way, they could ensure the required size, volume, angle, and other specifications of the stone. Afterward, they could number each stone slab, and during construction, they only needed to build upward according to the numbers on the stones.
Although it was a bit troublesome, it could guarantee construction safety and also train these students.
With Zhou Zi’ang, such an outstanding architect, providing the construction drawings, there was no way there would be a problem. As long as Chen Bai could guarantee that every piece of stone was absolutely correct, that would be enough.
The second difficulty was that if he wanted to build the tower high, the flat contact area of the stones certainly could not be small. Only then could stability be guaranteed. In other words, the weight of the stones would likely exceed what ordinary people could move, especially the higher the tower went. It would basically surpass the limit of human strength.
Chen Bai thought to himself that there was no way he could buy a crane. That thing was too expensive. Even if he could buy one, he would not dare to.
He could only use pulley blocks as a substitute. If he installed several groups of pulley blocks, the stones could definitely be lifted. But that thing was not something one could make just by talking about it. He would probably still need to use his phone to buy some key parts. Of course, compared with the unrealistic idea of buying a crane, this was much more executable.
For the next while, Chen Bai began solving these two problems.
In place of Mountain Lord, Chen Bai used his identity as the eldest senior brother to begin giving the students math lessons. He did not leave out the female students either. In his academy, there had never been any distinction between men and women.
Of course, the most important reason was that only these few students had come to Lu State. Calculating the data for every stone slab and drawing construction lines was no small number. Building one high tower required an astonishing amount of stone. How could he possibly let any usable manpower go?
“Brother Bai, you don’t teach as well as Master. Master always teaches us with the computer. There are little people inside the computer, drawing while teaching us. It teaches so carefully.”
“Right, right. Master’s classes are the most interesting. I’d be willing to attend class every day.”
Chen Bai: “…”
He thought to himself, I’ll deal with you when we get back.
But it was Mountain Lord who had asked Chen Bai to teach them, so they only said it casually. When it came to learning, they were still quite serious.
“Hehe, Prince Zheng isn’t here. From now on, we’ll know more than him.”
“Prince Zheng used to attend every class.”
“He will definitely ask Master to make up the lessons for him. Prince Zheng loves asking Master questions the most, even though he looks like he doesn’t like talking to anyone.”
Chen Bai froze. Qi Zheng had indeed disappeared for the past few days. He had not even attended the welcoming banquet. However, Qi Zheng had been sending messages to Mountain Lord on his phone at night, so he should be fine. He was probably busy with something. Just like Chen Bai himself, who was secretly busy completing the king’s secret order.
Chen Bai handed out tools such as straight rulers, set squares, and compasses to the students and began teaching seriously. Aside from the square base, the stone required a very slight arc the higher it went. This kind of arc might not even be discernible to the naked eye, so tools had to be used to draw it. The workers would then follow the lines one hundred percent. Only then could the required stones be obtained.
How to calculate the arc and draw the lines was the focus of what Chen Bai needed to teach now.
Although these students had some foundation from before, teaching them this was not something that could be done in a day or two.
Because of that, the people of Qufu were rather surprised. Wasn’t Great Qian’s Grand Scholar Zhaoxue supposed to have a wager with their Crown Prince Ban to help the royal family build an observatory? Why was there no movement at all?
By now, the matter of the artistic performance at the welcoming banquet had already spread through the streets and alleys. The Great Qian Girl Group Fashion Show and the stage play Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai had become the newest topics in Qufu. Those who had not seen them with their own eyes heard others describe them vividly. As one person spread it to ten and ten spread it to a hundred, the discussion in the streets grew extremely lively.
What “at the banquet that day, a Great Qian goddess descended, graceful, noble, aloof, and coldly beautiful.” What “a touching legendary story that made people cry just from watching it.” If one did not know these things, one would feel too embarrassed to even go out.
Of course, the wager between Chen Bai and Crown Prince Ban had also spread.
That was why these people found it strange. Great Qian’s Grand Scholar Zhaoxue seemed completely unhurried. They heard that the stake was a peerless work called the wall-divine painting. Even miracles that had once sounded mythical, like painting birds that sang and cicadas that chirped, could be seen in that painting.
This was something extraordinary, a priceless treasure. Grand Scholar Zhaoxue should have cared about it greatly.
As for their Crown Prince Ban, he had already begun building his observatory in an orderly manner.
Only several days later did Chen Bai begin taking action. And even then, he still did not begin building the tower. Instead, he went to borrow people from Zuo Qiu to build a “crane.”
Even Crown Prince Ban came to observe the “enemy situation” under the excuse of visiting. In the end, he did not understand anything and returned in confusion.
Chen Bai’s side was not completely idle either. For example, Gan Xin had been called away by Qi Zheng, taking the student watch and drone with him. Qi Zheng also took the projector.
This was the first time Chen Bai had seen Qi Zheng since arriving in Lu State.
Chen Bai did not ask, but he also knew what Qi Zheng was going to do. Qi Zheng was, after all, a general borrowed by Lu State. First, it was to maintain friendly relations. Second, he could not possibly be borrowed merely to be put there and admired.
Several more days passed. Zuo Qiu ran to the relay station every day. “Chen Zixiu, if you don’t start soon, you’re going to lose. Crown Prince Ban asked me to tell you that winning like this would make him feel his victory is undeserved.”
What was going on with Chen Zixiu? For the first few days, he did not go out at all. These past few days, he did go out, but he kept running outside the city and seemed to be playing everywhere. No matter how one looked at it, he did not seem to take the wager seriously. Winning like this really would not feel satisfying.
Chen Bai laughed. In fact, he had already begun. Hadn’t he gone out to find a location to build the magic tower? It looked like he was wandering around for fun, but he truly was doing proper work.
He had said he wanted to build a magic tower that reached into the clouds, so it truly had to rise into the clouds. When one lowered one’s head, one had to see clouds rolling and unfurling beneath.
For a tower that tall, forget this era, even in modern times, it would be difficult.
But it was not impossible. In fact, he could make use of the terrain.
For example, the “sea of clouds” scenery that modern people liked watching at sunrise and sunset. The height of a sea of clouds was not actually as high as the white clouds in the sky. Because of special geographical conditions, clouds would form between mountains. Standing at the peak and looking down, one could see a sea of clouds.
Of course, saying that these clouds were not high was only relative.
What Chen Bai needed to do was build the magic tower in a place with a “sea of clouds” view. At that time, standing at the top of the tower during a specific period would be the same as standing above the clouds.
An observatory, right? It should feel as if one could pluck the sun and moon from the sky with one’s hand, floating like an immortal above the clouds. Could the one Crown Prince Ban built compare with his?
Chen Bai looked at Zuo Qiu. “You came at the right time. I was just about to start building.”
These past two days, he had finalized the details of the construction drawings with Zhou Zi’ang. The students had also more or less finished learning the specialized knowledge for this. The “crane” now had one prototype, too. One was certainly not enough, but more could be made later. Now that the project location had also been chosen, it was time to begin.
To do a good job, one must first sharpen one’s tools. Chen Bai had already done that.
Then Chen Bai began asking Zuo Qiu to arrange stonemasons and craftsmen for construction.
In order to make Chen Bai lose wholeheartedly, Crown Prince Ban had asked Zuo Qiu to satisfy all reasonable requests Chen Bai made.
As a result, the moment Chen Bai made his requests, there were quite a lot of them. Just the manpower required made the corners of Zuo Qiu’s mouth twitch.
But after thinking about it, it was only manpower and experienced craftsmen for construction. It was not exactly a difficult matter.
Chen Bai led a group of students and began working.
After so long, the people of Qufu had almost thought that Chen Bai had already admitted defeat, and their attention had faded considerably.
When Chen Bai and the others went out, no one remembered this matter for a while. They only stared blankly at the Great Qian students, who marched out full of spirit, each holding straight rulers and set squares.
What were they doing?
The things in their hands looked so strange.
The first place they went was the quarry. Ancient buildings already used stone, so quarries did indeed exist.
The quarry Chen Bai and the others went to produced a kind of especially hard, especially large white stone. Its name was also pleasant: White Moon Stone.
Chen Bai said to the students, “Do you all remember the tasks I assigned to you?”
The students looked at their notebooks. “We remember.”
In their notebooks were frame diagrams of stone after stone. Each block, each line, each arc was marked with numbers.
They had not been idle these past few days either. They had calculated all the stones needed for construction. The data for each piece was in their notebooks.
What they needed to do now was produce the stones each of them had been assigned in their notebooks.
“Begin.”
The moment Chen Bai’s voice fell, the group of students howled and rushed into the quarry.
The quarry was filled with stone blanks of all sizes. The students picked up their rulers and started measuring.
“This stone is good. Its size matches Stone No. 33. If it’s trimmed a little, it should be usable. I’ll mark it. It’s mine now. Don’t fight me for it.”
“Ha, I found one too. It suits Stone No. 87.”
The people around them: “…”
What were they saying? Why did it sound a little incomprehensible?
And those female students were even moving through the stone field, forming a beautiful scene.
Wasn’t this inappropriate?
Someone really did go over and say a few words.
In the end, the female student raised her head. “Do you understand it? Then you do it?”
The person was instantly left speechless.
Chen Bai smiled. This was exactly the kind of attitude they needed. So what if they were girls? What he needed were capable people, not people judged by gender.
The group of students selected some stone materials, then placed their notebooks on the stones. After that, they picked up tools and began writing and drawing on the stones. From time to time, they would even write out a formula on the stone. Finally, after leaving behind several lines, they moved on to the next piece.
In fact, each stone was handled by two people, and another person would come to recheck it.
After all, this was something that could not have the slightest accident. Once the stone materials were cut, the students would still have to cross-check them again to see whether they matched their requirements exactly.
Every stone slab was marked with a number so that they would not be mixed up. After all, two neighboring stone slabs were actually very similar in both size and arc. They could easily be confused.
Quite a few people even ran over to look at the writing the students left on the stones. But the moment they looked, they were stunned.
What were all these strange symbols? They could not understand them at all, but they looked so mysterious.
After those symbols were added, even the stones seemed to become especially different.
The professional stonemasons Chen Bai had asked Zuo Qiu to find were also called over by the students.
“Cut according to the lines I drew. Not even the slightest bit can be off, understood?”
“If you make a mistake, people could die. When the time comes, let your Lu State yamen come find you. Don’t come find me.”
In fact, as long as they rechecked carefully, unqualified stones could simply be cut again, so nothing would really go wrong.
“…”
There were quite a lot of stonemasons. Just as Chen Bai had thought, this was something where the more manpower there was, the faster the progress would be. He did not need to consider cost, so of course he chose the most efficient method.
After that, it was mostly the students running back and forth to the quarry. After all, the stone materials they needed could not be produced in just one or two days. Just drawing construction lines on the stones was already no small project.
But all things were difficult at the beginning. Once everything was on track, it would become much easier.
That night, Chen Bai heard Chen Xiaobu run over and say to him, “Brother, today they finally cut out the first stone material I needed. I measured it several times. Not even the slightest bit was off.”
Chen Bai smiled. The progress at the start was indeed a little slow, but it would get faster and faster.
Chen Bai was not idle either. He ran to the construction site to check on the foundation digging. These were all old craftsmen, but there were still some parts of the construction drawings he gave them that he had to personally explain. For anything that could not be explained clearly, he wrote it down and went back to ask Zhou Zi’ang.
Zhou Zi’ang was shocked. “You guys really started?”
He was so excited he wished he could fly over and supervise the work himself. “What a pity. I still have to go to work. Life really is cruel. It ground even my dreams away.”
Chen Bai nearly laughed. “Since when did you become so sentimental? Aren’t we using your construction drawings? Isn’t that the same as you building it?”
Zhou Zi’ang replied, “True. Make sure you take more photos for me to see. Let me feast my eyes. I’ll also help you check things over so nothing goes wrong.”
Chen Bai replied, “Of course.”
If they encountered problems, they would still have to ask this great engineer to solve them. To be honest, Chen Bai was only an intermediary. The entire construction process actually had to be monitored by Zhou Zi’ang, the professional architect. Chen Bai merely passed messages back and forth between both sides.
This was the basic process of the entire construction.
During this period, Gan Xin came back a few times. Among everyone, Gan Xin was actually the most hardworking, because even after he returned, he did not rest.
“My math is so good. You all have to leave me a few stones.”
He was so anxious he almost jumped.
There was no choice but to assign him several stones that would only be used near the end.
The moment this little fellow came back, he happily ran straight to the quarry without stopping for even a moment, hugging the few stones he had drawn lines on and smiling like a fool.
The news that Chen Bai had begun helping the royal family build an observatory also attracted some attention at first, but it was quickly overshadowed by another piece of news.
Lu State… had produced a masked general. He led the army as if aided by gods, sweeping through the Ba army within Lu State’s borders.
No matter where the Ba army hid, he could drive them out and annihilate them at the smallest cost. Every time he launched an attack, the Ba army was either cooking or resting. In any case, the timing was always the most suitable moment to attack.
It was said that the Ba army was constantly on edge now. Even when setting up camp, cooking, or resting, they were like startled birds.
At first, the Ba army had split into several groups, hoping to disrupt the masked general’s attention. In the end, they were divided and destroyed one by one. Now they did not dare split up at all. The masked general then began using harassment tactics, leaving the Ba army without a moment to rest or replenish themselves.
There was no helping it. No matter where they hid, even what they were doing at every moment, this masked general seemed to know everything clearly.
It was truly terrifying.
The news spread very quickly, and the more it spread, the more miraculous it became.
When Chen Bai heard the news, he also smiled. It seemed Qi Zheng and Gan Xin were working very smoothly. Judging from the content of these reports, the Ba army probably would not last much longer before they had no choice but to withdraw from Lu State. A tired army like that, if they did not retreat, would definitely be wiped out sooner or later. As long as they were not fools, they should know what choice to make.
As for the Lu royal court, they were also shocked beyond measure. To be honest, when they borrowed a general from Great Qian, it had been more of a gesture of friendship. How could they possibly place their hopes on a general from another state?
But since Qi Zheng had been borrowed, they certainly had to put on a show and let him take a trip to the army.
Only… this trip turned out to be extraordinary. He actually beat the Ba army, which had been causing them unbearable grief and helplessness, until they were like stray dogs.
And the price they themselves paid was so small it could almost be ignored.
For a moment, the Lu royal family and the entire Lu court actually fell silent.
“Could that Prince Zheng be the god of war from the heavens? His ability to command troops is actually terrifying to this extent.”
The same army, with only a temporary commander changed, had suddenly transformed from a disadvantaged position into an unimaginable one-sided victory. How could people not sigh in amazement?
“It may not all be Prince Zheng’s credit. I heard that Great Qian’s Young Master Gan Thirteen has also been in the army recently. Gan Thirteen is young, and every time he goes out, he needs to ride in a carriage. Whenever that carriage returns to camp, it is time for Qi Zheng to lead the army to attack, and every attack succeeds.”
“According to the news sent back, Gan Thirteen sits in a carriage and does not seem to go very far. He does not even approach the front line. No one knows how he manages to gather intelligence. There are many rumors in the streets, and even in the army, but unfortunately, none of them are reliable.”
They knew rumors could not be trusted.
No matter how secretly Gan Xin acted, the people following him were all Lu soldiers. Even if he sent them away, he could not send them too far away, or he himself would be in danger. Therefore, some information about him was still passed back to the Lu court.
Qi Zheng and Gan Thirteen cooperated extremely smoothly. This made Lu State seem somewhat incompetent, but these were all minor matters. What mattered most was driving back the Ba army.
At least after the current news was sent back, the entire Lu court was overjoyed. The difficult situation that had tormented them for so long was about to be resolved.
But…
Chen Bai frowned slightly, because his phone suddenly received a very short and urgent voice message from Gan Xin.
“Help!”
Chen Bai: “…”
Chen Bai tried sending a voice message back, but there was no reply. Qi Zheng also asked about the situation in the group chat, and likewise received no response.
Something had happened! This thought immediately appeared in both Chen Bai’s and Qi Zheng’s minds.
Chen Bai asked, “Is Gan Xin not in the military camp?”
Qi Zheng’s voice message came back almost instantly. “He went out to scout the enemy a while ago. According to our agreement, there’s still some time before he returns.”
Gan Xin would not send such a short and urgent voice message for no reason and then stop responding. Something had very likely happened.
Qi Zheng said, “I’ll send people out to search right now.”
Chen Bai replied, “Wait. If Gan Xin really was taken away, the people who captured him will definitely avoid the original location. If you search according to the original position now, you may not be able to find him.”
“Then what should we do?”
Chen Bai said, “It’s not like there’s no way. The student watch Gan Xin is wearing has a built-in positioning system because it’s specifically for students. The positioning system is turned on by default…”
Chen Bai had never expected such a situation to happen, and his mind spun rapidly as he thought of a solution. Fortunately, he remembered the special function of the student watch.
Chen Bai continued, “I’ll teach you how to turn on positioning and identify the direction now.”
Although it was not like GPS, which could show every street and road, it could display a red dot like radar.
Qi Zheng did not quite understand, but he still followed Chen Bai’s instructions step by step on the phone.
Very quickly, a spiderweb-like image appeared on his phone screen. Three constantly flashing red dots appeared on the image, especially eye-catching.
Because Chen Bai had also joined in, there were three red dots. Each red dot also had the account name of the person attached.
Chen Bai said, “Do you see the three red dots on your phone? The largest red dot is your current location. The red dot to your right is Gan Xin’s location. Judging from the distance, it should be about an hour’s journey from you. If you chase after him, you should still make it in time. Now I’ll teach you how to determine the direction. The closer the two red dots are, the closer your distance…”
Qi Zheng froze slightly. If the distance between him and Gan Xin was about an hour’s journey, then the other red dot should also be… not far away. It was probably in Qufu.
Mountain Lord was also in Qufu?
But why had he never mentioned it?
And these past two days, it was not as if Qi Zheng had not sent voice messages to Mountain Lord. Hadn’t he just said yesterday that he was working on some vegetable greenhouse?
Qi Zheng’s brows furrowed.
Of course, now was not the time to think about this. Qi Zheng began using the method Chen Bai taught him to determine the direction. Then, with a small number of men, he mounted his horse and gave chase.
Gan Xin was truly pitiful right now. His hands and feet were tied, and even his eyes had been covered. Everything before him was pitch-black.
“I’m only a tiny little bit big. I’m the most useless one. Not only am I timid, I only know how to eat. I’m not even as good as the rabbits we raise on our mountain. Wuwuwu, let me go.”
As a result, his little mouth was also stuffed shut.
What did he mean by only a tiny bit big? The one who had caused Ba State’s losses to be so severe was precisely this little demon who pretended to be pitiful. If they had not received secret information, they would not have been able to catch this elusive leader of scouts.
If it were not for the fact that this leader of scouts certainly knew a great deal of inside information about Lu State and Great Qian, he would have killed him with one slash to vent his hatred long ago.
Right now, they could not delay. Carrying Gan Xin, they immediately left.
The people who captured Gan Xin were a small team. They should be Ba soldiers. A team made up of so few people would be difficult to detect, even with a drone.
Gan Xin thought to himself, he did not know how they had found his location. Every time he went out, he clearly followed Prince Zheng’s instructions and acted carefully. He had even deliberately taken several detours.
Ying, ying, ying. It could only be blamed on his bad luck. The world was so vast, yet he could still run into Ba soldiers. He had originally only been planning to pee. He had left his dog in the carriage, and just as he ran behind a tree with his little face flushed red, he was caught.
Now this group was far too cautious. Not only did they tie his hands and feet, they also covered his eyes and stuffed his mouth.
They did not even give him a chance to call for help.
“Why don’t we take the cloth out of his mouth? It wouldn’t be good if he suffocates. Our mission is to capture him alive.”
“No. This child is extremely strange. No one knows whether he has some unknown method to send a message to the Lu people.”
Gan Xin: “…”
Ying, ying, ying.
This time, he was doomed.
Gan Xin was jostled so badly that he almost threw up. These Ba soldiers were well trained and showed no intention of stopping.
They twisted east and west. He had no idea where he had been taken. His sense of direction had become completely confused. Besides, even if they had not covered his eyes, he still would not have been able to tell where they were. He was very unfamiliar with Lu State’s geography.
Of course, no one believed him.
After walking for who knew how long, Gan Xin felt as if he was about to stop breathing. Mainly because the man’s shoulder was digging into him so badly.
But suddenly, with a loud boom, the person carrying him seemed to fall. He crashed heavily to the ground, and Gan Xin was thrown down as well, rolling several times. Even his face was scratched.
Panicked voices rang out around him.
“A divine archer!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Every arrow that flew over brought someone down. Without exception, every single one of them was struck right between the brows, dying on the spot without even a chance to resist.
Gan Xin lay on the ground and listened for a while. There was a burst of chaos, and then everything went silent.
What was going on?
“Is… is anyone there?” Gan Xin swallowed and asked.
“Say something. I’m timid.”
There seemed to be footsteps approaching. A burst of strong light shone into his eyes, and the black cloth over them was torn away.
Gan Xin pitifully adapted to the sudden brightness. Once he saw who had come, he could hardly believe it. “Prince… Prince Zheng?”
Oh my god. They had turned east and west so many times that even he, the person involved, had no idea where he was. How had Prince Zheng found him?
Still, wuwu, he was so moved. This poor, disaster-ridden little thing had been saved. From now on, he would never stray too far from his Old English Sheepdog again.
Although this fellow was young, he was very superstitious. He had always felt that with his unlucky constitution, he needed his dog to ward off evil. Wasn’t that exactly what had happened? He had only left his dog for a moment to pee, and something had happened. Next time he went to pee, he would bring his dog with him. Not a single step apart.
Chen Bai watched the two red dots draw closer on his phone and asked in the group, “How is it?”
During this period, he had kept his eyes fixed on the radar without blinking. Gan Xin had come out with him, so he had to make sure Gan Xin returned safely.
After a while, Gan Xin’s voice appeared in the group chat. “Master, master, I’m so pitiful. I actually got captured by the Ba army. Luckily, Prince Zheng saved me. Master, when I was caught, I was really smart. I secretly pressed the student watch and shouted for help, and I even flew the drone to a place no one could see. But unfortunately, those people were too cautious the whole way. They didn’t give me any chance to send a message.”
Only then did Chen Bai let out a breath of relief. It was good that he was saved. This little fellow really was ill-fated. Wherever something happened, there he was.
Judging from Gan Xin’s tone, he should not have suffered any major harm.
Chen Bai chatted with him for a little longer, comforting the poor little fellow, before exiting the group chat.
Qi Zheng looked at the red dot that had disappeared from the phone screen, doubt appearing on his face. According to what Mountain Lord had said about what the red dots represented, Mountain Lord was clearly in Qufu. Why had he lied to him?
His expression became unreadable.
Chen Bai saw Gan Xin that very evening. Gan Xin had been somewhat frightened and was sent back by Qi Zheng.
Chen Xiaobu, the Shang brothers, and the others were surrounding Gan Xin, listening to him tell them about his thrilling experience.
Although Gan Xin’s voice was loud now, Chen Bai understood that he was using his voice to drive away the fear in his heart.
This was good too. Chen Bai thought that having familiar classmates talk with him would help him calm down.
Chen Bai looked at Qi Zheng and could not help asking, “How did Gan Xin get captured? Didn’t you send people to protect him?”
For some reason, Qi Zheng seemed a little distracted. Hearing this, he finally came back to himself. “The people protecting him were all killed.”
“And the Ba squad that kidnapped Gan Xin did not have many people. They should not have been capable of defeating the people I sent to protect him. There were not even signs of fighting on their bodies.”
Chen Bai opened his mouth. “…”
So the people who killed the soldiers protecting Gan Xin were not that Ba squad at all?
Then… who could it be?
Qi Zheng also frowned. It could not be such a coincidence that a Ba squad just happened to run into Gan Xin. Gan Xin’s movements had always been well protected by him.
Chen Bai sighed. It seemed that Lu State’s situation was complicated too. So many suspicious points all pointed toward one thing: someone was leaking their movements. And there probably were not many people who knew Gan Xin’s movements and role.
Both of them were thinking about things. At that moment, Qi Zheng suddenly said, “Is your master well lately?”
Chen Bai froze for a moment. Didn’t Qi Zheng send voice messages to Mountain Lord every day? Why was he asking him?
After asking, Qi Zheng shook his head again. “I have to return to the army to clean up the aftermath. I’ll leave Gan Xin to you.”
With that, he walked out.
Chen Bai: “…”
Why did Qi Zheng seem so strange today?
Maybe he had spent too long in the army.
Only they were left in the room. Chen Xiaobu was patting Gan Xin’s shoulder with his hand, looking like a little adult. “It’s fine, it’s fine. We’re here. From now on, any bad luck has to stand aside.”
“Gan Xin, you were so brave. If it were me, I would have peed myself from fear.”
Gan Xin’s face turned a little red from their words. He also found it strange. He was clearly very timid, so why had he not cried from fear back then?
Only then did Chen Bai notice some bloody scratches on Gan Xin’s face. They must have been caused by friction. They seemed to have been washed, and now red blood marks had emerged.
He quickly and secretly bought some medicine and applied it to him.
Gan Xin probably could not sleep alone tonight, so Chen Bai called a few students over to squeeze in with him. In any case, they usually talked so much they could not fall asleep.
When Qi Zheng said he was returning to the army to clean up the aftermath, he really did mean cleaning up the aftermath. The Ba army had begun withdrawing from Lu State one after another.
Perhaps they had seen that nothing could be done and could no longer bear the cost. Kidnapping Gan Xin was probably their final hope. They thought that separating Gan Xin and Qi Zheng and breaking their cooperation might give them a chance. Who knew who had told them this information? Now that their last hope was gone too, they had no choice but to withdraw.
Gan Xin no longer needed to scout for information. That worked out perfectly. He could stay behind and help build the magic tower. This little fellow had always been extremely regretful about not being able to participate in the magic tower construction. Now, he did not have to regret it anymore.
The whole of Qufu also became a sea of celebration. The Ba army had finally withdrawn from their country. Every household even changed into new clothes, singing and dancing in great excitement.
This joy almost made them forget about the bet between Chen Bai and Crown Prince Ban.
Until one day, when they suddenly lifted their heads and saw a white stone building outside the city that had risen higher than the city wall. It even began to rise higher than the palace. And then it kept getting taller.
After asking around, they learned, “That is the observatory built by Great Qian’s Grand Scholar Zhaoxue.”
“The observatory from the bet with Crown Prince Ban?”
Only then did they react.
The matter they had been overlooking finally returned to their attention.
After that, the first thing they did every day upon opening their doors was lift their heads and look at the white stone building.
“It’s… it’s taller again.”
It grew taller by one section each day.
No one knew when it started, but their hearts seemed to hang in their throats.
“It’s… it’s too tall, isn’t it? Could it collapse?”
Just looking at it made them tremble with fear. What they worried about most every day was whether the tower would fall.
Even if they did not understand, they still knew that if something was too tall, it could collapse.
So when they looked up at the building outside the city, they actually felt a kind of breathless pressure, their hearts suspended in midair.
Some bold people even grabbed the Great Qian students walking down the street with little notebooks and strange tools in their hands. “Stop building it. It’s already high enough. Just looking at it is terrifying.”
The students grinned so widely their faces nearly split. “No, no, no. It can still go higher. We still have to keep building. Gravity goes downward. As long as the calculations are right, there won’t be any problem.”
Although the people did not quite understand, they were still: “…”
Oh my god. Their hearts were being clenched tight. Were they trying to connect it all the way to the heavens?
The students covered their mouths and laughed like crazy, their eyes turning toward the building, shining as if they could emit light. This miraculous building had been built by them.
The people of Lu State looked at these happy students, and their gazes gradually changed.
When they looked at the female students, who would still dare look down on them? Those who had once gossiped and found fault with them had gone silent, because these female students had accomplished something they could not even imagine.
When someone stands at the same height, they may be slandered and smeared. But when they stand at a height others cannot reach, they can only be looked up to.
This building was truly astonishing. Even Crown Prince Ban had sent people to ask about it several times.
Chen Bai looked at it. In fact, it was almost done. Everything had simply proceeded according to the original construction design, without changing even the smallest detail.
From time to time, Chen Bai would secretly go and take photos to show Zhou Zi’ang.
In the photos, a white spire stood tall upon the earth. As for its shape, it was the most classic ancient and mysterious magic tower design.
It was a building full of fantasy, just like its height, filled with legend.
The top of the magic tower had been closed off. In fact, the interior had also been built at the same time, with stairs connecting the upper and lower levels.
On the day work was completed, it was already evening. Chen Bai and all the students who had come to Lu State for study stood on the highest floor, looking outside through the windows that had been left open.
This season was when the mist was thickest.
The sea of clouds formed by the mist was right beneath their feet, dyed brilliant colors by the red evening glow.
The corners of Chen Bai’s lips lifted. What a beautiful scene. A sea of clouds. The sunset over the sea of clouds truly was one of the finest sights under heaven.
It was also time to send an invitation to Crown Prince Ban. He had to let the other side lose wholeheartedly.
As for the group of students, they were already hugging one another in pairs, even clamping their legs around each other, shrieking nonstop.
“It’s too high, too high! So scary! I don’t even dare look down.”
“Did we build all the way up to the heavens? Even the clouds are under our feet.”
Chen Bai: “…”
