Chapter 78: First-Time Creation of a Missing-Thought Engine

Some people carried small lanterns and ran off into the distance to search for ores containing other materials.
As an engine, it didn’t require a large amount, since the glass body of the kerosene lamp was itself not heavy.
Once all the materials were prepared, someone said to Yang Zicang:
“Brother Yang, go in and make it yourself. It’s very simple with the blueprint. Just unfold your model and touch them in order.”
Yang Zicang walked into the shed, sat down next to the blueprint where the materials were piled, and placed the last missing obtuse anchor model at a corner of the light spreading from the blueprint.
[I am about to begin crafting the anchor engine: the Kerosene Lamp.]
The model emerged and flickered in front of his chest.
Because he had his back to the others and the chaotic light inside the shed interfered, no one noticed the quadrilateral that flashed, flickered, and dashed onto his hand.
Guided by the light that illuminated from the blueprint, Yang Zicang touched his hand to the black stream water infused with phantoms.
Accompanied by the dimming light of the red magic crystal, some of the water in the small bucket rapidly dissipated and merged into the phantom of making the kerosene lamp emitted by the blueprint.
Then Yang Zicang tapped the ore materials, the plant materials for making the wick, and other items in order. After they had all turned into energy spinning in front of him, he finally tapped the anchor model, which now faintly emitted a glow.
Ho~
A wind of energy slowly swirled.
[I, the Great Quadrilateral, sense a fellow of my kind being reborn into a new state.]
The dark crystal containing the model trembled violently, then swiftly levitated, absorbing all that energy into the crystal itself.
Yang Zicang felt like a magical alchemist at that moment.
In the light, a bizarre factory image appeared within the crystal, resembling a patchwork factory scene from a dream.
Images of elegant glass bottles with slender wicks flashed by repeatedly.
[Because I am a quadrilateral, I can help it condense more pulses.]
Suddenly, the crystal shone brightly.
“So bright—this engine shouldn’t fail,” a few people whispered outside the tent.
The crystal elongated in the light, forming a small engine-like crystal model, with an oil lamp image inside it.
The light abruptly retracted into its interior, and before it fell, Yang Zicang caught it in one hand.
Crack—the blueprint spread on the ground shattered, as if it had aged through long years in an instant, becoming useless, crumbling junk.
[I have obtained the Inert-Mind Engine; its heart can still pump 165 times.]
It could produce 165 oil lamps—that was its limit. Sensing the information naturally transmitted from the small crystal engine, this was 100 more than the sixty-five originally embodied in the blueprint.
“So cute,” Mu Xiaoyu said, her eyes sparkling like stars as she looked at the fist-sized engine. Its appearance was indeed impressive.
“Here, play with it.” Yang Zicang stooped as he walked out of the workspace and handed the Memoryless Engine to the elated young girl.
“Can it be used to make kerosene lamps?”
Mu Xiaoyu turned around, holding the small engine in her palm, and said to the others.
“We can’t do it. Unless it’s a terrain-type item, machines for crafting things are only available in Hub Town.”
The six people, all in tattered clothes, looked somewhat helpless.
To be precise, they could only be used in shops within Hub Town. Yang Zicang sighed inwardly, realizing it must be very hard to own a shop there.
“Hey, wait a minute.”
Seeing this small engine, one of them suddenly stammered and pointed at it: “Am I seeing things? Why does it have three cylinders?”
“Oh, yeah! Isn’t that a core provided by the Obtuse Angle model? Could it actually trigger an upgrade?”
“Is that a thing?” Yang Zicang looked at them.
The handbook wasn’t an encyclopedia; it only gave a rough introduction to the Lossfrequency Zone.
That person looked envious: “If the model made by the creator has more lines than the Memoryless model, there’s a tiny chance of triggering a cylinder upgrade on the Memoryless Engine. But that chance is less than one percent—how could you be so lucky?”
“This is a jackpot, isn’t it? Look how beautiful the vial inside is, like something you’d find only in the Palace of Versailles.”
“They don’t burn kerosene lamps at Versailles.”
“What a shame that it turned into a three-cylinder on something like this. Not many people are willing to waste triangular models on this kind of thing. I feel like this engine could exchange for at least three years of sequence.”
He lamented that this rare upgrade had been wasted on something like this.
Yang Zicang knew the blueprints these people would give him wouldn’t be great, but he never expected them to be this lousy.
He looked up at the sky; it was already midnight outside.
“Invest in me, and I’ll return fifty years of Chrono-sequence to each of you.”
“Sure, sure, sure.”
The several people who had been waiting finally breathed a sigh of relief, each flashing out models—four triangles and two zigzags—projected toward Yang Zicang.
[Wang Chong invested 1R in me.]
[Qian Zhongsheng invested 1R in me.]
[Qin Meng invested 1R in me.]
[Xu Xiuchuan invested 1R in me.]
[Fan Xiuyun invested in me…]
Perhaps because this was a gathering place for failures, the proportion of zigzag models was much higher than in the city; among the six-man team they happened to encounter, there were already two.
Once the six had finished investing, Yang Zicang’s model flashed out and darted toward the stunned faces.
[Yang Zicang returned my 1R investment and repaid 50N in excess.]
Qin Meng, huddled at the back, felt incredulously that his extra Chrono-sequence had really increased.
[Yang Zicang returned the 1R investment and repaid me 50N in excess.]
“……”
“You… your model is a quadrilateral?”
The six people looked with varied expressions at the slow-rotating square inside the small ring on Yang Zicang’s chest.
One person’s throat moved with difficulty.
This was the first time they had ever seen a real quadrilateral model holder. They just never expected it would be in a place like this.
“Bro, even someone like you can fall on hard times… truly, misfortune can strike anywhere in life.”
“Is anyone here willing to be my contact? I’ll place a coordinate on the person, and I may come by some evenings.”
They exchanged glances; no one was willing to do it.
“Fifty years.”
They shook their heads.
“One hundred.”
Some showed hesitation, murmuring among themselves. But still, no one answered.
“Five hundred.”
Wang Chong quickly spoke up: “Me, me!”
“I can do it too, Brother Yang.”
A few others froze for a moment, then hastily raised their hands.
Yang Zicang pointed to the first person who spoke: “Alright. You, Wang Chong, right?”
The rest regretted their slow reactions.
A faint virtual image of a small station appeared in Yang Zicang’s palm; he tossed it, and it dissolved into mist, blending into the mental energy of the person before him.
“That’s it?” Wang Chong felt around, sensing nothing unusual, yet he had obtained five hundred years of time sequence.
“Brother Yang, I know you have plenty of time sequence, but here, from now on, you should try to use it sparingly. This stuff is hard to come by,” Wang Chong kindly reminded him.
They all began to feel a liking for this man.
“Thanks for the reminder.”
Yang Zicang smiled, glanced at the young woman beside him, and said, “Let’s head back.”
At first, they thought he meant returning to the shelter shacks somewhere, but within seconds, they heard a faint, dreamlike [Woooo—] sound, as if from a dream.
Qian Zhongsheng looked up in confusion.
In the vast, deathly silent world between heaven and earth, the air stirred as wind began to churn.
“Woo~”
Bang! The six were astonished as an energy train tore through the air, appearing under the dim twilight of dusk.
“W-What is this!”
It was, like the legendary ghost train, suddenly transitioning from nothingness into solid form.
The young man in front of them tossed the tent into a carriage that had become real, then leaped up, taking the girl’s hand and pulling her aboard.
The others couldn’t help but step forward.
At the train’s door, Fan Xiuyun looked at the suspended threshold, his lips trembling as if he wanted to say something.
The young man on the train turned back.
“I’m sorry.”
“Couldn’t you just…”
“Farewell.”
Yang Zicang glanced at them, and the gradually accelerating train suddenly shot off, vanishing into the wind.
The six, like beggars, watched it depart.
“This is what the strong of this world are like.”
“I know, we don’t have the qualifications to go to other cities.”
……
Once on board, Mu Xiaoyu said apologetically:
“You’ve already become so powerful, so quickly—I don’t even have a spirit model yet.”
To her, less than a day had passed.
“Actually, for me, a long time has gone by.”
Inwardly, Yang Zicang signaled the train to slow down, giving the girl a rough account of his fights with Lu Zhishen and Ma Chao, leaving Mu Xiaoyu nervous and tense.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to do any of this.”
She felt a bit crestfallen, the mere thought of fighting terrifying her.
Feeling that they were too intimate, he didn’t dare look at Mu Xiaoyu, turning to the train and saying:
“Ma Chao, your previous train conductor used to come here often. What was he trying to do?”
{The train conductor was entrusted to make something of the kind you’re holding, but not an ordinary item. Also, he obtained some special engine formulas. Do you want them?}
The train unhesitatingly sold out its former conductor Ma Chao’s hard work.
This was undeniably a welcome opportunity; Yang Zicang had no reason to refuse. But he was a bit puzzled—why was Ma Chao’s train so eager to sell him off completely?
Just then, a beam of light shot over.
{Zicang, the two people you rescued have survived. Thank you so much for this.}
It was Director Chen. Yang Zicang said:
“There’s no need to bring it up again. I just did what was asked of me by the review committee. By the way, Brother Chen Yu, do you know which one of the three died?”
Yang Zicang had a vague guess, but he wasn’t sure. If the one who died was truly that person, the loss to headquarters would be too great.