Chapter 4642 — The Automatic Forging Mechanism
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
This sort of thing only became popular on Cloudstep Island after the Central Merchant Guild appeared, but the objects before them now were clearly not to be found in any Central Merchant Guild shop—every single piece here was a unique invention.
"Jingjing, have you and Xuefei been busy with this sort of thing all along?" After a rough survey of the room, Wei Zhao, like Shangguan Lan'er, could not resist picking up one item after another to examine closely, hoping to deduce their specific uses through his own powers of observation. Of course, these were the whimsical creations of Han Jingyi and Ning Xuefei—some looked obvious at a glance but actually served purposes entirely opposite to what one imagined, while others were simply incomprehensible.
"Of course not! Everything you see here is just what Jingjing and I made in our spare time—it's hardly our main work!" Ning Xuefei shot Han Jingyi a meaningful glance as she spoke. "What you're about to see next is the most important research we've done in the past two years. It's still a work in progress, but once it's finished, it will shake the whole of Cloudstep Island!"
"What on earth is it? So mysterious—just tell us already, why keep us in suspense!" Shangguan Lan'er said impatiently. From their earlier correspondence she had vaguely gathered that the two women seemed to be researching something, but she had never known what. After all, unlike Ning Xuefei and Han Jingyi, she had no love for tinkering and research—in this field she was a complete layman.
"Then follow me—I guarantee it'll be an eye-opener!" Ning Xuefei smiled mysteriously and led the way inside. This vast research room actually had an inner chamber, and that was where she and Han Jingyi kept the core of their research.
"All this hocus-pocus!" Shangguan Lan'er muttered, though her feet moved without the slightest delay as she followed close behind Ning Xuefei, the little curly bear shuffling along at her heels.
"What exactly is it?" Wei Zhao's curiosity was thoroughly piqued as well.
"Hehe, Brother Wei Zhao will know once he sees it. This thing might actually be able to help you," Han Jingyi said with a mysterious smile, taking Wei Zhao by the hand and leading him inside.
"Help me?" Wei Zhao blinked, and when he stepped into the inner chamber of the research room, he froze and said nothing.
The inner chamber was not small, but it was at least half the size of the outer room. It was far less cluttered, though, and seemed much more spacious. There was only one thing in it: an enormous box.
"What's this? It's actually made of high-grade dark iron—where did you get so much high-grade dark iron?" Shangguan Lan'er and the little curly bear circled the box curiously.
She knew quality when she saw it. Dark iron was rare enough to begin with, let alone high-grade dark iron. Such fine material was normally used to forge divine weapons and sharp blades—using so much of it to make a great iron box was sheer, unparalleled extravagance!
"Could this be...?" Wei Zhao studied it thoughtfully. His attention was not on the material but on the box's internal structure. The various mechanisms inside were exquisitely intricate and complex, yet they looked somewhat familiar—he kept feeling he had seen this thing before.
Han Jingyi was about to explain when Ning Xuefei clapped a hand over her mouth and said mysteriously, "Guess! Let's see if you can figure it out! This is the fruit of Jingjing's and my hard work, and we made it specially for you. If you can't guess, then you're a heartless cad, and we won't give it to you—we'll just keep it for ourselves to play with!"
"A heartless cad? That's all very well coming from Jingjing, but you've never had anything to do with our little junior brother, Feifei—what gives you the right to call him a heartless cad?" Shangguan Lan'er said, slanting a sly look at Ning Xuefei. She was paying her back for that earlier jab.