Inside the kitchen.
Diona was busy with her daily routine of brewing wine using the [Dragon-Turning Pot].
Every day she experimented with a new recipe, aiming to create the best-tasting wine in the world.
Diona carefully placed all the ingredients into the [Dragon-Turning Pot].
After waiting quietly for two minutes, she poured out the contents.
The clear, sparkling liquid in the cup immediately began releasing a wonderful fragrance of wine.
Diona sniffed it gently, nodding in satisfaction.
Today's result seemed pretty good.
She generally never drank alcohol herself, not even the wines she brewed.
She simply judged their quality by scent.
Since no one else in the shop was particularly fond of drinking either, she had struggled to find someone willing to taste-test her daily experiments.
But today, things had improved significantly.
Because the Dragon King had enthusiastically volunteered to become a tireless, emotionless wine-testing machine.
Diona brought the freshly brewed wine out of the kitchen and placed it in front of the Dragon King. "Here you go!"
The Dragon King nodded appreciatively and downed the entire cup in one gulp.
Diona quickly pulled out a small notebook and asked him detailed questions about taste, aroma, spiciness, and texture, carefully jotting down his responses.
After recording everything, she thanked him politely.
Returning to the kitchen with the empty cup, Diona noticed Xia Zhi busy making Sachima.
Curious, she leaned closer to watch.
"Boss, is this a new snack?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Does it taste good?"
"Very good."
Xia Zhi casually sliced off a small piece and held it out to Diona.
Today he planned to prepare various casual pastries and snacks.
"Here, try some."
"Oh."
Diona was just about to reach out with her hand when Xia Zhi stopped her.
"Don't touch it with your hand. It's covered in syrup and sugar, so it'll get sticky. I'll hold it; you just open your mouth and bite."
"Ah... oh, okay."
Diona dropped her hand back down, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks.
Leaning forward slightly, she opened her mouth and gently bit down on the sweet snack.
An exquisite blend of egg, milk, honey, and sugar frosting melted on her tongue.
Delicious!
Girls naturally loved sweets, and Diona was no exception.
Unable to resist, she leaned forward again and took another bite.
This time, her teeth accidentally brushed lightly against Xia Zhi's fingertip.
Diona froze briefly, nervously stealing a quick glance at her boss from the corner of her eye.
He seemed completely unaware of the accidental touch.
She relaxed slightly, though a faint sense of disappointment rose in her heart.
Opening her mouth once more, she carefully bit into the snack again, this time avoiding any accidental contact.
Xia Zhi released the Sachima, letting Diona take it fully into her mouth, and smiled warmly. "Alright, you've tasted it. Now go play."
It sounded like he was gently coaxing a child.
Diona pursed her lips lightly.
The delightful sweetness lingered in her mouth, refusing to fade away.
But she obediently nodded anyway.
"Mm."
---
Meanwhile, Xia Ci and Xia Zhen were outside, conducting signal tests.
They had already set up the main server inside the Dragon King's dream world.
Convincing him had hardly been necessary. Last night, while playing games, Xia Ci had casually asked, "Wouldn't it be nice to have internet access in the real world too?"
The Dragon King had immediately volunteered his dream world as a server location.
The hovercar gently landed atop a mountain peak.
Xia Ci stepped out, took out a small rectangular device, and checked the screen.
Excellent—full signal.
This was the advantage of using the Dragon King as a signal tower.
As an embodiment of the earth itself, he carried the memories of every grain of sand and stone. His dream realm was directly connected to every stone in reality.
In other words, placing the server inside his dream effectively made every single rock and stone in the real world into a miniature signal tower.
This convenience completely eliminated the need for tedious infrastructure projects.
Xia Ci activated the small device, opened her contacts, selected Xia Zhen, and initiated a call.
After a brief moment, Xia Zhen's voice came through clearly.
"Hello, hello?"
The call was perfectly successful, with virtually no distortion.
Xia Ci smiled in satisfaction.
"Yes, I hear you loud and clear."
"Great, then I'll hang up now."
"Mm."
Xia Ci put the device away.
Next, it was time to mass-produce these devices.
Previously, she'd modified a Sumeru Akasha Terminal for convenience.
Now, she faced two choices.
The first was to contact her younger sister, Nahida, and import Akasha Terminals from Sumeru, modifying them further.
This would generate foreign exchange for Sumeru, create jobs there, and also stimulate new employment in Liyue.
The second choice was to design a completely new architecture from scratch herself, then cooperate with Ningguang to establish a smartphone factory.
This would offer higher profits and greater control.
Which to choose?
After a moment's thought, Xia Ci realized there was no need to choose—why not do both?
With the massive population across all of Teyvat, relying on the production capacity of a single nation was far from enough to achieve widespread connectivity.
Plus, she planned to distribute these smartphones to everyone around her.
Others' phones could be ordinary, but the one she gave to Xia Zhi had to be the most special and meaningful of all.
Xia Ci gazed fondly at the small device in her hand.
This particular phone had accompanied her the longest, infused thoroughly with her personal presence. Giving it to Xia Zhi would be absolutely perfect!
It certainly wasn't because she'd saved many of her own novels on it.
Xia Ci chuckled lightly, stepping back into the hovercar and heading towards Mt. Aocang.
---
That afternoon, everyone eagerly began exploring the new smartphones they'd just received.
Not only could they make calls, but they could also listen to music, check the time, read novels, and play games…
It was fantastic!
Of course, due to limited development time, the only multiplayer game currently available was one Xia Ci had quickly thrown together:
Mahjong.
Compared to complex competitive games, card and board games were far simpler and cheaper to develop.
As a result, everyone quickly abandoned physical mahjong games in favor of online mahjong.
Mainly because it saved the hassle of shuffling tiles and setting up the board.
Seeing how enthusiastically everyone was playing, Xia Ci made plans to add special skins and visual effects to the mahjong game later that night.
Naturally, they'd be provided free of charge.
----
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