---o---
Hearing the somewhat irritable tone in Fu Zhu's voice as he spoke to Xing over the phone, Bronya looked at March 7th, who had come out with Xing, with some confusion.
"March, is Fu Zhu... acting a bit strange today?"
March 7th spread her hands helplessly. "I don't know. Ever since he started preparing for his plan, he's suddenly become like this. Xing even secretly touched something Fu Zhu built earlier and got caught and spanked on the butt for it."
Xing, who was still on the phone with Fu Zhu, heard March 7th suddenly expose her embarrassing past and shot a resentful look over her shoulder. "March, we're supposed to be on the same team! Why are you telling my dark secrets!"
March 7th just giggled and stuck her tongue out at her.
Xing shrugged, then hung up the phone and said to Bronya and Topaz, "Alright, Old Bro said you can come in. But let me warn you first, if you mess with any of my brother's creations, don't blame me if you get your pants pulled down and spanked. I won't be able to say I didn't warn you."
Bronya was so startled she immediately covered her rear. She knew very well that if it was Fu Zhu, he was definitely capable of doing something like that.
"Let's go."
Xing turned and led the way inside with March 7th. Topaz and Bronya quickly followed.
This time, Svarog did not block their path, allowing them to walk right past him.
As the two of them followed Xing into the "construction site," they saw numerous robots and vagrants working in an orderly fashion under the direction of Wildfire members, moving square blocks and placing them in specific arrangements.
Off to the side, several small structures had already been completed.
Topaz moved closer to get a better look and found that the structure before her looked very similar to the small marble fountains she had seen in some hotel lobbies, with water flowing inside.
The only difference was that this "fountain" was made of wood, not marble.
"You can look, but don't touch. If you touch it, don't blame me for being unreasonable, Miss Topaz."
Fu Zhu's voice suddenly sounded by Topaz's ear. She looked up and saw that he had appeared beside them at some point.
Now that the man himself was here, Topaz couldn't help but point at the "fountain" in front of her with curiosity. "Mister Fu Zhu, you've made such a big mystery of things, even having Svarog, the Silvermane Guards, and Wildfire guard the site. But in the end, you just built a fountain?"
"A fountain?" Fu Zhu gave Topaz a dubious look from head to toe. He had no idea how she could mistake a String Duplicator for a fountain. They looked nothing alike.
"This is no fountain. This is a String Duplicator. Don't you see the string connected to it?"
"String?"
Topaz leaned in closer and finally saw an extremely fine thread connecting two tripwire hooks in the center of the "fountain."
Even so, Topaz still couldn't see the connection between the words "fountain" and "String Duplicator," other than the fact that they both involved string.
Bronya was equally bewildered. She walked around the machine a few times but couldn't see what was so special about it. It showed no signs of any high technology.
The wooden blocks, the tripwire hooks, the string—they were all made of extremely common materials. Even Jarilo-VI could easily replicate an identical machine.
After observing it for a while, Topaz couldn't help but turn to Fu Zhu. "Mister Fu Zhu, while I don't know what this so-called String Duplicator is for, your goal is to deal with Belobog's debt, correct? A machine like this... if you want them, I can have a thousand built in a single day."
"Oh? Is that so? Are you sure?"
A very strange smile appeared on Fu Zhu's face, making Topaz feel a little uneasy. Nevertheless, she stuck her chin out and nodded in confirmation.
"That's right. I don't see any signs of high technology on it, nor any trace of Redstone."
Fu Zhu waved his hand dismissively. "This doesn't even need something as high-end as a Redstone circuit. But its effect is anything but weak. Miss Topaz, weren't you skeptical about my ability to help Jarilo-VI? This is a perfect opportunity for me and Bronya to show you what this is."
After saying this, Fu Zhu walked to the side of the machine, leaped onto it, and held a pair of shears in his hand.
"Watch closely. This is how you play with a String Duplicator!"
With lightning-fast speed, Fu Zhu used the shears to quickly cut the string in the center of the machine, then immediately activated the mechanism on the side.
The next moment, everyone present heard a rhythmic clack-clack-clack. The "fountain" before them began to operate. But what it sprayed out wasn't water, but a continuous stream of string!
"Huh?!"
Seeing this, Topaz immediately walked over and picked up the string that was pouring out of the machine. She pulled on it from both ends; it was extremely tough. Even when she used eighty percent of her strength, she couldn't break it. The quality was identical to the string Fu Zhu had shown her earlier.
Topaz picked up another piece of string and tested it, discovering that the two were completely identical, with no difference in quality whatsoever.
Fu Zhu watched Topaz's surprised expression and couldn't help but ask smugly, "How about it? The quality's not bad, right, Topaz?"
"It's not bad. This is the first time I've seen string with such excellent toughness. Its price might be even higher than my initial estimate."
Topaz admitted this frankly, but in the next second, her tone shifted. "However, Mister Fu Zhu, I've told you before, according to the Company's estimates, mobilizing all of Jarilo-VI's resources is still not enough to repay this debt. I don't understand the principles of how your machine produces such excellent products."
"But, even if the final product is this good, the raw materials will still be limited by Jarilo-VI's scarce resources. To put it bluntly... your actions will likely be of little help to Jarilo-VI."
After saying this, Topaz carefully observed Fu Zhu's expression, but she found him to be as calm and composed as ever.
Strange, Fu Zhu isn't anxious or angry at all?
Fu Zhu waited a moment to confirm that Topaz was finished, then clapped his hands. "You're right, your words do make a certain amount of sense. But! That's all based on the premise that I need raw materials. Who told you the String Duplicator needs raw materials to make string?"
Topaz was stunned. A ridiculous guess began to form in her mind. "What do you mean? Don't tell me this machine... can produce this quality of string indefinitely, without any raw materials?!"
"Of course."
Seeing Topaz's shocked expression, Fu Zhu's smile grew even wider. He just loved seeing people react this way to things from Minecraft.
"The Company should know that I have Redstone, an infinite energy source. But who told you that Redstone is the only infinite energy source I have?"