Chapter 353: Black Cicada
"Organism disease?"

Zhou Tieyi repeated the stall owner's answer in a low voice.

At this time, the person who was electrocuted regained consciousness. The first thing he did when he woke up was to reach out to grab the mechanical arm in front of him, "Hand...hand..."

Zhou Tieyi looked at the stall owner again, "How much is this mechanical arm?"

The stall owner was confused at first, but then he realized that Zhou Tieyi wanted to buy his mechanical arm. He licked his lips. His merchant nature made him want to ask for a high price, but after looking at the three Gongshu monks who were guarding Zhou Tieyi, he honestly answered a fair price, "This mechanical arm is for young people to use, and the wood and steel used are relatively rare, so even if it has no attack ability, it still costs four hundred taels of silver."

Zhou Tieyi glanced at the monk Gongshu next to him. The other party nodded slightly, obviously agreeing with the stall owner's price, which was indeed a relatively fair price.

"Pay."

Bai Mei, who was beside Zhou Tieyi, took out a silver note worth four hundred taels. After the stall owner took it with his hands spread out, although he was afraid of angering Zhou Tieyi, he still quickly checked the authenticity of the silver note.

After paying the money, Zhou Tieyi looked at the man lying on the ground and said expressionlessly, "Take him back."

After returning to the lounge prepared by Gongshujia for him, Zhou Tieyi looked at the monks of Gongshujia and asked, "What is mechanical disease?"

I have never heard of this disease before.

Several Gongshu monks looked at each other in confusion.

Sun Shiheng, who was standing next to Zhou Tieyi, was originally dissatisfied with being intercepted by Gongshu Ting. Now he had the opportunity to expose Gongshu's shortcomings and show the superiority of Mohism. Of course, he would not miss such a good opportunity. So he took the lead and bowed to Zhou Tieyi, saying, "Lord Zhou, I know this disease."

Zhou Tieyi said, "Speak."

Sun Shiheng said, "Lord Zhou, this mechanical disease is the Moshi disease."

As soon as Sun Shiheng mentioned the inkstone disease, Zhou Tieyi reacted. When he was in the Baizhishan mining area, he rescued a miner who had gone crazy due to emotional ups and downs, and this was the inkstone disease.

But mental madness is only one type of inkstone disease. The chaotic spirit and energy on the inkstone can cause all-round damage to the body of ordinary people, so it is not only easy to cause mental madness, but also physical diseases.

Sun Shiheng sneered at the troubled monk Gongshu, "No matter how good the inkstone mechanism is, it will be harmful if it is not used sparingly! Although the Six-Ring Machinery City uses six rings to divide ordinary people and monks, the entire city uses a large number of inkstone mechanisms. The messy spirits form "inkstone pollution" that covers the entire city from the inside out. We middle-grade monks don't have to worry about it, but even low-grade monks need to be careful. People who live in the Machinery City for a long time, even if they live in the outer ring, are still a thousand times more likely to get inkstone disease than those in other realms!"

Regarding this matter, the Mohist school to which Sun Shiheng belonged had apparently made detailed statistics.

The monks of the Gongshu family around them glared at Sun Shiheng, but Sun Shiheng became more and more confident as he spoke. He bowed to Zhou Tieyi and said, "Lord Zhou, there is another main reason why the Mechanical City is so prone to the Inkstone Disease."

Zhou Tieyi listened calmly, "What's the reason?"

Sun Shiheng continued, "That's how ordinary people give birth!"

At this point, Sun Shiheng's honest face rarely showed hatred. "Babies are fragile in nature. Babies born in places like the Mechanical City have low birth rates and survival rates, and they also have diseases in their bodies. So even if they have the opportunity to learn mechanical arts and become mechanical artisans when they are young, their physical diseases will be quickly induced in the process of frequent contact with inkstones. Our Mohist and Gongshu schools have similar practices in the early stages, emphasizing spiritual and wisdom cultivation, so they are not good at controlling their own qi and blood, and the flesh. Therefore, this disease will most likely manifest in the flesh, forcing these teenagers to undergo mechanical arts transformation in their youth!"

Zhou Tieyi closed his eyes and pinched his nose. It was really cyberpunk.

No wonder Gongshu's family seemed so prosperous in his eyes, but it was only a second-class family after all.

Prosperous by inkstone, controlled by inkstone.

On the contrary, the moderation advocated by Mohism was of great help in this regard.

One of the Gongshu disciples couldn't help but interrupt, "What's wrong with mechanical engineering transformation?!"

Zhou Tieyi opened his eyes, "Okay, the person outside is awake, bring him in, and bring his children who have inkstone disease in as well."

Half an hour later, Zhou Tieyi looked at the father and daughter in front of him.

Gongshujia's excessive use of inkstones resulted in a low birth rate and a high infant mortality rate in the Mechanical City, but this also forced Gongshujia to make another improvement, which was to promote equal education for both men and women in order to provide Gongshujia with more people for cultivation.

Among all the schools of thought, equal education for both genders was most advocated by Gongshu Jia, who practiced the art of tyranny. It has to be said that this is indeed a very interesting thing.

Seeing Zhou Tieyi, the girl first clasped her fists and said, "Greetings, Lord Zhou. My father stole the mechanical arm out of love for his son. Thank you, Lord Zhou, for saving him."

On the way here, she asked the Gongshujia official who brought her here for details. Because Zhou Tieyi's attitude was not punishment, but more like helping, in the eyes of the Gongshujia official, the father and daughter were lucky, so he did not hide it and told the girl Zhou Tieyi's identity and what happened.

Zhou Tieyi looked at the girl in front of him. Although she was a woman, she had the ability of a man. Her facial features were not outstanding, but very ordinary, with a slightly yellowish tint. One of her hands was normal, but the other had prominent fine red blood vessels, like twisted little worms, covering the entire arm. The girl, who did not care about her appearance, subconsciously covered her ugly palm with her intact hand when she clasped her fists.

It has become completely diseased. If the limb is not amputated, the disease will spread through the arm to the torso. By then, it will not just be the arm that needs mechanical transformation. The lower-grade Gongshu family practitioners are not much stronger than ordinary people in their physical bodies, and the probability of surviving after undergoing mechanical transformation of the torso is extremely low.

Zhou Tieyi withdrew his gaze from the girl's palm, which made the girl feel a little more at ease.

"What's your name?"

"Black cicada."

Zhou Tieyi nodded and said, "Cicada, which means to shed dead and be reborn, what a good name. I just happen to be in need of a clerk for Gongshujia. Are you willing to be my clerk?"

Xuan Chan's face lit up with joy, and he bowed quickly, saying, "Yes."

The episode involving Xuan Chan did not have much impact. The next day, Zhou Tieyi took a short rest and met Gongshu Ting in a huge mechanical factory.

This huge mechanical factory was filled with mechanical structures. Zhou Tieyi even felt like he had come to a modern machinery factory. Huge mechanical arms kept taking off and landing, delivering parts to designated locations. The monks of the Gongshu family rode mechanical flying saucers to the joints, connecting and stitching them with mechanical force to ensure that every seam was as tight as precision welding.

The mechanical creation in front of him was the steam airship proposed by Zhou Tieyi.

When Zhou Tieyi sent his plan back to the Mohist leader through Sun Shiheng, the Mohist leader was more decisive than expected. He smiled and said to his left and right, "Since we have obtained the steam engine construction drawings, and he promised not to threaten the steam engine tradition, it would be difficult to take advantage of him again."

After saying this, the Mohist leader sent the general aviation part of his airship technology to the Machinery City overnight.

The mechanical roars around were a bit noisy. After watching for a while, Gongshu Ting came out with Zhou Tieyi. As they walked, he glanced at Xuan Chan who was following Zhou Tieyi, and then said, "Although I can't stand the gentlemanly look of the Mo family, they are indeed far ahead in Feipeng mechanical technology."

When it comes to technology, Gongshujia always sticks to the facts and if something is not as good as it is, then it is not as good as it should be.

Then Gongshu Ting changed the subject and said, "Actually, if you are not so anxious, we at Gongshu can develop it completely independently."

Zhou Tieyi thought for a moment and asked, "Are you talking about 'Xuanniao'?"

The Xuanniao is the mechanical creation that Gongshu Ting used to force Mo's Feipeng to stop. In Zhou Tieyi's opinion, it already looks like the most advanced fighter jet in his previous life. It can not only cruise at high altitude, but also take off and land vertically using inkstone.

The great development of mechanical arts in this world began with the development of the Mohist ink stone mechanical array diagram three hundred years ago. The energy revolution led to a technological revolution among the Mohists and Gongshuists, which led to the later creations such as the Xuanniao, Zhulou, and Feipeng.

After a little thought, Zhou Tieyi realized that Gongshu Ting wanted to drive the Xuanniao with a steam engine. This was indeed feasible, but the power provided by the steam engine was still very limited. Although Zhou Tieyi was very confident about the localization of the steam engine, or waiting for the steam engine to evolve into an internal combustion engine, no matter how fast it was accelerated, it would take at least five years.

Gongshu Ting nodded slightly.

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "This is not a conflict."

What he meant was that steam airships and airplanes were not in conflict, because even with airplanes, the transportation capacity of steam airships was still several times that of airplanes. It was even possible to develop heavy-load airships, whose transportation advantages would even exceed those of sea transportation.

Zhou Tieyi was tempted by the thought of a transportation method that was even cheaper than sea transportation.

Even though it is just the beginning, as long as the initial price of steam airship transportation can be close to that of trains, it will be a huge advantage.

Gongshu Ting looked at Zhou Tieyi and sighed, "You don't understand, this is a dispute over the orthodoxy."

Zhou Tieyi asked back, "After so many years of fighting, are you only fighting for the orthodoxy?"

Gongshu Ting hesitated for a while.

Zhou Tieyi continued, "If we are just competing for the orthodoxy, then we should be faster and accelerate the integration of Mohist and Gongshu technologies, so that the two originally interconnected paths can be connected and a new path to heaven can be created before the other 100 schools of thought."

Gongshu Ting looked at Xuan Chan behind Zhou Tieyi, and at Qin Yu who was learning Mohist techniques. He smiled and said, "You young people are still full of energy."

(End of this chapter)