Design Complete

"Chongyun, Chongyun, a friend of mine has been possessed! Come help me take a look!"

"Hu Tao, are you there? One of my close friends seems to have been possessed by a ghost. Could you go scare it away?"

Xingqiu and Xiangling split up.

Before long, each of them returned with someone.

The white-haired teenage exorcist, Chongyun,

and Hu Tao, the seventy-seventh director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, wearing a hat decorated with its emblem and plum blossoms, her reddish-brown twin tails hanging down.

And so, the four little ones gathered together.

"Who's been possessed?"

Chongyun asked Xingqiu.

Xingqiu pointed toward the room where Bai Ye was staying.

As he pointed, Hu Tao had already stepped forward and arrived at the door.

"I'll open it. Let me see what this ghost-possessed person looks like."

She reached out to open the door.

But just as her hand touched the ring handle, the door was suddenly opened from within.

Bai Ye emerged, his white hair hanging loose around him.

They had been talking so loudly outside that it would have been stranger if he had not heard them.

"What's going on here?"

He asked Xingqiu and the others.

His voice sounded somewhat weary, yet remained exceptionally clear.

At the same time, he looked over the four people before him.

It was his first time meeting Chongyun and Hu Tao.

Xingqiu and the others exchanged glances, all feeling that they had made a ridiculous mistake.

Chongyun did not know what to feel.

It should have been a good thing that his friend's friend had not been possessed or fallen into danger. But after eagerly rushing over only to still see no ghosts or monsters, he could not help feeling a little disappointed.

That disappointment quickly faded.

"We thought something had happened to you and that you'd been possessed. You've never acted like this before."

Xiangling said apologetically.

Her embarrassment was partly directed at Bai Ye, and partly at Chongyun and Hu Tao, whom she had called over.

"I know Adeptal Arts. What evil spirit would come looking for me when it has nothing better to do?"

Bai Ye pointed at the design blueprints inside the room and said to Xiangling,

"I've just been researching some mechanisms these past few days. Ah—ha... It's nothing."

Seeing the heavy dark circles beneath Bai Ye's eyes, Hu Tao could not help teasing him.

"Even if you haven't been possessed, if you keep refusing to sleep, you'll soon become one of my clients."

"Hey, hey, it's not that serious. I still have confidence in my body."

Bai Ye waved his hand.

"Let's talk about my design instead. Xingqiu, I've found a way to solve the trouble your guild has been having."

He finally said to Xingqiu.

"What!?"

Xingqiu looked at Bai Ye in surprise.

He had thought his family could only accept their losses, but it seemed things could actually be changed?

"Come on, let's talk inside."

Bai Ye said to Xingqiu and the others.

"Mm."

Xingqiu nodded.

The four little ones became five, and the five of them entered Bai Ye's room.

The moment they stepped inside, everyone was surprised to see the floor covered in calculation drafts.

"You've been doing calculations all these days?"

Xingqiu said to Bai Ye.

"Yes. Since I'm creating a new mechanism to make transporting goods more convenient, there's a rather large amount of calculation involved."

Bai Ye nodded.

Only then did he realize what he currently looked like.

He had not bathed for days, his hair had fallen loose, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked as disheveled as could be. No—with his loose white hair and blood-red eyes, he could probably scare people at night.

"I'll tidy myself up first. Please wait a moment."

Bai Ye hurried toward the inner room.

"Alright."

Xiangling and the others nodded.

Before long,

Bai Ye emerged from the inner room after washing up.

His eyes were still somewhat bloodshot, but after bathing, changing into clean clothes, and tying up his hair, he had returned to his former appearance as a refined young swordsman.

"Whew, I'm finally cleaned up. It really would have been rude to meet new friends looking so disheveled."

He said to Chongyun and Hu Tao.

Hu Tao waved dismissively. "It's fine, it's nothing. I'm not the sort of person who minds dirt. A few days ago, I used a wooden basin to carry an adventurer who foolishly challenged a Hilichurl King alone back to Liyue Harbor."

Carry!?

Upon hearing that term, Bai Ye, Xiangling, Xingqiu, and Chongyun exchanged looks and tacitly chose not to ask further.

"Come, Xingqiu. Let me introduce my new invention."

Bai Ye began introducing his new invention to Xingqiu.

Knowing it concerned his family's affairs, Xingqiu listened very attentively.

"Look, if we travel by land from Liyue to Sumeru, neither Dravya Beasts nor the old carts can make it in time. So, to ensure timely delivery, I created a new kind of vehicle."

Bai Ye began explaining his invention.

The idea for it came from off-road trucks on Earth.

At first, Bai Ye had intended to design it according to the standard truck model. But halfway through the design process, he considered the actual roads between Liyue and Sumeru, so he changed his mind and adopted an off-road truck as the template.

Of course,

that was only the initial template. There would still be differences when it came to actual production.

The biggest problem was the engine.

All the other issues were easy to solve.

But the engine was the most crucial part.

Making one or two without regard for cost would certainly not be a problem, but Bai Ye wanted something that could be mass-produced. Therefore, he needed to find suitable materials and structures for building the engine.

As for the engine, Bai Ye could currently only use electricity as the vehicle's energy source.

In another world, Bai Ye would have worried about storing electricity. But in Teyvat, he was not too concerned.

Compared with Earth, Teyvat had one major characteristic: reactions between different elements were stronger and more intense.

Many Genshin Eye holders in this world relied on those reactions in battle, which Bai Ye now felt was rather wasteful.

How wonderful would it be if that energy were applied to production!

By using the Overloaded reaction between Pyro and Electro,

Bai Ye could produce greater power with less electricity.

Of course, if one worried about running out of power midway, one could also bring along an Electro friend.

That way, not even one Electro friend would be consumed per hundred kilometers.

Since Bai Ye currently had no Electro friends, he did not know the exact consumption rate.

In any case, after his design work, this off-road truck tailored to Teyvat's unique characteristics was completed.

After hearing Bai Ye's explanation, Hu Tao's eyes immediately lit up.

"Ah? Is that how it works? Then once this vehicle is built, Bai Ye, you have to sell me one."

"Why?"

Xiangling asked curiously.

"Of course, it's for taking on business!" Hu Tao said as though it were only natural.

"Before, I could only bring one person back from the wilderness. Now that there's a truck, I can bring back more."

"Hey, isn't that a little terrifying?"

Bai Ye could not help commenting.

If she hauled in an entire truckload of business, the people of Liyue Harbor would probably cry themselves to death.

"What terrifying thing are you imagining? I only want to bring people back properly. If I find multiple bodies in the wilderness, I often can only transport them one at a time. The remaining bodies might decay or be eaten. If I could transport several at once, I could prevent that from happening. Death is death, but the dead must not be desecrated."

"Mm, I'll modify one for you when the time comes."

Bai Ye nodded after hearing Hu Tao's explanation.

He had not expected that, once his vehicle was invented, its first customer besides the Feiyun Commerce Guild would want a Spirit Vehicle.