Chapter 88 What the Hell
Two days later, Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu were skillfully operating the Solar Car. They had mastered acceleration, deceleration, and turning with impressive coordination, even intuiting many crucial aspects on their own.
For instance, they learned that it was best to slow down on bumpy roads to avoid overturning. If there was a ditch, they shouldn't just drive into it, or the wheels would get stuck, requiring them to pay the Labor Reform prisoners with food to pry the car out. However, if a ditch was narrow, less than a third of a wheel's width, they could simply roll over it.
When encountering truly impassable large pits, they'd learned not to be stubborn. Instead, they'd stop the car, move rocks and earth to fill the pit, and then drive across.
Of course, the most important lesson was: there must be sunlight!
Seeing their proficiency, Li Daoxuan decided it was time for them to test something very important: whether the Solar Car could be driven *out* of the Diorama Box.
He had already experimented. If he remote-controlled something or pushed it with his hand, nothing could leave the box. For example, a small car he controlled personally would simply hit the glass wall of the box and stop.
But what if the little people themselves drove the car he provided, could they drive it outside the box?
"Yiye," he instructed, "go tell Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu to drive the car along the official road for three li out, and then drive it back."
The order was delivered. Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu didn't question its meaning; they were accustomed to simply following orders without contemplating why. The Heavenly Lord's decree was to be obeyed, no questions asked.
Zheng Daniu affirmed, "Opening!"
The sunshade was pulled back, the Solar Car started, and quickly moved onto the official road.
Yellow dust billowed. The Solar Car moved much more smoothly on the official road than on the barren land. It didn't take long before it reached the edge of the box.
Li Daoxuan fixed his gaze on the Diorama Box's glass wall...
Anything he controlled himself would stop dead upon hitting that wall.
However...
Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu were not subject to this limitation. The small car passed through the glass wall of the box without any obstruction, swiftly vanishing from sight.
"Hey, it worked!" Li Daoxuan was delighted, as ecstatic as a scientist whose experiment has succeeded. "As expected, my own remote control isn't reliable. Creating things that the little people can control themselves is the true path."
Three li passed in a flash. Soon after, a shadow flickered at the edge of the Diorama Box, and the Solar Car drove back. Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu were beaming with excitement, laughing heartily in the car. "The Heavenly Lord's decree is complete!"
"Yiye," Li Daoxuan conveyed, "go tell those two blockheads that they need to expand their driving range further. At the very least, they must ensure round trips between Gao Family Village and Bai Family Fortress."
Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu received the order and immediately looked up at the sky. Perfect, not a cloud in sight. Today's sun was scorching hot, so there was no need to worry about losing light halfway to Bai Family Fortress.
They bowed towards the sky. "We'll set off for Bai Family Fortress right away."
"Go," Li Daoxuan added, his "cat parent" instinct kicking in, worried his little people might go hungry. "And take some Celestial Rice and flour to Bai Yuan, along with salt and sugar."
"Got it!" The two blockheads sprang into action, loading several hundred catties of food onto the small car. The provisions covered a small portion of the solar panel, reducing its power by at least 10%.
Seeing this, Li Daoxuan mused to himself: *This Solar Car was designed as a toy and didn't account for carrying capacity. For the next one, I'll have Cai Xinzhi add a cargo compartment, with the solar panels on top of the compartment, so they won't be obstructed when transporting goods.*
Good, time to act on that thought!
He quickly opened the shopping website and found the previous seller. "I need more Solar Cars. Do you have any smaller or larger sizes?"
The seller was overjoyed. "Dear customer, we don't have smaller, but we do have larger ones: 5cm and 14cm are available."
Li Daoxuan secretly calculated. A 5cm car in the Ming era would be 10 meters long, roughly the size of a bus. A 14cm one would become 28 meters long, like a super-heavy truck. Both would be useful.
"Alright, send me three 14cm cars, ten 5cm cars, and thirty 3cm cars. Ensure the quality of each one; don't send me broken ones."
Hearing this, the seller realized he had a major patron and was beside himself with joy. "Dear customer, rest assured, I will thoroughly test each car before shipping."
While Li Daoxuan was placing his order, Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu had already loaded the food onto their car and were preparing to depart for Bai Family Fortress.
Bai Family Fortress was quite a distance from Gao Family Village, over thirty li. It would take two hours on foot, but with the "Immortal Car," they felt no pressure and were even a little excited.
Zheng Daniu asked, "Chuwu, do you remember the way to Bai Family Fortress?"
"Of course, I do!" Gao Chuwu declared. "Even if I'm foolish, I can still remember a road."
"Let's ride!"
"Sunshade fully open, speed to maximum!"
-----
Meanwhile, in the forest.
Inspector Cheng Xu had just spotted a group of bandits.
Days earlier, he had set out from Gao Family Village, pursuing Wang Er into the northern mountains. He quickly found the cave where Wang Er's gang had been temporarily staying, but it was empty. Wang Er had already led his villagers further north in their escape.
Cheng Xu only found a few corpses of Wang Family Village residents in the cave, victims of Zheng Yanfu and Zhong Guangdao's betrayal.
The new Donglin Party magistrate was about to take office. What was he to do?
Cheng Xu's mind conjured a devious plan. He arbitrarily selected one of the dead villagers, chopped off its head, smeared it with blood and mud to obscure the features, and then hung it on the county gate, presenting it as Wang Er's head.
And surprisingly, the trick worked.
News of Wang Er's "demise" instantly swept through Chengcheng County, terrifying all the rebel forces. Peace began to settle in many areas; numerous rebel chiefs abandoned their posts and fled, and many common folk laid down their weapons, returning home to dig for tree bark and wild roots.
This made it much easier for Cheng Xu to stabilize the situation. He only needed to crush the few remaining bandit groups to declare himself a savior who had turned the tide and atoned for his past mistakes.
Now, he had his sights set on one of those last remaining bandit groups.
The chieftain of this particular group was known as "Little Overlord"—a common, unremarkable moniker. His fighting strength was weak, with fewer than two hundred soldiers under his command. For Cheng Xu, dealing with such a character required virtually no effort.
He led over a hundred government soldiers, ambushing them in the woods beside the official road. Watching the distant "Little Overlord" bandits slowly making their way down the road, a cold sneer touched his lips. "Once they draw near, I'll give the order, and you'll charge out, heading straight for their chief. Make sure to cut off that Little Overlord's dog head!"
His soldiers responded in unison, "Understood!"
Cheng Xu's gaze was fixed on the Little Overlord, so he didn't notice the strange, large vehicle appearing on the distant official road, hurtling towards them at eighty kilometers per hour.
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