Joy of Life: Technology Crushes the World, Leaving Fan Xian's Worldview in Pieces

Joy of Life: Technological Dimensionality Reduction Shatters Fan Xian's Worldview

Fan Xian holds the soap he has just made, imagining how it could revolutionize the imperial treasury. Then he turns and sees the streets of the capital lined with jasmine-scented soap mass-produced in the Seventh Prince Li Chengfeng's factories, its fragrance wafting three blocks away.

He stays up all night drawing blueprints for glass, convinced he has unlocked the secrets of the age. Three days later, he sees Li Chengfeng's trucks delivering crates of optical lenses to the imperial palace, so clear they could reflect individual hairs.

The bloodshed on Ox Lane has barely ended. Fan Xian is still shouting in grief over Teng Zijing's death when Li Chengfeng, facing a glowing screen, pinpoints the assassins' hiding place. At the negotiations with Northern Qi, Fan Xian talks circles around the other side, while a speck in the sky sets their granaries ablaze. It is the "drone" Li Chengfeng mentioned.

When Fan Xian finally corners his mysterious seventh brother, the other man pulls out a small square device and waves it. "Video call. I'll show you my ship." On the screen, a steel behemoth cuts through the waves, its naval guns glinting coldly. Dream of the Red Chamber slips from Fan Xian's hand and hits the ground with a smack. His voice trembles. "You're also a transmigra..."

"No." Li Chengfeng points to the silver streak racing across the skyline. "I'm here to tell you that your modern knowledge belongs in a museum."

The roar of Gatling guns drowns out the power of the grandmasters, and radio waves turn the Inspectorate's secret messages into wastepaper. As Fan Xian watches the streetlights blaze across the city, he finally understands: he thought he had come to change the world, never realizing that the future had already torn a hole in Qing's sky through the cracks in technology.