175: Chapter 174 Xiao Guang: How come this light bulb is lit? Lin Feng: Don't touch it, or I'll dissect you.
The night, like a massive black velvet cloth, covered the entire military district compound tightly.
The dim yellow light from the streetlamp spilled in from outside the window, cutting blurry patches of light onto the floor.
The curtains weren't drawn tight, and the wind snuck in through the gap, carrying the scent of night-blooming jasmine and grass.
In the distance, the faint sound of sentries changing shifts drifted into the room, torn apart by the night wind, intermittent and soft.
Lin Feng pushed open the dormitory door and reached for the switch on the wall.
With a "click," the fluorescent light flickered twice and turned on.
The bright white light spilled down, revealing a room that was small but very tidy.
A single bed was covered with military-green sheets, and a quilt folded into a perfect square block sat upright at the head of the bed.
There was a desk, a chair, a wardrobe, and a private bathroom in the corner.
Small as it was, it had everything it needed.
Lin Feng unbuckled the dragon slaying sword from his waist and leaned it against the headboard.
The scabbard clattered against the iron bed frame with a crisp "clang."
Then he plopped down onto the bed. The mattress was made of palm fiber and was rock hard, but it was ten thousand times more comfortable than the gravel ground in the Secret Realm.
He leaned back, sprawling out in a star shape on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
There was a crack on the ceiling that extended from beside the light fixture all the way to the corner of the wall.
The crack was very thin, like a strand of hair, and you wouldn't notice it at all if you didn't look closely.
But he stared at that crack for a long time—he didn't know why, he just wanted to stare at it.
From taking a transport plane from the Kunlun Mountains to The Capital, and then a fighter jet from The Capital to Donghai City, the whole way was either about reporting or preparing to report.
Now it was finally quiet, and the tight strings in his mind began to loosen one by one.
He felt like he had been hollowed out, not even wanting to move a finger.
"Squeak!"
Xiaojin jumped down from his shoulder and landed on his stomach.
Its six golden legs stepped back and forth on his chest, as if testing to see if this "territory" was soft.
After stepping a few times and deciding it was okay, it curled into a ball and closed its compound eyes.
Lin Feng reached out and touched its dorsal shell; it was cool, smooth, like touching a piece of polished obsidian.
"You sure know how to pick a spot."
Xiaojin didn't pay him any mind; it was already snoring softly.
The snoring was very quiet, like someone whistling softly in the distance.
"Chirp, chirp—"
Another sound came from the head of the bed.
Xiaoguang climbed out of his shirt pocket, the thirty-centimeter-tall golden little person standing on the pillow.
Its two hands gripped the edge of the pillow, tiptoeing, head tilted back, looking at the fluorescent light on the ceiling.
Its mouth was wide open, eyes wide, and that handsome little face was filled with shock.
"W-what is this?!" Its voice was shrill but kept very low, as if afraid of waking Xiaojin.
Lin Feng turned his head to look at it.
"A light."
"A light?" Xiaoguang tilted its head, its golden brows furrowed.
"What is a light? Why is it glowing? What kind of oil is burning inside? Why is there no smoke?"
"An electric light. It doesn't burn oil, it uses electricity."
"And what is electricity?"
Lin Feng opened his mouth, realizing he couldn't explain it clearly.
He stared at the fluorescent light on the ceiling for a few seconds—as a high school student, he really couldn't explain the working principle of this thing.
Something about electron excitation of phosphor, something about gas discharge; he seemed to have learned it in textbooks, but had long since forgotten it all.
"It's just... a type of energy. It flows along the wires and lights up the lamp."
Xiaoguang nodded thoughtfully, then pointed to the white socket in the corner.
"What about that? Is that also a light?"
"A socket."
"What is a socket?"
"Used for plugging in electricity."
"Plug in what electricity?"
Lin Feng took a deep breath, sat up on the bed, and sat cross-legged, looking at Xiaoguang.
"Are you going to ask about everything in this room?"
Xiaoguang nodded seriously, its eyes shining with a thirst for knowledge.
"I stayed in the Taixu Dojo for ten thousand years and have never seen these things. Ten thousand years ago, we used oil lamps and night-luminescent pearls for lighting. This light of yours, it doesn't smoke, and it's so bright, even brighter than a night-luminescent pearl. What is the principle behind it?"
It paused, then continued to chatter and ask questions.
"And that—what is that white box that keeps buzzing? Why is there a little wheel turning underneath it?"
Lin Feng followed its finger—that was the air conditioner in the corner.
"An air conditioner. It blows cold air in the summer and hot air in the winter."
"Where do the cold and hot air come from? Why can the same thing blow two types of air? Is there a person hiding inside?"
"..." Lin Feng realized he couldn't explain that either.
Seeing him silent, Xiaoguang turned its gaze to the desk lamp on the desk.
That desk lamp was LED, with a silver metal stand and a round lampshade, very modern in design.
Xiaoguang slid down from the pillow, crawled along the bedsheet to the nightstand, and then jumped from the nightstand onto the desk.
It circled the desk lamp several times, touching here and tapping there, and even tried to unscrew the lightbulb.
"Don't move!" Lin Feng quickly stopped it.
"If you break it, you can't afford to pay for it."
Xiaoguang sheepishly pulled its hand back, but its golden eyes remained fixed on the desk lamp, its eyeballs almost pressed against the bulb.
"Is this also an electric light? Why is its light yellower than that one above? Why is its shape different?"
"Because the power is different."
"What is power?"
Lin Feng felt like he was lecturing a kindergartner.
He rubbed his temples—Xiaoguang's questions were too many, and each one hit his blind spot of knowledge precisely.
What power, voltage, current; as an Explorer who makes a living fighting, why would he need to know these?
"Alright, alright, stop asking."
He waved his hand.
"Tomorrow I'll buy you a copy of 'One Hundred Thousand Whys,' and you can read it yourself."
Xiaoguang's eyes lit up, and it jumped off the desk, nearly knocking over the desk lamp.
"What is 'One Hundred Thousand Whys'? Is it a Cultivation Technique? Is it a Secret Manual? Does it contain cultivation methods inside?"
"It's not a Cultivation Technique, it's a book. A book specifically for answering questions like yours."
"A book? What kind of book? Is it like the books in the Library Pavilion of the Taixu Dojo, made of bamboo slips? Or written on silk scrolls?"
The more it talked, the more excited it got, pacing back and forth on the desk. Its golden feet stepped on the wooden tabletop, making a light "tap-tap" sound, like a little bird that had been locked up for too long and finally released.
"Made of paper. It's different from your time."
"Paper?" Xiaoguang tilted its head to think, then suddenly slapped its thigh.
"Is it the paper that Cai Lun made? I saw a book in the Library Pavilion that said someone named Cai Lun invented papermaking during the Eastern Han Dynasty. That person was amazing, I—no, wait, he hadn't been born yet before I fell asleep."
It corrected its own timeline, then continued to pursue the questioning.
"Is paper still made from tree bark and hemp rope now? Is it smoother than before? Can you write on it? What kind of pen do you use to write?"
"You'll know when you read it later."
Lin Feng couldn't be bothered to explain anymore; he took out his phone, preparing to send a message to Pan Jingjing.
The moment the phone screen lit up, Xiaoguang's attention was instantly captured.
It ran back from the desk, jumped onto the bed, and lay down beside Lin Feng's wrist.
Staring at that glowing screen, its mouth hung open in an "O" shape, its little face filled with shock, looking just like it had seen a ghost.
"W-what is this now?!" Its voice went out of tune.
"Why is it glowing? Why are there words on it? Why do the words move? Why does it change when your finger touches it?"
"A mobile phone."
"What is a mobile phone?"
"A communication tool." Lin Feng replied while typing.
"It can be used for making calls, sending messages, watching videos, and browsing the internet."
Xiaoguang tilted its head, its eyes full of confusion, like a kitten dizzy from a ball of yarn.
"Making calls? Is it the Thousand-Mile Voice Transmission art? Is sending messages an Advanced version of sending letters by carrier pigeon? What is browsing the internet? What is a video?"
"Stop!" Lin Feng reached out and pressed his index finger against Xiaoguang's head.
"If you ask one more question, I'll shove you back into the wanxiang ring."
Xiaoguang immediately shut its mouth.
But its golden eyes were still fixed on the phone screen.
Watching Lin Feng's fingers dance on the screen, watching the words pop up one after another, its mind was full of question marks—why would words appear when a finger touched the screen? Why could words be transmitted from one person's hand to another? What kind of thing was transmitting the signal in between?
It couldn't figure it out, but didn't dare to ask, holding it in until its face turned red, like a little balloon about to burst.
Lin Feng opened the "Equipment Shop Workers" group chat and quickly typed on the screen.
[Lin Feng: Are you there?]
The moment the message was sent and the bubble frame popped up on the screen, the reply came.
It was so fast, it was like the three girls had been guarding their phones waiting for him.
[Pan Jingjing: Here, here, here, here, here! Boss, you finally appeared!!!]
[Li Xiaoyu: Boss!!! Wuwuwu, you finally contacted us!!!]
[Li Xiaoyu: Boss, Boss, Boss!!! We thought you had been kidnapped by aliens!!!]
The three girls' messages popped up almost simultaneously, the bubble frames on the screen rising one after another, pushing the chat history up rapidly.
The exclamation marks alone took up half the screen.
[Pan Jingjing: Boss, where have you been all this time? How come there was no news at all? We were worried to death! I refreshed my phone every night waiting for your message!]
[Li Xiaoyu: That's right, that's right! I refreshed the chat history a hundred times a day, just waiting for Boss to send a message! I even dreamed that Boss came back!]
[Li Xiaoyu: Mengmeng refreshed it too! I even had a nightmare, dreaming that Boss was being chased by monsters! When I woke up, my pillow was soaked with tears!]
Lin Feng looked at the messages on the screen, and a warm current welled up in his heart.
These three girls had been following him since the day he opened the shop.
Whether he was an S-Rank Explorer or an F-Rank loser, they always called him "Boss," and it had never changed.
[Lin Feng: I went out for something, no signal. How is the shop?]
[Pan Jingjing: Speaking of the shop! Boss, do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first? I suggest you hear the good news first, because the bad news actually isn't that bad!]
Lin Feng typed three words.
[Lin Feng: Good news.]
[Pan Jingjing: The good news is that we've almost sold out of all the equipment in the shop!]
[Pan Jingjing: After you left, business got better and better, especially after the martial arts tournament, your name spread throughout the whole city!]
[Pan Jingjing: Many people came specifically to ask to buy the "Lin Feng Style," our inventory dropped from eight hundred items to two hundred, and then from two hundred to fifty!]
[Pan Jingjing: Now there are less than twenty items left! All the purple equipment is gone, only a few pieces of blue equipment are left at the bottom of the box, and the green equipment is almost sold out too!]
[Pan Jingjing: I calculated it, this month's turnover has already exceeded ten million points! Boss, we've made a fortune!]
[Li Xiaoyu: That's right, that's right! A lot of people came to ask what "Lin Feng Style" is, I said that what the boss wears and uses is all handmade by himself, and they said then they want to buy the equipment the boss made too! Yesterday, a middle-aged man bought five pieces in one go, saying he was taking them back to collect!]
[Li Xiaoyu: Boss, you are now a celebrity in Donghai City! Yesterday, an older sister Explorer came to the shop specifically, saying she wanted to see the boss in person!]
[Li Xiaoyu: I said the boss wasn't here, so she bought three pieces of equipment and left, saying she would come again when the boss returned! When she left, she kept looking back every few steps, she was so persistent!]
Lin Feng remained calm looking at those numbers; after all, the value of the treasures he obtained in this Secret Realm far exceeded this.
But when he saw the happy messages from those girls, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.
[Lin Feng: So what is the bad news?]