Silent Crown

Under the dim lights the researcher pulled on the rusty bars. They shut with an ear-piercing sound.

He pulled the lever, and the elevator descend into the dark depths.

The sharp sound of scraping metal followed them down, and sparks flew out from the corners of the elevator. The faint flashes of light illuminated the young man’s profile. His silhouette looked rather gloomy.

The researcher forced a laugh, “Our budget is tight, so we haven’t been able to keep up the maintenance…”

“I understand.”

Ye Qingxuan waved his hand dismissively, “If I’m satisfied with the results, I’ll increase my investment.”

“Then I can’t thank you enough.”

The researcher cheered up at this news. If he hadn’t been so awed at the sound of the young man’s voice, he would have already grabbed his hand and begun chattering on about every single potential research project.

In fact, the Royal Institute of Research had not originally been so poor. In the past several years the nation had allocated enough funds to support ten times their current manpower.

But that was before Newton had become the director.

He had spent the whole budget on various items, while actually pocketing over half the money himself in order to make up for the debt he had accrued while secretly performing his own forbidden research.

The royal family had always had plenty of proof of this, but they put that to the side, even going so far as to secretly protect Newton.

This was because that b*stard Newton truly was a genius with a talent that none could match.

It was not only in the field of mechanical engineering that he had outstanding achievements. He had even at one time been the director of the royal mint…

There are some people who are able to outstrip the hard-won achievements of the masses using only their talent, and without getting out of bed.

Mathematics, economics, mechanical engineering…even in the field of musicianship, in which he had no natural talent, he was still able to do his own research and master some of the principles of alchemy.

The b*stard was like a double-edged sword. You just had to put up with him, and keep feeding him money so that he could lay another golden egg.

If he had not been bad tempered and eccentric, perhaps that guy would not be stuck in a research position.

But from how things looked now, perhaps this was one of his goals?

Aside from his passion for his research, he did not care about any other official matters. Even when he had been appointed director of the Royal Institute of Research he had gone to the brothel far more than he had gone to work.

Nowadays, since he had been researching forbidden technology, he had had secret communications with the Revolutionary Army. After walking a dangerous path for so many years, the conspiracy finally came to light, and he had packed up his things and fled. No one knew where he had disappeared to.

Everyone was filled with regret, but at the same time could not help but breath a sigh of relief.

They would finally no longer have to serve that old b*stard.

But how would they handle the remaining research? Who would take up all the research that had been set aside?

The researchers had mixed feelings about this.

At the present, the position of Director of the Royal Institute of Research was still empty. In practice, general affairs were left up to one of the original assistant directors, Ronald, who had been engaged in power research and had temporarily taken on these new responsibilities. This was the man who had not seen the sun in who knew how many days that now stood before Ye Qingxuan.

He was a typical researcher.

His skin was pale, and he was as thin as a skeleton.

He was obviously malnourished. He was hunchbacked, with peeling skin on his fingers. His white uniform was covered in ink spots that would not wash out. Although they were not open wide, his eyes bulged out behind his thick glasses.

Amid the silence, Ye Qingxuan asked, “Is the research going well, Director Ronald?”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

As Ronald said this, he suddenly began talking nonstop. “Our research really isn’t difficult, we’re just in the process of refitting strictly based on the principles. After you lifted the ban on “Carnot Cycle” technology it only took us two days to draw up the first schematics. Actually, most of the intervening time has been spent comparing the efficiency and production difficulty of each link. At your request we finally chose the most balanced and most stable plan to carry out production. Time is short, but we have plenty of material. Really, producing this kind of thing is much simpler than an aether engine…”

“Then take me to see it,” Ye Qingxuan interrupted.

Ronald laughed awkwardly, as if he realized he had lost control of himself.

He pulled open the stopped elevator’s grate, and invited Ye Qingxuan to follow him.

This was the sixth basement floor of the Royal Institute of Research, devoted to secret designs and confidential development. Only those few who held the proper authorization could enter.

Besides the four alloy gates, there were four music theory arrays protecting the floor, all of which was sealed off by several hundred meters of soil. In addition, the security was tight inside, ensuring that the area was as protected as possible from leaking its secrets to the outside.

People and materials could only get in and out by the elevator.

“This way…”

Ronald politely led the way.

After passing through gate after gate, Ye Qingxuan finally entered Testing Ground Six.

Many different rupture marks still remained on the testing ground, some of them as large as several underground soccer fields, as if it had already gone through several dozen wars. Even though they were made out of metal, both the floor and the ceiling had been devastated.

Several dozen researchers were already waiting there.

Behind them, a huge trailer held a piece of machinery as tall as an ordinary person. It emitted the piercing scent of lubricating oil.

Its edges and corners were sharp enough to make it difficult to polish it. Many pipes and power lines twisted chaotically around it, making it difficult to ascertain its actual purpose.

As soon as he saw it, Ronald’s face lit up. He did not bother to introduce the rest of the project team, but trotted directly over to the side of the machine.

“This is just the prototype. It may look crude, but this is the first step in producing a machine that can operate in accord with the principles. If it is selected, then later we can cut it down to at least a third of the size, and half the weight. And if we can reduce the power and exertion according to different needs, cutting it down to one fourth the size isn’t impossible…”

“Oh?”

Ye Qingxuan pushed through the researchers to the side of the trailer and looked up.

In the soft, dazzling light the huge iron and brass machine looked square, like a strange heart filled with cables.

From the top Ye Qingxuan could distinguish many different components. It looked like a hodgepodge of stuff picked out of the trash. The components did not seem to form a coherent set at all.

Some of them were from the atmospheric pressure valve of a backflow prevention device, some of them were components from the temperature control device of an industrial smelter, the main part was made of the inlet casing of a ship’s aether engine…

There was absolutely no elegance in its design.

It was an experimental product that was meant to achieve results.

Ye Qingxuan had no objection to this.

To put out a prototype in only a month’s time was no easy task. In order to achieve this, this group of researchers had sacrificed both sleep and nourishment.

He nodded, “Well done.”

The researching let out a sigh of relief. A smile broke out on Ronald’s nervous face. “Then let me explain some of its basic principles…”

Actually, Ye Qingxuan already understood how to operate a Sterling engine.

An alternative to the steam engine, a Sterling engine could be said to be another design born from the same mold.

However, it differed from the obsolete internal combustion engine in that it used completely different external methods to produce combustion.

It could be called an “external combustion engine.”

It didn’t directly propel its pistons through internal combustion methods, instead using external ones. It applied two different temperatures to both ends of the cylinder, and this difference in temperature drove its actuating medium, which pushed on the pistons.

“…simply put, we create a cycle of heating and cooling. This makes the object inside that is acting as the actuating medium expand and contract. This produces movement in the pistons, which outputs power…”

Ronald was once again in high spirits as he spoke about his research. He stood to the side chattering endlessly, making Ye Qingxuan frown. “Director Ronald, I am a qualified level four mechanical engineer. I am very familiar with these principles. You don’t need to keep explaining. Moreover, wasn’t it me who gave you the original Carnot cycle technology?”

“Uh, ah…”

Ronald finally remembered the Keeper of the Seal’s record. He immediately stopped awkwardly. “My apologies, my apologies. I wasn’t careful…”

The discoveries of the design of the Sterling engine and the principles of the Carnot cycle were the byproducts of the Anglos’ explorations of the remains of the catastrophes.

Unfortunately, by the time they were discovered it had already been decades since the disasters caused by the Victorian era. The Church declared steam power to be forbidden technology and ordered each country to stop their research, in order to prevent another disaster.

The Industrial Revolution had been proved to be of no benefit to humans, and all information pertaining to it was sealed away.

Thus, the Anglos could only list it as a technological reserve, only to be used in case of emergency.

So when Maxwell had arranged for Ye Qingxuan to become the inheritor of the Fifth Department, these books had become completely open to him. As someone who had once studied to become an engineer, and who had a deep understanding of mechanical engineering, Ye Qingxuan had immediately recognized the profound potential in this technology.

Now the Sacred City had suffered heavy losses under Hyakume’s attack, and its ability to influence the nations had diminished greatly. Moreover, the Revolutionary Army had officially risen up, putting them under great pressure. Thus, times were good for research and development.

But Ye Qingxuan understood that once he had started, he would be officially placed on the Sacred City’s blacklist.

Not only that, once this technology had been fully installed and put on the market it would start to evolve by itself. No longer trapped in one person’s head, it would improve itself, evolve itself, and go through new iterations in the hands of countless others.

And as for what it would become in the end…even Ye Qingxuan, the one who had started it, could hardly guess.

And as for whether or not it would lead to a second Victorian disaster, whether or not it would cause endless catastrophes after it went out of control, none of this mattered to him.

It was just like Shi Dong had said.

The world had already woken up from the cradle of the Church and started crying. Transformations would come to every field, every place…whether it was war, production, transportation or life.

If Ye Qingxuan was overcautious, he would be overtaken by others.

Half a month ago, the war that had shocked the whole world had already showed this truth to everyone.