Chapter 234 — Tyre's Curiosity
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 3
Hearing this, Gao Cen could not help frowning and letting his gaze fall on the long tail trailing behind Tyre. "Then if you really mean to stay active for a month, you'd better get used to walking upright. Dragging a tail around the territory all day long is a bit too conspicuous…"
As he spoke, he swept a glance to the side, and sure enough, he caught several curious yet wary looks—from the common folk and soldiers of the territory, naturally. Anywhere else, a siren would likely invite outright hostility and panic. But here, thanks to Gao Song's protection and the "heightened public immunity" brought about by the territory's constant parade of strange and bizarre things, people regarded Tyre's wondrous form with little more than curiosity and caution. Of course, there were probably some who privately panicked—but with Gao You standing right there, who would dare say so?
Tyre, however, paid no heed whatsoever to Gao Song's warning. She swayed in place like a strand of seaweed. "I haven't caused any panic coming out like this, have I? And I see the people under your command are quite accepting. A couple more strolls before their eyes and they'll be used to me—aren't they already used to a big metal ball flying around the territory?"
To this Gao Yang truly had no rebuttal: judging purely by how bizarre the appearance was, Nikkisi "Lord Egg," all smooth and bare with not even a human shape to speak of, was clearly more outlandish than Tyre. At least the siren lady still had half a human body; Lord Egg did not even have a face—Rebecca had painted it on with pigments… Compared that way, Tyre's wandering about really was nothing much.
"You should thank Lord Egg for laying the groundwork. He raised the entire territory's tolerance for strange things by countless times at a stroke," Gao Yang said, caught between laughter and tears. "All right, since you're happy to carry on like this, I won't interfere too much. But I do hope you'll be mindful—human capacity to accept new things is limited. They've barely gotten used to an 'outlander visitor' who walks on a snake's tail or a fish's tail. As for those octopus and sea-crab forms you mentioned to me last time, do try to keep them out of sight…"
Tyre pursed her lips in considerable regret: she had been thinking an octopus form might walk more steadily on land, but before she could even try it, the idea had been shot down—which left the siren lady quite displeased.
But she soon forgot this minor vexation, for at last she laid eyes on what everyone in the territory was discussing and priding themselves on: the "factory that uses machines to make goods."
The Cecil Rune Foundry was a new factory "spun off" from the Machinery Workshop not long ago—one link in Gao Yang's plan for the "systematization of industry."
According to Gao Song's plan, the Machinery Workshop ought not to be a purely productive department, but rather an "upstream" unit that combined research and development, testing, and the manufacture of early prototypes. Its role was to produce the first machine, not to engage in continuous, repetitive mass production.
Within the Machinery Workshop, a new industrial chain or link would go through the process of going from nothing to something. Craftsmen, apprentices, and Lord Egg would complete the construction of the prototype and trial production based on that prototype; and once the chain or link had matured and could become part of the industrial system, it should be spun off from the Machinery Workshop in an appropriate manner, becoming an independent factory or a production line within some factory, setting out on the path of independent development and industrial takeoff.
This was the method Gao Yang had devised to build up the arcane industrial system he envisioned as quickly as possible. It might not be the best method, but it was the most suitable choice for the territory at present.