Before today, there was no ice in Sunset City.

No one in Sunset City or around Sunset has ever known about the ice.

Therefore, for Sunset City, if Gu Chuan didn't reveal the method of manufacturing, the ice cube would also be a unique and strange thing. It's just that it's only used to cool down and freeze.

Even on the earth, before the Industrial Revolution swept the world, the so-called ice-making was limited to a small area, such as the Tang Dynasty used saltpeter to make ice, and for the backward residents who lacked saltpeter foundation and were located in the tropics, it was common for them to have never seen ice in their lives.

After Gu Chuan asked his mother that question, he had already come up with the idea of getting ice cubes out.

Before he actually succeeded, he also had doubts that maybe in this world, the water cold will not freeze.

But in the end, it was over.

So the ice cubes are here—

It is something more subtle and great than gold, diamonds, crystals, or strange things, and it belongs to creation rather than nature.

Gu Chuan stood in the middle palace, his eyebrows were full of heroics, and his big eyes, which still had the childish spirit of a young man, were shining, staring upward.

The objects entering the city were to be reported to the list, so the name of the ice cube had already been put on the case of the chief inspector of the inspection department, one of the twenty-four divisions.

As the ice cube was revealed to His Majesty, a frightened attendant went out to inform the Forbidden Palace Guards on the orders of the Chief Chamberlain. At the same time as the Prohibition Palace Guards set off, other attendants hurriedly ran out of the door, went to the Twenty-Four Division of the Half Dome Complex, and notified the Inspection Department.

So the female adjutant of the inspection department hurriedly knocked on the door and broke into the main officer's room, only to see the head of the inspection department discussing the matter of the bank and Gu Chuan with the department in charge of financial revenue and expenditure, the department of finance and the department of wealth and material management and preservation, and the department of household affairs in charge of taxation and labor.

The four chiefs were all dressed in a similar costume to the Grace, with striped robes in different colors of solid color, and two ribbons draped over their shoulders, carved with different textures and gilded edges.

The Inspection Division belongs to the Military Power Department, and the ribbon is plated black. The other three divisions were all related to internal affairs, outwardly in charge of the labor and taxation of Sunset City and the outskirts of the villages, and inwardly in charge of the financial operations of the council, with silver-plated ribbons.

The female adjutant was also a young man, and when she saw this situation, she suddenly stopped, and her face was embarrassed.

"Is there anything urgent?"

The chief inspector asked.

The adjutant paused not because he heard the discussion, but because he was involved in the responsibilities of the Prosecution Division, but he had nothing to do with the other divisions, and he did not know whether to speak or not.

"This is a matter for the inspection department."

Then the female adjutant came forward and whispered in her ear:

"Just now, the attendants of the Middle Palace had an unknown and unheard strange object directly in front of the crown, and the attendants and guards of the Forbidden Palace were dealing with it."

"I see...... "The chief of the inspection department is a young man, and he turned to the other three chiefs with a smile on his face, "It is the young man that His Majesty is concerned about." ”

"Is there a decision on your majesty?"

The chief officer of the Golden Ministry Division was obese, and his solid-colored robe was stretched open by his big belly, revealing the inner lining inside. He was bald on his head, there were few hairs, he was an older man, and asked with a smile.

"I don't know if it's decided, but we can come and see it in person with the guards."

The young inspector had a calm face, and he was not in a hurry to find out the list document submitted by Gu Chuan, which he had directly approved, and saw that it said that a total of three magical things were to be sacrificed, as the supreme reverence for Sunset City and Sunset City's eternal crown.

"That's a nice word."

He hadn't read the list before.

Because Gu Chuan's entry into the inner city was already a matter of joy, and his subordinates had already reviewed it, so he didn't need to review it.

He turned his head and asked:

"Is something wrong?"

"Not yet."

The female adjutant shook her head.

The chief of the inspection department smiled:

"I don't think anything will happen, it's just that the squire team is always nervous. It is more impossible for His Majesty to have an accident than for the attendants to die on the spot. ”

The fat man of the Golden Ministry Division shook his head with a smile:

"You can't say this casually, if it gets out of the twenty-four divisions and is known by the border people, it's not good, it's against the idea of the crown."

The chief inspector of the inspection department copied the list and stood up:

"Let's go, let's go see what the new strange thing that has been brought in can be used for?"

The other three chiefs all said yes.

The four chief officers soon arrived with the guards outside the Forbidden Palace, where there was already a team carrying large alabaster boxes used to seal off strange objects. The four chief officers saw the direction of the guards, their thoughts were different, and the moment they stepped into the middle palace together, they saw that everything in the middle palace was quiet, and there was no noise.

The statues are still the same, the murals are still the same, the lights are still the same, and the one-eyed murals are still the same.

The guards retreated to their respective territories.

When they looked up, they saw only two differences. One was a "tower-shaped object" with a clock that was taller than anyone they knew.

In the second place, there is a large glass box on the platform under the mural. The glass box contained something huge, lumpy, transparent, burrgy, bubbling with water.

"Your Highness......"

When Gu Chuan heard this term, he looked sideways slightly, thinking thoughtfully about the status of this girl who passed the word.

In Sunset City's linguistic system, the word is used to refer to members of the royal family other than the emperor.

Gu Chuan was not allowed to get close, and could only look at the highness in their mouth from a distance, solemnly touching the ice.

"Your Majesty said that this is a good thing, it can cool down and enjoy the cool."

Her Royal Highness said suspiciously.

This was what happened now after Gu Chuan and the two unlucky entourages were forced to stroke the ice cubes for several minutes. Finally the girl told her to touch it, and the guards carried the glass box with the ice cubes on it.

This near-transparent thing, which had been placed in the slightly higher temperature of Sunset City for a long time, quickly melted into one side, and a little white mist came out, causing water droplets to come out one by one. Looking under the glass box, a thin layer of water stains can already be seen.

The water moistened the girl's white jade flawless hand, glowing with crystal light in the light.

She was stunned for a moment, raised her head, and then realized the arrival of the four twenty-four division chiefs, and asked in a daze:

"How dare you trespass into the Middle Palace?"

The maid who led the way knelt on one knee with the four chief officials, and said that she had learned from the attendants who had informed her that an unknown strange thing had appeared in the middle palace.

The so-called unknown curiosity...... The trigger is unknown, the function is unknown, the ongoing events are unknown, and how to end it is unknown, which is naturally terrifying.

The four chief officials even bowed their heads and claimed:

"We are humble, naturally worried about the safety of His Majesty and His Royal Highness, and hurriedly came to see him, if there is a danger in the middle palace, I will not give up and regret it!"

Humility here does not mean lowliness in sentiment, but a title to describe one's own lowly status.

Gu Chuan knew that these people were all high-ranking officials that he couldn't offend at the moment, so he just treated them as if they didn't exist, and listened silently without saying a word.

Then the messenger said,

"Your Majesty said that you don't have to be like this, you can stand up."

The four officers stood in response.

Subsequently, the glass yarn girl continued: "Your Majesty said, Your Majesty did not die, and the ice in my hand is not a strange thing, but a magical natural thing created by someone called Gu Chuan, which is good. ”

The four chief officials looked at each other, seeing that this big transparent thing was still steaming and bubbling water beads, and they really couldn't guess the existence of this thing.

Isn't this a strange thing?

"Then I'll be humbled and leave."

The chief officer of the inspection department looked down at the floor and said.

Who knows, His Highness shook his head and said calmly:

"Your Majesty said, since you are here, let's take a look here, you are also curious, aren't you? His Majesty also said, not to mention the inspection department, but you, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Households, and the Department of Degrees, are all important officials in the financial and economic affairs of Sunset City, and they are also related to this 'bank', so you should be here to observe. ”

The four chief officials were not curious, and they didn't want to stay in the middle palace for long, knowing that this was a natural thing, they immediately lost interest, and then slowly inquired.

But as soon as His Majesty's words came out, they didn't dare to refute them, but said:

"Then we won't shirk it, and we'll meet this little brother's gift here."

When Gu Chuan heard this, he turned his head and stared at the guys who were dressed like the four priests, only to see their gazes falling on him condescendingly.

Among them, the tall and thin people squinted their eyes, not like they were looking at people.

Gu Chuan was not annoyed, but suddenly felt a little confused, thinking why it happened to be these three divisions, and they happened to be all here, and they all came. On the surface, he also lowered his head, looked at the eight characters on the writer's clock, and said:

"It's my pleasure."

The writer's clock, and the ice cube are two gifts, naturally someone will explain to these four chief officials.

"Your Majesty asked, what is this third gift?" The girl asked.

"This third gift is not as surprising as a writer's clock or an ice cube." Gu Chuan stood in front of the writer clock and said with a smile, "It's just a book and a sand table." ”

He turned around and asked the attendants of the middle palace to open the third and fourth boxes.

People saw that there was still cushioned rubber in the box. After the rubber sheet was removed, each box was divided into several layers, and it was a large square side box stacked one after another. The attendants brought down the squares one by one.

"It should be spliced together one by one according to the serial number."

Gu Chuan.

Several of the attendants were strong, and soon all the squares were placed one by one. The box is a huge square pool that is big enough for a swim! Then, under Gu Chuan's guidance, they began to disassemble the box, which was simple to disassemble, just lift the lid.

The officers were interested, and the attendants and guards stared wide-eyed, and soon saw that some of the boxes showed dirt, and some boxes showed fine sand in addition to dirt, and some boxes also showed mercury in addition to dirt and fine sand, and each time they lifted a board, they became more and more confused, what was the point of piling up the dirt in a peculiar shape?

What's the point of piling up the soil in a specific shape and fixing it on the plywood?

"Isn't this another curiosity?"

Only the chief officer of the household department looked at it, and he was distracted:

"It's ...... It's ......"

"What is this, you say!"

The chief officer of the inspection department, who had made friends with the household department, touched him.

The head of the household department shook his head:

"Look at it to find out."

As one piece after another was lifted, Gu Chuan was also carefully activating the mechanism in the board to close one board after another.

The people became more and more confused, but when several of the boards were lifted, their doubts were immediately dispelled.

"It's the house! This is the kind of house that only the village makes! ”

One of the attendants, who was opening the lid of the box, couldn't help but be curious and spoke up.

"Please continue."

Gu Chuan smiled.

When the lid in the center is lifted, all the sections are connected, so that all the mountains and rivers, small buildings and bridges, boats and carriages, woods and deserts, paddy fields and villages, are all on this board.

The inner city of Sunset City is in the center, and the sundial tower is standing. As for the districts of the outer city, they are distributed on both sides of the Rizhao River in order by relying on the Daling Mountain, and they grow along the river. As for the divergence of the water, running in all directions, countless small village models, and even some people recognize the places they have been.

Everyone can see it.

"It's ...... A miniature sunset city! ”

"Yes and no." Gu Chuan shook his head and walked to the model of the Daling Mountain Range to the edge of the plate and pulled the clockwork. "This is the Sunset City I saw when I climbed Daling Mountain, and it is also the map provided by the caravan, so I reproduced the inaccurate Sunset City."

As soon as the clockwork is pulled, the mechanism hidden in the board pushes the mercury that flows out from the edge of the board and back to the edge of the board, causing it to flow slowly, like a living river, like a living river.

"The world is so big, how can I know the whole picture of this Sunset City on my own?"

Gu Chuan turned around and faced the mural:

"This is my third gift to the crown...... But it's an unfinished gift. Its name is the sand table of the world. ”

"Your Majesty asked, what do you mean when you say this is unfinished?"

The glass-gauze girl asked blandly.

Gu Chuan said while pacing:

"The ancient wise men have told us that the continent is suspended in the void, and recent researchers have claimed that there are many undiscovered or yet undiscovered treasures far beyond Sunset City, which have fascinated young people like me in their constant migration and discovery of new lands. But this world is unforgiving, and there is no relevant conclusive knowledge to satisfy people's curiosity, but maybe God has blessed me to build honor for Sunset City! In the early days, in my hometown, an interesting visitor was welcomed. The visitor was ill and dying, and by the time I returned to Sunset City, he had passed away. But he brought some interesting anecdotal information that surprised me. ”

"A visitor from afar? …… Interesting rumors? ”

The four chief officers listened to the people here with curiosity.

These citizens have lived in Sunset City for too long, and they have never thought of leaving Sunset City, they only think about running their own business, making their business bigger, crushing their opponents, digging strange things in old places, and intriguing with their opponents, and they have not thought about the concept of "distant land" for generations, decades.

Although their ancestors were also people who came here from afar to open up the land.

"I asked him, which village in Sunset City was he from? He said that in the far distance, there were kingdoms similar to Sunset City, and those kingdoms were not the same as Sunset City, and had different rituals and customs...... For example, they did not simply divide the day into days by the sundial tower, they divided the day into twenty-four hours, and called the seven days a week, the four weeks a month, and the twelve months a year, and according to their calendar, he said that I was sixteen or seventeen years old, and they were almost adults at this time! ”

When Gu Chuan said this, even the most well-trained guards could no longer maintain their composure, and discussed in a low voice.

"I asked him what he did? He said he was an adventurer. ”

"Adventurer?"

The girl standing on the stage, known as His Highness, asked suspiciously.

"Yes, adventurer...... An adventurer who is dedicated to exploring the world and discovering its face. ”

Gu Chuan's face was serious, standing at the focus of people's eyes, pointing to Sunset City on this sand table, comparing the big river that crossed Sunset City, and the rolling hills and mountains.

People's eyes followed his fingers all the way to the edge of the sand table, where the rivers of mercury began and disappeared.

"Your Majesty, and Your Highness, now we can see on this sand table our eternal, boundless mountain range, which stretches infinitely in all directions, obstructing our vision. And the sacred river that nourishes us originates in an unknown place and disappears into an unknown territory, with no beginning and no end. In Sunset City's greatest history books, it is written that humans are the measure of all things. They say that humanity is steadfast and unstoppable in its quest for knowledge and progress. Therefore, humans are superior to those animals that can only be our food. Can we now tolerate that these places are unknown, unrecorded in the majestic sands of Sunset City? Can we really tolerate this vast, unexplored world not being brought under His Crown's rule? ”

People looked at each other, and their impression of Gu Chuan began to take shape.

- It's a ...... Madman.

The maid who led the way couldn't help but mutter.

He bowed calmly, lowered his eyebrows to hide his gaze, then opened his hands and said:

"But Sunset City deserves to lead the world! I offer the full face of this world to all of you present, to all who are alive and to be born in Sunset City, and to His Majesty the Most High...... If these worlds really existed...... It is our duty to show them the supreme beauty of Sunset City, and to feed Sunset City with the wealth of the world. ”

And that's what I want to give to Your Majesty.

A sandbox of an unfinished world.