Chapter 87: Writing in the Starry Sky

Night fell.

The city's neon lights flickered on one by one.

On the open-air plaza outside the Keji Bolan Zhongxin, a cordon several hundred meters long had been strung up.

Outside the cordon, strollers and tourists packed shoulder to shoulder.

Lin Xuan held Xiao Sizi's hand, standing at the very front of the cordon.

In his hand he held a stick of cotton candy he'd just bought, pink, and held it out to her. Find books at Tiantian Novel Reading, 𝓽𝓽𝓴𝓼. 𝓽𝔀 super complete

Xiao Sizi took a small bite; the sugar threads melted on the tip of her tongue.

"Brother, what are we watching here?"

Xiao Sizi looked up, her gaze passing over the cordon.

On the broad, flat ground, black cubes were stacked in neat rows.

Row upon row, densely packed, stretching to the edge of sight.

Beside them stood a few makeshift tents; several staff members sat before glowing Personal Computer screens, fingers flying across the Keyboard.

"Wait for the stars to fall, and I'll dance for you." Lin Xuan pointed at the empty ground ahead.

Xiao Sizi bit into her cotton candy, a flicker of doubt in her eyes. The stars in the sky—how could they fall?

Eight o'clock sharp, evening.

The tall streetlamps ringing the plaza went dark in an instant.

The surroundings plunged into blackness.

Hum—!

An intensely dense, low-frequency buzz erupted all at once.

It rattled every eardrum around.

The LEDs on the undersides of a thousand micro Drones lit up simultaneously.

Cold white beams stabbed straight into the night.

At the control station, the moment the chief commander hit Enter—

A thousand Drones lifted off the ground at the same instant.

The swarm rose vertically, like bees pouring from a hive.

The powerful air currents they kicked up sent fallen leaves whirling across the ground.

Climbing to a hundred meters up, the machines held their hover.

Red, yellow, blue, green... dazzling colored lights flickered in alternation across the night sky.

The swarm began to move.

Every machine wove and slid sideways along its preset path with strict precision.

The points of light gathered swiftly across the dark canopy of heaven.

A multicolored dragon, hundreds of meters long, assembled itself in the night sky.

Its serpentine body coiled and undulated; its claws pawed at the empty air.

The colors of the thousand light sources shifted in perfect sync.

Producing the visual illusion of shimmering dragon scales.

The great dragon swam above the plaza, surveying the tiny crowd below.

The crowd erupted in a tidal wave of gasps.

Countless Mobile Phones were hoisted overhead.

The cotton candy in Xiao Sizi's hand paused at her lips; her eyes went perfectly round.

The great Tang, Chang'an, at the height of the Lantern Festival.

On Zhuque Avenue they would erect lampwheels over a dozen zhang tall.

No matter how exquisite those festival lanterns, they were still just dead things pinned to the ground by bamboo strips and candles.

But the light before them hung above the nine heavens.

Vivid and lifelike, drifting freely.

"Disperse!"

A command rang out from the control station.

The dragon in the night sky shattered apart in an instant.

Points of light scattered and shot outward.

Immediately after, the lights realigned.

Four enormous modern block characters, suspended above the black night, blazed with dazzling golden light.

"Science and Technology for the Nation."

Every stroke was formed by dozens of Drones locked into flawless formation.

The characters stood upright and proper, every horizontal level, every vertical plumb.

"Stars... writing in the sky..." Xiao Sizi's voice trembled.

The Court of Astronomy in the great Tang had said that when the constellations shifted, it was a warning sent down from the heavens.

Yet now, these modern people had simply taken the stars right into their hands.

Shaped them into characters, and hung them on the Sky Screen.

Xiao Sizi swallowed hard and turned to look at Lin Xuan.

"Brother, do they know immortal arts? Can they make these stars obey with just their thoughts?"

Lin Xuan shook his head and pointed at the faintly glowing tent not far away.

"No immortal arts; it all relies on that Personal Computer and the code programs within it."

"One thousand machines, corresponding to one thousand Coordinates."

"Programmers used mathematical formulas to calculate the position every machine should occupy every second and its flight speed."

"The program clicked 'Run'."

"This is called Algorithm taking over everything."

"Before numbers, there are no emotions, only absolute execution."

"One is one, two is two."

Great Tang, Taiji Hall.

Li Shimin stood before the hall door, hands clasped behind his back.

The God of War, Li Jing, stood at his side, his beard trembling with excitement.

"Your Majesty! Numbers! Those people of the later ages say they relied on Arithmetic Coordinates!"

Li Jing suddenly clasped his fist, "Without beating drums or sounding gongs, relying solely on pre-calculated numerical rules, they could make thousands of troops move without a single error!"

A flash of realization passed through Li Shimin's eyes.

Previously, the Great Tang's military formations relied on the experience of veteran soldiers and the shouts of generals.

Infantry squares advanced, aligning entirely by feel.

Once encountering a cavalry charge, the formation would immediately distort.

Because human feeling can err.

But numbers do not.

Li Shimin turned around, his voice booming like a great bell.

"Issue an edict to the Ministry of War!"

"Effective immediately, the Great Tang's Sixteen Guards military formation drills shall abolish the old laws!"

"Order the Doctor of Mathematics from the Imperial Academy to enter the military camps."

"Use measuring tapes and ink lines to measure the battle formations for me!"

"The front-to-back spacing of the Spearmen, the left-to-right intervals of the Hengdao Guards; all must be fixed by numbers!"

"Charging steps, timing for formation changes; all must follow the rules derived from Arithmetic!"

"The Great Tang cannot produce those flying lanterns."

"But the Great Tang's military formations must be drilled by me to possess this absolute execution power based on Arithmetic rules."

"I want the Great Tang's Xuanjia Army to advance and retreat as one single entity!"

This modern light show, originally intended only to amuse the citizens.

Under the extremely powerful pragmatism of the Eternal Emperor.

Was forcibly smashed into the drill manuals of the Great Tang's cold-weapon armies.

Accompanied by the closing broadcast of the Expo Center, tourists began to leave.

The children on site were reluctant to part, clamoring to continue watching the light exhibition.

Some adults could produce snacks or promises of a trip to Yuleyuan, effectively coaxing the children.

Other adults used shoving and the seven-pitch wolf belt at their waists to silence the children's noise.

Xiao Sizi was also a child, equally attracted by this novel thing.

She was just overly sensible and would not speak up on her own.

But her expression had already betrayed her attachment.

Thus, Lin Xuan took Xiao Sizi's hand and walked toward the DJI Drone booth at the exit.

He pulled out a bank card and handed it to the salesperson.

Then he received a black hard-shell briefcase.

A consumption of five thousand yuan brought him an entry-level aerial photography Drone equipped with a high-definition camera.

Returning to the residential compound.

The night breeze carried a hint of coolness.

The central lawn was open and flat, with no tall trees around.

Lin Xuan walked to the center of the lawn.

He placed the box on a stone bench.

He clasped the metal latches with both hands and flipped them upward.

"Click, click" two soft sounds, and the box lid popped open.

He took out the gray-black main body of the Drone.

He bent outward the four folded arms.

He took four black plastic propeller blades from the grooves, aligned them with the motor slots, pressed down, rotated, and locked......

Upon seeing the Drone, Xiao Sizi froze.

At that time, she did not know that a Drone was inside that black box.

Not until Lin Xuan beckoned to Xiao Sizi.

Did she come to her senses.

"Bro... Brother, where did this plane come from?"

Lin Xuan nervously looked around, then leaned in close and lowered his voice:

"Of course, I just snatched it out when no one was paying attention."

"Didn't you get enough of watching? So I had someone steal one."

"Rest assured, there are over a thousand of these planes; no one will notice if one goes missing."