"The teleportation gate on the Xisiya side has completed its anchor binding. The test can begin."
After the personnel responsible for liaison between Xisiya and Manchidon made the announcement, a reply came back from the other side almost immediately.
"We're starting right now!"
The decision-makers from both Manchidon and Xisiya were either present at the sites or watching through live streams, all bearing witness to this momentous occasion.
When Manchidon opened the teleportation gate on the rooftop of the Golden Sailing Ship building, at the same moment, the teleportation gate inside the Xisiya air-raid shelter activated on its own without anyone touching it. The anchor inscription on the door emitted a bright glow, and the door automatically synchronized open.
Yelanka and the others all stared wide-eyed at the bizarre sight within the gate.
Guan Tong, who wasn't present, also witnessed the scene through the visual feed shared by Shadow. The first thing that came into view after the teleportation gate opened was an enormous lens-like image.
The image resembled fisheye vision. All surrounding light became warped after entering the lens. And when Guan Tong manipulated Shadow to walk around to the side of the gate to look, all he could see was a thin black edge line.
"This is... warped spacetime." Yelanka let out a soft breath, clearly awestruck by the sight of the teleportation gate opening.
She and Guan Tong were relatively fine—one had the presence of mind to sigh in wonder, the other had the composure to walk to the side for a closer look.
Everyone else, however, stood with their eyes locked onto the warped spacetime mirrored within the gate. The light drawn into it shifted and transformed like a kaleidoscope, utterly mesmerizing, making it impossible for them to look away.
The teleportation gate had been open for a moment, yet no one came through.
Guan Tong reminded them: "The test isn't finished yet."
Gao Liangwei snapped back to his senses and notified the liaison to communicate.
The test procedure was that before the teleportation gate opened, Manchidon would first send someone through the gate. After confirming they arrived safely at Zhang Minglu's location, Zhang Minglu would then send someone back through, completing the two-way teleportation test.
Now the gate had been open for over ten seconds, and still no one had walked out. They were probably all captivated by the mesmerizing visual of the warped spacetime.
Even Guan Tong, who had experienced countless strange situations, felt a sense of the profound mystery of spacetime when he looked at the warped light within the gate.
Before Gao Liangwei could send someone to notify them, Manchidon quickly responded.
They stated that the teleportation gate opening was so stunning that everyone on their side was spellbound, forgetting about the test, and that they would execute the procedure immediately.
About seven seconds later, an arm suddenly reached out from beyond the gate.
Everyone on the Xisiya side let out a cheer. Then the rest of the person's body gradually emerged... and finally, a young man filled with excitement and nervousness fully stepped out of the teleportation gate.
"It... it worked!" The young man turned to look at the teleportation gate behind him, then looked at his own body. "I'm fine! The teleportation test succeeded!"
Cheers erupted from both sites. Even though they had expected it, teleportation gates were still too advanced a concept for humanity. People couldn't help but harbor doubts when using them.
But in Guan Tong's view, this was just something you get used to.
Like before he transmigrated, when he traveled to distant places, he never had much doubt about taking an airplane.
But in reality, even before he transmigrated, people back on Earth still hadn't fully figured out the complete principles of why airplanes could fly. They called it aerodynamics, but it still relied on endless wind tunnel testing.
There were countless technologies that humanity didn't fully understand at their fundamental level, but that didn't stop people from using them to make life more convenient.
The spatial folding teleportation gate before him was exactly that, in Guan Tong's view. He knew that the science departments of every nation were undoubtedly working day and night on the "coordinate-stabilizing anchors," hoping to crack the principles and manufacture them on their own.
But that would almost certainly yield nothing, just like how humanity had never stopped researching Mind Power items since the very first day they appeared.
And yet, up to this very moment—with the Fire Thief's third anniversary of arrival just two months away—humanity still hadn't figured out anything substantial.
After the Manchidon tester crossed through the teleportation gate and arrived in Xisiya, Xisiya followed procedure and sent their own tester through the gate to Manchidon.
At first, the Xisiya tester was extremely nervous, but after seeing the Manchidon tester succeed, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.
With that, the Xisiya tester no longer gingerly extended an arm into the gate to test the waters. Instead, he gritted his teeth and strode straight through the teleportation gate.
Three seconds later, news came back from Manchidon that the Xisiya tester had appeared safely on the rooftop of the Golden Sailing Ship building. The teleportation was a success.
Another round of cheers erupted.
Afterward, both testers crossed through the teleportation gate once more, returning to their respective nations.
With both tests completed without a single problem, it was more than enough proof that this spatial folding passage was extremely stable.
With this passage, if the need ever arose, personnel from both nations could cross millions of miles to reach each other's country without relying on teleportation-type items. In critical moments, this could prove to be immensely valuable.
The Manchidon side had already begun celebrating. Here in Xisiya, Yelanka also wore a look of delight, but she wasn't swept away by the success. She quickly calmed down.
"This is only preliminary success. Next, we need to continuously observe the physical condition of both testers over time, to ensure this teleportation won't have long-term effects on them."
Yelanka was right. Whether the human body crossing through a spatial folding passage had side effects or would be affected at all could only be determined through long-term observation measured in weeks and months.
Furthermore, it was necessary to properly investigate what the two testers physically felt while crossing the spatial folding passage, and what their eyes had seen.
"Let's end the test."
After the teleportation test was completed, the Xisiya side closed their teleportation gate. News came from Manchidon that their gate had also automatically closed without anyone touching it.
It seemed that, just like when they opened, the teleportation gates at both ends of the passage maintained perfect synchronization. There was no possibility of one being open while the other was closed.
As the gate shut and Guan Tong was about to leave, Yelanka suddenly received some message. Her brow furrowed, and she personally walked over to the teleportation gate.
Sigaochin followed close behind without leaving her side. Though Guan Tong didn't know what was happening, he also manipulated Shadow to stay for the moment.
Yelanka walked up to the teleportation gate and looked up at the diamond-shaped inscription of the Coordinate Resonance Anchor, staring at it for a few seconds.
"Sigaochin, can you see any change in it?"
Sigaochin examined it carefully. "With all due respect, I don't see any change."
"But the research department just told me that after the teleportation gate closed, they detected an extremely faint decrease in the brightness of the anchor inscription's glow."
Hearing this, Guan Tong manipulated Shadow to walk over. Through the shared visual feed, he could discern something with his Five Senses that far surpassed ordinary people.
"There are signs of wear on the inscription," he said. "Though extremely faint... I see. The teleportation gate consumes the anchor inscription during the opening process. If the inscription is completely worn away, the passage will likely become unusable."
Yelanka and the others were startled. They hadn't expected this.
But thinking about it more carefully, it made perfect sense that spatial folding consumed energy. The "work" required to instantaneously teleport a person a thousand miles away had to be enormous.
"So, this anchor item is essentially a type of energy storage device," Yelanka speculated. "The energy it stores is specifically used to open the spatial folding passage..."
She turned to look at Shadow and pressed further: "How long can this anchor inscription last? Or how many uses does it have?"
"I don't know," Guan Tong said. "That's something you'll need to test yourselves."
This was his first time setting up a passage, and he had never seen an anchor inscription that had been completely worn down. He had absolutely no way of knowing how long one anchor could last or how many uses it had.
But he thought to himself—if the energy stored within a pair of anchors wasn't much, and they'd be depleted before long, then he should raise the anchor prices.
An item that could be used indefinitely and an item with limited uses couldn't possibly have the same value.
Usually, items that could be used indefinitely were worth more. But with the anchors, it was the opposite. Precisely because they were limited, the unit price should be even higher.
"Since the transaction is complete, I'll be on my way."
"Please wait a moment."
Yelanka called out to Shadow.
"Xisiya may also rent anchors from the Administrator in the future. I hope the Administrator can reserve some for us."
"May?" Shadow shook his head. "Anchor prices will inevitably rise in the future, and there will be many buyers. If Xisiya wants to make a reservation, you'll need to put down a deposit to lock in the order. Otherwise, I can't promise anything."
Yelanka thought for a moment, then said, "Fine. Xisiya will lock in two pairs, that is, four anchors. How much is the deposit?"
"Five million per pair. Ten million for two pairs."
"No problem." Yelanka turned to Sigaochin. "You can transfer the deposit to the Administrator later."
"Yes."
It was clear from her expression that Sigaochin wasn't happy about such a steep deposit, but she still obeyed the order.
After completing the construction of the first passage, Guan Tong returned to Bandzhen. While collecting the deposit from Sigaochin, he received a private message from Zhang Minglu.
The content was simple, yet shocking.
Zhang Minglu: "Your pursuit of Duanmu Feng can come to an end now. He took his own life in the isolation room."
Guan Tong stared at the private message. His first reaction was suspicion—he didn't think Duanmu Feng was the type of person to do that. But at the same time, he didn't believe Zhang Minglu would lie to him about something like this.
He replied with a question: "What happened?"
Zhang Minglu responded quickly: "Head Gao went to talk with him once. After that, he did it."
Guan Tong: "Are you saying Gao Liangwei put him up to it?"
Zhang Minglu: "How could that be! Duanmu Feng was Head Gao's old subordinate. If not for that, Head Gao wouldn't have protected him through confinement in the first place... I think Duanmu Feng probably felt he had become a burden to his old commander, so he made that choice."
Guan Tong: "..."
He thought to himself that what Zhang Minglu said made sense, but if Gao Liangwei hadn't gone to see Duanmu Feng, the latter might never have realized that he was being a burden.
As for whether Gao Liangwei himself was aware of that dynamic, no one else could know. Only he knew the truth in his own heart.
Zhang Minglu: "No one wanted to see things reach this point. But with the dead laid to rest, the matter is closed. You can let go of this weight on your mind."
Guan Tong: "I know you don't want to hear this, but he brought it on himself. He must have known he had mental problems, yet he still chose to become a teacher at the academy. That was his biggest mistake."
Zhang Minglu: "Yes, you're right. But isn't that just how people are? So often we can't see ourselves clearly, and we do things that can never be undone."
Guan Tong: "..."
Zhang Minglu: "But Guan Tong, you achieved your goal. It's not about Duanmu Feng's death itself. I think the deeper purpose behind your insistence on his death was to send a signal, wasn't it?
You wanted to strike the mountain and shake the tiger, to make everyone within Beixing who might wish you harm weigh carefully what the consequences of moving against you would be. Even the Countermeasures Research Office couldn't protect someone you wanted to retaliate against... That's the signal you wanted to send through Duanmu Feng's death."
Guan Tong looked at Zhang Minglu's private message and didn't reply for a moment.
He admitted the words were true. The reason he had to see Duanmu Feng dead, no matter what, was partly revenge and partly to send a signal.
Anyone who tried to move against him or the people around him would be hunted down to the very end, even if it meant going against the Countermeasures Research Office.
Without a doubt, this signal would, as Zhang Minglu said, cause anyone within Beixing with the authority to know about this matter to reassess how dangerous he truly was. They would no longer treat him as some young man who could be appeased with an apology after an offense.