Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The grassy area right behind the pet shop.
The first rays of the sun had just peeked through the east horizon, little beads of morning dew still clinging to the blades of grass.
The stray cats that usually hung out around there weren’t back yet. They all had missions on hand and were patrolling the surrounding area.
Fina yawned, complaining unhappily, “What do you want, calling me out here this early instead of letting me rest?”
Actually, this was the time that she usually woke up, but Fina had the habit of waking up and then going back immediately for a second round.
All of the other elfins other than Sihwa and Pi had been called here by Zhang Zian early in the morning. He hadn’t revealed any information.
“You’ll find out. I’ll let you guys see something unique.”
Zhang Zian opened the luggage he had been carrying, showing the drone in it. He followed the instructions to mount the camera on its spot on the drone, checking again to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.
“Zian, what is this peculiar being?” Old Time Tea stood by his side, carefully observing the smooth and cold outer covering of the drone.
“Old Time Tea, what do you think this looks like?” Zhang Zian asked him.
“I think this looks like those bamboo hopters that kids play with, but this is a lot bigger and more complicated,” Old Time Tea commented after observing the drone’s blades.
“Well, it does look a little like those.” Zhang Zian smiled. “This is called a drone. It is a machine that, to a certain extent, can fly and take photos and videos without a human controlling it.”
“Gah gah! So what?” Richard scowled at him from his shoulder. “Give me a pinhole camera, and I can do better than this toy! Can I be called a drone then? Be honest, you idiot, who are you planning to sneak photos of?”
Famous mulled it over, finally saying, “So this is a drone… The production crew talked about this before, saying that they used it a lot to take outdoor shots in Tibet, and they had even lost one or two of them due to the horrible climate and tough terrain.”
“Yup, that’s it.” Zhang Zian had heard of that too. Drones had become essential in the filming of movies.
Vladimir was jealous of it. “This can fly? It can go into the sky to capture the moon?”
“We’re a long way from that, but we can at least look over a whole mountain range.” Zhang Zian smiled, looking back at Galaxy. “Galaxy, do you know why I called you over too? With this, I am unbeatable at hide-and-seek!”
Galaxy scrunched up its nose. “Meow! Zian’s a cheater!”
“How is this cheating? Xun Zi has said before: A good man should use his surroundings to his advantage in a new place.” Zhang Zian defended himself vehemently. “Is doing what a good man does cheating?”
Vladimir gave it a thought before replying, “Xun Zi was not a bad man. Kong Zi and Meng Zi were both idealists, representing slavery and royalty systems, and should be heavily criticized. But Xun Zi practiced Confucian philosphy and was a leftist, and he stood for the abolition of the slavery system. His words can be taken into consideration. I agree with the words that you have spoken. Even proletarians have to be proficient with using their surroundings, breaking the self-contradicting belief.”
Zhang Zian could only awkwardly smile. He had merely used a famous quote that he learned in school. He didn’t expect to cause Vladimir to go on a rant. He didn’t even know whether Xun Zi was an idealist or materialist, and he didn’t care. They had all long passed anyway.
Richard flew off and perched on Zhang Zian’s head while he wasn’t paying attention, squawking, “Gah gah! You’re a good man? I think you’re more like the Jun Zi Sword!”
“A good man reveals his eggs, and a bad one hides their machines.”
The napping Snowy Lionet suddenly perked up with interest. “Where are the eggs?”
“The eggs are in the fridge, if you want them go get them yourself.” Zhang Zian subtly shifted to stay a little further away from Snowy Lionet. He hadn’t even called Snowy Lionet along, but she’d come anyway without being invited. She followed Fina everywhere it went anyway.
Snowy Lionet stared at his crotch. “I want to eat fresh, piping hot eggs!”
Zhang Zian smartly ignored Snowy Lionet, starting to provoke Galaxy again. “I had wanted to determine a winner between me and you once and for all this morning. Are you chickening out? If you’re scared, you just have to admit that you’re not as good as me in hide-and-seek!”
“Meow! Galaxy’s not afraid!” Galaxy was itching for some action now.
“Good. I’ll let you see how amazing I am later!” Zhang Zian was fully confident. “Don’t cry if you lose!”
“Meow! Galaxy won’t lose!”
After the drone went up, this entire grassland would be within his sight, and it would be impossible for him to not catch Galaxy.
Zhang Zian was prepared to take revenge for his previous humiliation. He had wanted to ask Famous if it wanted to join in as well, but by the time he found Famous, it had already run to the entrance to the grasslands and could run off at any moment.
“I’m here to watch your back for you,” Famous said, alert, honestly feeling that it was understanding their hide-and-seek less and less. Even a drone was involved now. Was this hide-and-seek in a sci-fi movie?
Zhang Zian checked the drone over several times, making sure that everything was normal.
The drone looked extremely futuristic when finally put together, like it was a fighter from some bug-like country. It had four thin legs on the floor, exquisite and fragile. It was a little worrying whether it was reliable, actually.
Not even Zhang Zian was confident in it. He had already read the user guide cover to cover several times, but this was the first time he was properly flying it. Real-life trials were the only way to confirm a truth, after all.
To prevent troubles from flying a drone in the city, he had specifically chosen the quietest time of day to test it.
He took a deep breath, using the remote control in his hands to make the drone fly.
The four rotors started spinning at an impossible speed, letting out a low whirring sound as it broke the air around them, even the blades of grass around them bending from its force. It finally left the ground gently, hovering about ten meters above the ground like a metal dragonfly.
“Gah? It actually did take flight!” Richard exclaimed with a wide mouth.
The other elfins were all surprised too. They hadn’t thought that something this metallic and clumsy would actually be able to fly.
“What do you think?” Zhang Zian was pretty nervous, his palms sweating, but he was satisfied at their stupefied expressions, pretending to be calm as he pointed at the hovering drone. “Should we pick a name for it? It doesn’t seem right to keep calling it ‘drone.’”
Fina stared at the drone, suddenly speaking up. “Nekhbet. Let’s call it Nekhbet.”
