Li Daoxuan needed to head out and find someone to build a 200:1 scale model.
But knowing the world inside the box was set in the late Ming Dynasty, he did not feel comfortable leaving it unattended. The thought of coming home to a floor full of corpses made his stomach churn.
After thinking it over, a lightbulb lit up in his head. He moved his home security camera over, positioned it right up close to the diorama box, and adjusted the angle perfectly. Opening the camera app on his phone, he could clearly see the general situation inside.
Now he could leave with peace of mind.
He quickly hailed a cab and rushed to his good friend Cai Xinzhi's house.
Fifteen minutes later, Li Daoxuan stood in Cai Xinzhi's cluttered living room.
Cai Xinzhi was a professional model maker. Cars, ships, action figures, robots, dinosaurs. If you could think of a model, he could make it.
That was why, a few days ago, when Li Daoxuan received the mysterious diorama box as a birthday gift, his first suspect had been Cai Xinzhi.
Seeing his old friend arrive, Cai Xinzhi grinned.
"Well, well. If it isn't Li Daoxuan. Long time no see. What are you here to swindle from me this time?"
Li Daoxuan laughed. "No swindling today. I'm paying for a custom order."
Cai Xinzhi gave him a side-eye. "Give me a break. You still haven't paid me for that Liaoning aircraft carrier from last time. Every time you show up, it's straight-up robbery."
Without another word, Li Daoxuan pulled out his phone and transferred 1,000 yuan.
Cai Xinzhi's eyes went wide. "Holy crap, you actually paid? Just like that?" He shook his head frantically. "Nope. Nope, I'm not taking this job. Whatever you want must be a nightmare if you're paying upfront."
Li Daoxuan laughed. "You bastard. When I owe you money, you don't complain. When I pay you upfront, you panic?"
Cai Xinzhi crossed his arms. "That's called business intuition."
Li Daoxuan gestured with his hands, indicating a length of about half a meter. "I want a Hakka Walled Village about this big. 200:1 scale."
Anything placed into the diorama box would be magnified 200 times. A half-meter model would become a hundred-meter structure inside, perfectly matching the scale of a real Hakka communal fortress.
Cai Xinzhi blinked. "What do you need that for?"
Naturally, Li Daoxuan could not tell him the truth. "I watched Big Fish & Begonia recently and got obsessed with Hakka architecture. I just want one for my shelf."
"Then why custom order it?" Cai Xinzhi said. "I've got ready-made ones right here. 100:1 scale, looks majestic as hell—"
"I don't want it." Li Daoxuan cut him off. "I only want 200:1."
"Think it's too big? I also have 144:1—"
"No." Li Daoxuan shook his head. "It has to be custom. 200:1."
Cai Xinzhi's face fell. He wiped his forehead. "Damn it, I knew it. The moment you transfer money that fast, there's always a catch. Go on. What else? I don't even need to hear it to know it's going to be ridiculous."
Li Daoxuan snickered. "Alright. The entire structure has to be built with high-strength materials. No foam board, no flimsy plastic. Wood burns too easily. What do you recommend?"
Cai Xinzhi rolled his eyes. "Composite pressed board. Sturdy, lightweight, won't break your back carrying it home."
Li Daoxuan considered it. Modern composite board was solid. Once scaled up 200 times, its thickness would multiply too. Ming Dynasty swords and muskets wouldn't stand a chance against it. Even a Folangji cannon might not punch through.
But wait. He couldn't rush this. He needed to know how thick it originally was.
"How thin does composite board get?"
"About 3 millimeters."
Li Daoxuan did the math. 3 millimeters times 200... he froze. Sixty centimeters thick. That would eat up half the interior space. The rooms inside would shrink to nothing.
"Can it be thinner?"
Cai Xinzhi shook his head. "No. Any thinner and you'd have to use sheet metal. That goes down to 1 millimeter."
Li Daoxuan ran the numbers again. 1 millimeter times 200 = 20 centimeters of iron plate. Perfect. Thin enough to save space, sturdy enough to stop anything the Ming era could throw at it.
"Then use 1-millimeter sheet metal."
Cai Xinzhi raised an eyebrow. "Sheet metal won't have any texture. It'll look like a cheap knockoff."
"I don't care about texture," Li Daoxuan waved him off. "I want you to cut corners. Also, the inside has to be fully detailed. Every room built to scale."
Cai Xinzhi's jaw dropped. "Are you insane?! A Hakka Walled Village has over two hundred rooms! If I have to build working doors and windows for every single one, do you know how long that takes? Add ten thousand yuan!"
Li Daoxuan winced. That expensive? He could skip the doors and windows. The little people could carve their own wood later.
"Then skip the doors and windows. Just leave empty holes where they belong. Also, traditional Hakka villages have terrible drainage. I want you to redesign it with modern engineering."
Cai Xinzhi nearly flipped the table. "You absolute retard! It's a model! Why the hell are you worrying about drainage?! If I use a modern design, it won't even be an authentic Hakka Walled Village anymore! What collector would want that?!"
Li Daoxuan smirked. "I insist. I'm the client. No matter how absurd my demands are, you have zero room to argue."
Cai Xinzhi was struck speechless. He almost coughed up blood. After rolling his eyes so hard he could see his own brain, he grumbled under his breath, "Why don't I just add wheels and a motor while I'm at it? Turn the whole thing into a giant tank..."
He only said it to vent.
To his surprise, Li Daoxuan's eyes lit up.
He slapped his thigh. "Holy shit, Cai Xinzhi! You're a genius! Do it! Add wheels, install a motor, give me a remote control! Let's turn it into a Super Walled Village Tank, rampaging across the land, unmatched under heaven!"
Cai Xinzhi panicked. "Fuck off! Don't run with my sarcasm! If we build that, it won't be a Hakka Walled Village anymore, it'll be a perverted kid's toy! No collection value whatsoever!"
Li Daoxuan clapped him on the shoulder, roaring with laughter. "I want the perverted kid's toy! I don't care about collection value. Oh, and make the tires bigger. It needs some off-road capability."
"Off-road capability too?!" Cai Xinzhi threw his hands up. "The client has lost his mind! I fucking knew it. Ever since Pangu split the heavens and earth, there's never been a single normal client!"
He took a breath, then quickly added, "Tires, motor, remote control... Add another thousand yuan!"
Li Daoxuan paid up and agreed to pick up the finished product in a month. Only then did he head home.
On the way back, he stopped by the supermarket at the entrance of his neighborhood and bought a 200-gram piece of chicken breast for five yuan.
Back home, he took a knife, sliced off a chunk, and placed it in front of Gao Yiye.
At that exact moment, Gao Yiye was walking back from the pond, two buckets of water wobbling on a shoulder pole. The giant hand of Tianzun appeared out of nowhere, holding a massive slab of meat. It set the meat down in front of her, then withdrew.
Tianzun's voice echoed from above.
"A reminder for everyone. Your stomachs are weak from months of hunger. Eat meat in small amounts. Too much at once will make you sick."
Gao Yiye dropped to her knees.
"Tianzun..."
She stared at the meat. Then at the sky. Then back at the meat.
Her eyes welled up.