By the edge of Bajiao Lake, there were more than a dozen villas like Li Shimin's.
Arriving at the gate of the one allocated to him, Fang Er casually opened the courtyard door and froze when he saw the scene inside.
Good heavens, had they opened a mahjong parlor?
No one noticed the arrival of a living person in the courtyard until he walked behind Chai Yue.
It was Fang Xin, who was hiding under the table doing something unknown, who saw a pair of large feet suddenly appear before him.
He curiously looked up and then exclaimed.
"Yee-haw!! Daddy's back~~"
"Hahahaha, my son is still the most reliable~" Fang Er laughed and hugged him, kissing him fiercely.
"No~~ Let go of me, I want to go play somewhere fun~~"
However, Fang Xin turned his head away with a look of disdain and pointed under the table.
"Ah, Master!"
Xiao Qing looked over upon hearing the sound and realized that her master had appeared in the courtyard at some point.
Chai Yue's face also showed joy upon seeing Fang Er.
"Alright, you guys continue playing, I'm going back to my room to rest for a while~"
Fang Er nodded to them and then put Fang Xin down again.
As expected, the little rascal scurried back under the same table.
Fang Er looked down in confusion. The table was where the four maids, Bing Xue Yu Lu, were sitting.
He saw Fang Xin playing with Lego blocks under the table, having a great time.
But that wasn't the point~
The point was that the four maids, Bing Xue Yu Lu, were wearing extremely short shorts!
This was just ridiculous~~
Fang Er shook his head speechlessly, greatly disappointed in his son.
With eight snow-white long legs in front of him, he was playing with blocks with his backside sticking out. He was ruined, completely ruined!
Speaking of which, Xing'er's baby should be coming out soon. He'd just train a little one then~~~~
Returning to the study on the second floor, he took out paper and pen to start planning his next steps.
He heard from Zhuzi that Wang Xuance had already sent a telegram and would be back in two days at the latest. Gauss, Faraday, and the prospecting ship from that world had also been found.
Li Shimin had bought a lot of asthma medication from modern times. Once he sent off Changsun Gou, the passage to another Great Tang could be closed at any time.
This meant that the "Search for People Plan" could officially be launched.
He took out the talent plan he had previously compiled and divided them into four groups based on different years.
From 1 AD to 2000 AD, with each group spanning five hundred years.
"Master, quickly, come with me~~"
Just then, Li Tai suddenly burst into the room and, without explanation, grabbed Fang Er's arm and pulled him outside.
Ten minutes later, on a small island in the center of Bajiao Lake, a courtyard had mysteriously appeared, looking newly built.
A sign hung on the courtyard gate: "Prince Wei's Base".
Fang Er, completely bewildered, pointed at the sign and said, "It's fine to hang a sign, but why is there a Japanese word in it?"
"Hehehehe, it doesn't mean anything, it's just for decoration~ decoration~~" Li Tai scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.
"Master, that's not the point. The point is inside. Let's go in and talk!"
With that, he pulled Fang Er into the courtyard.
Several researchers in white coats were present. Judging by their attire, they were clearly selected from the two groups of people Li Tai had "rescued" from Fang Er.
In a corner of the courtyard, several instruments that Fang Er recognized were placed. If he remembered correctly, these were brought back from Area 51.
How had they managed to set them up in just a few days??
"Master, come and look at this!"
Li Tai led Fang Er to one of the machines and pointed to a crystal on it.
The crystal was about the size of a pigeon's egg, its material unidentifiable, and it shone brilliantly like a gemstone.
Fang Er couldn't discern any special characteristics of the crystal and looked back at him in confusion.
"Just this?"
"It doesn't seem like anything worth making such a fuss about, does it?"
Li Tai chuckled, "Master, step back a few paces, and let me demonstrate!"
Saying that, he reached out and pressed a switch on the machine.
"Buzz~~~~~"
As he did so, the crystal instantly began to vibrate, but only for a moment before returning to stillness.
This made Fang Er even more perplexed. He pointed at the crystal and asked, "What does this mean?"
Li Tai smiled again and signaled to one of the researchers.
The researcher ran into the house and brought back a piece of gold, holding it in his palm as he slowly approached.
When he was about ten meters from the machine, Fang Er was astonished to see that the gold in his hand seemed to be blown by the wind, dissolving into mist at a visible speed and converging towards the crystal on the machine.
"Damn!"
Fang Er was shocked!
This scene was exactly the same as the working scene of the prospecting ship!
"Qing Que, tell me, what's going on!"
He rushed to Li Tai's side, grabbed his collar, and asked.
Li Tai smiled, turned off the machine, and pointed to the crystal that was now covered in gold.
"Master, this is a part found from the disassembled prospecting ship!"
"The core component that allows the prospecting ship to extract gold is this crystal."
"According to the experiments conducted these past few days, this thing seems to be some kind of memory material."
"~~~~~~~"
He chattered on for a long time, concluding that the material constituting this crystal was incredibly advanced!
It was so advanced that its traces couldn't be found on the surface. In other words, this thing was either extraterrestrial in origin or only existed beneath the surface!
Li Tai named it "Crystal Magnet". Besides the Crystal Magnet, they had found three other new substances from the disassembled parts of the prospecting ship.
Although their uses were uncertain, they were definitely related to the prospecting ship's energy transmission and anti-gravity flight.
The next research direction would focus on the Crystal Magnet and the other three new substances.
"Tell me, is there anything you need my help with?" Fang Er casually pulled up a chair and looked at him curiously.
The Crystal Magnet hadn't yielded any clues yet. Given Li Tai's personality, if he hadn't encountered a difficulty, he wouldn't have asked him to come so soon.
As expected, upon hearing his words, Li Tai grinned and leaned closer, taking a cigar from his pocket and offering it to Fang Er's mouth before taking out a match to light it for him.
This manner was even more practiced than that of a junior gangster.
"Hehehehe, brother-in-law, then I'll be direct~~"
"Crystal Magnet, I need a large quantity of Crystal Magnet. If you can fulfill this request, I'll be able to master this thing within a year!"
Fang Er frowned immediately upon hearing this.
A large quantity of Crystal Magnet sounded easy, but it was difficult to achieve.
If they relied solely on dismantling prospecting ships, each ship only had one fist-sized Crystal Magnet.
The remaining options were two: either leave Earth and search for Crystal Magnet on other planets.
Or, dig holes, penetrating the earth's surface, perhaps finding traces of Crystal Magnet in or below the mantle.
"Don't worry about this for now, I've noted it down. I'll find a way to solve it for you later."
Li Tai knew it couldn't be solved immediately and nodded in agreement.
Then he did something that made Fang Er extremely speechless. He took out his phone from his pocket, flipped through a photo, and showed it to Fang Er.
"Master, what do you think of this girl? She has 30 million followers~"
"Can you help me get her over here?"
It was a screenshot from a livestream. A woman in revealing clothing was striking provocative poses, promoting cups to viewers.
(Don't ask, it was very inappropriate!~)
"Slap~"
After Fang Er looked at the photo, he slapped Li Tai across the face and scolded him with a laugh.
"What are you thinking? This woman, at first glance, is like the one you brought back before, all plastic surgery!"
"That V-shaped face could be used as a nail!"
"How have your aesthetics become so distorted in just a few days?"
"Don't you have any daughters from the Zhang Gongjin, Fang Lao Kou, or Niu Bizi families that you like?"
Nine out of ten internet celebrities are fake, either from cosmetic surgery or beauty filters. A 60-year-old grandmother can be made to look like an 18-year-old magical girl. This stuff is too diluted!
Fang Er dared to bet that if he actually brought this woman back, Old Li would be at his doorstep with a Gatling gun the next moment.
However, Li Tai rubbed the back of his head and complained.
"Master, you don't know, Sister Ling'er and the others really don't suit my taste."
"Besides playing the guqin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, they only know needlework and midwifery."
"Do they understand anything about modern things?"
"Do they know what 'pushing the cart old man' is?"
"And the Guanyin sitting on the lotus, or the old roots of a coiled tree, do they understand?"
"Look, this girl really understands. I stayed in her livestream all night that day."
"Every time she called me 'Top Supporter Brother,' my heart melted~"
After hearing this, Fang Er stood up and walked outside.
Damn it, this kid is ruined!
He shouldn't have taken this guy to modern times!
After they switched phones, both of their phones were bound to the Mengmeng card, and they had online banking payments. At the time, it was just to make it easier for them to buy things, but he hadn't expected this guy to actually go and tip streamers!
This was just absurd!
"Alas, Master, don't go~~"
"Brother-in-law~"
"Brother!"
"Brother-in-law~~"
Seeing him leave, Li Tai panicked and shouted out all the titles he could think of.
"You're finished. Starting tomorrow, another Li Tai will replace you."
Fang Er threw out a sentence without looking back, pushed open the courtyard door, and walked out.
Early the next morning, Wang Xuance returned, bringing Gauss and Faraday with him. The two foreigners looked at everything around them in shock as soon as they exited the passage.
"Oh, my King, have we truly traveled through time and space?"
"No, no, no, this cannot be real, unless you can tell me the principle of time and space travel!"
"By the way, we passed by a construction site on the way. What are those steel monsters, and why can they lift such large logs?"
"~~"
Until they were led to Fang Er's study, they were still questioning Wang Xuance about things they didn't understand.
Wang Xuance's face was troubled, as he had no idea how to answer, because he didn't understand these questions either.
Upon entering the study, he bowed to Fang Er.
"Your subordinate, Wang Xuance, pays his respects to Your Highness!"
"These three are Shang Bolliang, Gauss, and Faraday, whom you were looking for!"
"The prospecting ship has also been brought back and is docked in the courtyard outside."
Fang Er nodded with satisfaction but didn't say anything to Shang Bolliang and the others. Instead, he handed each of them a book.
Then he said to Wang Xuance, "Was this trip smooth?"
Wang Xuance replied, "Everything went well. Shang Bolliang and Gauss were found almost effortlessly according to the information you provided."
"Only Faraday, for some reason, went into a mountain ravine. Your subordinate spent half a month searching for him."
Fang Er looked at Shang Bolliang and the others, wanting to say something, but he dismissed the idea and continued to Wang Xuance.
"Take them down and settle them in. You should rest for a while, and tomorrow you will continue searching for people in other worlds."
There were many people to find. Instead of explaining to each one, it would be better to gather everyone once most of them were found and then explain.
Wang Xuance stood up abruptly and said firmly, "Your Highness, your subordinate does not need to rest and can depart at any time."
Seeing his resolute attitude, Fang Er didn't say much more.
The construction site that was working day and night hung the signboard of the Australian Research Institute.
After settling Shang Bolliang and the other two into their accommodations, Fang Er took Wang Xuance to the passage.
Lin Bei, the third battalion commander under Zhuzi, was leading people to guard the area day and night. Seeing them approach, he quickly went forward to salute.
"Your subordinate Lin Bei, pays his respects to Your Highness!"
Fang Er nodded slightly and said, "Go and fetch the boxes that I had sent over earlier."
"Yes!"
A short while later, ten boxes bearing the insignia of the Shandong Military Region were brought over.
Upon opening them, each box contained a set of flight equipment.
This included anti-gravity suits, compensation vests, flight gloves, protective jackets, neck flotation devices, flight helmets, breathing masks, and so on.
This was something Fang Er had "borrowed" from Old Liu. The cost of just one set of this equipment exceeded ten million!
He had "borrowed" a total of one hundred sets from Old Liu.
Of course, Old Liu had given them up very readily in exchange for the B2.
"Put on the equipment in here, and this time you will take the prospecting ship to go."
Fang Er said, took out the equipment from the box, and personally helped Wang Xuance put it on.
With the protection of this equipment, their travel speed could be greatly increased.
The temporary passage could only be opened seven times at once. To collect enough talented individuals, they had to find ways to save time.
Last time, he had a ten-person team accompanying him, but this time, such a large group was not needed.
Once ready, Fang Er adjusted the device and opened the passage to another parallel world.
"Go quickly and return quickly, be careful!"
Beside the dark passage, Fang Er waved goodbye to Wang Xuance.
"Whoosh~~"
Three prospecting ships instantly ascended, then disappeared into the passage.
The exit on the other side of the passage was next to the pyramids. After Wang Xuance and his team landed, they, under the shocked gazes of the local people who had come to worship the Pharaohs, blew open a passage into the interior of the pyramid in just a few moves.
Then they rushed in and blew open the secret chamber.
Prospecting ship +1~
Then, one person piloted a prospecting ship back to the Great Tang, while the other three prospecting ships went their separate ways to find Shang Bolliang, Shang Si, and Faraday.
France, The Louvre.
Shang Bolliang was organizing documents he had copied from the Temple of Amun when he suddenly heard a few gunshots from outside and then saw a burly man rush towards him.
Just as he was about to say something, he saw the man grin at him, "Hehe, found you!"
Then, Shang Bolliang felt a blow to the back of his head, his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
"Hehehehe, the Prince said to finish quickly. Let's see who can be faster than me~~"
The man laughed loudly, then picked up Shang Bolliang and ran out. At the entrance, in front of the Louvre guards, he brazenly flew away in a prospecting ship~
England, Surrey, Leith Hill.
Faraday was strolling in the woods with his wife Sarah when they suddenly saw an egg-shaped sphere descend from the sky and land not far from them.