Master of Strange Dao

Chapter 1646 - 443: Reverse Pursuit and Discovering Tampering

It turns out that over in Dazhen, there was a mineral vein, and the family controlling the vein recently had an internal conflict, but it has stabilized now.The original source was in Dazhen, where he previously inspected within the Dadui project's sphere of influence, and if he could see what's going on, it would be a miracle.

After all, everyone thinks about their own interests, some want to earn more, some want to seize opportunities to improve, this time the opportunity, if seized, can ensure a better life in the future.

This opened up a line of thought for Yu Ziqing.

He went around to a few other places and realized that the problems weren't within the project.

The project's direct influence radiates downwards, and in the areas under control, everything competes fiercely.

The problem lies in distant places, and each issue seems minor.

For instance, the mine's reduced output, the poor quality of ore; it can still supply but is slowing efficiency.

In one place, such minor issues are hardly noticeable.

But across ten places, a hundred, each one slows down just a little.

Every step is delayed a little.

When you look at the entire project, the sluggish pace becomes obvious, even slower than when it was in Dazhen.

Yu Ziqing took out a charcoal pencil and started sketching on a slate.

At the top was the entire project, beneath it were various branches, each branch then had multiple sub-branches spreading out.

At the base level, the smallest units were akin to small families in Dazhen.

Also, many were directly connected to large merchant firms or major forces.

There must be even more detailed divisions beneath this.

At this point, with the information he had, he couldn't subdivide further.

Because most of these are outside Dadui.

There are most in Dazhen, but it is impossible for the entire project to be completed with just Dazhen's supplies.

There are also materials from Daqian, Dali, Dadui itself, as well as from the East Sea and Southern Sea.

The raw materials needed for the entire project include those from the Four Divine Dynasties, East Sea, and Southern Sea.

He looked downcast, continuously marking down.

At the lowest level of the entire branch, there were already over a thousand sub-branches.

Once marked, it was clear that few issues arose from Dadui's part.

But Dadui's portion only occupies a small fraction, while of the parts beyond Dadui, over ninety percent had minor issues.

They're all those insignificant issues, which seem to fall within the normal range of fluctuations.

But Yu Ziqing instructed people to backtrack further, and then the issues became apparent at a glance.

Two percent decrease this year, three percent next, one percent increase the year after, three percent decrease again the following year.

Most are like this, not severe, fluctuating, but stretched over time, it becomes apparent as a steep decline.

This situation existed even before Dazhen's Super Large Spirit Transformation Array was completed.

The data might not be extremely accurate, but the overall trend is crystal clear when laid out in a chart.

Yu Ziqing's eyes glowed with Divine Light as a more detailed, complex radiation branch constructed in his mind.

Thoughts quickly flashed through his mind regarding issues at each radiation edge.

A small mineral vein under the Southern Sea, reduced output, very normal.

Several raw materials supplied by some merchant firm in Daqian, affected by internal conflict in the Daqian court, no one can help it.

A family in Dali supplying a type of Spiritual Liquid; due to the war between Devils and Demons in the Abyss Rift Valley, it's a force majeure, nothing can be done.

Some material supplied by Dali, just a tiny component of the Red Soil formula, was stockpiled massively by a treacherous merchant, causing it to almost vanish from the market.

Some material from the East Sea, where a battle among sea Giant Beasts affected the material source, and a coral-like sea material was heavily destroyed...

Some material from Dadui, due to talent shortage, the refining methods haven't caught up with the times, the craftsmanship is raw, quality poor, but you can't deprive Dadui's people of opportunities.

Looking at each case, they're all reasonable.

But just looking at the number of base-level branches radiating out, thirty percent of Dadui's base-level branches had problems, while ninety percent outside of Dadui are problematic, and have been declining for many years.

Some very few raw materials have seen a seventy percent production drop compared to a hundred years ago.

And this is after the current surge in demand and price increases.

If this decline continues, in another hundred years, normal production might not suffice for the maintenance consumption of a Super Large Spirit Transformation Array, let alone for upgrades or constructing a new one.

By then, it will be necessary to continuously seek new replacement materials.

And these new materials might not fit the original arrays, requiring more modifications.

In maintenance, doing so would inevitably drop Big Array's powers by eighty percent or more.

Over time, that impact will grow larger and larger.

It's possible that after a few hundred years of operation, a Super Large Spirit Transformation Array's power might drop to that of a Large Spirit Transformation Array.

Yu Ziqing closed his eyes, ended his deduction, waved his hand, and everything on the stone wall in front of him dissipated completely.

"Ha...

Taking me for a fool.

Over ninety percent.

If this isn't someone secretly influencing things, I'll unscrew my head and use it as a ball! "

If it hadn't been for the Mountain Lord telling him solemnly, he really wouldn't have the time to manage the project's specifics, as long as it could proceed steadily, he would only occasionally check the overall progress.