Observing the audience's reaction, Shen Qin smiled faintly. This holographic demonstration had originally been created by him, Albedo, and Sucrose as a practice project, included here simply to acclimate everyone to the viewing experience. The real presentation was about to begin.
The projection now focused on the shattered central spire. A rapid, staccato drumbeat emerged in the soundtrack, growing progressively louder. Luminous lines traced the contours of broken masonry before reconstructing the tower piece by piece.
As the camera pulled back, sharp electric guitar riffs replaced the drumbeats, building into an exhilarating melody (A/N: Reference BGM: "Spoiler" from Cyberpunk 2077).
Two concentric rings of elevated walkways were restored, maintaining Old Mondstadt's ancient aesthetic. But then, buildings beyond imagination began rising from the ground, structures with a minimum of twenty stories high, the tallest exceeding one hundred floors, densely packed across the landscape.
Rail tracks wove between the skyscrapers, with maglev trains speeding along them. Simultaneously, orderly aerial vehicles navigated between buildings, landing and taking off from platforms on every level.
The scene transitioned to night, revealing the inner city's dazzling skyline. Every window glowed with light, while holographic advertisements projected from skyscraper rooftops illuminated the night sky in a riot of colors, and reflected off the audience's stunned faces.
None noticed each other's undignified expressions, their gazes locked onto the projection.
'Was this a fucking city? Shen Qin planned to transform Stormterror's Lair into something never before seen in Teyvat?!'
The futuristic skyscrapers, unprecedented maglev trains, flying vehicles, and vibrant light pollution continuously assaulted their senses.
The view zoomed out further, presenting the entire Stormterror's Lair. Eight massive aerial corridors connected the inner city to an enormous peripheral ring of elevated walkways.
Then the entire scene shrank onto a smart bracelet's display. A man closed the interface and climbed into a massive Brightcrown transport vehicle. The behemoth accelerated across rough terrain before merging onto an expansive, smooth highway.
As the vehicle entered the roadway, an emotionless automated announcement played on loop from roadside speakers:
"Countless roads may exist, but safety comes first; reckless driving brings tears to loved ones."
The human figure provided scale, allowing everyone to immediately grasp the transport vehicle's and highway's colossal dimensions.
But there was no time to process this astonishment, the projection continued.
A massive robotic arm effortlessly scooped up enough earth to crush a house.
A tunnel boring machine carved smoothly through a mountain.
A rocket streaked skyward on fiery jets until it vanished from sight.
Finally, the scene returned to the city.
A girl slept peacefully until her 7:30 alarm chimed. She awoke, put on her smart bracelet, and the room's lights activated automatically. With a wave, the curtains opened, flooding the space with sunlight.
After attaching a bionic prosthetic to her thigh, she entered the bathroom to freshen up.
The scene changed: she exited her apartment wearing glasses and a backpack, dressed in clothing utterly foreign to Teyvat's fashion, denim shorts paired with a leather jacket, radiating youthful energy.
The device covering her ears puzzled the audience, until the next scene provided explanation.
Tapping her glasses' frame summoned a virtual interface. Gesture controls navigated to a music app, and cheerful tunes began playing—revealing the headset's purpose through close-up.
The wealthy recognized this as an ultra-compact phonograph, though its miniaturization still amazed them.
Bouncing to the music, she approached an elevator. Her display immediately prompted: "Take elevator?" After selecting the ground floor, the elevator arrived instantly.
A semi-transparent building cross-section showed her rapid descent.
'So this was how vertical movement worked in such towering structures!'
While the audience marveled, the girl reached the lobby and approached a vending machine. After selecting milk and bread, a payment notification appeared, but nothing dropped into the retrieval slot.
BAM!
Her kick to the machine startled everyone as the music cut abruptly. Only then did the items tumble out.
Retrieving her breakfast, she stepped onto a hoverboard and entered a dedicated sky lane as the music resumed.
The view expanded to reveal an intricate, immaculate transportation network.
At the maglev station, she passed through turnstiles that automatically processed payment through her device. While waiting, she waved over a cylindrical cleaning robot, which opened a compartment in its "head" for her trash.
The robot responded with a holographic Bennet thumbs-up emoji ("Pyro Archon's Approval").
Cyrus couldn't help but take a laugh.
The sleek maglev train arrived and whisked her away. Interior shots showed passengers watching videos, making calls, or reading news on virtual displays.
After disembarking, she reglided to the "Spire Alchemy Academy ─ Tech Campus" beneath the central tower.
A classroom scene followed: a teacher demonstrated electromagnetic cannon schematics via hologram, with the girl among the students.
The view rapidly zoomed out to display the entire transformed Stormterror's Lair, overlaid with text:
"Experimental Academy City Construction Plan Preview. Actual results may vary."
The lights came up and curtains reopened, but the audience remained frozen, utterly immersed in what they'd witnessed.
The impact of this preview equaled Earthlings confronting Trisolaran technology, or ancient people beholding modern skyscrapers and aircraft.
'This was civilization-level technological disruption.'
Jean was the first to recover. With a wry smile at Shen Qin, she said, "I thought you just wanted to build a research base and some factories, not an entire city!"