Chapter 317 - 138: The 45th Mysterious Reward_3
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Unknowingly, the mysterious reward that comes every 15 days had already been received for the forty-fifth time.
Thinking back over these nearly two years, he never slacked off.
With effort and wisdom, and of course the support provided by the rewards from the Space-Time Administration Bureau, Chen Zhou had built a safe and warm shelter on this isolated island, planted enough crops to eat, and even enough to feed sheep, which made him feel proud of himself.
Familiar with the route, he reached the beach, instinctively stepping over the wooden and stone wall, and saw the reward this time.
The reward’s packaging was not very large and looked quite ordinary, but after tearing off the corrugated paper, it was an exquisitely crafted box made of metal and plastic.
Opening the box, wrapped in thick velvet, a large red telescope with a metallic sheen was the first thing Chen Zhou saw.
"What a great thing!"
Not noticing that this monocular telescope looked quite different from ordinary telescopes, Chen Zhou quickly picked it up, removed the dust cover, closed one eye, and tried to observe the sea with it.
As December approached, he needed to frequently climb to the top of the mountain to see if the natives were landing on the island.
The Captain’s telescope he got from the ship could also observe the beach, but it couldn’t possibly match the clarity of modern telescopes.
Having a better telescope allows for a more accurate count of the natives, seeing how many captives there are, the weapons they’re carrying, their status, and changes in their expressions, which is undoubtedly a good thing.
As the saying goes, "Know your enemy and yourself, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles." With more information, you have more chances to win.
This telescope was much thicker than a regular one, and holding it in hand, it felt heavy, unlike the design of a portable telescope.
As he used it to look into the distance, Chen Zhou felt that something was odd. ——
The telescope’s image was actually upside down, and the magnification was extremely high. When looking at distant waves, the image was very blurry. Its actual use was even worse than a 17th-century monocular telescope.
"Something’s not right, what kind of telescope is this?"
Realizing that this reward wasn’t the ordinary telescope he imagined, Chen Zhou quickly put it back in place and started searching the packaging box for a manual.
The box contained many things, including various interchangeable lenses and strange small parts, several stands, different rods, and some equipment for photographers.
Only after reaching the very bottom of the box did Chen Zhou find the manual.
The manual was over two hundred pages long, filled with numerous color pictures and professional introductions, leaving him utterly confused.
But he figured out one thing, this was not an ordinary telescope at all, but an astronomical telescope called a five-piece refractor.
This device was used by astronomy enthusiasts for photographing and observing stars, and in theory, it could be used as a regular telescope, but it was quite laborious.
If the distance isn’t far enough, the image would be very blurry, and any slight unsteadiness of the hand would result in an extreme shift in the image, not knowing where it would end up.
One might say, this was a seemingly useful but actually useless reward—Chen Zhou wasn’t interested in gazing at the stars, he just wanted to focus on the ground.
At the same time, as a reward from the administration bureau for the new year, it maintained its expensive trait.
The last few pages of the manual listed other astronomical telescopes of the same brand, and in it, Chen Zhou found the model of the telescope he had, discovering that it cost as much as twenty thousand yuan.
To this, he could only sigh, "Astronomy really is a hobby for the wealthy."
As for this telescope, it could only be packed back into the box and taken back to the modern world to be sold off.
If there was any unusual use for it, it might be used to fool the natives.
If the natives clearly observe the unreachable stars in the sky with this thing, they will most likely regard it as a divine artifact and might develop a sense of worship towards its owner.
From this perspective, it might have miraculous effects, creating unexpected influences.