It's a good point though, streetlamps and that loudspeaker system. I wonder how they generate it. Something thermal? Volcanic activity?
Geothermal energy should be abundant - I could see them working with that, because why not? But also black energy and the Hallows, while they had those, yeah.
I read this whole part as Shen Wei having zero belief that he would find the wick in the first place (I mean, does it make any sense for it to be stored separately from the lantern, when presumably the lantern was on before it was stolen?)
I don't think we know exactly how the Lantern extinguished and/or how the Hallows disappeared from Dixing? As for Shen Wei, he probably didn't really expect to find the wick in storage, but, well, the Lantern itself turned out to be just sitting there in a box at the SID all this time, so it's worth the try, because what do they have to lose by trying? I don't think he went to Dixing entirely without hope that somehow it might work out.
I do believe that Shen Wei would've preferred to survive (though given the energy imbalance thing, that wasn't much of an option anymore anyway), but already made his peace with dying; he didn't seem to me as if he honestly thought he could convince Ye Zun away from this path - at which point the main question for him becomes how to be the most useful to everyone else while still alive.
Yeah, agreed - he's ready to die, and has been more or less since he put this plan into action shortly after the energy exchange. And he's trying to make it count in every way he can. I definitly don't think he's getting himself captured with the intention to get Ye Zun to eat him soonest and get things over with - like you say, protecting Zhao Yunlan is one of his top priorities, so he'll keep doing that for as long as he can, and try to make a difference otherwise, including trying to get through to Ye Zun. And I'd like to think even then, some part of him is still hoping that somehow everything will work out after all, no matter how unlikely it may be ...
(About the energy imbalance, I don't think we know for sure whether or not that would have been curable if Shen Wei hadn't decided to make himself into a bomb instead. For all we know it might still be curable at this point! Which, honestly, makes it all more angsty, because then Shen Wei has to choose anew not to heal himself every moment, rather than being on a road of no return ...)
he clearly has very mixed feelings about the whole 'throne draining life' business, but grudgingly accepts it because that's the way Dixing bureaucracy/government functions
Oh, yeah, that's an excellent point!
As for the Regent, I'm pretty sure that a) Shen Wei is always irritated by him and b) Shen Wei understands the Regent's mind well enough to be fairly certain that the Regent is going where the wind blows, which currently means Ye Zun, but wants to verify that. Or just figure out how firmly the Regent is in Ye Zun's camp and whether he can be swayed to help them without the certain promise of a win.
All of this rings 100% true to me. :D And given the chance, who wouldn't like to pull a sword on the Regent? *g*
And it makes sense to me that he'd want to make sure whether the Regent was just doing his usual weaselly thing or whether he was actually under Ye Zun's control, because the weasel never commits to anything or anyone and will always, always hedge his bets.
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Geothermal energy should be abundant - I could see them working with that, because why not? But also black energy and the Hallows, while they had those, yeah.
I read this whole part as Shen Wei having zero belief that he would find the wick in the first place (I mean, does it make any sense for it to be stored separately from the lantern, when presumably the lantern was on before it was stolen?)
I don't think we know exactly how the Lantern extinguished and/or how the Hallows disappeared from Dixing? As for Shen Wei, he probably didn't really expect to find the wick in storage, but, well, the Lantern itself turned out to be just sitting there in a box at the SID all this time, so it's worth the try, because what do they have to lose by trying? I don't think he went to Dixing entirely without hope that somehow it might work out.
I do believe that Shen Wei would've preferred to survive (though given the energy imbalance thing, that wasn't much of an option anymore anyway), but already made his peace with dying; he didn't seem to me as if he honestly thought he could convince Ye Zun away from this path - at which point the main question for him becomes how to be the most useful to everyone else while still alive.
Yeah, agreed - he's ready to die, and has been more or less since he put this plan into action shortly after the energy exchange. And he's trying to make it count in every way he can. I definitly don't think he's getting himself captured with the intention to get Ye Zun to eat him soonest and get things over with - like you say, protecting Zhao Yunlan is one of his top priorities, so he'll keep doing that for as long as he can, and try to make a difference otherwise, including trying to get through to Ye Zun. And I'd like to think even then, some part of him is still hoping that somehow everything will work out after all, no matter how unlikely it may be ...
(About the energy imbalance, I don't think we know for sure whether or not that would have been curable if Shen Wei hadn't decided to make himself into a bomb instead. For all we know it might still be curable at this point! Which, honestly, makes it all more angsty, because then Shen Wei has to choose anew not to heal himself every moment, rather than being on a road of no return ...)
he clearly has very mixed feelings about the whole 'throne draining life' business, but grudgingly accepts it because that's the way Dixing bureaucracy/government functions
Oh, yeah, that's an excellent point!
As for the Regent, I'm pretty sure that a) Shen Wei is always irritated by him and b) Shen Wei understands the Regent's mind well enough to be fairly certain that the Regent is going where the wind blows, which currently means Ye Zun, but wants to verify that. Or just figure out how firmly the Regent is in Ye Zun's camp and whether he can be swayed to help them without the certain promise of a win.
All of this rings 100% true to me. :D And given the chance, who wouldn't like to pull a sword on the Regent? *g*
And it makes sense to me that he'd want to make sure whether the Regent was just doing his usual weaselly thing or whether he was actually under Ye Zun's control, because the weasel never commits to anything or anyone and will always, always hedge his bets.