The Traveler explained the situation clearly to Dori, wanting to ask if Dori knew who was behind the scenes selling canned knowledge.
Unfortunately, Dori didn't know either—she had already stopped dealing in canned knowledge.
That group had too much canned knowledge; Dori couldn't compete with them, so she naturally retired from the business.
Half-retired, that is—she was still doing other "illegal" trades.
However, though she didn't know who the mastermind was, Dori did know some intelligence.
[Dori said: "Though I don't know who the mastermind is, for the sake of you keeping my secret, I'll reveal a bit of what I know."]
["After all, that group's manners are too poor. I'm also hoping they meet misfortune soon, so I can take over... ahem, so the industry can be regulated sooner."]
This line felt very familiar to everyone—this was recorded in Liyue too.
Wasn't this "watching that kid earn money hurts more than owing a debt"? Liyue really produces golden quotes.
Canned knowledge was indeed too profitable—that's why Dori eyed this cake.
And precisely because of this, at the moment, even without spending a single Mora, Dori was willing to share intelligence.
But not spending money now was just appearance—how could Dori let money slip away?
After giving this intelligence to the Traveler, it could strike commercial rivals and earn a sum from the Traveler—truly: Red Army entering Berlin—one move, two gains (de).
The reason canned knowledge sold well was its convenience—turning someone who knew nothing into a scholar quickly.
[Dori: "But in this world, where is there anything with only benefits and no cost?"]
Dori said this, but if forced to say, her Palace of Kasalazar had no cost...
No—there was cost, just paid by others.
Ahem, let's not talk about Kaveh's story here—continue listening to what Dori has to say.
[Dori: "Learning, thinking, practicing... acquiring knowledge is inherently a tedious process. Just like when I sell things, I have to prepare a lot in advance."]
["And canned knowledge skips all the steps, letting you directly obtain knowledge—this creates at least two potential problems."]
["First, you will unquestioningly believe this knowledge and find it extremely hard to forget... This means once there's an error, it's almost impossible to correct."]
This was "empiricism," and a very absolute empiricism at that—indeed easy to lead to mistakes.
Even more terrifying, the knowledge from canned knowledge was hard to forget and correct, making people more prone to empiricist errors.
Like getting used to closing documents to save files, but accidentally clicking no save when closing—because no habit of saving periodically, the document is all gone, woo woo woo.
["Second, long-term excessive use will gradually degrade your thinking ability, eventually turning you into a library that can only 'store' knowledge."]
This line had a close-up on Dori's face. It was describing something somewhat scary, but because Dori looked cute, no one felt scared.
Dori's second situation was long-term excessive use—talking toxicity without dosage is hooliganism.
Those who use it occasionally actually have no side effects.
But who knows the Traveler's situation—used it once and became very fond of using swords.
Before, Dori also sold some canned knowledge, but recently those people were selling way too much—this wasn't good.
On one hand, Dori couldn't compete; on the other, she knew this would definitely cause issues, so she smartly chose self-preservation and exited the market first.
[Dori: "From what I know, their real goal is to use canned knowledge to transmit intelligence about the 'Court of Desolation.' This is the once-in-a-lifetime big business."]
What! It was actually the Court of Desolation!
Seeing this name, readers were stunned—everyone asking, what is the Court of Desolation?
Though the text specially highlighted these four words, making it look extraordinary—but what exactly was it?
[Dori explained: "Legend says the Court of Desolation is a ruin from the Scarlet King's era. Obtaining the treasure inside allows one to transcend life and death. But this is research explicitly forbidden by the Akademiya."]
["I hear that during this period, there's an auction in the desert selling rare canned knowledge—some of which relate to the Court of Desolation."]
As expected of Dori—legends of Scarlet King-era ruins, auctions in the desert—she knew everything?
But for transcending life and death, everyone wasn't very convinced—after all, even the Scarlet King himself died; not very persuasive.
What Dori knew was things even Cyno hadn't investigated—as expected of Dori, easily achieving what Matra couldn't.
Specialization—Matra wanting gray industry intelligence needed slow investigation, while Dori was part of the gray industry.
[Dori: "I've said so much—it's time to recommend our 'limited edition desert special travel pack' to you two! It even includes a map marking the auction location!"]
["I mentioned earlier, right? When I sell things, I have to prepare a lot in advance. So let me think—what's the price?"]
She did mention it, but no one expected all that intelligence earlier was just buildup.
["Oh! Each travel pack is only 500,000 Mora—such a great deal! Little Paimon's travel pack is even half off—just 250,000 Mora!"]
Dori meant: total 750,000 Mora.
Earlier, someone bought a pile of canned knowledge for only 150,000 Mora—Dori selling two backpacks for 750,000—she really saw the Traveler as a fat sheep.
But you couldn't call her a shady merchant—because selling backpacks was fake; selling intelligence was real.
What was truly worth 750,000 Mora was the intelligence just said—the backpacks were just a front.
Dori also knew her target customers well—this money would be billed to Cyno, not asked from the Traveler.
This scene felt very familiar to Tartaglia—he often received bills.
Most were Zhongli's, occasionally Lucian's.
But Tartaglia didn't mind—in the end, Pantalone paid; the bills just passed through his hands.
Cyno was the same—when he returned to the Akademiya, he could normally go through OA for Akademiya reimbursement.
Had to admire Dori's business acumen—her whole spiel made it impossible to refuse.
Though she had already given the intelligence, if you didn't pay for it, there would be no trust relationship in the future—how to do business then?
Neither the Traveler nor Matra would want to lose Dori as an intelligence source.
Normally that's how it would be—but Dori overlooked one issue: Cyno wasn't an ordinary Matra—he was the General Mahamatra!