What does "Shiyu" mean in Zenless Zone Zero?

I believe every proxies have been curious about the meaning of the word "Shiyu" in "Shiyu Defense" since before the beta. However, after searching the whole internet for a long time, I couldn't find anyone doing an analysis of the relevant content ...... In that case, why don't I write one.

1. What is "Shiyu" in ZZZ?

The "Shiyu", also known as the "Shiyu Tower", is an important device for transmitting and storing Ether energy in New Eridu. According to the game's worldview, New Eridu is the last city of mankind after the destruction of the old civilization by the Hollow Disaster. The key to New Eridu's ability to fight against the Hollow Disaster is that New Eridu has mastered the technology of utilizing Ether energy. The key to the city's ability to utilize Etheric energy is the "Shiyu Tower".

We can see Shiyu Towers in various places in New Eridu, such as inside and outside Hollow Zero and Lumina Square. Different Shiyu Towers serve slightly different purposes. For example, the Shiyu Tower in the Hollow Zero area not only serves as an energy storage facility for Ether energy on its way out of Hollow Zero, but it also serves as a "watchtower" for observing Hollow Zero. The Shiyu Tower inside the city is mainly an Ether energy transmission and storage facility.

In addition to the towering Shiyu Towers that can be seen from the ground, there are also smaller Shiyu Towers underneath New Eridu. The purpose of these small towers is to transmit Ether energy. In addition, there are also intricate energy transmission pipes underneath New Eridu, which are maintained underground by the small-sized Bangboo. Together with the many underground energy pipelines, these small Shiyu Towers are the main arteries and capillaries that supply energy and power to the city of New Eridu, and they are the pillars for New Eridu to maintain its prosperity and to obtain the power to fight against the Hollow.

All the Ether energy pipelines in New Eridu will eventually be connected to Hollow Zero, which is the longest surviving and most dangerous cavity in New Eridu, and has extremely high Ether energy inside it, so Hollow Zero is like a never-ending fusion reactor that continuously generates Ether energy. After the huge Ether energy flow is exported from Hollow Zero, it will be stored in the portable opinion tower next to Hollow Zero, and then transported to all corners of the city through the complicated energy pipelines. This turned the Shiyu Tower complex next to Hollow Zero into a giant Ether energy battery. This is why the number of Shiyu Towers next to Hollow Zero is so dense.

In addition to the Shiyu Towers we saw outside of Scott Outpost, there are also Shiyu Towers inside of Hollow Zero. Perhaps because of the large amount of Ether energy stored inside the Shiyu Towers, the Ethereals in Hollow Zero attacked the Shiyu Towers. In order to secure the energy supply of New Eridu and to weaken the Ether activity inside Hollow Zero, the defense forces regularly organize the elimination of the Ethereals in the Shiyu area of Hollow Zero, which is known as the "Shiyu Defense".

2. Prototype of "Shiyu Tower" in Zenless Zone Zero

What is the real-life prototype of "Shiyu Tower"? I think the Shiyu Tower is based on a "water tower". The complex etheric energy pipes of New Eridu are similar to water pipes. Hollow Zero, which generates Ether energy, is a water plant, and the energy is transported to the city and stored in Shiyu Tower, just like the water towers that store water in the neighborhoods. After that, the Ether energy is transported to all corners of the city through underground Etheric energy transmission pipes like water pipes. Since the shape of Shiyu Tower is almost exactly the same as that of a columnar water tower, I think it is very likely that the inspiration for the design of Shiyu Tower came from a water tower.

Once upon a time, when there were not as many tall buildings as there are now, water towers were basically the tallest buildings in the area, and could be seen at various locations in residential areas, making them a point of memory in many people's minds for memories of the past. Later on, the increasing height of buildings and the use of new water supply technologies led to water towers gradually ceasing to be used. Nowadays, it is rare to see water towers in cities or even in towns and villages. Therefore, the Zenless Zone Zero project team put the towering water towers of the past into the game and turned them into Shiyu Towers, which are straight up in the sky, and I think it may also be a kind of remembrance of memories of the past, right?

3. Meaning of the term "Shiyu"

After talking about what a Shiyu is, it is time to talk about what the word "Shiyu" actually means. First of all, the word "Shiyu" in the English text is directly translated using Hanyu Pinyin.

The above proves that the word "Shiyu (式舆)" must be a Chinese word. However, I have searched for a long time, but I have not found the word "Shiyu (式舆)" directly in Chinese. So this proves that the word "Shiyu" must be a word created by the Zenless Zone Zero project team, and it is very likely that it is a word created by directly combining the meanings of the characters "Shi (式)" and "Yu (舆)" with the content of the game.

But as we all know, the same Chinese character often has many meanings. So the next thing we need to do is to determine which meanings of the characters "Shi 式" and "Yu 舆" have been chosen by the project team.

The original meaning of "Yu (舆)" was a box for carrying things, but it was later developed to refer to a carriage, or a sedan chair, in short, the part of a vehicle that carries people, but not the power part. Later, the character "Yu (舆)"" was extended to refer to the entire vehicle.

Shuowen jiezi: "Yu (舆), the carriage of a vehicle. Kaogongji: 'A carriage is a vehicle.' Note: 'A car is also a carriage.' According to not say for the Yu (舆) for the car, the Yu (舆) for people living, can only get the name of the car. 轼、䡈、轸、轵、轛, all of these things are parts of Yu (舆)."

From this we can determine that the word "Yu (舆)" means "carriage".

The word "Shi (式)" has many meanings, so we have to analyse it in conjunction with the word "Yu (舆)". In Classical Chinese, "Shi (式)" means "Shi (轼)", which is exactly the same as what is written in the "Kaogongji" that we mentioned above. "轼、䡈、轸、轵、轛, all of these things are parts of Yu (舆)." The meaning of this passage is roughly "轼、䡈、轸、轵、轛, all of these things are parts of Yu (舆)" The meaning of "Shi (轼)" is the horizontal railing or handrail in front of the carriage (i.e. "Yu (舆)").

In summary, the word "Shiyu (式舆)" literally means "handrail of a car". What is the deeper meaning behind the literal meaning of "handrail of a carriage"? In ancient times, especially during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people did not sit in the car, but stood in the carriage. Since the roads were not smooth in ancient times, and the carriages were already bumpy, this would obviously bring about a problem, that is, they could not stand steadily. Therefore, people at that time installed a crossbar in front of the carriage as a handrail, or "CheShi (车轼)", to ensure the safety of the passengers. Therefore, the word "Shiyu (式舆)" means to secure something, or to enable the new Arydoo to ride something safely. So what is the one thing that the New Eridu desires to be safe to ride? The answer is very obvious: it is the Hollow, especially Hollow Zero.

Finally, we need to verify the validity of the above reasoning. In the first "Shiyu Defense" mission, Scott Outpost's Commander Roland told us a story about a "Runaway truck crashing into a crowd". The "Runaway truck" here is an analogy to Hollow Zero, which corresponds to the meaning of "Yu (舆)". Regardless of whether the people on the road are law-abiding, good citizens or criminals, the defense forces cannot allow Hollow Zero to threaten the lives of the citizens, and will sacrifice themselves if necessary to stop the threat of Hollow Zero.

So what's the best way to harness Hollow Zero? The New Eridu chose to absorb the Ether energy of Hollow Zero. There are two advantages to doing so. First, after extracting the Etheric energy from Hollow Zero, it can reduce the Etheric energy content and suppress the activity of the Hollow, thus suppressing the expansion and threat of Hollow Zero. Secondly, the extracted Ether energy can be used as energy for the operation of the city, and as the energy guarantee for New Eridu to fight against the threat of the Hollow. The key to the above means of utilizing Ether energy is the Shiyu Tower that transmits and stores Ether energy within the city. Therefore, the Shiyu Tower is fundamentally the key reason why New Eridu is able to manage the Hollow Zero. This corresponds to the meaning of the word "Shi (式)" or "Shi (轼)".

That's all there is to know about Shiyu Towers. I hope it gives proxies a different perspective and experience of recognizing New Eridu.We'll also be sure to publish more articles on special terminology analysis of Zenless Zone Zero in the future, so stay tuned!