CC looked down:
"This is...?"
"This is a key to a nuclear-powered motorcycle."
Her father said softly:
"I went through a lot of effort and asked soone to get it from far away."
"Let it take Bruce’s place... and accompany you to China."
He smiled and gave one last hug to his grown-up, graceful, courageous, and stubborn daughter:
"If you see Mr. VV again, rember to say hello for ."
...
Inside the Rhein University cafeteria, steam wafted from the freshly cooked als, and two chefs chatted while cooking:
"This winter is really cold, but it’s warm in the kitchen."
"Absolutely."
The other chef opened the stear, letting the fog spread:
"The river’s frozen this year, several ters thick, solid as a rock. You can drive right across it! When was it ever this cold before?"
"Indeed."
The chef began to fry another dish:
"Tell , in such cold weather, how does that person in the underground lab in the back mountain manage? Our warm als are cold by the ti they get there."
"I heard he’s working on so kind of research."
The stear chef took out the staple food:
"I heard that person has been in there for over a year and never ca out, and no one knows what’s really happening inside."
"The lab door is locked from the inside; no one can enter without unlocking it from within. Captain Big Face is responsible for delivering als and retrieving utensils, yet they never see each other. Everything is passed in through a special window."
"Keeping it so mysterious, what on earth is that scientist researching?"
The frying chef shook his head:
"I don’t know."
"But with this level of secrecy, it must be a very important study, right?"
"It’s said that the back mountain is completely sealed off because the principals say no one should disturb the underground laboratory there."
"Anyway, it’s none of our business; we don’t understand scientific research, so let’s not dig too deep. We just need to do our logistics work well."
Another dish was cooked and plated.
The stear chef also finished plating and shouted towards the door:
"Captain Big Face! The als are all ready!"
...
Winter passed, spring ca, and the temperature rose.
The construction sites around Donghai City also gradually beca busy.
Crack!
In one of the excavation sites, a spurt of sparks suddenly erupted, and the hard drill bit broke on cue, flying several ters away.
"Shit!"
The construction site safety officer was startled into a cold sweat:
"What’s down there that’s so hard?"
"I don’t know."
The worker operating the drill looked puzzled:
"This drill grinds granite with ease, but today it t its match and broke so easily?"
The foreman ca over and waved:
"Get a couple of excavators over, dig from the side, and see what’s underneath!"
After working for a while, they finally dug out the hard item beneath.
It was a boxy, shiny, silver safe with a naplate and a combination dial on the front.
"Hafnium Alloy!"
The safety officer, knowledgeable and experienced, recognized it at a glance:
"Only this thing could stay as pristine as new regardless of how many years it’s buried. But... what in the world is hidden in this safe, crafted entirely from hafnium alloy? It’s insane."
Digging once wasn’t enough.
As they continued to dig, they found many more hafnium alloy safes below.
Each was intact and gleaming, and the more they dug, the more they found, at least a hundred safes buried underneath.
The safety officer wiped his sweat:
"So centralized... I wonder what this place used to be. We should report to Boss Lee imdiately."
Quickly, Lee Cheng received the information and ca to the excavation site.
Synchronized operations of several excavators and cranes organized the unearthed hafnium alloy safes neatly by the roadside.
Lee Cheng walked over to inspect them one by one.
The nas on the naplates varied; there were nas from China and foreign nas, suggesting they were products from before the 2504 Super Disaster.
"Huh?"
He wiped the dirt off the naplate, looking at the na engraved on it:
"Lin... Xian? Isn’t that the friend of Rhein University’s Principal Liu?"
Thinking it over.
Li Cheng decided to visit Rhein University to see Liu Feng; being soone from the old era, he should know what these safes are about.
Soon after.
The door to Liu Feng’s office was pushed open.
Li Cheng entered with large strides, seeing the ninety-sothing-year-old principal looking worried, his gaze fixed on the electronic calendar on the table, letting out a soft sigh.
Li Cheng often visited before as well.
Every ti, Principal Liu, who had already stepped down, was in this state.
It’s as if he was anxiously waiting for sothing.
Or perhaps... he was anticipating sothing.
Quite conflicted.
After Li Cheng explained his reason for coming, Liu Feng directly gave an answer:
"That construction site appears to be the forr site of Tem Bank, or perhaps a tsunami or flood displaced the safes to that location collectively."
"How to deal with these safes?"
Li Cheng asked:
"Technically, it would be fine for us to dispose of them as garbage, right? Eventually, the owners of these safes have long passed away, and no one will ever co to open them."
Suddenly.
Liu Feng recalled the words Lin Xian, the long-haired, bearded man, had with CC eight years ago in Brooklyn, Mi Country...
"Not necessarily."
Liu Feng coughed lightly twice, speaking softly:
"Tem Bank was originally an enterprise of Rhein Company, a part of Rhein University. Its founding philosophy was to preserve ti, the world’s best ti capsule."
"Therefore... Li Cheng, please and the previous construction plan and rebuild a [Tem Bank] right there."
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