Chapter Eighteen: Brief Respite

  I was already dizzy and my brain was filled with the numbing sensation of alcohol. At first, I could still vaguely hear Wu Feng and Su Ai discussing something, seemingly about me, but soon I couldn't hear anything anymore, and I passed out.

  Waking up again, it was already a sunny day. I got up and walked out of the tent, only to find that everyone was busy. I looked around and felt like something was missing. At that time, I had just sobered up from my drunkenness and my consciousness wasn't clear yet. So I went back to wash my face again, and when I came out for the second time, I realized that the tent was gone - these people were dismantling it.

  I saw Wu Feng directing everyone to gather on the other side and hurried over to ask: "What's going on? Why are you gathering?"

  Wu Feng said: "Not collecting it, what's the point of this expedition? We've already completed our mission and are ready to head back."

  I thought about it and indeed, they've already completed their task, what's the point of staying in this broken place? So I smiled and said: "Great, we can finally go back. Wait, no."

  Wu Feng asked me: "What's wrong?"

  I said: "You brought me all the way here, now you're leaving and I don't know what to do. When I left home, I didn't bring anything with me, not even my bank card. You have to take me back."

  "When the time comes, we'll send you back." From behind, the old man's voice said, "Now, you have to go back to the research institute with us."

  My dear mother, I turned around and saw Old Master and Su Yu walking over just in time. He said, "Old Master, it's not that I'm saying this, but how did helping out once get me sold to the Institute?"

  Su Yi said: "What's wrong? Not happy?" As she spoke, she swung her unbeatable shadowless leg.

  I waved my hand and said, "No violence is allowed to solve this, I'm telling the truth. When you and Wu Feng came to find me at first, it was with a helpful attitude. Now suddenly wanting me to follow you back to the institute, there must be a reason for that."

  Old man, patted my shoulder and said: "You're right too, let's put it this way, through our exploration and research, we found that you have a connection with these ancient civilization ruins, so you must participate."

  "I said: 'Old man, I was still an unemployed young man at home just a few days ago, how did I become someone related to ancient civilization after coming here?'"

  The old man didn't say a word, but pulled out a photo from his pocket. I took it and looked at it - it was that last stone statue of the builder. The old man pointed to the photo and said: "You still dare to say you have nothing to do with these."

  Although I really want to say that this stone statue has nothing to do with me, but thinking carefully again, it's really hard to explain why it looks so similar. Why do we both have the surname Bai? And most importantly, why did Wen Long not accept his own blood but accepted mine?

  The old man seemed to see my doubts and said: "Want to know the answer? Follow us, we need you. Here, you can find what you want to know, right?"

  I nodded woodenly and said: "Going is fine, but the salary should be a bit higher."

  "Get your big head down!" Su Yi's shadowless foot was already printed on my butt, saying "A new team member talking about salary, hurry up and help with the work of dismantling the tent."

  I looked at Wu Feng, who was secretly laughing on the side, and flew towards him with a swift kick. He didn't expect it, and my foot landed squarely on his buttocks, sending him stumbling forward several steps. I pinched my waist and said, "What are you laughing at? It's all because of you, the ringleader, that we're in this mess."

  Wu Feng laughed even louder.

  We followed these guys for a few days and arrived at the institute in the suburbs of Shanghai. It's a separate big yard, I heard it used to be a school, and later became an institute. The old man took the results of this study to report to the superior department, and I was arranged by Wu Feng to stay in their dormitory. The institute is very large, with bright windows, independent conference rooms, canteens, even bathrooms and swimming pools. To be honest, the conditions are really good, seeing the whole institute, I really can't believe that Wu Feng and his gang only earn one thousand eight hundred yuan. The dormitory is two people per room, I secretly prayed not to be assigned to the same dormitory as Fat Three, and fortunately, my roommate is Xiao Du, who is also a familiar person.

  The tour was over, and Wu Feng took me to visit all the places in the institute, including my restricted area - the girls' dormitory. According to Wu Feng's introduction, there were more than 40 people in the entire institute, with two teams going out. One team was led by Lao Ye Zi, with Wu Feng as his deputy. The other team was led by an old man surnamed Zhou, who happened to be on a mission and not in the institute. Other personnel were responsible for sorting out materials, research, and other auxiliary tasks. Usually, when not on a mission, it's almost always a holiday, just need to pay attention not to go too far, because there may be an emergency meeting at any time.

  We spent the whole morning at the institute, and I finally got familiar with all directions and departments. At noon, we arrived at the cafeteria, just in time to catch up with Su Yi and Xiao Jia who were also having lunch. We joined a table together and chatted while eating. Just as we were talking, a man in his twenties inserted himself into our conversation and sat down beside Su Yi.

  Wu Feng elbowed me and whispered: "There's a good show to watch."

  After the man sat down, it seemed like we were all invisible. I watched him stare at Su Yi and vaguely understood what he meant. He said: "Little Su, heard you've encountered some situation this time?"

  Su Yi sighed and said, "Nothing's wrong." I heard a lot of helplessness from Su Yi's sigh.

  I whispered to Wu Feng: "Who is this?"

  It was probably because I spoke a bit louder, the man seemed to have heard me and stood up, saying: "My name is Zhou Lai Meng, from the Information Department, nice to meet you." After that, he politely extended his right hand.

  I also stood up and shook hands with him, saying: "My name is Bai Jian, I just arrived, nice to meet you."

  "Bo Jue." The other person was taken aback and said, "This name sounds familiar, like I've heard it somewhere before."

  I nodded and said, "Yes, it's the same as Jianfeng Shentai."

  "Ah," the other person suddenly realized, "no wonder it sounds so familiar."

  As I sat down again, I found that this surname Zhou was indeed a bit annoying. Although there was nothing wrong with his words, as soon as he sat down, it seemed like the only person in his eyes was Su Yi, and everyone else was just air.

  "Xiao Su, I heard you guys encountered some danger this time. Are you okay?" Zhou Lai Meng asked with concern.

  Su Yu Bai said with a glance: "Can I still sit here if something happens? Right, why hasn't the old man come back yet?" The last sentence was directed at Wu Feng.

  Wu Feng hadn't spoken yet when Zhou Lai Meng said: "I heard Wen Long say that you guys encountered some kind of Hundred Eyes Formation this time, what's the situation? Tell me about it."

  I saw Xiao Jia on the side almost laughing out loud, Wu Feng also had a helpless look on his face, just shoveling rice into his mouth one bite at a time. At this moment, it seemed like I shouldn't interrupt either, so I didn't say anything.

  Then I heard Su Yi's angry roar: "I'm asking you if you're done or not, I'm eating my meal now, what are you talking about with your nonsense."

  Zhou Lai smiled and said, "Look, you're getting anxious again. Come on, sit down and eat something." As she spoke, she picked up a piece of braised pork with her chopsticks and put it into Su Yi's bowl.

  I heard Wu Feng say in a very low voice: "Asking for trouble."

  I feel sorry for this guy with the surname Zhou, but he really asked for it. Su Yi kicked him to the ground and covered her mouth, then ran into the bathroom like a bird in flight.

  Zhou Lai Meng obviously didn't know what was going on, and got up from the ground in a daze. It seemed like she only then remembered that we were still by her side, and said: "What's wrong with her?"

  Wu Feng smiled and said gruffly: "She's pregnant."

  "Ah!" I saw Zhou Lai Meng's face slightly distorted, anxiously asking Wu Feng: "Whose?"

  "What are you looking at?" Wu Feng said with a straight face: "Anyway, it's not mine."

  I felt a murderous gaze directed at me and hastily said: "Hey, I've only been here for a few days, it's none of my business."

  Zhou came back and glanced at us a few times, then suddenly turned around and ran to the bathroom, shouting: "Xiao Su, are you okay? What's wrong?"

  Xiao Jia had already laughed so hard that he was bent over the table and couldn't lift his head, I looked at Wu Feng with a wry smile and said: "What's going on here?"

  Wu Feng looked at me and said: "What's going on? Just a piece of gum."

  I nodded slightly and said: "Well, it's good that he can't catch up. If he did, it would be really troublesome."

  Wu Feng asked me: "What's wrong? Any thoughts?"

  "They two, names don't match."

  Wu Feng asked: "I didn't expect you to understand this, what's wrong with the name?"

  "Lai Meng, yi ah." I said with deep meaning. I saw that Xiao Jia was no longer smiling and after hearing me finish speaking, he once again buried his head in the table, unable to lift it up, this time covering his stomach as well.

  In the afternoon, I was taken to their director's office by Wu Feng, and signed a contract with the director. After carefully reading it, I realized that I had been deceived by Wu Feng. The salary of these guys must be higher than mine, because what was written on my contract was six thousand. Around three o'clock, I suddenly heard an announcement saying we were going to have a meeting. This is really unusual, having a meeting on the first day of work. As a newcomer, I'm really lucky.

  I and Wu Feng were the first to arrive at the conference room, Wu Feng sat down in the second position on the left, and I sat beside him. At this time, Su Yi, Xiao Jia and Pang San walked in together. Su Yi saw me, walked over, pointed to the chair next to her and said: "You sit here."

  I scratched my head and said: "Is there a seating arrangement for this meeting?"

  Su Yi said: "Right, you'll be the fourth person on this team from now on, sit here." She pointed to the chair beside her.

  I didn't mind, so I just shifted over to the side, and Su Yi plopped herself down in my original seat. Pang San sat down beside me, and I saw Xiao Jia sitting in a relatively distant position - it seemed there was indeed an order to things. Zhou Lai Meng and Xiao Du, Wen Long, and several others also walked in. Xiao Du and Wen Long waved at me, which counted as a greeting, before taking their seats one by one.

  That week, Meng came straight to me and said, "Why are you sitting here?"

  I shrugged, indicating that I didn't know. Su Yi said on the side, "He's already been confirmed as the fourth member of our team, you've been demoted to seventh. Sit down." I took a closer look and found that Wen Long was already sitting below Pang San, and when he saw me looking over, he even waved at me. Further back was an empty seat, which seemed to be reserved for Zhou Lai Meng, followed by Xiao Du and Xiao Jia, with Wu Wen and Wu Bin sitting at the very end.

  "Wait a minute, isn't this wrong? I don't say anything when others sit here, why is it that only when a newcomer sits in this seat..."

  He's a bit annoying, at least that's what I think. Su Yi retorted: "It was decided by the higher-ups, what can you do?" This sentence made me deeply feel Su Yi's disgust towards him, no, it should be said that it's loathing.

  Zhou Lai Meng obviously had no way out, and sat in the seventh position with a huff. Su Yi leaned over to me and said, "He's the most annoying guy on our team, relying on his experience studying abroad, he's always arrogant, to be honest, if it weren't for his actual skills, we would have kicked him out of the team long ago."

  Fat Three also came over at this time and said: "The whole team has not shaken hands with Wen Long." Don't look at his usual loud voice, especially when he snores while sleeping, but when it comes to whispering, the sound is so small that you can't hear it clearly if you don't listen carefully. I fully understood Fat Three's meaning, Wen Long didn't acknowledge him at all.

  At this time, the old man and another old man walked in. The old man sat in the first position. That old man directly sat on the main seat. It seems that he is the highest leader here.

  I took a closer look at the old man, and he looked very familiar. I glanced at Wu Feng again, and it wasn't until then that I realized who he was. I called out loudly, "Uncle Wu!" As soon as I said it, I regretted it. The conference room fell silent, and my declaration seemed too sudden.

  Uncle Wu looked at me and smiled: "Really didn't expect, in the blink of an eye you've grown so big, we...can't help but feel old." This was said to the old man.

  I saw the old man nodding and saying: "Yes. This time's exploration activity can achieve such results, his contributions are indispensable."

  Uncle Wu nodded at me and then said to Xiao Jia: "Let's start."

  Xiao Jia turned on the computer, connected to the projector on the back wall of the conference room, and displayed the photos we took in the Baiyan Tongtian Array. The few people who had experienced it before were fine, but those who hadn't seen it before were all attracted by these photos. After the display, Lao Yezi explained his views and inferences about these photos to everyone. The whole process took more than two hours, and no one spoke, as everyone was drawn in by the content of this exploration.

  When it came to the last photo, the whole screen was frozen there, and it was the stone statue of my ancestors. I saw with my peripheral vision that Fat Three kept switching his line of sight between the statue and me, presumably making a comparison.

  Uncle Wu spoke first and said: "This person is absolutely related to you." He said to me.

  Before I could speak, Su Xi took over and said: "Director, we all think so. Moreover, our research on the text on the back of this stone statue has found that it also bears the surname Bai."

  "Ah, this is too much like it, it's as if I've been reborn!" said Fat Three, rubbing his hands together.

  Wu Feng smiled and said, "There's an even more similar one." He waved his hand at Xiao Jia, who handed over the remote control for the projector. Wu Feng flipped through a few slides until he reached the photo of Chang'e's stone statue. Earlier, it had flashed by too quickly for anyone to notice, but now that it was paused on the screen, I heard a collective gasp of amazement.

  "Good grief."

  "Hey, hey, you're off by a generation, don't call out randomly."

  Everyone else burst out laughing. Fat Three smiled awkwardly and said, "Not that kind of meaning, this is too similar."

  Uncle Wu also knocked on the table, and we gradually calmed down. Uncle Wu said: "It seems that there is some reason for this place to select people, let's talk about it."