Chapter Nineteen Return Home

  We knew he had something important to say, and the atmosphere immediately became quiet, not even daring to breathe. Mr. Wu continued: "I reported the conclusion of this time to the superior, and the superior attaches great importance to it, but the superior also decided not to make these research results public for the time being, after all, we only brought back some photos. However, the superior still strongly supports our exploration and research this time, in addition to approving a large sum of research funds, many resources were also allocated. Next, the superior requires that all our research will be carried out around the existing clues, everyone should find information and resources related to this research through various channels, and then arrange tasks for each of you."

  He cleared his throat and said: "Su, you and Deputy Captain Wu are in charge of contacting some old connections to see if there are any other leads."

  The old man responded with a sound, and Wu continued: "Xiao Pang, Xiao Jia, Xiao Du, Xiao Zhou, you few in the institute, archive and analyze the existing data, and register our exploration results with the relevant departments."

  "Understood." Pang San led the response with a single word.

  "Wen Long," "Arrived." "You take Wen Wenhui to the Special Police Brigade, because our future exploration work may encounter situations, so it's decided that you will go to the Special Police Brigade for short-term training. The higher-ups will apply for you to carry guns on duty."

  "That's great." Wen Long clenched his fist tightly. This guy was indeed a hot-blooded young man.

  "As for Xiao Bai, take a few days off and then come back to work." Wu BoBo finally turned to ask me.

  "I thought for a moment and said: 'Director, I want to go home.'"

  "Ah." Su Yi said: "Just arrived and already don't want to work?"

  "What are you thinking about?" I said, and at the same time, I took the remote control from Wu Feng's hand, adjusted it a few times, and turned to the stone tablet with the heavenly book characters. "I've said before that this thing seems familiar, but I have no impression of it at all. These past few days, I've been thinking about it, maybe I didn't see it somewhere, but rather in one of the books I read before. You know, my family has a lot of collections on this aspect, I think I'll go back and take a look."

  Uncle Wu nodded and said, "You're right, let's do it this way. Su Yi will go with you." I felt many envious eyes mixed with a murderous aura staring at me.

  It's over!

  As soon as I got home, the first thing I did was rush to the study in the small house. To be honest, there are really many books at home, because my parents are both architects, and after searching for half a day, I still couldn't find what I remembered. Su Yi initially helped me come up with ideas and suggestions, but after a while, she got bored and went to sleep in the big house. I almost flipped through all the books in the small house, but still couldn't find it. I couldn't help feeling a bit discouraged. This shouldn't be happening. I think my father is a very meticulous person, especially when it comes to books - almost all of our family's collection was carefully collected and categorized by him, so it's unlikely that anything would get lost. Unless some thief came to our house and stole it, but thinking about it, if the thief only came for this book, then he's really a refined thief. And come to think of it, the security in our building is actually quite good, plus we live on the top floor.

  It just occurred to me that I still have an attic at home, but because it's necessary to use a ladder to go up, the last time I cleaned was three years ago. Seriously, I need to go out and buy a ladder.

  I knocked on the door of the big house, and a lazy voice came from inside: "Who is it?"

  "Sister," I said, "you really don't consider yourself an outsider, we need to go out and buy some things."

  "Go buy whatever you want, I'll sleep a bit more. These days, running around like this, haven't had a good night's sleep, go ahead, go ahead."

  I had no choice but to tidy up a bit, and then I went out to the hardware store to buy a folding ladder and brought it back. Su Yu was already up by this time, having just washed her face, and was sitting on the sofa watching TV dramas. There were still several apple cores on the tea table next to her, and I found that she had somehow managed to find one of my sets of pajamas to wear, giving me the feeling that she wasn't here to help out, but rather to be on vacation.

  I sighed and said: "You're really something, are you here to find materials or on vacation?"

  Su Wei raised her head and smiled at me, saying: "Vacation is a rare thing. Although we also have holidays during the year, it's impossible to go too far away, and sometimes you'll receive a phone call that requires you to return immediately. This time is great, since I'm here organizing materials, even if there's an emergency phone call, I won't be able to rush back. So, let's take this opportunity to relax properly."

  "Yes, yes..." I responded with a forced smile: "And shouldn't we also get Miss to have some aromatherapy whitening and foot massage or something?"

  "As long as you're paying, I don't mind." Su Yi replied lazily.

  "You're really not polite." I shook my head and said, "Alright, get up, let's get to work."

  I set up the ladder and climbed up to the attic, which I hadn't been to in years. The place was full of dust. Fortunately, it's quite high up here, so there aren't any insects living inside. There's only one trunk on the attic, placed right in the middle. When I opened it, a strong smell of camphor wafted out. No wonder - this attic is temperature-controlled and dry all year round, making it an ideal place to store books. Inside the trunk was another small, square suitcase that was sealed very tightly, with wax seals on all the seams. It looks like my dad put in a lot of effort to preserve these books.

  I picked up the small suitcase, went downstairs, and Su Yi saw it and said: "Wow, your family's old man has taken book preservation to the extreme. It's even wax-sealed."

  I said: "You just know, this box is absolutely the key point among key points, the essence of the essence."

  "What's our next move?"

  I looked at her and said: "Next step, let's choose one of the seven ancient capitals."

  Su Wei looked at me puzzled and asked: "What does it mean?"

  "Open."

  I used a small knife to carefully open the wax seal along the edge, then pushed the lock button on the suitcase and gently lifted it. As I opened the lid, the first thing I saw was an envelope made of cowhide paper with only a few large characters on it: "Ba Jian Collect". The font was elegant and powerful, it was my mother's handwriting.

  Son:

  By the time you open this letter, you must have already seen or found something related to a family secret.

  Alas, to be honest, I really don't want you to see this letter, because at this point, it's likely that we can no longer stop your footsteps from exploring. There's no way around it, this is the fate of our family. The books in the book box, I hope you will read them thoroughly, or rather, let them be completely etched in your mind and brain. I believe that at a critical moment, they will save your life.

  Son, as you continue to explore, you may slowly come to understand some things, but remember that the truth is far from what you see. There are too many things that cannot be said or explained. Just remember one thing: Daddy and Mommy truly love you and will always love you.

  Bai Shulan

  The letter was very short and didn't have a date, so I can only roughly guess that it should have been put in when we received the house three years ago. I took a look at the signature of the letter, and I really hadn't noticed this before - our whole family is surnamed Bai.

  It's quite strange to say, I never doubted anything about this matter before, but when I saw the signature again today, I felt a little suspicious. Logically speaking, it's not uncommon for parents to have the same surname, like my friend whose husband and wife are both surnamed Wang, so they named their child Wang Zhongwang, which sounds appetizing. But the surname Bai is really rare, and it's even rarer for two people with the surname Bai to be a couple in the same region. Thinking about it, it's indeed a bit strange.

  Su Wei waved her hand in front of me and said: "What are you thinking about? Don't you see if these books are useful or not?"

  I came to my senses and carefully flipped through the books inside, only to find three books, all of which were about ancient mechanical architecture. There was also a notebook, one of those early plastic-covered ones. I seemed to recall seeing that stele in this very notebook. I picked up the notebook and flipped through several pages, and indeed found the stele as well as its record. The record made me think deeply once again.

  The Divine Stele is not a monument built by humans, but rather one that has been unearthed in the course of daily life. The text on it cannot be deciphered by anyone. It is said that Cang Jie created characters based on the text on the Divine Stele, which records the ultimate principles of the universe. I couldn't help but think of a joke: the ultimate principle of the universe - big bananas have big peels.

  I handed the note to Su Yi, she took a look and said: "Isn't writing for half a day equivalent to saying nothing?"

  "I said: 'Having something is better than having nothing, come on, let's gather our things and hurry back to the institute.'"

  "No," Su Yi opposed, "it's not easy to come out, accompany me for a few days and then go back, just say that I've been looking for these books for several days."

  Next, it was much simpler. I took Su Yi and played for three days, which was enough to bring this young lady back to the institute with a mix of deception and coaxing. First, I greeted the old man and explained the results of this trip. The old man took the book I brought back and looked at it for a few eyes before throwing it back. I knew that this kind of thing, generally without professional training, is basically impossible to understand, let alone some industry-specific terminology, which is mostly passed down verbally from generation to generation. Without a family background, it's not just about looking at it, but even if the mechanism is placed in front of you, you won't be able to figure it out.

  Then I saw Wu Feng, he was making a phone call to several friends, and it seemed that there were no new developments. When he saw me coming back, he just smiled slyly twice, and I ignored him. After returning to the dormitory, I found Xiao Du and Pang San studying something in the dormitory, and when they saw me coming back, they also started smiling slyly at me. What's wrong with them? Their smiles made my heart feel creepy.

  Wen Long and the Wu brothers haven't returned yet, it seems their training hasn't ended. I didn't have anything to do either, so I picked up those few books to read. Honestly, I really couldn't understand why they had to be memorized, but since they said so, with nothing else to do, I might as well use them to pass the time.

  In these boring days, I've been waiting for seven or eight days. During this time, I encountered some annoying situations. The most striking one was Zhou Lai Meng. His gaze at me made me feel like he wanted to devour me. Su Yi was probably the same way. Every time she saw me, she complained that I came back too early and could have played for a few more days. I felt so annoyed that I barely left my dorm room these past few days, just holed up in there reading books, feeling like a brooding hen.

  It's another noon, Xiao Du asked me to have lunch together. When we arrived at the cafeteria, I found that everyone had gathered today for some reason. Wu Feng, Pang San, Xiao Jia and Su Yi had already occupied a table. Wen Long, who hadn't been seen for a long time, and the Wu brothers surprisingly showed up too. Xiao Du and I got our food and directly sat down beside Wen Long.

  Wen Long rushed up to me and said with a smile, "As soon as I got back, I heard Miss Su complaining that you took her out and played for three days. You're too much!"

  I scratched my head and said, "This matter is already well-known to every household, you know it's nothing unusual."

  Wen Long patted me on the shoulder and said, "This isn't the key point, is it? Brother, you need to know that Su Da Xiaojie is willing to give us face and accompany us alone on an outing. This treatment in the entire institute currently only you and I have. As for me, that time was just a day of fun, considered as accompanying friends and being a bodyguard. You took her out for three days, three whole days! And still didn't let her have a good time, your sin is huge!"

  Su Wei said on the side: "Did you hear that? Let me tell you, this young lady accompanying you is your honor."

  I hastily and politely said: "Yes, yes, yes. If Miss Su is willing to bestow her favor on me, it's the greatest honor for a humble person like me. I must have accumulated great virtue in my past life."

  Su Yi said: "It's good that you know."

  We were chatting and laughing when the old man rushed over, saying he was justified in doing so because of his momentum, which made it seem like he was going to come straight over and flip the table.

  Wu Feng saw the old man's attitude and quickly stood up saying: "Old man, what's wrong, is there something going on?"

  The old man looked at Wu Feng and said, "There's a new lead. You, Su Yi, Xiao Bai, Wen Long, you all come with me." He handed Wen Long a car key.

  I hastily stuffed a few mouthfuls of rice, stood up and followed the old man out, Wen Long went to start the car, I asked: "Old man, where did the clue come from? Where are we going?"

  The old man coughed and said: "Municipal Psychiatric Hospital."

  It's my first time going to a mental hospital, and to be honest, I've always thought that kind of place was full of mystery and danger. Luckily, there's Wen Long standing next to me, who can handle himself in a fight. But when we arrived at the mental hospital, I realized that the actual situation was completely different from what I had imagined. We couldn't even get into the intensive care ward, and ordinary mental patients aren't like those portrayed on TV or in jokes, where they can just run out of the hospital anytime.

  The one who received us was the director of psychiatry, surnamed Liu. I heard that he was Old Master's high school classmate. Anyway, having some connections makes things easier to handle. At first glance, I found Director Liu to be a very optimistic person, full of passion for life. Come to think of it, if I spent every day with mentally ill patients, I would also feel optimistic about my own life - at least I'm not sick yet.