Chapter 21 The Second Team

  Wen Long said: "What's wrong with the Heaven and Earth Formation?"

  "I said, 'The formation that steals the creation of heaven and earth is none other than Zhuge Kongming's Eight Trigrams Formation. You've all read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", right? When Lu Xun entered the formation, it was like flying sand and walking stones, covering the sky and blocking out the sun, as if there were thousands of horses and soldiers, unable to escape. This is the Heaven and Earth Formation.'"

  Wen Long chuckled and said, "What's the big deal?"

  "I said: 'Nothing, you know? If it wasn't for Zhuge Liang's father-in-law who led Lu Xun out, I reckon Lu Xun would have died inside back then.'"

  Wen Long smiled and said, "It's okay, Lu Xun getting lost is normal, but we have a compass."

  "I'm going." I said helplessly, "You actually hit the point, Comrade Chi You also set up a large fog array in the past, which was broken by the Yellow Emperor with a south-pointing chariot. But do you know that during Zhuge Liang's time, the Heaven and Earth Array had already fallen to the level of stirring up only a small sandstorm at most? The real Heaven and Earth Array is not so simple."

  Su Yi said: "What's more, there are even more formidable ones."

  I sighed and said, "The Eight Trigrams Formation is just famous, but it's not because it's powerful. It's because of the promotion of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The truly powerful Heaven and Earth Formation can't even be dealt with by ordinary people."

  At this time, Pang San and Xiao Jia also walked in with a few others. Seeing us, they immediately greeted us saying: "Hey, several leaders are all here, what's going on today? Suddenly another meeting is required."

  Wu Feng saw them coming in and signaled us to stop talking, then replied: "We have a new lead, so we need to discuss it. It looks like we'll be leaving again in a few days."

  Pang San said: "Okay, it's been a while since we last went out. Where are we going this time?"

  Wu Feng didn't respond, and I found that several people followed behind Pang San and came in. An old man led the way and walked in, with Zhou Lai Meng by his side. The old man sat down in the first seat across from us, and eight more people came in one after another and took their seats. Zhou Lai Meng whispered something to the old man's ear before walking over to sit down on this side.

  The old man looked at Wu Feng and said: "Oh dear, Deputy Captain Wu, this task seems to be very arduous. Where are we preparing to go?"

  Wu Feng replied in a bad mood: "Isn't this Team Zhou? I heard that the last task you guys completed was just so-so and still got criticized. Alas, such a small thing and it's still not done well, sigh."

  I found that several people opposite were staring angrily over here, Wu Feng seemed to have not seen it and said to me: "Oh, right, I haven't told you yet, this is our institute's external exploration team 2 leader Zhou, let's get acquainted."

  I wanted to stand up and shake hands with the other person, but was caught by Su Yi at the bottom of my clothes and couldn't get up, so I could only nod, which counted as a greeting.

  Old Zhou looked at me and said, "Hey, it's been a few days since I saw you, and now there are new people here again. This isn't good, is it? Last time you were short-handed, so I lent you Lai Meng to use for a while. Now that there are new people, are you...?"

  I think this old man's words are really annoying, just listen to Wu Feng interrupting him saying: "Right, right, right. Captain Zhou is absolutely right, we have to send Zhou Lai Meng back, you see, this matter has caused trouble and let you intervene, which is not the case, is it?" In the end, he turned his head to say to Su Yi.

  Su Yi hastily nodded and said: "Yes, yes, Aunt Zhou has spoken, how can we not listen? You take Zhou Lai Meng back today, we won't oppose it, we won't oppose it."

  "You...," Zhou's team couldn't sit still anymore and shouted loudly, "I'm talking about new recruits."

  "Look, look." Wu Feng squeezed in again: "It's all me, I introduced half of them. This is a good friend of mine and Su Yi's, we grew up together from childhood, Bai Jian. Newcomer, doesn't understand the situation here, so even if it's not our team with no future, can't be helped. Unlike Lai Meng, ah, excellent talent! Honestly, letting him go is really hard to bear, but what can you do? Old Zhou has spoken, painful to part with."

  I couldn't see that he was in so much pain, and I always felt a bit of schadenfreude. The whole conference room was filled with gunpowder, just missing a spark. However, the fire didn't come, but the firefighters did - Director Wu and Old Man Su walked in and took their seats.

  "Wu Zongchang said straightforwardly: 'We have a new task now. I think everyone should discuss and see how we will act.'"

  Zhou Lao said with a sudden rise: "Wu Suo, rest assured, this task will be handed over to the second team, and it will be guaranteed to be completed smoothly."

  I found Old Man Su looking over at me, didn't understand what he meant, Su Yi whispered in my ear: "Let you speak."

  I nodded and said, "We can't set off without making thorough preparations."

  Old Zhou looked at me with disdain and said, "Wu Suo, it's not that I'm bragging, our second team is always ready to set off at any time. I just need one day of preparation time, you can rest assured, when we arrive, I'll get the job done."

  I'm getting annoyed, this old man is really infuriating, even more annoying than his son's chewing gum. Old Su said at this time: "I agree with Xiaobo's statement, we won't set off without making sufficient preparations."

  Zhou Lao sat down and said: "Su Duizhang, what's wrong? Are you afraid?"

  I looked at this annoying old man and said: "Afraid, really afraid, I'm afraid none of you will make it to the destination."

  Old Zhou looked at me and said: "That new kid... what's his name... oh Xiao Bai, where haven't we been? Can't stump us."

  A few people across from me let out soft, cold laughs. I ignored them and continued, "Absolute Formation—Heavenly Earth Tower."

  "It's impossible." A middle-aged man sitting in the fourth position stood up, he was thirty-two or three years old, with a goatee, and his voice was extremely loud, saying, "How could that thing possibly appear in reality?"

  "Do you know Tian Di Tower?" I asked back, to be honest, people who understand the trade always give off a heroic aura.

  He nodded and sat back, saying: "I've only seen it in some materials, how can such a thing exist? It's all illusions. Even if it was built, it wouldn't be as powerful as the legend says. I've been to Zhuge Liang's Bagua diagram, it's just a pile of stones, nothing will happen after entering, it's all legends, do you understand?"

  I didn't say a word, just calmly looked at him, because I found out that he really understood, at least not the kind of half-baked two-bit. He also looked at me, and we just stared at each other for a long time, then he turned to Old Man Zhou and said: "If it's really like this, we must make sufficient preparations."

  I think this guy is not bad, because at least he doesn't brag. Old Zhou ignored him and said to Wu: "Wu, these are all a bunch of nonsense, just hand over the task to us with peace of mind."

  Wu had apparently gone through such things many times, so he just listened to our discussion. At this time, he slowly said: "Let's do it this way. Because the situation is indeed special this time, I propose that the second reconnaissance team be the first echelon to go over. If there is an opportunity, they will carry out the operation." He turned to Old Man Su and said, "The first reconnaissance team will prepare at the institute first. After preparation, if the second team has no work progress, you can take over. How about that?"

  I saw Old Zhou making a victorious gesture towards his own team, then said: "Wu Suo, don't worry, no need to prepare any teams, in a few days, I'll directly put the results on your office desk. Hehehe."

  A phrase flashed in my mind: Don't look at you laughing happily today, I'll make you pull a clear list soon.

  "Wu Feng took over the conversation and said, 'Wu Suo, you see, after Bai Jian joined, our team has clearly exceeded the limit. And just now, Zhou's team was also complaining. I think about it, this matter is not Zhou's fault, but mine as the deputy captain for being careless. Last time we went out on a mission, our team was short-handed and even borrowed the vice-captain of Team 2. I still haven't returned him to Team 2, which makes me feel quite embarrassed.'"

  Wow, I really want to give Wu Feng a big thumbs up. This statement is reasonable and makes sense, it's not easy to refute. If there weren't so many people around, I'd even want to shout out: "Great!"

  "Wu immediately said: 'That's right, you see, I forgot about this matter too. From today on, Zhou Lai Meng will be transferred back to the second team as deputy captain, the order is effective immediately. Second team, go to the data room to receive the materials for this mission, first team, discuss and prepare for the next step. Dismissed.'"

  After the meeting, Zhou Lai Meng was obviously a bit reluctant. It seemed that he had wanted to chat with Su Yi for another couple of sentences, but Su Yi didn't even look at him and pretended to be chatting with Wu Feng until Old Man Zhou came over and dragged him away by the neck.

  After the second team left, only our team members were left in the conference room. Su Yi then turned around and said to me: "I really don't know whether I should thank you or scold you."

  I was a bit confused and asked: "Why are you thanking me and scolding me at the same time? What did I do to offend you, young lady?"

  Su Yi smiled and said, "Thanks to you, after you came, that chewing gum was finally squeezed out." After finishing speaking, she pinched her waist and immediately changed to a angry expression on her face, saying: "I scolded you because of your one sentence, our team became the second echelon. Do you know or not? In the past, when we went on missions, we were always the first echelon, the first, understand? The second team was always following behind us. Now it's good, what if they finish the mission first? Then we'll have to change to external exploration team two, do you understand?"

  I looked at her angry face and smiled, saying: "Absolutely not - Tian Di Tower, if we don't make good preparations, I resolutely won't go there. One day? Hmph, I only hope they don't have any casualties, although some people are quite annoying."

  Everyone burst out laughing, but Su Yu still had a straight face and said: "You can still laugh, are you so sure they won't make it to that Tian Di Tower?"

  I shook my head and said: "I'm not sure they can't reach the Tower of Heaven and Earth, but I'm sure they absolutely can't get past the Tower of Heaven and Earth."

  The old man interrupted at this time, saying: "Alright, other things can be said slowly. We have to believe in Xiaobo. After all, he has more say in this special building. Xiaobo, what do we do next?"

  "I thought for a moment and said: 'Change equipment and exercise.'"

  We spent two weeks at the research institute, replacing all conductive equipment with rubber and ceramic ones. At the same time, each of us received short-term combat training, and everyone was equipped with two rubber sticks for self-defense. Wen Long and Wu brothers even carried guns to execute tasks, which made me feel a little more at ease. During this period, we also visited Wang Shengjun at the mental hospital and gathered some other intelligence. I read through my book about the Heavenly Tower, memorizing all its contents. To be honest, although the book had detailed introductions, it lacked annotations, and after reading for half a day, I found that it was mostly basic mechanical content. As for the potential dangers inside, it only summarized in one sentence: unpredictable changes.

  Having made all the preparations, Old Master went to apply for departure with Wu Suo. We sat in the conference room chatting idly. Before long, Wu Suo and Old Master walked in together, and we saw Wu Suo's face as stern as water, feeling a bit ominous.

  As expected, Wu's first words after sitting down were: "The first echelon searched thoroughly over there for two weeks and found nothing. I don't know if it was a problem with the intelligence or if they had problems."

  The old man said: "We have gone to see Wang Shengjun a few more times recently, and what he said did not appear to be wrong or changed, I think the information should be true."

  "Wu sighed and said: 'That's the problem with the first team, what are they doing?'"

  I said: "Wu Suo, actually if we reason it out, I think it's not their fault either. That place is quite special and we can't even guarantee that we can find the real entrance."

  Wu looked at me and said, "You must find it. This is your first formal mission, I want to tell you that the funds and materials from above are meant to be exchanged for results. If you can't bring back results, everything is in vain."

  Su Yi patted me and said, "Now you understand, right? Let me tell you, we also have performance evaluations. Unlike in TV dramas, it's not like sitting in the lab shaking test tubes can get you paid."

  I nodded and said: "This is unexpected, but Wu Suo, what I said is also true. After all, the location of this exploration is too complicated, and that place will confuse people's minds."

  "Deceive people's hearts?" Wu You all nodded and said: "What does this mean."

  I said: "For example, when I watched the Three Kingdoms before, when Lu Xun was trapped in Zhuge Liang's Eight Trigrams Formation, I always felt it wasn't realistic."

  "Spare me the nonsense," Su Yi said. "I don't think that's real either. That kind of formation is impossible."

  I shook my head and said, "That's not what I meant. At that time, I firmly believed that the Eight Trigrams were real. What I didn't believe was why Lu Xun wouldn't order someone to destroy the stone array."

  Su Wei apparently didn't understand and asked: "Destruction? What destruction?"

  Wu Feng apparently understood what I meant and said: "Can't breaking the stone piles in it break the formation?"

  I nodded and said: "Yes, the formation is arranged according to certain rules. If one of the arrangements is moved, the formation will naturally be broken."

  Wu Feng said "I had thought of this possibility before, so why can't it be broken?"

  "I said: 'Due to the illusion, as soon as humans approach that array with their senses, they will immediately produce an illusion. Humans' hearing, sight, and touch can be said to be the sources of external world feelings, but when they get there, these three senses are affected by the array, so they can't even get close to the stone pile. They may even spin in place, thinking they're walking in a certain direction.'"

  Wu said: "Your meaning is that the first echelon can't find a place because that formation affected their feeling."

  I said: "Yes, Wu Suo, after listening to Wang Shengjun's explanation, I think he was able to find that place only because of a very accidental circumstance, so it's also possible that the first team couldn't find it."

  The old man asked: "Then how did he find his way out when he came out?"

  I said: "No need to find the right way in, it's a one-way array, only incoming and not outgoing. To get in, you must find the right route, but to come out, just go with the flow."

  Wu thought for a moment and said: "Can it be done? Isn't this a bit too high-tech?"

  I sighed and said: "If black hole guns and moon landing plans can be done, then this formation is just a small matter, isn't it?"

  Wu Suoyi slammed his hand on the table and stood up, saying: "That makes sense. So I'm ordering the second echelon, you set out immediately. This time, I'll go with you."

  The old man also stood up and said: "Old Wu, what's going on? Why did you think of joining in the fun too?"

  Wu smiled and said: "I won't go, can you guys shake that old cow Zhou?"

  Everyone else burst out laughing, but I just sat there, clueless.