My childhood friend is in her mature, sophisticated form again today. - Chapter 70

“Then it will take time to crack.” Lin Jiqiu took over the conversation, gently rubbing the edge of the paper with his fingers. The paper was slightly fuzzy, as if it had been stored for a long time. He turned to the first page, where the symbols and numbers were arranged neatly. They were not handwritten, but printed, in standard Song typeface, and the age was indiscernible.

Ah You came out of the kitchen carrying dishes and placed the plates on the table. “Boss, eat first. Those things won’t get away.” His tone was the same as usual, but he wiped his hands on his apron an extra time.

Lin Jiqiu placed the documents on the coffee table and sat down at the table. Cheng Ran also came over and picked up his chopsticks. Neither of them spoke, and they ate their meal quietly. A Zuo came over from behind the counter and sat in his usual spot, also without saying a word. A Hua squatted by the table, while A Ju was secretly eating the cookies that A You had placed on the table.

After dinner, Cheng Ran returned to his studio, opened his tablet, and began typing, the code on the screen refreshing line by line. A Zuo sat behind the counter organizing files, while A You washed dishes in the kitchen. Lin Jiqiu sat on the sofa, picked up the documents again, and examined them page by page under the light. The symbols and numbers looked like some kind of encoding, but he couldn’t understand them; he could only discern that they were arranged in a regular pattern, as if someone had deliberately arranged them in a certain order.

An hour later, Cheng Ran came downstairs. “The folder on the memory card wasn’t encrypted; it’s an internal directory of the Heavenly Palace Division.”

“A list?” Lin Jiqiu put down the document in his hand.

Cheng Ran turned the tablet screen around, revealing a table. “A list of Originium research institutions established by the Heavenly Palace Division in various cities. I counted, there are seventeen in total.”

“Seventeen?”

“Yes. They are located in different places. Some are in big cities, some are in small towns, but the functions of each institution are very clear.”

Lin Jiqiu took the tablet and looked through it line by line. The table listed the names, addresses, and functions of the organizations. He saw some familiar names—Fengyuan Agriculture, Yuanfeng Electronics, and Mingyuan Consulting. There were also some he hadn’t seen before—”Qingcheng Research Institute,” “Beigang Laboratory,” and “Longtan Base.”

“Qingcheng Research Institute. Its job description is ‘Primary Refining of Originium Materials’.” Lin Jiqiu’s gaze fell on that line. “Besides Fengyuan Agriculture, do they have other production bases?”

“Possibly. Fengyuan Agriculture is one of them, but not the only one. The Heavenly Palace Bureau has set up multiple agencies in different places, each responsible for different aspects. Some are responsible for refining, some for processing, and some for storage.”

“Is the Qingcheng Research Institute still operating?”

“The status isn’t marked on the directory. But I just checked, and the registration information for Qingcheng Research Institute is still there. The legal representative is a person named ‘Sun Li,’ and the address is in Qingcheng City, about 400 kilometers from here.”

“Four hundred kilometers. Not far.”

“It’s not far.” Cheng Ran looked at him. “But if we investigate, the Heavenly Palace Division may have already adjusted its layout there. Like Fengyuan Agriculture, they’re ready to scale back at any time.”

Lin Jiqiu leaned back on the sofa, his fingers tapping lightly on the edge of the tablet. “We’ve found seventeen points. If each one is still operational, that’s seventeen clues. We can’t possibly investigate them all, but we can choose the most crucial one.”

Which one is the most crucial?

Lin Jiqiu’s gaze fell on a name—”East China Sea Deep-Sea Measurement Station.” The function section read: “Originium extraction and preliminary processing.” The remarks section contained the line: “For deep-sea sampling only.”

“The East China Sea deep-sea station is designated for the extraction and preliminary processing of Originium. Moreover, it is designated as a ‘dedicated deep-sea sampling site,’ indicating that it is directly related to the source of Originium.”

Cheng Ran leaned closer to look. “The East China Sea Deep-Sea Measurement Station is located roughly in the same area we visited last time, but deeper and further from the shore. The remarks section doesn’t have a specific address; it only says ‘Coordinates recorded by the system.'”

“Are the coordinates still in the system?”

“Yes. I just brought it up.” Cheng Ran switched to a page with a line of latitude and longitude coordinates. Lin Jiqiu looked at the string of numbers, memorized it, and then took a picture of it with her phone.

“This deep-sea station may still be operational. Other institutions on the list are either production bases or transit warehouses, but this one directly extracts Originium.” He paused. “Originium is salvaged from the deep sea, then sent here for preliminary processing before being distributed to other institutions.”

“If we can find this depth measurement station—”

“Then we can find Originium.”

Cheng Ran looked at him. “You’re still planning to go to the East China Sea?”

“I’ll go again.”

Cheng Ran didn’t refute. He looked at Lin Jiqiu for a few seconds, then put the tablet away. “What do we need to prepare?”

“Equipment for the sea. Ships, diving equipment, and communication devices that can be used in the deep sea.”

“I’ll handle it. A-Zuo should be able to contact a reliable ship.” Cheng Ran stood up, about to go upstairs, but stopped and turned his head to the side. “The coordinates of that depth measurement station are much farther than I expected. It’s about 180 kilometers from the shore, and the water depth is over 1,000 meters.”

Lin Jiqiu’s finger paused on his knee. “One thousand meters.”

“Yes. The Originium is located very deep down. Tengu Tsukasa has the capability to operate at that depth.”

“We have that too. We need to be more thorough in our preparations and spend a few days getting all the equipment ready.”

“Okay.” Cheng Ran went upstairs. Lin Jiqiu sat on the sofa, his gaze falling on the open document on the coffee table, but he didn’t look at it anymore. He remembered the line on the bamboo slip: “Ask the East Sea.” The coordinates left by the Qin people two thousand years ago pointed to a depth of darkness, a thousand meters deep. Perhaps that was where the answer lay. He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the sparse streetlights. The wind was stronger than at dusk, rustling the leaves of a tree on the street. He thought: a thousand meters, deeper than he imagined. The night wind blew in through the cracks in the window, carrying the chill of late autumn. He drew the curtains, turned around, and went back to the coffee table. The printed list was still on the table. He ran his finger over the names on the list, paused on the paper with “East China Sea Deep Measurement Station,” then closed the document, took it, and went upstairs.