Chapter 218 Experiment Log

Su Wantang's fingertip lingered on the last page of the diary, on the hastily drawn crescent moon mark.

The underground base was deathly silent, with only the dust floating in the beams of flashlights silently telling the story of twenty years.

"Lu Jingyan".

Her voice was soft, yet exceptionally clear in the empty office.

Lu Jingyan, who was inspecting another dormitory, walked over quickly upon hearing the noise. He was still holding the "Eagle's Nest" cufflink in his hand, and the atmosphere around him was frighteningly low.

"What's wrong?"

Su Wantang didn't look up, but simply pushed the logbook towards him, pointing to the mark. "Look at this."

Lu Jingyan's gaze followed her finger down.

In a single glance, his fingers tightened sharply around his cufflinks, the hard metal almost digging into his palm. He stared intently at the crescent moon, his breath catching in his throat. It wasn't a standard moon; at the tip of the crescent, there was a tiny, almost invisible curl, like a small wave.

He was all too familiar with that mark.

My younger sister, Lu Jingyue, has loved drawing since she was little. Everything she owns—the title pages of her books, her beloved pencil case, even her secretly hidden diaries—has a crescent moon with a little wave drawn in the corner. She says it's her signature.

“It’s Xiaoyue…” Lu Jingyan’s voice was so dry it sounded like it had been sanded, and every word was incredibly difficult to utter.

His tall frame swayed almost imperceptibly as he leaned against the filing cabinet behind him to regain his balance.

Su Wantang raised her eyes, looking at the pain and shock surging in his deep eyes, then lowered her gaze again and turned to the first few pages of the diary. Her movements were swift and decisive; at this moment, she was the epitome of calm and collected "Bai Shu".

She found the record associated with number "07", and the date on it was clearly written as "ten years ago".

“‘Experiment Subject No. 07’, the record dates back ten years.” Her voice was flat and even, without any emotional fluctuation, simply stating a fact. “The record shows that the experimental subject exhibited extremely high tolerance to ‘spodumene’ radiation, far exceeding all expected values, and was labeled as… ‘the perfect container’.”

The words "perfect container" were like four poisoned ice needles, piercing deeply into Lu Jingyan's heart.

He closed his eyes, and the image of his younger sister ten years ago flashed through his mind: her pigtails, her two shallow dimples when she smiled. Such a vibrant little girl, yet here, she was being used as a vessel, as an experimental subject, by a group of devils…

A metallic sweetness welled up in his throat, but he swallowed it back down forcefully.

Su Wantang's voice continued, cold and clear: "Three days later, there will be another record. It's very simple, just two words—'transfer'."

Transfer!

Lu Jingyan suddenly opened his eyes, and a raging flame instantly ignited in his pained gaze.

That wasn't a flame of despair, it was hope!

As long as you're alive!

As long as you're alive, there's hope!

He knew that his sister, the little princess he cherished, was still alive! This realization tore him apart with pain, but it also gave him the first glimmer of light in ten years.

"Where did they take Xiaoyue?" He grabbed Su Wantang's arm with such force that he didn't even realize it.

Su Wantang winced in pain, but didn't struggle. She understood his feelings at that moment. She reached out her other hand, gently picked up a tattered page of the diary, and held it up to the flashlight beam.

“Since it’s a ‘relocation,’ it means this isn’t the final destination, or even the core. There must be an even more important and more secretive base.”

She tapped the edge of the paper with her finger. "Look at the watermark on this paper. It's very special."

Lu Jingyan forced himself to calm down and leaned closer to take a look. Under the light, there was indeed a very faint, flower-like mark inside the paper.

“This kind of paper is called Daolin paper. It’s made by mixing special cotton and linen fibers into the pulp. In the 1980s, only one long-established paper mill on Hong Kong Island was still using this process to produce it,” Su Wantang explained casually. This was thanks to the business books left by her mother, which happened to contain detailed introductions to major specialty paper mills around the world.

Hong Kong Island!

Upon hearing this place name, both Lu Jingyan and Su Wantang immediately thought of one person—Su Yuting.

There's also the Fok family, who have been entrenched on Hong Kong Island, and Fok San Niang, who has already been arrested!

An invisible, giant net quickly became clear in their minds.

“Uncle Shi,” Su Wantang turned her head and looked at Shi Gandang, who was kneeling on the ground, immersed in grief.

"Ten years ago, did anything unusual happen here? Like... something falling from the sky?"

Shi Gandang trembled at her question. He raised his old face, which was covered in tears, his eyes vacant, as if he was trying hard to remember something.

“Ten years…ten years ago…” he murmured to himself, “The wind was particularly strong that night, blowing sand against the window with a whooshing sound, like ghosts wailing…and then I heard that…buzzing sound, not from a car, not from a tractor…it came from the sky…”

His breathing became rapid. "The next day, Ma Weiguo ordered a complete lockdown of the entire restricted area! Not even a fly was allowed to fly out! I... I went to chop firewood on the back mountain that day, and I was far away, so I only glanced at it..."

"What did you see?" Lu Jingyan pressed.

"A...a metal bird! It had no wings and just circled overhead! Later, it landed at the very end of the valley, where the base was located. Not long after, it flew away again... At the time, Ma Weiguo said that a very important person was coming to inspect, and told us all to keep our mouths shut. Anyone who dared to utter a single word would be shot on the spot!"

Helicopter!

All the clues point to the same place—Hong Kong Island.

In Su Wantang's mind, Su Yuting's hypocritical face, the Huo family's power in Hong Kong, Huo San Niang whom she had sent to prison, and this experimental log from Hong Kong... all the fragments finally pieced together a complete and chilling picture.

They're going to Hong Kong Island!

We absolutely have to go!

Just then, a strange noise was faintly heard outside the base.

At first, it was very faint, like the sound of the wind. But soon, the sound became clearer.

It was the sound of rapid, hurried footsteps on the gravel.

Interspersed among them were a few fierce barks, and the deep growls echoed in the empty valley, sending chills down one's spine.

Shi Gandang's face turned deathly pale in an instant. He listened intently, and all the color drained from his face.

"Damn it! It's Ma Weiguo's mine security team! They've got guns and dogs!" he cried in terror. "They must have discovered Ma Biao didn't go back and come looking for him!"

The atmosphere in the office, which had just brightened, instantly plummeted to freezing point.

Lu Jingyan's reaction was incredibly fast.

Almost at the same moment the sound rang out, he took a step forward and shielded Su Wantang tightly behind him.

He turned his head and met Qin Zheng's gaze, who had been silently guarding the door.

Without a word, both of them shared the same chilling killing intent in their eyes.

Lu Jingyan carefully placed the tattered log back into Su Wantang's hands, his voice low but carrying an undeniable command.

"Stay here and don't move. Protect the log."

He paused, then added.

"Leave the outside to us."