Chapter 110
Old Deng put on his glasses, took the iron box and walked to the tool table. He turned on the light on the table, adjusted it to the appropriate position, and then sat down at the table.
Old Deng's eyes never left the iron box. The originally large iron box seemed a little smaller in Old Deng's rough big hands, and was easily fiddled with and observed.
Lao Deng brought the light closer, almost touching the surface of the iron box, and squinted his eyes to observe the surface of the iron box.
Lu Shiyu wanted to ask something but was stopped by Wu Xi.
"Let Old Deng take his time to read it. He doesn't like being disturbed when he's concentrating."
Lu Shiyu and Tang Zeyu could only stand there and wait for Old Deng to finish reading.
Wu Xi went to the side to chat with several other craftsmen. The hands on the clock moved around again and again. Finally, Lao Deng sat up straight and said that he had finished watching.
"It's indeed a box, but it's so finely crafted that you can't see the cut lines, and it requires a special key to open it without being too rough."
Lu Shiyu was stunned and asked, "What key?"
If this thing can be used to insert a key, there must be a keyhole, but there is no keyhole on it, not even a seam can be seen.
Old Deng knocked on one side of the iron box and said, "This side is lighter than the others. I guess that's where the mechanism is. The key... I'm guessing it's one that doesn't require insertion; just touching it opens the box."
Lu Shiyu couldn't understand and asked, "What kind of key is it that can be opened without inserting it?"
"Have you ever seen the key to the infrared sensor door in the residential complex?" Old Deng handed the iron box to Wu Xi and said, "It's pretty much that type. You just need to get close to it to open it. It's not as easy to pry open as a traditional key."
Lu Shiyu nodded. She understood the analogy, but didn’t this mean that the lock of this box could not be opened with anything other than the exclusive key?
"Is there any other way to open the box besides using a key, such as sawing it open?"
Old Deng shook his head and said, "This iron box is very special. If we cut it open violently, there's no telling what will happen."
It is even possible that the iron box explodes on the spot.
"All right……"
It seemed there was no shortcut, but where were they supposed to find the key? It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Lu Shiyu shook his head, thinking that there was probably no hope of opening it.
It was a coincidence that they found the iron box, and the only way to find the key is for the key to fall from the sky.
"Hey, I think I have the key to this."
Wu Xi suddenly blurted out these words while holding the iron box.
Lu Shiyu and Tang Zeyu looked at her at the same time, Lu Shiyu's eyes full of disbelief.
No way, the key really fell from the sky?
Tang Zeyu: "How do you have the key to this iron box?"
Wu Xi glanced at Tang Zeyu: "Of course it was inherited from the previous base commander. He swallowed a lot of good things."
"There was a rectangular iron bar in it. I couldn't tell what it was used for, but I thought he wouldn't keep something worthless, so I didn't throw it away and put it with the other things. Now that I think about it, the material of the iron bar seems to be the same as the iron box. Maybe it is the key."
Lu Shiyu was so surprised that his mouth opened wide: "Too much of a coincidence exists in the world..."
Wu Xi smiled and said, "Maybe it's not a coincidence?"
Before Lu Shiyu could ask again, Wu Xi thanked Lao Deng and was about to leave with the iron box.
"Wait a minute," Old Deng stopped Wu Xi and said, "That iron box..."
Lu Shiyu asked anxiously, "What happened to the iron box?"
"If you don't need that iron box anymore, you can give it to me for research," Old Deng said slowly. "The craftsmanship is so good, it's obvious it was made before the apocalypse. It's flawless, with zero errors. I've been researching it for so long and still haven't achieved zero errors..."
Old man Zhang chuckled and said, "Just rub your parts honestly. You're still thinking about zero error."
Lu Shiyu: “…”
It turned out that she wanted the iron box, and she was so scared that she thought there was something wrong with the iron box.
Wu Xi smiled and said he would definitely give it to her, then drove the two of them back to the General Affairs Office's office. When passing by the door, Wu Xi kept looking to the other side, avoiding the deathly stare of the woman with the bun.
"Wait a minute, I'll look for it," Wu Xi said, placing the box on the table. "I just casually threw it into a box. I don't know if I can find it."
Wu Xi took out a bunch of keys from the drawer of his desk, rummaged through them, found one of them, and walked to the back of the office, where there was a door. When it was opened, there was a not-so-big space.
Wu Xi turned on the light inside and explained, "This was originally a lounge, but I usually sleep at my workstation during lunch breaks, so it's no longer useful, so I converted it into a utility room."
"This was where the previous base commander hid his personal property a while ago, but the valuables were moved away long ago, and all that's left is just a bunch of junk."
Lu Shiyu and Tang Zeyu followed Wu Xi in. There was a thin layer of dust inside because no one had used it for a long time. The ventilation system above was started and started working with a buzzing sound.
Wu Xi moved a cardboard box and opened it, and what came into view was a pile of handicrafts.
"These were once popular items. They fetched sky-high prices back then, but the hype died down after I took over. They're no longer valuable, so I can't resell them with the other stuff... No, I converted them into cash. It would be a shame to throw them away, so I'm just leaving them here."
Wu Xi picked one up and said, "In a few years, maybe it will be said to be a rare and antique piece and its price will continue to be hyped up. Then it can be sold for some money."
Lu Shiyu was in a state of mixed emotions and speechless. He never expected that Wu Xi, a base commander, would actually think of ways to resell his predecessor's things for money. Is he really that short of money?
Seeing that even the base commander was like this, Lu Shiyu suddenly understood why the people at the Dawn Base were unwilling to help her. They were so poor, and if they wanted to do any more meteorite research, they would probably have to squeeze out a budget from their teeth. If they chose to help her, one could imagine the pressure Wu Xi would have to bear.
"Why are you standing there? Help me look for it."
The two of them joined in the task of finding the key. It had to be said that the former base commander had a wide range of interests. Lu Shiyu had thought that CDs and films would be enough, but he didn't expect that there were even specimens.
Lu Shiyu shook the glass jar, and the things inside floated in the yellow water. There were some flocs around it, which looked unclean. Lu Shiyu threw the glass jar back into the box in disgust and prepared to continue searching.
"Found it."
Tang Zeyu took out a long silver metal object tied with a red string from a box full of toys and asked, "Is this it?"
Wu Xi's eyes lit up: "Yes, yes, yes! That's it! Where did you find it?"
Tang Zeyu pushed the box in front of him away and said, "These are all small tin toys. Why are the keys sorted here?"
"Well, I guess I thought it was some kind of toy at the time. No wonder I haven't found it yet."
After finally finding the key, the three of them left the utility room and returned to the office.
Wu Xi swung his keys between his fingers and walked to his desk.
"Well, it is indeed the same material. It seems that my guess is correct."
Wu Xi tentatively moved the key closer to the lighter side of the iron box. When the iron bar was only one centimeter away from the iron box, it suddenly seemed to be guided by something, and it broke away from Wu Xi's hand and firmly stuck to the center of the iron box.
Wu Xi tried to separate the key from the iron box, but accidentally tore open one side of the iron box. Then, the iron box began to change like the Gundam in science fiction novels. Several sides folded and retracted, revealing the mechanism in the middle. The mechanism started to work again, and the gears turned with a click, until a videotape was pushed out.
When Wu Xi saw the videotape, his expression changed slightly. He turned around, closed the curtains in the office, locked the doors and windows, and then walked back to the table to take off the videotape.
Wu Xi was doing these things on his own, without explaining a word, and just acted with a stern face. Lu Shiyu, who was confused, felt a little uneasy. The two people standing together in the dark bumped their fingers together, and Tang Zeyu silently comforted Lu Shiyu's mood.
I don't know where Wu Xi got a projector from. After he assembled it by himself, he blew on the videotape and put it in. Thanks to the strong airtightness of the iron box, the videotape was not damaged even after being soaked in water for so long. After a few clicks, the projector actually started playing the pictures.
White light was projected onto the wall, and after several flashes, the contents of the videotape appeared before the three people.
The video begins in a wasteland with no buildings around but surrounded by people. A crane is slowly lifting a huge stone from a deep pit.
The person recording the video shook the screen and casually filmed the surrounding scenes, as if he was just casually recording life.
Then the scene switches to an experimental site, where a group of fully armed people are surrounding a huge stone.
"It's too dangerous. It should be sunk directly to the bottom of the ocean."
"This radiation will kill humans."
But there are also voices of opposition.
"I think this may be an opportunity for humans to master genes."
"That's right. We can't just throw it away simply because it's dangerous. That's too unscientific."
Since they were not on the same page, they soon started arguing about whether to keep the boulder.
The person filming shook the camera left and right, seemingly helpless about the dispute among the group of people.
The scene switched again, and this time what appeared in the picture was not a huge rock, but a group of animals.
But if you look closely, you'll find that these animals look very strange.
An animal that could not be distinguished as a dog or a sheep, with spiral ears as long as its legs, was eating grass with its head down. While eating, it moved closer to its "companion" who was eating grass quietly nearby. Then, while the "companion" was not paying attention, it bit the neck of the "companion", blood splattered everywhere, and the picture became blurred.
The scene switched again, this time in the water, where a plant was swaying slowly. But just like the animal just now, there was something wrong with this plant.
On the surface, it appears to be a white stem and green leaves, but if you look closely, you will find that the white stem looks like a seahorse and a skeleton, and the green branches and leaves look like a fish's tail. However, this time its hunting or eating process was not captured. This creature, which makes it difficult to tell whether it is a plant or an animal, stayed quietly in the water until the picture ended.
The next few clips are similar, filming various weird plants or animals. Researchers also appear during the filming. Everyone shows their love for these strange creatures. It seems that the situation is developing in a good direction.
The next video clip returned to the familiar laboratory, except that the people were arguing even more fiercely.
"Those samples have already been sent out. How can we possibly get them back just like that?"
"Don't come back and try to solve it! Can you solve it? You're a piece of shit!"
"Those things shouldn't have been sent out at all. They should have been thrown into the sea or buried underground!"
"I told you it would get out of control sooner or later, and now we're all screwed!"
At this point, the owner of the videotape finally showed up.
He placed the camera on the table beside him. His rather handsome face showed confusion about the future. He said to the camera:
"I know we shouldn't have tried to deconstruct it in the first place, but it's too late to say anything now. If sacrificing ourselves can make things go away..."
The picture suddenly stopped, and the filming ended.
But in addition to the filming portion, the tape also has one final segment, a segment that should have disappeared.
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