“Er Zhuzi!”
Big Cat Face shouted, his face reddening from the effort.
Er Zhuzi leaped into the air and landed gracefully atop the human ladder, completing the final piece of their human pillar.
This was true human art.
Despite it being the third time Lin Xian had witnessed this incredible performance, he couldn’t help but marvel at the ingenuity and teamwork of the Face Gang. Their level of cooperation surpassed what any ordinary team could achieve.
“Ning Ning, you go first!”
Following Big Cat Face’s command, Li Ning Ning adjusted her mask and dashed forward. With the agility of a cat, she made several quick jumps, using an external martial arts technique that Lin Xian couldn’t identify, to vault over the eight-meter-high wall.
This wall served as a grand stage where each member showcased their unique talents. Perhaps due to her youth and lightness, Li Ning Ning was much more agile than CC or Lin Xian himself. Lin Xian relied on momentum and brute strength to scale walls, gripping the brick seams with his fingers, while CC primarily depended on technique.
Li Ning Ning’s movements were a mystery to Lin Xian, a manifestation of her natural talent and the advantages of being young.
“Lin Xian! Hurry up!”
With the strain evident in his voice, Big Cat Face called out, supporting the weight of two or three others above him. Lin Xian summoned his strength and speed, leaping over the wall with a powerful jump.
“Lin Xian, over here.” Having already found cover, Li Ning Ning waved Lin Xian over.
Once concealed, Lin Xian checked his watch: 23:47
They had infiltrated earlier than previous times. However, it wasn’t yet time for the guard shift, so they had to wait. The shift change wouldn’t happen until between 00:00 and 00:20. Big Cat Face had also mentioned that their escape’s blind spot in the surveillance would last only 30 seconds after 00:19.
Thus, Li Ning Ning and Lin Xian had only 19 minutes to rummage through the garbage.
Lin Xian was indifferent, but Li Ning Ning needed to depart by 00:19 because the new surveillance guard would arrive at 00:20. Discovery would mean the end. The guard would trigger the alarm, and escape would become impossible.
Hence, they waited for the current guard to leave for the shift change.
“Lin Xian, look over there! So many books! This is incredible!” Li Ning Ning exclaimed excitedly.
To her, those books were as precious as gold. She grabbed Lin Xian’s arm, pulling him in the direction she had pointed.
Sure enough, there were four heaps of books. Thousands of books in various sizes and colors piled up, forming a small mountain. From their vantage point, they couldn’t tell if the books were water-damaged; they saw only a mixture of colors.
CC’s intelligence was spot on. At 23:19, four large garbage trucks had dumped these water-damaged books, offloading them into four distinct piles. This garbage disposal plant bustled with robots and automated machines sorting, transporting, and incinerating waste, but they hadn’t yet processed these piles of water-damaged books.
In 12 minutes, the surveillance guard would head to headquarters for the shift change. All the robots and automated machinery here were oblivious to human presence, allowing Lin Xian and Li Ning Ning free rein to explore the book heaps.
“Ning Ning, I need your help with something.” Lin Xian turned to Li Ning Ning, who was donning an Ultraman mask. “There are two books that are very important to me. If you find them while searching, please call out to me or throw them my way.”
“Sure, what books?”
“One is titled ‘Introduction to Universal Constants.’ If you see a book with ‘Universal Constants’ on it, either throw it to me or call out.”
Li Ning Ning nodded, committing the title to memory. “And the other?” ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
“The other isn’t a specific book. Look for anything related to ‘MX Company’—introductions, histories, biographies of the CEOs—anything at all. Better to grab too many than miss any.”
“Got it.” Li Ning Ning nodded decisively.
Seeing the piles of books, her admiration for Lin Xian grew significantly.
Finally, they waited patiently until 00:00. From a distance, they saw the surveillance guard in the control room stand, stretch, and walk towards the steel high wall’s sealed passage. The passage opened after identity recognition, and the guard entered before the door automatically closed behind him.
“It’s safe now, let’s go, Lin Xian.” Li Ning Ning quickly got up, her faint scent trailing behind as she ran off. Lin Xian followed closely, dodging oblivious robots, and rushed to one of the book piles to begin their search.
Textbooks, magazines, picture books, cookbooks, maps, encyclopedias—they were all here. Lin Xian had never felt so elated to be surrounded by books. Although water-damaged, most were nearly intact, showing only minor water stains.
Of course, these couldn’t be sold as new. They would either go to second-hand dealers or, more wastefully, be discarded as trash, with insurance covering the loss.
“We have to go soon, Lin Xian. Hurry up! Don’t be so picky!” Li Ning Ning worked swiftly, already amassing a pile of books and running back to the wall they had initially climbed. After checking the positions of the drones, she tossed the books over the wall one by one, then quickly returned to continue her search. “Lin Xian, there are lots of textbooks and science books! Don’t be picky.”
Li Ning Ning called out to Lin Xian as she sifted through her pile.
Lin Xian, however, was less attentive to her words. His mission was to find the ‘Introduction to Universal Constants’ and any material related to ‘MX Company,’ very specific targets.
Li Ning Ning resembled a busy bee, tirelessly transporting books, but it hardly mattered. At 00:42, everything would be obliterated by a burst of white light, resetting the cycle, and the actions of Li Ning Ning and Big Cat Face would have no lasting impact.
However, Lin Xian wasn’t selfish enough to demand that Li Ning Ning focus solely on searching for his desired books… So, they each concentrated on their respective tasks.
Lin Xian combed through the piles swiftly. A mere glance was enough to determine if a book was what he was looking for. But still, locating two specific books amid this sea of books was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
“Lin Xian! I found one!” Li Ning Ning yelled, and Lin Xian quickly stood up. “Which one?”
“‘Me and MX,’ looks like a biography. Do you want it?”
“Throw it over!”
Whoosh… thud. A small blue book landed near Lin Xian on the trash heap…
Lin Xian’s pulse quickened. If it was a biography, the front cover might feature a photo of the author! Could it be Zhao Ying Jun?
He gazed up at the sky, where the round moon was eclipsed by a giant black hand shadow, pointing ominously towards the dark universe. Lin Xian picked up the book by its spine and flipped it over—
Bald. White man. Black suit. On the cover, bold letters declared, MX Company CEO.
“Phew…” Lin Xian exhaled, relieved at the unfamiliar face.
He opened the book to the author’s introduction. Since 2617, this man had been the CEO of MX Company, his bio adorned with a lengthy list of titles and accolades. Lin Xian skimmed it without much interest.
The details in this book confirmed that, 600 years later, the CEO of MX Company wasn’t Zhao Ying Jun. For some reason, Lin Xian felt reassured by this. Deep down, he didn’t want Zhao Ying Jun to be the antagonist, nor did he want to encounter an old acquaintance from 600 years ago in the future world. The thought was unsettling.
However, Lin Xian wasn’t disturbed that CC and Chu An Qing looked alike. Beyond their appearances, the two had almost nothing in common. Just a brief conversation made it impossible to see them as the same person. The differences were stark!
They might look identical when still, but their movements and speech revealed immediate, clear distinctions. It was a strange sensation indeed.
“Hmm…” Lin Xian contemplated the bald man on the cover, pondering. Had he misunderstood Zhao Ying Jun and the Genius Club?
Despite lacking definitive proof, he still believed the Genius Club was a nefarious organization. But would a benevolent group project its logo onto the moon? That seemed too audacious, too “evil.”
Yet, this was merely Lin Xian’s subjective judgment. The facts were unclear, and he couldn’t jump to conclusions based on his prior knowledge. The black hand shadow on the moon was certainly the work of the Genius Club. And Zhao Ying Jun, the CEO of MX Company, had received an invitation 600 years ago.
So, it seemed likely that the Genius Club-controlled MX Company was behind the construction of New Donghai City. The man who calculated the universal constant, Big Cat Face’s father, had also been taken there. In his initial dream, Big Cat Face uncovered evidence linking his father’s death to the Genius Club.
With all these clues overlapping, it was easy to infer that MX Company was essentially under the Genius Club’s control, leading to the creation of a vast sci-fi city like New Donghai City.
But upon further reflection, this conclusion wasn’t rigorously substantiated. There was still no concrete evidence. It was all Lin Xian’s conjecture.
“Anyway, it seems that 600 years later, MX Company has no ties to Zhao Ying Jun. But building a massive sci-fi city like New Donghai City couldn’t have occurred overnight. During that period, MX Company must have undergone several leadership changes and reorganizations.”
“So… when did Zhao Ying Jun lose control of the company? Or did she maintain control over MX Company for a long time?”
Curious, Lin Xian opened the book to the preface.
“Me and MX”
The preface seemed irrelevant. At least to Lin Xian, it was. He wasn’t interested in how this bald white man had grown MX Company. He was only interested in its history. Flipping through the pages, he finally reached the crucial information.
The book stated: MX Company was founded in 2020 by Zhao Ying Jun, who started from scratch in Donghai City, turning it into the colossal MX Company.
Under Zhao Ying Jun’s wise leadership, MX Company rapidly ascended to prominence in the domestic cosmetics industry and began gaining international recognition. However, heaven envies talent.
This page ended here. Anxious, Lin Xian quickly turned the page.
What happened? Why did it end with “heaven envies talent”?
Turning the page, the first sentence hit Lin Xian like a bolt of lightning:
Just as the company was reaching new heights, Zhao Ying Jun was tragically killed in a shooting incident, dying at the age of 23.
Subsequently, MX Company was taken over by the Zhao family from the capital, undergoing significant personnel changes and business reorganization. From then on, MX Company embarked on a new path!
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation