Evolving infinitely from ground zero

"Is that so?" Lin Zichen said regretfully, "Then it looks like we'll have to search slowly."

Song Yuyan smiled and said, "It's okay, I'm very familiar with the storage room at the institute. I can rule out many places; it probably won't take long to find it."

"That's true, then I'll have to trouble you, Sister Yan, to help me search."

"What trouble, don't be so polite."

"..."

After a brief chat, the three of them quickly began searching the institute.

Half an hour passed, and they found nothing.

An hour passed, and still nothing.

An hour and a half...

Two hours...

Two and a half hours...

Under Song Yuyan's leadership, Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan searched for a full two and a half hours, turning the entire research institute upside down, not even sparing Liu Chuanwu's office.

However, they came up empty-handed, not even a shadow of the bracelet to be seen.

"How is this possible? We've turned over every place where miscellaneous items are stored, how can we not find the bracelet that the director mentioned?" Song Yuyan said with a slight frown.

She thought for a moment and then said, "Do you think it's possible that the director has senile dementia and there actually isn't such a bracelet at all?"

Lin Zichen didn't respond but simply said, "Let's keep looking. If we really can't find it, we'll wait for the director to come back and see."

Having said this, he continued searching through the pile of miscellaneous items.

Your eyes may deceive you; pick up where you left off and search even more carefully than before, lest you miss any corner.

So they searched for over ten minutes more.

Shen Qinghan's gaze then fell on an aquarium in the corner.

It was a discarded fish tank.

Its surface covered with dust.

Inside, there was a thick layer of soil.

Upon closer inspection, the soil inside was so dry it was cracked, looking as though it was ground that had been drought-stricken for decades.

For some reason, Shen Qinghan felt this abandoned fish tank was drawing her in, as if there was an intuitive pull.

Looking at the soil in the tank, she proposed to Lin Zichen as if possessed, "Xiao Chen, do you think the bracelet we're looking for could be buried in the soil of this fish tank?"

Lin Zichen looked towards the abandoned fish tank upon hearing her words.

A sense of puzzlement emerged in his heart.

In the soil of the fish tank?

Why on earth would a bracelet be buried in the soil of a fish tank?

It made no sense.

Lin Zichen felt that his Qinghan might be letting her imagination run a little too wild, her creativity quite abundant.

Thinking this, he moved closer to the fish tank and, looking at the soil inside it, asked Shen Qinghan, "Why do you think the bracelet could be buried in the soil of this fish tank?"

Shen Qinghan replied, "I can't explain it. I just suddenly noticed this fish tank and felt that the bracelet we're looking for was buried in the soil."

Intuition, maybe?

Lin Zichen chose to believe in Shen Qinghan's intuition and said, "Hmm, it's possible. Let me find something to dig up the soil in the fish tank and take a look."

He then went to look for a stick or spade.

Just as Lin Zichen left, Song Yuyan approached the fish tank and said,

"When I first came to the institute ten years ago, this fish tank was already here, just like it is now. It feels like it's been left here for at least twenty or thirty years."

Continuing, she asked Shen Qinghan, "How do you have the intuition, thinking that the bracelet we're looking for is buried in the soil of this fish tank?"

She, like Lin Zichen, couldn't understand Shen Qinghan's intuition.

It truly was strange.

Why would a perfectly good bracelet be buried in the soil of a fish tank?

There was no logic to it.

Faced with Song Yuyan's query, Shen Qinghan was also at a loss for words, only able to respond, "I don't know what's going on, but I just feel that the bracelet is buried in the soil of the fish tank."

"..."

Soon, Lin Zichen returned with a small metal trowel used for archaeological excavation.

Under the watchful eyes of the two women, he carefully inserted the trowel into the tank and began to dig up the soil.

It wasn't long before he dug out a bracelet from the soil.

A bracelet made of pearls and seashells.

It was exactly the same bracelet that Liu Chuanwu had mentioned on WeChat.

Lin Zichen and Song Yuyan were both astonished.

What's going on?!

Had Shen Qinghan actually guessed correctly?!

Was the bracelet that Liu Chuanwu had spoken of really buried in the soil of the fish tank?!

"How can your intuition be so accurate?"

Song Yuyan looked towards Shen Qinghan, feeling incredibly incredulous and somewhat unable to comprehend.

She pondered how she had been at the place for ten years and had no idea that a bracelet was hidden in the soil of the fish tank.

Yet Shen Qinghan, on her first day at the place, guessed that there was a bracelet in the soil of the fish tank.

Could this beautiful young lady have some special treasure-hunting ability?

Song Yuyan found this to be very puzzling.

She was puzzled, and so was Shen Qinghan.

Shen Qinghan had no idea what was going on with her intuition; she couldn't explain it and could only tell Song Yuyan that she didn't know either.

Meanwhile, Lin Zichen closely examined the bracelet in his hand.

It was strange.

This bracelet was obviously dug up from the soil.

However, there wasn't a speck of dirt on it.

It looked shiny and smooth, as if it had just been meticulously cleaned, truly untainted by its muddy origins.

He didn't care much about whether it was clean or not.

Soon, Lin Zichen's attention was drawn to the mysterious patterns on the bracelet.

The bracelet was made of pearls and seashells.

Each pearl, each piece of seashell, was engraved with mysterious patterns that appeared to be characters.

These mysterious patterns, which resembled the patterns formed by the water droplets that had surrounded Shen Qinghan, were so similar that it was almost certain they were of the same type.

"Xiao Chen, the patterns on this bracelet really do look like the ones we saw before," Shen Qinghan leaned in and said as she looked at the bracelet.

Song Yuyan asked, "You've seen these patterns on the bracelet before? Where did you see them?"

Lin Zichen casually lied, "We saw them on some items belonging to Divine Plant Cult members when we were attacked by the cult."

"Did you manage to capture any of those items?"

Song Yuyan was interested in unknown ancient scripts and wanted to collect more related items for research, to see if she could decipher the ancient text herself.

Lin Zichen: "We didn't capture any, those items sank into the sea and were carried away by the currents."

Song Yuyan shook her head, "What a pity, such a pity."

After saying this, she added, "In the future, we should pay close attention to the heretics from the Divine Plant Cult, see if we can catch a few and dig up some related items from them."

While they were talking,

Liu Chuanwu, who hadn't been to the research institute for almost an entire day, finally returned.

With dark circles under his eyes, he yawned wearily and came in at a leisurely pace, saying, "You're all here, did you find that bracelet?"

"We found it."

Lin Zichen raised the bracelet he was holding in his hand.

Standing beside him, Shen Qinghan called out reservedly, "Director Liu, hello."

Liu Chuanwu responded cheerfully, "Hello to you too."

Song Yuyan teased, "Director Liu, your dark circles are so heavy, you didn't spend all of last night working, did you?"

Liu Chuanwu rubbed his lower back and said, "It wasn't just all night; it was the whole day."

"From noon yesterday until now, I haven't slept a second."

"I've been busy pile-driving, helping an old flame fix up her garden; it really wore out these old bones of mine."

"..."

Lin Zichen wasn't interested in what Liu Chuanwu did last night at his old flame's place, he was only interested in the bracelet he was holding.

Quickly, he asked, "Director Liu, where did you get this bracelet from?"

After thinking it over, Liu Chuanwu said, "If I remember correctly, it should have been excavated from an underwater relic back in '04."

Underwater relic?

Lin Zichen sharply caught the word "sea" and continued to ask, "What was that underwater relic like exactly?"

"It's been nearly twenty years from that time to now, I've forgotten many details."

After finishing, Liu Chuanwu added, "But I recorded it back then, it's stored in my office; I'll take you to see it now."

...

PS: Holding out my bowl, asking for monthly and recommendation tickets!