SCOM - Chapter 62
Chapter 62
“The ore is broken down on the third floor, sent to the fourth for a preliminary analysis, then the crude material is sent to the fifth floor for further purification and impurity separation. Finally, the final test results come out on the sixth floor.” Zhang Yongzhen led them to the third-floor corridor, explaining as they went.
“What happens on the second floor?” Luo Shaoyuan, walking at the front, turned and asked bluntly.
Zhang Yongzhen politely explained, “The second floor is usually the researchers’ offices.”
“Secretary Zhang seems quite familiar with the research institute.” Ji Yuezhi’s gaze rested on a large rock in the third-floor decomposition room as he spoke, as if it were just a casual remark.
“As the Star Lord’s secretary, I need to know a little about everything,” Zhang Yongzhen smiled sheepishly, his expression relaxing as if he’d encountered peers. “Sometimes the pressure is immense, and I’m afraid of not doing a good job. Also, the research institute is right next to the administration building, so I’m a bit more familiar with it.”
Ji Yuezhi nodded. “Secretary Zhang, could you accompany us inside for a look? I’ve never seen ore decomposition before. I’m quite curious.”
“Of course.” Zhang Yongzhen bowed slightly, pushed open the door to the decomposition room, and gestured for them to enter.
“I won’t go in. I’ll just look around,” Luo Shaoyuan said, a little bored. “What’s so interesting about a broken rock?”
“As I said, the research institute is a confidential location,” Jiang Hong said to Luo Shaoyuan disapprovingly.
“I’m not going in, just looking around,” Luo Shaoyuan said, looking at Zhang Yongzhen. “Secretary, I don’t need you to accompany me.”
Jiang Hong said, “Why don’t you go back first, Luo Shaoyuan?”
“I don’t want to go back. Who knows where you guys will go to have fun later?”
Seeing that the two were about to argue, Zhang Yongzhen interjected, “How about having a guide from the research institute accompany Luo Shaoyuan? Would that be alright?”
“Fine.” Luo Shaoyuan listlessly asked the research institute guide beside him, “Do you have anything to eat at the institute?”
“…No, we go to the cafeteria in the administration building next door for meals,” the guide replied.
“Alright, you guys do your research. I’ll wander around.” Luo Shaoyuan turned and left.
Ji Yuezhi and Zuo Luohuan entered the decomposition room first. Inside, rocks of varying sizes were rapidly being pulverized into powder and loaded into special containers. Researchers then came to collect the containers and send them up a transport pipe.
“The pulverized rock is transported through this pipe to the research labs on the fourth floor, where it undergoes preliminary purification and testing,” Zhang Yongzhen explained as he led them on the tour.
Next, they visited the fourth and fifth floors, but they didn’t go up to the sixth.
“The sixth floor is not open to the public. Only in the later stages of research do professors come up to check the final results,” Zhang Yongzhen said somewhat regretfully. “No researchers have been on the sixth floor these past few days, so I haven’t been up there either.”
“There’s so much to rock decomposition,” Jiang Hong exclaimed.
“Thank you, Secretary Zhang. This has been very interesting,” Ji Yuezhi said, turning to Zhang Yongzhen. “Since we’ve finished the tour, we’ll head back now. We won’t disturb you any further.”
“It was our pleasure.” Zhang Yongzhen extended an arm, inviting the three to leave together.
When they reached the first floor, Jiang Hong looked up and said, sounding annoyed, “Luo Shaoyuan didn’t come down?”
“I came down a while ago.” Luo Shaoyuan walked in through the main entrance, carrying several bags that looked like they contained food. She also held a drink in her hand. “I wandered around the area. There’s so much to eat.”
The research institute guide trailed behind her, looking numb. Anyone would be numb after witnessing her eat so much, her mouth never stopping. She looked like someone who hadn’t eaten in eight hundred years, a prisoner just released from jail.
“Alright, let’s go back,” Zuo Luohuan said.
Zhou Li was the one who drove them back, taking them all the way to the Xijiang Mansion restaurant.
“There’s a fun game out recently with a four-player mode. Want to play together? I think the optical screen and sound system in the room are pretty good.” Luo Shaoyuan scrolled through her optical computer, showing Zuo Luohuan. “It’s a combat game. Want to give it a try?”
“Have you played it before?” Zuo Luohuan asked.
“No, it came out last month. I haven’t had time to play yet.” Luo Shaoyuan turned to the waiter beside her. “Do you have any game controllers? Please send four to my room.”
“Yes, we do.” The waiter quickly went to fetch the controllers.
By the time the four of them finished their meal, the game controllers had already been delivered to Luo Shaoyuan’s room.
They all went to her room, fiddled around for a bit, and then started playing.
The sounds of gunshots and headshots echoed loudly in the room, loud enough to deafen anyone.
If someone in a certain room in the opposite building could see inside, they would find that their listening device was placed right next to the speaker, with the volume turned up to the max.
“I walked around the research institute. There’s not much security around it, but there are laser devices. Their glass is one-way; I couldn’t see inside from outside.” Luo Shaoyuan sat down. “Later, I went to the cafeteria in the administration center. It’s on the eighth floor. If we enter the cafeteria through the kitchen vent first, and then jump from the window to the roof of the research institute next door, we can avoid the laser devices and save ourselves some trouble.”
“Not ‘we’,” Zuo Luohuan leaned against the sofa, pointing at herself. “‘Me’.”
Ji Yuezhi frowned and turned to look at her. “I’m going too.”
Zuo Luohuan chuckled. “You stay in the room and help me put on a show.”
Ji Yuezhi was silent for a moment, then said, “Yan Yan’s parents are in the 377th Army. They’ll have weapons. Have him bring them to you and go with you.”
“Okay.” Zuo Luohuan agreed.
“The third, fourth, and fifth floors of the research institute shouldn’t be a problem.” Ji Yuezhi tilted his head slightly, looking up at Zuo Luohuan. “Zhang Yongzhen deliberately said that the sixth floor is not open to the public, but I think the second floor is where they keep the important things. The wear and tear on the second-floor elevator button is the slightest. It’s not just researchers’ offices.”
Zuo Luohuan was taken aback. She hadn’t told Ji Yuezhi much, and he didn’t know Zhang Yongzhen, yet he was able to discern so much.
“Jiang Hong, do you have any connections working at the hotel?” Zuo Luohuan asked.
“What kind of staff are you looking for?”
“Housekeeping, the ones who change the linens,” Zuo Luohuan said. “One visit in the afternoon, another the next morning.”
Jiang Hong thought for a moment. “It might take a few days.”
“That’s fine.”
The group spent the afternoon playing games in Luo Shaoyuan’s room before returning to their own rooms in the evening.
…
Zhou Li noticed that the young masters and misses seemed to have tired themselves out and lost interest in Xijiang Exile Star. Apart from visiting their classmate’s parents in the hospital, they mostly stayed cooped up in the hotel, occasionally venturing out to soak in the hot springs or have drinks at the hotel’s lounge.
“Tsk, tsk, youthful vigor. Every day at noon, it starts. Truly, a full stomach gives rise to lustful thoughts,” Zhou Li muttered, watching the hallway surveillance as Zuo Luohuan knocked on Ji Yuezhi’s door and went inside.
“Too bad there are no cameras in the rooms. Otherwise, we could watch the live stream,” someone in the room said lewdly. “I heard they’re both top-tier Alphas and Omegas.”
Zhou Li turned and glared at the speaker. “Nonsense. Xijiang Mansion never installs surveillance in the rooms. We value our guests’ privacy.”
In reality, Xijiang Mansion had installed them before. Later, someone with a powerful background from the West District came to gamble in the underground casino and accidentally discovered the surveillance in the room. They nearly brought down the entire entertainment industry on Xijiang Exile Star. That’s why Xijiang Mansion no longer dared to install surveillance cameras in the rooms. Even listening devices were only placed in the rooms of Zuo Luohuan and her friends, and even those were installed temporarily.
At noon, Zuo Luohuan went into Ji Yuezhi’s room as usual, stayed for over two hours, and then Ji Yuezhi called for room service. A housekeeping staff member, one of Jiang Hong’s connections, pushed a cart inside. Zuo Luohuan hid inside the cart and was wheeled out of the hotel. She then met up with Yan Yan, waiting until nightfall when the lights in the administration building were turned off and the building was locked up.
“Senior Sister, what’s in the research institute?” Yan Yan brought the equipment bag his parents used to use. Inside were two grappling hooks, a dagger, a handgun, and a small amount of ammunition.
“I’m not sure.” Zuo Luohuan hadn’t seen anything at the time, but Hong Tongdao’s actions towards her made her even more suspicious.
The two entered through the kitchen vent, successfully reaching the eighth floor of the administration building. Following Luo Shaoyuan’s directions, they reached the designated window.
“…” Yan Yan estimated the distance between the two buildings. “Jump from here?”
He felt it was impossible to jump to the roof of the research institute next door. Although the two buildings looked close, they were actually quite far apart.
“Yes.” Zuo Luohuan pushed open the window and jumped.
Yan Yan didn’t even have a chance to stop her. He watched as she took several strides in mid-air and landed successfully on the roof of the research institute.
…It didn’t seem that far after all.
Yan Yan took a deep breath and jumped as well. However, his estimation was a bit off, and he found himself unable to reach the edge of the roof even with his arm outstretched.
This is going to break my leg, he thought. Hopefully, it won’t trigger the alarm. There are laser devices around here.
Just then, a rope was thrown down from above. Yan Yan quickly grabbed it, dangling above the sixth floor for a moment before swiftly climbing up.
Zuo Luohuan retracted the rope. “Junior, you’d better practice more when we get back.”
Yan Yan: “…Yes.”
The two searched the roof and finally chose to carefully pick the lock on a door.
Zuo Luohuan led Yan Yan to the sixth floor. Instead of opening the door to the emergency stairwell, they continued down to the second floor.
They moved with extreme caution. It was then that Zuo Luohuan discovered that there were laser devices here as well. It was excessive for an ordinary ore testing center, further suggesting that something was being hidden.
Fortunately, they had discovered it in advance. Although their progress was difficult, they finally found an office that was clearly more secure than the others.
Zuo Luohuan took out the explosives Jiang Hong had procured and attached them to the lock. After about ten minutes, the lock opened.
They exchanged a glance and quietly stepped inside.
The desk in the office was ordinary, but there was a safe in the corner.
Zuo Luohuan stared at the safe for a while, then decided not to touch it. She looked around, her gaze sweeping over the books on the shelves.
The books were varied, mostly on ore testing techniques, along with quite a few albums.
Zuo Luohuan gestured for Yan Yan to come over and check the books. She reached out and pulled out the albums that were the same size or slightly larger than the documents she had seen before.
She flipped through a thick album about rock formations. The paper was thick and glossy, the kind commonly used in many albums. However…
Zuo Luohuan held the album, feeling that something was off.
Using the faint light from her optical computer, she carefully examined the album and finally tore a page open, revealing a document inside.
—Every page of the album had a hidden compartment.
Zuo Luohuan tore open all the pages and retrieved the documents inside. They weren’t the ones she had seen before.
Beside her, Yan Yan recorded everything. It was a complete set of test results. He happened to see the conclusion and gasped.
“…Silver-green in the Xijiang Exile Star mines?”
Zuo Luohuan suddenly shoved the retrieved documents to Yan Yan. “Take this and leave now.”
She quickly left the office with the album and the first document she had pulled out.
It was then that Yan Yan heard footsteps in the corridor.
Zhang Yongzhen stood in the hallway. Seeing Zuo Luohuan, a strange smile appeared on his face. “You came.”
“Secretary Zhang?” Zuo Luohuan stuffed the album into her backpack as he watched. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for someone.” Zhang Yongzhen stared at Zuo Luohuan, flipping out a dagger. “And now I’ve found them.”
“Is that so?” Zuo Luohuan placed her hand on the corridor railing and suddenly jumped from the second floor.
Zhang Yongzhen stood on the second floor, watching Zuo Luohuan below. “Shui Bai, I knew you weren’t dead when I didn’t see your body.”
Zuo Luohuan stopped, looked at a two-meter-tall robot dog emerging from the darkness, took a few steps back, and turned to look at Zhang Yongzhen on the second floor. “Who is Shui Bai?”
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