Chapter 613 - The Hidden Workshop

His brain didn’t just perform calculations, it could even simulate chemical molecular structures and chemical reactions, and he conducted a “simulation experiment” in his head. In other words, his brain wasn’t just solving the question, it was also deducing the experimental results!

After several minutes, Xia Lei raised the chalk and started writing on the blackboard.

Xia Lei threw the chalk onto the ground after three minutes.

The blackboard was filled with writing, and it was all correct.

“This…” Lin Yi’s jaw fell to the ground in astonishment.

The old men looked at Xia Lei, dumbstruck. They didn’t dare believe that a high school graduate could actually solve a problem so difficult that even a doctorate-holder couldn’t solve.The youth in front of them had already overturned their perception of high school graduates and turned their faces red in shame from their previous prejudiced and discriminatory remarks.

Fan Fan’s reaction was different from everyone else. Her eyes lit up as she watched Xia Lei. She was proud of him and she felt proud to be his assistant.

Some women liked men who fought well and thought that they were cool. Some women liked men who were handsome, because going out with a hot boyfriend would attract a lot of admiring gazes on the streets. Some women liked smart men, men who had the capability to earn money, because these men would always provide a superior quality of life. No matter which characteristic it was, Xia Lei could embody all of these.

This was why he was always so attractive to women. He was divorced too, so he was now a top-notch highly eligible bachelor.

“All right, that’s about it. It’s not that hard,” said Xia Lei indifferently.

These words made Lin Yi want to bash his head into a wall. He hadn’t solved that question for an entire half month as a doctorate-holder but the high school graduate he had discriminated against had solved it in just a few minutes. This was like a slap to his face, and a very vicious slap at that!

“Lin Yi, Fellow Xia has already solved your question. I think you should keep your promise now.” Fan Fan urged, “Quickly apologise to Fellow Xia.”

“I…” Lin Yi flushed, stammering. A simple sorry was easy to say, but it was very difficult for him.

“Is it so hard?” Fan Fan looked at Lin Yi questioningly.

Lin Yi’s face became redder but he still couldn’t force out an apology. Now, he only had his little bit of so-called intellectual dignity left.

Fan Fan was about to say something else but Xia Lei said, “There’s no need. I don’t need anyone to apologise to me.”

Fan Fan put a sweet smile on her face. “All right, let’s leave and find my grandfather,” she said.

Xia Lei was about to leave the office with Fan Fan when Lin Yi suddenly called out, “Wait up. I… I’m sorry.”

He still said it in the end.

Xia Lei turned and looked at him with a smile. “It’s nothing. I only hope that in the future, when Mr Lin meets another high school graduate like me, that you won’t look at him with bias.”

His face reddened again, and he felt so ashamed that he wanted to die.

At that moment, Fan Yiming appeared in the office doorway. He saw Xia Lei and was immediately happy. “Haha, Mr Xia! I told someone to fetch you from the entrance. I didn’t expect that you would already be here.”

Xia Lei was a little speechless. This Fan Yiming had a strange way of doing things.

“It’s good that you’re here. Come to my workshop with me. I looked through the materials that you sent me but there are still a lot of things that I don’t understand. We’ll have to discuss this thoroughly,” said Fan Yiming.

Xia Lei paused. He did not say anything, but he was thinking, ‘Wasn’t there going to be a tea party, a welcome ceremony, or something of the like?’

“Grandfather…” Fan Fan wanted to remind Fan Yiming of it,  but Fan Yiming had already dragged Xia Lei out of the office.

The few old men in the office looked at each other, all with very strange expressions on their faces. Fan Yiming had actually gathered them all there so that they could meet Xia Lei and get to know him. They had already waited for quite a long time but Fan Yiming had taken Xia Lei away the moment he arrived. This made them feel quite depressed.

The old men had all been given the cold shoulder. Of course, Fan Yiming had completely forgotten about the welcome ceremony and tea party. However, Xia Lei didn’t care. He actually didn’t like things like that.

Fan Yiming’s workshop was very big but the space was filled with different types of materials and experiment equipment. It was similar to his office, and it seemed very messy and cramped.

Fan Fan came in too. She closed the workshop door.

Fan Yiming walked over to a wall and pressed on a switch on the wall. The wall opened up, revealing an alloy door. Fan Yiming walked to the entrance, entered the password, and did a cornea scan. The alloy door opened, revealing a hidden room. It seemed like another workshop but it was way more advanced than the workshop outside, and much neater.

Xia Lei saw the Ming dynasty compass resting on a workstation at once. His heart thumped, and he thought to himself, ‘Wasn’t the compass taken all over the world in order to find the next concealed treasure location? Why would it appear here? Could it they have already found something?’

“Please enter, Mr Xia.” Fan Yiming entered the hidden workshop first.

Xia Lei walked in after Fan Yiming. Fan Fan entered last and the alloy door automatically shut behind her when she entered.

“Elder Fan, are you studying that compass?” asked Xia Lei.

“I know you’ve fixed it so you can touch those ancient alloys.” Fan Yiming seemed to have entered a different mode. His thoughts were very sharp. “If it wasn’t for the superiors restricting me from touching the ancient alloy, I would really want to take a good look at it myself and analyse its make-up.”

“Elder Fan, it’s best that you don’t touch those ancient alloys before we’ve uncovered the answer to the riddle. There was a research team in the past who tried to uncover its secrets but some of those people died, and the others went mad. Only one managed a narrow and lucky escape.” Xia Lei thought of Ning Jing. He did not know how she was now. He wanted to go see her when he got the time.

“But if I can’t touch those ancient alloy pieces, then how I am supposed to study them? Sometimes science and technology requires one to devote himself. If it really doesn’t work, I can just sacrifice my old life. I don’t believe that I can’t solve its mysteries,” said Fan Yiming.

“Those research workers who died and went mad have already paid the price, Elder Fan. Don’t make a meaningless sacrifice,” said Xia Lei.

Fan Fan said, “Yes, Grandfather. As far as we understand, only Big Brother Lei can touch those ancient alloy pieces. The people who touched the ancient alloy other than him have died or gone crazy. Your body has always been very weak, and your immunity is even worse. Do you still want to repeat the disasters that those research workers experienced?”

Fan Yiming sighed. “Then what should we do? If we can’t touch it, how are we supposed to research it with just some documents?”

Fan Fan glanced at Xia Lei and said with a laugh, “Don’t we have Big Brother Lei as well? The higher-ups made him join the Academy of Science. Wasn’t that so we could integrate the strength of the Academy of Science, in order to assist him in getting a breakthrough for the Alloy X Project? I believe that Big Brother Lei will definitely succeed.”

Fan Yiming was silent for a moment before saying, “All right, I will just take a supporting role for once.”

“I want to first understand the extent of your research. Can you tell me?” said Xia Lei.

Fan Yiming said, “Fan Fan, show him.”

Fan Fan made a sound of assent, then walked to a computer. She entered commands into the computer, and a video was displayed on the wall.

It was a video of an archaeological worker excavating an old tomb.

It was an old tomb from the Ming dynasty. The gravestone had already thoroughly eroded, and the words on it were virtually unreadable. The old tomb was opened up, and a large room appeared. It seemed just like an underground palace and was very imposing.

“This… Where is this?” Xia Lei couldn’t help voicing the curiosity in his heart.

“This is the first concealed treasure location.” Fan Yiming said, “The entire excavation process was filmed. It lasted for about ten hours. The video file I have was cut.”

“Big Brother Lei, you don’t know the circumstances behind the first concealed treasure location?” asked Fan Fan.

Xia Lei shook his head. “I don’t. I’ve never been there before, and no one told me.”

He was telling the truth. Even though he was in charge of the Alloy X Project, he had never known where the first concealed treasure location was. He had taken over only after Ning Jing’s research team met with a mishap. The only thing he had taken was the ancient alloy, the bronze book, and the compass.

“How could it be like this?” Fan Fan couldn’t believe Xia Lei’s words.

Xia Lei smiled wryly, and did not explain things. However, he laughed bitterly to himself, ‘The higher-ups probably didn’t trust me at that time. It was only because I fixed the compass and was the only person who could touch the compass that they even let me try. They kept the first concealed treasure location secret and didn’t tell me. They’ve probably never really trusted me until now. That’s why I can join the Academy of Sciences and see the video of the first concealed treasure location.’

There wasn’t any way to confirm this, but he’d probably guessed most of it.

The video kept playing. The scene switched to the inside of a tomb. A few archaeologists very carefully opened a jade coffin. The scene was cut again, and a woman appeared on the display wall.

Xia Lei’s eyes widened abruptly when he saw the woman lying in the jade coffin.

The woman lying in the jade coffin was none other than Princess Yongmei, Zhu Xuanyue.

Nothing could describe Xia Lei’s feelings at this moment in time.

From Afghanistan, to Okinawa, to now... he had already seen three Princess Yongmei corpses!

These three corpses were exactly the same. Their skin, appearance, body type, and even their face was exactly the same. One person could never have three corpses, but Princess Yongmei had three corpses. This mystery perplexed Xia Lei.

“She’s so pretty and serene. It’s like she just fell asleep.” Fan Fan was imagining scenarios. “I think  she was probably a multi-talented princess when she was alive, right? She must have had a lot of suitors.”

Xia Lei thought to himself, ‘Multi-talented? If you saw her going crazy and murdering people, you probably wouldn’t think like that.’

The video on the wall cut to another scene again. An archaeologist took out the ancient alloy piece from Princess Yongmei’s mouth. Princess Yongmei’s corpse immediately eroded and a thousand years seemed to go by in a few seconds. Her body turned into ashes, and nothing was left behind.

“I watched this scene many times. I also do bioengineering but I can’t understand why a perfectly intact corpse would disappear in a few short seconds,” said Fan Fan faintly.

“Where’s the archaeologist?” asked Xia Lei.

“As far as I know, dead,'' said Fan Yiming.

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