Chapter 22 - 22 22 The Mystery in the Photo

Words : 2115 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

22: Chapter 22: The Mystery in the Photo 22: Chapter 22: The Mystery in the Photo Lin Xiaosu gently shook his head: “If this were a river, it would be fine, but the key is that this isn’t a river at all. It’s just a temporary waterway formed by the heavy rain in the Lao Mountain area yesterday morning. With the clear weather in the Lao Mountain area today, this river must have already disappeared.” 88 nodded lightly: “Your eyesight is good! There is fallen green grass in this river, which obviously means it is not a real river. This is also the key reason I didn’t include this small river in my field of vision. Tell me, where do you see the information?” Lin Xiaosu said: “Look, these leaves!” His finger pointed at several leaves floating down the water. The leaves were large and very clear under the high-precision camera dedicated to Qianlong. Leaves? Everyone’s eyes simultaneously widened... “Chang Ye, you’re an expert in botany, do you know what tree these leaves come from?” “It looks like... eucalyptus!” “Correct! It is eucalyptus!” Lin Xiaosu said: “Do you know the biggest characteristic of eucalyptus?” “Exceptionally tall!” Lin Xiaosu nodded lightly: “Adult eucalyptus trees can grow over a hundred meters tall, they are most common in the forests of Nanmo State, but in Daxia Country, they are very rare. If we were to drive a flying car over Lao Mountain, wouldn’t the few large trees below that are over a hundred meters tall be easy to find?” 88’s eyes lit up! Chang Ye’s eyes lit up! Xinyue looked from one person to the other: “Hey, hey, Instructor, don’t you just get carried away and give him points for those bland, unconfirmed blathering. The Reserve Chapter states that it’s strictly prohibited to cheat by showing favoritism...” 88 burst into hearty laughter: “Comrade little Su, I see hope in you. Next up, find the location where this photo was taken, and I’ll add 200 points!” “Yes!” Lin Xiaosu raised his hand and saluted in an awkward manner. “A salute not up to standard, deduct 10 points...” Xinyue shouted. Shh! With a quiet click, the star curtain outside the flying car completely vanished. Outside, it was the darkest time before dawn. Yet when Lin Xiaosu’s gaze pierced through the car window, the sight of a large river below still gave him a sense of openness between heaven and earth. Having left the 101, there was no need to conceal anymore. Below was the Yangtze River. He quietly calculated the flying car’s speed in his mind, roughly 700 kilometers per hour. A very normal cruising speed. “Everyone rest for a bit, we might not have time to rest after we enter the mountain,” Chang Ye said and then closed his eyes. 88 also closed his eyes. And soon, snoring could be heard from 88. This was probably a peculiar trait of Qianlong members. They could sleep as soon as they lay down and were ready to battle the moment they opened their eyes. Their bodily functions had long been rigidly mechanized, not allowing themselves to waste even a bit of energy. Lin Xiaosu and Xinyue couldn’t do this. The two sat side by side in the back seat, staring wide-eyed at each other. “Why are you always targeting me?” Lin Xiaosu’s voice was very low. “Why did you have to shatter my milk?” Xinyue’s voice was also very low. “You jumped out trying to kill me, it would be normal even if I broke your head.” “Then why didn’t you hit my head? Why did you hit my milk?” “Damn... It’s tough to raise women and villains!” Lin Xiaosu closed his eyes. But he distinctly felt a hand shaped like a knife, drawing back and forth in the air above his neck. Lin Xiaosu abruptly opened his eyes and saw the hand, which retracted rapidly and senselessly, but the path it left behind was exactly as he had felt. Damn! What kind of heaven-defying skill is this? I can actually see her movements with my eyes closed? Lin Xiaosu closed his eyes again, his consciousness focusing on his brain. Suddenly, he had a wonderful feeling, as if there was a consciousness silverfish swimming in the boundless jungle of his mind. His perception of the outside world was so mystical, as if he could see the objects moving around him without opening his eyes. This consciousness silverfish, could it be the human sixth sense? The Sixth Sense made tangible, can you understand? When they woke up, the sky was filled with the rising sun. The unmanned flying car had smoothly arrived at its destination: Lao Mountain. The flying car entered Lao Mountain without alerting anyone. From the flying car’s view, Lao Mountain was exceedingly peculiar. A layer of thin fog, like ocean waves, undulated and enveloped everything below. Occasionally, a few tall trees broke through the fog above, and several high mountains stood like isolated islands in the ocean. Xinyue stared blankly at the trees below, wanting to dump a few buckets of cold water on Lin Xiaosu. However, she couldn’t speak, because she had developed a slight admiration for him in her heart. In this Lao Mountain, the thick fog lingered all year round. It seemed that searching for a hundred-meter-tall tree was indeed the best landmark for finding one’s way. Although this darn kid was a nuisance himself, the idea he put forth seemed to be the only feasible method. Ten minutes later, Chang Ye raised her hand, pointing to a tall tree: “Eucalyptus!” At this moment, the fog was not only unfading but had become even denser. The tall tree she was pointing to stood out prominently in the mist, very recognizable. 88 was excited, ready to pilot the flying car to land. Lin Xiaosu gently shook his head: “Not this one, keep going!” “How do you know it’s not this one?” asked Chang Ye. “The geological characteristics below don’t match at all.” Below! Yes, their target wasn’t the eucalyptus itself, but rather to locate the real position through it, so, the eucalyptus was just for reference. There were also geographic features in the picture. Chang Ye glanced at Lin Xiaosu with a bit of discontent. This kid had an extraordinary eye, but could he really see the precise geographic features through the nearly invisible thick fog below? Another eucalyptus appeared, ignored just the same. Then, three eucalyptus trees lined up side by side came into view. Also ignored. The flying car traveled for about forty minutes, spotting thirty eucalyptus trees along the way. Overall, eucalyptus trees were indeed as rare as Lin Xiaosu had said. But Lao Mountain was too vast and still accommodated dozens of them. An hour passed, and even the flying car in the sky momentarily lost its bearings. Below was a sea of clouds while the heavens above stretched endlessly, with no effective reference points in the wilderness, and all satellite signals were lost... For the first time in their lives, these Qianlong elites, accustomed to being in control, felt a sense of not being able to master their surroundings... Heaven knows, this feeling wasn’t pleasant. Suddenly, Lin Xiaosu pointed and said, “There!” Number 88’s spirits lifted as he piloted the flying car to land. The location was a valley, with the eucalyptus growing at the bottom of it, and its canopy just breaking through the fog layer. It was, in fact, not conspicuous among the many eucalyptus trees. But Lin Xiaosu locked onto it with just one glance. Upon landing in the valley, the scene before them made Chang Ye’s eyes light up: “Over there!” “Did we really find it? No way?” Xinyue leaped up, transforming into a wisp of smoke, and almost simultaneously arrived with Chang Ye at a low cliff where a peculiar orchid from the photo swayed in the wind, showcased in 360 degrees. Xinyue licked her lips, swallowing hard: “This bastard actually... actually has some real skills!” Looking back, she laughed: “Hey, Lin Xiaose, you kinda look like a turtle...” Lin Xiaosu was momentarily exasperated. Among the four travelers, three had scaled the low cliff in seconds, leaving him alone, climbing up by grasping onto the roots. His physique was indeed a little embarrassing. But what could he do? His body was just that of an ordinary person! Number 88 stretched out his hand, grabbed Lin Xiaosu’s hand, and yanked him up the cliff with a hard pull, patting his shoulder: “Well done! Your 200 points have been credited!” Lin Xiaosu felt happy. Jealousy and envy filled Xinyue’s eyes... And Chang Ye? Only excitement filled hers. She donned the familiar glasses Lin Xiaosu knew, her hand piercing the orchid before her with a silver needle, as the glasses flickered with light, clearly analyzing something. Xinyue called out from beside: “Instructor, the main mission is to find Number 325, not to find the orchid. The orchid’s been found and little Se’s points have been credited. I won’t dispute that, but finding Number 325 still yields 300 points, right?” “Right!” Number 88 showed rare warmth towards her: “If you find it, you’ll get the 300 points just the same!” “Ha ha! With 300 points credited, I’ll break through that damned threshold for the Qianlong Gold Medal, and then see how the ‘Reserve Bullshit Regulations’ can deduct my points...” As her voice fell, Xinyue vanished, appearing atop the highest peak the next moment, overlooking the entire valley. It’s no secret that Xinyue harbored intense hate for the Reserve Chapter; she dreamed of breaking through the thousand-point threshold. Why, you ask? The Qianlong Regulations made it clear. Below a thousand points, the instructor can add or subtract points at any time. Cross the thousand-point threshold, meeting the standards for the Qianlong Gold Medal. Once you become a Qianlong Gold Medal holder, it’s a jump out of the jurisdiction of the Reserve Chapter, and the instructor no longer has the right to deduct your points. You move out from under the yoke of the detestable Reserve Chapter and into the purview of the Qianlong Regulations! This just goes to show, this girl has a mountain of grievances against the instructor’s deductions. Lin Xiaosu smiled slightly and with a gentle blink, he entered Reverse Time. All he needed was to find this orchid, and he would be able to locate Number 325. And to find Number 325 means to follow his chain of actions to complete the main mission. So, entering Lao Mountain, the most difficult part wasn’t to find Number 325 himself, but rather any point where he might have left behind a trace. This was Lin Xiaosu’s real trump card. In Reverse Time, Lin Xiaosu saw Number 325. He was wearing Dragon Armor. But his Dragon Armor was clearly different from Lin Xiaosu’s; his own armor wasn’t truly Dragon Armor, but rather Reserve’s Fake Dragon Armor. He already knew from the data that the Qianlong set comprised of Dragon Armor, Dragon Scale, Dragon Eye, and dragon tendon, reserved only for official Qianlong members. Dragon Armor, the protective suit one wears, differing with one’s status; the genuine high-end Dragon Armor could be fashioned to look like everyday clothes, unrecognizable by others in society. It could even be tailored to individual preferences and made into high-fashion wear. Dragon Scale was a dagger, made of a special alloy, sharp enough to slice hair and even pierce steel. Dragon Eye were the glasses Chang Ye once displayed, powerful not in themselves but connected to a vast system. dragon tendon was a rope, a mere rope to anyone else, but many in the Qianlong ranks preferred to use it as the King of Hell’s life-snatching noose. The color of Number 325’s Dragon Armor seemed to change all the time, with different light and surrounding colors affecting the armor’s own hue. It was camouflaging material developed based on the principles of a chameleon’s skin. Number 325 opened the orchid bud on top and carefully extracted something resembling a bunch of grapes, pondering over it for a long time... The grapes were a distinctive golden hue. Certainly not something that should be growing within an orchid bud. Probably Number 325 realized this, which is why he took the grapes but left the orchid behind—of course, it might also be because the orchid was too large to move. After taking the grapes, he headed up the valley towards the mountaintop. Lin Xiaosu followed his trail...

Chapter 22 - 22 22 The Mystery in the Photo

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