146: Chapter 146 Echoes

It was raining on the day they returned from Nancheng.

Chen Zhen sat on the high-speed train; the mountains outside the window were completely obscured by rain and mist, making it impossible to see anything.

Zhou Rui was asleep in the seat next to him, still clutching the piece of rune rubbing paper, its edges crumpled from his grip.

Yun Xi sat opposite them, looking at her phone; the light from the screen reflected on her face, her expression faint.

The carriage was very quiet, save for the sound of the train, rumbling like distant thunder.

Chen Zhen looked down at the rubbing paper in his hand.

The Nancheng rune, like the one from Dongshan, had seventy-two clockwise points, but the lines were thicker and the carvings deeper, as if they had been forcefully chiseled out one stroke at a time.

He placed it on his lap alongside the rubbing papers from Dongshan, Beishan, and Xishan. Four runes: two clockwise, one counter-clockwise, and the other—he flipped to the Nancheng one—was also clockwise.

Three clockwise, one counter-clockwise.

It was not symmetrical.

He stacked the four sheets of paper together and held them up to the light from the window. The light shone through the paper, the four layers of runes interweaving into a complex pattern.

The core circle and three dots merged into a whole; the radial curves branched and intertwined like tree branches, nested geometric layers stacked one upon another, and the outer dot matrix became four layers—three clockwise and one counter-clockwise, like four gears, three of which turned in one direction while the other turned in the opposite direction.

[System prompt: Incomplete Composite Rune Array detected]

[Current progress: 4/4]

[Completion rate: 75%]

[Missing: nanshan jade tablet]

[Suggestion: Find the nanshan jade tablet to activate the complete Talisman Array]

The four runes had been collected, but the Talisman Array was only 75% complete.

It wasn't the runes that were missing, but the jade plaque. The Nanshan jade plaque was not in Nancheng.

Chen Zhen put away the four rubbing papers and leaned back in his seat.

It was still raining outside; slanting streaks of rain hit the glass, drawing long lines.

When the high-speed train arrived at the station, the rain had not yet stopped.

Chen Zhen carried his bag out of the station, with Zhou Rui following behind and Yun Xi walking beside him.

None of them used umbrellas; the rain was light, fine and dense, feeling cool as it fell on them.

They hailed a taxi back to the city and first went to the Secret Base.

Pushing the door open, they found Shen Nian crouching in front of the Mutant Seedling, holding a magnifying glass in his hand.

He turned his head upon hearing the commotion; he had dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was even messier than before they left.

"The flower bud has grown again," he said, pointing to the seedling.

Chen Zhen walked over and crouched down.

The flower buds on the back of the leaves had grown from the size of fava beans to the size of thumbs, plump and bulging; golden light leaked out from the gaps in the petals, illuminating the entire leaf.

The golden veins on the leaves had increased from forty-two to forty-five, and the entire plant looked like a lit lamp.

"It lit up again last night, very brightly."

Shen Nian said, "It was bright enough to turn the entire base golden. It lasted for about ten seconds, then slowly dimmed."

Chen Zhen stared at the flower buds.

It was soon.

He could feel the power about to burst forth accumulating within the buds, like water overflowing when full. He stood up and walked to the center of the array to sit down.

He used Internal Vision on his Dantian.

The seed was still spinning, and the vein was still glowing, just as before, neither brightening nor dimming.

It was waiting.

Waiting for the flower to bloom.

He took out the two jade plaques and placed them in front of him.

The Beishan and Xishan jade plaques had milky white surfaces shimmering with a faint light, and their resonance frequency with the Talisman Array had stabilized.

He reached out to touch them, injecting spiritual power, and the system panel popped up a prompt.

[Composite Rune Array · Strength + 5% · Current 320%]

[jade plaque resonating · Progress 2/4]

He withdrew his hand.

Four jade plaques: Dongshan, Beishan, Xishan, and Nanshan.

He had two; the Dongshan one was inside the seed, and he didn't know where the Nanshan one was.

When Shen Zhiyuan went to Nancheng in 1958, the stone box was already empty.

Who had taken it? Shen Zhiqiu? Or someone else?

He stood up and walked to the blackboard, staring at the Composite Rune Array.

Three layers of runes, clockwise, counter-clockwise, clockwise; three gears meshing together.

What would happen if the Nanshan rune were added?

Four directions, four dot matrices, three layers clockwise and one counter-clockwise; it would form a rotating force field.

He drew a circle on the blackboard, with the Heavenly Pillar at the center and the four mountains on the circumference.

He had been to the Heavenly Pillar; there were giant stones, runes, and his Original Body there. The center was there, and the boundaries were there too. Only the last piece of the puzzle was missing.

Zhou Rui walked up beside him, looking at the sketch on the blackboard.

"Master, could the Nanshan jade plaque be in Shen Zhiyuan's hands?"

Chen Zhen thought for a moment.

He had seen Shen Zhiyuan's relics; there was no jade plaque.

It wasn't with Old Wu, nor with Old Lin.

"It is not in his hands."

"Then whose hands is it in?"

Chen Zhen shook his head.

"I don't know. But Shen Zhiyuan went to Nancheng, found the stone box empty, and left after carving the inscription. He didn't look for the jade plaque, which means he knew where it was, or he knew who had taken it."

Zhou Rui was stunned for a moment. "He knew that person?"

Chen Zhen didn't answer.

He turned and walked to the center of the array to sit down, taking Shen Zhiyuan's notebook out of his Storage Space.

He flipped to the page about Nancheng's Fu Mountain, where it was written:

"I went to explore it in the summer of 1985 and found a stone tablet on the hillside, inscribed with runes similar to those of Dongshan and Beishan. Unfortunately, the tablet was damaged, and the runes were incomplete. There was a stone box under the tablet, which was already empty. I suspect someone took it before me."

I suspect someone took it before me.

He didn't write who it was.

But he had carved his name in the cave on Nancheng's Fu Mountain.

He knew who it was, but didn't write it down.

Why?

Chen Zhen closed the notebook.

Because that person was still alive.

He didn't want to say.

He stood up and walked to the window; the rain had stopped, a crack had opened in the clouds, and moonlight leaked through.

The city lights reflected blurry shadows in the puddles.