169: Chapter 169 Deciphering the Fragmented Map: Reusing an Old Formation (2)

The Old Formation Master looked up at him for less than a single breath—then lowered his head to look at the fragmented map again.

"You have hit the nail on the head." He moved the formation ruler away from the red circle—shifting it to where the marking line was at the reef at the mouth of the Dragon Burial Trench. The tip of the formation ruler stopped on the reef marker.

"The batch of alert formation bases that the Ministry of War buried in the waters surrounding the Dragon Burial Trench three years ago—the path of the formation veins uses the same drawing specifications as the marking lines on this map. The spacing ratio of the formation vein nodes, the degree range of the turns and angles, the marking method—everything is consistent."

He used the formation ruler to measure the section of the marking line between the mouth of the Dragon Burial Trench and the red circle on the fragmented map.

"This section—the path of the marking line extending from the mouth of the Dragon Burial Trench towards the red circle is completely parallel to the formation vein paths of the old formation bases I repaired three years ago. Parallel means the two sets of formation bases were buried during the same period—or at least drawn by the same group of people using the same set of specifications."

"But this map is much older than three years ago."

"Much older." The Old Formation Master flipped the formation ruler over—and used the unbroken end to scrape the cut edge of the animal hide on the edge of the fragmented map. The scraped-off animal hide debris was dark brown—the color of old animal hide after losing moisture. He rubbed the debris between his fingertips—the debris crumbled into even finer powder on his fingertips.

"This animal hide is at least several decades old. The depth to which the ink has penetrated into the animal hide fibers—three years cannot reach this depth. This map has been stored in the Grain Supervision Office warehouse for three years—but it was drawn at least several decades ago."

He brushed the debris off his fingertips—brushing it onto the cabin floor. Then he picked up the fragmented map from the table—and held it up to the porthole. Moonlight shone through from the back of the fragmented map—the hide at those creases had worn thin, thin enough to let light through. The moonlight shone through the creases—forming extremely fine bright lines on the creases. The Old Formation Master looked at the back of the fragmented map under the moonlight—for about five breaths.

"There are water stains on the back." He flipped the fragmented map over—pointing to the extremely faint dark brown water stain on the back. The edges of the water stain were radial—splashed on. "This is a seawater stain—not fresh water. It wasn't wiped off after being splashed—it just air-dried. This indicates that the person who drew the map encountered danger at sea—or the exploration team had an incident at sea."

He placed the fragmented map back on the table—face up. Then, he used the broken end of the formation ruler to draw an extremely small circle around the outer perimeter of the red circle—the size of the circle just fit around the outside of the red circle. "This set of old formation bases—if there are any remnants left—even if only a small section remains—is useful for that island of yours."

"Why?"

"That island of yours—" The Old Formation Master tucked the formation ruler into his sleeve. The sleeve was from an old Ministry of War official robe—the cuff was worn out, and the threads at the tear were turned outward. He tucked the formation ruler into the inside of his cuff—after tucking it in, the cuff sagged by half an inch. "It is on the west side of the Dragon Burial Trench. One branch of the ancient formation veins on the fragmented map happens to extend from the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench towards the shallow water area on the west side—judging by the direction, that branch will pass through the underground of your island. If the ley line direction of Blue Moon Island is consistent with this ancient formation vein—the formation bases of your island defense formation can borrow the remaining Qi channels of the ancient formation veins. You won't need to lay them from scratch—it saves Spirit Stones, saves time, and saves formation base Materials."

He folded up the fragmented map—folding it along the old creases, and after three folds, it returned to its original small size. After folding it, he handed the fragmented map to Lu Changyuan—the handing action was done with one hand, as the formation ruler was still tucked in the other sleeve.

"When we get to the island—let me see your formation bases."

The afternoon of the next day. The fleet sailed out from the sea fog—the row of old, paint-peeled flagpoles on the fortress Pier emerged from the horizon in the twilight. First, the tips of the flagpoles appeared—then the signal flags on the boardwalk—finally, the few people standing at the end of the boardwalk were revealed.

The Quartermaster of the left flank front line was already waiting on the Pier. He wore a gray-blue military robe—the front of the robe was stained with ink and dried flour paste. Behind him, two auxiliary soldiers carried a wooden box—the wooden box was not large, and a seal from the left flank Logistics Department was pasted on the box lid. The Quartermaster saw Lu Changyuan jump down from the deck—and took out a stack of folded military ledgers from his bosom.

"Deputy Envoy Lu—the final payment for the second batch of blood awakening pills for the left flank front line." He spread out the military ledger—the ledger listed the inspection records and sign-offs for each of the four battalions. A number was attached after each inspection record column—the actual number of Spirit Stones paid. He flipped the ledger to the last page—the last page was the summary column. The seal of the left flank Logistics Department was stamped under the summary column. "The four battalions total—a final payment of 11,200 Spirit Stones. Added to the first batch of advance payments—the two batches total 22,400 Spirit Stones. It has all been settled."

Lu Changyuan took the military ledger. He flipped to the first page—the first page listed the inspection records for the first battalion. There was a line of small text in the inspection record column—a note handwritten by the Quartermaster. The note read: "The secondary infection rate of miasma among wounded soldiers has dropped from 43% last month to 17% this month. When blood awakening pills are used in conjunction with the Military Medical Bureau's medicinal soup—the debridement effect is nearly twice as fast as using the medicinal soup alone." There was no signature under the note—only an inspection seal from the Military Medical Bureau.

He closed the military ledger. "Over on the left flank—how are the wounded soldiers doing now?"

"The miasma infection has been suppressed." The Quartermaster tore open the seal of the wooden box—the Spirit Stones were neatly stacked inside. The Spirit Stones were divided into three compartments according to denomination—Low-Grade Spirit Stones, Medium-Grade Spirit Stones, and a few High-Grade Spirit Stones. "After the first batch of eighty pills were administered—the number of severe casualties with miasma flare-ups was reduced by half. The Military Medical Bureau has added the blood awakening pills to the emergency medication list—as long as the left flank front line is still fighting, this list will not be removed." He closed the wooden box lid—and pushed it to Lu Changyuan's feet. "Also—the Quartermasters of the four battalions on the left flank jointly submitted a supply evaluation to the Command Headquarters. The evaluation wrote about the drug quality and delivery punctuality rate of your Blue Moon Island. This evaluation is now on the desk of the Logistics Department of the Command Headquarters—in the future, when your Blue Moon Island supplies the fortress again, you won't need to queue up from the lowest level of review."

Lu Changyuan lifted the wooden box—the weight of the wooden box was heavier than it looked. The Spirit Stones in the box collided with each other as it was lifted—emitting a very faint sound of jade rubbing against jade. He handed the wooden box to the personal guard behind him—the personal guard's knees sank by half an inch when he took it.