Chapter 447: Chapter 222 Adventurer’s Notes
Mu Fan didn’t ask any further questions because he knew Black would inevitably end up telling him.
Putting the stone back into the wooden box, Mu Fan placed the leather case on the table with his left hand and opened it, then shook off the dust in his hand.
After everything was clean, he put on a pair of disposable gloves lying nearby, retrieved the stone, and placed it inside the leather case.
His fingers tapped on the screen to select the tool category, quickly finding the three tools mentioned by Black.
A tray automatically popped out from the tool rack, containing a cutter, an illuminator, and a brush.
“Start by taking the micro laser cutter and peel the shell at a thickness of one millimeter each time,” Black instructed Mu Fan.
It was familiar with this process because the term “Star Map Relic” also existed within the Yake Empire, and there was a complete record of the whole procedure in Black’s remaining database.
“Shall I do it?” Mu Fan asked, his tone revealing doubt. He had no experience whatsoever, and a mistake could ruin everything.
“Don’t worry, the cutter has scale adjustments. After you measure the level range, set it to cut every 1mm interval. It will work on its own, and I’ll tell you when to stop,” Black reassured him, understanding Mu Fan’s concerns.
“Understood.”
Mu Fan wasn’t one to dilly-dally. Upon hearing the instructions, he placed the device, similar to a microscope, inside the larger leather case.
The operating options were simple.
Level measurement, interval setting, interval switching.
Start, stop.
Just these five options.
He placed the stone, covered in stone chips, and adjusted the scale.
With trepidation, he pressed start.
A bright blue, extremely thin beam of light shot out and slowly moved forward. When it touched the stone, the layer scattered with stone chips silently fell off.
Layer by layer.
When the inner crystal, interwoven with purple-blue patterns and yellow mica patterns, surfaced, Black spoke, “Next time adjust directly to 3mm, cut once, and then switch sides.”
A beautiful jade-like translucent and polished surface appeared, the soft light hitting it like a pool of clear water.
“Next, perform the cut on the reverse side, similar to this one. The other sides don’t need to be processed.”
Mu Fan, nervous, didn’t dare to be careless and swiftly peeled off the other side’s stone chip surface.
Two smooth cut surfaces appeared, Mu Fan was astonished by the beauty of the stone once the shell was removed.
Like three colors perfectly blended into translucent crystal, with a fine texture resembling jade and emerald. Mu Fan said in awe, “Is this the true face of this stone?”
“This Three-color Relic seems to have weathered many years; its exterior is the result of assimilation with the soil of the planet. There might be a significant discovery soon.”
Mu Fan nodded, “What’s next?”
“Use the brush to remove the dust on the surface as carefully as possible, then take out the Triple-beam Gem Illuminator and set it up on the desk. Aim at that white wall, and turn it on.”
Mu Fan did as Black instructed, awaiting the next step.
“Holding the Star Map Relic, just face the cut side towards the beam.”
The light from the Triple-beam Gem Illuminator seemed no different from ordinary lighting to Mu Fan.
But as soon as Mu Fan positioned the warm and smooth stone in front of the light,
A miraculous scene unfolded.
A spectrum of colors appeared on the opposite wall, the patterns within the stone illuminated by the triple-frequency beams creating a picture like the glittering stars in the sky. At that moment, the light’s colors, a blend of three, filled the space with an unusual beauty.
“So beautiful,” Mu Fan marveled.
“Next, go to the controller of the Triple-beam Gem Illuminator and adjust the beam intensity. From the default settings of 1 to 10, just select automatic adjustment. Then keep the stone in front of the light,” Black instructed.
Mu Fan operated as instructed, and after holding the same position for another 3 seconds, the illuminator automatically began transitioning from setting 1.
The first picture appeared, totally different from what Mu Fan had just seen.
After 5 seconds, a second picture surfaced, and Mu Fan realized that the scene had changed again.
The third, fourth, the sixth picture was the same as the one Mu Fan had just seen. When the tenth picture ended, the soft clicking noise of Sky Communication’s camera ceased.
Black had controlled Sky Communication to take ten photos.
“All done, pack everything up, and put the Star Map Relic back,” Black said.
“Don’t we take it with us?”
“No need, the protective layer has been cut off, and after being exposed to the Triple-beam Gem Illuminator, the properties of this Star Map carrier will fade quickly, in less than an hour, it will become an ordinary piece of quartz. By the way, Mu Fan, why haven’t you asked until now what a Three-color Relic is?”
Mu Fan couldn’t be bothered with Black, placing the stone, whose colors were beginning to blur, back in its place, then picked up a notebook lying nearby.
“Well, since you’ve asked, I’ll tell you reluctantly,” Black said, shamelessly assuming that Mu Fan had already asked. After bypassing this logical obstacle with a magical algorithm, Black continued in an excited state.
“The Star Map Relic is also known as a High-order Star Map in our place. The origin of these things is still speculative, but it’s believed to belong to higher-dimensional beings using a form of cross-dimensional information transmission. Once the information inside is decrypted, it’s often a secret star chart. If one were to explore along that route, there’s a good chance of discovering artifacts far beyond contemporary civilization or a space that humanity has never reached.”
“Depending on the color of the carrier, ranging from one color to five, it can be assumed that the more colors, the more difficult the decryption, and the more astonishing the unknown information contained.”
Mu Fan was attentively flipping through the notebook. The front section contained data and parameters he couldn’t understand, a star course map, perhaps?
It wasn’t until further back that some hurried, barely legible handwriting recorded his observations and experiences.
“I’m really lucky that a nearly missed interference didn’t change the course of my spaceship before landing on this planet.”
“Good heavens, this place is truly a terrible place, it must be the most desolate planet I’ve ever seen, not a soul in sight.”
“Why is there no sign of life? There are only those hard plants that look like slag grass.”
…
“I probably don’t have enough supplies to last any longer than three days.”
“I actually found these beautiful plants in an underground cave! It’s over twenty degrees warmer here than on the surface, too bad my supplies are running out. I’ll gather some of these plants to take back. Oh, and these two rocks, one of which is really ugly, nothing like its companions.”
“This expedition has been terrible, I’m afraid the gains are minimal. It looks like I’ll be in debt again.”
…
“I don’t know why, but I feel so cold, yet I don’t have a fever.”
“Soaking in the biological cabin had no effect, I feel colder and colder, and my consciousness even blurred a few times.”
…
“Today I coughed up blood, and it was very black, but damn the equipment still shows there’s nothing wrong. I’m certain that my body must have contracted some unknown virus.”
…
“It’s still a long time before I can return to my home planet, I’m so tired, I’ll stop making notes for now, I just want to sleep.”
Mu Fan turned another page, blank, and still blank after that.
Clearly, the explorer’s diary-esque records had come to an abrupt halt at this moment.
The explorer had reached the end of his life.
Upon closing the journal, neither Black nor Bai Guyue mentioned any anomalies within the glass sphere at that time, so it was presumed that the explorer might have been affected on the planet or even before that.
As for the theory of an unknown virus, that remained unconfirmed.
These scattered records formed a vague picture in Mu Fan’s mind. The explorer’s spaceship had a minor interference before landing on the planet, which turned out to be a desolate, uninhabited world. However, beneath the surface, he found traces of life and the Star Map Relic.
As for the other rock, it was probably just something he picked up along the way.
During the exploration of the planet, he must have been affected by some unknown factor, his bodily functions began to fail, but it wasn’t until he left that he realized, ultimately dying en route.
Black’s incessant chatter still filled Mu Fan’s ears, “Lord Mu Fan has listened to so much, give some reaction.”
Mu Fan suddenly cut it off, sharing what he had just read and his own deductions.
Black fell silent for a moment, then said in a grave tone, “That planet must harbor anomalies. A uninhabited planet with a Star Map Relic, and previous unknown interference, I think that explorer might have missed out on a real adventure.”
“How so?”
“We need actual exploration to discover more, but the value of that cave alone is probably far beyond what you can imagine. Let me see those data first.”
Mu Fan pointed the Sky Communication to scan once over.
“Indeed, this is a rough route map, this explorer kept the traditional habits of recording notes. In dire situations, electronic devices are the least reliable. And I feel like the information in the Three-color Relic must have some connection to this planet. Wait for me to decrypt the information, then I’ll tell you.”
“You can’t decrypt it now?”
“No, the encrypted information in these ten patterns might require me to compare the DNA of thousands of species before I can decrypt it. Timing uncertain, and I also need to covertly use some enterprises’ super light computers, this too needs to be done discreetly.”
Black seemed eager to tackle this project with full force.
“Understood.”
Mu Fan closed the notebook and put it back in its place.
“What about this rock?”
“Take it with you later, and when you have a chance, go to the Extreme Special Soldier’s workshop and have Little Fatty Sister analyze it for you, it’s her family’s specialty.”
“Alright.”
Mu Fan placed the drab rock into his leather case.
His own medicine box was also packed inside by Mu Fan.
Five minutes later, the safe was resealed, and Mu Fan, wearing his ragged training suit, walked out of the VIP hall with a black leather case in hand.
Jiang Zi was still there, bowing to ask if Mu Fan would add her to his work Sky Communication so she can be directly contacted if needed.
Mu Fan had a good impression of the competent managing director and hence added Jiang Zi’s name to his Sky Communication.
The four beautiful receptionists who were previously standing at the door had disappeared.
Mu Fan, now looking up, could see the stars and the night sky, the darkness providing the best cover for his current attire.
There was so much to deal with now, indeed, this was the necessary path for growth.
So…
I might as well go back and have a good sleep!
Hahahaha~~
“Crazy!” A few passersby immediately stepped away.
***
PS: I have some good news for everyone, this book is going to be published in Traditional Chinese. I was talking about the details with the publishers today, hence the late update. Sorry!