Xia Lei was painfully aware that he was no match for the FA organization. Although the FA organization’s capabilities and competency were far behind that of CIA’s, it was still equivalent to a small or medium-scale National Intelligence Service agency. He wasn’t sure about the number of special forces the FA had. He did not even know where they were located. Hence, it was only natural for him to require assistance to go against such an invisible yet strong enemy.
The Knights Hospitaller were the only ones who could help him.
The Knights Hospitaller had nearly a thousand-year history. Since the medieval kingdom of Jerusalem, they had their own army and they even managed to build their own country. Although their glorious feats had phased out over time, their ability to stay as an organization for almost a thousand years was something note-worthy. There was no way they could’ve achieved this without ability and power.
Though the era of the knights had passed, the existence of religious fanatics would never die down. They were the reason why the Knight Hospitaller was still relevant today. The power of faith was terrifying and the knights had possessed it. That had contributed to Xia Lei’s opinion that the Knight Hospitaller was as strong as the FA organization, stronger even!
There was some bad blood between Xia Lei and the Knight Hospitaller as he had killed some of their members back in France and Italy. But enemies could become friends through mutual benefit. The sacred relic of the Knight Hospitaller was in his hands and they would do anything to retrieve it. Therefore, as long as he was able to seize this opportunity, he could reach his goal with the smallest price to pay. Wiping out Dark Mona and the FA organization!
That was his plan.
But before anything else, he had to figure out what the silver metal was.
As he filtered through his thoughts, Li Youdon had returned. Other than the metal in hand, the scientist had a small box for rock specimens in the other.
“Director Xia, this metal is really peculiar. It’s light and not very dense, but its strength was almost ten times stronger than that of high-strength titanium alloys!” exclaimed Li Youdon.
Xia Lei was taken aback. He replied with shock in his voice, “Are you sure about that?”
The scientist nodded. “Yes, Director Xia. Before cutting it, I had run some experiments on it and found that it was stronger than high-strength titanium alloy. It was difficult to even scratch it with our laser. I suspect that this metal could even withstand the speed of light.”
Xia Lei was shocked beyond belief. High-strength titanium alloy was an indispensable material for components of aircraft engine compressors, rockets, missiles, and high-speed aircraft. China’s titanium alloy lagged far behind the developed Western countries, which had contributed to their lack of good self-produced fighter jets and engines. If this metal could be replicated and applied in the aviation field, China would essentially surpass them overnight!
“Director Xia, this wasn’t taken from a UFO, right?” questioned Li Youdon as he eyed Xia Lei suspiciously.
Immediately, Xia Lei frowned. “UFO? Where would you even find one?”
There was no way he would tell Li Youdon of its origin.
“Sorry, Director Xia. I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just curious,” explained Li Youdon as he passed the silver metal and box to Xia Lei. “I did as you told and cut off a small piece of it. Please take a look.”
Xia Lei opened the box to find a piece of metal smaller than a grain of rice. He then looked at the larger block. Surprisingly, the metal seemed unscarred with no signs of being cut.
“What’s the meaning of this?” asked Xia Lei. “Did you smoothen the cut marks?”
“Nope. To be honest, I’m just as confused,” answered Li Youdon.
Any material would’ve had cut marks after a piece was removed, but this silver metal had no traces of manipulation. It felt as if the metal had repaired itself.
“Run a chemical test on the smaller piece,” instructed Xia Lei as he returned the box to Li Youdon.
“Alright, Director Xia. Right away.” Li Youdon was eager to continue his experiments.
“Wait, I’ll come with you,” said Xia Lei abruptly.
With that, Xia Lei spent thirty hours in the material laboratory. When they left the next day, it was already evening.
In this long thirty hours, Xia Lei and Li Youdon had attempted every test possible.
The outcome had surprised him.
The main constituent of this mysterious silver metal turned out to be carbon.
Carbon was everywhere in this world, appearing in various forms like diamonds, graphites, coal and many more. It was also the key ingredient to perfumes, rubber, plastic, petroleum and even explosives. Carbon existed in our bodies. The only way humans differed from diamonds is the way the carbon atoms were arranged.
Now, carbon was also found in this mysterious piece of metal, and it was a non-metallic element. Its existence was impossible but also a fact.
Aside from carbon, the metal was made up of two other elements which remained unknown. However, a conclusion was drawn, the metal was a carbon alloy of sorts.
In the modern industry, carbon alloys were widely used and very common. But it was certain that even the European and American countries with the most developed smelting technology could not produce anything of this sort. The atomic structure of the metal was bizarre even to a well-accomplished material scientist like Li Youdon.
Despite that, this was a remarkable discovery.
If they managed to recreate its atomic structure. It would completely revamp the organization’s materials business. Though they were unable to reproduce such material at the moment, it was almost certain that the metal would have inseparable relations to their upcoming material findings!
The dusk skies started to turn dark.
Xia Lei stared at the clouds, mumbling to himself. “Da Vinci, I did it. I almost broke the code. You were smart enough, ahead of your time. If you had access to what I have now, there’s no doubt that you’ll do much better than me.”
Far at the west of the horizon was a golden cloud, it looked like a smiling face.
Perhaps Da Vinci heard him and was smiling.
“Da Vinci, I swear I’ll solve this riddle,” said Xia Lei as he returned to his mansion.
He went to his underground laboratory to run an experiment that only he could conduct.
In the lab, he opened the safe to retrieve the ancient alloy box that was missing an edge.
He had a hunch that the silver metal shared some connection to the ancient alloy.
The hunch wasn’t baseless. He had proof from Zhu Xuanyue. Zhu Xuanyue was no earthly being, able to enter the world inside the small alloy box with ease. Perhaps she had removed the metal from within the ancient alloy realm!
Could that really be the case?
Xia Lei opened the box that had contained the silver material and transferred it into the chipped edge of the ancient alloy box carefully.
That was his experiment.
He had conducted this experiment with many other things, such as gel pens, metal tubes and so on. This was the first time he had done this with the mysterious silver metal.
When the ripples appeared in the box’s energy field, he let go of the tweezers. The small silver metal piece was immediately sucked in and disappeared into its dark space. Then, everything turned calm.
“The history of this silver metal cannot be verified. But it must have existed for a long time. Anything that had entered the world of the ancient alloy box seemed to have experienced thousands of years of wear and tear. I wonder what will happen to it,” pondered Xia Lei as he waited patiently for its result.
Before long, the alloy box started to shake.
The tiny silver metal piece hopped out of the box, looking the same as it was before entering it.
After the energy field had dissipated, the silver metal hit the ground without a sound due to its size and weight.
“Impossible! Everything would be worn after experiencing thousands of years of wear and tear!” Xia Lei was bewildered and surprised by the result.
He tried placing the metal into the box multiple times, but all outcomes were the same.
Finally, he decided to put the larger piece inside the box.
But the results were the same as well. The only difference was that he had recorded all the subtle features of the metal with his left eye beforehand. Weirdly, there were no changes to the features after entering the box.
After a brief moment of silence, Xia Lei thought of an idea. He went to retrieve a box cutter and made a small cut on his finger. Then, he dripped blood onto the large piece of silver metal before throwing the blood-stained block into the alloy box.
After a while, ripples appeared around the dark space and the silver metal emerged from the box.
Xia Lei couldn’t believe what he saw.
Blood was no longer visible on the block, but there were what seemed like remnants of it in the metal’s corner. Moreover, it was still wet and even looked fresh!
Thud! The metal fell onto the table.
Xia Lei trembled, holding the silver metal in his palms. Fresh blood began to bleed from its corners onto his fingers.
“It’s…not an angel’s sword nor is it from an alien spacecraft. It’s…from a protective suit!” Xia Lei’s mind immediately connected the dots.
And he just sat there for half an hour, staring into space.