Chapter 7 Discovery

Li Shiming recalled the first time he had encountered Chief Escort Wang in the garden—it had been by this very rockery where Chief Escort Wang had arranged to meet him.

If he had a treasure in his possession, which he did not carry on his person while being pursued, he would definitely place it somewhere he could constantly keep an eye on it.

Perhaps Chief Escort Wang had placed the item nearby. Li Shiming did not touch what was on Chief Escort Wang's person, but instead started searching the surrounding area.

Li Shiming also knew that, with his own experience, he would not be able to discern much.

He thought of using a large IBM z15 server located in the machine room space, but the prerequisite was that the server could directly receive what his eyes saw.

To input through the eyes, he had to add his eyes as an input device to the large IBM z15 server.

He attempted to add an input device in the Linux system settings, letting his consciousness connect to the input module, which immediately detected a device available.

No drivers were needed, the device automatically installed itself.

This was the first time Li Shiming operated the large IBM z15 server by delving into its components, and after several attempts, he successfully turned his eyes into a legitimate input device for the server.

He scanned the surroundings of the rockery with his eyes and entered the nearby environment into the large IBM z15 server to form a video file.

Then, he closed his eyes and repeatedly reviewed the video with his consciousness.

His experience might be limited, but as the number of repetitions of the video increased, he was bound to notice something unusual.

"Found it!" After more than a minute, having observed the video file nearly a hundred times, he finally spotted the anomaly.

Li Shiming came to the southern corner of the rockery, where the grass seemed the same as the adjacent areas, but the average height of the grass here was slightly higher than elsewhere.

This slight difference in average height was not visible to the naked eye, but it became apparent after being digitized by the large IBM z15 server.

In just one minute, the electricity consumption of the large IBM z15 server reached the warning line.

Chief Escort Wang was experienced in hiding objects. Had Li Shiming relied only on his eyesight, he might never have found it.

Li Shiming carefully dug up the entire sod, revealing a wooden box underneath.

The moment he saw the wooden box, his heart was filled with joy.

Upon opening the wooden box, he found two books and a small wooden sword inside.

The small wooden sword was densely covered with patterns which could rival the printing craft of his previous life, extremely clear and intricate.

He picked up the wooden sword and found it very heavy, weighing about eight kilograms.

"This sword isn't an ordinary item, perhaps it is a Daoist artifact!" The weight convinced him of the sword's extraordinary nature.

He pocketed the wooden sword and then picked up the two books.

The Five Elements Qi Absorption Technique and Introduction to Runes were the names of the two books.

Li Shiming quickly flipped through the books, thought for a moment, and then placed them back in the box.

He thought of something—Chief Escort Wang was dead, but the Daoist cultivator was not, and would continue investigating.

He did not know the capabilities of the Daoist cultivator, and whether he could find this place.

It would be best to create a facade so that even if the Daoist cultivator came, he would only think that the box contained these two books.

After all, the two books had already been recorded in the large IBM z15 server, ready to be accessed anytime.

Once the books were recorded, the server's electric power also went into hibernation mode, making it unable to use without a power replenishment for a short time.

After ensuring everything was in its place, he restored the sod to its original condition.

He also moved Chief Escort Wang's body into the machine room space; truthfully, he did not wish to do so, but leaving the body in the garden was even less desirable.

He cleaned up the scene, especially around the area where Chief Escort Wang had fallen, erasing any potential traces.

Only then did he leisurely return to the courtyard, his greatest pressure gone, feeling completely relieved.

Before going to sleep that night, he powered the generator with his consciousness until he felt utterly exhausted and then slept.

The next day was rather calm; the officials did not find the Daoist cultivator, much less Chief Escort Wang.

But late on the second night, while in the courtyard, Li Shiming heard drumming—a sign that something big had happened in Nanling Prefecture.

He hurriedly went to check and met Mo Yan, who had come to relay the news.

"Young Master, a great disaster has occurred—the Weiyuan Escort Agency has been wiped out, including Chief Escort Wang's entire family; all thirty-five members within the agency were killed!" Mo Yan reported to Li Shiming.

Li Shiming's expression changed; knowing without a doubt that the Daoist cultivator was responsible.

Perhaps the Daoist cultivator, failing to find Chief Escort Wang, had resorted to this method.

To wipe out the Weiyuan Escort Agency, kill Chief Escort Wang's whole family, to drive Chief Escort Wang to madness, forcing him to reveal himself.

It was simply too cruel—thirty-five lives had been taken just like that.

This was Nanling Prefecture, no wonder drums were sounding; probably not only the government soldiers but also nearby military forces would come.

Li Shiming became more worried; the item the Daoist cultivator was searching for was in the garden, and he couldn't guarantee that finding the box would satisfy the Daoist cultivator.

The small wooden sword had been taken by him; if that was what the Daoist cultivator was after, there could be big trouble in the house.

He didn't know whether the official forces could stand up to the Daoist cultivator, likely they couldn't.

Perhaps he should add an extra layer of insurance before the Daoist cultivator found the box.

"Mo Yan, is the item I requested ready?" Li Shiming asked sternly.

"I will push for it; it will definitely be delivered by tomorrow morning!" Hearing his urgency, Mo Yan quickly assured.

Li Shiming no longer considered the issue of building a forge; he had originally planned to build an electric arc furnace, but if the materials arrived tomorrow, just creating the silicon carbon rods would take some time, not to mention the lack of sufficient power stored in the uninterrupted power supply.

With the electric arc furnace, he could use his consciousness to process some fine metal items, definitely producing weapons for self-defense.

Unfortunately, he was short on time, forcing him to consider other options.

A new idea struck him.

He performed chemical experiments in the machine room space, obtaining a small amount of white phosphorus in the simplest way possible.

With the large IBM z15 server at his disposal, there were more than ten methods to produce white phosphorus. He chose the quickest available method, as he wasn't too particular about the quality of white phosphorus.

Having obtained the white phosphorus, he made another trip to the garden, placing some chemicals inside the wooden box buried near the rockery and once again erased any traces.

He had done everything he could; the rest was up to luck.