Special Corrosion

Xu Chen hadn't been idle either. After confirming that he couldn't contact Grandpa Yang, he used his connections in the history department to obtain textbooks from the archaeology department. He skimmed through them, checking for possible problems with archaeology.

But apart from special corrosion, Xu Chen really couldn't find any other problems.

This world also invested far more in archaeology than his previous one, especially when it came to restoring artifacts to their original appearance. Xu Chen was amazed by the advanced technology, repeatedly exclaiming how unbelievable it was.

For example, bamboo slips that had practically dissolved into the soil could be dug out along with the earth around them, then scanned under a machine to reconstruct the writing on them.

The sale and trade of artifacts were even less developed, and cases of artifact trafficking were rarely heard of. Anything dug out of the ground was seldom presentable, and ninety percent of the antiques that were presentable were fakes.

As for the explanation for special corrosion, Xu Chen looked it over and found it logically consistent. With his store of knowledge, he couldn't find a single flaw in it.

But while looking for cases of special corrosion, Xu Chen seemed to discover something.

"Artifacts at the Haizuofukou Culture site were improperly stored, resulting in damage to some of them."

He checked the date. It wasn't recent; it had happened two years ago.

The article said that the artifacts hadn't been treated in time after they were excavated and had been damaged by natural oxidation, moisture, or changes in temperature.

Xu Chen checked the location against a map and confirmed that it was the Dawenkou Culture site. In his previous life, the Dawenkou Culture site had been extremely well preserved. Nothing like this had ever happened there.

There were quite a few similar news stories. Xu Chen found each corresponding location on the map and matched it to the world he remembered, including the Majiayao Culture and the Shuanghuai Shu Culture. The earliest case went back ten years, and incidents like these occurred almost every year. The supervisory committee couldn't even be bothered to investigate.

These cultural sites were all remnants of ancient peoples from around five thousand years ago. They didn't contain a single decent artifact; most of what they had were human remains that had almost turned to fossils, along with stone tools and pottery.

Only one kind of person would be interested in them: historians.

They had no value to humanity, but in historians' eyes, they held profound historical value, and only historians could bring that value to light.

No one would sell these things as treasures.

Xu Chen also read every report on how the cases had been handled afterward. In basically every case, numerous organizations had reviewed and assessed them, confirming that the damage was caused by natural corrosion and improper preservation due to inadequate technology or problems left over from the past.

Xu Chen didn't agree. He thought these artifacts had all been damaged by "special corrosion," and there had to be something wrong.

Unfortunately, the search had already left Xu Chen exhausted. Having gotten this far, he couldn't carry on. After all, looking for this information on the internet was like searching for coins in a garbage heap. Checking maps and recalling information were not tasks that could be done easily.

If Xu Chen hadn't been gripped by the persistent feeling that he needed to verify it, he might have given up long ago.

He looked at the monitor, utterly exhausted. In the end, he moved the mouse and saved the document.

"Sonny, your godfather brought you something tasty."

The dorm door burst open, and Song Tian rushed in excitedly, carrying a huge boxed pizza.

"Godfather, you really are my godfather. I'm so touched. Come on, I'll test it for poison first."

Xu Chen perked up. He really had been low on energy lately, and all he'd eaten was food from the school cafeteria. Since Song Tian had rarely splurged, Xu Chen didn't mind letting him enjoy the verbal advantage for a bit.

At worst, he could just make Song Tian call him godfather in return later.

After closing the door behind him, Song Tian couldn't wait to open the box and show off the extra-large pizza he'd ordered.

"Nice, it's huge. What's got you so happy today?"

Song Tian hesitated, then said honestly, "Nothing, really. I just wanted to eat it."

"Tsk, tsk." Xu Chen picked up a disposable glove but didn't put it on, using it as a barrier to grab a slice instead. Song Tian stopped him.

"No, wait. I'll look up a happy occasion or two, and then we'll have a reason to eat."

Xu Chen didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Looking at the pizza without being able to eat it really was a bit of torture.

"Got one! Look, Island Nuclear Power put up twenty billion and commissioned our country to deal with the remaining nuclear wastewater. See? There's a happy occasion!"

Xu Chen looked at Song Tian in surprise. After a moment's thought, he agreed. "But twenty billion? Isn't that too little?"

"What are you thinking? Why would we do business at a loss? It's twenty billion in our currency, after converting the exchange rate. Looks like once troops were stationed there, they really had no choice. Come on, let's eat to celebrate!"

Xu Chen smiled, then picked up a slice of pizza and wolfed it down while searching on his phone.

It was true. The entire twenty billion had already been allocated to dealing with the lingering problems from the nuclear wastewater. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had also firmly stated that this was only the first phase's cost, and that more might be charged later if the effects weren't eliminated.

Looked at that way, it really was gratifying.

At the same time, another major search result concerned statistics on cancer incidence in coastal and inland areas, which had been found to be much higher than in the previous few years.

Quite a few people had set off firecrackers when they learned that the nuclear wastewater problem was being taken over.

There also seemed to be a new infectious disease outbreak next door and across the strait, but news of it appeared to have been suppressed, and there were only rumors online.

Thinking of that, Xu Chen recalled his conversation with Senior Ouyang, who had suggested that he specialize in oncology because people in that profession might be in short supply in the future.

This was plainly already officially confirmed. After all, Senior Ouyang was Grandpa Yang's graduate student and had extensive connections. He could always pick up on developments in the medical field.

"Based on the information I have, it's highly likely he knew the name Taihao before he had any means of learning it."

"Isn't that a bit subjective?"

"I'm not being subjective. Xu Chen knew of Taihao's existence before the Taihao Mausoleum was excavated..."

"Professor Ding testified that Xu Chen found it in the ancient records he restored. Copies of the records have all been submitted. Would you like to see them?"

"Then how do you explain his strange behavior? Why did he ask the people present whether they knew Taihao existed?"

"Stop arguing. We're here to find a solution, not to quarrel. Captain Chu, you called this meeting. Let's hear what you have to say." An authoritative voice cut off the heated discussion.

"Yes." Captain Chu stood and picked up the documents. "Our most urgent task now is to find out what kind of existence 'Taihao' is, and what exactly the crisis Director Yang spoke of is."

"Originally, after the lead concerning the typhoon went cold, we had no leads at all. Yang Tianyou had simply concluded that Xu Chen seemed special. Then, after Xu Chen withdrew from the medical internship group, he seemed very disappointed and decided to have him look into 'Taihao' directly."

"Yang Tianyou doesn't seem to mind us..."

"He simply can't get around us. We've placed him under tight surveillance, so he can't pull anything behind our backs," a noncommissioned officer in the meeting room retorted.

Captain Chu nodded without responding and continued, "Xu Chen then learned about the Taihao Mausoleum from the ancient records. Excavation of the Taihao Mausoleum is still in full swing. That's quite a coincidence."

"However, no matter what, he has ultimately been a great help to us, and he doesn't seem particularly wary of the authorities. You should know that he reportedly provided very important information in the internship group as well. So I suggest we approach and question him directly, in a gentle manner."

"What if the target doesn't cooperate?" the noncommissioned officer asked again.

"This isn't a war! He's still our citizen! Stop using that approach to pressure people!" Captain Chu glared at the officer.

"There's a first time for everything. It won't hurt to try. Let's do as Captain Chu suggests," the authoritative voice spoke again, stopping another potential argument.

"Yes!"