The Mystery in the Photograph

Lin Xiaosu gently shook his head. "If this were a river, that would be one thing. The problem is, this isn't a river at all. It's just a temporary waterway formed by a heavy rain in the Laoshan area yesterday morning. The weather in Laoshan is clear today, so this river has likely already disappeared."

Number 88 nodded slightly. "Good eyesight! There's fallen grass in this river, clearly indicating it's not a real river. This is also the key reason I didn't factor this small river into my observations. Now, tell me, where is the information you saw?"

Lin Xiaosu said, "Look, these leaves!"

He pointed to a few leaves floating downstream.

The leaves were large, and under the high-precision camera exclusively used by Qianlong, they were extremely clear.

Leaves?

Everyone's eyes widened simultaneously.

"Chang Ye, you're proficient in botany. Do you know what kind of tree these leaves belong to?"

"They look a bit like... eucalyptus!"

"Exactly! They are eucalyptus!" Lin Xiaosu said. "Do you know the biggest characteristic of eucalyptus trees?"

"They're exceptionally tall!"

Lin Xiaosu nodded gently. "Mature eucalyptus trees can reach heights of over a hundred meters. They are most common in the forests of Nanmo Prefecture, but in Great Xia, they are very rare. If we were flying over Laoshan in a skycar, wouldn't it be easy to spot the few large trees below that are over a hundred meters tall?"

Number 88's eyes lit up!

Chang Ye's eyes lit up!

Xinyue looked from one to the other. "Hey, hey, Instructor, don't get carried away and give him extra points for these baseless, unverified remarks. The Reserve Charter clearly states that favoritism and bribery are strictly prohibited..."

Number 88 laughed heartily. "Comrade Xiaosu, I see hope in you. Next, finding the location where this photo was taken will earn you 200 points!"

"Yes!" Lin Xiaosu raised his hand in a salute that was a bit awkward.

"Your salute is not standard, deducting 10 points..." Xinyue shouted.

Ching!

With a soft sound, the starscape outside the skycar completely vanished.

It was the darkest hour before dawn.

But as Lin Xiaosu looked out the window at a large river below, he felt a sense of boundless expanse.

Now that they were out of 101, there was no need to hide.

Below them was the Yangtze River. Lin Xiaosu quietly calculated the skycar's speed; it was approximately 700 kilometers per hour.

A normal cruising speed.

"Everyone, take a rest. Once we enter the mountains, we might not have time," Chang Ye said, then closed his eyes.

Number 88 also closed his eyes.

Soon, Number 88 was snoring.

This was perhaps a peculiarity of the Qianlong members. They could fall asleep instantly and be ready to fight the moment they opened their eyes. Their internal bodily functions had been strictly mechanized, not allowing themselves to waste even half a bit of energy.

Lin Xiaosu and Xinyue were different.

They lay on the back seats side-by-side, staring at each other.

"Why are you always targeting me?" Lin Xiaosu's voice was very quiet.

"Why did you blow up my chest?" Xinyue's voice was also very quiet.

"You jumped out wanting to kill me, so it's normal for me to smash your head."

"Then smash my head! Why did you hit my chest?"

"Damn it... Women and petty people are hard to deal with!" Lin Xiaosu closed his eyes.

But he distinctly felt a hand making a knife shape, drawing a line in the air across his neck.

Lin Xiaosu's eyes snapped open. He saw the hand, which retracted with incredible speed, but the trajectory it left was exactly as he had felt.

What the heck!

What kind of heaven-defying skill was this?

I could see her movements even with my eyes closed?

Lin Xiaosu closed his eyes again, concentrating his consciousness in his brain. He suddenly had a strange feeling, as if there was a silver fish of consciousness swimming through a boundless jungle of awareness in his mind. His perception of the outside world was so profound that even without opening his eyes, he could seemingly see moving objects around him.

Could this silver fish of consciousness be human's sixth sense?

The sixth sense materialized, can you comprehend that?

By the time they woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.

The driverless skycar had also smoothly reached its destination: Laoshan.

Without alerting anyone, the skycar entered Laoshan directly.

From the skycar, Laoshan looked extremely peculiar.

A thin mist, like ocean waves, undulated and enveloped the area below.

A few large trees occasionally broke through the thin mist, and several high mountains stood like isolated islands in the sea.

Xinyue stared blankly at the trees below, wanting to splash Lin Xiaosu with a few buckets of cold water. However, she couldn't speak because she had developed a bit of admiration for him.

This Laoshan's dense fog never dissipated.

Perhaps only trees reaching a hundred meters high could serve as the best landmarks.

This scoundrel might be a scoundrel, but this idea of his seemed to be the only feasible option.

Ten minutes later, Chang Ye raised her hand and pointed to a large tree. "Eucalyptus!"

The mist hadn't dispersed at all; instead, it had thickened. The large tree she pointed to stood out prominently in the fog, making it easily identifiable.

Number 88 got excited and steered the flying car to descend.

Lin Xiaosu gently shook his head. "Not this one, keep going!"

"How do you know it's not this one?" Chang Ye asked.

"The geographical features below don't match at all."

Below!

Right, their target wasn't the eucalyptus tree itself, but to use the eucalyptus tree as a reference point to locate the true destination. Therefore, the eucalyptus tree was merely for reference.

The photograph also contained geographical features.

Chang Ye looked at Lin Xiaosu with a hint of defiance. This kid's eyesight was indeed extraordinary, but could he really see the precise geographical features below through this dense, almost impenetrable fog?

Another eucalyptus tree appeared and was ignored, just like the last one.

Immediately after, three eucalyptus trees appeared side-by-side, simultaneously.

They were also ignored.

After about forty minutes of flying, the flying car had seen thirty eucalyptus trees along the way.

Overall, eucalyptus trees were indeed rare, just as Lin Xiaosu had said.

But Laoshan was too vast, still accommodating dozens of them.

An hour passed. Even though the flying car was in the air, it lost its coordinates for a moment. Below was a sea of clouds, above was the vast sky, there were no effective reference points in any direction, and all satellite signals were lost...

For these Qianlong prodigies, accustomed to control, this was the first time in their lives they felt a sense of powerlessness...

Heaven be my witness, this feeling was not good.

Suddenly, Lin Xiaosu pointed. "There!"

Number 88's spirits lifted, and he piloted the flying car down.

It was a valley, and this eucalyptus tree grew at the bottom. Its canopy had only just broken through the mist layer, making it unremarkable among the many eucalyptus trees.

Lin Xiaosu still spotted it immediately.

Upon landing in the valley, the scene before them made Chang Ye's eyes light up. "Over there!"

"You actually found it? No way?" Xinyue leaped up, her entire being transforming into a wisp of smoke. She reached an low cliff almost simultaneously with Chang Ye. Before them, a peculiar orchid, shown from all angles in the photograph, swayed in the wind.

Xinyue licked her lips and swallowed. "This scoundrel... actually has some skills!"

She glanced back and chuckled. "Hey, Lin Xiaose, you look like a turtle..."

Lin Xiaosu was momentarily exasperated.

Of the four traveling companions, three had reached the low cliff in seconds, while he was the only one climbing up by pulling on tree roots.

This body of his was truly not cooperating.

But what could he do?

His body was that of an ordinary person!

Number 88 reached out, grabbed his hand, and pulled him up the cliff in a forceful manner. He patted his shoulder. "Well done! Your 200 points have been credited!"

Lin Xiaosu was delighted.

Xinyue's eyes were filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred...

And Chang Ye?

Her eyes were only filled with excitement.

She put on the familiar glasses Lin Xiaosu recognized, and with a silver needle, she pierced the orchid before her. The glasses flashed with light, clearly analyzing it.

Xinyue called out from the side, "Instructor, the main mission is to find Number 325, not to find the orchid. We've found the orchid, and Comrade Xiaose's points have been credited. I won't compete with him for that, but finding Number 325 still gives 300 points, right?"

"Correct!" Number 88 rarely showed her a tender expression. "As long as you find it, you'll still get 300 points!"

"Haha! With 300 points credited, I'll directly break through that damned threshold for Qianlong Gold Medal. Let's see how the 'Reserve Charter' can deduct my points..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xinyue's figure vanished. The next moment, she appeared on the highest peak, overlooking the entire valley.

Speaking of which, the 'Reserve Charter' was indeed Xinyue's most hated regulation. She dreamed of breaking through the thousand-point line.

Why?

The 'Qianlong Regulations' made it very clear.

Below 1,000 points, the instructor can add or deduct points at any time.

Breaking through the 1,000-point mark means reaching the standard for a Gold Medal Qianlong.

Once she became a Gold Medal Qianlong, she would be completely outside the jurisdiction of the Reserve Charter. The instructor would no longer have the authority to deduct her points. She would no longer be managed by the instructor or the damned Reserve Charter, but by the Qianlong Regulations!

From this, it's clear that this girl had a mountain of grievances regarding the instructor's point deductions.

Lin Xiaosu smiled slightly, blinked his eyes, and entered Time Reversal.

As long as he found this orchid, he would be able to locate Number 325.

Once Number 325 was found, and he followed the trail, the main quest would be successfully completed.

Therefore, the most difficult part of entering Laoshan wasn't finding Number 325 himself, but finding any trace he left behind at any point.

This was Lin Xiaosu's true trump card.

In Time Reversal, Lin Xiaosu saw Number 325.

The clothes he was wearing were Dragon Scale Armor.

But his Dragon Scale Armor was clearly different from his own. His Dragon Scale Armor wasn't true Dragon Scale Armor; it was a pseudo-Dragon Scale Armor for reserves. He already knew from the data that the Qianlong four-piece set—Dragon Scale Armor, Dragon Scales, Dragon Eyes, and Dragon Sinew—could only be worn by official Qianlong members.

Dragon Scale Armor, the protective suit worn on the body, signified a different status, and the clothing was also different. True high-end Dragon Scale Armor could be made to look like ordinary clothing, worn in society, and others wouldn't be able to tell at all. It could even be custom-made according to personal preferences, made into fashion items.

Dragon Scales were daggers, made of special alloys, sharp enough to cut hair, and could even pierce steel.

Dragon Eyes were the glasses that Chang Ye had shown before. What was powerful wasn't the glasses themselves, but the vast system they were connected to.

Dragon Sinew was just a rope. If you treated it as a rope, it was a rope. However, among Qianlong members, many people liked to use it as the Grim Reaper's fatal noose.

Number 325's Dragon Scale Armor seemed to change color constantly. Its color shifted with the light and the surrounding colors.

This was an invisibility material developed based on the principle of chameleons.

Number 325 opened the bud of the orchid, carefully pulled out a cluster of grape-like things inside, and examined them for a long time...

These grapes were golden yellow, very peculiar.

They absolutely should not have been growing inside an orchid bud.

Perhaps Number 325 realized this, which was why he took the grapes and left the orchid. Of course, it was also possible that the orchid was simply too large for him to carry away.

After collecting the grapes, he went up the mountain valley, all the way to the summit.

Lin Xiaosu followed his movements, tracking him all the way