"Could you get me three tons of timber?" Zhang Tianyuan found Bai Xu, who was still in the villa, and stated his request directly.
"Three tons of timber?" Bai Xu was startled. "What do you need that for?"
Zhang Tianyuan answered calmly, "I'm planning to build a little pavilion in the backyard and read inside it."
Judging by the blueprint, the Elementary School was a little pavilion, so Zhang Tianyuan described it that way to make it easier to understand.
Then he glanced at Bai Xu and, after some thought, said, "Maybe I can let you use it too when the time comes."
Bai Xu was completely dumbstruck.
Build a little pavilion?
Then we all read inside it together?
Brother Zhang, we're not here to keep you company while you read!
Bai Xu made it clear that he didn't understand, but when he went a long time without answering, Zhang Tianyuan began urging him.
Bai Xu could only say, "It's not that we can't, but it's the middle of the night. This might be a little troublesome..."
It wasn't a little troublesome. It was very troublesome.
This was a recuperation area. Medical equipment was available in abundance, but timber...
Was there still time to find a building materials market at this hour?
Zhang Tianyuan smiled mysteriously. "You'd better hurry. I think you'll be looking forward to it too."
No, we're not. Have you misunderstood something about us?
I just want to see you do that thing...
Even though he was cursing inwardly, Bai Xu could only keep smiling in the face of Zhang Tianyuan's firm demand. After asking for the detailed requirements for the timber, he replied, "Understood. Go get some rest. I'll take care of it as soon as possible."
Once Zhang Tianyuan returned to his room, Bai Xu hurried to the small villa next door.
Their team's base had moved here along with Zhang Tianyuan.
As for the Phoenix Bar, it had shut down the moment Bai Xu received the call.
Bai Xu quickly found his colleagues and explained Zhang Tianyuan's request.
Everyone exchanged bewildered looks.
"Build a wooden pavilion to read in?"
"Why do I feel like he's jerking us around?"
Those who already had doubts about Zhang Tianyuan grew even more suspicious.
Instructor Yin Hongda was the oldest person on the team. He was thirty-six that year and relatively levelheaded.
He raised a hand to stop the others from talking. "If it's just a small request like this, we can accommodate him. Since he has no requirements for the type or shape of the timber, let's get a few chainsaws and cut it for him right here!"
They got straight to work.
Soon, a group appeared on the roads of the recuperation area, taking chainsaws to the roadside trees in the middle of the night with a racket of cutting and sawing. Then they opened the small gate to the villa's backyard and dragged all the freshly felled trees inside.
Three tons of timber wasn't much, just a few trees. Since it was intended for a pavilion, Bai Xu and the others chose straight ones.
When Zhang Tianyuan came out again, he saw a pile of trees in the backyard, only roughly trimmed and still bearing a few green leaves and tender shoots, along with several people panting from exhaustion.
It was Bai Xu and his three teammates.
They had personally cut down all these trees after reporting to their superiors.
"Thanks for all your hard work. Once I've finished what I need to do, I'll definitely treat you all to another meal!" Zhang Tianyuan poured them some water, then happily went off alone to inspect the trees in the backyard.
"What's so interesting about those logs?"
The driving champion drank his water and, seeing Bai Xu touching the felled trees here and there in the backyard, couldn't help complaining.
The machine gunner silently drank his water nearby, then suddenly said, "Should we find somewhere to set up a camera and see what he's doing?"
Bai Xu looked troubled. "That wouldn't be right, would it? If he finds out..."
Instructor Yin said, "Not inside the house. Outside. We'll only watch the backyard."
"In that case, all right." Bai Xu could hardly object anymore. "But I doubt he'll be able to do anything tonight. We should be able to go straight into the backyard and look tomorrow."
"After all, he's been very friendly toward us."
The driving champion looked at the cup in his hand. "The water he poured me was cold."
The machine gunner added, "I paid for that meal earlier..."
Instructor Yin grabbed another handful of his hair and sighed silently.
Bai Xu said, "...I think we'd better head back early to report and hold our meeting."
Back at their new base, they went upstairs and installed the camera, aiming it at the timber-filled backyard. The woman who had picked up Bai Xu's phone-number note at the farmhouse restaurant also arrived at the villa, and they began their meeting.
Zhang Tianyuan looked at the trees piled before him. There weren't just three tons here, but tons.
Because...
When he touched the timber, a notification popped up on his panel:
[Unowned timber resources discovered: tons in total. Store them?]
He deliberately waited until some time after Bai Xu and the others had left before pressing the storage button.
If Bai Xu hadn't gone straight to the meeting after installing the camera, he would have seen the very thing he wanted to see.
After Zhang Tianyuan pressed the storage button, a devouring hole appeared beneath the four-plus tons of timber, and the logs sank and vanished bit by bit, from bottom to top.
The timber in the panel's resource management section instantly increased by tons.
Next, he opened the building blueprints page, selected the Elementary School, and chose to build it on the empty ground in front of him.
Three tons were deducted from his total timber, and a transparent enclosure appeared out of thin air, neatly surrounding the Elementary School's footprint.
Then the base of the school began to take shape bit by bit through 3D printing.
Zhang Tianyuan was immediately astonished.
This transparent enclosure was actually a 3D printer?
But after circling it several times, Zhang Tianyuan found that he couldn't get through it at all, nor would the enclosure harm him.
The panel showed five hours and fifty minutes remaining until construction was complete, with completion expected in the middle of the night.
Still, coming back in the morning would be fine.
He watched for a while longer, but when he really couldn't make anything out, Zhang Tianyuan went to rest.
Next door.
After reporting his contact with Zhang Tianyuan to the relevant authorities, Bai Xu began his team's meeting.
"This is Director Wu Yisi, a psychological interrogation expert seconded from State Security."
"She's been responsible for interpreting the intelligence on the target. Director Wu personally deduced the objective I mentioned earlier, and the target himself has confirmed it."
At Bai Xu's introduction, a sexy woman with a high ponytail, business attire, and fiery red lips stood and nodded. "This is our first meeting."
The machine gunner yawned. "Let's skip the pleasantries and get to the point. Tomorrow, we might have to help him build a pavilion and read with him. I doubt even hosting foreign guests takes this much trouble."
The others agreed.
Wu Yisi said, "I was also at the scene earlier, observing his expression from out of sight. I heard your conversation with him over the radio too."
Instructor Yin stroked his hair, a small tuft still pinched between his fingers, and asked expectantly, "Then how much truth do you think there is to this apocalypse story?"
Wu Yisi glanced at him. "Based on my observations, he's very confident."
Bai Xu frowned. "What does that mean? That the apocalypse is real?"
Deep down, Bai Xu didn't want to believe the news of the apocalypse.
Wu Yisi said, "The apocalypse is an objective event. Without scientific evidence, no one can determine whether it's true or false, much less verify it on his word alone.
"His confidence only means that he is almost one hundred percent certain the apocalypse he speaks of will come, and one hundred percent certain we'll cooperate with him..."
This was actually bad news.
Bai Xu's heart grew even heavier.
If Zhang Tianyuan really could open a Spacetime Tunnel, he couldn't possibly have come to this world just because he had nothing better to do than fool them with talk of an apocalypse.
Instructor Yin also thought of this crucial point and immediately rephrased his question. "Then do you think he really can open this so-called Spacetime Tunnel?"
They had reached the crux of the matter.
Recalling everything that had just happened, Wu Yisi said:
"For now, I haven't found any supernatural characteristics in the target."
She also took out the phone-number note she had picked up earlier.
"The target tossed this under his chair earlier."
The others took it to look, while Bai Xu recognized the paper at a glance.
Countless times, he had watched the surveillance footage of himself writing his phone number on this piece of paper, only for Zhang Tianyuan to take it away without a sound...
Wu Yisi continued, "The target clearly discarded this paper after making the call. That means he kept it with him ever since obtaining Team Leader Bai's number."
"The reason he did so might have been that the paper had some great or special significance. But he threw it away immediately after making the call, so we can rule that out. That leaves only one reason..."
The others had all guessed it.
Instructor Yin's eyelid twitched. "Because he couldn't remember the phone number on it?"
Wu Yisi said, "It's not that bad. Most likely, he simply couldn't be bothered to memorize it."
"But this also indirectly confirms that his memory isn't exceptional. Even memorizing a phone number would take him some time. As for his stamina and strength, you should already have an assessment."
"He has an average amount of muscle. Unless his muscles are different from a human's, he could only qualify as sturdy."
"There's a sea smell about him. He probably spends long periods by the coast..."
They each gave their assessments.
Wu Yisi listed all their assessments. "So, taken together, we haven't found any supernatural characteristics in the target so far. At least in body and brain, he isn't fundamentally different from us."
"So the best-case scenario is that the target really does possess the supernatural ability to open a Spacetime Tunnel, but that's his only ability."
"The worst-case scenario is... Team Leader Bai, you watched a cult leader perform a magic trick up close a month ago."
At this, the other three team members felt chilled to the bone. If the worst-case scenario proved true, this could well turn into a major scandal.
"It couldn't have been magic!" Bai Xu was firm on this. "No magic trick could let him instantly break free of his restraints and vanish before my eyes without my cooperation."
"And the fact that we still haven't found any information on his identity is strong evidence too."
Wu Yisi said coolly, "Let's hope so."
"As required, I'll submit the meeting minutes to our superiors. Everyone can go get some rest now."
Wu Yisi ushered everyone out.
The others headed straight to their rooms. Unable to sleep no matter what, Bai Xu suddenly felt like checking whether Zhang Tianyuan was still there.
If Zhang Tianyuan suddenly vanished again, perhaps that would be a good thing?
But remembering that it was already the middle of the night, Bai Xu immediately stopped.
"Forget it. I'll go to the surveillance station upstairs first and see how that timber is doing."
Now that the meeting was over and the night breeze had blown over him, the excitement of seeing Zhang Tianyuan again had cooled.
Bai Xu immediately realized that something wasn't quite right about Zhang Tianyuan's sudden request for timber.