Mu Ke spread the black notebook open for everyone to see. A fax report was clearly taped to the inside cover.
He pointed to the numbered code in the bottom-left corner. "The number here is the date — year, month, and day. It should look familiar."
"0807," Liu Jiayi read aloud. Realization dawned on her face as she turned to Bai Liu. "That's the day we entered this game."
Already accustomed to this pattern, Liu Jiayi immediately recalled the structure of the previous instance. She became even more certain of what Bai Liu had once told her—
The designers behind the game were deliberately targeting him.
Specifically, whenever Bai Liu entered a game, the instance would simulate real-world consequences tied either to him or to the people around him.
The feeling of being stabbed in the back lingered.
Liu Jiayi pressed her lips together, displeased.
Bai Liu lowered his eyes to the year-old fax report. The English was relatively simple; he could manage this much.
The fax had been sent from another base called Tai Shan Observatory — clearly a Chinese name. It appeared to be a domestic observatory contacting the Edmond base.
The approximate contents read:
[I regret to inform you of the tragic incident that occurred when our plane landed at the ice airport while transporting dangerous goods… The five escorts aboard died instantly…]
[Though tragic, the outcome was not entirely unexpected. Survival in the Antarctic snowfields is a nightmare for anyone.]
[The only meaning of our existence here is to study past and future climate trajectories, to slow global warming, and to strive for harmony between humanity and nature until our last breath. That is the purpose of life for each of us here…]
[…During the search for the wreckage, all observatory personnel participated. However, during inventory, we discovered that three sealed metal boxes were missing from the crashed plane's cargo hold. The number did not match the original manifest. Though I hesitate to speculate, in Antarctica, for dark metal boxes to vanish into the endless white without human intervention? That is no simple matter…]
[I understand that long-term Antarctic researchers, faced with extreme isolation and monotony, are often curious about mysterious foreign objects. You always wish to explore, to analyze, believing there is a key to saving humanity and slowing global warming…]
[Edmond, I must seriously warn you: those boxes are extremely dangerous. I am not authorized to disclose details. I can only tell you they were meant to be buried beneath the "Pole of Inaccessibility," unseen by anyone…]
[There are things in this world that demand awe, not study. Not every danger is as straightforward as weather patterns…]
[If you discover any trace of the three missing boxes, please inform us immediately. They must be sealed beneath Ice Dome A at once.]
Signed: Your Friend — Tai Shan Observatory
Bai Liu finished reading and closed the notebook.
"This was a mass fax," he concluded calmly. "It wasn't sent only to Edmond. The three boxes were likely hidden by researchers at different observatories."
"According to the main quest, we're supposed to locate one of these boxes first and uncover the cause of global cooling through it. Edmond Observatory should be hiding one of them."
He looked at Mu Ke. "You and Jiayi stay here and continue searching for clues. Tang Erda, Mu Sicheng, and I will gather supplies and prepare to investigate nearby observatories. We'll search for the other boxes."
Everyone nodded and dispersed.
Bai Liu then turned his gaze toward Tang Erda, who stood silent and withdrawn.
"Captain Tang," Bai Liu said evenly, "come with me. I'd like to speak to you alone."
Tang Erda's figure, just about to leave, stiffened slightly. He turned and followed Bai Liu into one of the small cabins without a word.
Bai Liu shut the door behind them.
The five-square-meter room fell silent.
Though Bai Liu had requested the conversation, he showed no intention of speaking first. He simply leaned against the wall, arms folded, eyes lowered — waiting.
Eventually, Tang Erda broke the silence. His face was stiff, his voice hoarse.
"…I'm sorry. I misjudged the situation. I shouldn't have let you hand those body parts over to the Heretic Authority. I didn't expect it would…"
Only after Tang Erda apologized did Bai Liu respond calmly, "It's not entirely your fault. I made that decision myself."
Objectively speaking, Bai Liu knew someone had orchestrated this outcome from behind the scenes. It had likely been inevitable. The Heretic Authority had done what it could.
But subjectively—
Learning that Xie Ta's body had ended up in such a situation left Bai Liu faintly, quietly displeased.
Originally, Bai Liu had intended to keep Xie Ta's body in the real world. However, given the dangerous influence the body exerted — and the fact that Bai Liu had no private residence and was still living in a low-cost apartment — he and Tang Erda had ultimately compromised and handed it over to the Heretic Authority for containment.
It had also been, in a subtle way, Bai Liu leveraging Tang Erda's position.
He just hadn't expected the consequences to rebound so quickly.
Tang Erda's thoughts were on the five escorts in reality. At the same time, he felt the pressure beneath Bai Liu's seemingly gentle but razor-sharp questioning.
"It is my fault," Tang Erda said hoarsely. "Otherwise, those five escorts wouldn't have died…"
"They're not necessarily dead," Bai Liu interrupted evenly.
Tang Erda looked up sharply. "You have an idea?!"
For a fleeting moment, Bai Liu almost imagined Tang Erda's ears and tail perking up.
Tang Erda was usually so stern and disciplined during training that it was easy to forget he was, at heart, a canine-type character.
Realizing his own reaction, Tang Erda quickly looked away, clenching his fist. "If you don't have a solution, I'll log out first and try to stop the plane before it takes off…"
From Tang Erda's perspective, he had caused the situation. Bai Liu could be considered the victim — yet now the "victim" was being asked for solutions.
It wasn't something Tang Erda could accept.
Bai Liu had already confronted the person behind all this at the Rose Factory. From what he knew, that person was not the type to mercifully leave exploitable loopholes in a game.
He reached out and lightly pressed Tang Erda's hand, stopping him from opening the logout panel.
"The plane has most likely already taken off. If you log out now, time in reality will only advance faster. Instead, we should follow the route laid out in this game. Find out why things developed this way — and how to reverse it."
Tang Erda slowly lowered the panel. "You have a theory?"
"Yes," Bai Liu replied. "But we're missing information. The game is designed based on real-world references. You said you trained in Antarctica before. You should understand the environment there. Tell me everything."
Tang Erda exhaled. "Where do I begin?"
"Start from the beginning," Bai Liu said. "Why were you stationed there?"
Tang Erda paused, then answered, "I served there for a year. I also flew helicopters for a while as part of the Zone Four Project."
Bai Liu raised an eyebrow. "The Zone Four Project?"
"It was a proposal to evaluate Antarctica's suitability for establishing a new heretic containment zone," Tang Erda explained. "It's isolated and ideal for containing extremely dangerous heretics."
"Then why was it abandoned?" Bai Liu asked.
"Large-scale construction there would attract international attention. Domestic oversight agencies knew a little about the project because of negotiations, but foreign observers know nothing about heretics."
Tang Erda sighed. "During the summer, Antarctica can have over five thousand residents. Building a new containment zone would have exposed the existence of heretics. The project was ultimately scrapped."
Bai Liu asked casually, "Then why did Xie Ta's body make you restart the plan?"
"The retention data from the Zone Four evaluation showed that if you had to seal a highly dangerous psychotropic heretic, Antarctica would be the safest location," Tang Erda replied.
Bai Liu shifted topics. "Do you recognize this Edmond Observatory?"
Tang Erda thought for a moment. "No. There's no such station in reality."
"What about the Tai Shan Observatory?"
Tang Erda shook his head. "Not by that name."
Bai Liu nodded slightly. So the designers had referenced reality — but not replicated it exactly.
"Are there any observatories near the South Pole in reality?" Bai Liu asked.
On the map posted in the game's Edmond Observatory, their location was marked less than a hundred meters from the South Pole.
Tang Erda frowned. "Yes. One of Country A's observatories is near there."
"What are they currently researching?" Bai Liu asked.
Tang Erda understood the direction of the questioning. He answered slowly, "Publicly, they claim to be studying the impact of special cryogenic animals on climate recovery. I heard during my stay that these 'special cryogenic animals' exist in two forms — living and dead…"
"Bai Liu—!"
Mu Sicheng burst into the cabin without knocking, panting and holding something tightly in his arms.
"Look at this!"
He shoved the object into Bai Liu's hands.
Bai Liu looked down.
It was a tightly wrapped square package sealed in heavy tarpaulin. A waterproof label was attached.
The English text read:
[Special Cryogenic Animal Remnant Sections (Cells Still Active) — Ground Temperature Change Study Fact Sheet]