Morning in Ronghe City was quieter than Linhai.
Instead of heavy traffic and crowded streets, the neighborhood woke slowly.
Small shops opened their doors.
Factory workers rode bicycles toward the industrial area.
Inside the Li family house, breakfast was already on the table.
Li Lan placed bowls of porridge while Li Yue lazily dragged herself to the table.
"You stayed up too late studying again," Li Wei said.
Li Yue yawned.
"Blame the math homework."
"You asked for help."
"And you gave too much help."
Li Jian finished his tea and stood up.
"Workshop."
He headed outside toward the repair shop as usual.
Li Lan shook her head.
"He'll work all day again."
Li Wei smiled slightly.
"That's normal."
After breakfast, Li Yue returned upstairs to continue studying.
Li Wei stepped outside into the morning sunlight.
The repair shop door was open, and Li Jian was already working on a broken machine motor.
Metal tools clinked softly.
"You going somewhere?" Li Jian asked without looking up.
"Just walking around the city."
Li Jian nodded.
"Be back for lunch if you want."
"I will."
Li Wei walked through familiar streets he had known since childhood.
Ronghe City wasn't large.
Most places could be reached on foot.
Small grocery stores.
Old apartment buildings.
A local park where children were already playing.
Life moved at a slower pace here.
After about fifteen minutes of walking, Li Wei reached a modest government building.
A stone sign near the entrance read:
Ronghe Municipal Historical Archive
Compared to Linhai's massive institutions, this place looked simple.
Two floors.
Old brick walls.
Several bicycles parked outside.
But for the Archive System, size didn't matter.
Only the information stored inside mattered.
Li Wei stopped near the entrance and spoke quietly in his mind.
"System."
[ONLINE]
"Confirm node."
[CORE INFORMATION NODE DETECTED]
LOCATION: MUNICIPAL RECORDS ARCHIVE — FIRST FLOOR
Li Wei stepped inside.
The interior smelled faintly of old paper.
Shelves filled with folders and document boxes lined the walls.
Several local staff members worked quietly at desks sorting records.
A middle-aged woman glanced up.
"Research request?"
"Just looking for local history documents," Li Wei replied politely.
"Second shelf section," she said, pointing.
Li Wei nodded and walked deeper into the room.
The node notification appeared quickly.
[CORE INFORMATION NODE CONFIRMED]
[SIGN-IN AVAILABLE]
No one was paying attention to him.
"Sign in."
A moment passed.
Then the system responded.
[SIGN-IN COMPLETE]
LOCATION: RONGHE MUNICIPAL ARCHIVE
Another message appeared.
[REWARD GENERATED]
SPATIAL MEMORY — LEVEL 1
Li Wei blinked slightly.
A strange clarity filled his mind again.
When he looked around the archive room, the layout immediately fixed itself in his memory.
Shelf positions.
Desk locations.
Doorways.
Even the arrangement of folders on nearby tables.
It felt like creating a mental map automatically.
He tested it by briefly walking between shelves.
Even without looking carefully, he already knew where everything was positioned.
"Useful," he murmured quietly.
Then the usual alert appeared again.
[ARCHIVE NODE ACTIVITY REGISTERED]
[EXTERNAL RESPONSE DETECTED]
Li Wei sighed softly.
"Of course."
At this point it was practically routine.
He picked up a random historical booklet and flipped through it casually for a few seconds before placing it back.
Then he walked toward the exit.
Far away in Linhai—
Inside the monitoring facility—
A loud alert suddenly sounded.
A technician jumped from his chair.
"Signal detected!"
Su Yan immediately walked over.
"Location?"
The technician zoomed the map.
The marker flashed.
Ronghe Municipal Historical Archive
Su Yan crossed her arms.
"He did activate another node."
The technician looked surprised.
"You're sure it's the same person?"
Su Yan nodded.
"The timing fits perfectly."
She stared at the blinking signal.
"So he didn't stop after leaving the city."
Instead…
He simply continued his routine somewhere else.
Back in Ronghe City—
Li Wei stepped outside the archive building.
The morning sun was warm.
People walked calmly along the street.
Nothing unusual.
He checked the system interface again.
[TOTAL CORE NODES ACTIVATED: 7]
NEXT SYSTEM UPGRADE AT: 10 NODES
"Three more."
Not far away—
A public library marker blinked faintly on the system map.
Ronghe Public Library
Distance: 800 meters.
Li Wei looked toward that direction thoughtfully.
He still had time before lunch.
Maybe one more visit wouldn't hurt.
Meanwhile, inside the monitoring facility—
Su Yan studied the map again.
Her eyes moved between Linhai City and Ronghe City.
Then she gave a calm order.
"Prepare travel clearance."
The technician blinked.
"You're going there personally?"
"Yes."
She grabbed her coat.
"If he activates nodes wherever he goes…"
"…then I'll follow the pattern."
Back on the quiet streets of Ronghe—
Li Wei walked calmly toward the next glowing marker on the Archive Map.
Completely unaware that someone was now preparing to chase him across cities.