Chapter 87: Cracking the Heavenly Realm Code

"Leon, nothing happened last night, right?"

Leon Chen took a sip of the morning tea brewed by Sienna Tang. While her cooking skills were abysmal, her tea-making was quite good. He looked at the concerned message from Lily Lin on his phone and smiled, sending back a reply apologizing for the events of the previous night.

"Senior Emma has been very kind to me. Don't worry. :)"

Whenever he texted with Lily Lin, Leon always found her incredibly adorable.

"Chatting with your girlfriend?" Sienna glided into the living room, glancing at Leon.

Leon neither confirmed nor denied it.

Sienna snorted and switched to the Western Capital morning news channel, remarking, "There's no news about Pier 4 last night..."

"That kind of thing wouldn't be reported... What was up with those people last night? And what was that stone he mentioned?" Leon pondered aloud.

Sienna suddenly remembered something and retrieved a box from a cabinet, the same one she had given Leon the previous day.

Leon nearly choked, trying to think of an explanation for the situation.

Sienna looked at him, puzzled. "I found this while changing your clothes last night. Have you opened it?"

"No, you told me not to, remember?" Leon feigned innocence, unsure how to explain the chip inside.

"So obedient?" Sienna was skeptical.

"Ahem, I always keep my promises."

To divert her questioning, Leon asked, "What's inside this box? Why were they after it? They didn't seem like ordinary thugs."

After a brief silence, Sienna spoke softly, "It makes sense to tell you. Those men last night were mercenaries hired by Stargate Corporation. They wanted to steal the 'original stone' I have."

Leon set down his teacup, his tone serious. "Stargate Corporation? The old man who visited last time?"

"Yes. He offered fifty million for me to sell it, but I refused. So, they resorted to these underhanded tactics. We were betrayed by our colleagues, and several partners were killed."

Leon observed a moment of silence.

After a while, Sienna opened the box, revealing a flawless, transparent crystal. "Is this stone really that important?" Leon asked, puzzled.

"This is an 'original stone' we discovered during the last Gassister excavation," Sienna explained. "The ruins are at least a thousand years old, and these stones were buried deep in a cave. Originally, there was a chip inside the stone, but it's gone now."

Sienna examined the stone, perplexed.

"What's it used for?"

"Finding a chip-like object in a thousand-year-old ruin, what do you think that means?" Sienna hinted.

Leon realized, "You mean it's evidence of an ancient civilization?"

"Yes, I even boldly speculate it might be proof of the Heavenly Realm. Don't these chips seem like they could contain some hidden information?" Sienna smiled faintly.

"No wonder... But where's the chip now?"

"I remember it was there, but now it's gone, proving it's not a product of Earth's civilization! It must have disappeared for some reason..." Sienna sighed, feeling a mix of love and hate for the little thing that had caused her team to fall apart.

Leon then asked Sienna for more details about the stone and Stargate Corporation, gradually understanding the whole incident. He realized the mercenaries were merely paid thugs, and the problem was far from over. Sienna's opponent was a massive underground organization.

But Leon was more concerned about the fact that five original stones were found in the ruins. If he wasn't mistaken, these stones were not just Heavenly Realm data but fragments of abilities. If the chips were extracted from the crystals and researched, who knew what secrets they might uncover? He had to find a way to retrieve all the original stones.

"Leon, I'm really grateful for your help last night. But you shouldn't get involved in this," Sienna said, thinking he was worried.

Leon smiled, feeling he should be the one saying that. Stargate Corporation's threat had to be neutralized quickly.

Stella Lin then arrived at the lab, exclaiming at the mess as if they'd been robbed. Sienna made an excuse about cleaning up, not wanting to involve Stella in the original stone affair.

While tidying up, Leon contacted Lina through his watch, filled with questions awaiting answers from the Heavenly Realm customer service.

"Dear Leon, how have you been?" Lina giggled.

Leon replied irritably, "Very well. I've discovered the whereabouts of the ability chips..."

"Wow!" Lina exclaimed, "That many?"

"Lina, I have a question."

"Go ahead, as long as it's about abilities."

"I found the chip inside a crystal stone. What's the deal with that? The stone doesn't seem like an Earth mineral."

Lina explained, "Because the chips can traverse space and land anywhere. If they're not parasitized in the mortal realm, their self-protective function will condense a protective crystal around them. These crystals are to prevent the chips from being damaged."

This sounded like a good protective measure, and Leon felt somewhat relieved.

After ending the call with Lina, Leon used his watch to search for information on Stargate Corporation. To his disappointment, there were no records of the notorious Stargate Corporation in the scientific community. Even the White House reportedly didn't know its true headquarters. It seemed more like a codename, with some scientists never seen again after being invited in, giving it a mysterious organization vibe.

To solve this problem, Leon first needed to find the company's research base.

Leon returned to the lab deep in thought, finding Sienna and Stella staring intently at the Heavenly Realm code tablet.

"Did you discover something?" Leon asked.

"Teacher, I think I just found inspiration to crack the Heavenly Realm code," Stella whispered.

Leon watched, frowning, for a long time but couldn't make sense of the strange glyphs. He shook his head, bored, and suddenly remembered his new ability, "Thousand Words." Not knowing its use, he decided to try it.

Activating it, he felt a sudden clarity. When he looked at the tablet again, the bizarre characters slowly transformed into comprehensible text.

No way!

Leon quickly stepped forward.

"Leon, what's wrong?" Sienna and Stella were puzzled by his serious expression.

Leon read through the tablet, line by line, confirming his suspicions.

The entire tablet's text became understandable to Leon.

To his surprise, Sienna had been right. The writing was indeed from an ancient civilization, but it had nothing to do with the Heavenly Realm.

The tablet read:

"... 'Noah' was attacked. This old friend who accompanied us from the Earth's core to the deepest sea is finally going to rest in this world. I decided to bury 'Noah,' waiting for the day of its revival!"

"Noah," "deepest sea," "buried" – these keywords made Leon's heart race.

Could it be that the tool of the Heavenly Realm was hidden somewhere in the world? Leon first thought of the ability "Space Transfer" to dive into the deep sea, an area unreachable by current human technology. This seemed like a breakthrough.

Sienna noticed Leon's mixed emotions. "Leon, what did you find?"

Leon returned to his senses, almost blurting out that he had deciphered the Heavenly Realm code. But he held back. Who would believe it? "Miss. Tang, where was this tablet found?"

"In an Egyptian desert, I think," Sienna replied uncertainly. "A guide stumbled upon it… Why?"

"Nothing, I just thought I'd like to see the place," Leon said regretfully.

Stella's eyes lit up, cheering, "Yes! Miss. Tang, instead of studying here, let's do some field research."

Sienna thought it over and agreed. Staying in the lab wasn't getting them anywhere. "We'll go when we have news," she said, looking at Leon, feeling he might have discovered something.

Her phone's vibration interrupted her thoughts. She looked at it, frowned, and rejected the call.

After several attempts, Sienna turned off her phone.

With Stella briefly out of the room, Leon asked, "Was that Smith calling?"

"Yes, he must be wondering what happened after failing to get the stone," Sienna replied coldly.

"What's your plan? If the original stone is so important, they won't give up easily."

Sienna shared Leon's concern. Being targeted by a bloody organization was no joke.

"Now I understand how Copernicus felt when he was burned at the stake."

"F**k?"

Sienna gave him a look. "It means that might makes right."

Leon glanced at his watch and suddenly said, "Actually, there might be a way to temporarily solve this problem… and recover the abilities stolen by Stargate." He didn't say the last part aloud.

"You have a plan?" Sienna asked, intrigued.

"Miss. Tang, do you trust me?" Leon countered.

Without hesitation, Sienna nodded. Anyone willing to risk their life for her was worth trusting.

"Good. Call Smith back and tell him you've changed your mind and will sell him the original stone," Leon suggested with a cunning smile.