Cheng Cheng and the Cicada

Chapter 107 Encounter

Chapter 1 You Actually Guessed Right

CC looked at the dozens of hafnium alloy safes dumped in front of her, greatly surprised.

She had indeed doubted Lin Xian's judgment earlier, but the facts spoke louder than words.

"How did you do it? I studied it... the places where these garbage trucks dump their loads are really calculated in real-time. Sometimes the same truck even has to unload in two different places. How could you predict that?"

"It's hard to explain, but it's not important."

Lin Xian glanced at the surveillance room in the distance. The new supervisor was still staring blankly at the air, giggling foolishly. Being careful shouldn't pose much risk.

"Quick, hurry up and find Lin Xian's safe. We don't have much time. Only 14 minutes."

"Why? Why only 14 minutes?"

CC was full of question marks.

"That's also hard to explain... just listen to me."

Lin Xian nimbly bent down and rushed out.

Every second counted now. There was no time to explain the worldview to CC, and even if he did, she'd forget it tomorrow anyway. It would be a waste of breath.

"You look over there, and I'll look over here. Be careful when you're searching, keep your body low, and don't let the supervisor see you."

"Okay."

Having seen Lin Xian's skills, CC obviously trusted him more and obediently went to the other side, crouching low. The two of them searched for the safes separately.

Wei Shengjin...

Wang Shuo...

Among the messy, tilted hafnium alloy safes, Lin Xian saw two familiar names.

In the bank vault of the First Dream, all the safes were embedded in the walls. These two people's safes were right next to his own.

Especially Wei Shengjin's safe, which was to the right of his own.

When CC was using the oxyacetylene torch to cut the safes open, fearing she would damage the contents inside... she started with Wei Shengjin's safe.

But contrary to her wishes, in the face of the powerful new aerospace material, hafnium alloy, the 3000-degree torch was like tickling, unable to harm Wei Shengjin in the slightest.

Finding the safe was easier than Lin Xian had thought. After all, he could just glance at the names that weren't his.

And it had to be said, they were quite lucky. Not a single safe was flush against the ground with the nameplate facing down. This made the search much easier for the two of them. The only two safes that were facing down were propped up on other safes, so they only needed to crouch down to see the names on the plates.

He looked at all kinds of names.

But Lin Xian just couldn't find his own safe.

He looked at CC, who was crouching and walking towards him.

"Did you find it?"

CC shook her head.

"No, I've looked at them all. Lin Xian's safe isn't here."

"What's going on?"

Lin Xian looked around at the number of safes and compared it to the bank vault in his memory.

"The number is wrong. There shouldn't be so few safes. There should be at least a hundred, maybe even two hundred."

"Then that means the remaining safes haven't been transported out yet."

Unlike Lin Xian, CC's tone was calm, as if she had expected this result.

"The next wave of garbage trucks will arrive at 00:57. The remaining safes should be on that batch of garbage trucks. Lin Xian's safe should be on one of those trucks."

"No, how do you know so clearly?"

Lin Xian was very puzzled.

He had actually felt strange for a while. Why did CC know so accurately that hafnium alloy safes would be unloaded here today?

But he was busy opening the safes just now and didn't ask her about it.

But looking at it now...

CC must have her own unique sources of information. She probably knows a lot of information about New Donghai City!

Otherwise, she wouldn't even know what time the garbage trucks enter the garbage disposal plant.

"How did you find out this information?"

Lin Xian took off the Rhine cat mask on his face and looked directly at CC.

"And why do you know so much detail? You even know what time the garbage trucks are coming. That's too exaggerated. Even the employees of the garbage disposal plant might not have such accurate information, right?"

"It's because of this."

CC took out a small object from her pocket and opened her palm for Lin Xian to see.

It was something that hung on the ear, like a Bluetooth headset.

It looked familiar.

Lin Xian turned his head to look at the monitor in the middle of the garbage disposal plant's monitoring room, who was staring blankly ahead at the air, giggling foolishly.

He was also wearing something like that on his ear.

"What is this thing?"

"I don't know what to call it." CC pinched the Bluetooth headset-like object, scrutinizing it.

"But this is a device that every garbage disposal plant worker wears. When it's worn on the ear, a TV-like light screen can appear in front of the eyes. It can be operated with eye movements. It's very advanced."

Lin Xian understood.

It seemed like there was something similar to this in his life in 2023.

Google Glass, VR glasses, holographic glasses... there were all sorts of product names, but the core was the same thing.

The lens of these glasses was actually a special display that could display electronic information. And there were also small devices on the frame and lens that could sense gaze and pupil focus, in order to determine the user's operating intentions.

This thing was still very advanced in 2023.

Lin Xian had only simply learned about it and seen the product PPT and press conference. He didn't know if the actual usage experience was as good as the PPT showed...

But in reality, very few people wore this kind of thing, almost none at all.

From this point of view, the technology should not be very mature.

But this thing that CC was holding... it looked very high-end and technological.

Its size was about the same as a normal ear-hook Bluetooth headset, semicircular, just enough to hook onto the ear.

Lin Xian didn't know how this thing could project a "light screen in front of the eyes," but since CC said so, it must be true.

It seemed that the technology in New Donghai City in the Second Dream was still very developed.

Although it didn't meet Lin Xian's expectations, compared to 2023, some incomprehensible high-tech products had already appeared.

"How did you get this thing?"

"I stole it from another garbage disposal plant. I've been stealing them for a long time." CC replied indifferently.

"This thing seems very advanced to us, but in the eyes of people in New Donghai City, this kind of thing is very backward. They only use it as

general work communication equipment, just to send and receive notifications."

"This thing doesn't recognize identity? You can just steal it and use it?" Lin Xian asked.

"It has a password, but I cracked it." CC replied easily.

Okay.

Lin Xian nodded.

CC's password expert attribute was still there. He just didn't know if her password cracking skills were learned in the Second Dream, or directly inherited from those memory fragments.

"I understand."

Lin Xian looked at the little gadget in CC's hand.

"This thing is the communication equipment for the garbage disposal plant workers. Through this device, you can check the location, route, and even specific tasks of each garbage truck, right?"

"So you already knew tonight that a bunch of hafnium alloy safes would be transported to this garbage plant, and then you tried to sneak in here."

"It's not as exaggerated as you think."

CC twirled the Bluetooth headset between her fingers.

"After I cracked the password, many functions actually can't be used. But I can see the task routes, factory departure and arrival times, and some other garbage disposal information of each garbage truck."

"In the memory fragments, that long-haired, bearded man told me that the safe he left for me was stored in the Temu Bank. He originally wanted to tell me the password, but in the end, he didn't say it for some reason... I don't know if it's because my memory is incomplete."

"There's no such bank in Old Donghai, so it must be in New Donghai City, but I can't get into New Donghai City. I've been waiting for an opportunity near here for a long time, thinking of many ways. Every day, I flip through newspapers and materials in the garbage disposal plant to see if I can find any useful information."

"Later, I saw a bankruptcy announcement and safe claim form published by Temu Bank in a newspaper. It stated a deadline. If the safe was not claimed by August 28, it would be disposed of as garbage."

"This might be my only chance, so I tried to steal an ear-hook device from a garbage plant supervisor, this one. Then, after cracking the password, I could see the work information of all the garbage disposal plants in New Donghai City, as well as the garbage trucks' collection routes and arrival times."

"The garbage transportation in the Temu Bank area is handled by this garbage disposal plant. And the garbage trucks responsible for collecting the garbage from Temu Bank enter the plant at 00:25 or 00:57. Only these two teams pass by Temu Bank."

"So, if Lin Xian's safe isn't in the 00:25 batch of garbage trucks, it must be in the garbage trucks arriving at 00:57."

CC didn't realize the seriousness of the matter at all. She stared at the steel gate not far away.

"We just need to continue hiding here and wait for the 00:57 batch of garbage trucks to enter the plant. Lin Xian's safe must be on that batch of garbage trucks."

……

Looking at the confident and relaxed CC.

Lin Xian didn't speak.

The next batch of garbage trucks wouldn't arrive at the garbage plant until 00:57... that was no different from arriving 20,000 years later.

Because neither could happen.

This dream, this future world, would be destroyed by white light in a few minutes at 00:42, and then this day would be infinitely looped, and everything would start over.

There was no tomorrow here...

There never would be.

The 00:57 that CC was eagerly awaiting would never arrive.

"Um... that..."

Lin Xian hesitated.

"Never mind, let's talk about something else."

He looked at CC.

"Since you've been in this area for a long time, can you provide me with some clues to sneak into New Donghai City? Any clues will do, as long as they can help me enter New Donghai City... even if it's dangerous, just tell me."

"You want to enter New Donghai City?"

"That's right." Lin Xian nodded.

"I want to enter New Donghai City to find two books and some information. I guess I can't find these things in the garbage plant. I can only find them in New Donghai City, so I have to go there."

"Find two books?"

CC blinked and looked at Lin Xian in disbelief.

"Just for two books, you're going to sneak into New Donghai City... are you crazy?"

"We're both the same, I guess. Your behavior is similar in my opinion. Besides, what's the difference between New Donghai City and here? Why are you all so afraid to go in?"

Lin Xian changed his posture and leaned against the stacked safes.

"Is the security in New Donghai City very strict? Or are there identification devices everywhere that can immediately identify outsiders and eliminate them?"

"I don't know."

CC shook her head, sat on a hafnium alloy safe, and looked up at Lin Xian.

"No one has ever successfully sneaked into this kind of new city. Or maybe there have been... but they went in and couldn't get out, and died inside; no one knows these things, at least I don't know, I've never heard of it."

"It might be as you said, the security is very strict inside. But it might be unexpectedly

, New Donghai City is just a facade. But... who dares to gamble?"

CC chuckled and turned her head to look at the towering steel wall, like a vertically cut chasm.

"Everyone only has one life, no one dares to gamble."

"I think you're quite the gambler." Lin Xian complained.

"That's because I have a reason that's more important than life, so I have to gamble."

CC turned back and looked at Lin Xian.

"But you're just looking for two books, it's obviously not worth it."

"That's not necessarily true."

Lin Xian smiled and looked up at the magnificent, boundless steel wall.

"My life isn't worth much, I can afford to gamble."

"Not worth two books?"

"Not worth a piece of paper."

Pfft—

CC was amused and laughed, her eyes behind the mask curving into shallow crescents.

"You're really good at joking."

"But... to be honest, it's a bit of a pity. If you had met me earlier today, you wouldn't have to think about sneaking into New Donghai City to find those two books."?

"What did you say?"

Lin Xian left the safe he was leaning against and stood up straight.

"If I had met you earlier, what would have happened?】"

CC took out the small Bluetooth headset, weighed it in her hand, and smiled.

"If it was earlier, I could have told you... that a large number of waterlogged books will be transported to the 314th garbage disposal plant tonight. Wouldn't it be easier to go there to find the books you want?"

"It's just a pity... it's definitely too late now."

"They've long since been burned to ashes."