The strongest intermediary in all realms

It was late at night when I got back to the office.

Zhou Ming connected his phone to his computer and zoomed in to examine the texture of the box frame by frame.

Xiao Qi flew in front of the screen, waving its hands alternately, and beams of blue analytical light swept across the textured image. The data stream churned rapidly on the system panel for nearly half an hour.

"Disassembly complete." Xiao Qi landed back on the table, her expression more serious than usual. "These patterns are indeed 'dimensional sealing marks,' used to seal otherworldly resources inside the box, preventing the contents from decaying or mutating due to dimensional differences. It's worth noting that the mark contains a 'timed decay symbol'—the circular indentation in the center—which automatically deactivates within 72 hours of opening, allowing the 'otherworldly attributes' of the resources inside to slowly dissolve and gradually adapt to the environment of Earth."

Zhou Ming frowned: "So after seventy-two hours, the contents of the box became ordinary Earth supplies?"

"Yes. This is a 'dimensionality reduction adaptation' technology. After they transport the supplies, they must unpack and use them as soon as possible; otherwise, they'll be useless."

Xiao Qi paused for a moment, then added, "But this shows that they possess fairly advanced interdimensional logistics technology, and they're not just a makeshift operation."

Zhou Ming leaned back in his chair, staring at the screen. Five crates contained supplies transported by the Cleaners from Plane Twelve. The crates were engraved with patterns, and the system featured timed decay runes and a seventy-two-hour window. The entire system was complete and efficient.

Compare his own interdimensional transport mode—which relies entirely on backpacks and manual carrying—to the other party, who is several levels more advanced.

"But the man in black robes said, 'We can last two more times.'" Zhou Ming sat up straight. "That means their technique has limitations. It's not unlimited."

"Hmm." Xiao Qi nodded. "I found a faint crack in the decay rune structure in that diagram. It's probably been used too many times, and the rune's pressure-bearing structure is starting to fatigue. It will fail after two more uses. At that point, they'll either have to re-engrave a new sealing mark, or they'll have to abandon this supply route."

What is needed to re-engrave the new sealing mark? Zhou Ming put this question aside for the time being, intending to investigate it the next day.

He shut down his computer and was about to go wash up when his phone vibrated. Xu Ling had sent a text message: "I've been using the meridian-clearing powder for two days, and my arm is much better. There's a martial arts circle gathering tomorrow night; I'm going to go and talk to my fellow disciples about Sihaitong."

Zhou Ming replied with "Okay," then thought for a moment and added, "What kind of occasion is the gathering?"

Xu Ling replied, "The monthly martial arts tea party is held at the Juyi Martial Arts Hall in the south of the city. Dozens of people drink tea and chat. Some of my fellow disciples have done security outsourcing work for Sihaitong. I can casually ask them about it."

Security outsourcing? Zhou Ming perked up. Sihaitong was recruiting security personnel, and someone in the martial arts circle had taken over their outsourcing order—this lead was closer than he had imagined.

The next day, he opened his shop as usual, with a few customers coming and going.

Around 5 p.m., he fed Gulu (after a 20-minute round trip to the Tian Shuang Realm's ley line spring), changed into a clean coat, and prepared to go to the Juyi Martial Arts Hall in the south of the city.

Before leaving, he paused for a moment, walked back, opened the drawer, and put the two low-level attack talismans into his inner pocket.

Although the system forbids him from actively fighting, the attack talisman can be used as a "tool" by others in the case of passive defense. In case of any unexpected events at the martial arts gym tonight, he can give the talisman to Xu Ling or someone else.

Juyi Martial Arts School is located deep in an old street in the south of the city. The storefront is not large, but it is very long. Pushing open the heavy wooden door, you are greeted by a smell of hot tea mixed with sweat.

The lobby is spacious, with an octagonal table and long benches in the center, and a calligraphy scroll with vigorous strokes hanging on the wall: "Ten years to hone a sword".

There were about thirty people inside, young and old, some in training clothes and some in casual clothes. Each table had a teapot and several plates of dried fruit and snacks.

When Zhou Ming entered, several pairs of eyes swept over to look him up, but quickly looked away—Xu Ling stood up from the corner table and waved to him.

"Over here."

Zhou Ming walked over and sat down. The cast on Xu Ling's right arm had been removed and replaced with a thin medicated bandage. She moved her wrist slightly: "The meridian-clearing powder really works; it stopped hurting after two applications."

"Keep using it until it's finished, don't stop the treatment." Zhou Ming said as he took the teacup Xu Ling handed him, his gaze sweeping over the people in the lobby without making a sound.

Most of them were martial arts practitioners, with calloused hands, sturdy builds, and an upright posture characteristic of martial artists. He noticed a middle-aged man in dark blue overalls sitting at a corner table, looking down at his phone and barely speaking to anyone around him.

Xu Ling followed his gaze and glanced over, then lowered her voice: "That man's surname is Ma, Ma Laosan. He's the one who took over the security outsourcing from Sihaitong. I specifically asked him to come."

Zhou Ming understood the situation. He drank tea and ate melon seeds, waiting calmly for the tea party to naturally transition into a free and casual chat.

About half an hour later, the atmosphere in the lobby relaxed, and people gathered in twos and threes to talk, becoming much more lively than the formal and reserved atmosphere at the beginning.

Xu Ling picked up her teacup, got up, and walked to Ma Laosan's table to sit down. Zhou Ming listened from a table away.

"Brother Ma, I heard you recently landed a great job?" Xu Ling's voice wasn't loud, but it was just loud enough to carry.

Ma Laosan glanced at her, then put down his phone: "You mean that Sihaitong company? I only worked there for a month, then I quit."

"Why? Wasn't the salary quite high?"

Old Ma paused for a moment, picked up his teacup and took a sip, as if carefully choosing his words: "The pay is high, but the job isn't right. They said it's warehouse security, but after working there for a few days, I noticed that cars frequently come and go at night, and the people getting out of those cars don't seem like legitimate traders. And—"

He lowered his voice, and Xu Ling leaned closer.

"And there's a place in their warehouse that they don't allow you to go in. Another security guard and I peeked out out of curiosity and saw a table with strange patterns drawn on it, like some kind of array. I've been in the stunt business for over twenty years, what kind of weird stuff haven't I seen? That thing doesn't look like something from our Earth."

Xu Ling blinked: "A formation? Like the ones you see on TV?"

"It's much weirder than what's shown on TV." Ma Laosan rubbed his hands together. "Then one night I was on night shift and I heard a sound coming from inside that door—like someone was banging on the ground with a really heavy hammer, thump, thump, thump, every now and then. When I got back, the more I thought about it, the more uneasy I felt, so I quit the next day. Money is good, but life is more important."

Zhou Ming listened to the conversation carefully, not missing a single word. The room in the warehouse with the array pattern, the knocking sounds at night, the forbidden area—these details matched the sealing marks he had seen and the activities of the black-robed man.

After Ma Laosan left, Sihaitong was still recruiting security guards, which means they needed local martial artists from Blue Star as cheap labor to maintain normal operations on the surface, while only the black-robed man himself could enter the core operating area.

Xu Ling chatted with Ma Laosan for a few more minutes before returning with the tea. She sat back down next to Zhou Ming and whispered, "Did you hear that?"

"I heard you." Zhou Ming nodded. "That's enough."

He didn't press Ma Laosan for more details; this was their first meeting, and he wanted to establish contact first.

The next time they meet, he can ask more targeted questions about the specific location and shape of the formation in that room.

The tea party ended after 10 p.m. Zhou Ming and Xu Ling walked out of the martial arts school together. The night breeze was chilly, and the streetlights on both sides of the old street were dim.

"Boss Zhou," Xu Ling suddenly stopped, "tell me honestly, why are you investigating Sihaitong?"

Zhou Ming looked at her. Xu Ling's expression was very serious, and the bandage on her right arm shone pale white under the streetlight.

She used the meridian-clearing powder last night, and today she came to help him connect with Sihaitong. She has no obligation to go to this extent.

"To protect a client," Zhou Ming said truthfully, "there's someone behind Sihaitong investigating my client's files. If I don't find out what they're doing, my client will be in danger."

Xu Ling nodded, not asking any further questions. She adjusted her coat collar, took a few steps in the opposite direction, then turned back and said, "We'll talk about my medical expenses after you're done with this busy period."

"OK."

Zhou Ming walked towards Wutong Road. Yuecheng District was much quieter at night than during the day. The streaks of light of sword cultivators flying across the sky occasionally streaked by, and the sound of hover motorcycle engines could be heard from afar.

He put his hands in his pockets, his fingertips touching the hard edge of the attack symbol, which felt rough against his skin.

The liquidators were drawing arrays in the warehouse. What was the function of these arrays? Transportation? Communication? Or some kind of offensive deployment?

He needs to figure it out as soon as possible.

Back in his office, Zhou Ming didn't sleep. He opened the system panel, combined the photos of the patterns on the five wooden boxes with the information about the "array room" he had heard that night, and handed it over to Xiao Qi for in-depth cross-analysis.

When will the comparison results be available at the earliest?

"Tomorrow morning," Xiao Qi yawned—even the system sprite yawns? Zhou Ming found her sleepy expression rather novel—"The system needs to compare each of the various dimensional array models stored in the database; the data volume is huge."

"Okay, we'll talk about it tomorrow."

Zhou Ming lay down in the chair and covered himself with a thin blanket. Gulu climbed down from the windowsill and automatically curled up against his chest, its crystal body radiating a warm, milky-white glow, like a small, breathing heat pack.

Before he closed his eyes, he took one last look at the spider web on the ceiling, in the same old spot.

But the office is no longer the dilapidated room from the first day.

He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The night was deep, and the lights at the intersection of Wutong Road stayed on all night. In a warehouse district in the west of the city, people were carrying a new batch of wooden crates into a door that only men in black robes could enter.

What Zhou Ming didn't know was that on the last night shift before Ma Laosan resigned, the knocking sound was actually a kind of "frequency calibration" being performed.

And that calibration was completed that very night.

Tomorrow morning, he will learn the true purpose of the array room from Xiao Qi.

That's the beginning of another story.