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Hu Dahai's message arrived the next morning.

A short message, concise and to the point: "It's settled with Old Chen. It'll be at 3 PM today. He lives in the northern suburbs. I'll send you the address." It was followed by a location tag and a small note: "He's not a talkative person; just bring something that will attract his attention."

Lin Yanzhou replied with an "okay," put his phone back in his pocket, went downstairs, and drove off. He first went to the Qingzhuan Guild Hall: after those three items were taken away yesterday, Hu Dahai mentioned that there was still a batch of silver ingots sitting untouched in his warehouse.

Lin Yanzhou thought for a moment and decided to issue another batch. In modern times, silver ingots are easier to convert into cash than antiques; they're sold by weight, regardless of condition, and Hu Dahai's channels are clean. This time it was loose silver, totaling over two hundred jin. Hu Dahai weighed it on the spot, using the industrial metal recycling channel, and the payment came immediately: six million four hundred thousand. Lin Yanzhou looked at the payment record on his phone, thanked him, and drove to the northern suburbs.

The northern suburbs were much quieter than the city. The trees on both sides of the road hadn't yet shed all their leaves. Old Chen lived in an old-fashioned small building with red brick walls. The yard wasn't big, but it was kept clean. An old bicycle was parked in front of the door, with a pair of pruning shears and a piece of rope that hadn't been taken away yet in the basket. Lin Yanzhou parked the bicycle and rang the doorbell.

The door was opened by an elderly man with gray hair, tall and thin, wearing an old gray-blue jacket with the cuffs rolled up twice, revealing his thin but strong wrists. He glanced at Lin Yanzhou, then said without much pleasantries, "Hu Dahai said you have a few pieces of ore to show someone?"

"Yes. He introduced me to this place."

"Come in and speak."

The living room was simpler than I had imagined. The sofa was an old-fashioned fabric sofa with worn-smooth armrests; on the coffee table was a stack of old magazines, the cover of the top one already curled up.

Old Chen didn't make tea or offer him a seat. Instead, he pointed to a piece of black velvet on the coffee table and said, "Put it on there and look at it."

Lin Yanzhou took out the several dark gray pieces of ore and a small packet of grayish-white powder one by one and placed them on a velvet cloth. The surface of the ore gleamed with a fine, silvery-white crystalline luster in the afternoon sunlight, and the cracks at the edges showed an uneven radial pattern, as if they were fragments formed under some kind of high-pressure environment.

Old Chen stood in front of the coffee table without sitting down. He first bent down and glanced at the few pieces of ore, without touching them, only looking at them for about ten seconds. Then he turned around and took out a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers from the study. He came back, squatted down, and used the tweezers to pick up the smallest piece of stone and examined it several times against the light.

He placed the pebble back on the velvet without speaking immediately. He then rubbed a little powder between his fingertips, brought it close to his nose, and smelled it. Afterward, he put down the tweezers and sat down on the edge of the sofa. "Where did these stones come from?"

"Well, those who know, know; I don't know either."

Old Chen didn't press further, already used to this kind of answer: "Have you had the composition of these ores tested?"

No. It can't be tested.

"Can't it be tested?" Old Chen looked up at him. "The samples are all in your hands, how could you not be able to test them?"

"Ordinary testing equipment simply cannot detect it."

Old Chen paused for a moment, then picked up the piece of ore and examined it against the light for a while: "The surface crystalline structure of these stones doesn't belong to any known mineral classification. They seem more like they were formed in an environment outside of Earth. The details you just mentioned, the compositional data, and the precise description of the surface crystalline structure—most people wouldn't notice these things."

"These things... you brought them back from outside."

Old Chen didn't ask where "outside" was. He put down the magnifying glass, stood up, and paused at the study door: "You can't leave these things here. I don't have the testing equipment or recording privileges. But I can help you contact someone at the Academy of Sciences who does materials analysis, his surname is Shen. He studies superconducting materials and aerospace coatings, and deals with all sorts of unknown minerals all year round. Show him this, and he'll know how to handle it."

Lin Yanzhou stood up: "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Wait for my call. He'll contact you within three days." Old Chen walked back to the coffee table, bent down, and carefully wrapped the ore again in a velvet cloth. "Take this back with you. Show it to him next time you meet."

Before the third day was over, that evening, Lin Yanzhou received a call from Researcher Shen. The voice on the phone was young and spoke quickly: "Old Chen said you have a few pieces of ore that you want me to look at? Can you come to the Academy of Sciences tomorrow morning?" Lin Yanzhou agreed.

The next morning, he parked his car in the alley outside the west gate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, picked up a canvas bag, and went inside. Researcher Shen was waiting for him in the lobby on the first floor of the Materials Institute. He looked to be about thirty-five or thirty-six years old, wearing glasses and an old white lab coat with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms; he looked like he had just been pulled out of the microscope. They went up to the third floor, walked through the corridor, and entered a small office filled with instruments. On the desk lay a stack of unfinished data reports and an upside-down enamel mug.

Lin Yanzhou placed the ore and powder in an empty corner of his desk. Researcher Shen picked it up and looked at it for a long time. Then, he used tweezers to pick up a small piece of debris and put it into an instrument next to him. He pressed a few keys and stared at the screen in silence for a long time.

When he turned around, his speech was much slower than before: "These samples... in addition to the carbon-based structure, there is a complete arrangement of metal oxides, and the characteristic peaks do not match any known mineral database on Earth. These stones of yours are not from Earth."

He paused for a moment. "It's not from Earth. You know what that conclusion means."

Lin Yanzhou did not respond.

Researcher Shen glanced again at the analysis page on the screen that was still open: "I need to retain a portion of the samples for subsequent testing, is that alright?"

"Sure. But I need to know the test results."

"The test results will be sent to you simultaneously." Researcher Shen stood up, glanced at him across the table, and said, "If this batch of samples is confirmed to be extraterrestrial minerals, it will have an extremely significant impact on domestic aerospace material coatings and energy structures. According to procedure, it needs to be reported to higher authorities. You can choose whether to sign your name, but the source information of the samples themselves must remain anonymous and compliant."

"Signature or anonymity is fine, just follow the procedures," Lin Yanzhou said. "Just submit what needs to be reported."

The next day, Lin Yanzhou received a call from the Academy of Sciences' switchboard. Researcher Shen's tone was even more concise than during their first conversation: "The test results are in. Are you free today? We'd like you to attend a meeting." The meeting was smaller than expected. In a small conference room, four people sat across the table. Researcher Shen sat on the left, next to a gray-haired vice-dean. To the right sat two middle-aged men in casual clothes, without name tags.

Researcher Shen pushed a copy of the test report in front of him: "We completed the full analysis and repeated the test three times. The results were consistent: this batch of samples contains a metal oxide arrangement that is not found in the Earth's natural mineral deposit sequence, and its structural characteristics do not overlap with any known artificially synthesized or naturally generated substances on Earth. This structure exhibits the most stable coating properties among currently known materials under high temperature and pressure, and has the ability to maintain structural integrity continuously within extreme temperature ranges. You should understand what this means."

Lin Yanzhou looked at the report, flipped through two pages, and closed it.

Researcher Shen continued, "The institute has completed the internal procedures, and the report's content has been included in the priority research sequence of the national key materials research project. According to the rules, the sample provider can apply for national-level contribution awards and corresponding directory registration."

Lin Yanzhou looked up: "What do I need to do?"

"Sign a few things." The vice dean pushed a folder over. "The rest of the procedures will be handled by the institute. There will be an award ceremony later. It won't be a large-scale ceremony, but it will be quite high-level. Colleagues from relevant departments will be there to witness it. If you don't want to show up, the institute can arrange a substitute. But if you are willing to attend, it will have long-term benefits for your future work and life."

Lin Yanzhou opened the folder, glanced at the signature section, picked up a pen, and signed his name.

A man in plainclothes stood up and handed over a business card. "If you have any trouble, you can contact me. We can solve any problems you may have. My responsibility is to protect rare and special talents like you."