155: Chapter 155 A grain coupon exchanged for 52 years of geological exploration maps

The eastern end of town.

The Scientific Expedition Team's base.

A row of low, single-story houses with the kind of gray brickwork common in the sixties and seventies; the cement mortar joints were crooked, but the overall structure remained sturdy.

A wooden board hung by the entrance, with several words written in white chalk: "Base of the Third Exploration Team, No Trespassing."

The handwriting was neat and tidy, clearly written using a ruler as a guide.

Fifty-two years, and they still maintained the rules of the production teams.

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Jiang Feng stood at the door and reached out to knock three times.

Footsteps came from inside, steady and powerful, making the floorboards thud.

The door opened.

Gu Yuanshan stood in the doorway.

He looked to be in his early sixties, though his actual age was unknown.

Time in Wuyin Town was twisted; no one could say for sure how much biological time these people had actually spent inside.

He glanced at Jiang Feng, said nothing, and stepped aside.

Jiang Feng crossed the threshold. The room was dimmer than outside. A long table stood against the wall, covered in several layers of blueprints held down at the corners by stones.

A red flag hung on the wall; it was severely faded, but still recognizable.

Surveying instruments were piled in a corner—theodolites, levels, hammers, and geological compasses—all wiped clean and arranged neatly.

This group had been trapped in this hellhole for fifty-two years, yet they still maintained their equipment meticulously.

Jiang Feng placed his canvas bag on the corner of the table, pulled out that 1974 national food stamp, and set it on the surface.

Gu Yuanshan's footsteps stopped.

He stared at the food stamp.

The stamp wasn't large; the paper was yellowed and the edges were worn, but the printed patterns and text were still clear.

Gu Yuanshan did not reach out to take it.

He stood on the opposite side of the table, hands behind his back, looking at the food stamp without saying a word.

A long time passed.

So long that Jiang Feng almost thought the deal had fallen through.

Gu Yuanshan spoke, his voice deep and carrying the peculiar seriousness of people from that era.

“Where did you get this stamp?”

“Lifted it from the pocket of that Crew-cut Young Man under your command yesterday.”

Jiang Feng didn't lie.

The corner of Gu Yuanshan's mouth twitched.

“You stole from my team member?”

“It’s not called stealing; it’s called battlefield spoils. We were in the middle of a fight, I was sitting nearby watching the show, and suddenly equipment dropped.”

“Equipment... dropped?”

Gu Yuanshan stared at him for five seconds.

Then he did something Jiang Feng hadn't expected.

He laughed.

A laugh tinged with a bit of helplessness and appreciation.

“You kid, you've got guts.”

“I've lived this long entirely because of my guts.”

Jiang Feng patted the food stamp.

“Captain Gu, I'm trading this stamp for two things. What do you say?”

“Speak.”

“First, give me all the underground geological survey maps your expedition team has drawn over the last fifty-two years.”

Gu Yuanshan remained silent.

“Second, you should have a magnetic field interference meter—the kind that can maintain a sense of direction within this town's magnetic anomaly zones. Lend it to me.”

“Lend?”

“I'll return it when I'm done.”

Gu Yuanshan tapped his fingers on the edge of the table twice, the rhythm perfectly even.

“I can let you see the geological maps, but the interference meter...”

He pulled open a drawer and took out a metal box.

The metal box was slightly larger than a palm, military green all over with mottled paint, featuring a knob and a needle-gauge dial.

“This was equipment issued to us when we entered the mountains back then. The whole team only has this one. It's been used for fifty-two years, and the parts have been replaced over a dozen times.”

He placed the metal box on the table.

“Do you know what this thing means to us?”

“It means the twelve of you can avoid getting lost in this place with its chaotic magnetic fields, can find each other, and can maintain basic survey operations.”

Jiang Feng's answer was direct.

“That's why I said lend, not take. I'll return it as soon as I'm done.”

Gu Yuanshan looked at him for a while.

“You're going down into the mineral vein?”

“Yes.”

“Xun Bai gave you the directions?”

“He gave me a map.”

“Hmph.” Gu Yuanshan snorted through his nose.

“That old fossil. Two thousand years, and he's still the same. Giving you half and keeping half, letting you take the risks yourself.”

He pushed the metal box over.

“You must return it when you're finished.”

“Definitely.”

Then Gu Yuanshan turned, took a roll of blueprints off the wall, and spread them out on the table.

Three large sheets.

Hand-drawn geological cross-sections, marking rock layer distribution, the flow of underground water systems, and the approximate range of magnetic anomaly zones.

Fifty-two years of data, densely packed; some areas had been modified many times, with old lines covered by new ones, forming layers of traces.

Jiang Feng leaned down and studied them carefully for ten minutes.

Comparing it with the map Xun Bai had given him, the location of the mineral vein entrance matched perfectly.

But the Scientific Expedition Team's map had one more piece of information—about twelve to fifteen meters below the entrance, there was an area where the magnetic anomaly values spiked sharply. The expedition team had circled it in red ink, with two words written beside it.

“Forbidden Zone.”

Jiang Feng tapped the red circle with his finger.

“You've been down there?”

“We went down once.” Gu Yuanshan's voice dropped.

“When we first entered the town in 1974, I took three men down to survey. When we reached that red circle, the magnetic interference meter overloaded immediately. The needle spun a dozen times without stopping, and all three team members showed symptoms of total disorientation.”

He paused.

“I pulled them back up. Since then, we've never gone down again.”

“You haven't been down in fifty-two years?”

“It's not a matter of adventure.” Gu Yuanshan's tone was firm.

“I have twelve lives under me. I cannot gamble with them.”

Jiang Feng straightened up, looked at the magnetic interference meter, and then at the red circle on the map.

“I'll go down alone.”

Gu Yuanshan looked at him for a few seconds.

“You aren't afraid?”

“Is fear useful?”

Jiang Feng tucked the magnetic interference meter into his canvas bag, looked over the key markings on the geological map once more, and memorized several core data points.

“Captain Gu, one last question.”

“Speak.”

“If the soil of reshaping is taken away, you know what will happen to this town, right?”

Gu Yuanshan's hand stopped on the table.

“I don't know.”

“You don't know, or you're unwilling to face it?”

Jiang Feng shouldered his canvas bag and walked to the door.

“You've been here for fifty-two years. If you want to go out...“

“The world outside has changed quite a bit; be mentally prepared.”

“Of course, our motherland is very powerful.”

Gu Yuanshan did not answer.

He stood before the table, looking down at the food stamp, motionless for a long, long time.

The food stamp was printed with a 1974 serial number.

That year, he was twenty-three years old when he led twelve team members into these mountains.

Twenty-three years old.

Jiang Feng walked out of the base's entrance and stood on the flagstone road for a moment.

The door behind him closed, and from inside came the sound of chairs moving and low voices talking.

He tightened the strap of his canvas bag and walked toward the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.