South of Hong Kong, out on the open sea.
A solitary island, inside a fortress.
Jill Young raised a finger, pointing straight at her own face: "Take a look, just look right here. Tell me, what do you see?"
Rachel Luo stared blankly at her Martial Uncle's face, her sharp eyes quickly spotting a not-too-big, not-too-small red dot on that jade-like cheek: "Uh... probably a pimple...?"
Wait, could Martial Uncle really get pimples? Rachel herself didn't believe it—but to her utter shock, Jill Young nodded!
"That's right, it's a pimple." Jill's slender finger scratched at the red spot, continuing her slow, casual questioning: "Do you know why I got a pimple?"
Why would a ninth-tier Dragon Elephant powerhouse get a pimple? Why would a Grandmaster of subtle insight get a pimple? Why would an innate expert with ninety-nine years of cultivation get a pimple? Rachel Luo racked her brains, then ventured a guess: "Maybe... it's because of internal heat?"
Would Martial Uncle really break out because of internal heat? Rachel found herself doubting again—but to her utter shock, Jill Young nodded again!
"Exactly, it's because of internal heat." Jill slapped Rachel Luo's shoulder: "So what do you think I should do?"
Two for two, Rachel Luo felt totally on fire today, and immediately offered up a suggestion: "How about I get you some enzyme drink to zap that pimple?"
But to her utter shock—this time, she was way off...
"Enzyme drinks, my foot! That stuff's a total scam, completely useless! I'm not just a little heated—I'm practically bursting into flames, spewing plasma, shooting out solar wind! Even if you dumped the enzymes from every river and lake in China on me, it wouldn't put out the fire in my heart!" Jill Young was so furious, she nearly threw her head back and howled at the sky: "And that pretentious Divine—if I ever run into him again, I'm gonna beat him flat and light him up like a lantern!"
Can you blame her for being mad? After days back home, she was totally stumped by the mystery of Tiberius Laboratory's location.
On the way back to China, Jill Young had been cramming those files like her life depended on it. Her thinking was, "Maybe I'm just that talented, maybe my cheat codes are always on, and I'll just magically spot the real lab location in these scraps! Then I won't have to make a second trip—just charge in while I'm still warmed up and bust the whole place wide open! Wouldn't that be awesome?" So she pulled a couple of all-nighters, grinding away at the data.
But later, she realized cracking these files was a job for the pros. Not to mention, Jill and the Divine had been fighting over the data for ages, and each side only managed to snatch about half. The files ran into the tens of thousands of pages, covering every topic under the sun and all mixed together. Forget deciphering—just sorting them into categories would take ages.
Plus, the real location of Tiberius might just be a tiny ripple in this ocean of files—finding it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Actually, searching for a needle in a haystack would be easier—at least you know you're looking for a needle. Here, the real location might be written in code or shown as a symbol, and Jill just couldn't do it alone.
You know what they say—many hands make light work. So Queen Jill decided to flex her power again. She hadn't even landed in China before she sent out orders, and Eternal Night Holdings Group was instantly buzzing. Planes took off, teams mobilized, black sedans tore through the city, barreling down every street. All the gangs in Hong Kong were suddenly on edge, wondering what on earth the big boss at Eternal Night was up to.
And when Jill Young returned victorious with the old priest, the place was packed with science nerds, codebreakers, language experts, research legends, brainy kids, and even the 3DM crack team (don't ask). Whether by threat or bribe, happy teamwork or a burlap sack over the head and a car ride, anyone who could help with the decoding was "invited" to join.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, so Eternal Night just shipped everyone straight to the island, and the decoding marathon began.
Jill Young personally took command, stationing all sorts of armed forces on the island. First, to guard against another attack from the world's second-ranked supernatural entity—if it happened once, it could happen again. Second, she was dead serious about results. The Queen of Eternal Night issued a strict order: whoever cracks the code gets riches and glory galore. But if you can't deliver results, you're not leaving this island!
At first, the decoding work went surprisingly well.
In no time, all the files were sorted and organized. By nightfall, more than half the irrelevant data was weeded out, drastically narrowing the search. By dawn, they'd pinned down the general area and started a targeted review. When the sun rose, a research legend came forward with a report.
"Based on the details in the files about Tiberius Laboratory, we've determined the lab is in northern USA, with cold weather and sparse population, and it matches the climate of the Great Lakes region. Putting all the clues together, we believe the lab is in Wisconsin."
"Keep going. I need the exact location."
"Yes, ma'am."
Jill Young kept a poker face, but inside she was relieved. Many hands really do make light work. To deduce the lab's location from scraps and clues, you need sharp insight and a massive knowledge base. No way could one person pull it off—not even Conan. At this rate, even if they didn't beat the Divine to it, at least they wouldn't fall behind.
See? Having power and influence is just plain awesome!
But Jill quickly cooled off. Narrowing it down to a single state was huge progress, but Wisconsin's still pretty big. Pinpointing the exact spot would take even longer. She knew patience was a virtue, but she was itching to hop on a plane to the US. As soon as she got the answer, she'd storm the lab, wreck everything, and squash the Divine for good. Now that's efficiency.
And hey, if she took down the world's second-ranked supernatural, maybe her Heavenly Ranking wouldn't be stuck in the 'Top 80,000' anymore, right?
Nope, nope, can't wait any longer!—Wait, hold up, don't I have an ace up my sleeve? That's it, I gotta go ask him.
"Is Father Michael awake yet?"
The old guy's body was too weak, the stress of betraying the Zade Family too much, and the journey had worn him out—he was half-conscious for most of it. As soon as they hit Hong Kong and he relaxed, he passed out and was now recuperating.
"No, he's not."
"Doesn't matter, wake him up. It's time for The Ace to lead the way!"
Father Michael was also on the island, and in this half-built bunker, his hospital room was actually more comfortable than Jill Young's own quarters. When Jill strode in and swung open the door, Father Michael was just groggily opening his eyes. His old eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, still trying to figure out where he was.
"Quit spacing out," Jill said, blocking his shoulder and sitting him up. With a flourish, she spread out a map of Wisconsin, her face all warm and encouraging: "Come on, old-timer, take a look—does this ring any bells? Even if you can't recall right away, maybe you remember the bar you used to drink at, the supermarket you shopped at, heck, even the name of a girl you hooked up with—anything come to mind?"
Jill watched Father Michael closely, hoping her pep talk would spark some memories. But to her surprise, his expression turned weird, and he shot her a sideways look: "You think I'm just a senile old man who can't remember anything?"
"Uh..." Jill blinked, completely unfiltered: "Aren't you?"
"Of course not!!" Father Michael nearly exploded, waving his fists and roaring: "The bar I always went to was called 'Marvin's Iron Hoof,' the supermarket was 'Lance's Family Market,' and the girl I hooked up with—cough, almost got you there. Anyway, I'm not senile, I remember everything crystal clear!"
"You remember everything?" Jill Young was instantly annoyed: "If you remember so clearly, why didn't you tell me where Tiberius was sooner?"
Father Michael gave Jill a sly smile: "Heh, you think I can just give you a place name in Wisconsin, and you charge in and find Tiberius? You think the lab the Zade Family is so desperate to recover is really that easy to find? You think I wanted you to dig through all those files just to jog my old brain so I could point and say, 'Turn right here, go three kilometers, it's on the left'?"
Jill was stumped. She'd been so busy these past few days she hadn't even considered it. She'd assumed Tiberius was just some abandoned site by the Zade Family, so she hadn't thought much about it. But now, with the world's second-ranked supernatural fighting over the files, clearly this lab was no ordinary abandoned place.
"So why did you want me to get all those files?"
"Ah, child, you're just letting worry cloud your judgment. Calm down. The fact you narrowed it to Wisconsin so fast proves your team is full of talent. But even with all the experts in the world, if you're headed in the wrong direction, it's all for nothing. I should've told you sooner—would've saved us all this trouble." Father Michael's expression grew complicated, and he revealed a shocking secret: "The truth may sound unbelievable, but actually, the Heart of Tiberius... isn't on Earth."
—————————————————A thousand miles away, scene break———————————————————
"Not... on... Earth?" The Divine, world's second-ranked supernatural, looked much better—the serum had worked. But even he couldn't hide his shock: "Not on Earth? What, is it on the Moon?"
"I felt the same way when I first heard it, my friend, but it's true." Patrick Zade's expression was just as unsettled: "Tiberius Laboratory is clearly so important, but the Zade Family hasn't reopened it all this time, and I could never figure out why. Now, I finally have the answer—according to our decoded files, the so-called lab site in Wisconsin is just the entrance to the real Tiberius."
"Entrance? What do you mean?" The Divine was all ears—he couldn't miss out on the Abyssal Fruit, which could give him a massive power boost.
"It's like a harbor, or a mooring post for a rope—actually, more like a kid flying a kite. One end of the string is in the kid's hand, and we, the ants, can crawl up the string all the way to the kite in the sky." Patrick Zade couldn't hide his excitement.
He leapt to his feet, spread his arms wide, and shouted, "Do you get it now? The Heart of Tiberius is actually a different dimension! Wisconsin means nothing—America, Zambia, it doesn't matter. As long as you grab that string, you can enter the Heart of Tiberius from anywhere!"
"It's actually—everywhere!!"
—————————————————Scene break, back to Jill Young———————————————————
Jill Young spoke slowly, her eyes locked on Father Michael, seeking confirmation: "The Heart of Tiberius is... a different dimension?"
"That's right." Father Michael nodded firmly: "Back then, the lab spent years studying the Heart of Tiberius, and the results showed it was a fragment of a high-dimensional world. No one knows where it came from or why, but it's in a completely different dimension from Earth, so in a sense, it's everywhere. To enter the Heart of Tiberius, you first have to pinpoint its location in the void. That's why we need 'coordinates.'"
Father Michael held up three fingers, emphasizing solemnly: "Three coordinates—can't miss a single one. That's the whole point of these files."