Chapter 185 Secret Box
The black metal ball that Paco handed him was a very precious item in the Galactic Alliance. Many planetary rulers might not even have one.
This is a secret box.
As the name suggests, it is a thing that collects secrets. The number is very rare. Its production method and raw materials are no longer verifiable. It is only known that it uses a metal that is completely unrecorded and has not been found on any planet that has been explored in the Milky Way. It is widely recognized that the secret box is actually a product of an alien galaxy. It appeared in the Milky Way for some reason, such as a spaceship that drifted freely in the universe due to loss of direction.
There is a common understanding in the alliance - nothing can hold a secret better than a secret box. Its security has been proven by ironclad facts over a long period of time. Unless the conditions of the creator are met, no means (people have tried all the methods they can) can open the box to peek at the secrets inside, even simply destroying it is impossible.
Another feature of the secret box is that its size can be freely expanded or contracted, from as small as an elementary particle to as large as a starship. As long as you want, you can use the secret box to collect it. Once the box is closed, an independent space will automatically be formed inside, and its size will shrink to the size of a marble, making it impossible to guess what is inside unless the destined owner of the box opens it.
In addition, the conditions for opening the secret box are also completely determined by its setter. It may be a password, fingerprint, palm print, tapping frequency and other similar information, it may be a special solution or metal, it may be a fixed location, temperature or light, and some people even use their granddaughter's tears as the key. If someone wants to leave something for future generations, then the secret box is the perfect choice. With genes as the key, even if thousands or tens of thousands of years have passed, the secret box can accurately distinguish the same genetic information as the setter from the thin blood, thereby completing the mission of transmission. Therefore, except for the setter and the person who understands the setting conditions, even the smartest and most powerful person has no way of knowing where to start to open a secret box, because the number of possibilities is infinite. Once the secret box has been opened once, the last key will lose its effect, and the new owner needs to reset the opening conditions for it.
However, the secret box is rare and its function is too mysterious to be recognized. Therefore, most people may never have the opportunity to see this thing in their lifetime, and only regard it as a product of one of the countless fantasy stories circulating in the universe.
The reason why Amirida knew him was simple - she worked for Kayul Company, and among the company's highly confidential research objects, there were two secret boxes. And this one, Amirida said with certainty, was one of them. She recognized it based on the pattern on the surface of the secret box. It is said that no two secret boxes have exactly the same pattern on their surface.
The gold foil in the box is actually a micro information storage card. Its capacity and confidentiality level are quite high, which is quite different from the memory cards that people have seen. However, the tone of Amirida when she mentioned it clearly showed that she was accustomed to this kind of thing and did not take it seriously.
In the question and answer session, Emilida, who was extremely smart but also extremely naive, was unknowingly led by Rong Yuan to reveal her true colors.
Amirida is a Landian, but she has almost no memory of the powerful Landian Empire on the other side of the Milky Way. In her childhood, she always stayed in a spaceship with some unfriendly adults, drifting alone in the universe. Sometimes they would rob the spaceships or planets they encountered, and most of the time they were wandering like exiles... maybe they were fleeing. As the only child on the spaceship, Amirida did not receive proper care and gentle concern. In fact, she was at the bottom of the food chain on the spaceship. Not only did she bear all kinds of heavy chores that were far beyond her age, but she also often had to face the beatings and scoldings of the elders. During another long period of hunger, she was almost eaten as spare food.
Later, their spaceship accidentally provoked a seemingly ordinary but actually very terrifying caravan, and the spaceship was reduced to ashes in the artillery fire. Fortunately, Amirida hid in the lifeboat and was thrown into the universe. It took a long time to be rescued. But it was an ordinary spaceship that had no knowledge of Landia. Amirida's appearance made them disgusted and frightened, so they left Amirida in a hurry after abandoning her on the nearest habitable planet.
Young Amirida wandered for several years. As you can imagine, because of her strange appearance and intelligence that she didn't know how to hide, she was rejected and driven away wherever she went. Some ignorant people even treated her like a wild beast that ran out of the forest. It wasn't until someone posted Amirida's photo on the Star Network and she was accidentally discovered by a doctor from the Kayul Company that her wandering life ended. But the doctor was not entirely kind. He found and took in Amirida in order to rely on her wisdom, but he was also afraid of her wisdom. Therefore, Amirida was treated even worse than when she was on the spacecraft. The doctor did not allow anyone except himself to communicate with her. He would severely punish her if he was not satisfied. He also planted a micro bomb in her vitals, telling the girl that if Amirida tried to leave or resist him, she would die.
That is why such a smart person like Amirida developed a character that is difficult for Rong Yuan to understand under long-term oppression, threats, violence and cold violence .
The fact that Amirida could now leave Kayul Company and appear in front of him was entirely the result of Paco's efforts.
Amirida didn't know the details. She only knew that Paco was originally just a very ordinary and inconspicuous mechanical manufacturer of the doctor. The Biqiu people have more hands or feet than other races, so they are very good at this. And Paco is a trustworthy and kind person in the eyes of all his colleagues because of his simple and sincere character and conscientious work. Even in the interstellar era, it is common for colleagues to bring each other a drink or breakfast. Paco is usually the one who is sent, and he is always cheerful and completes everyone's requirements without any mistakes. As a result, people from other departments also like to ask Paco to bring something when they need it.
Because of this interpersonal relationship, which could not be said to be good or bad, Paco inadvertently gained the authority to freely enter and exit many departments that he was not allowed to enter. Even the doctor who happened to see this situation in the past did not take it seriously.
——Who would doubt Paco? After all, he is so honest, kind, and simple-minded. The clever skills and a bit clumsy character are concentrated in this octopus, making it so harmless and even a little cute. Even those who don't like him can't say they hate him against their will.
But suddenly, it was heard that he seemed to have mastered something that was a terrible threat to Kayul Company and the doctor personally, and Kayul would get that thing back at all costs. Everyone questioned this news because they found it hard to believe that Paco, who they had been with day and night, was a traitor or threat to Kayul Company, but then reality gave them a hard slap in the face - before the pursuit personnel sent by the company arrived, Paco had already escaped. Not only did it disappear without a trace, it also took advantage of people's trust in it to steal the doctor's precious secret box! Faced with this result, how much people loved Paco before, now hate and despise him, and at the same time feel deeply Paco's terribleness - he actually hid his true self in front of them for so long, what a cunning monk!
Of course, these are all internal affairs of Kayul. As a united pharmaceutical company with a great reputation in the universe, Kayul's internal information will never be leaked in any form. Therefore, when Piqiuxing posted advertisements everywhere to find Paco, those who knew the inside story did not leak a word to the outside world. Perhaps in their hearts, they also hoped that this liar would reveal his tracks and get the punishment he deserved.
As expected, after a long pursuit and search, Paco, who had been on the run for a long time, was finally arrested. However, because the information and secret box he stole were highly confidential, all the interrogations were led and participated in by the doctor himself. Inevitably, Amirida, who was like the doctor's shadow, had to participate in the interrogation and communicate with Paco.
Amirida, who had been isolated for a long time, cherished every opportunity to communicate with others. She almost greedily longed for the time to talk with Paco, even if he was just a traitor and prisoner. This casual chat time was the happiest time of her day. Then in a short time, they gained each other's trust and friendship. Amirida firmly believed that Paco's treatment was wrong and unfair. She believed that her first friend was not as bad as others said, but she could not and dared not protest to the doctor.
Amirida began to think seriously about how to help Paco escape.
In contrast, Paco sincerely sympathized with the girl's experience. Although he was locked in a cage, his heart was free. He knew what he was doing and was proud of it. And what about Amirida? Both her body and soul were firmly imprisoned. A wisp of thin air from the outside world made her breathe greedily like a drowning person.
The average life span of the Landians is over 300 years old. Amirida, who is only 17 years old now, is just a child among her real tribesmen, equivalent to a child of only 5 or 6 years old in the eyes of Earthlings. She should be taken care of meticulously and sometimes... can be spoiled by her parents without principles. But in fact, Amirida has endured too much suffering and was forced to grow up quickly and even abnormally. Her big eyes are always filled with deep panic and helpless appeals, begging not to be abandoned or hurt, and she can only endure everything docilely and submissively.
Unable to save themselves, the prisoners tried every possible means to find a way to help the girl escape from this hell.
He used the limited communication time to describe the outside world to the girl, inspiring her yearning for freedom and the future; he carefully told the girl about his only friend Rong Yuan and all the details of every time they got along, telling her that the Landias always helped each other, and that Rong Yuan was her fellow tribesman and someone who could provide her with protection and help; he asked the girl to help him bring an important thing to Rong Yuan, and then told the doctor's most important assistant the hiding place of the secret box, about which the doctor could not get a single word despite all his interrogation.
Emerida lived up to Paco's trust. She did not reveal a single word to the doctor about the important contents of their conversation. Under Paco's instigation, she mustered up all her courage and caused a little damage to the laboratory equipment, making it look like an accident. Taking this opportunity, Paco used his superb skills to remove the bomb hidden in Emerida's body in less than 30 seconds, and then planted it in his own body before the explosion. The bomb continued to lie dormant quietly after re-detecting the vital signs. The doctor, who was furious about the laboratory accident, did not notice the alarm flashes, which only flashed once or twice in the middle. Even if he found it later, he would probably regard it as a malfunction of the instrument signal.
After breaking free from the barriers, Amirida followed Paco's instructions, full of fear and expectation, and used her wisdom and limited information to find Rong Yuan. Despite her fear and the discovery that Rong Yuan was completely different from who she had imagined, she still told him everything she knew and even entrusted her life and future to Rong Yuan.
Rong Yuan didn't say anything about what she said, but he did trust Amirida more after learning about it. He knew that what Paco told Amirida actually contained some lies, but he had no intention of exposing them. He would wait until he knew what message Paco had passed on to him through the secret box before he could say anything about it.
Amirida once again showed her intelligence - after she said that there was no need for a specific instrument, and that the convenient street query device could be transformed into an instrument that could read this kind of micro-storage, Rong Yuan dismantled one in the girl's horrified eyes - to be more precise, he stole a query device, and Noah II successfully delayed the alarm so that they could escape smoothly. Then in less than half an hour, the girl completed the transformation, and when Rong Yuan said that he needed her to leave before checking, she obeyed without any doubt.
The gold foil contained much more than its size, and the first thing Rong Yuan noticed was a letter that Paco had left for him. When he opened it, the first sentence made his heart tighten -
"My dear friend from the Blue Water Planet, I'm sorry I deceived you..."
So, you can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't measure the depth of the ocean. This is exactly what Paco is talking about.
There is still a lot to learn in the new map.
