Bin Sheng's heartbeat quickened, yet there was no room left for hesitation, because once the mark had appeared on his door, the matter was already beyond the point where fear or indecision could change anything.
He carefully memorized the strange sequence of numbers written beneath the symbol, making sure not to miss a single detail, before lifting his sleeve and methodically wiping the mark away until no trace remained.
Only after returning to his room did he finally let out a slow breath, pulling out his worn copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Sitting at the table, he began the tedious process of cross referencing the numbers against the text, searching line by line and character by character, his brows tightly knit as time slipped by almost unnoticed.
Eventually, the hidden message revealed itself.
He was to meet tonight, at the third watch, in the small grove behind the Chang'an Automobile Factory.
Bin Sheng clenched his fists, the tension traveling all the way up his arms, because the meaning of "third watch" was clear to anyone familiar with the old system of timekeeping.
In modern terms, it was midnight.
In this age, who went to bed before midnight anyway?
At the same moment, Li Daoxuan was indeed still awake, sitting casually in front of his computer while scrolling through the backend performance data of his latest short drama series. The newly released Battle of Liaoluo Bay had failed to meet expectations, with revenue barely reaching six or seven million, a result that made him sigh even before he finished reading the report.
The reason was obvious enough that he did not need to think too hard about it. Naval warfare sounded impressive on paper, but when translated into short dramas, it lacked the visceral appeal audiences craved. Ship to ship combat left little room for close quarters fighting, and aside from a few scattered action scenes, most of the runtime was dominated by long range artillery exchanges.
Such scenes relied heavily on special effects, and modern viewers had long since grown numb to that sort of spectacle.
Li Daoxuan opened QQ and sent a message to Queen Qianyan M.
"Didn't earn much this time. That's on me. The script wasn't strong enough."
Her reply came quickly.
"This amount is already very good for me. Thanks for bringing me along, brother. Call me again next time."
Li Daoxuan smiled faintly and typed back that he would.
Just as he closed the chat window, his phone emitted a sharp notification sound.
His eyebrows rose at once.
The alert came from the diorama box's surveillance system, which he had configured to notify him only when abnormal movement was detected. Earlier that evening, he had deliberately shifted the field of view to the Chang'an Automobile Factory, meaning that whatever triggered the alert had happened there.
Something was moving.
Li Daoxuan focused his attention on the diorama, and the image quickly sharpened before him, revealing a black clad figure climbing over the factory wall under cover of darkness.
At first glance, his instinctive conclusion was simple enough: a thief.
After all, similar incidents had occurred in Puzhou before, and Li Daoxuan himself had once caught such a scene and personally handed the culprit over for labor reform.
He was just about to intervene when a detail made him pause.
This man was not climbing into the factory.
He was climbing out.
That alone was enough to make the situation far more interesting.
Suppressing his impulse to act, Li Daoxuan chose instead to observe quietly, leaning back as he activated the Focus function. His viewpoint slipped past the crude mask covering the man's face, and the moment his features became clear, recognition flashed through Li Daoxuan's mind.
It was Bin Sheng.
Only a few days earlier, this man had appeared on Gaojia News as a model worker from the Chang'an Automobile Factory, a representative of the new era whom Li Daoxuan himself had taken note of.
Seeing such a person sneaking out over a wall in the dead of night felt deeply unsettling.
On screen, Bin Sheng landed lightly on the ground, glanced around with practiced caution, and then slipped into the small grove behind the factory, moving deeper among the trees. There, another black clad figure was already waiting for him, as if he had arrived long ago.
"I'm here," Bin Sheng said.
To Li Daoxuan's surprise, the words were spoken in Manchu, a language he could not understand at all, causing his brow to furrow in mild irritation. Fortunately, this was not a serious obstacle, as the diorama box had long since unlocked its Mystical Translation function.
With a single press, the spoken words flowed into his mind as clear modern Mandarin.
"You came?" the other figure sneered. "I thought you might not dare."
Bin Sheng answered calmly, his tone respectful. "How could I not come, sir?"
"The Emperor has been waiting for your schematics," the man said coldly. "Months have passed without results. Are you planning to betray His Majesty?"
Bin Sheng explained patiently that the schematics for the great iron vehicles were extraordinarily complex, with even a single component capable of filling an entire page, and that when all parts were combined, the stack of drawings became massive, far beyond what could be acquired casually or quickly.
"How much have you obtained?" the man demanded.
Bin Sheng produced the bearing blueprint his subordinate had risked everything to copy, along with several folded diagrams of steam engine components taken from his inner garments.
The man frowned deeply as he looked them over. "These things look nothing like great iron vehicles."
"They are only components," Bin Sheng replied. "Only when assembled together do they form a complete vehicle. This is merely a tiny fraction of the whole, and recreating it requires countless complex processes."
The man snorted dismissively, insisting that a box on four wheels could not possibly be so complicated, yet despite his disbelief, he lacked the knowledge to truly argue the point.
In the end, he could only issue a curt order for Bin Sheng to obtain the remaining schematics as quickly as possible.
At those words, something hardened inside Bin Sheng.
On the Ming side, his work was praised and rewarded, his contributions recognized by thousands, his future filled with honor and warmth. Yet here, he was met with suspicion, impatience, and scorn.
Lowering his voice, he said slowly, "There is one more thing I wish to give you."
The man leaned closer, curiosity overcoming caution.
Bin Sheng reached into his clothes, fumbling deliberately, before finally withdrawing his clenched fist. When he opened his palm, it was empty, and the man barely had time to react before a dagger slid from Bin Sheng's sleeve and plunged straight into his chest.
From the man's throat came a strangled gasp as he staggered backward.
"From today onward," Bin Sheng said quietly, "I want to be a good man."
The body soon lay motionless beneath the trees.
After ensuring no one was nearby, Bin Sheng dragged it deeper into the grove, dug a hurried pit, and buried both the corpse and the schematics he had brought with him. He no longer wanted them, because they had lost all meaning.
When the last handful of soil was packed down, the oppressive weight that had been pressing on his chest finally lifted, leaving him breathing freely for the first time in what felt like years.
It should have been this way all along.
Straightening his posture, Bin Sheng walked back toward the Chang'an Automobile Factory, while above it all, Li Daoxuan watched in silence, a faint and knowing smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.