Bai Liu retrieved a cutter from a drawer in the dormitory. After warming it in his hand for a few moments, he smoothly snapped the blade out and sliced through the tarpaulin, revealing what was wrapped inside.
It was a neatly stacked pile of laboratory reports.
The pages were filled with technical abbreviations, measurements, and graphs, along with the occasional black-and-white or color-stained section. In short, they were dense and nearly impossible for a layperson to understand without the proper background knowledge.
Bai Liu flipped through them briefly before looking up at Mu Sicheng.
"Where did you find this?"
Mu Sicheng took a breath. "In the basement. When I went to check the helicopter hangar, I found a sliding cellar door hidden beneath the docking bay. There's a two-story basement down there with all kinds of experimental equipment — and some pickled cabbage and radishes."
"Were there any experiment logs or finalized research papers?" Bai Liu asked.
These reports were too raw. Bai Liu needed at least some processed or summarized material to interpret what the data meant.
Mu Sicheng shook his head. "I didn't search thoroughly. This bag was sitting on a table. It looked important, so I grabbed it and brought it up to you first."
Bai Liu nodded. "Call Mu Ke over. You go with Liu Jiayi and inventory the food on the ground floor. Prepare our rations for tonight. Mu Ke and I will check the basement."
Mu Sicheng turned to leave.
Bai Liu cast Tang Erda a sideways glance and handed him the documents. "Can you read this?"
"I can understand some of it." Tang Erda skimmed through the pages quickly. His gaze suddenly stopped on a chart.
"This chart…" He frowned. "It shows data collected from multiple dual-frequency radar echo scans. It's used to measure ice thickness and map the subglacial topography. With this data, you can drill through the ice while avoiding rocks or other obstructions."
Bai Liu noticed the shift in Tang Erda's expression. "Is there something wrong with it?"
Tang Erda hesitated before pointing to a note beneath the chart.
"This is a common type of ice-sounding chart used in polar regions. But this one is from Dome A — also known as Ice Dome A."
"There are only domestic observatories stationed near Ice Dome A. It falls within their designated research zone. Although Antarctic research stations generally maintain peaceful relations, their research territories are clearly defined. Edmond Observatory has neither the authority nor the capability to conduct surveys at Ice Dome A. In other words, it shouldn't have any first-hand experimental data from there."
Tang Erda flipped through several more pages, his expression growing more troubled. "But there are multiple reports here — ice soundings, ice core analyses — all from Ice Dome A. That's not normal."
"One observatory possessing classified data from another," Bai Liu said lightly, glancing over the materials in Tang Erda's hands. "Under normal circumstances, there are only two possibilities."
Tang Erda looked at him.
"The more benign explanation," Bai Liu continued calmly, "is that the domestic observatory — the in-game Tarzan Station — voluntarily shared its primary data with Edmond Observatory."
Tang Erda immediately frowned. "That's impossible. It would be a serious scientific data breach."
Bai Liu smiled faintly. "It seems Captain Tang and I both prefer the less pleasant possibility — that Edmond Observatory obtained Ice Dome A's data by force."
"Or worse," Liu Jiayi's voice cut in from the doorway, "the people at Edmond Observatory killed everyone at Tarzan Station and took over the facility to conduct their own measurements at Ice Dome A."
She leaned against the doorframe with her arms folded, raising an eyebrow at Bai Liu.
"I found Edmond's cabin. I have a feeling he wasn't some mild-mannered scientist. Judging from what's left inside, he was quite aggressive."
"Show us," Bai Liu said.
He stepped forward and took Liu Jiayi's hand. Without hesitation, he removed his warmed gloves and replaced her thin ones, slipping his onto her hands instead.
The researchers at Edmond Station were all tall adults — not a single child among them — so the clothing provided was oversized. Bai Liu's coat nearly brushed his ankles; on Liu Jiayi, it was even more ill-fitting.
Though she had cleverly layered multiple garments to keep herself tidy and insulated, gaps remained — especially around her gloves.
Liu Jiayi was stubborn and disliked being taken care of. Even though her hands were nearly frozen, she hadn't said a word, nor had she shown any discomfort.
Bai Liu changed her gloves so naturally that it was as if he had always been meant to do so. The others barely reacted.
Liu Jiayi paused briefly before squeezing Bai Liu's hand.
"Edmond's cabin is on the fourth floor."
She disliked aggressive men. They always reminded her of unpleasant memories, instinctively making her tense and repulsed. Bai Liu, in truth, was also frighteningly sharp and dangerous — he simply concealed it well.
She flexed her fingers inside the warm, oversized gloves Bai Liu had given her, lifted them to her face, and exhaled a cloud of vapor. Her expression softened slightly.
Although Bai Liu could be irritating, for some reason, she found herself accepting him.
Liu Jiayi led Bai Liu around the corner to a cabin that was noticeably smaller than the others — barely a square meter in comparison. Through a crack in the poorly sealed window, icy wind whistled in, sweeping away what little warmth remained inside.
The window seal was rimmed with dripping condensation that had frozen into thin, ballpoint-pen-sized ice prisms, glinting dully in the dim light.
Liu Jiayi slipped her hands into her pockets.
"At first, I didn't realize this was Edmond's cabin — the boss's cabin," she said. "It's located at the windward end. In any storm, this would be the first place to take the brunt of the wind. It's far too dangerous for a base manager to live here. He could easily freeze to death in his sleep."
"But then I found this behind the door."
She kicked the frozen door inward.
It shut with a sharp crack of ice, then thudded heavily under the pressure of the wind. Mounted on iron hooks behind it was a neat row of modified rifles, each about seventy centimeters long, their muzzles crusted with ice prisms.
"I didn't find any signs of gunfire in the other rooms," Liu Jiayi continued. "Those were filled with books, computers, medicine, and supplies. Only this room had guns — and a large stockpile of ammunition."
She hooked her foot under a box at the bottom of the bed and dragged it out with a forceful tug. Exhaling sharply, she stomped on the neatly arranged 7.62mm rounds inside and let out a cold laugh.
"At first, I thought it belonged to some military personnel stationed at the observatory. But when I searched under the ammunition box, I found reimbursement invoices. The rifles and bullets were purchased under Edmond's personal name. This must have been his living quarters."
Tang Erda frowned. "The Antarctic Treaty prohibits observatory personnel from using firearms. The storage of weapons like these is strictly forbidden."
Liu Jiayi shrugged. "But he had them. Judging by the purchase dates and notes on the invoices, he'd already arrived in Antarctica and then asked the helicopter transport team to acquire them for him — claiming it was for self-defense."
"And he lived here alone," she added. "I found no signs that anyone else shared this room. I'm guessing no one else even knew he had a gun."
Bai Liu glanced at the row of rifles. He stepped back to the doorway, raised an imaginary rifle in his hands, and half-squinted as if aiming through a nonexistent scope toward the corridor outside.
"So this Edmond," Bai Liu said slowly, "bought rifles and ammunition in the name of self-defense. He chose to live alone in the freezing windward cabin at the very end. Every day, he stood here in the cold with a gun raised."
"And the only people he could possibly aim at," he continued, lowering his invisible weapon with mild interest, "were the other residents of this isolated station."
"It seems Dr. Edmond was afraid that someone at the observatory would attack him. Afraid enough to arm himself."
Mu Ke emerged from the stairwell between the third and fourth floors, with Mu Sicheng following behind.
When Mu Ke saw Bai Liu at the end of the corridor, he walked over with a slightly dark expression. He pulled out a thick stack of lists and handed them over.
"While Mu Sicheng and I were preparing food for tonight, we noticed something strange," Mu Ke explained. "There's a lot of fresh food rotting in storage. At the same time, the canned goods are untouched — their outer seals haven't even been removed."
"We thought it was suspicious, so we checked the consumption logs for food and medication."
He paused briefly.
"I cross-referenced the entries and discovered that although the items listed under 'Must Intake Consumption' are labeled as food, they aren't actually food. Each name is coded. For example, 'bread' refers to lithium carbonate."
Mu Ke met Bai Liu's gaze directly.
"The people at this observatory are being drugged. Three times a day. Someone is forcing them to take medication."
Bai Liu asked calmly, "Do you know what kind?"
"Lorazepam. Diazepam. Chlorpromazine. Olanzapine…" Mu Ke recited a long list without hesitation before concluding, "Primarily medications for severe depression, acute anxiety, and manic psychiatric disorders."
"The dosage levels recorded here are extremely high," Mu Ke continued quietly. "They're taking so many drugs daily that they barely consume real food anymore."
He drew in a steady breath.
"If this is true, then this observatory is essentially an asylum disguised as a research station. And the patients here aren't weak — they're physically strong, aggressive, and severely unstable when they relapse."
Bai Liu's gaze drifted back to the floor of Edmond's cabin, to the full box of cold bullets.
"I think I understand now," Bai Liu said softly. "Why Dr. Edmond bought the guns and ammunition."
"He was trying to keep these dangerous patients under control."