Chapter 151: Eye of Heaven and Earth (Part 2/2)
Translator: Strivon
The elevator that Luo Nan rode made a stop at the 133rd floor. The other people got off there, leaving just him and Tian Si in the elevator. The floor number rapidly jumped up on the elevator display, and it seemed that the journey was to be a quiet one until Luo Nan suddenly opened his mouth.
"What kind of person is Professor Pan?"
Half of Tian Si's attention was still captured by the berserk devil ray, and the other half revolved around Ju Maoxun. A few seconds passed when she heard Luo Nan in her stupefaction, and only when the elevator stopped and the metal doors opened did she wake up to reality.
Right as she was about to speak, Luo Nan already took the lead and walked out of the elevator. She could only hurriedly follow him. She was completely taken in by his rhythm, like a secretary accepting her boss's whims.
Tian Si suppressed the odd feeling in her heart and said, "Professor Pan is the world's top expert in design theory. At least half of the reputation of our design school comes from her hands."
Tian Si was quite clear on what Luo Nan truly cared about. She gave a slight pause, then continued speaking, "When Senior Sister Qingwen was in the design school, she was personally taught by Professor Pan. I have asked a few teachers for guidance, and they all say that Professor Pan treated Senior Sister Qingwen like a daughter. She loved her that much. Outside of academics, she is a very kind old lady. She'll certainly be very happy if you pay her a visit."
Luo Nan seriously said, "I will certainly pay her a visit."
"That's good. I can help introduce you."
Luo Nan didn't care how much thought was put into her words. He just carefully memorized Professor Pan's contact details.
The two people made their way through the corridor and arrived at the viewing platform exposed to the sky. The elevation here reached seven hundred meters. The buildings of the Pingjiang District were generally shorter. Aside from Cloud City's main building behind it, open space sprawled wherever the eye could see. Tian Si said that one could see the wetland jungle of the school from here. It appeared to be true.
Dusk arrived. The weather turned cold. The winds of high altitudes came roaring in. The protective glass at the edge of the viewing platform began to buzz. The sound of water rushed underneath the sound of the wind.
"The top of the central crystal pillar is on the 142nd floor."
Tian Si pointed at the frame structure rising above the center of the viewing platform. The frame both supported and separated the water. The vast volume of water was nearly fifty meters in diameter, and it cut through the viewing platform. It jutted approximately two meters out, and it was surrounded by protective glass.
"This is the rather famous Heavenly Ocean Lake. It appears to be a portion of the crystal pillar, but they're actually separate structures. Reinforced glass separates them at the bottom of this lake. So, it's just a swimming pool. The constructors made it themselves as a joke."
The two needed to pass by the edge of the Heavenly Ocean Lake frame structure. Luo Nan just cast a glance at this 'joke' and lost all interest.
The current time was just before most salary workers got off work. The sky gradually darkened, and there weren't many people on the viewing platform. It looked a bit deserted.
Luo Nan discerned the direction to travel and walked to the edge of the viewing platform. He cast his gaze toward the school. Indeed, he could see the wetland jungle of the school and Gear clearly. He could also see the long river that weaved in and out of the forest. He could see the reflection of the setting sun coming in and coming out.
Luo Nan was able to make an approximate guess on the location of Gear from the outline of the jungle and the river. But with the gradual darkening of the sky and the distance of a dozen kilometers, the independent building was truly like a tiny part lost in the shadows of the boundless jungle. It was hard to find.
Luo Nan wanted to put more effort into looking for Gear. He believed that Tian Si wouldn't lie about such matters. He wanted to use his mental senses, but his mental clairvoyance, which had been always successful, seemed to not have the range of his vision under these circumstances.
"It's getting dark. Our vision is limited. But there are viewing scopes here. You should be able to use it to see Gear." Tian Si pointed at a row of high viewing binoculars at the edge. These were meant to be used by tourists. Right now, there were just three people using them.
Luo Nan walked ahead without saying a word. He moved closer to look through the binoculars and then stood straight.
Tian Si cautiously observed him. "No good?"
Luo Nan shook his head. The binoculars limited his field of vision, and all he saw was a repressed world. This was not the feeling he needed.
He stood lost there for seven seconds on the viewing platform, before he suddenly spoke without warning, "What is Coupling Design all about?"
He had an approximate understanding what 'Coupling' meant. It referred to the phenomenon of interaction and joint movement between various systems. But what did it concretely refer to in the context of his mother's architectural theory?
Tian Si had to answer this question. She grew all the more cautious and careful, considering her wording over and over before speaking, "It is a more unified theory within the design school, lying in the field of aesthetics and philosophy. It is a new interpretation of the classical eastern philosophical concept of 'oneness of heaven and humanity'. Practically speaking, it runs in the same vein as green construction like solar energy, hydraulic power, wind energy, and other natural resources."
Luo Nan furrowed his brows into a frown. Tian Si immediately emphasized, "But in my opinion, Senior Sister Qingwen's core idea should inspire hope that an effective influence can be achieved upon grand natural systems through man-made orderly structures of buildings. And the level this sort of influence method involves is incomparable with the traditional meaning of green construction…. In regard to this, Professor Pan possesses what is called an 'eye of heaven and earth' in assessing. It is a mystery of mysteries."
Tian Si had spoken very vaguely. She had yet to research Coupling Design thoroughly. She just cherry picked good-sounding evaluations that other people made to appease Luo Nan, and nothing more.
Luo Nan was well aware of her intentions. He pursed his lips but didn't respond. He had somewhat of an idea, but he wasn't certain. He also didn't want to tell Tian Si.
This seemingly clear yet not clear realization stimulated Luo Nan's heart. It made him itch to tear down that fuzzy wall around it. No matter the answer, it would possess incomparable value for Luo Nan!
Luo Nan took a step forward, and the tip of his nose pressed into the inner wall of protective glass. He strove to look into the distance. Unfortunately, this tiny step was meaningless relative to the distance of a dozen kilometers that separated him from his target. All his eyes could see was still a mere general outline. Not a trace of Gear could be seen.
His eyes were dilated to their limits, and the precision of the resolution of his eyes were still lacking. As for the mental plane, he could only barely probe ahead in the void. The distance he could reach was far from what he needed.
So it came to this. What his vision could see. What his mind could sense. Two different realms. Two different planes. He was unable to precisely locate the target. This put him in quite the tangle, making his mood a mess.
Luo Nan hit the glass with his forehead; he wanted to calm his mood. Then some communications came through on his wristband, causing his wristband to vibrate. He wanted to cut it off, but he shot a glance at his wristband before doing so, and the name that entered his eyes shocked him.
Zhang Yingying.
Luo Nan had nearly forgotten that he had the number of one member of the Society. Part of the reason was because he had no contact with this person for a long time. He heard that Zhang Yingying went behind closed door training in hopes of advancing her White Rainbow by a level.
At that moment, Luo Nan was really not in the mood to deal with Zhang Yingying. But Zhang Yingying had specifically changed channels to contact him during the maintenance period of the Psychic Wave Network. He was afraid it was something urgent.
In the end, he put the call through. Right when he was about to say hello, Zhang Yingying smacked him in the face with some words.
"Where are you? Are you at school?"
Luo Nan was stunned for a bit before replying, "What's going on? I'm not at school. I'm at Cloud City Water Village."
"You're not? Excellent…. Hold on. Cloud City Water Village. That's not too far!" Zhang Yingying’s tone rose in pitch. She urgently asked, "What about Xue Lei? Is he with you?"
Though they were a bit far away from each other, Xue Lei could be considered with Luo Nan.
Luo Nan grunted in affirmation.
Zhang Yingying clearly let out a breath of relief. "What communications mode have you set up in your HexaEar? The Secretary asked me for your communication number, but was unable to put a call through to you. In the end, she even wanted me to pass on her words…. Do you ever make things easy for people!?"
Luo Nan sweated a bit. He had set up the HexaEar's settings in accordance to He Yueyin's proposal to have him concentrate on his cultivation. He set up the HexaEar in the limited communications mode. This made it so that only pre-recorded contacts could call him. He never thought that this would eventually complicate an issue.
Zhang Yingying grumbled a few words, then she deliberately made her tone serious. "Listen carefully to what I'm about to say. I'm passing the Secretary's words to you."
"What's going on?"
"Trouble's here! It's the investigation team from Headquarters. I don't know what information they heard, but someone probably misled them. Right now they fully believe with all their heart that you are a key player in the matter in Frost River Reality, that you know a few secrets. They want to get some information from you. Interrogate you."
"Interrogation? They want to investigate me?" Luo Nan's mood was already quite fretful. He heard all this and couldn't help but laugh. Where the heck did this come from?
"Headquarters always does things very bureaucratically. There's nothing to be surprised about." Zhang Yingying words turned disdainful. Then she snorted. "Of course, these unreasonable requests have all been rejected by President Ouyang. But these people aren't finished with their evil intentions. They are using the high-level privileges they possess to manufacture a malfunction and force the Psychic Wave Network into maintenance…."
"And President Ouyang is just letting them cause trouble?"
"Shut the hell up and listen to me! Time. We don't have the time, do you understand!? You're a noob! You don't even have basic training done! If those elite interrogators get a hold of you, you might cough up everything because you don't understand what's going on!"
Luo Nan asked, baffled, "Hold on a minute. You're saying that they've already come looking for me? They're at the school?"
"You don't say! Why else did we call you on the phone with burning urgency? Right this moment Headquarters has already spread people out, though there are probably reinforcements from our Xia City side. For those people, as long as they don't take your worthless life, it doesn't matter what excessive measures they take. No matter what repercussions could emerge afterwards, President Ouyang and our boss can't go so far as to kill them. They'll get off scot-free."
Zhang Yingying spoke faster and faster, "On the contrary, as long as you're under the protection of our branch, they won't dare to go at things without reservation. They'll avoid letting things go out of hand. Our branch is truly a complete mess from the loss of connectivity with the Psychic Wave Network. We also don't know who can come support you first. Luckily, Xue Lei is there. That fellow's ability is worth placing trust in.
"So you should go find some place crowded, stay there with Xue Lei, and not move. No matter who finds you, you absolutely must not go with them if the Secretary hasn't personally verified that it's okay. If they want to play hardball, let Xue Lei make his killing moves. All you guys need to do is hold out for at most half an hour and things should be fine. Where's Xue Lei? Let me talk to him. I'll make some arrangements."
"...He's somewhere on the phone."
“LUO NAN!”
Zhang Yingying heard Luo Nan's insincerity at last. She suddenly exploded with rage. "Is now the time to be playing around? Even if you're a kid who doesn't understand people, you've joined the Society. Please think like an adult in considering problems, okay? We're not babysitting you to play house with you. You absolutely don't understand the methods of those bureaucrats from Headquarters! You need to get to Xue Lei's side right now! RIGHT NOW!"