Chapter 102: Bloodstain Fragment: Father and Son's Fate Intertwined

Zhao Jianguo's hand hadn't even been pulled from his trouser pocket when the screen of the oscilloscope in the corner flashed again. This time it wasn't a waveform jump, but a broken horizontal line, as if something had brushed across it.

"That light just now... is it coming again?" Dong Xu said, his voice low, eyes fixed tightly on the instrument.

Zhao Jianguo didn't answer, just flipped the metal sheet over. The gap was still trembling slightly, like the edge of paper blown by wind. He glanced out the window; the window frame of the deaf old lady's room indeed shook, but the wind had already stopped.

"Don't worry about outside." He put the sheet away, "Is there anything else your dad left behind hidden in this house?"

Dong Xu was taken aback, "How do you know he'd hide it here?"

"Your dad used to be a workshop technician; this laboratory was a place he often came to. If he'd discovered something on the day of the accident, the most likely place to hide it would be somewhere familiar to him."

Dong Xu gritted his teeth, turned and walked to the rust-streaked tool cabinet in the corner. He squatted, ran his fingers along the cabinet door gap, then gave a hard pull—"Click!"—the bottom panel loosened.

He lifted the wooden board; inside was a wad of oil paper. Opening it, he saw a half-piece of metal sheet lying still, its edge bearing a dark brown mark.

"This is..." his hand trembled, "It's a fragment of the chain that was on my father's wrist. When he fell that day, his hand scraped the iron frame, and blood soaked his cuff."

Zhao Jianguo took it and had a look; the mark wasn't like ordinary bloodstain—when dry it had a faint bluish‑gray tint and felt slightly gritty. He pulled out the small knife he carried, scraped off a bit, and placed it in the system scan area.

【Scanning……】

A progress bar popped up on the screen, the light flickering. Just as the reading jumped to eighty percent, the half‑piece fragment suddenly buzzed, leapt an inch off the table, then slapped back down.

Dong Xu jerked back in fright, "How can it still move?!"

"Don't panic." Zhao Jianguo pressed his hand on the table, "It means it recognizes something."

Before his words faded, the system prompt popped up:

【Scan complete: bloodstain contains unknown rare‑earth element X‑07, 100% match—source: the reverse‑radiation zone of the fragment inside the host's storage ring】

Zhao Jianguo narrowed his eyes, "Indeed, it's the same source."

He took out his own piece from his pocket; as the two drew near, an invisible force pulled them together. He simply let them touch— they fit perfectly, as if they had never been separated.

"So it was originally one whole piece." He said softly, "Someone forcibly pried it apart."

Dong Xu stared at the joint, then lunged to grab it, "Give it back! This is my father's thing!"

Zhao Jianguo sidestepped, "Taking it now won't help—it moves on its own, can you stop it? Besides, why would your dad hide something like this? Doesn't he know the danger?"

"How would I know!" Dong Xu's eyes reddened, "I just know that when he came back that day his face was off, he hadn't eaten, he shut himself in this room until midnight. The next day he went to the workshop and the accident happened! You tech‑savvy folks, did you already know what would happen?"

"If I'd known earlier, could I have prevented his accident?" Zhao Jianguo sighed, "I'm just as clueless as you. But I'm certain of one thing—this thing isn't something our era should have. It can sense signals, generate heat, and make instruments malfunction. Your father hid it, perhaps to keep others from finding it."

Dong Xu panted, his fists clenched tight enough to crack, but in the end he didn't lunge again.

At that moment, footsteps came from outside the door.

Both turned at once; Chen Jianguo stood in the doorway, his watch cover flipped open, the hands spinning wildly.

"What are you doing?" he said, voice tense, "The energy readings here are about to go off the charts!"

"Why are you back again?" Zhao Jianguo frowned.

"I'd only gone a short distance when the system automatically pulled me back." Chen Jianguo entered, shut the door behind him, "This metal sheet activated some node; my shield can't hold. If we don't deal with it, 'cleanup personnel' will show up tomorrow."

"What cleanup personnel?" Dong Xu asked, bewildered.

"Don't ask." Chen Jianguo went straight to the point, "Hand over those two fragments, I'll seal them."

"No." Zhao Jianguo stepped forward, "We've just connected the clues—the drawings, bloodstains, metal sheet—all point to the same mystery. Are you really going to make me stop now?"

"This isn't a riddle, it's a lifeline!" Chen Jianguo lowered his voice, "Each fragment is a key to spacetime coordinates. Whoever holds it gets marked. You already have one; gather them all and it's like writing 'Come get me' on your forehead."

"And what about you?" Zhao Jianguo sneered, "You're running around with that watch too—you're just as targeted."

"That's why I'm urging you to quit!" Chen Jianguo exclaimed, "I'm barely holding on; drag another person in and none of us will survive!"

The three stood frozen in the room, the air seeming to congeal.

Dong Xu suddenly stepped forward, slapped the fragment onto the table, "Let's just smash it right here! I don't believe this scrap of iron can be that evil."

He reached out to pry it apart; Zhao Jianguo tried to stop him but couldn't.

The instant his finger touched the metal, the piece shuddered violently, sprang from the table, traced an arc in the air, and with a "thud" slammed into the opposite concrete wall, embedding three centimeters deep, cracks spider‑webbing outward.

Immediately, a faint blue light crept along the crack, circling once, then vanished after three seconds.

The room fell so quiet you could hear breathing.

Zhao Jianguo was the first to react, rushing to the wall to inspect. The fragment was lodged tight, its edge still wafting a hint of heat. He reached to dig it out, but the moment he touched it he got burned.

"Don't touch it!" Chen Jianguo grabbed him, "It's already anchored in place—it's alive now."

"What do you mean 'alive'?" Dong Xu's voice trembled.

"It means……" Chen Jianguo stared at the wall, "It has chosen its landing point and won't move again. Unless someone forcibly pulls it out, it will stay here recording energy fluctuations."

Zhao Jianguo lowered his gaze to the system interface; a line of small text was flashing:

【Spacetime anchor passively activated, coordinates locking……】

His heart sank.

"You're saying it's recording something?" he asked.

"Not just recording." Chen Jianguo shook his head, "It's transmitting a signal. Every time there's an energy fluctuation, it sends out a pulse—like a lighthouse; each flash reveals your location."

"So what do we do now?"

"Either destroy it or guard it." Chen Jianguo looked at Zhao Jianguo, "Pick one."

Zhao Jianguo said nothing, turned and walked to the power box, pulled the main switch down with a snap. The room plunged into darkness, only a trickle of streetlight seeping through the window.

"First cut the power." he said, "Nobody touch anything in this house. Tonight no one is allowed to wander far."

"You're going to guard this place?" Dong Xu asked.

"What else would I do?" Zhao Jianguo leaned against the wall, planted his feet, "Since it chose this spot, it won't let go easily. I want to see what else might happen."

Chen Jianguo glanced at his watch; the scratches on the dial were slowly turning red, like heated wire.

"I can't stay long." he said, "If I linger another five minutes, the system will forcibly relocate me."

"Before you leave, tell me one thing." Zhao Jianguo fixed him with a stare, "Besides us three, has anyone else come into contact with this kind of metal?"

Chen Jianguo was silent for a few seconds, then spat out two words: "Yes."

Who is it?

"I don't know his name." His voice dropped, "But I've seen the traces he left. Over in the northwest, there's an abandoned research facility; the walls are covered in these scratches. And... every spot has blood."

Jia Dongxu shuddered all over, "Again, blood?"

"Only signals triggered by living people are effective." Chen Jianguo gave a wry smile, "Dead things won't work, machines won't either. It must be a person with memory and emotion, personally leaving a mark, to activate the node."

Zhao Jianguo suddenly thought of something, "That day, Lou Xiaoe brought over the sweet potatoes that Old Man Wang asked her to pass along……Could there also be an iron box at the bottom of that basket?"

"Did you see it?" Chen Jianguo's eyes tightened.

"I didn't open it." Zhao Jianguo shook his head, "But I remember there was a scratch on the edge of the box, very similar to the one on this wall."

Chen Jianguo took a deep breath, "That's the receiving end. Someone is transmitting something this way."

"Who is it being sent to?"

"I don't know." He raised his wrist to check the time, "I have to go."

As soon as his words fell, his whole body seemed to be pulled by something, he swayed, and the next second he had retreated to the doorway.

"Wait!" Zhao Jianguo chased after him, "Where exactly are you from? What will happen in the coming years?"

Chen Jianguo turned his head to glance at him, his lips moved but no sound came out. He simply raised his hand and made a gesture in the air—three fingers together, slicing downward.

Then he pushed the door open and walked out.

A gust of wind blew in, and the door slammed shut with a bang.

Zhao Jianguo stood where he was, his mind still replaying that gesture.

Jia Dongxu sat on the hallway bench holding a wooden box, saying nothing. The room was dark, the cracks in the wall faintly exuding a thin layer of moisture, as if water had just seeped through.

Zhao Jianguo turned his flashlight back on and shone it on the fragment embedded in the wall.

The bloodstain at the edge, under the light, revealed a strange pattern—fine and dense, like characters etched with a needle point.

He moved closer.

Those lines actually formed two crooked characters:

**Save me**

His flashlight beam stopped there; as his fingertip just touched the wall, he heard the distant factory gate creak open.

Someone pushed open the Iron Gate.