“Did you find any clues from the dagger?” Leo asked.
Chloe shook her head helplessly.
“What about the wooden box? Maybe there are clues on it?”
Chloe sighed and shook her head again.
Seeing Chloe’s pale face, Leo advised, “You can take your time studying these things. You should go home and rest first.”
“No need, I’m fine. I have a feeling that I’m close to…” Chloe’s vision suddenly went black.
Leo noticed something was wrong with her tone. When he looked up, he saw Chloe staggering and then collapsing.
Leo quickly caught her. Chloe’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted in his arms.
Leo immediately transferred a stream of Spiritual Power into Chloe’s body. He found her heartbeat steady, indicating that she had merely overexerted herself from lack of sleep. Relieved, he circulated the Spiritual Power through her body a few times.
Chloe slowly regained consciousness, her eyes opening in confusion as she stared at the ceiling. “What happened to me?”
“You fainted just now, Miss Chloe. You should go home and rest. As the saying goes, health is the foundation of all endeavors.”
Chloe then realized she was lying in Leo’s arms. She tried to get up but found her limbs too weak and warm to move.
She felt as if she were soaking in a hot spring, a reaction to Leo’s Spiritual Power invigorating her blood flow.
“Help me up,” Chloe said softly.
Leo helped her to her feet.
“Take me home,” Chloe thought for a moment and realized she couldn’t stay in the lab any longer in her current state. But she was too weak to move on her own, so she had to rely on Leo.
Leo supported her as they walked out.
“Where do you live?” Leo asked.
Chloe mentioned a place.
As they walked down the corridor, someone approached them from the opposite direction, calling out from afar, “Leo!”
When they got closer, Leo recognized Old Sam.
Old Sam saw Leo supporting Chloe, who looked frail and delicate, almost collapsing into Leo’s arms.
Old Sam gave Leo a knowing look and a thumbs-up gesture before walking away without saying anything.
Leo knew Old Sam had misunderstood but decided not to explain since Old Sam was already out of sight.
They went downstairs to the parking lot, where Leo helped Chloe into the car and drove to her place.
When they arrived, Chloe felt much better. The warm sensation had subsided, no longer making her limbs feel numb.
Chloe managed to get out of the car on her own and pointed to a building. “I live on the ninth floor.”
Leo looked around the area before following Chloe into the building, taking the elevator up to her apartment.
The apartment was cluttered with clothes scattered everywhere, instant noodle wrappers, and mismatched slippers lying around haphazardly.
Chloe blushed and explained, “I haven’t been home for a long time, so…”
Leo didn’t comment on it. Seeing that he wasn’t needed anymore, he said, “You should rest well at home. I don’t need the dagger sheath urgently; take as long as you need.”
As he was about to leave, Chloe grabbed his hand.
“Hmm?” Leo felt an intense warmth from her hand, like holding a piece of burning coal.
“Leo, I want to do joint research with you.”
“Joint research?” Leo was slightly taken aback.
“Yes, about the Songbane Dagger. I can’t handle it alone; I need your help. Your innovative ideas have given me many insights. Can you help me?”
Chloe’s last words were so soft that Leo almost didn’t hear them despite his sharp ears.
“Sure,” Leo nodded.
A hint of joy flashed across Chloe’s face. “Really?”
“Of course. I’m just worried I might slow you down since I’m not familiar with lab work.”
“You won’t, you’re so smart…”
Chloe couldn’t continue. If Old Sam were here, he would have exclaimed: When did Chloe ever praise anyone for being smart?
Since Chloe proposed joint research, Leo had been going to the museum every day for the next few days.
Despite his involvement, their experiments hit a bottleneck. Neither the wooden box nor the Songbane Dagger yielded any clues.
One afternoon in the museum cafeteria, Leo and Chloe sat across from each other.
Their trays held simple meals with two meat dishes and two vegetables each, but neither seemed to have much appetite.
Chloe scooped some rice with a spoon but paused before eating. “We’ve even done stress tests. I really don’t know what to do next.”
Leo frowned deeply, suddenly thinking of a possibility. “Show me the historical records about the wooden box. Maybe there’s something new to discover.”
“I’ve read them many times; there can’t be any new clues,” Chloe replied.
“Everyone sees things differently. I want to see if there’s any mention of the Songbane Dagger in those records.”
Chloe thought for a moment and nodded in agreement as she finally took a bite of her food.
“Are you two eating here too?” A voice interrupted them.
Leo saw Old Sam standing by their table with a mischievous smile on his face.
Chloe looked at Old Sam’s strange smile in confusion, wondering why he had been acting so oddly lately.
Leo knew what Old Sam was thinking but decided not to explain further in this situation.
“By the way, Old Sam, you’re just in time. Do you still have those historical records about the wooden box?” Chloe asked as she remembered something.
Old Sam paused for a moment. “Historical records? Yes, but who wants to see them?”
Chloe pointed at Leo.
“You?” Old Sam looked skeptical.
“What’s wrong?” Leo asked.
“Are you sure you want to see them?” Old Sam asked again.
Leo grew impatient. “Yes, Old Sam, is there a problem?”
“No problem at all. Come to my office; I’m too old to move those things.”
When Leo arrived at Old Sam’s office and saw the stacks of thick documents, he finally understood what Old Sam meant by “too old to move.”
“Are these all of them?” Leo asked in shock.
“Yes, and some related records are rare copies that can’t be lent out. But we have photocopies on the computer if you’re interested.”
“Can I search them?” Leo perked up at the mention of digital copies.
“In your dreams,” Old Sam replied in a youthful tone. “Who would input all that data? They’re all saved as images.”
“And don’t think any OCR software can recognize them; some are even in Western Xia script. Take your time.”