"Humboldt's Key"!
For Julian, the lifelong academician of the French Academy and top-tier historian standing outside the interrogation room, these five words were like a thunderclap of imnse information, exploding violently in his mind.
Humboldt.
Alexander von Humboldt!
This great na was a dazzling and resounding presence in the European academic circles of the 19th century, especially in the fields of natural sciences and geography.
He was one of the founders of modern climatology, phytogeography, and geophysics.
He was the pioneer who scientifically described and expounded the concept of the "community of life," hailed as the "father of ecology"!
He devoted his entire life to exploring, asuring, recording, and understanding this world—a staunch scientific rationalist!
Yet this figure, revered and worshipped in the Surface World and hailed as the "Scientific Saint," had his na uttered at this mont from the mouth of a fanatical believer of an ancient Egyptian serpent deity cult that worshipped dark chaos, spoken in a tone of awe and fear.
And it was tightly linked to a mysterious key and a so-called City of Gold.
The contradictions and informational impact contained within were imnse and cognition-shattering, leaving Julian's mind blank for several seconds.
"Take to the archives room! Now! Imdiately! Right now!"
After a brief system crash, Julian's body seed to be injected with adrenaline. He turned, grabbed the collar of the bewildered Cairo Branch staff mber beside him, and roared in a commanding tone.
He felt he had inadvertently touched upon a secret history buried in the dust of ti, concerning top-secret matters of both the Surface and inner worlds.
The staff mber was startled by the imposing aura erupting from this usually gentle and refined French scholar. He instinctively cast a pleading look towards Old Abdul inside the door.
Old Ab glanced at Julian's flushed face, then turned his gaze to Nephthys, who was lost in self-doubt and collapse.
Finally, he waved his hand, signaling the staff mber to comply.
He, too, realized that the secret behind this suddenly appearing "Humboldt's Key" was likely far more important than the "cursed diamond" theft case.
Once permission was granted, Julian beca extrely agitated. Led by the staff mber, he disappeared at a sprinting speed behind the gate at the lowest level of the branch.
anwhile, Lin Jie remained calmly seated opposite Nephthys.
He did not press to ask what "Humboldt's Key" was, nor did he press his advantage to interrogate the ntally collapsed woman.
He simply waited quietly.
He understood that the "key" capable of unraveling all the mysteries was not in this interrogation room, but within the historical dust that Julian was about to explore.
...
The archives room of the Cairo Second Branch was less of a "room" and more of a steel maze constructed from nurous tal filing cabinets.
It stored all the original files, mission reports, sample analyses, and intelligence summaries from the Association's operations in North Africa and the Middle East since the Cairo Branch's establishnt.
Due to the complex colonial political situation and limited funding, the archival managent here appeared chaotic and primitive.
Many yellowed paper docunts and ancient parchnt scrolls were haphazardly piled up.
Yet for Julian, this place was a Tutankhamun's tomb awaiting excavation, rich with hidden treasures!
He threw himself into this race against ti with imnse passion!
"Humboldt... Humboldt... Alexander von Humboldt..." While his exceptionally capable mory perford keyword searches, he directed the staff mber—already impressed by his mory and vast knowledge—to retrieve potentially relevant files from the nurous cabinets.
He reviewed all early records concerning "German Investigators."
He examined the action logs of all seemingly unrelated "geological surveys" and "plant sample collection" missions the Association conducted in the Egyptian region during the early 19th century.
However, one hour passed.
Two hours passed.
He searched the archives room for a long ti, yet still found nothing.
The na "Humboldt" did not appear in the Association's historical records, cleanly erased without a trace.
"Impossible... This is impossible..." Beads of sweat ford on Julian's forehead, his face showing frustration and self-doubt.
Nephthys's shock and fear were not feigned;
this na must have so deep, unknown connection to the inner world.
Could it be an issue of insufficient clearance?
A thought flashed through his mind!
Yes, it must be because his clearance level was too low!
For a public figure like Humboldt, who held imnse influence in the Surface World, if he truly had secret ties with the Association, then all files concerning him would inevitably be classified as confidential, accessible only to the highest decision-making echelons!
Having realized this, Julian imdiately rushed to the corner of the archives room where the old "Hers Ether Communication Array" was located—the device capable of highest-level encrypted communication with the Geneva Headquarters.
Without hesitation, he input his highest-level access key and sent an ergency intelligence review request to the man far away in Switzerland.
The content of the request was concise, just a single sentence:
"Request to review all I.A.R.C. historical archives related to 'Alexander von Humboldt,' regardless of encryption level. — Julian Belloc, Authorization Code: Raven-03."
After sending this telegram, Julian paced anxiously back and forth before the communication array like a prisoner awaiting judgnt.
He knew this telegram would be delivered directly to Sir Henderson's own desk.
Whether that important figure would approve his overstepping request would determine if he could touch that ultimate truth.
Ti stretched unbearably long in that mont.
Finally, after an agonizing fifteen minutes.
The old communication array emitted a series of "click-clack" sounds.
A historical Association archive marked as "Top Secret," with incomplete content, slowly printed out from the output slot.
With trembling hands, Julian received the thin sheet of paper.
Indeed!
At the beginning of that file, on the list of the I.A.R.C.'s core council founding mbers, he saw the familiar na.
Alexander von Humboldt!
This naturalist, geographer, and explorer, hailed as the "Scientific Saint" in the Surface World, was truly one of the founding mbers of the I.A.R.C.!
Furthermore, the file hinted in obscure language that although Humboldt was a scientific rationalist, he held sympathy and understanding for those ancient "Druidic" doctrines that revered nature and coexisted in harmony with all things.
He was close personal friends with the mysterious "Oak Sage" who was later purged by the order of the 11th Supre Executive Chairman, the Duke of Wellington, due to ideological differences!
He was a sympathizer of the "Natural Symbiosis Faction," whose ideology did not align with the Association's mainstream hardline philosophy centered on containnt, control, and research!
Reading this, Julian felt his breathing grow rapid.
So, behind the Association's glorious history, flying the banner of "guarding human civilization," a bloody internal struggle over ideology and direction was hidden!
Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, Julian continued reading.
The latter part of the file recorded a little-known secret operation by Humboldt in his later years.
After completing his scientific expedition across Russia and Central Asia in 1829, he did not directly return to Berlin as publicly recorded.
Under the guise of "academic leave," he secretly traveled alone to Egypt, where he conducted a private "archaeological expedition" with no official records, unknown even to most within the Association.
And the last location where Humboldt was recorded as missing by the Association was precisely the Serapeum Temple, located underground in Alexandria—the magnificent and sacred hall of wisdom of the diterranean world during the ancient Egyptian Ptolemaic era, rumored to hold the final treasures of Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic Dynasty...
The place known as the "City of Gold"!
Julian grabbed the history-shattering file and rushed out of the archives room like a madman, sprinting towards the interrogation room located in the deepest part of the underground.
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