Zhou Tianming arrived at the side of the compound. After confirming no one was around, he emerged from the bushes and approached the perimeter wall.
With a single leap, he jumped onto the waist-high red brick wall, gripping the iron railings as he tried to squeeze his body sideways through the bars.
Unfortunately, the gaps between the railings were only one and a half palm-widths wide. Even for a child like Zhou Tianming, only his shoulders could pass through—his head was completely out of the question.
Glancing at the railings, he noted each iron bar was as thick as a finger.
Jumping down from the wall, Zhou Tianming retreated into the bushes to think of another plan.
His gaze fell on the high-voltage electrified wire mesh above the railings.
He mentally calculated whether spreading his plushie suit over it would allow him to climb over safely.
After considering the idea, he dismissed it.
The plushie suit had too much fur. The high voltage could spark a flame and set the suit on fire, immediately exposing him.
Moreover, he suspected the electrified mesh might have touch sensors. Any contact would likely alert the guards in the monitoring room.
Zhou Tianming stepped out of the bushes and jumped back onto the brick wall. Crouching, he measured the wall's thickness with his palm.
It was thicker than the length from his fingertips to his wrist—about the size of an adult's palm.
No chance. Even with tools, he couldn't dig through it.
Ultimately, he refocused on the iron railings.
Suddenly, he remembered the concentrated sulfuric acid in his leather pouch. From what he recalled, this substance could corrode metal.
Zhou Tianming carefully retrieved a test tube and uncapped it. A pungent acidic odor wafted out, irritating his nose.
Holding onto the railing with one hand, he leaned forward and extended his arm to position the test tube as far away as possible.
Then, he slowly tilted the tube, letting the concentrated sulfuric acid drip onto the junction between the iron railing and the brick wall.
The reaction was immediate. The railing emitted foul white smoke as its surface visibly corroded, bubbling rapidly.
The brick wall below showed little reaction. Though there were initial signs of corrosion, it subsided within seconds.
Abandoning the wall, Zhou Tianming focused on the railing. But soon, even the railing's reaction weakened and stopped.
He shook the railing forcefully, but it remained firmly in place—the corrosion had only affected the surface.
He poured more acid, but this time, the effect was noticeably diminished.
Frowning, he searched his memories of past chemistry lessons and recalled the concept of passivation.
To counteract passivation, the sulfuric acid needed to be heated.
Looking around, he found nothing suitable for heating.
Electricity?
His eyes turned upward toward the high-voltage wires.
Zhou Tianming recapped the test tube and returned it to his leather pouch before jumping down from the wall.
Snapping off a branch from the bushes, he tossed it at the electrified mesh.
The moment the branch made contact, bright sparks erupted with crackling bursts of electricity, and the branch burst into flames.
Zhou Tianming moved about 30 meters to the side and hid in the bushes to wait.
Five or six minutes later, several people hurried over—two wearing orange electrician uniforms and one police officer.
They immediately noticed the burning branches on the electric fence, and the electricians sighed in relief before handling the issue.
The officer, meanwhile, patrolled the area, occasionally kicking the bushes and glancing around.
After a while, once the electricians had dealt with the branches and the fence, the officer made one final round before they all left together.
It seemed electricity was out of the question.
To be safe, Zhou Tianming followed them all the way back to the main gate.
After observing for about half an hour and confirming that the security team wasn't patrolling the walls, he finally relaxed.
This time, he chose a different direction, carefully scanning his surroundings for anything that might help him.
Suddenly, a sprinkler head on the lawn caught his attention—an automatic irrigator.
Squinting at the artificial sun in the sky, he saw its light hadn't dimmed at all.
From his past life, Zhou Tianming remembered that lawn sprinklers usually operated in the early morning or at night, and sometimes in the afternoon if the weather was hot.
But this was a satellite—temperate and perpetually spring-like. It was definitely neither dawn nor dusk now.
Approaching the sprinkler, Zhou Tianming tried pulling it a couple of times, but it didn't budge. There was no way to get water from it.
Digging up the grass around the sprinkler, he found stainless steel pipes underneath. Picking up a nearby rock, he tapped them a few times, but they showed no signs of damage.
Sighing, Zhou Tianming tossed the rock aside, dusted off his hands, and resumed his search for an escape route.
As time passed with no solution in sight, he grew increasingly restless.
The situation seemed safe for now, but once the security team and the company took action, a simple check of the surveillance footage would expose him. They had manpower and weapons.
Zhou Tianming wasn't arrogant enough to think he could take on fully armed enemies.
Another ten minutes passed as he looked around.
Amid the green lawn, a patch of yellow stood out. Moving closer, he saw it was a cluster of withered grass, some even blackened and dead.
Just as he was about to leave, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him, and his gaze returned to the yellowed grass.
His mind raced, and moments later, a grin spread across his face.
Glancing around, he spotted a nozzle not far away.
The yellowing and withering of the grass could mean waterlogged roots due to poor drainage—indicating a leak in the pipes below.
Poking his fingers into the soil, he immediately felt a cool dampness.
Digging with his small hands, about five centimeters down, his fingertips touched liquid.
Another ten centimeters deeper, and as he turned the soil, a stainless steel pipe with a small crack was revealed.
Clear water gushed from the crack, quickly forming a muddy puddle.
Removing the brown leather pouch from his waist, he carefully transferred the test tubes into the pocket of his plushie suit's belly. Then, he filled the now-empty leather pouch with muddy water.
With water secured, Zhou Tianming's escape plan was back on track.
Finding a secluded spot, he tore four strips from the lining of his plushie suit. Two of them were wrapped around the top and bottom of an iron bar.
Then, carefully retrieving the sulfuric acid test tube, he opened it and poured the concentrated sulfuric acid into the gap between the wrapped cloth and the iron bar.
The cloth strip that came into contact with the concentrated sulfuric acid quickly turned black, but it also caused the acid to gather and tightly adhere to the iron rod, beginning the corrosion process.
Zhou Tianming seized the moment, soaking the remaining two cloth strips in water and wrapping them above the acid-soaked strip.
The overflowing muddy water trickled down the rod and soon made contact with the concentrated sulfuric acid below. Instantly, a violent reaction occurred between the two.
White smoke rose as bubbles continuously formed on the iron rod.
The reaction between the concentrated sulfuric acid and water released a tremendous amount of heat. The heated acid disrupted the passivation layer on the rod, accelerating the corrosion.
Zhou Tianming carefully alternated between adding more concentrated sulfuric acid and muddy water, narrowly avoiding being splashed by the boiling, spattering acid several times.
After half an hour, he had exhausted all five vials of concentrated sulfuric acid and the pouch of muddy water he carried. Once the corrosion reaction on the iron rod had fully subsided,
Zhou Tianming wrapped his hands in the sleeves of his rabbit plushie suit, gripped the rod, and used his full strength and body weight to shake it back and forth.
Crack—crack—
The iron rod, now brittle and thinned from the acid's corrosion, emitted unsettling noises.
His eyes lit up, and Zhou Tianming gave it one final, forceful shake.
Snap!
The rod broke, sending Zhou Tianming tumbling backward.
Pushing off the brick wall with his foot, he executed a mid-air backflip and landed steadily, holding a one-meter-long section of the severed rod in his hand. A smile crept onto his face.
Done!
Though he had only managed to break off one section, his slender frame would allow him to squeeze through the gap.
Once free, Zhou Tianming hurried away from the wall, gripping the iron rod as he sprinted into the distance.
The stretch outside the wall offered no cover, so he needed to move quickly to avoid detection.
Fortunately, the area was remote enough. After running about thirty meters, he reached a tree-lined pedestrian path.
With the trees now shielding him, Zhou Tianming slowed his pace.
Keeping part of his attention on his surroundings, he began to plan his next steps.