Feng vanished and I snuck out the building via a nearby roof. The group of reporters was just going to have to work a bit harder for that on camera interview. I paid cash for my hotel room and check in under the name Johan Schmidt, the German equivalent of John Smith. It wasn't in the best part of town but it served my purposes well enough.

I put my clothing away and placed my precious box in a nice secure location even the witch hunters would never locate. I began my research with the manufacturing plants closest to my current location and worked outward from there. I had very...