Thomson got up and found a slightly yellowed map in a cupboard at a corner. William opened the map on his computer to compare them.

"In the letter the cat sent me, he mentioned that he seemed to have followed this road." Said Thomson, pointing to a wide road on the map, "The locals call it the Holheim-Fuqui Road. It has a wide part about 20 or 30 kilometers long, which goes northeast from here, and then it gets into a wood and narrows."

William dragged the mouse and examined it carefully not a little. He succeeded in following the narration of the shorthair cat.

"Sure enough, there are some checkpoints." He muttered, "The energy core can be charged again."

Thomson continued, "He also mentioned some landmarks, such as a cafe at the 5km road sign owned by a tabby cat named Sophia. It's all painted green and brown, so it should be fairly easy to spot."

"Oh, I see." Ranran said.

"Despite the small size of the cafe, you might actually want to go there for a drink. You can have a taste of this universe -- I don't know how it's going to be different from the one you belong to -- and I think she might give you some clues or something else."

"OK." Photon nodded and replied.

"There's Sam's Garage 95 at 18km road sign. As the name implies, it belongs to Uncle Sam. He is a famous local modification master, so you should definitely visit him if you have a chance. He's also heard about the theft of my cat, and he knows a little biology, so maybe he'll have something in common with you. Perhaps he will give you some special help."

"OK, I see." William replied.

"Oh yes, I'll show you one more thing." Said the cat. He took another notebook from the shelf and said, "These are my laboratory notes. Come here, and I'll take you downstairs." They went back into the elevator and went to the fourth floor.

Thomson opened the door gently, then they realized at once that it was a biochemical laboratory. There were all kinds of instruments and drugs on the neat experimental bench, and in front of them was a work bench dedicated to gene research. He sat down in a chair, picked up a bottle of alcohol and a cotton swab, wiped his hands, and shone a UV lamp on the workbench for a while. Then he said, "The cat was able to resist terminal disease because I knocked out a gene in cells. Then I dissolved the knocked gene in a solvent, asked them to encode proteins, and looked at them carefully. The results showed that the proteins encoded by this gene alone did not exhibit distinctive characteristics, while only when they were embedded into the receptor did they appear immune. What I also found is that if you add a codon somewhere in that m-RNA, the protein that the gene with that extra codon can make can reduce catalase activity, or even inactivate it. So in this case, the creature is likely to be poisoned. Unfortunately, I can't find the book where that message was recorded now."

"Oh, that's frustrating." Ranran said with a slight sigh.

"But..." There was another glint in Thomson's eyes, as if he remembered his book.

"But what?" Natalie asked excitedly.

"But I seemed to have told Uncle Sam that, and he is very careful. He can't miss such important information."

"Wow, that's good." Said William, delighted.

"But it's been a while and I wonder if he still remembers that information while he's busy running the garage. At least I'm sure I did tell him."

"Never mind, if all the information is lost, we'll start all over again!"

"Boy, that's over 500 base pairs!"

"No, even fifty thousand would not stop our determination!" William replied firmly, "We've got to figure it out!"

There was thunderous applause in the laboratory. "Truly, I have never seen anyone in this universe as rigorous and determined as you are. You really impress me." Said Thomson, standing up and taking William's hand.

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"Hey, it's nothing. We just have the attitude we should have about science."

"It's just that we don't yet know exactly why the lab that the cat is in is so weird." Said Photon, a little worried.

Then the air suddenly froze and it didn't flow at all. This was obviously extremely unusual. As a result, they all had very clear breathing difficulties. Then an invisible hand grasped William by the neck and quickly pinned him to the ground.

He was panting and his face was reddening, when he heard a voice say,

"Wake up, silly boy. There's no way that cat could be rescued by you! My famous Capsule Laboratory is designed to collect rare and valuable genes so that one invincible creature can take over the planet! No one can stop me!"

The voice died away in a flash, and so did the heavy atmosphere.

"I think I can already guess who was speaking," Said William, getting up.

"Who?" Asked Thomson.

"I feel like it's me -- but I'm not sure yet."

"What? Oh no, are you kidding?" Thomson made a wry smile.

"No no no, I'm serious." William said seriously, "That could very well be me, me in this universe. I feel that if my speculation is true, then that self must be up to no good. He knows I don't belong to this universe, but he doesn't want me to go back. The journey was destined to be dangerous, and I was prepared for it early, especially mentally."

At this, Thomson began to think. "Oh, did he just say Capsule Laboratory was his?" He asked William.

"It seems so."

"Wait a minute." Ranran reminded William, patting him on the shoulder, "If that voice was really another you, he doesn't want us to go back, according to what you said. So he must be out there somewhere. But we need to go to three planets! Perhaps he's not in the lab, and the lab is being watched by someone else?"

"Fair enough!" Said William, patting his head, "But there's no proof yet that it's another me."

"There will be." Natalie said, "We'll find out who he is sooner or later."

"All right. It is now clear that the existence of Capsule Laboratory is a great crisis, because we must not let that man rule the planet! So anyway we must save the cat, and more importantly, keep that particular gene intact!"

"Come on!" Cried the others in unison.

"It's a great blessing to meet such warm-hearted passers-by like you." Thomson stood up again and took William by the hand, "Oh, it's getting late. It's almost sunset. Why don't you stay here tonight while I get your dinner ready?"

Photon looked out of the window. Sure enough, the blue mother star was lowering its head little by little, and also eagerly kissing the distant green mountains, as if in the farewell. "That's very kind of you, Sir." William said.

Then Natalie pointed to a white mark on the map on the computer. "Why is our ship here?" She asked.

"Where?" The others all leaned over to look.

"Have you forgotten? It was in the basement and the hint told us where it was when we came out!" Photon reminded the others.

Then the words came to William's mind:

Besides, the ship is about a kilometer away from Thomson's house.

"Oh, yes. It did tell us. Hey, Mr Thomson. We've found the ship. We won't bother you at night, because we can spend the night in the spaceship."

"Is that so? Oh, that's great. But one thing I should warn you about is that it can be cold in the woods at night. Make sure you stay warm if you spend the night in the ship!" Thomson replied from the kitchen.

Soon, the cat had brought the dinner. There were several major courses -- grilled ham pizza, maple-flavored pineapple pie, and Thomson's signature dish, wood fish -- fish grilled in maple charcoal! The party ate a hearty meal. It was completely dark when William wiped the last drop of saliva from his mouth. At this time, looking outside, it was a total darkness in the distance. Only with the warm and bright lights in the house could it be seen that dozens of meters outside the house, rows of maple trees were dancing with the slightly cold night wind. Occasionally the faint cries of a distant bird could be heard. Amid the wind and the rustling dance of the leaves, the cries were weak and inconsequent.

"We must go, Sir. Don't worry about us. We'll be fine." Said William to Thomson as he was leaving.

"That's good. By the way, you will end up going to the lab dozens of kilometers away, and you have a spaceship that big. For one thing, it will give away your position when you rescue the cat. For another, you will be moving slowly, and carrying the ship will be a problem. Well, here it is." Said the shorthair cat, pointing out a position on the map, "Yes, here it is. Not too far from where the ship is now. I have a warehouse over there. You can park it there first. Then I'll lock it up, so that your ship won't be lost -- eh-hem, though I don't think anyone would steal it on purpose. Finally, be sure to keep warm! It's cold here at night! I'm sure you can save the cat! Wish you a pleasant journey! See you soon!"

Careful Photon glimpsed a few glistening tears in Thomson's eyes.

"Wait a minute. I have a medal here. You must wear it. The cat will remember me when he sees this." Thomson took a round blue object out of his pocket and put it in William's hand.

"We're going to get him out!" He said emphatically.

"See you soon..." The whole party said good-bye to the shorthair cat, and then gradually they disappeared into Thomson's sight, slowly fading into the quiet maple trees. Finally, there was only the rustle of leaves...