Among Luoshu's memories, the Foundation maintained at least nine European sites. From west to east:
British Isles: Site-33 (Birmingham), Site-67 (Yorkshire), Site-91 (Newcastle).
Continental Europe:
France: Site-06-3
Italy: Site-77
Germany: Site-12, Site-54
Central/Eastern Europe:
Site-39 (Central Europe)
Site-35 (Ural Mountains, Russia)
Originally, Luoshu planned to:
Cross the Atlantic eastward to West Africa.
Drive north via Gibraltar Strait to France, targeting Site-06-3 first.
But Negro Perta objected—professionally.
"Master, head for the British Isles instead. I know that route."
Luoshu hesitated. From the Bermuda Triangle, a straight shot to Britain seemed 6,000+ km—a week at the Black Pearl's submerged speed of 15 knots.
But he'd forgotten: World maps lie.
The actual distance was only slightly longer than the West Africa route. More crucially:
"Never sail straight. Ride the currents."
Negro Perta's plan:
Hug the New World's eastern coast, catching the Gulf Stream (2.05 m/s).
Transfer to the North Atlantic Current, boosting speed to 40+ knots (20+ submerged).
By contrast, eastbound routes fought the North Equatorial Current, reducing speed to <10 knots.
Result: Britain was faster than West Africa.
Luoshu conceded. Target: The British Isles.
Landfall: Birmingham
After two days of stealthy travel, Luoshu arrived in Birmingham—the UK's second city, once-industrial heartland, and home to Site-33.
First order of business: Disguise.
The Pickup Truck Transformer (a glaringly American Ford F-150) had to change. In a land of compact cars, it stuck out like a sore thumb.
Luoshu visited a Land Rover factory.
(Irony note: Land Rover/Jaguar, once British icons, now belonged to India's Tata Motors—a fact Negro Perta sneered at: "Why downgrade to a monkey's brand?")
The Transformer reluctantly reshaped itself into a Land Rover, tears in its headlights.
(Historical footnote: Ford owned Land Rover until 2008... before selling it to Tata. The decline of empires, indeed.)
The Bait
With camouflage ready, Luoshu initiated Phase Two: Fishing for Site-33.
He deployed Anomalous Item-167-C ("Workaholic's Instant Coffee")—left conspicuously in a Land Rover office breakroom.
Effect:
That night, 1/3 of employees stayed late voluntarily—a miracle for the work-averse English.
("If Brits were this diligent, they wouldn't have sold Land Rover in the first place," Luoshu mused.)
The anomaly attracted MTF Nu-7 ("Hammer Down") within hours.
But the team's incompetence was peak British bureaucracy:
Took 24+ hours to investigate.
Missed the coffee entirely.
Luoshu, exasperated, intervened:
Activated Unobservable + Persuasion.
Whispered to the commander: "Check the breakroom, you twit. It's the coffee."
Finally, Nu-7 confiscated all office beverages—including the anomalous coffee—for analysis at Site-33.
Bait accepted.
Luoshu split his consciousness, attaching a sliver to the coffee. As it entered Site-33, he learned everything:
Location.
Access protocols.
Security layouts.
Site-33: Meme Central
Pre-raid intel revealed Site-33's grim specialty:
Primary function: Quarantine Keter-class memetic hazards.
Security measure: Lobotomies for personnel below Level-3 clearance.
Staffing: More psychologists than any other Site.
A memetic stronghold.
For Luoshu—a champion of anti-memes—infiltrating this lion's den was risky. But the payoff?
Recording memetic anomalies in the Anomaly Index would grant him critical advantages against "God".
Know thy enemy. Memes had crippled him before. Now, he'd turn their power against the Foundation.