115: Chapter 115 Priceless Treasure
The feeling of passing through a spatial wormhole was ten thousand times more uncomfortable than traveling through a subspace channel.
Wang Pingan felt as if his body had been thrown into a high-speed rotating drum washing machine and then repeatedly hammered countless times by ten thousand large mallets.
His internal organs were all displaced, and not a single bone in his entire body remained intact.
If not for his powerful, enhanced physical body, any ordinary person would have long since turned into a puddle of mush under such terrifying spatio-temporal tearing forces.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
When that world-spinning dizziness, which felt as if it would tear his very soul apart, finally began to slowly recede.
Wang Pingan struggled to open his eyelids, which felt as heavy as lead.
What met his eyes was a familiar, brilliant, yet tranquil starry sky.
And... not far away, that massive and magnificent ring-shaped space station, looking like the residence of a god.
Xuanyuan University, External Transportation Hub.
They... were back.
“Cough, cough...”
Wang Pingan coughed violently twice, spitting out a mouthful of stagnant blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.
He turned his head to look at Mentor Murphy beside him.
The old man was in even worse shape than he was.
He had completely lost consciousness.
His entire body was like a puddle of mud, slumped in the seat; if not for the safety belt, he probably would have slid onto the floor long ago.
Wang Pingan checked and found that he was only in temporary shock due to the excessive depletion of mental energy and physical strength, combined with the impact of the spatial jump, and there was no life-threatening danger, so he breathed a sigh of relief.
He struggled to stand up from the seat.
He looked around the seagull, which was now completely scrapped.
The cabin was a total mess.
All the instruments had completely gone dark due to the exhaustion of energy.
The huge crystal porthole was also covered in spiderweb-like cracks, as if it would completely shatter with a gentle touch.
As for the core of spacetime held in his hand, it had now completely lost all its luster, turning into a dull, unremarkable, ordinary stone.
The massive spatio-temporal source power within it had been completely drained by them during that desperate escape.
Wang Pingan sighed with some regret.
Although it was a bit of a shame that he couldn't convert it into pay-to-win points.
But compared to his own life, this little loss was nothing.
Then he walked over to the communication equipment in the cabin.
The equipment was already broken.
Wang Pingan thought for a moment and directly used his few remaining bits of mental energy to send out an extremely weak distress signal.
...
Half an hour later.
Xuanyuan University, Seventh Star Port.
Several medical shuttle ships bearing the “Emergency Rescue” logo came whistling in.
Instructor Shi Yan's tall figure was the first to rush down from the flagship.
When he saw the seagull floating in space, so battered it was barely recognizable.
On his eternally unchanging icy face, an extremely complex expression appeared.
There was lingering fear, there was relief, but more than anything, it was an... indescribable excitement.
The rescue personnel soon boarded the seagull.
When they used cutting equipment to force open the deformed cockpit door.
What they saw were two blood-covered, unconscious “corpses.”
And... the dull, unremarkable... stone still clutched tightly in the youth's hand, even in his unconscious state.
Instructor Shi Yan's pupils contracted sharply the moment he saw that stone.
With a flash, he appeared beside Wang Pingan.
He carefully took the stone from Wang Pingan's hand.
The moment his fingers touched the stone, they trembled slightly.
An unprecedented ecstasy erupted in his eyes!
Although it had lost all its energy.
But that unique, supreme aura originating from the spatio-temporal source was absolutely unmistakable!
The core of spacetime!
They... had actually succeeded!
“Quick! Get them to the highest-level medical center immediately!”
“At any cost! We must save them!”
Clutching the stone, Instructor Shi Yan roared at the rescue personnel behind him, his voice hoarse and filled with excitement and ecstasy!
Xuanyuan University, Supreme Medical Center, Intensive Care Unit.
Wang Pingan woke up in softness, the faint scent of a mixture of disinfectant and high-grade nutrient solution lingering at the tip of his nose.
He moved his fingers and felt as if his entire body had been taken apart and put back together again; every bone joint was filled with soreness.
“Damn, I went a bit too far this time.”
He couldn't help but curse in his heart. Recalling the scenes in the Subspace Storm, he felt a wave of lingering fear even now.
Especially that terrifying giant beast hidden in the starship graveyard at the end; just its eyes made him feel like his soul was going to be frozen.
“If it wasn't for the system being so helpful, I really would have kicked the bucket this time.”
As Wang Pingan lamented, he habitually brought up his system panel.
【host: Wang Pingan】
【Realm: Fourth-Rank Martial Artist (Peak, blood qi value 4999/5000)】
【Strength: 499.9】
【speed: 499.9】
【Physique: 499.9】
【spirit: 500.0】
【recovery: 499.9】
【pay-to-win points: 18265】
Eighteen thousand two hundred and sixty-five points!
Although he spent a full fifty thousand points to buy that “Subspace Phase Shield,” the profits squeezed from the wreckage of that mothership still allowed him to make a small gain.
“At least I didn't lose money,” Wang Pingan thought happily.
He checked his physical condition; under the all-around repair of the top-tier medical pod, those terrifying internal and external injuries were mostly healed. However, his mental energy was over-depleted, and his head was still a bit groggy.
Just then, the door to the hospital room was gently pushed open.
Teacher Liu Qing's pretty face, filled with worry and concern, peeked in. When she saw that Wang Pingan had woken up, a burst of joyful light immediately erupted in her beautiful eyes.
“Student Wang Pingan! You're awake!”
She hurried to the bedside, her voice carrying a slight tremor that even she didn't notice, “How are you feeling? Is there anywhere you're uncomfortable?”
“Teacher Liu Qing, I'm fine.” Wang Pingan grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth.
Seeing that he was still in the mood to joke, the heart that Teacher Liu Qing had been holding in her throat finally settled down a bit. She looked Wang Pingan up and down, her eyes filled with complexity.
She had received an urgent notification from Instructor Shi Yan a day ago, saying that Wang Pingan had been seriously injured while performing a secret mission and had been sent to the medical center. When she heard the news, she was completely stunned.
This guy, how many days has it been since he enrolled? Why is he out causing trouble again? And it was a secret mission that could leave even him seriously injured?
She rushed to the medical center in a panic, only to be told that Wang Pingan was undergoing the highest level of isolated treatment and no one was allowed to visit. She could only wait outside anxiously for a day and a night.
“What... what on earth did you do this time?” Teacher Liu Qing looked at him and finally couldn't resist asking the question she cared about most. “Instructor Shi Yan wouldn't say anything, only that it was a top-secret mission.”
“Well...” Wang Pingan scratched his head, an innocent expression of “I don't know how to say it either” appearing on his face.
He couldn't very well tell Teacher Liu Qing that he had followed a crazy old man, secretly piloted an unregistered spaceship, and gone to “illegally hunt for treasure” in a forbidden zone of the universe, could he?
“The mission details are confidential,” Wang Pingan could only say vaguely. “But don't worry, the outcome was good. We succeeded.”
“Succeeded?” Teacher Liu Qing was stunned for a moment.
Just then, the door to the hospital room was pushed open again.
The tall Instructor Shi Yan walked in expressionlessly.
Behind him were several figures in white research coats who looked like high-level academy officials.
Shi Yan's gaze immediately fell upon Wang Pingan, and an extremely complex light flashed in those sharp, eagle-like eyes.
He walked to the bedside and, without any nonsense, got straight to the point.
“Wang Pingan. You have performed a great service this time.”
“After an emergency meeting, the academy's top brass has unanimously decided to grant the highest level of rewards to you and Mentor Murphy.”
Shi Yan paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present before finally landing back on Wang Pingan's face. Word by word, he announced the decision that was enough to shake the entire Xuanyuan University.
“Mentor Murphy is hereby promoted to Special Consultant for the Federation Academy of Sciences' ‘Spatio-temporal Physics’ project and awarded the ‘Federation Star Medal’.”
“And as for you...” Shi Yan's gaze became more solemn than ever before.
“The academy will grant you a one-time reward of one million credits!”