100: Chapter 100: The Final Lesson: Completely Subdue Him
Half an hour later, at the top-tier simulation training ground of Kunlun Academy.
This was a massive spherical building, where light and shadow technology created a virtual world that could become whatever Jiang Ning wanted it to be.
Lin Yuan had changed into clean clothes, but his face remained deathly pale.
He stood in the center of the arena, surrounded by holographic projections that made him feel as if he had truly fallen into the sunless depths of the sea.
The other students of the "Genius Class," along with college executives like Director Zhao Lixin and Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo, were all in the second-floor observation room, looking down through a massive one-way glass window.
"What exactly is Engineer Jiang trying to do?" Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo watched Lin Yuan below, feeling uneasy. "This kid almost caused a massive disaster just now, and she's still giving him a chance?"
"Just watch." Professor Chen, on the other hand, wore an expression of interest. "I have a feeling Engineer Jiang isn't giving him a chance, but teaching him a final lesson. A lesson that will make him give up completely."
In the training ground, Jiang Ning's projection appeared beside Lin Yuan.
"This is the bottom of the East Sea, ten thousand meters deep, and all data is transmitted in real-time." Jiang Ning's voice echoed through the vast venue. "The data source is the submarine spiritual vein monitoring network we previously laid."
As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Yuan felt the surrounding water pressure surge, and a biting chill enveloped him; the sensation was so real it made his heart race with unease.
"Now, I am issuing your final assessment."
Jiang Ning waved her hand, and a massive 3D map of a trench appeared before them. On the map, a glowing spiritual vein wound its way through the terrain. However, at a corner of the spiritual vein, a red dot was flashing incessantly.
"Emergency task: Secondary spiritual vein G-7 has an energy blockage that has crystallized. The blockage is triggering a chain reaction; if not handled in time, the main spiritual vein will rupture within thirty minutes, causing an unpredictable geological disaster."
"Your mission: Safely and efficiently clear the energy crystals within thirty minutes to restore the spiritual vein to normal."
"All the necessary tools, data, and processing plans are on the control panel in front of you, available for viewing at any time."
The task was explained.
Lin Yuan stared at the map and the task before him, stunned for a moment, before a flicker of hope ignited in his heart.
Clearing a blockage? Isn't this just like unclogging a drain?
He felt this was much simpler than the formation-building task from earlier. That was about creation, while this was just handling an existing problem.
Moreover, this job tested an individual's precise control over spiritual power; it didn't require teamwork, which happened to be his specialty!
"Too simple." He sneered internally, thinking Jiang Ning had run out of ideas and was trying to save face with a task that sounded impressive but was actually easy.
He would complete it with the fastest speed and the most elegant technique to prove that his talent was unmatched!
"I don't need to look at any data or plans." Lin Yuan raised his head arrogantly and said to Jiang Ning's projection, "For such a small matter, my instincts and strength are enough."
With that, he didn't wait for Jiang Ning to reply and charged straight toward the flashing red dot.
In the observation room, Chief Engineer Wang Jianguo saw this and slapped his thigh in anger.
"This brat! He's doing it again! Why doesn't he ever learn? He doesn't check the data or the plans and just charges in blindly? Does he think this is a video game?"
Jiang Ning's projection just watched him quietly without stopping him.
Lin Yuan soon "flew" to the blockage point.
He saw a truck-sized blue crystal jammed tightly in the corner of the spiritual vein. The blocked spiritual energy had nowhere to go and had turned violent, slamming repeatedly against the fragile walls of the spiritual vein.
"Hmph, just a piece of junk rock."
Lin Yuan didn't take this crystal seriously at all.
In his view, the most direct way to solve this kind of problem was to use greater power to shatter it!
If it's shattered, it won't be blocked, right? Simple, crude, and effective!
He drained every bit of the spiritual power he had just recovered, gathering it at his fingertip into a blinding white dot.
"Heavenly Star Finger!"
This was his trump card, a single-target attack technique with immense penetrating power.
"Shatter for me!"
He shouted, and the white dot at his fingertip transformed into a sharp beam of energy, slamming violently into the blue energy crystal!
"Boom!"
The crystal shattered upon impact! Countless fragments of all sizes, coated in violent energy, exploded in every direction.
"Success!" A victorious smile appeared on Lin Yuan's face.
However, his smile didn't last long.
The scene he had envisioned, where the spiritual vein would return to normal, did not happen.
The blockage was gone. But the force of his attack had been too great, and it had exploded in a narrow bend. The pent-up, violent spiritual energy, suddenly free of obstruction, surged out like a wild beast, ten times more violently than before!
This torrent of out-of-control energy slammed heavily into the opposite wall of the spiritual vein!
"Crack!" A crisp sound echoed. That section of the spiritual vein wall, like shattered glass, was instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks!
Immediately after, an alarm, sharper and more urgent than any before, blared throughout the training ground!
"Alarm! Alarm! Main spiritual vein section G-7 has been breached! Pressure zeroed! Massive energy leakage!"
"Warning! A chain collapse is being triggered! The entire simulated spiritual vein network will collapse completely in sixty seconds!"
"Warning! An ultra-large-scale virtual energy explosion will occur in sixty seconds!"
Lin Yuan was stunned.
He stared at the widening crack before him, feeling the increasingly chaotic and violent energy around him, and felt as if he had fallen into a hole of ice.
He... he had messed up again.
And this time, he had messed up even more thoroughly than the last.
Not only had he failed to solve the problem, but he had single-handedly detonated an even larger bomb.
He tried to remedy the situation, wanting to use his own spiritual power to plug the opening. But as soon as he approached, he was violently repelled by the leaking, violent energy. His pathetic amount of spiritual power was not even a drop in the bucket compared to the dam-breaking energy.
"No... it shouldn't be like this..."
He collapsed onto the sandy "seabed," staring at the merciless red countdown above his head, his mind completely blank.
"Ten... nine... eight..."
In the observation room, everyone was startled to their feet by this sudden turn of events.
"Good heavens! He breached the main spiritual vein!"
"If... if this were real, the entire East Sea would be finished!"
"Quick! Stop the simulation!"
Lin Yuan watched the approaching countdown to death and gave up completely.
He closed his eyes, waiting for the "explosion" he had caused with his own hands to swallow him up.
"Three..." "Two..." "One..."