101: Chapter 101: Don't Use Your Talent to Challenge My Expertise!

Just as the countdown hit zero and the virtual energy explosion that could swallow everything was about to erupt before his eyes...

"Snap."

A soft sound.

The entire world was pressed into a pause.

That violent torrent of energy, the hideous cracks in the spirit vein, and the light and heat about to consume everything—all were frozen in mid-air, like a still frame.

Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes and saw this very scene.

He gasped for air, his heart pounding against his chest, his back completely drenched in cold sweat.

He was still alive.

Jiang Ning's projection had stood by his side again at some unknown point.

She calmly scanned the apocalyptic scene before her, then glanced at Lin Yuan, who was slumped on the ground.

"Did you see that?"

Her question echoed in the deathly silent Simulation Field, without a hint of emotion.

Lin Yuan opened his mouth, but his throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton; he couldn't make a single sound.

"This is the result produced by the 'talent' and 'power' you're so proud of."

Every word Jiang Ning spoke was like a cold needle, precisely piercing Lin Yuan's most fragile nerves at this moment.

"Reckless, impulsive, arrogant."

She delivered three definitions, each one making Lin Yuan's head spin.

"You're no different from a three-year-old child holding a loaded gun. You can't protect anyone; you yourself are the greatest danger."

Lin Yuan's lips trembled, but he couldn't squeeze out a single word.

He couldn't argue.

The facts were right before him; this "doomsday" he had created with his own hands was the tombstone of all his conceit.

In the observation room, Professor Li and the researchers' hearts had also been on a roller coaster; only now, looking at the paused screen, could they finally catch their breath.

"Now, look closely."

Jiang Ning snapped her fingers.

"Whoosh."

The scene before them was like a movie rewinding; all the out-of-control energy, the shattered vein walls, and the exploded fragments recoiled at an incredible speed.

In just one second, everything returned to how it was when the mission first began.

That truck-sized blue energy crystal was once again wedged perfectly in the corner of the spirit vein, causing the upstream spiritual energy to be irritably congested.

"Before you act, the first thing you should do isn't to figure out how to smash it."

As Jiang Ning spoke, she drew several clear light screens in the air, which were instantly filled with dense data and models.

Lin Yuan stared blankly; he had glanced at those data and graphics in the files before, but none of them had registered in his mind.

"It's to analyze it."

On the first light screen, detailed data on the crystal immediately popped up.

"Composition: High-density Spiritual Energy Crystal with a layered internal structure; very brittle. Characteristics: Particularly sensitive to cold and high-frequency vibrations."

Jiang Ning pointed to a line of data that clearly marked the crystal's resonance frequency and thermal brittleness threshold.

The second light screen showed a dynamic model of the surrounding spirit vein, with red high-pressure zones and blue low-pressure zones clearly visible.

"Pressure: There are three high-pressure spiritual energy currents upstream of the blockage, and two low-pressure outlets downstream. If you just pull the plug, the pent-up upstream energy will instantly rush toward the most fragile corner downstream. It would be a miracle if it didn't explode."

Her explanation was simple and direct, but it made Lin Yuan's face burn.

He felt like a fool who had recklessly dismantled a precision instrument without reading the manual.

"The correct way isn't to use brute force."

Jiang Ning began to operate.

In the observation room, everyone's eyes widened, and they unconsciously leaned forward, fearing they might miss any detail.

Professor Li even pushed up his glasses, his whole body almost pressed against the observation screen.

Unlike Lin Yuan, she didn't cause world-shaking upheavals or surging spiritual power the moment she acted.

She only extended two slender fingers, from which two strands of spiritual power as thin as hair emerged.

One strand was ice-blue, reaching out silently and adhering precisely to the surface of the massive energy crystal.

"Step one: Lower the temperature to make it brittle."

Visibly, a thin layer of white frost quickly formed on the surface of the large crystal, and a series of faint cracking sounds, detectable only by instruments, came from within.

The other strand of colorless spiritual power was even more concealed, quietly seeping into the layered structure inside the crystal.

"Step two: High-frequency resonance."

That spiritual power began to vibrate at an extremely high frequency that an ordinary person could not comprehend.

"Hum..."

A slight ringing sound emanated from within the crystal.

The energy crystal, which had been indestructible just moments ago, began to rapidly disintegrate and crumble from its core, turning into the finest particles.

But Jiang Ning wasn't finished yet.

While pulverizing the crystal, she multi-tasked, splitting off more than a dozen even finer strands of spiritual power to weave rapidly through the congested upstream energy mass, constructing several temporary "Pressure Relief Pipelines."

Before those three violent high-pressure spiritual energy currents could rush downstream, they were perfectly led away and diverted by these newly built pipelines, cleverly bypassing the fragile corner and keeping the pressure of the entire spirit vein at an extremely stable level.

Lin Yuan was completely stunned.

This kind of multi-tasking and the control to perform multiple precise operations simultaneously was simply inconceivable!

This was no longer combat; this was... this was performing a surgical operation of extreme precision!

Finally, when the energy crystal was completely vibrated into the finest powder...

Jiang Ning's fingertip moved.

Those powders were enveloped by a gentle force and, following the Pressure Relief Pipelines she had designed, were smoothly washed away and evenly dissipated into the main spirit vein without leaving any residue—even replenishing some of the spirit vein's energy loss.

Only after finishing all this did she unhurriedly dismantle the temporary Pressure Relief Pipelines one by one.

The upstream spiritual energy flowed back into the main channel.

The entire spirit vein was cleared.

The spiritual energy flowed smoothly without a single ripple, as quiet as a stream on a summer night.

On the main screen of the Command Center, all the red alarms representing danger vanished instantly, replaced by a screen full of green data representing safety.

The entire process was seamless; every step was calculated to the millimeter, incredibly beautiful.

And the time...

From the moment Jiang Ning acted until all the data returned to normal.

Not a second more, not a second less.

Exactly one minute.

Having done all this, Jiang Ning withdrew her hand as if she had only performed a trivial task like dusting off some dirt.

She turned her head and looked at Lin Yuan, who was completely dumbfounded, his face a total blank.

"This, is called engineering."

"This, is called Infrastructure Construction."

"This is the power you should learn, yet looked down upon."

She took a step forward, her projected figure almost touching Lin Yuan.

"Now, any more questions?"