Chapter 40: Two Survivors

Just as Lu Mingfei felt he should find a building to jump off of, on the other side of the ocean, a strange energy bypassed countless obstacles and was channeled into the brain of Ye Sheng, who was currently deep beneath the Yangtze River. It then rapidly arranged and combined itself according to an unfathomable pattern.

Although Ye Sheng had long been braced for impact, when the massive influx of information surged into his mind, his brain still felt like a computer overclocked to the point of overheating. The immense pain felt as if it were tearing his entire being apart.

The creator of the Thread of Ariadne had, from the very beginning of crafting this spell, considered that the human body might not be able to withstand such a vast amount of knowledge. Therefore, just as Ye Sheng was on the verge of losing consciousness and the ability to act, the array in his mind shifted. His soul felt as though it had been seized by an invisible hand, yanked out, and then slammed back down violently!

Ye Sheng’s soul vibrated intensely; in that instant, he felt as if he were about to die, but then, his world cleared. The massive three-dimensional map in his mind stopped its ceaseless shifting, moving, and reconfiguring. In fact, it vanished entirely, replaced by a single, unwavering white line extending to the very edge of his vision.

Ye Sheng did not know where this miraculous power came from, but he knew he had to seize it. He stood up, grabbed Nagi Yanagi, who had just been cradling him in her arms, and roared:

"Move! Nagi! I see the path! Move!"

The remnants of the Spirit "Snake" that Ye Sheng had just released carried his shout up to the deck of the *Moniah*, which had since stabilized. Professor Mans, the captain, was stunned. Found the path? How could he have found it? How was it even possible?

The elite team from headquarters had long been silent. The Dragon Text of the Bronze City remained undeciphered—how could Ye Sheng have found the true path? Cerebral hypoxia or the high-intensity use of a Spirit could lead to hallucinations; how could one find the true path under such conditions? How could anyone survive by blindly charging ahead?

Professor Mans immediately roared into the communication device:

"Ye Sheng! Stand by! Do you hear me?! Stay exactly where you are! That is an order!"

There was no reply.

"Ye Sheng! Respond if you can hear me! You are hallucinating! Stand by! Stand by!"

The "Snakes" lingering in the river water had dissipated, lacking maintenance. Professor Mans’s desperate shouts were blocked by the river, echoing futilely across its surface.

A buzzing sound came through the gale. In the distance, massive beams of light moved across the pitch-black water. A moment later, a call came from the front left of the ship:

"Attention *Moniah*, this is the Yangtze River Maritime Bureau. Please signal with lights to acknowledge. Please signal with lights to acknowledge."

The first officer stepped onto the deck: "Captain, should we keep waiting?"

Professor Mans stared at the water, silent for several seconds, then looked at his watch. Eleven minutes had passed.

Seven minutes ago, the oxygen for his two students had run out. Even if Ye Sheng and Nagi Yanagi had escaped the Bronze City with impossible, heaven-defying luck, by now, they would have already fallen into an eternal slumber beneath the river due to oxygen deprivation.

He suddenly felt tired.

"Signal back with the lights. Accept the rescue. Abandon ship."

He turned to return to the cabin when he heard a muffled groan from the stern. Instinctively, he drew his flashlight and shone it toward the lifeboats on the side of the ship. Two dark heads surfaced, followed by two pale faces.

It was Ye Sheng and Nagi!

Due to mysterious, hidden reasons, they had both broken the limits of human diving and survived. Ye Sheng held a bronze canister the size of a man, and Nagi carried a rectangular box on her back.

"Rescue them! Hurry, save them! Are you all out of your minds?! Forget those pieces of junk! Save them!" Professor Mans bellowed.

If Lu Mingfei had heard Professor Mans’s words, he would not have been pleased.

His own sanity was already hanging by a thread. Had he risked total insanity and the danger of being manipulated just to use a powerful mythological spell to aid Ye Sheng, all just to save people?

Since Lu Mingfei had wreaked havoc in the central control room, the already tense and solemn atmosphere had become so stifling it was hard to breathe. The mission, which was nearly impossible to begin with, had been completely ruined by Lu Mingfei, losing all hope. The price was two living human lives—two classmates they interacted with every day.

Most people in the library had given up. The students stared blankly at their computer screens, their faces grim, and the professors’ discussions were no longer as heated as they had been at the start.

It had been over half an hour since the *Moniah* sent its distress signal; the oxygen for the diving students had long since run out. They had failed.

Lu Mingfei, who had been playing dead for a long time, suddenly felt a whim and looked up, lost in thought. The "Xian Sha Return-Soul Talisman" he had gifted Nagi Yanagi had been used. Things over at the Yangtze River were coming to an end.

Chilan stared at Lu Mingfei, who had suddenly become active again, with vigilance, silently resolving to pin him down the moment the President started acting crazy again.

But Lu Mingfei wasn't some lunatic; why would he act crazy? He had simply been lying down for too long and stretched to loosen his body.

"Oh, look at our 'S' class, so relaxed," said an elite student from the Student Union. After saying this, he was silenced by a stern look from Caesar, but everyone in the central control room still cast resentful and disdainful glares toward where Lu Mingfei sat.

Lu Mingfei did not react to their gazes and chimed in: "Yeah, because this emergency is finally coming to an end."

As soon as Lu Mingfei finished speaking, hisses erupted from all directions. The students expressed their dissatisfaction in this way, their collective anger so intense that even the two student leaders could not suppress it with their glares.

In truth, even though no one present knew what Lu Mingfei had done in that surreal dreamscape, they shouldn't have blamed him for his sudden loss of control. The mission itself was whimsical; it did not require wisdom, contemplation, or even inspiration—it required luck and talent. If anyone present had the talent to resonate with the new Dragon Text, they would have deciphered the answer long before Lu Mingfei had his episode. But they hadn't.

It was just that everyone here was a gifted "A" class hybrid, the pride of heaven before Lu Mingfei had enrolled. Making them accept their own failure was naturally less easy than shifting the blame onto someone else.

Lu Mingfei quietly placed his hand on his waist to guard against the over-excited guys throwing their computers at him in frustration. Just then, the big screen suddenly lit up, and the face of an elderly man appeared.

His silver-white hair was neatly combed. Time had left deep marks on his face, turning his skin into the texture of a cracked ancient tree or weathered rock, yet his features remained sharp. His silver-gray eyes sparkled with light. A crisp black suit draped over his still-upright frame, with a bright red rose tucked into his breast pocket.

"Principal Anjou," Professor Schneider said.

"The diving crew of the *Moniah* has returned safely. I announce that our mission is a success; we have obtained important data. Thank you all, especially for Lu Mingfei’s efforts. Dismissed," the Principal said calmly.

The hissing stopped abruptly.