novelraw Chapter 52 : Preparation Period
Chapter 52 : Preparation Period
Little Flower wrapped several layers of vines around her for protection, with energy covering the surface.
But at the moment the energy monitoring instrument exploded and the summoned body dispersed, Chen Sui still felt a massive force battering her forward, backward, downward, as if she were a rice ball being rolled in a flour pool, flattened and rounded.
She didn't know where she had rolled to, which direction she had bounced in, but finally things felt a bit calmer. As the sharp whistling in her ears gradually dissipated, she heard the broadcast.
"Energy level decreasing, alert lifted."
"Determined that 4002 energy simulation device malfunctioned, please repair promptly."
"Alert lifted, contestants may re-enter training rooms."
The blue barriers around the corridor were withdrawn.
The gazes of the crowds on both sides fell simultaneously on the green object of indeterminate shape in the middle of the corridor.
It was a huge, ball-like but not quite ball-shaped object.
Many vines extended from inside, propping against the floor and walls, pushing the green object to rotate its angle.
Everyone watched as it rotated 850 degrees before the vines slowly retracted inside.
The vines on the surface became fewer and fewer, finally all gathering into the arms of the person they had been protecting.
The black-haired girl's hair was a mess. As she looked up, her green eyes were revealed, while her mechanical eye on the other side rotated around before finding the correct position and appearing normal.
Seeing the vines retract and the mechanical eyeball moving chaotically, everyone inexplicably felt a chill, closing their eyes uncomfortably.
The iron rings in Chen Sui's hair had loosened, and her tied-up short hair immediately fell loose, sticking out slightly. She got up from the ground and turned her head around.
To the left, pairs of appraising eyes carried indescribable emotions.
To the right, gathered crowds with inquisitive expressions.
Facing the numerous burning gazes, she suddenly felt awkward and couldn't help hugging Little Flower tighter, stroking the wooden-stake head and whispering: "Go back."
As the energy simulation field disappeared—Little Flower's energy was already somewhat insufficient—it immediately vanished at her words, returning to the mental threshold.
Left alone, Chen Sui felt even more embarrassed. Receiving the baptism of stares from both sides, she extended her hand, waving to both sides, her face bright red.
"I'm sorry for the disturbance."
A group of analysts quietly passed by her, looking behind Chen Sui with shocked expressions, no one speaking.
Chen Sui turned around following their gaze.
The forced dry laugh instantly froze on her face.
The training room had been blasted into ruins, with several surrounding rooms not spared either.
The space station's energy simulation device was top-tier. Chen Sui had even increased it by one level, concerned about causing another mountain-blasting incident. Her energy simulation device had always been two levels higher than estimated, specifically opening at S+ level energy field concentration.
She thought with some despair: where had the problem occurred?
The energy crystal? Impossible, it had the Analyst Association's inspection certificate.
The summoned body? An S-level with 30% damage and the energy crystal would create an A+ level energy body. The suppression lock she made was also around S-level. Even if it fortuitously advanced again, it would still be S-level. The suppression lock and energy concentration were completely sufficient.
If it wasn't either of those... could it be her?
Thinking of the sudden energy eruption in her mental threshold, her core crystal seemed to have rotated once, a layer of green light rippling out, firmly locking the red energy crystal within the mental threshold.
Chen Sui nervously clenched her fist. At this moment, she had only one thought.
If it really is my problem------
Now, I've blown up the base.
I won't have to pay compensation, will I?
While she was shocked and helpless, continuous footsteps finally echoed down the silent corridor.
"Make way."
The Competition Committee's guard team approached with a squad of military guards.
One of them carried a detection device to check energy fluctuations.
The leader wore deep black military uniform different from the others. He had handsome features and appeared young, with sharp eyes that scanned the scene and then noticed the nervous, thin student standing in the corridor.
"Who was using training room 4002?"
He asked.
Chen Sui silently raised her hand: "I'm sorry, it was me."
The man's eyes fell on Chen Sui, and a feeling of being locked onto immediately rose from behind her. Chen Sui keenly furrowed her brow, watching his spotless black military boots from her lowered field of vision.
Unlike decorative attire, those military boots bore scratches and friction marks. Above, at his waist hung a spatial button containing an exoskeleton, with metal chains encircling his waist. On the right side, within easy reach, was a weapon of indiscernible shape.
The killing aura of the Border Army hit her full force.
He raised his hand to check the reservation records.
"Student Chen Sui."
Chen Sui looked up. Vaguely, she heard footsteps, but she didn't divert her attention, focusing on dealing with the inspector before her.
"I am Kahir, dispatched by the Military Committee, Competition Committee Inspector."
"Regarding this explosion, you need to accompany me for contingency processing."
Kahir showed her his credentials.
Chen Sui nodded.
Behind her, the school team finally pushed through the crowd.
Xie Chunshi stepped forward, his gaze quickly scanning the training room. Seeing the mess, his eyes deepened slightly as he quickly thought of Chen Sui's previous mountain-blasting incident and deduced what had happened.
"Team Leader?"
Chen Sui widened her eyes slightly, watching him walk forward, then silently moved behind the Team Leader.
Xie Chunshi shielded her, then looked at Kahir: "Director, I am Xie Chunshi, Seven Academy Team Leader. This is our analyst. The school team requests to accompany."
Kahir nodded: "Very well, let's go."
He turned around, looking at the surrounding crowd, then stood firm. His gaze swept over the military school students one by one as he announced: "Everyone need not spectate. Except for damaged training rooms like 4002, other training rooms will operate normally. Everything as usual, continue training."
The military guards behind him circled to Chen Sui's rear, escorting her to the Competition Committee office.
The office was as large as three training rooms. In the center was a huge round table, with rows of operating consoles against the wall. Chen Sui guessed these were devices for observing the competition field during matches.
Three people were seated at the round table. Chen Sui recognized the middle-aged man in green robes—Analyst Association Chairman, Master Ji Qing.
The woman to his left had eyebrows like long swords, extraordinarily valiant, wearing a neatly pressed military uniform and sitting erect as stone—it was the Border Army Military Committee Director Zhao Loulan.
The man on the right was dressed casually, relaxing against the chair back—Star Alliance Council Director Jian Run.
When Kahir brought in the five school team members, the three were watching the space station's internal surveillance.
Seeing Chen Sui enter, the man on the right sat up straight and gestured to them: "Students, please sit."
"Who caused this commotion?"
The bright-eyed, casual man looked at them with a smile.
Chen Sui sat in the middle of the school team and silently raised her hand.
Jian Run fixed his gaze on her and joked: "Little student, you're quite fond of excitement."
Chen Sui blinked dryly, hearing his good-natured teasing but not speaking.
"Let's get to business," the woman on the left tapped her index finger on the table. She looked serious, like a stern head teacher, with a natural commanding presence. "The surveillance shows you lost control after editing the energy crystal. Can you present your energy crystal data situation?"
After speaking, perhaps seeing Chen Sui's nervousness, Zhao Loulan's eyes flickered as she softened her tone: "Don't worry, analysts blowing up training rooms isn't rare. The Competition Committee invited you here just to understand the cause of the accident, to make timely adjustments for the upcoming preparation period."
Ji Qing in the center nodded, "That's right, we just want to see where the equipment had flaws."
Chen Sui relaxed a bit, seeing they were all friendly. As she took out the energy crystal, she couldn't help asking: "This is the energy crystal from this editing accident. I want to ask, for destroying the training room, do I need to provide any compensation?"
Ji Qing, seeing the young girl's somewhat guilty expression, was amused inside but answered Chen Sui's ongoing concern.
"We need to confirm this was an 'unintentional' 'accident'. For accidents, contestants are not required to provide compensation."
Chen Sui finally felt completely at ease. She took out her Light Brain: "I recorded the analysis and editing process with holographic imaging. This is the recorded video."
She packaged the video and sent it to the Competition Committee official account.
Ji Qing received her information.
"Did you misjudge the energy level? What level was the energy simulation device set to?"
Chen Sui recalled: "Level three."
Level three energy concentration was between S-level and SS-level. According to Chen Sui's submitted summoned body data, it was just an S-level high-damage energy crystal.
Ji Qing detected something unusual and gestured to Kahir, who was standing stiffly to the side.
His gaze was lowered, occasionally scanning Xie Chunshi.
"Ahem," Ji Qing reminded him, "Kahir, we may need to check the energy storage level of the training field's simulation device."
Kahir looked up, nodded, and raised his hand to point at several people: "Go dismantle the energy simulation device from 4002."
After he spoke, Zhao Loulan thought of something and frowned, adding: "Check the energy simulation devices in all training rooms near 4002 as well."
Ji Qing was examining the holographic recording and suddenly paused it before the explosion: "You used a suppression lock?"
Chen Sui was startled, then nodded truthfully: "Yes, my spiritual body level is A. This energy crystal, for which I had previously designed a blueprint, had an estimated summoned body level of A+. Even if it accidentally advanced, it would be S-level, so I made an S-level suppression lock."
Ji Qing's brow remained furrowed. His eyes scanned back and forth across the image before finally looking up at the school team.
"Your spiritual body level is A?"
"Are you sure?"
Zhao Loulan and Jian Run both looked toward Ji Qing. Even Kahir's footsteps paused slightly as he listened to Ji Qing's next words.
Jian Run was the first to ask with confusion: "What does Master Ji mean? I reviewed her test report with the Energy Field Management Department."
Ji Qing's face showed puzzlement, but after thinking for a moment, he said gravely: "You've all heard of second awakening, right?"
His gaze searched among the Seven Academy members, finally resting on Gu Qinxue.
"You are someone who has experienced second awakening. When the core crystal is damaged in moments of crisis, it causes injury that depresses the original level. After spiritual treatment intervention, the normal awakening level can be restored."
Ji Qing explained that this was currently the only theory that made sense for Chen Sui's situation.
He pointed out the evidence for his conjecture: "The reason for the suppression lock's shattering is strange. I suspect it's due to incompatibility with your spiritual body level. An S-level suppression lock couldn't possibly be incompatible with an A-level spiritual body, unless------"
Unless the spiritual body's core wasn't A-level.
At this point, seeing Chen Sui's somewhat bewildered eyes, he stopped and sighed.
Mental threshold value 94, core crystal level above S-level—how could she be an interstellar nomad?
She had been held back until now due to lack of common knowledge.
"Is there a spiritual detection device in the space station?"
Ji Qing looked toward Jian Run, as currently all matters large and small were handled by the council.
He nodded, "Yes, to check for core crystal damage in participating contestants, they're arranged in the medical institute."
"I suggest you undergo another spiritual test."