Yun Ruoxi’s eyes grew redder, like a rabbit’s. She was flushed from being refuted by the two of them, unable to say a word, and finally could only lower her head to apologize.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“There is no need to apologize,” Lin Zhen emphasized. “This is the Saints’ Hand Society’s fault, not ours!”
“Mm!” Yun Ruoxi nodded.
“A Zhen, how long will it take you to build a spaceship?” Yun Che suddenly asked.
Lin Zhen glanced at him and mused, “Three days. No — if I go all out, maybe only two days.”
“That fast? Are you sure?” Yun Che didn’t lack trust in Lin Zhen, but this was a major matter, so he asked again.
“Yeah. Although I’ve been under the Doctor’s surveillance for the last two years and had no way to attempt it, thanks to him, I have a very clear understanding of the range and limits of my ability,” Lin Zhen said seriously, looking at everyone.
“Building a spaceship from scratch relying solely on my supernatural power is indeed difficult — one could even call it a pipe dream — but I can truly do it!”
[**Dr. Forefinger has really done a great service**]
[**It’s true; without Dr. Forefinger, Lao Lin probably wouldn’t have the power to escape, nor would he be so determined to do so**]
[**The Goblins’ seventh equipment turned out to be Dr. Forefinger**]
Yun Che nodded in understanding. “In that case, if no one wants to give up, that means we have less than nine days left to find a way to get some metal!”
“Why nine days?” Kaos asked in confusion. “Shouldn’t there still be nineteen days left before the survival test ends?”
“Use your brain, A Kai!” Yun Che said, speechless.
Zi Jiu smiled.
“Because it takes one day to return to the Surface from here, and we cannot build a spaceship underground.”
“Furthermore, we cannot pin our hopes on something as unlikely as the star core only being taken by a trainee on the final day. Therefore, the time left for us might not even be half of the eighteen days. Nine days should be the ideal outcome A Che gave us.”
Yun Che shrugged at Kaos. “See? Just like that. It’s something very simple to figure out.”
“Tch!” Kaos curled his lip.
“But nine days is still very short,” Lin Zhen said helplessly. “Nine days isn’t even enough time for us to search the entire planet once.”
“Maybe we don’t need to search the entire planet.” Yun Che stood up and paced around the room. His expression remained calm, but his tone was somewhat excited.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier, Lin Zhen. You said that no metal elements exist on the entire planet, right?”
“That is what I said.” Lin Zhen nodded. “But that was just my guess.”
“Exactly. That was your guess.” Yun Che’s tone grew heavier, and his breathing quickened, as if he were racking his brain to think. “But since it is your guess, why don’t we be a bit bolder and flip the whole thing upside down?”
“Flip it?” Zi Jiu asked, puzzled. “What does that mean? Does Samira-21 have metal elements? But that is inconsistent with A Zhen’s detection results.”
Lin Zhen hummed in affirmation.
“I think Brother A Che means…” Yun Ruoxi looked up, a hint of a blush still on her face. “Maybe Samira-21 used to have metal elements.”
“Correct!” Yun Che agreed.
[**Only Lao Xi can keep up with Lao Che’s thinking**]
[**Lao Che has always been sharp, after all. Lao Xi is probably just purely too smart**]
[**Just look at the weight behind Number 0001**]
“It used to have metal elements?”
As he listened to Yun Che’s hypothesis, Kaos fell into deep thought, muttering unconsciously, “If there aren’t any now, where did all those metal elements go?”
His question was exactly what everyone else present was wondering as well.
Yun Che’s guess was novel. It might be the truth, or it might not, but it was a new way out regardless. It was far better than waiting helplessly for the survival test to end.
Thus, they were all thinking as hard as they could, Yun Che included. For a moment, the room was silent.
‘Conservation of matter. All matter constitutes the universe, and it is impossible for matter in this world to disappear for no reason. At most, it has been converted into an invisible form,’ Yun Che thought.
He had a hunch — a vague sensory intuition — that his guess was correct. Those metal elements still existed; they were simply isolated in a place no one knew about.
“Brother A Kai!” Yun Ruoxi suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.
Her clear and pleasant voice reached Yun Che’s ears, but to him, it sounded like the first explosion at the birth of the universe.
His thoughts rolled back and traced further and further into the past, freezing on the night they met more than ten days ago.
He asked, “Where did you guys meet?”
“Don’t even get me started. It was in a city called Giant Stone City. I followed the signal there and just happened to bump into trainees from other Battle Camps…”
Kaos said with a lingering sense of fear as he recounted the events of that day. When he mentioned the vine giants and rock giants, he even began to gesticulate wildly.
“Of course, I really didn’t expect the green elves and huang elves to have such great strength, too.”
“Oh, Giant Stone City. Green elves like to name cities based on the local specialties. I’m guessing there really is a giant stone there, right?” Yun Che smiled.
“Yes. They say it’s a divine stone that fell from the sky!” Yun Ruoxi nodded with a smile.
“Did you test it for a star core signal?” Yun Che asked.
“No. People call it a divine stone, but it’s really just a meteorite. With so many meteorites outside this planet, it’s perfectly normal for one or two to fall!” Kaos curled his lip. “How could a star core be inside a meteorite?”
“That’s it! That’s it!” Yun Che said excitedly.
Beside him, Kaos froze for a moment. He glanced at him and then continued to ask Yun Ruoxi, “Xiao Xi, what were you trying to say to me just now?”
“Nothing. I just thought of something.” Yun Ruoxi smiled slightly and turned her head, catching Yun Che’s gaze.
“Have you guessed it?” Yun Che asked.
“It should be the same thing Brother A Che guessed,” Yun Ruoxi said.
“Then will you say it?”
“No, you should be the one.” Yun Ruoxi shook her head.
“What are you two talking about?” Kaos was completely confused, unable to understand their words at all. He even started to wonder if these two were pulling some silent prank on him.
“What’s wrong?”
The noise of their conversation was so loud that Lin Zhen and Zi Jiu were also startled out of their contemplation.
Yun Che took a deep breath. “The two of us might know where all the metal elements on this planet went!”
“Wait, you already know?” Kaos said in surprise.
He knew Yun Che was good at discovering connections between things and possessed a sharp intuition nearly on par with Mo Yuan’s.
But this time was simply too outrageous.
He had proposed a guess and then solved it within minutes.
If Kaos didn’t know that Yun Che was not the type of person who liked to show off, he would really suspect whether Yun Che had come up with the result long ago and deliberately kept quiet just to make them think.
And then, when none of them could figure it out, he would step forward.
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