Chapter 85

Chapter 85

The damage caused by the contaminants to the electrical equipment was just beginning to show its true power.

For Ji Xinghai, the biggest impact was that all the detection devices mentioned by the NPC teachers had stopped working. As a result, he began acting alone after entering the main control room.

In the darkness, detailed maps and a keen sense of direction played a crucial role, allowing him to quickly reach the underground area where no one else was allowed to enter casually.

"Although I don't know what he's planning to do, he must act fast," said a member of the Black Tower, pushing his glasses up. "Places like this have preparations for various disasters; they won't allow the main control room to remain out of their control for too long."

Not only must he act fast, but he must also strike decisively.

This time, Ji Xinghai caught them off guard, but next time they would be prepared, making it impossible for things to go as smoothly.

"In our previous analysis, the major threat in this scenario is the increasing rules and hints each day. These rules and hints may change based on the students' situations, making their situation more difficult as time goes on.

"But honestly, although I hope the students can clear the scenario early and avoid these traps, I didn't expect Ji Xinghai to break through the mental limitations on the very first day and jump straight to the final step."

Some of the students inside probably thought of this too, but thinking and doing are two different things.

It wasn't that they lacked ability, but rather that the conditions were not favorable. Ji Xinghai's success was the perfect combination of ability and opportunity.

"I doubt the Hungry Academy anticipated facing the possibility of the game being cleared on the first day."

Main Control Room.

Ji Xinghai looked at his watch; it had taken him twenty-seven minutes from getting the key to reaching here.

Since the NPCs were focused on the damaged filter, his path was relatively unobstructed. However, the seemingly small main control room had a complex layout, and the clown doll's height of less than twenty centimeters made navigating it quite troublesome, thus taking extra time.

He now stood at a Y-shaped intersection, with the left passage leading to the basement where the contaminants were stored, and the right passage leading to the warehouse where teaching materials were kept.

Ji Xinghai needed to go to the warehouse with teaching materials, but he was unsure how long the damaged filter outside could hold. He needed to speed up.

He accelerated once again and reached the warehouse door within a minute.

The warehouse door was locked, but there was a glass opening similar to a pharmacy window on the left side. He leaped up and grabbed a protruding ledge about a meter high.

Behind the window, an idle NPC was startled when it saw the clown doll easily jumping onto the ledge and approaching.

"You..."

Before it could finish its sentence, the clown doll flew over at bullet speed, using its forehead as a stepping stone to enter the room.

That single kick knocked the NPC unconscious, causing its mechanical arms, resembling those of a Thousand-Handed Guanyin, to crash heavily to the ground with a metallic sound.

Ji Xinghai glanced at it, confirming it was unconscious, then ran swiftly along the metal limbs to the table. The NPC's body twisted and coiled, requiring constant adjustments in direction, but his movements were as agile and stylish as parkour.

The audience wondered if they were watching a survival challenge or a spectacular performance.

"How far has he gotten?"

Ji Xinghai's actions were capturing the hearts of billions of people in the outside world. The battle had just begun, yet someone had already infiltrated the enemy's stronghold, aiming directly at the leader.

The obstacles set up by the Hungry Academy specifically for him had become steps leading him upward, step by step, to this point.

"What is Brother Hai looking for?"

Ji Xinghai walked across the table, where a computer was running software dedicated to the warehouse. He approached the keyboard, walking with cat-like lightness, occasionally pressing keys.

"He's looking for concentrated sulfuric acid," the audience realized, seeing the words appear on the computer screen.

He had jumped onto the 'confirm' button and started searching for concentrated sulfuric acid.

"His goal is clear: concentrated sulfuric acid. The only mention of it before was by that three-legged NPC," said the head of the Analysis Group, pulling up the recorded footage. He quickly found the scene where the NPC teacher and the three-legged mechanical entity chatted.

Here, the three-legged entity mentioned that the students in their class were conducting experiments involving strong acids.

Ji Xinghai likely formed the idea of using this dangerous chemical material during this conversation. Later, the map shown by the NPC teacher revealed the location of the teaching materials warehouse, providing him with the route.

However, they still didn't understand why Ji Xinghai needed such a strong acid. If he wanted to kill someone, a knife would be more efficient.

The search results for concentrated sulfuric acid appeared. As a dangerous chemical reagent, it was stored in a specialized cabinet. The computer displayed information about its concentration and storage quantity.

98% concentration of sulfuric acid, with a 7-liter stock.

A visible sense of satisfaction appeared on Ji Xinghai's face.

He then searched for 98% concentrated nitric acid and glycerol, as well as saltpeter and laboratory equipment.

Watching Ji Xinghai's operations, the eyes of the head of the Analysis Group grew brighter: "I think I know what he's planning to do."

"I figured it out too," said the minister.

"He's not leaving anyone alive."

Meanwhile, chaos continued in the school. All the night-shift students had come out and lined up below, supervised by some teachers—though with the dolls completely tamed, there was no need to worry about them straying.

Whispering was inevitable, however.

Nine students who had managed to leave their classrooms in their own ways hid in the shadows. Among them were the eight who had stayed behind earlier and the newly escaped Barbie doll student. Three of them had joined forces.

"The main storyline progress has increased by nearly 40%. Either a team is involved, or someone has discovered an important plot. Do you think this chaos was caused by that team or person?"

"It can't be, right? It's only the first day. Did you find anything while exploring?"

The three had teamed up while infiltrating the main building of the school and exploring the scenario. Before that, they had been acting alone, so they might have made some discoveries.

However, the one asked shook his head: "I almost got caught by an NPC; I barely escaped. What could I have found? Barbie, did you find anything?"

As the Barbie doll, Rosa suddenly thought of the JiuZhou student.

Ji Xinghai, the genius student who had won two consecutive championships, was an elite of JiuZhou and also recognized by the students as someone strong and as upright and reliable as a knight.

Could it be him?

Rosa had that intense sixth sense, but she didn't say anything, showing no sign of surprise on her face: "No. This building isn't very friendly to our toy-sized bodies, and there are also many NPCs."

The other two agreed wholeheartedly and accepted this explanation—what they thought privately was unknown, but their faces showed nothing but trust.

"Found contraband. Found contraband."

A bad piece of news—the scheduled major sweep for tomorrow had been brought forward. Numerous small robots crawled out from the base of the school buildings, climbing up the main structures, classrooms, and heading towards the square where the students were lined up waiting.

At first, the students didn't take it seriously until they were quickly discovered. "How did it find us?!"

The cute electronic voice became a nightmare at this moment. These small robots seemed specifically designed to capture toys; their electronic eyes could scan toys hidden in the farthest corners, their deformable bodies could flexibly squeeze into the narrowest gaps, and their powerful pincers could grab dolls and send them into the shredder.

Eight students ran frantically, dashing through the orderly lines, causing cries of alarm wherever they went.

The dolls greedily followed the fleeting figures of the toys with their gazes, and the previously lifeless lines slowly gained some 'vitality.'

Viewers also watched the situation at the school through the live streams of these students. They knew the truth, knowing that all of this was the work of one person.

Honestly, breaking the filter wasn't much of a problem; many students had the ability to do so, even causing more commotion. But all actions must have meaning; simple and brutal destruction is foolish behavior.

Clearly, Ji Xinghai had planned everything, just like when he pried open the cargo container and took out carefully preserved strong acid and other chemical reagents; there must be a reason for doing so.

However, the size of the toys was indeed quite troublesome; even if he wanted to prepare something, he could only make small quantities. At this point, the school authorities had begun investigating the entire academy to find the perpetrator, and the viewers were somewhat worried.

Some of those small robots had entered the main school building through pipes. Where had they reached? Would they appear in the central control room?

The appearance of these robots might affect or even lead to the failure of Ji Xinghai's actions, leaving everyone, whether they liked the JiuZhou students or not, in suspense.

This world had been too quiet for too long, and it desperately needed some miracles.

Central control room, warehouse.

Outside was bustling, but inside the warehouse, it was quiet. The warehouse manager, with a bump on its forehead, slowly regained consciousness. It extended one of its mechanical arms, covered with silicone film, to cover its forehead, taking a while to remember what had happened before.

"Wake up?" A demonic voice sounded in the warehouse manager's ear, and a sharp blade pressed against its throat, "Can you help me with something?"

Five minutes later.

"Is, is this okay?" The former warehouse manager, now a hostage, asked nervously.

One of its mechanical arms held a 1000ml conical flask and shook it violently in a regular rhythm, while the other arm slowly poured concentrated glycerol into the conical flask.

The lower half of the conical flask was immersed in ice water, the ice being the result of nitrate cooling.

"Steady, keep going. What's there to be afraid of? Follow my instructions, and you won't go wrong." Ji Xinghai, perched on the warehouse manager's shoulder, said coldly.

"I'm not a graduate of chemical engineering..." The warehouse manager was almost in tears.

The conical flask contained a mixture of concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid! This clearly wasn't a children's fun experiment. Its lack of shaking was purely due to the stability settings of the mechanical arm.

"Oh, is that so? Well, you can be now." Ji Xinghai said matter-of-factly.

There was no room for negotiation in his tone, and the warehouse manager had no choice but to continue operating with tears in its eyes. It strictly followed Ji Xinghai's instructions, timing every second precisely and measuring every drop accurately.

In this experiment, there was a step to place the conical flask in ice water and let it sit for ten minutes. Taking advantage of the break, it repeated this process nine more times, obtaining ten conical flasks filled with liquid.

"Found contraband. Found contraband."

Suss, suss, the small robots finally arrived. Their special wheels could firmly adhere to steel bars.

The noise outside startled the warehouse manager, turning its long donkey face pale.

"Keep going." The cruel voice brought the warehouse manager back to reality, "They might make your future terrible, but I can make sure you have no future right now."

The threat worked.

Through the closed door and window, the warehouse manager continued the experiment despite the warning sounds of the robots.

Finally, the slightly white liquid that Ji Xinghai wanted was prepared and divided into more than thirty small plastic bottles.

He collected these plastic bottles and also picked up several liters of alcohol lamps and high-concentration alcohol used in the experiment.

Seeing that the mini demon was in a good mood, the warehouse manager couldn't help but ask, "What exactly are you preparing?"

It was made from two dangerous strong acids, definitely a hazardous chemical, but thankfully it was careful and didn't spill any on itself.

"Oh, a drug to relieve angina."

The warehouse manager breathed a sigh of relief.

"...which can also be used as explosives." Ji Xinghai added the second half of the sentence.