Chapter 97 Power Outage

"teacher!"

Chen Xiao'er's eyes lit up and she cried out in surprise, then she realized she had called the wrong name again!

Ugh, Professor Miroku, would you mind if I called you the wrong name? After all, professor is a job title...

She frowned in pain, really not wanting the professor who was most familiar with her and perhaps the one who "favored" her the most in the school to have any opinion about her because of such a small matter.

"Student Chen Xiao'e."

The professor didn't seem to care. The arc of her smile was just right, and she had the intelligence and reserve of a mature woman.

Milo stood up from the ground, walked to the cart a little unsteadily, and pulled the cover for the student lying on it.

Chen Xiao'er stood nearby and asked curiously, "Is that a plastic model in the car?" From a distance, one might have thought it was a professor sending other unlucky children to the hospital, but a patient certainly wouldn't cover his or her face.

As she leaned over to take a closer look, she heard Professor Milo calmly say, "It's the body of a classmate. She was a freshman in your class."

"It's the body of a classmate. She was a freshman from your class."

"...Professor, are you kidding me?" Chen Xiao'er shuddered suddenly and took two steps back behind the professor with shaking legs.

"I'm not kidding," Milo sighed softly. She put her hands on the cart and pushed it to the empty ward next door. Then she locked the door, ready to notify the janitor if a call came in.

Chen Xiao'er followed silently, and only after she locked the door did she ask weakly, "Excuse me...how did that classmate die?"

The mortality rate for young people around 20 years old should be very low.

What's more, everyone has undergone a very rigorous physical examination before taking the college entrance examination. The vast majority of students admitted by Taoli University are healthy and active athletes, with only a small number of special admissions for people with disabilities.

The girl just mentioned happened to be in her class and had also participated in the dormitory cleaning. Chen Xiao'e had a vague impression of her. She remembered her as a very energetic student who ran fast and jumped far in physical education class, so she must have had good physical fitness.

“…”

The professor was silent, and the devil was also silent.

Milo slowed down his pace, stretched out his left hand behind him, gently took Xiao'er's hand, and slowly led her to the other side of the corridor.

The professor's calm voice was clear in the corridor: "She had an accident during military training. What a pity."

"She fought bravely against the aberrations to reclaim the Energy Stone. She was very brave."

"...Is that so? What a pity." Chen Xiao'e nodded, feeling a little bitter. Perhaps he fell during the earthquake and hit an unfortunate spot. Human life is truly so fragile.

She took two steps and suddenly realized that she was being led by the professor! Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated and her cheeks flushed with nervousness.

Having her hand held by a professor and by a classmate were two completely different feelings! She was so concerned, but she didn't dare to pull her hand away, so she just let the professor hold her hand and continued walking forward.

The professor did not take her into the ward, but walked to the elevator and stopped.

This elevator probably uses an independent power supply system. Even if there is a power outage nearby and only the battery-powered night light is on, the digital display on it will still be bright.

Chen Xiao'er asked quietly, "Professor, are you going to visit a student? Or are you going to see the dean?"

She secretly made up her mind: no matter what the professor said, she would just say, "Okay, I'll go back to the ward first and not disturb you~"

After all, she had just come out to check because of the power outage. Now the situation was so serious that the repairman would definitely come soon. There was really no need to accompany the professor around.

She had a good plan, but she didn't expect Mi Luo to turn away and say bluntly, "I need to inspect the wards and corridors. Classmate Chen Xiao'er, please come with me."

"I need to troubleshoot the anomaly in the passage. Chen Xiao'e, please accompany me."

Hey - Professor, are you serious?

Chen Xiao'er pursed her lips helplessly. "Patrolling the wards and corridors should be the responsibility of doctors and nurses, right? Forget me, you're a bit too busy, with classes in the morning, afternoon shifts, and evening patrols in the infirmary.

However, it was not the students' place to complain about this matter, and she still had not figured out what specific teaching responsibilities the professors at Taoli University had.

Let’s take Teacher Joshua as an example.

He served as a military training instructor and was often seen actively participating in physical education classes. Senior students praised his ancient martial arts classes, and he was also responsible for distributing equipment for Class A's activity classes.

The application scope of professors at Taoli University is quite wide, highlighting the need to move wherever needed.

Recalling Professor Miroku's busy back, my resistance disappeared.

"OK."

Chen Xiao'er smiled sweetly, pressed the elevator button, and walked in with the professor.

…

The elevator slowly climbed up, and Milo kept an eye on the portable Pasteurometer on his wrist.

【0-1-0-1】

The number fluctuates between 0 and 1. As long as you hold Chen Xiao'er's hand tightly, it will show 0, and if you loosen your grip slightly, it will show 1. It's quite interesting, but I don't know what the underlying logic is.

The difference between 0 and 1 is very subtle: in actual experience the difference is very small, almost undetectable, but in the mystical sense the difference is huge, which is the essential difference between nothing and something.

Huh? Chen Xiao'er's face turned red, probably because she was shy.

Milo quietly let go of the student's hand, she shifted her gaze and looked at the instrument dials and metal wall panels in the elevator with a smile.

The smooth wall panels reflected the figures of Mi Luo and Chen Xiao'er, one of them standing elegantly, the other with her hands hanging leisurely.

Under normal circumstances, if there is a problem with the main energy path, even the elevator, a unique item that does not require charging, will malfunction due to interference from the surrounding high-energy radiation.

Milo was counting numbers in her mind, waiting for some anomaly to suddenly burst in. Or perhaps a strange object—the elevator would click and trigger a malfunction, trapping them inside.

Yet everything was calm, there were no elevator buttons oozing blood, and no alarms ringing.

The professor nodded silently in his heart:

The scope of application of "Reset to Zero" is probably far greater than archival records. As long as something "should work normally" in Chen Xiao'er's subjective cognition, it can be ignored and run smoothly regardless of various disordered conditions.

Ding Dong.

The elevator door opened quickly.

The elevator made a sweet beep and used the night light on the display screen to illuminate the way to the door to prevent guests from accidentally stepping on something and slipping.

Oh.

Milo couldn't help but smile. She stepped out of the elevator with her boots on and stood in the dark corridor, looking around.

The professor activated the special observation function of his lens, clearly able to see the sealed box, the turned-off suppression lights, and the artificial pipes. The pure darkness was originally filled with strange, distorted shadows, which were common abnormal growths that easily aroused strong fear in humans.

But there was nothing, there was nothing around us... there was nothing around Chen Xiao'er and me.

There are no anomalies and no demons.

Chen Xiao'er was leaning on her left side, no more than one meter away.

The child was looking up at her, as adorable as a kitten. The Pasteurometer was also adorable, with the numbers and needle stable at 0.0.

Dada.

The professor took a step forward and walked with Chen Xiao'er in the maintenance corridor which was usually fully enclosed.

This cavernous corridor leads to many important rooms that require permission to open, and is also very close to the energy main pipeline.

If any problem occurs in the main pipeline, maintenance personnel can set up a maintenance platform in this corridor to carry out emergency repairs.

Milo lowered his eyes and watched Chen Xiao'er's movements with his peripheral vision: the black-haired girl followed slowly on the left, leaving a faintly glowing footprint in the almost dark environment.

She seems a little afraid of the dark? Her night vision must be poor.

Pasha.

Chen Xiao'er didn't look up, she just followed and gently held the professor's hand in the darkness.

It was a wonderful touch. Although it was impossible to feel the softness and warmth through the gloves, Milo could grasp a trace of... tenderness from the depths of his soul.

Miroku's lips trembled, and this time she didn't let go, but tightened slightly, holding the girl's fingers.

They continued to move forward in the darkness, the growing anomalies retreating and withering under their feet, and the color of the entire corridor gradually faded, revealing a translucent and clear background.

Ding ding, ding ding.

The sounds in my ears returned to the world, that is, the repair team working hard above my head and beside me.

Sizzle.

The suppression lights above their heads flickered, and then lit up with a warm purple light. The dotted footprints under their feet floated in the mist, like a galaxy.

Phew~ What a peaceful life these days are. I feel even better when I think that the devil can’t enjoy such an experience.

Sizzle, sizzle.

The faint light of the suppression lamp suddenly brightened, and light descended again, embracing the entire corridor.

Power supply restarted.

Mi Luo raised the corners of her lips, and she held Chen Xiao'er's hand until they reached the end of the corridor before letting go.

"You take a rest here. I'll sweep up the dirt on the floor first."

"Okay." Chen Xiao'er stood aside obediently, watching the professor open the glass cabinet on the wall and take out a peculiarly shaped cleaning rod from it.

Miluo bent down and pressed the button on the side of the strange object. With Chen Xiao'er by her side, she could easily wave away a large number of abnormal growths. As she waved, she suddenly heard a tinkling noise.

"Student Chen Xiao'er?" Mi Luo turned around suddenly, and it was indeed Chen Xiao'er.

She trembled as she took a broom-shaped sweeping stick and thrust it hard into a spatial rift, stirring up a bunch of weak anomalies and making them scream.

"Aaaaaaaaaaa."

The anomalies clump together and struggle desperately. Chen Xiao'e's sweeper seems to have turned into a molten shovel. With a powerful thrust, she pushes them directly through the gap where they were hiding and into the conveyor pipe!

“Beep—”

There were thuds and thuds coming from the pipes, and the anomalies fell into the conversion furnace on the bottom floor with a plop, and were directly converted into pure energy.

The professor couldn't help but admire: Yes, if there is a link problem in the processing core, we can use the trapped exception as a backup energy source - what a trick!

"Student Chen Xiao'er." Mi Luo put down the pole with a wry smile and pushed up his glasses. "It's a bit wasteful to do this. Don't move for now. Once the maintenance staff fix the connection, a specialist will come over to catch the anomaly."

…

"Student Chen Xiao'er, please put down your broom first." The professor pushed his glasses up and patted her shoulder in annoyance. "That's the ventilation duct over there. If you push the garbage in there, it'll clog it."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Chen Xiao'er patted her heart and bit her tongue embarrassedly.

Ugh, just now I saw the professor cleaning over there, and I felt that I couldn't be idle either. There was some garbage hanging over the vent, so she wanted to sweep it down with a broom.

Unexpectedly, these garbage were not obedient at all. They were stuck on the surface and could not be removed no matter how hard I tried. Finally, they were pushed down with a whoosh.

Sorry to trouble the cleaning staff.

She put the broom back where it belonged, quietly walked over to the professor and said, "Then I'll go home first. You should also go to bed early~"

"No, you don't have to go back tonight."

"Huh?"

Before Chen Xiao'er could react, Mi Luo took her hand and walked back a few steps, stopping in front of one of the doors.

"Don't get me wrong, the maintenance staff are fixing the circuits, and a specialist will come to the ward to inspect and clean it soon. You can avoid unnecessary trouble by staying upstairs."

"Don't get me wrong, your superpowers can effectively repel and suppress anomalies. My colleagues are currently working tirelessly to repair the tunnel, and the area is teeming with anomalies waiting for an opportunity. You staying near the core area can provide us with considerable assistance."

That makes sense. When others came in to clean the ward, it did have some impact on me sleeping there.

The door opened with a click, and Chen Xiao'er followed the professor in.

Buzz... The sensor light turns on automatically, and the warm light of light orange casts a velvety texture over the room.

Chen Xiao'er looked at this luxurious lounge in amazement:

The lounge is decorated with high-quality alloy coffee tables and chair sets, and the sofas and carpets have a futuristic and functional style.

The most wonderful thing is the cabinets that interlock with the walls and window frames, each of which is inlaid with intricately carved metal decorations. Their ornateness complements the simple main design, as if pure wool is supporting exquisite jewelry.

"Sorry, it's best not to eat or drink here."

Professor Milo opened the curtains for her, and a quiet starry sky came into view.

Chen Xiao'er was attracted by the star images reflected on the glass and soon realized that these were shadows reflected by the projector.

How could the city's night sky be as clear as this high-powered telescope? Furthermore, the school's exterior was a Rubik's cube, so if you wanted to see such a large, unbroken expanse of starry sky, you had to climb to the very top.

Phew~ Staying here for one night isn't bad. I'm almost well now, so I don't need an ECG monitor.

"Okay~ I won't get it dirty."

Chen Xiao'er picked up the blanket on the stool, lay comfortably on the sofa, and looked up at the stars brought by technology.

"Good night, classmate Chen Xiao'er. There's a toilet in your room. I'll come and call you tomorrow. Try not to leave."

Miroku tiptoed to the door.

Watching the professor leave, Chen Xiao'er's mind suddenly twitched, and she asked casually, "Don't you want to rest here?"

Wow, she wanted to bite her tongue the moment she finished speaking: What are you asking? Professors have their own dorms! Oh no, I hope I won’t be treated as a hot-headed little bastard...

call.

A short laugh brewed in his nose.

"Okay." Milo turned around gracefully. Under Chen Xiao'er's round gaze, she spread out the blanket and lay down naturally on the carpet next to the sofa.

Click.

Professor Milo pressed an invisible button, and most of the lights in the room turned off at the same time, leaving only a lavender night light illuminating her graceful figure.

Gurgle.

Chen Xiao'er swallowed nervously and asked softly, "Professor, are you cold?"

As soon as I asked, I realized it was summer and quickly changed the subject: "How about... I sleep down there?"

"No, you should have a good rest."

The professor's voice is inherently magnetic, and when it is lowered, there is a special reverberation fluctuation.

Chen Xiao'er shuddered and said in a trembling voice, "Then... I, I sleep on the stool? You, you can't lie on the ground."

"It's fine."

In the darkness, I seemed to hear a chuckle, and Milo's beautiful voice stimulated my eardrums: "I will feel more at ease when I am close to you."

"……good evening!"

"good evening."

belch.

Chen Xiao'er closed her mouth, swallowed the burp, then slowly closed her eyes and imagined the lamb running across the hillside.

Absolutely – can’t sleep!