In June, No. 1 Middle School posted a notice announcing the final winners and personnel arrangements for the National Biochemical Operation Competition.
Her name is followed by a long list of awards, and with this gold medal, she undoubtedly secured the only spot in the Beijing University of Technology Summer Camp—everyone assumed she would get a guaranteed admission through this summer camp.
Although some people don't understand why Ruan Chen didn't just take the guaranteed admission spot from the First Affiliated Hospital, but instead chose Jinghua University of Technology, which has a slightly higher admission threshold.
Amidst congratulations and Yu Xiaoya's tearful eyes, Ruan Chen packed her schoolbag. She remained silent, carefully tidying up the messy test papers and stacking the exercise books together.
But Ruan Chen knew very well that those congratulations weren't sincere; she only found them noisy.
Only the tears welling up in Yu Xiaoya's eyes were real.
Suddenly a boy said, "Sister Ruan, I also want to apply to Jinghua University of Technology in the future. If I have the opportunity, I will need your help."
Ruan Chen thought to herself that they hadn't even exchanged a single word before, but now, calling her "Sister Ruan" felt so natural.
But Ruan Chen immediately got into character. When she looked up and smiled, her eyes were full of sincere enthusiasm. She called out the boy's name, "Okay, I'll be waiting for you at Beijing University of Technology. Good luck."
The boy's words seemed to have set a precedent, with one "Sister Ruan" after another being called out to her. Ruan Chen remained composed and handled the situation very well.
She drifted off into thought, recalling Feng Yuankai's earlier worries. He had looked at Ruan Chen with concern in his eyes and said, "You're too smart. I'm worried that you'll become less socially adept. You should learn more from Yu Xiaoya in this regard."
Actually, Ruan Chen is not ignorant or incapable.
At the age of twelve, she was able to suppress her disgust and deal with Ruan Zhengde flawlessly in the villa on the hillside. How could she be ignorant of social etiquette? She was just too lazy to deal with it.
Ruan Chen rubbed her stiff face from smiling, and slowly walked along the corridor of the teaching building with her schoolbag slung over her shoulder. She stood for a moment at the door of Feng Yuankai's office, picked up the watering can from the corner of the door, and watered the crabapple blossoms on the windowsill.
Ruan Chen couldn't see behind her. As she walked, the cameras along the way all turned slightly to a different angle, and the red lights flashed on and off, like eerie stares.
After packing her things, Ruan Chen went to the Martial Arts Research Institute. According to Duan Jingfu's plan, her first step was to try to resonate with the Ten Famous Swords and choose the one that belonged to her.
All of Ruan Chen's training at Beijing University of Technology will be conducted in conjunction with her ten famous swords.
“Normally, we should wait until the summer camp starts next week, and you and the other nine students selected from other provinces will start the sword selection ceremony together. However, because your training plan is different from theirs, and you had a resonance with Chixiao before, I suggested to the institute that you don’t need to wait.”
In the conference room, Duan Jingfu and several other senior researchers from the Martial Arts Research Institute were present, including the institute's director and deputy director.
These people were all very friendly to Ruan Chen. "It's mainly to save time. The sooner you choose your sword, the sooner you can get into the next stage of learning and training. We're very pressed for time—Old Duan has already explained it to you, right?"
Ruan Chen nodded. "I understand."
"Then let's go."
Perhaps because people who do scientific research are all pragmatists, the meeting with Ruan Chen was brief. After finalizing the arrangements, he immediately took Ruan Chen to Area A of the Wuhan Institute of Technology.
Some distance from the room where the ten famous swords were kept, Ruan Chen could see someone waiting in front of the glass room from afar.
It was Fu Jianzhi.
The director of the Martial Arts Research Institute explained, "Jian Zhi has experience in this area, and besides, I heard that you and Jian Zhi are friends, so I specially invited him to come and keep you company."
He didn't explain in detail, and Ruan Chen was tactful enough not to ask any more questions. However, Fu Jianzhi was unusually cold in front of Ruan Chen today. He didn't even glance at Ruan Chen, as if they were just ordinary friends.
The frosted glass door slowly opened in front of them, and the dense red light that had been weaving through the room disappeared, meaning that the house had now let down its guard and was open to the group.
“Ten rooms, but not every one of them has an intelligence core stored inside. Ruan Chen, can you sense which rooms have intelligence cores?” Duan Jingfu asked in a low voice, as if afraid of disturbing something.
"Intelligent Core" is the official name of the Ten Famous Swords, signifying the crystallization of wisdom and embodying almost all of China's highest technological strength.
Ruan Chen released his mental network, casually scanning the room and clicking on six of the ten rooms. "These six rooms... however, the intelligence core in the third room seems a bit off."
As she casually uttered those words, Ruan Chen keenly sensed that the professors around her had their eyes light up, exchanging glances with expressions of "I knew it."
Ruan Chen hesitated and looked at Duan Jingfu, "Mentor, is there something wrong with what I said?"
Even Duan Jingfu looked at Ruan Chen with fervent anticipation and greed, shaking his head repeatedly, "No, no, no, you're absolutely right! What do you think is wrong with this intelligence core?"
Without even thinking, Ruan Chen said, "It's incomplete, like it has no soul."
Of course, the professors wouldn't explain to Ruan Chen why she had this feeling. After all, it would be too shameful if this got out, so much so that when China issued an arrest warrant for Su Ze, the traitor, they didn't dare to say what Su Ze had stolen.
Su Ze took away the core structure of the Seven Star Dragon Abyss, just as Ruan Chen said, he took away the soul of the Seven Star Dragon Abyss.
Although the relationship between Su Ze and China improved afterward, and China was almost indulgent towards Su Ze due to his personal abilities, Su Ze never handed over the core structure of the Seven Star Dragon Abyss. China sent people to ask him about it several times, but Su Ze pretended to be stupid and fooled them.
"Ruan Chen, we can begin." Duan Jingfu gestured gently, "Don't be impatient, find the feeling you had when you connected with Chi Xiao last time."
Ruan Chen closed her eyes, and the vast mental network expanded completely in mid-air. She sensed that there were several other mental networks in mid-air, which should belong to those professors.
However, she could not sense Fu Jianzhi's presence.
Ruan Chen was in a very peaceful state of mind. Her mental network was heading straight towards Chi Xiao. In her mental space, she could vaguely see a dull and lusterless dagger floating in the void.
It felt so familiar, that connection between souls. Ruan Chen was certain that it was Chi Xiao.
But Chi Xiao remained silent, offering no response whatsoever to Ruan Chen's probing.
Ruan Chen pressed her index finger to her temple, and her mental network suddenly expanded, pressing down on Chi Xiao with a slightly domineering air—for some reason, Chi Xiao's indifferent attitude made her feel inexplicably angry.
However, suppressing mental power is useless. Chi Xiao is like a piece of dead scrap iron if he doesn't actively release his mental network to establish a connection with Ruan Chen.
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