Wen Jing calculated algorithms based on the energy trails, weaving through countless real and illusory energy channels in search of a landing point back in reality.
The peculiar energy belonging to an Awakened surged through the silver-gray insect's body, seeping into each strand of Gravity Silk and making the translucent Gravity Silk Cocoon glow faintly.
For Awakened whose compatibility was not high enough, returning from the Ancient Wilderness to the material universe was somewhat like channeling a return-to-town spell in a game: they had to avoid being attacked during the process.
It was not that an attack would actually interrupt their channeling like in a game. Rather, when an Awakened left the Ancient Wilderness, their energy level gradually declined.
An attack would cause a massive deviation in their final spatial landing point. Even with heaven-defying luck, if they managed to survive, both their Wilderness Body and their human body would suffer severe lasting effects.
However, the higher an Awakened's compatibility, the faster they could return. Some powerhouses could even enter and leave the Ancient Wilderness to "blink" through the real universe, dodging all kinds of lethal attacks.
In space not far from Ochre Soil Star, the radiance of a high-energy electromagnetic cannon traced a beautiful, straight trail of flame, visible even to the naked eye from the planet's eastern hemisphere.
The instant the electromagnetic cannon's light engulfed him, Tainuo vanished from space.
A moment later, he appeared directly beside a figure a hundred meters away.
His muscles heaved, and his already two-meter-tall frame rapidly swelled to three meters. Black, keratinous scales covered his skin, and sharp spinal bones protruded from his back.
"Empire scum. You picked the wrong person to mess with."
The once-stern chief examiner now grinned so widely that the corners of his mouth reached his ears. Between his interlocking fangs, drops of lava radiating terrifying heat dripped down.
The man wore a combat suit different from the Federation's style. Faced with Tainuo's sudden appearance, especially the sight of his cracked vertical pupils, his expression filled with horror. He immediately opened a spatial passage beneath his feet.
Just then, a slender, pale woman's hand scored four cracks through the space beneath him as though it were glass.
The cracks blocked the escape passage right before him. Before he could see who had done it, the towering dark figure behind him struck, the intense heat vaporizing him outright.
With his death, the surrounding black holes vanished completely.
Tainuo looked at the white-haired woman nearby. His body shrank back to a normal human form, and he seemed somewhat surprised by her appearance.
The white-haired woman was exquisitely beautiful and only about 1.6 meters tall, which counted as petite in the interstellar era. But since she could fight directly in space, she was clearly a powerful Awakened whose compatibility had reached one hundred percent.
Sound could not travel through space. The two merely exchanged a glance, then flew toward the spaceship in unison.
The shot had pierced the ship's cabins, but Tainuo's Awakened guards had kept its core propulsion area protected with energy shields, allowing it to repair itself.
After entering Cabin One, the first to be repaired, Tainuo took the initiative to greet the white-haired woman:
"Dean Bai, I didn't expect you to come personally."
Dean Bai had no intention of exchanging pleasantries. Her expression was frosty. "Another F-rank prisoner."
Tainuo said in a low voice, "Ever since the Empire unearthed a B-rank Awakened with the ability 'Ability Diversion' twenty years ago, raids like this have happened frequently. Compared to what they gain, their losses are far too small."
"You still had the new students enter the Ancient Wilderness?"
"Yes."
"Has it been five minutes since they entered?"
"Thirty-two seconds to go."
They looked at each other for a moment before Dean Bai said, "Prepare for search and rescue. Count the surviving students."
Twenty minutes later, Tainuo walked over to Dean Bai and sent her a report:
"The rescue was timely. Only one person suffocated in space. The other thirty-eight received emergency treatment in time."
Dean Bai merely frowned, looking at the column labeled "Number missing in the Ancient Wilderness."
The number was 195, including 103 of Ochre Soil Academy's incoming students.
She expanded the detailed entries. The students were automatically ranked by their unified examination scores, and the first name that caught her eye was Wen Jing.
The Shadow Wolf lowered its head, swaying it from side to side, its nose twitching constantly as it carefully distinguished the scent here that struck it as unusual.
At last, its red eyes lit up, locking onto the direction of its target.
Its head lowered, stopping before a white silk cocoon smaller than its black nose.
Chapter 9
The Shadow Wolf's nose hovered beside the cocoon, sniffing repeatedly, seemingly full of confusion.
Pleeease don't notice me! I'm barely the size of a booger-not even a mouthful!
The little silver-gray insect inside the cocoon lay utterly still, like a dead thing. Only the resonance chamber inside the scales on her back vibrated within her body.
This was the first time Wen Jing had discovered she even had such a warning organ inside her.
At this point, she profoundly understood what it meant to be trapped in a cocoon of her own making.
The only thing she could do now was push through the chaotic energy channels with all her might and reach her spatial landing point as quickly as possible.
But the situation before her was not something Wen Jing could decide by sheer will.
The mathematics, physics, astronomy, and other subjects studied before awakening all laid the groundwork for applying algorithms afterward. Having scored full marks in the academic subjects, she applied algorithms extremely quickly and could swiftly select the correct energy channel.
But because she herself was too weak, her speed of "movement" after determining the direction was limited.
That was also why Tainuo had said the fastest return took five minutes. That applied to Awakened with high potential; those with low potential took longer.
The Shadow Wolf's breathing swept over the cocoon like mountain winds blowing back and forth.
Before it approached, Wen Jing had already been "channeling" for nearly six minutes and had become partially insubstantial. If she only had another five min... no, three minutes, she would definitely be able to leave the Ancient Wilderness completely.
"Gulp..."
The next moment, darkness swallowed Wen Jing's entire field of vision. The Shadow Wolf's internal tissues were black as well.
Even with the little stone included, the white cocoon was simply too small. There was practically nothing to chew, and it slid down the Shadow Wolf's throat as soon as it entered its mouth.
Pain!
It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt!
If she had tear glands, Wen Jing would surely have been weeping from the pain.
Even as she was still being squeezed down toward the stomach, not yet fully inside it, the Shadow Wolf's highly corrosive saliva was already breaking down the Gravity Silk Cocoon.
Gravity Silk was not purely a secretion, but a bodily organ more akin to a tentacle.
Losing a single strand of Gravity Silk would not actually hurt, but hundreds upon thousands of strands were being digested right now!
Once the cocoon serving as a protective layer had been corroded away... it would be her turn.
Unprecedented terror engulfed her like a tide. Under such extreme terror, Wen Jing felt anger-extreme anger.
The fury burned all other distracting thoughts to ash. As calmly as a machine, she carried out her will.
On one hand, she calculated at full capacity, handling the return anchoring whose difficulty had suddenly increased exponentially because of the interference.
On the other, she carefully and slowly manipulated the Gravity Silk she could still move. Enduring the corrosive pain, she withdrew it from the stone and stuck it to the wall of the Shadow Wolf's esophagus instead.
If I can't hold out long enough to return, I'll at least make things unpleasant for this monster!
As long as its core power source remained intact, the spaceship could repair itself automatically. Half an hour had now passed, and a guard approached Tainuo for instructions, asking when they would resume their journey.
In fact, the spaceship had already met the requirements for departure ten minutes earlier, when the rescue report was submitted. By now, even some damaged nonessential facilities had been restored.
Tainuo waved the guard away and looked toward the white-haired woman seated squarely in the center of the control room.
After a pause, he still walked over and said:
"Dean Bai, the spaceship should depart."
"Wait a little longer." Dean Bai's face was dark. "There are still so many who haven't returned."
Tainuo sighed. "We've saved everyone we could."
"What gives you the right to think that?" Dean Bai looked at Tainuo. "What if they finally manage to escape danger and return from the Ancient Wilderness, only to die in space because the ship has left?"
"Not everyone has 'Luck' like you."
"Their first time entering the Ancient Wilderness, and at night, no less. They still haven't returned after thirty minutes. You should understand what that means."
Tainuo looked at Dean Bai with an expression that said, Don't be unreasonable. "Even Luosi, the incoming student with A-rank potential, was injured. Temple Group was extremely anxious when they received the news. If we don't leave soon, they'll come here."
"Then let them come!" Dean Bai snapped, slapping the alloy tea table beside her.
The metal, which would not deform in the slightest even if a hundred new students were smashed against it, instantly bore a handprint.
"Most of those missing in the Ancient Wilderness this time are our academy's new students. When raids happened near Qinglang and Xuanhuang before, why weren't they in such a hurry then? Isn't it just because they think Awakened with low potential aren't worth it?"
"What gives you the right to say E-rank and F-rank new students definitely can't survive? Does potential represent everything about an Awakened?"
"Doesn't it?" Tainuo replied flatly.
"..."
Dean Bai froze, then her slender brows shot up as she firmly denied it. "No!"
Tainuo's mind wandered briefly. Once upon a time, he too had harbored such naive delusions, but now...
He shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Please don't make this difficult for me, Dean Bai."
"Ha!" Dean Bai was not the least bit intimidated by Tainuo's rising aura. She swept a domineering gaze over everyone else in the control room. "As long as I'm here today, no one is taking this ship anywhere!"
Tainuo merely said expressionlessly, "The ship's medical facilities can only keep the injured alive. They need to reach the academy for full treatment. Are you going to disregard those injured students?"
At those words, Dean Bai's imposing air deflated like a punctured balloon.
She gritted her teeth. "Ten minutes. We wait ten more minutes, and that's it."