Chapter 214: Transcendent Circuit
For some reason, Xu Zhi had a vague premonition—perhaps this search had something to do with her.
No, more precisely, with the Federation.
Her expression didn’t change. Although the guest had clearly seen her and Qi Yanxin walk in, he didn’t stop talking with Zhuang Xu. Apparently, this news wasn’t all that confidential. His sources were likely nothing more than hearsay.
“You’d better hide those contraband items of yours properly,” the guest reminded Zhuang Xu.
Zhuang Xu let out a dry laugh. “What contraband? I’m a law-abiding citizen!”
“That aside, when do you think the search team will reach the Plains District?”
The guest shook his head, looking completely clueless. “No idea. At least half a month, I’d say.”
“I heard they’re going to search the lower levels thoroughly. It’ll take some time before they get around to the Plains.”
“Huh!” Doctor Zhuang let out a strange cry again. “Search everything? That’s a ton of work. What on earth happened for them to make such a big fuss?”
Even Nurse Xiaoman, who was usually glued to her games, lifted her head from her phone and looked over.
The guest looked a little embarrassed. “H-How would I know?”
Zhuang Xu smiled. “True enough. If you could even find out things like that, you wouldn’t still be hanging around here.”
“Alright, move it. My patient’s here.”
Doctor Zhuang waved him aside. As the guest stood up, he muttered something under his breath about “tossed aside after being used.” After that, he turned to look at Xu Zhi. Earlier he’d only glanced at her, but now that she was closer, he finally got a good look—and immediately copied Doctor Zhuang’s “Huh!”
“Why’re you in a wheelchair? Why not just get a prosthetic?”
It was only when he stood up that Xu Zhi noticed his legs weren’t quite like a normal person’s. The ankles exposed below his trousers were metallic.
Doctor Zhuang waved him off. “Get outta here. She’s not beyond saving like you. Her legs can still be fixed.”
The guest clicked his tongue. “If you ask me, ordinary legs really aren’t as good as prosthetics.”
“Alright, I’ve still got work to do. I’ve delivered the stuff—see you.” He waved casually, didn’t even wait for Zhuang Xu to reply, and turned to leave the clinic.
“Was that a friend of yours, Doctor?” Xu Zhi asked as she took off her cap and brushed her hair back with her right hand.
“How could you tell?” Zhuang Xu raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Xu Zhi smiled modestly. “Some of the way he talks—certain phrases—are a bit like yours. The kind of verbal habits that only close friends pick up from each other.”
Zhuang Xu clicked his tongue. “Sharp little girl.”
“You guessed right. He’s been my friend for thirty years.”
“Thirty years?” Xu Zhi looked surprised. “How old are you today, Doctor?”
Zhuang Xu burst out laughing. “Can’t tell, huh? I’m already forty-two!”
That meant they’d met when they were teenagers. Truly old friends.
“Xiaoman! Come check her recovery!”
“Coming!” Since she’d been listening to gossip just now and hadn’t started a new game yet, Nurse Xiaoman wasn’t nearly as reluctant this time.
The test results were quickly printed out. Zhuang Xu looked them over and nodded. “Recovery’s going well. Your body’s still fragile, but your bones and tendons are already healing and regenerating. Rest for another half month or so and you should be able to get out of bed and walk a bit. I’ll change your meds later. After taking them, you might feel very itchy deep in your bones—that’s normal. Just bear with it.”
“Come on, give one more drop of blood.”
Still unwilling to give up, Zhuang Xu had already set a small bottle of coagulant aside and took out a vial of reagent Xu Zhi had never seen before.
“This reagent can detect which attribute of transcendent elements in your body is the most chaotic. Simply put, it can tell what kind of transcendent power injured you.”
The moment he said that, Xu Zhi’s heart skipped a beat.
It was a good thing—but not for her.
The greatest damage inside her body, without a doubt, came from [Cup].
She still had no idea how people in this world viewed [Cup], or what kind of existence transcendent users of the [Cup] attribute were. Being detected as having mostly residual [Cup] energy inside her right now was definitely not a good thing.
Xu Zhi put on a nervous, frightened look and said softly, “Doctor, could we do this next week instead? I’ve only just gotten a bit better, and I haven’t even replenished much blood yet.”
“Uh…” Zhuang Xu hesitated. Seeing her pale face, he recalled how last time she’d nearly looked half-dead after losing just a tiny bit of blood.
“That’s true. You should have your sister give you more blood-nourishing food. A lot of tests need blood, after all.”
He put the reagent away. “Alright, next week then.”
Xu Zhi quietly let out a sigh of relief. But this excuse would only work once. Using it again would definitely seem strange. Her mind kept racing, thinking of possible solutions.
—
“A week has passed, and there’s still no transcendent energy in your body at all. Looks like something is preventing you from absorbing transcendent energy.”
“There are many ways to block a transcendent from absorbing energy, but they generally fall into a few categories. First, isolating all transcendent energy around the transcendent—that can obviously be ruled out.”
“Second, using some kind of sealing ability on the transcendent. That can also be ruled out, because there isn’t even a trace of any transcendent energy in your body, including that from other people.”
“Third is damaging the transcendent themselves. In your case, it can only be this.”
At this point, Zhuang Xu sighed. “But that’s troublesome. To make a transcendent completely unable to absorb even a single bit of energy, it’s very likely that the entire transcendent circuit has been destroyed.”
Hearing this, Xu Zhi suddenly asked, “Transcendent circuit? What’s that?”
Zhuang Xu slapped his forehead. “Oh—right. I forgot you don’t remember anything.”
“You know what an electrical circuit is, right?”
Xu Zhi nodded.
“Just like electricity needs circuits to flow, transcendent energy also needs transcendent circuits to operate.”
She’d never heard of it.
Real confusion showed in Xu Zhi’s eyes.
She truly knew nothing about this. In the Federation, transcendent users just charged ahead on their own, brute-forcing cultivation and leveling up. No one talked about circuits. Even levels were something they invented and figured out by themselves.
It seemed the transcendent system here was indeed far more complete.
“Anything that has even the slightest connection to the transcendent—everything—has its own transcendent circuit. Transcendents are no exception.”
“There are many types of circuits, which I won’t go into now. You just need to know that if a transcendent’s circuit inside their body is completely destroyed, not a shred left, then they can no longer absorb any transcendent energy.”
“Because there’s simply nowhere for transcendent energy to reside or circulate anymore.”
Xu Zhi nodded thoughtfully. “I see. So in my case, my circuits were destroyed too?”
Zhuang Xu nodded. “Very likely. But we still need to test it. Once you’re in better condition, we’ll run some tests and we’ll know for sure.”
