104: Chapter 104 Cutting Off the Fire at the Bottom of the Blade

Everyone's gaze was fixed on the young assistant researcher named Xu Wan.

Her mentor was the only physicist among the twelve compromised individuals who had the clearance to access the base's core energy matrix.

If he were to descend into complete madness, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Don't cover them with your hands."

Jiang Feng guided her.

"Press your palms together, shake them evenly, and then let go."

Xu Wan looked up, her bloodshot eyes filled with confusion and despair.

She took a deep breath and, following Jiang Feng's instructions, held the three copper coins between her palms.

The cold metallic touch helped her regain a sliver of rationality.

Clatter... clatter...

The copper coins collided in her palms, making a crisp, subtle sound.

At this moment, it was the only sound in the corridor.

"Toss."

Jiang Feng's voice rang out again.

Xu Wan opened her hands.

The three copper coins fell to the floor, spinning and bouncing before finally coming to a rest.

Once.

Twice.

...

Six times.

Every toss was a judgment of fate.

Lu Cheng stood before her equipment, expressionless, but the energy fluctuation chart on her tablet showed a tiny peak every time the copper coins hit the ground.

The six tosses were finished.

The six lines formed a hexagram.

Jiang Feng's gaze swept over the copper coins on the floor.

"Ze Huo Ge."

He uttered three words.

The people around them looked at each other; no one understood.

"The Ge Hexagram. Transformation, innovation."

Jiang Feng lifted his gaze from the floor and let it fall on the heavy blast-proof isolation door.

"The source of the illness isn't in the people, it's in the objects."

"Your line of thinking has been wrong from the very beginning."

His voice was calm and measured, but it caused the expressions of the experts led by Commander Li and Professor Zhang to change instantly.

"Inside the isolation zone, there is an independently running high-dimensional data model simulator."

Jiang Feng accurately named a piece of equipment.

"It is providing an energy boost to the bamboo slip's contamination, acting like a signal amplifier that turns faint static into noise capable of tearing through thoughts."

"Shut it down, and you can temporarily stabilize the situation."

No sooner had he spoken.

A middle-aged man wearing the uniform of a technical department supervisor rushed out, almost shouting his rebuttal.

"No! Absolutely not!"

He pointed at the energy structure diagram on the wall, his emotions agitated.

"Consultant Jiang, that simulator is maintaining the delicate balance of the entire B5 level energy field! It is our final line of defense!"

"If the power is forcibly cut, the energy field will instantly lose balance, and the resulting contamination tsunami will directly smash through the physical isolation doors of B4!"

"At that point, the entire Deep Well Base will become a living hell!"

The technical supervisor's words caused the crowd, who had just felt a glimmer of hope, to plunge back into an icy abyss.

Just then, Lu Cheng's voice rang out calmly.

"The supervisor's risk assessment is correct."

She held up her tablet, which displayed a 3D energy model so complex it was dizzying.

"My team has just completed the calculations."

"The model shows that the expansion frequency of the contamination energy inside B5 overlaps with the simulator's core operating frequency by as much as 98.7%."

"Consultant Jiang's judgment—that the simulator is an amplifier for the contamination source—can be scientifically confirmed."

A hint of joy had just appeared on Qian Li's face when it was completely shattered by Lu Cheng's next words.

"However."

"Our model also projects that shutting down the simulator has a 99.9% probability of causing the energy field to collapse instantly."

"The consequences are consistent with the supervisor's description."

After Lu Cheng finished speaking, she looked up, her gaze moving away from her data for the first time to look directly at Jiang Feng.

"Consultant Jiang, your metaphysics has pointed out the source of the illness, but the scientific conclusion is that we cannot touch this source."

"Touching it means mutual destruction."

A deathly silence filled the corridor.

Two conclusions.

One from metaphysics, one from science.

They pointed to the same core problem but gave diametrically opposite solutions.

One said this was the only way to live.

One said this was a certain path to death.

Sweat pooled on Qian Li's forehead, forming streams that rolled down his cheeks.

He looked at Jiang Feng, then at Lu Cheng, his mind a complete blank.

This choice was too difficult.

He couldn't afford to choose, and he couldn't afford to be wrong.

While everyone else was plunged into extreme panic and hesitation by this life-and-death question.

Jiang Feng smiled.

He didn't even look at Lu Cheng's report, which was the culmination of top-tier technology.

His finger pointed through the air at the hexagram on the floor.

"The fourth line of the Ge Hexagram. The line statement says: Regret vanishes. With sincerity, changing fate brings good fortune."

He spoke each word clearly.

"The meaning is simple."

"Doubts will disappear, trust can change fate, and the result is auspicious."

Jiang Feng leaned back on his small folding stool, shifting into a more comfortable position.

"Consultant Qian."

"Now, the choice is yours."

"Do you believe in this auspiciousness decreed thousands of years ago?"

"Or do you believe in that broken model of yours that can't even calculate what's inside the bamboo slip and only tells you 'don't move, or you'll die'?"

Qian Li looked into Jiang Feng's eyes, which were calm to the point of being almost indifferent.

Then he looked at Lu Cheng's face, which was forever rational but offered no hope.

It was true.

Science had reached its wits' end.

Other than waiting and destruction, it could provide no answers.

And this young man before him, though his methods were absurd, had never been wrong since he appeared.

Take a gamble!

A flash of crazed determination crossed Qian Li's eyes.

"Commander Li!"

He turned abruptly to look at the base commander, Li Weiguo.

"In the name of the head of the Huake Institute, I apply for temporary supreme command!"

Li Weiguo looked at him, then at Jiang Feng. His lips moved slightly, and finally, he gave a heavy nod.

"I agree!"

Qian Li took the walkie-talkie, his hand trembling uncontrollably.

"Technical Department! Await my command!"

"Immediately cut the independent power supply to the simulator!"

"Repeat! Cut it immediately!"

The order was given.

The technical supervisor's face instantly lost all color.

"Consultant Qian! Think twice!"

"You're crazy! You're all crazy!"

Lu Cheng's brow furrowed tightly for the first time.

The researchers behind her had already instinctively backed away, looking for cover.

In the entire command area, everyone held their breath.

It was as if they could hear the sound of their own hearts pounding wildly.

Only two people didn't move.

Jiang Feng remained seated on his small stool, even closing his eyes, looking as if none of this concerned him.

Old Chen stood behind him like a silent mountain, his gaze locked on the blast-proof door.

A technician's trembling voice came over the walkie-talkie.

"Received... command confirmed..."

"Execute!"

A button was pressed.

Click.

A soft sound.

The energy eruption everyone had anticipated did not occur.

Three seconds passed.

"Look at the monitors!"

Someone shouted.

Everyone's eyes instantly focused on the surveillance screen.

On the screen.

The twelve red humanoid light points that had been tearing at themselves and slamming into the walls like demons.

Their movements miraculously slowed down.

They were no longer self-mutilating, no longer frantic.

Though they still wandered aimlessly within the isolation zone, the aura that was enough to drive one mad had vanished.

"It's... it's stabilized!"

"The contamination index has stopped rising! The energy field has stabilized!"

"My god..."

The wild joy of surviving a disaster instantly swept through the entire corridor.

Some collapsed to the ground; others hugged and wept.

The female researcher, Xu Wan, who had previously knelt before Jiang Feng, looked at the figure on the screen—who was confused but had quieted down—and covered her mouth, once again breaking into tears.

It worked.

The first divination, Drastic Measures.

It was a success.

[Ding! Effective Divination Count: 1/3]

Jiang Feng slowly opened his eyes.

He looked at the twelve researchers on the screen who were like the walking dead, feeling not the slightest bit of relief.

What they had just turned off was only the sound of the television.

But the television was still on.

The malice from the bamboo slip had only temporarily lost its energy amplification and become quiet.

It was still there.

Still inside those people's minds.

How to safely rescue them was the biggest challenge.