“The principal has ordered headquarters to assist in the decryption. All we can do now is wait,” Selma said.
Lu Mingfei looked around. Everyone had a heavy face. Some were staring at the map on their monitors, and more people were staring at the “tree” on the big screen as if they were looking at a three-dimensional painting. Nono was painting on a piece of white paper at high speed, copying the dragon characters, probably hoping to understand its grammatical rules. Caesar and Chu Zihang were staring at the big screen, their faces were terribly gloomy. Kiran held his forehead with both hands, closed his eyes and thought, and the petite girl sat like a sculpture, breathing heavily, as if she was not thinking, but doing some physical work.
The professors lowered their voices and argued fiercely. They were not as pure as these students in terms of bloodline, and their direct understanding of dragon characters was much weaker, but they were just, they had studied the grammar of dragon characters for decades, and they tried to make this knowledge aggregate and explode a miracle in these twenty minutes.
Lu Mingfei thought these people were quite loyal and that it was quite admirable. Trying to decipher a map from a picture in twenty minutes was practically an impossible task. But they were all elites—giving up, even with only a sliver of hope, was shameful to them. It was like what Uncle Ben told Spider-Man before he died: “With great power comes great responsibility.” But Lu Mingfei was different—he was more like a bystander, the kind who’d scream, “Ah!” when Mary Jane got thrown down by the Green Goblin. Others heard the Draconic like thunder; they saw it come alive, blooming and growing, but to Lu Mingfei, it was just script, just a tree—simple and straightforward.
So he was pulled here with these super elites to think about the secret of dragon script that humans have not been able to uncover for hundreds of years, and to save two people who were about to die in twenty minutes. It was really like a burnt tortoise carrying an elephant on his back. Lu Mingfei felt that he was quite kind. If he had some ability to help the two people under the water, or even to pour a glass of water to quench the thirst of these thoughtful elites, he would be happy to do so. Unfortunately, it was obvious that none of these people wanted to drink water.
He liked the handsome Ye Sheng and the beautiful Aki, even if the questions they asked sometimes were a bit silly. It’d be such a pity if the two of them died—Nono was right; why weren’t they getting married already?
Lu Mingfei frowned and pretended to be thinking. This was a matter of saving lives, and he didn’t want to be seen as a cold-blooded animal because he was bored and lazy.
Time ticked away, second by second. He sighed. This cross-sea rescue mission was unrealistic. Some things were harsh, like being the Zerg your two Zerglings were trapped in the Terran base, tanks were set up, ready to fire, and you’d started hatching Mutalisks to save them. Would you make it in time? Not a chance.
Lu Mingfei paused, shivering slightly. Maybe there was still time, there was still a chance… if you were willing… to cheat!
Map… open the map, right? I just need to unlock the map… how do I unlock the map?
Black sheep wall!
Black sheep wall, “black sheep,” the restless troublemaker among the flock of white sheep, always ready to stir up trouble. What will it see when it crosses the wall? The infinitely vast world?
Lu Mingfei felt that the taboo he cited was only a thin layer of paper away. There was a group of white sheep in this control room. They just lowered their heads to eat grass and didn’t know how to look outside, so they could only be sheared and slaughtered for meat. They couldn’t find a way out. Black sheep were different. They would jump over the wall to survive. Longwen was a high wall that stood in front of them. They couldn’t climb over this wall, so they could only rely on a pair of black sheep’s sharp horns… to smash it.
Sneakily, Lu Mingfei glanced around. He hit the Enter key, and sure enough, a prompt box appeared.
“Black sheep wall.” He typed each letter carefully, ensuring it was right.
He thought he heard someone chuckle in a hidden corner. The blocks on the map moved quickly. The old roads were blocked and new roads appeared. A few seconds later, a brand new map appeared on Lu Mingfei’s monitor. Lu Mingfei couldn’t believe his eyes. He took his hands off the keyboard and widened his eyes. He didn’t do anything else, but just as “Lu Mingze” promised, a miracle was happening before his eyes. He jumped over the wall. He was the restless black sheep!
“This is the map… This is the current map!” Lu Mingfei stood up and said loudly, “I solved it!”
A few seconds later, everyone’s interface changed to a black screen. From top to bottom, a massive three-dimensional map refreshed, leaving everyone stunned, unable to believe their eyes. On this map, the huge bronze city was broken down into individual components, which were moving, with old pathways being sealed and new ones forming.
The new map was immediately displayed on the big screen. After a brief silence, everyone turned their heads to look at Lu Mingfei. After the map was solved, it was too easy to understand. Everyone realized that this was the correct result, and in the corner of the map, it was clearly labeled: “Lu Mingfei’s Decryption Result.” There was a dead silence in the control room. The calmness concealed a huge amount of surprise and uneasiness, like a depth charge sinking quietly.
Even the ice-sculpture-like girl turned her head, and for the first time, Lu Mingfei saw her face—clear as ice and snow.