Chapter 168

Page Twenty-Five Professor Shí Huǒróng

Because the underground temperature was not as cold as on the surface and was even comfortable, she simply took off her white coat, soaked with dirt and diesel, and her thoroughly wet work pants. Professor Shí Huǒróng tossed the clothes into the water to soak and wash them, then used magic to create a warm current to attempt to slowly dry the clothes.

Without detergent, this method would not clean them properly.

During this time, she wore a relatively clean undershirt and underwear, sat cross-legged on the laboratory’s sofa to rest, and threw the bulky welding helmet to the entrance. This gave me the chance to finally see Professor Shí Huǒróng’s appearance… well, and her abs.

Mm-hm, under the unbuttoned shirt, six solid abs were hard to look away from. Unlike Sister Qiúluó, Professor Shí Huǒróng didn’t appear particularly strong at first glance, and even her arms looked quite slender after removing her clothes.

“Haha, Xiao Língmèng, what are you looking at?”

Noticing my gaze, she showed no signs of shyness but instead lifted her shirt to show off.

“Old man’s abs are great, right! Want to touch? They’re really hard! Nowadays, young people don’t like exercising. They don’t realize that a strong body is just as important as a smart mind, and they complement each other…”

Before she could finish speaking, Miss Kē Màn sighed and covered her shirt back up, then brought a blanket to cover Professor Shí Huǒróng’s legs and underwear, advising, “Professor, you should be more mindful of your behavior, especially given your gender.”

Despite being from an older generation, Professor Shí Huǒróng had very open thoughts.

“It won’t make any difference if I’m seen, besides, I trust you all!”

Although she said this, she did not continue to display her abs.

I asked, “Are you really the same age as Senior Sister and Master?”

Professor Shí Huǒróng narrowed her eyes and explained, “Yes, we three were high school classmates, though I went abroad later… It feels like a dream to see old friends again in another form.”

She was referring to Senior Sister Bìfāng.

I sighed, “Then you must have attended your own funeral too, right?”

According to the tradition of Master and Senior Sister, every transformer needs to sever ties with their past and start anew with a new identity.

However, Professor Shí Huǒróng shook her head.

She said, “No, I didn’t make it that grand. After all, I never had children or anything to hold onto, so all I needed was a death certificate.”

A legendary lifelong bachelor!

“If you were once an engineer, wouldn’t you be considered successful? How come you have no wife and children?”

Miss Kē Màn explained proactively, “Professor Shí Huǒróng devoted all her energy to construction projects. Due to her intense focus on work, her wife divorced her, and she didn’t have any children…也算是自作自受的。”

“I know I was wrong, and now I am alone.”

Miss Kē Màn added with a smile, “Then you should cherish this new life, don’t you think about finding someone to be with?”

“Hmm? Like Senior Sister Bìfāng, find a man to marry and have a child? That might be difficult… What about you, Director Kē?”

In response to Professor Shí Huǒróng’s question, Miss Kē Màn replied with a sigh, “Sigh, I do have a family, so it’s impossible to completely say goodbye to the past. If there’s a chance, I’d like to explain things clearly.”

Miss Kē Màn patted the back of my head.

“Let’s not talk about this, let’s test the magic barrier first to see if it can isolate the power supply for the transformation spell.”

“Even so… where’s the barrier?”

I looked around the laboratory, but there was nothing that could be considered a barrier.

Professor Shí Huǒróng said, “The barrier protects the generator. It can isolate the flow of magic power inside and out. If there’s a problem with the generator, it can control the overflow of magic power immediately.”

“Where is the generator?”

I looked at the house across the way and asked, “Could it be that small house over there?”

“Yes, I’ll accompany you… ”

She stopped the heat current spell, got up, uncovered the blanket, and intended to leave the laboratory wearing only cotton white underwear.

Miss Kē Màn grabbed her and pressed her back onto the sofa.

“Professor, sit here until your pants are dry! Let Bā Hé accompany you!”

“Director Kē is really strict.”

“I can go by myself.”

I wanted to change into rain boots!

In my heart, I silently called out to Cherry Sauce, who quickly responded. The shoes on my feet and the white socks fused into rubber boots.

—”This will reduce resistance significantly. You’ll save a lot of effort when crossing the water.”—

Miss Kē Màn said, “That’s a very convenient spell. Can I analyze it?”

I shook my head and explained, “It’s not a spell. My clothes are made of a divine artifact, and the technology at the Research Institute may not be able to understand its principle… Moreover, this is also an important partner and family to me.”

For tall Professor Shí Huǒróng, the water barely reached her calves, but for me, the knee-high water level made walking extremely difficult. Maintaining a little girl’s form was truly inconvenient in many ways.

Knowing there were deep depressions in the water, I preemptively threw a few light bulbs into the water. After all, this was groundwater 300 meters deep, clean and not cold.

Bā Hé Mèi was already waiting at the door of the hut. Seeing me struggle through the water, she reached out and pulled me along.

“Língmèng Jie, your light bulbs are out of power.”

The light bulbs she had been given earlier had run out of divine power and disappeared.

I looked at her wet shoes and socks and said, “It’s amazing that you ran around in sneakers without catching a cold.”

“No worries, I’m in good health.”

“Take me to the magic barrier first.”

Since the generator couldn’t get wet, this hut was located at a higher elevation. The neatly arranged stone steps were obviously created by Professor Shí Huǒróng with her laser welder. Indeed, that thing was impressive. No wonder Boss was confident in building the Research Institute underground; the team had experts.

The door of the hut was open, and although the area inside wasn’t large, it contained a complete production line.

Four noisy diesel generators, packaged arrays of electricity conversion spells, mysterious devices for condensing magic power, and finally sealed liquefied gas tanks. Except for the flowing liquid magic, the entire production line was highly industrialized and even automated… This leap forward was too extravagant!

Most importantly, the entire production line was covered by a metal net, and blue light curtains formed on the net. That was the barrier mentioned by Miss Kē Màn, blocking the escaping magic power during production. Even if there was an accident on the production line, it could prevent the entire Research Institute from collapsing.

—”This is the same barrier I used before? They copied it pretty fast… No, they improved it and buried it underground.”—

After a dangerous incident, these witches learned their lesson and put extra effort into safety.

The generator and barrier occupied most of the small room, leaving only one drawing table with blueprints, clearly belonging to Professor Shí Huǒróng. She was planning the entire Research Institute here.

“However, the smell of diesel here is really strong.”

Although the whole cave was filled with this smell, it was strongest in this small room, with a hint of black smoke. The magic barrier seemed unable to block the smell of diesel, only preventing the escape of magic power… Is there any danger of explosion?

Even Bā Hé covered her nose and said, “The smell is strong because the diesel generator isn’t burning efficiently. Now we can only activate ventilation spells periodically to cope with it. But Professor is trying to solve this issue… Do you need an oxygen mask?”

—”Let me handle the ventilation.”—

Cherry Sauce dispatched some dark matter outside the house, which spun rapidly into a ring at the top of the cave, forming a powerful suction force and creating a gust of wind.

—”This move is called High-Speed Vacuum Suction!”—

Don’t play clichéd jokes!

But Cherry Sauce’s exhaust effect was significant. The dampness and diesel smell in the cave dissipated considerably, though the smell in this hut remained strong due to the presence of diesel barrels.

Bā Hé Mèi’s admiring gaze came over as she said, “Wow! As expected of Língmèng Jie! Ten times more efficient than Professor’s spell… Hmm, but it was overdone… a bit short on oxygen… dizzy…”

Not only was the little girl dizzy, but I felt breathless as well.

—”Ah! I’ll send down some fresh air!”—

Another gentle breeze filled the cave, and my head cleared up immediately.

“Just let me stay in here for a moment.”

Bā Hé Mèi nodded, pulled down the switch, and opened a door on the metal net.

After leading me in, she raised the power switch.

—”It’s over.”—

At the moment the metal net door closed, Cherry Sauce sent a frantic message.

—”My clone and I are connected by magic power. Cutting it off has caused the clone to lose consciousness.”—

Hmm? Wouldn’t the clone revert to a bookmark?

—”No, Lǐn Huā and the others can take care of the clone. But since we’re 300 meters underground and have no signal, we’ll be out of contact for a while. They might worry, so we’ll need to apologize to them later.”—

The notebook is Cherry Sauce’s true form, and I often forget this…

Is there any sign that my transformation spell is going to end?

—”Even if the magic power supply is cut off, the magic power already inside the spell won’t dissipate quickly. I can try to accelerate the consumption of the spell, but the mysterious girl A has disconnected from me. I want to take this opportunity to share some of my speculations.”—

Compared to the outside cave, this room was not damp. Since there were no chairs, I simply sat on the floor.

—”Remember, the mysterious girl A took a pet mink from a pet shop, so we deduced she must have a residence.”—

Mm-hm, she’s been around for days, so she definitely has a stable base.

—”On the other hand, she is proficient in teleportation spells, even reaching the point of instantaneous movement. Could her base be located somewhere normal people can’t reach, like this research institute?”—

Cherry Sauce’s speculation made everything clear.

—”Furthermore, this magic barrier has the ability to block the flow of magic power. Once activated, it prevents the use of teleportation spells…”—

Obviously.

She had another idea.