Chapter 11: The Ancestral Cell Phone

Outside the collapsed pile of rubble, in the darkness that had been cordoned off, the students stood in stunned silence.

The collapse had come so suddenly, without warning.

“Help! Somebody help!” Only when the cries rang out did everyone realize that someone had been buried beneath the rubble. In the confusion, some quickly lit up the lamps, others listened carefully for sounds to locate the victims, and then, with hurried hands, they pulled them out.

Bandages were wrapped around wounds, abilities activated to heal injuries… Some, like Ye Chao, could do little to help and seized the chance to eat the dinner they’d managed to salvage—after all, they’d all been trained, and Ye Chao wasn’t the only one quick to react.

After the chaos subsided, they discovered that those buried were all students, mainly student leaders.

The teachers called for evacuation, instructing the students to go first. This round of collapse seemed to have separated teachers and students just so—teachers remained inside, students outside.

It was an awkward situation…

The teachers were engaged in a fierce battle with the beast-men, and separating the students made it easier for them to fight—but now, outside, the students were left leaderless.

“What should we do?”

“Do we just wait here?”

“What else can we do, if not wait?”

The young seniors exchanged bewildered, anxious glances.

Three exits, three corridors, dividing the students almost evenly into three groups. The chaos was uniform, their reactions nearly identical.

Ye Chao was at the central entrance.

“Hush, be quiet, listen carefully!” Suddenly, two voices spoke almost simultaneously.

One was Ye Chao’s. This immediately provoked resentment around him: “Huh, why should we listen to this useless—”

The words were abruptly cut off, forcibly swallowed, because the other speaker was Xu Tiange.

Xu Tiange looked a little disheveled—she had been the only one actually buried alive. But a three-star was still a three-star; while others had to be rescued, she managed to wriggle herself out. While others wore bruises and swelling all over, she remained energetic—aside from some dirt, even her proud ponytail wasn’t drooping.

Fate treats people differently: Ye Chao’s words were ignored, while Xu Tiange’s brought everyone to attention—they realized there was still fighting inside. Unable to see, they could only listen.

Everyone strained their ears.

But Ye Chao’s reason for calling for silence wasn’t this—he wanted to settle his mind and enter the virtual space to observe Alpha Ji’s surveillance. Although rubble had blocked people and their sight, the signal remained. Even if the communication quality was affected, he should still be able to get a rough idea.

He wasn’t very practiced at entering this meditative state, but Xu Tiange’s influence was enough—her words silenced everyone, allowing him to concentrate without distraction.

After thirty seconds, he successfully entered the virtual space, only to see nothing but a black screen.

Ye Chao distinctly remembered that there had been images just a moment ago…

Even without meditating, he could sense the state of the virtual space, though only vaguely.

“Has the signal been cut off?”

“No, I turned it off myself.”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you begging me? Beg me, and I’ll show you!” Alpha Ji crowed triumphantly.

As long as you promise that from now on, I’ll be free to come and go, and you won’t stuff me anywhere you please, I’ll let you see!

Ye Chao said nothing—in the next second, he vanished from the virtual space.

Alpha Ji: =￣ω￣=

Completely off script... She looked around, her code uneasy: He can’t do anything to me, right? He shouldn’t be able to, right? He really shouldn’t—should he? Shouldn’t he? Should he? Dad...

[Affinity -10?]

In truth, Ye Chao had no time for such matters. Though his social skills were lacking, his mind was agile. If one path didn’t work or would waste too much time, he immediately chose another, without hesitation.

He moved through the crowd toward Fang Ju: “Can you get me a phone or tablet or something?”

A military-issue tablet would do, but it had already been surrendered according to regulations. Ye Chao had worried for a while, fearing that Alpha Ji would disappear once the tablet was handed over—but it turned out he'd worried too much.

Fang Ju thought for a moment and led Ye Chao to Xu Tiange: “I remember Big Xu has an heirloom phone, but I don’t know if she brought it. What do you need it for?”

An heirloom... phone?

Alpha Ji: 눈_눈

Big Xu was Xu Tiange—“Big” because she was the leader of their year, “Xu” because she was also the class president of Class Three.

Seeing Ye Chao approach, Xu Tiange wiped the dust from her face, only making herself dirtier…

She held her head high with pride, and asked Ye Chao the same question.

“I want to see how the battle is going inside,” Ye Chao explained simply. Xu Tiange still didn’t understand, but didn’t press further.

She only said, “Hmph, why should I lend it to you?”

Though her words were stubborn, her hand obediently produced the heirloom phone.

He took it—a Redmi Pro 5 from the five-core era, equipped with a holographic projection feature.

Fang Ju sheepishly touched his own weapon—a Xiaomi power bank.

Redmi was a renowned brand, with enormous numbers still in circulation, and even its knock-off, Xiaomi, had plenty unearthed. But the Redmi Pro 5 was different—a limited edition, scarcely issued, rare enough to be considered a family treasure.

Holding the screen between his fingers, Ye Chao closed his eyes, concentrating, feeling for the faint waves in the air…

He had a bold idea.

He’d always thought his ability was to repair data, until he met Alpha Ji, experienced the virtual space firsthand, linked up with all the surveillance in the area through a quantum connection said to disturb ghosts… Reflecting on the flow of that power, Ye Chao felt he might not be talentless, but simply had been striving in the wrong direction.

Perhaps his gift was not repairing data, but… repairing signals! An ability no one—at least no one he’d heard of—had mastered.

This was why he rarely paid Alpha Ji much attention, and often seemed distracted.

In fact, there was much to be discovered in Alpha Ji—her existential questions, her knowledge of the world before the calamity, the disaster animations she downloaded from unknown sources—all worthy of deep study.

But… secrets could wait, exams could not, and that material was off-topic. So Ye Chao had to suppress his curiosity.

He gathered his will, summoned that strange yet familiar power, recalled the mysterious feeling when the virtual space was filled with surveillance, and launched his ability: “Come forth!”

The Redmi screen flickered—an indistinct but real image appeared…

But it was only a flash. Instantly, the image vanished again.

How could that be?

The sensation of his hand stirring the air, though faint, was undeniably real—Ye Chao was eighty percent sure he’d succeeded. And the image had appeared…

“Well, you’re pretty quick to react!” Alpha Ji praised him, seemingly approving, but her gaze was fixed on the collapsed entrance.

“Was that you?” Ye Chao was alert.

“It wasn’t! I didn’t! Don’t accuse me!” Alpha Ji replied lazily.

Not you? Then who… Ye Chao, despite his low social skills, couldn’t help but suspect—but a sudden voice interrupted his thoughts.

A voice echoed through the corridor, clear, loud, powerful—as if someone was speaking through a megaphone, though there was none. The words repeated over and over: “All students listen up, do not crowd the entrance, evacuate immediately, this is an order! All students listen up, do not crowd the entrance, evacuate immediately, this is an order!…”

The same phrase repeated—it was Director Guan Junyuan, presumably still fighting on the other side of the rubble.

Sonic manipulation.

Evacuate? Evacuating was fine, but to where? This vast tomb was a maze, with countless branches and passages…

Though puzzled by the instructions, the students instinctively began to move—because “this is an order.” As for their confusion, they could think it over as they walked.

Many felt an ominous foreboding—could it be that the teachers… were unable to hold on? Otherwise, why order everyone to evacuate, even with the entrances sealed?

With unease and suspicion about the unknown, the students began to withdraw.

But they soon encountered a problem.