Card maker? No, I'm a mechanic!

Chapter 156 Torture

Upon hearing this, the room immediately fell silent.

Clearly, this was a test, or even a somewhat challenging one.

It's important to understand that these ancient katakana artifacts that have never been discovered are among the toughest nuts to crack in academia.

And to be thrown out in front of everyone in this gathering of big shots.

If Jiang Zhe cannot answer, or answers incorrectly —

Under this show of force...

It's not just his personal reputation that's being lost, but also Professor Lin's reputation as a leading authority.

The atmosphere inside the private room suddenly became subtle.

The remaining professors did not speak, but their gazes fell on Jiang Zhe intentionally or unintentionally.

Even Lin Ye, who had been acting like a ghost after greeting everyone, couldn't help but frown slightly upon seeing this.

The derivation of such ancient civilization technologies requires an extremely large amount of knowledge and technical support.

That's simply impossible; it's something a young person could see through in a few glances.

This seems to be a dead end.

However, faced with this sudden challenge, Professor Lin simply kept his head down and drank his tea.

He didn't even lift his eyelids, his calm and collected demeanor suggesting absolute confidence in Jiang Zhe.

"I wouldn't call it a brilliant insight, but—"

Jiang Zhe remained calm and stepped forward.

There was no restraint because it was an antique; instead, it was picked up with two fingers in a very natural manner.

With a slight movement of his fingertips, a very subtle stream of spiritual energy quickly probed into the card.

Just two seconds.

This is combined with the mental enhancement brought about by the purification of mental energy.

The card features a complex, labyrinthine energy circuit.

He understood it instantly and analyzed it into a clear structure in his mind.

"I see—"

A meaningful smile appeared on Jiang Zhe's lips.

He gently pushed the card back, his tone tinged with regret.

"You mean—you've been working on this for a long time?"

"It seems your technical capabilities are rather disappointing."

"What?!"

Jiang Zhe's words immediately caused the short-haired youth's expression to change drastically.

Even the goatee professor couldn't help but furrow his brow deeply.

"Not entirely satisfactory? Brother Jiang, isn't that a bit too arrogant?!"

The short-haired youth suppressed his anger and retorted coldly.

"This is a conclusion we reached after gathering several senior researchers and consulting a large number of ancient books."

"And you dare to spout such nonsense after just one glance?"

"Alright, since Brother Jiang doesn't think much of our deductions, then tell me what exactly happened?"

"It's actually very simple. You've just walked into a dead end without realizing it."

Jiang Zhe shook his head, put his hands on his hips, and spoke with a sense of superiority over college students, as if he were a high school student.

"When you see a broken circuit and energy buildup, you subconsciously think that something is missing to clear it."

"But in reality, you've overlooked the card's original characteristics."

As he spoke, he stretched out his finger and drew a right-angled pattern in the air.

"You can tell if you look closely at that silted-up area."

"The loop there makes a near 90-degree turn within a very short distance."

"But that happens to be a main road, so when energy, or rather water, rushes in instantly..."

"It's like a high-pressure water jet suddenly hitting a wall."

Looking into the young man's eyes, Jiang Zhe spoke slowly and deliberately.

"I call this the energy water hammer effect."

"Excessive instantaneous pressure caused energy to generate violent backflow turbulence at this point."

"The collision and crushing of energies eventually led to structural overload and the collapse of the shield."

"This has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not we are missing any guiding runes."

"What water hammer, turbulence?"

Upon hearing this, the short-haired youth was completely stunned.

These words, taken individually, are understandable, but put together they form a heretical doctrine he has never heard of before.

"Nonsense!"

The goatee professor finally couldn't hold back any longer and slammed his fist on the table, angrily rebuking him.

"Card crafting is all about rune resonance and synergy. To interpret it with such a crude concept is nothing short of a desecration of the art of card crafting!"

"Whether it's blasphemy or not, why don't you try it and see?"

Faced with the professor's anger, Jiang Zhe remained neither humble nor arrogant.

Immediately afterwards, he took out the carving knife he always carried with him.

"What are you doing! This is a precious original card from an ancient civilization!"

Upon seeing this, the young man exclaimed in surprise and instinctively tried to protect the card.

But he was still a step too late.

Jiang Zhe neither gathered his strength nor adopted any strange formation.

He merely attached a wisp of spiritual energy to the tip of the blade, at that stagnant point.

It was an extremely slight yet precise graze.

"alright."

The next moment, Jiang Zhe put away his carving knife and then made a gesture of invitation.

"I didn't add any runes, I just created a tiny chamfered pressure relief groove there."

"I also used my mental energy to carve a flow-guiding pattern, turning that right-angled wall into a rounded slide."

"Why don't you try it again now?"

Upon hearing this, the short-haired youth looked at his teacher with some skepticism.

But the professor, though his face was stern, did not speak up to stop it.

He gritted his teeth, then reached out and pressed his hand on the card, channeling his mental energy into it.

However----

"Buzz—"

With the infusion of spiritual power.

Then there was that broken card, which would jam and even smoke whenever it reached a critical point.

At this moment, it felt incredibly smooth and silky, like using an enema!

That violent energy, as it passed through that tiny pressure relief groove...

It glided perfectly along the guide lines without the slightest bit of resistance!

Immediately following was a solid, earth-yellow hemispherical shield that exuded a slightly ancient aura.

It instantly expanded on the desktop, firmly protecting the young man within it.

There was no mutation, no collapse.

Perfectly formed!

"This—how is this possible?"

Feeling the astonishing defensive power emanating from the shield, the short-haired youth's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

This was a problem that had plagued their workshop for months and resulted in countless failed simulations.

How could this country bumpkin solve the problem by scraping it with a broken knife?

And it's that theory that sounds utterly absurd?

The entire private room fell silent once again.

The goatee professor's face turned pale and then flushed, and he frowned so deeply that he couldn't speak for a long time.

Lin Ye, standing behind Jiang Zhe, looked at Jiang Zhe with a completely different expression.

If the previous renovations to that square could be described as a clever, albeit unorthodox, approach, then...

But this kind of deconstruction that gets straight to the heart of the problem is definitely a master-level technical skill!

"What an amazing water hammer!"

And so it was in this awkward silence.

The old man in gray robes who had been sitting in the main seat with his eyes closed, resting.

At this moment, he finally slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were not sharp; in fact, they appeared somewhat cloudy due to his age.

But the moment he opened his mouth, the air in the private room seemed to become heavy.

There was no mental energy shield or any energy fluctuation.

However, the professors in the private room unconsciously restrained their breathing, lowered their heads slightly, and straightened their backs.

This is a long-standing position, held in academia and at the center of power.

The absolute authority that has been cultivated over decades of hard work and experience.

"Break free from conventional thinking, don't blindly believe in ancient texts, and find the greatest truths in the simplest things."

The old man nodded slightly as he looked at Jiang Zhe, and a smile of undisguised admiration appeared on his face.

"Zhengfeng, this time you've really found a true gem!"