Chapter 70

After "devouring" about a dozen fragments of Ou Yezi's early memories, Li Yao was surprised to find that a fragment of ordinary color had become radiant and shimmering with light!

When he delved into the consciousness to investigate, he discovered that the memory, which he could only observe before, could now be freely manipulated and repeatedly examined!

This discovery further strengthened his resolve. As long as his soul gradually grew stronger, the memory fragments that were originally unusable would eventually become the most delicious "food" to be thoroughly devoured!

From that moment on, Li Yao almost forgot the passage of time.

He was like a greedy thief who had accidentally discovered a treasure trove rich enough to rival a nation, diving into the gold and silver, stealing with great joy, and never thinking of leaving.

Ou Yezi's early memories were thoroughly ransacked and stolen clean.

Through repeated practice, the "108 Hand Cloak Chaos Hammer Technique" was deeply imprinted in Li Yao's soul, never to be forgotten.

In the real world, time was also passing quickly.

In the blink of an eye, a week had passed.

The accident on Devil Dragon Island resulted in the tragic deaths of nine contestants and one contestant suffering severe injuries and falling into a coma.

This was a rare tragedy in the history of the Federation's annual Extreme Challenge.

Due to this tragedy, the competition was hastily concluded, and an investigation was immediately launched. It was soon discovered that the incident was caused by a contestant illegally carrying a stimulant into the venue, which was then seized by a monster and injected, leading to a shocking mutation!

However, this contestant was killed by the monster at the first opportunity, paying for his actions with his life.

The vendor who sold him the stimulant, upon learning of the incident, committed suicide out of fear of punishment, bringing the entire event to an unsatisfactory conclusion.

After a thorough inspection of the vendor's underground workshop, it was found that the "Ghost Dragon No. 7 Stimulant" he sold was not even the real thing, but a mixture of several stimulants and enhancers, with unknown components.

Only the monster's formidable body could withstand the destruction caused by this "counterfeit stimulant." If the student had injected it, he would likely have burst on the spot.

In the entire incident, the most regrettable part, besides the nine contestants who died tragically, was Li Yao, who was severely injured and fell into a coma.

The local news media in Fuguo City published a series of commentaries titled "The Fading Demon Star."

"Li Yao was a rising star, who had just achieved unprecedented results in the Extreme Challenge, drawing the attention of the nine elite universities!"

"Such a young man should have had a bright future, but due to an accident, he prematurely lost the opportunity to enter the cultivation world. His brain suffered a bizarre mental attack, his pineal gland was almost completely torn, and his spiritual root development dropped to 7%, which is almost the level of a primary school child. Even if he wakes up, he will likely be unable to cultivate!"

The article was written with a tone of deep regret.

On various forums, netizens' comments were varied.

Many people expressed regret for Li Yao: "What a pity! If it weren't for this accident, he would have been specially recruited by the nine elite universities. Now, it's too tragic!"

There were also a significant number of people who gloated and said sarcastically, "Who told him to be so arrogant? To wipe out the entire Blue Team command center? To kick dozens of people out at once? Very impressive! Now, an accident has brought him back to his original form!"

However, for the majority of people, this was just a trivial matter.

In this era of information explosion, even the biggest news could only be hot for three days. With the college entrance exam approaching, everyone was frantically cultivating and had no time to pay attention to others' news.

Isn't it just a fallen genius?

The Federation is so vast that every day, many strong individuals and geniuses fall due to various reasons, whether it's a mental breakdown, being devoured by a monster, or dying silently in the internal struggles of sects.

Compared to them, what is Li Yao?

After a few days of commotion, the accident on Devil Dragon Island quickly faded away, and Li Yao, the "fading demon star," was forgotten by everyone.

...

A week later, in the intensive care unit of Fuguo City's First Hospital.

A large metal medical pod, engraved with layer upon layer of spirit symbols, forming a massive array.

Around the array, over a hundred milky white crystals were embedded, gently vibrating and emitting a soothing and calming aura.

Li Yao lay motionless inside the medical pod, his body under the white blanket appearing particularly weak and emaciated, with tubes inserted all over his body and a spirit symbol for calming the soul stuck to his forehead.

Under the spirit symbol, his eyelids twitched wildly, immersed in an intense nightmare.

Zhao Shude and Xie Tingxian stood by the bed, listening to a doctor in a white coat explain Li Yao's condition.

"Li Yao's body is not seriously damaged, but he was injured by a mutated giant-eyed ape's mental attack, which completely tore his spiritual roots, leaving his brain in a state of extreme chaos!"

"His body, to protect his brain, naturally entered a 'deep sleep' state. In this state, his brain acts like a black hole,疯狂地吸收奇经八脉和四肢百骸中的能量。你们看，即使我们不断向他体内注射强化药剂和高能营养液也无济于事。”

“他的大脑在一秒钟内就能消耗常人大脑一个月甚至一年所需的能量！”

白大褂叹息着说。

赵树德深锁眉头，问道：“顾医生，以你的经验来看，李耀同学究竟什么时候会醒过来？还有，他的灵根撕裂，灵根开发度只剩下7%，醒来之后，有多少几率能恢复？”

白大褂苦笑一声，道：

“赵校长，实在惭愧，李耀同学的情况，是我踏入修真界这么多年来都没有遇到过的！对他发动攻击的巨目猿，是注射了兴奋剂之后产生突变的变异体，可是这种兴奋剂根本是乱七八糟的劣药，没人知道具体的成分，也不知巨目猿的精神攻击究竟被扭曲到了何种程度，更不知对人脑会产生什么后果——在这种情况下，我们也只有等了！”

赵树德脸上的阴郁之色越来越浓，有些失望道：“顾医生，你是浮戈城首屈一指的冥修师，对精神领域的造诣很深，连你都不知道？”

白大褂道：

“人脑，是最复杂玄奥的器官；精神领域，更是常人无法想象的神秘世界！”

“修真文明发展到今天，我们对人体已经了如指掌；但大脑，仍旧是不可窥探的禁区！”

“我也尝试过进入李耀同学的脑域，却被一股狂暴的力量阻挡，差点走火入魔——看来那种兴奋剂一定十分厉害，将巨目猿的精神攻击强化到了极致！”

“在这种情况下，谁都不知道李耀同学何时能够苏醒，运气好，有可能明天就醒；运气不好，也许一辈子就‘深度睡眠’过去，也未可知。”

顿了一顿，又道，“不过，这种身受重伤导致松果体撕裂，灵根开发度大幅下跌的案例，在近三百年间，倒是也有几百例，绝大部分人在灵根撕裂之后，都变成了无法修炼的废人，只有极少数人能恢复，最多七八个吧，所以，你若问我李耀同学是否还能修炼，我的回答是——概率不超过1%！”

赵树德长长叹了口气，失望之色溢于言表。

他走到角落，打开了手腕上的微型晶脑，光幕中出现一名温文尔雅的中年人，正是赤霄派长老“周隐”！

“没希望了？”周隐一看赵树德的表情就猜了出来，淡淡问道。

“是的，医生也不知道他什么时候会醒，即便醒来，重新修炼的可能性也小于1%。”赵树德十分可惜地说。

周隐点了点头，神色不变：“是有些可惜，不过没办法，修真界就是这么残酷，每秒钟都有无数天才诞生，每秒钟也有无数天才陨落。要成为修真者，天赋、勤奋、人脉、运气，缺一不可，他是天才，可是少了点运气，又能怪谁？从现在起，原本准备投放到他身上的资源，全都收回来吧，我记得你们学校的赫连烈和司佳雪都不错，把那些资源，给这两个人吧！”

“是，一切都听周长老安排，对了，这个李耀和赫连烈在魔蛟岛上又闹出一些误会，赫连董事很不高兴，万一李耀醒过来了，他们……”

赵树德试探性地问。

周隐十分温和地笑了笑，道：“我原先看好李耀，是把他当一个值得培养的好苗子；可是眼下，他已经成了废物，和我还有什么关系？他的事情，不用再和我说了。”

“我明白了。”

赵树德关闭晶脑，走到白大褂身边，随口道：“既然连顾医生都如此说，那我也只好静观其变，顾医生，我先走一步了——谢教授，您怎么说？”

谢听弦犹豫片刻，道：“我再等等。”

赵树德点了点头，向外走去。

在踏出房门的一刹那，他又回头看了一眼医疗舱内的李耀。

赤霄二中校长赵树德的眼神变得无比冰冷，就像在看一袋垃圾。