Chapter 84: Professor Zhou

“Mom, Dad, how are you? Did you miss your son?”

“Haha, don’t worry, don’t worry, what could possibly happen during training? Just relax, there’s really nothing to be concerned about. Also, I won’t be coming home in the near future. I’m taking Agumon to another city to continue our training.”

“No worries, I’ll definitely be home before the big exams.”

He hung up the phone and stared absently out the window. The professor who had agreed to treat Agumon was in Yundian Province, so they were now on their way there.

Yundian Province lies in the southwest of China, bordering several countries. The situation along the border often changed unpredictably. The Professor Zhou they needed to see was stationed less than a hundred miles from the border, overseeing a secret realm.

Right beside that secret realm, he had built a laboratory entirely his own.

“We’re here.”

The car came to a gentle stop, and the driver’s voice sounded in Zhao Jie’s ear.

Rubbing his drowsy eyes, Zhao Jie looked around. Lush trees stood tall on all sides, and in the distance, the mountains rolled on endlessly.

Not far ahead of them, a man in his forties, with tousled hair and bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep, was smiling warmly at them. He wore a simple blue long robe, and perched on his shoulder was a small Crowmon, curiously eyeing the car.

“That must be Zhao Jie?”

As soon as the car stopped, the middle-aged man strode forward, speaking in a gentle voice.

“I am. And you are...?”

Zhao Jie stepped out of the car and looked at the man in confusion.

“I’m Zhou Jie.”

The man adjusted his glasses and gave Zhao Jie, who had just gotten out of the car, a once-over.

“Oh, you’re Professor Zhou! Why did you come to meet us yourself?”

Zhao Jie’s face showed his surprise. He had expected an ordinary person to greet them, not that Professor Zhou would come in person.

This was a renowned professor—what had he done to deserve such an honor?

“I heard you were arriving, and since my research has recently hit a bottleneck, I thought I might as well come myself and learn a bit more about Agumon’s condition.”

Professor Zhou wore a slight smile and waved his hand casually, appearing completely approachable.

“Thank you for your trouble, Professor Zhou.”

Zhao Jie bowed slightly, then got Agumon out of the car.

“Brother Tian, thank you for everything.”

After greeting the driver, Zhao Jie cradled Agumon and walked over to Professor Zhou.

“We’ll be off, then!”

Professor Zhou waved to the driver, then turned and led Zhao Jie to his own car.

It was still an hour’s drive to his laboratory.

Sitting in the car, Professor Zhou drove as he chatted idly with Zhao Jie.

“Agumon’s been unconscious for quite a while, hasn’t he?”

“Yes, for more than half a month. But all his bodily functions are normal. They said the problem is with his consciousness.”

“That’s easy to handle. I specialize in digital monsters’ consciousness. Don’t worry, I’ll be able to cure him.”

“Thank you very much, Professor Zhou.”

“It’s my duty. We’re all Chinese, after all!”

More than an hour later, the two of them finally arrived before a large mountain.

Professor Zhou’s laboratory was inside the heart of this mountain.

“Professor Zhou, is it just you in the lab?”

Walking through the laboratory, Zhao Jie saw no one else—only Professor Zhou accompanied him.

“Not at all. There was a digital secret realm upheaval recently, so everyone else has gone in to prevent any accidents.”

Professor Zhou smiled as he answered Zhao Jie’s question.

“Put Agumon here.”

Following Professor Zhou’s gesture, Zhao Jie saw a nutrient pod, surrounded by numerous connecting wires.

“This is a machine I developed that can observe a digital monster’s consciousness. Let’s use it first to check if Agumon’s consciousness is still present.”

Once Zhao Jie placed Agumon in the nutrient pod, Professor Zhou approached a sophisticated instrument, his fingers tapping rapidly. Soon, a constantly shifting cloud appeared on the screen.

“What’s this...?”

Surprise flickered across Professor Zhou’s face. Within the changing cloud, a streak of black was mixed in.

“Is there a problem, Professor Zhou?”

Zhao Jie immediately asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing serious. Do you see that streak of black in the cloud? That should be the key factor preventing Agumon from waking up.”

Behind his glasses, Professor Zhou’s eyes narrowed slightly as he glanced at Zhao Jie, his expression unreadable.

Usually, a digital monster’s consciousness cloud would be white. Only in rare cases would it be another color. In all his research, only one kind of digital monster had a black consciousness cloud.

“By the way, did Agumon come into contact with something strange?”

As he watched Agumon’s consciousness cloud, Professor Zhou suddenly asked.

“Something strange?”

Zhao Jie hesitated. He remembered the black ring around Dark Wukongmon’s neck, and that the evolution sigil between his own brows, which represented Agumon, had also acquired a hint of black.

It was very likely that Agumon’s coma was caused by the black ring on Dark Wukongmon’s neck.

“It might have been caused by a black ring.”

Without further hesitation, Zhao Jie explained about the black ring, though he chose to conceal the fact that the black energy had also tainted his own body.

After all, so far, he hadn’t felt any negative effects from that black energy.

“A black ring?”

Professor Zhou pressed on, expression unchanged. “Do you have any fragments of this black ring? If you do, I might be able to figure out exactly what kind of energy is preventing Agumon from waking.”

“No.”

Zhao Jie shook his head. There was no way such a thing would have ended up in his hands—the authorities must have already collected it for research.

“I see.”

Professor Zhou frowned, deep in thought about how to save Agumon.

“Professor Zhou, are you confident you can treat Agumon?”

Seeing Professor Zhou’s expression, Zhao Jie’s heart fluttered with anxiety. If even the professor had no solution, things would become truly troublesome.

“Don’t worry, I’m confident. I just need some time.”

Pulled from his thoughts by Zhao Jie’s question, Professor Zhou smiled with assurance and gave Zhao Jie’s shoulder a friendly pat.